skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I don't think it matters whether or not God is part of the system. It's a layer of abstraction that we can't act on and doesn't affect anything.

"So, the characters which you programmed - would you say that they have a will? Or did you program them to pick those paths? You can almost say that it's self emergent system?"

I worked on a little system that generates plots. Plots follow a certain flow - a beginning, an ending, an intro phase, 'centerpiece spectacular', and climax.

There are patterns - some are solo, some are groups of two or three or up to five. Characters are generated with backstories that fit these patterns, e.g. someone solo might grow up in an environment where everyone else is incompetent.

There are patterns for plots. A comedy might have a giant misunderstanding between two parties. A monster story has a person built up to be a near undefeatable monster. Monsters are common plot themes in religion, from Pharaoh to Goliath.

The characters can develop personalities based on what they have, e.g. a character may go through a traumatic event, which could make them cynical, wiser, or more determined. While these odds are weighted, it's still sort of their "free will".

The system then searches for a path that matches. If it doesn't match, it rolls different characters or different character decisions. The first path that matches these conditions is chosen.

I can't really say whether I programmed them to pick these paths, but in a way, they pick paths that fit the story as it would be told.

I imagine there are a mix of good souls, evil souls, and everything in between. These souls have all been assigned to their respective roles. Things that are wholly nature not nurture are a part of our souls - willfulness, arrogance, ambition, pride, and so on. The rest are a part of our paths (nurture), even things like self-restraint and lust.
So funny that everyone is shitting on this or claiming it's incremental/trivial. It's not! Science almost always starts with clean benchmarks like the one developed here, and from my read and limited knowledge, it's clear this is a big deal and a qualitative leap forward.

Congrats to the team on great work. Looking forward to more to come.
Spawnfest 2019 Submissions
I really like this advice, we'd often get frustrated with the crying and remind ourselves to "go through the checklist" and more often than not it was one of the basic needs you mentioned that needed attending to.
> it's only benefit is bragging rights since it can never be faster than ordinary traffic

This is 100% false. I take Philly's Market-Frankford line many days, it's absolutely faster and easier than driving. But I guess maybe you aren't counting elevated / buried rail.

Even still, give the trains priority and they will beat traffic.
> I think it's more of a self-imposed taboo because we've been told forever that men and woman can't just be friends.

It's pretty interesting to think that men and women being friends is a very recent phenomenon, maybe starting in the 70s.

Before then, you got married at 19 or a similarly young age, and it wasn't appropriate to be friends with another man's wife.
>What kind of advantage does it give you if you're just trying to Bogle your way into buying mutual funds until retirement?

I'd guess none? I think it just gives you access to riskier forms of investment like hedge funds.
I fail to see what open-source software has to do with this data. If someone is unable to move their mouse pointer to the Delete icon of an email client, the license of the software likely has no effect.
> How to make computing more sustainable?

Ban proof-of-work.

I kid.

- - - -

I don't know exactly what this is but it seems important.

> The researchers combined three conventional silicon transistors with a tiny magnet to create what are called p-bits (or probabilistic bits). These magnets are around just ten atoms thick and, at this size, they start to behave stochastically. One of the team’s key advances was to tune the thickness of the magnets to balance stability with thermal noise and introduce stochasticity in a controllable way.

Link to the actual paper: "Integer factorization using stochastic magnetic tunnel junctions" https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1557-9

> Abstract

> Conventional computers operate deterministically using strings of zeros and ones called bits to represent information in binary code. Despite the evolution of conventional computers into sophisticated machines, there are many classes of problems that they cannot efficiently address, including inference, invertible logic, sampling and optimization, leading to considerable interest in alternative computing schemes. Quantum computing, which uses qubits to represent a superposition of 0 and 1, is expected to perform these tasks efficiently1,2,3. However, decoherence and the current requirement for cryogenic operation4, as well as the limited many-body interactions that can be implemented, pose considerable challenges. Probabilistic computing1,5,6,7 is another unconventional computation scheme that shares similar concepts with quantum computing but is not limited by the above challenges. The key role is played by a probabilistic bit (a p-bit)—a robust, classical entity fluctuating in time between 0 and 1, which interacts with other p-bits in the same system using principles inspired by neural networks8. Here we present a proof-of-concept experiment for probabilistic computing using spintronics technology, and demonstrate integer factorization, an illustrative example of the optimization class of problems addressed by adiabatic9 and gated2 quantum computing. Nanoscale magnetic tunnel junctions showing stochastic behaviour are developed by modifying market-ready magnetoresistive random-access memory technology10,11 and are used to implement three-terminal p-bits that operate at room temperature. The p-bits are electrically connected to form a functional asynchronous network, to which a modified adiabatic quantum computing algorithm that implements three- and four-body interactions is applied. Factorization of integers up to 945 is demonstrated with this rudimentary asynchronous probabilistic computer using eight correlated p-bits, and the results show good agreement with theoretical predictions, thus providing a potentially scalable hardware approach to the difficult problems of optimization and sampling.
I played with a large EIA analog computer at my first job, modeling a few simple equations and building an oscillator. They had bought it many years before to model guidance equations for missiles. Maybe one would be useful today for trying out guidance algorithms for quadcopters? In some cases an analog circuit can do the same things as a digital circuit and use less power. Insect sized flying machines might benefit from analog guidance circuits also.
Now let's talk about the 5% of the population who realize that losing tons of money for 10 years in a row is not a sustainable business plan.
Your body will naturally develop an immunity, a bit like a callus, to constant IR light. To counteract this use an IR light with Pulse Width Modulation, such as a TV control.

Then post pictures of yourself holding a remote to your head so that you can help educate others about your medical breakthrough.
I'd lead with a good business architect, honestly. Plus some scrappy masters-level street hackers who are willing to get their hands dirty.

Act one at a new business is rarely rocket science. Lots of low hanging fruit.
But then that area would gentrify and those residents would be priced out. To prevent that effect you need to build enough light rail to counteract the gentrification effect. And you can’t do that because rail coasts so much to build.
Joe Groff (one of the Swift compiler engineers) says they’re working on that: https://forums.swift.org/t/swift-performance/28776/8

> [...] there are already substantial improvements to RC optimization in 5.1 (and even more in top-of-tree). Using Unmanaged is "cheating" in a sense because it's unsafe, and it should not be necessary in normal circumstances to get adequate performance from idiomatic code—if it's safe to use unmanaged references, then the compiler should know that and avoid reference counting in the first place. The current Swift implementation is still nowhere near representative of the performance that should be possible, since we've been primarily in the "make it work" phase of development, and are only now starting to get into the "make it fast" work.
Oh sorry I didn't mean that kind of gym. I joined a martial arts (muay Thai) gym and it was a great life changer.
I don't want to fight, but I train hard with actual fighters and it's very bonding.

Sharing "pain" and passion with others created common ground with people that I had very little in common in the beginning (i.e. non tech, different age)
Black engineer here at a FANG. I do this all the time with black candidates who interview. In fact I use my round to coach them on the upcoming rounds and give them stellar feedback afterward. I know many would think this is ethically egregious, but it is only balancing the unbelievable prejudice against them by Asian interviewers who would not pass a black candidate under any circumstance.
Flexibility is a huge downside to anyone that depends on public transport. When you move in somewhere or buy a property access to public transport this is a big consideration and you don't want it to disappear one day.
I think the main point was that LRT doesnt move more people than an equivalent bus route, yet costs more. Given that, less LRT is built than bus as the scarcity makes it used by only the rich.
It’s too expensive (relative to expected ridership) because almost all of the area not near subway stations is zoned as low-density residential and I believe mostly consists of single-family detached houses (didn’t help that the city was shrinking in population for 50 years from 1950–2000).

Not having enough 1- and 2-bedroom apartments in low-to-mid-rise buildings for all the people who now want to live in them is not some law of nature though.

https://statisticalatlas.com/school-district/District-of-Col... (This isn’t a great map; maybe someone can do better than my 3 min web search.)
The real question is why are Asians over represented in this field despite the fact that Asians also experience systemic racism and come from
various socioeconomic backgrounds?

Look into NYC’s high school exam if you want to see the same problem in another light. Asians are over represented there as well and there’s a fight to make it capped per racial groups.
That really is awful, and I'm sorry that happened to you.

I also moved to hoard a few types of liquid assets, and also have accounts with three banks (and multiple cards) to reduce the risk of a single-bank causing this level of impact to me.
If they can't stand to offer the thing they already sold at a price they already got paid then maybe they should charge more.

This, I think, is the crux of the matter.

Yes, they could just offer one model, at a price point somewhere between the two different models. However, now some customers who were happy with the lower-end model are priced entirely out of the market, which is bad both for those customers and the seller. Balancing that, customers for the higher-end version have paid less (good for them) and some new customers will have entered the market because the new features/price-point is attractive to them (good for them and the seller).

It's not obvious which of these will dominate (so whether everyone is net better off or not), but in the absence of any hard data relying on the self-interest of the seller to maximise their own benefit seems reasonable here.
>Instead of using live websites, the participants attempted the tasks on simulated software on the test facilitator’s computer.

I wonder if this really lowered all the scores, because the test UI may have been very non-standard/outdated/etc. "Simulated software" could be literally anything and could have caused a bunch of confusion among people who are used to certain icons and usage patterns.
Ride or Die – The Streaming Wars: Its Models, Surprises, and Opportunities
Selfish Reasons to have More Kids.

The TLDR is, relax: your parenting doesn't matter as much as you probably think.
> Haxe feels much more promising than most alternatives. If I do web stuff again I'll be diving in here. There is some good library support. I am a little concerned by its relative youth, will it last?

Haxe has actually been around since 2005 or so. I'm really liking Haxe as a general-purpose compile-to-just-about-anything language.
If you're just buying index funds, it doesn't help you.

If you want to swing for the fences with angel investing, you need to be accredited.
Yeah, I suppose it was a little open ended. I’m using Flask, gunicorn, and looking for tools to keep it simple.
I agree we shouldn’t directly sponsor immoral behavior.

I think we were naïve to believe that globalization would automatically expand democratic government, but don’t think it will automatically lead to a despotic one, either. A moral code exists on top of whatever form of commerce you engage in.
eh. that’s about what i think. and not just about computer skills.

driving skills

basic reading comprehension

the ability to think more than one step ahead

i know it’s not going to be a popular opinion, but yes most people are stupid.
Gotta say, this article is really good to get more subscriptions.
That is already available. Ever heard of Cushman and Wakefield?
Adding onto what nitrogen said (and I also am not a lawyer) but interoperability is a listed exemption to DMCA. It might be costly to fight but I really don't think they have a leg to stand on to claim copyright.

Terms of service violation or something maybe.
Edward Snowden “Permanent Record” & Life as an Exiled NSA Whistleblower [video]
It's obvious to me that this is because of the bubble that I ostensibly live in, but this is still simply shocking data. Only 5% of people can perform more complex tasks than finding an email with a particular sender, subject and date? I suppose I severely take for granted and upbringing that surrounded and supported me in learning to adapt to new tech.

It does make me wonder about the sustainability of technological growth however. If there is such a small portion of folks that can use all of this new tech, how far reaching can it really be? Will this divide begin to shrink? Or stay static as one small portion of the population drifts further and further away from the other...
Learning how to use, configure and create open source is definitely one of the highest-proficiency forms of computer usage. Especially creating but even using open source requires a bevvy of advanced skills identifying appropriate software and getting it to run. The strongest 5% of computer users they found can barely search email and some % are pursuing incredibly sophisticated skills through open source setting up their own email server or writing one. That's the relevancy.

This study stopped counting at 3rd level with multipage forms basically... what’s a Linux terminal or git or swift or json/yaml configuration files if not highly advanced computer usage. 3rd, 4th, 5th, 100th, somewhere up there is a proficiency-level where you build your own computer in Minecraft for the fun of it and write languages and operating systems and these skills are learned and shared through open source more than anything.

I think if they had kept tracking the higher levels of proficiency by the time they got to open source users and developers there is a chasm between their ability to use computers to solve problems vs the 3rd-level person - data munging, web scraping, scripting, machine learning, advanced internet searching, bespoke software...
He's not wrong about busses having many advantages, particularly in time to live and direct costs, but 2 things.

1. Without dedicated right of way, the wealthy won't ride OR fund (because they don't understand who would ride over drive) busses

2. The flexibility of buses is also their downfall. These areas won't get gentrified by businesses because if crowds do come, they may be temporary.
Please do the world a favor and blow the whistle (or at least speak anonymously to a journalist) instead of trying to subvert a broken system.
It's just the Art of War. If you don't have a strong program yet, say nothing about it and let your enemies wonder about your capabilities. Just because they may have one undeclared test doesn't necessarily mean they could succeed with a public MAD strategy; they may need many more nukes than they currently have.

If they say they have none, their enemies might think there's a chance they actually have a lot, or at least enough to cause serious damage. And there's the deterrence. If they say they have a lot but don't demonstrate it, their enemies will probably think they're bluffing and will demand proof. I think it only makes sense to go public when it's a gun that can be pointed directly at someone's head, rather than a few of their toes. It's probably the best way to project a strong posture despite not actually having one.

And more practically, it lets them develop the program with less chance of other countries (including allies) complaining about it or condemning it, which could potentially slow it down or stop it before it's sufficiently developed.
Is this only for Oracle Linux distro ? If so how many app deployments currently being in Oracle Linux distro ?
Yeah I shouldn't been more clear in my question. I was more referring to high-level services (e.g. Office). For specific use-cases, it makes sense for lower level agencies to have at least a little autonomy.
WinForms are actually back from the dead. They are part of .NET Core 3, coming this week.
That's how it works for me, everything before it was bait. I am not a writer (have dyslexia and digraphia and am a huge benefactor of spell check) and tend to write stream of consciousness (hence all the weird parenthesis that are out of context but relate to what I am thinking, like this one). I will admit it was a slide of hand, but the meat of my post was after the TLDR so not totally a scam.
For the record I think the specific example from the OP is rather silly and of course never an optimization on x86(_64), but I'd never pass up a chance to talk about more fun architectures ;-)
Funny, that's what I heard when systemd was introduced: "it's completely optional." And yet today I don't think I would use both hands counting the Linux distros without systemd, though far more than that number tried and finally gave up.
Awesome! I’m going to give that a try!
That he's a shabby bum who should never have been elected.
I am surprised that more NSLs have not been leaked or "hacked".

Just store the NSLs next to your user data so that when it gets stolen and published then your NSL is published as well.
Flash+Sale+Tuft+&+Needle+Mint+Mattress+Savings
The Sumerian Game: The Most Important Video Game You've Never Heard Of
Why do you assume they were unqualified?

We already know IBM failed to hire qualified black engineers because they were black. This may well have been cases of qualified people working around a corrupt system.

The first black IBM engineer isn't going to want new black hires to be incompetent -- quite the opposite. He likely did his own screening.
There's sometimes room for civil disobedience, where you openly stand up to authority and say you can't follow the rules because they're unconscionable.

Secretly breaking the rules because the system isn't fair is like lying because the truth will get you in trouble. It doesn't right any wrong or effect any change; you're just taking advantage of everyone who assumes you're an honest person.
It sounds like our worlds are different, I don't work for a FAANG, but in my world:

A junior is someone who has put time and effort into learning our programming language, but may not have previous industry experience with it. After speaking with them, I'm either convinced or not that given a reasonable burn in time they can become an independent and productive member of the team. I like to see a work history with other stacks of course.

There's really no concrete basis on which to judge what anyone is truly capable of, especially in our industry, sometimes it comes down to giving someone a fair chance and hitting the eject button if it isn't working out.

As a remote independent person who hires other remote independent people, on a contractual basis, I think I'm allowed to take more humanitarian liberties when I have hiring decisions to make, due to the structure of remote work and the qualities that independent people tend to have.

Hope that helps.
Open source is only useful if you can make use of source code, which is already far beyond what these users can do.
The challenge for the UI and software designers is to create interfaces that are effective, easily learnable or intuitive,
and, if possible, similar to some interface the user is already familiar with, regardless of their skills.
Student Made a Handwritten Textbook on iPad Pro
1. Whatever you feel most comfortable using and administering because the alternative is dangerous for production.

2. Probably.

3. Probably, but you'll probably have to write the code to do it.

4. Why bother?
Even with corporate training the users I worked with couldn't find out how to do things even with a FAQ, HOWTO, F1 Help, and Help Desk helping them out. Web and Desktop apps. Plus they requested features that already were in the programs to be added in the next release. Which means they didn't know how to access them.
I have no doubt they had customers complain, but I have reasonable doubts they spent as much money at blockbuster as my wife did, and money coming in is what's really important.

All businesses have customers that complain. Some people make it a point to always complain, but they're generally a small percent of the total. Cater to them and you'll have a small, shrinking, and constantly complaining customer base, and that's what happened to Blockbuster.

Redbox is what really put the nails in their coffin lid though. You could rent a DVD and if you didn't return it you bought it for a still very low "used" price and never had to deal with any snotty customer service people.
Tools for Reducing Cart Abandonment
Or maybe the Austrian economics fans are downvoting you for your suggestion of labor protectionist policies.
> My cynical POV is that the chipmaker knows they'll be spending more

I don't even see the cynicism. But, in any case, most people would probably consider the standard business school price finding advice to be more cynical: costs are a lower limit only. Beyond that, only the customer's willingness to pay is relevant.

Airline fares are good examples, or any of the food products being sold branded as well as unbranded/store-brand/generic/white label versions.
Have seen lot of developer we stick around google chrome for its amazing devtools. Other browsers are so lacking and still trying to catch up.

One good alternative I can think of is "Brave Browser" it uses chromium and all the chrome extensions work in there.
I use zenity
Because Australian politicians are loath to invest in anything, after spending ~20 years convincing the public that government spending is bad.
Well, I just told you why I wrote the comments I did. I mean, are you part of any groups that get constantly bashed in the popular press, or on the internet at large? Any groups that are the subject of paranoia, witch hunts, and general moral panic?

If you really aren't, you're extraordinarily lucky. If you are, you know where I'm coming from.

Moreover, I'm not defending any governments. I'm just pointing out in this thread that an act that is stupid in retrospect might have just been that -- one person's stupid mistake. There's no need to talk about it in such conspiratorial tones.
How many non-jews tho?
Supports maybe, but doesn't encourage or promote them. The money is in the endless news feed from your 300+ acquaintances, not in quiet, thoughtful conversation between a group of close friends.