skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I was going to give a talk at QGCon about what I was most proud of making in The Sims, but the conference was canceled due to Coronavirus of course.

https://qgcon.com/

I plan on publishing a paper about what I would have talked about, and I'll post that to HN when it's ready, but for now, here's the abstract I wrote, and a few notes and references.

----

How Inclusivity Saved The Sims.
By Don Hopkins, Ground Up Software.

Abstract:

The Sims has evolved with society over two decades towards a more inclusive, tolerant world celebrating diversity and creativity. Its procedural rhetoric promotes inclusivity, diversity, personalization, and tolerance, and supports self-expression, creativity, storytelling, and sharing. Players impress their own identities, families, homes, communities, and stories into the game, and share their own personal emergent narratives with tools like The Sims Family Album and The Sims Exchange.

The Sims presumes to model human minds and relationships, but necessarily makes brazen simplifications due to technological constraints. It optimizes for playability instead of realism, while making concessions to marketability, corporate interests, societal norms, and taboos. But somehow it works, and this paper attempts to explain some of the magic.

Will Wright defined the “Simulator Effect” as how players imagine the simulation is vastly more detailed, deep, rich, and complex than it actually is: a magical misunderstanding that you shouldn’t talk them out of. He designs games to run on two computers at once: the electronic one on the player’s desk, running his shallow tame simulation, and the biological one in the player’s head, running their deep wild imagination.

The “AI” of The Sims is scripted in a noodly visual programming language called “SimAntics”, and is distributed throughout the objects and characters of the Sims microworld. But it magically offloads most of the heavy lifting into the player’s own imagination, incorporating and enriching their intertwingled tapestry of common-sense knowledge and stories about people, families, and communities.

The graphical design of The Sims was inspired by Scott McCloud’s “Understanding Comics”, in which he illustrated how the “Masking” visual style draws abstract characters against realistic backgrounds, which increases empathy and projective identification, empowers emotional connections, and permits players to easily and deeply identify with characters.

The educational philosophy of The Sims and SimCity was inspired by Seymour Papert’s “Constructionism” learning theory, with which learners construct mental models to understand the real world by building tangible personally meaningful shareable microworlds, and learn by discovery and exploration, by leveraging information they already know to learn more, and architecting their own educations.

This paper reviews the history of inclusivity in The Sims franchise over two decades, and explains some techniques for imagination, persuasion, identification, empathy, storytelling, and education, which can also make other games more inclusive, expressive, and enlightening.

----
Definitely is a carrier problem, but due to the decreased range of 5G it would make it more essential for the carriers to install more antennas around the area rather than getting away with having less for 4G/3G.
An Easy Way to Hide Files and Directories in Linux
i saw this and was thinking “hrm...this is the sorts thing i use lodash for...if i even need it”.

and now i see lodash is a dependency.
Nobody here is arguing that it's no worse than the flu, least of all me. We still don't know the IFR of this virus and i'd be delighted if it was only half an order of magnitude worse than that of the flu but i'm certainly not claiming it is, and my "small number" of 6% is still huge, and in no way whatsoever an attempt to compare this to the flu. How could I with a massive 6% mortality rate? that would be than two orders of magnitude worse than the flu. No, what im very clearly and simply stating is the factual inaccuracy of claiming that the 21% from the worldmeters site is the CFR of Covid-19. As is made very obvious right on the site itself, this is not the case. Its CFR as a result of total cases to-date and total deaths to-date is sitting at around 6%.

This is not semantics, interpreting clearly stated numbers and definitions of basic terms badly to get a mortality rate that's almost four times larger than the case is simply wrong, and much more harmful than stating lower but more accurate numbers. I have no idea where you got your definition of CFR from or how you interpreted it like that, but CFR does not measure deaths as a percentage of resolved cases, it measures deaths as a percentage of all cases so far during a given period of time (in this case since the pandemic started). This is how it has been widely understood in discussions of CFR per country among all affected countries and you can find these figures on many different serious websites, with the percentages of fatalities clearly stated as CFR numbers that are based off all cases so far in any given country (Italy or Spain, for example). If this is mistaken, someone please do correct me and show me where it's claimed otherwise. If im wrong then, for example, nobody would be talking about Italy's CFR of 10%, they'd be discussing a different and considerably higher percentage derived only from resolved cases in that country vs its total deaths to-date.
Semantics for sure, but while value is perhaps represented by currency by what people are willing to pay and sell for. Others have different metrics for determining value -- "value investors", for example, measure the "value" of a security quite differently than it's current price.

But to your point, yes, the combination of currency inflation (as seen through the securities market due to liquidity injection, and perhaps not yet seen elsewhere) and changes in PE ratios is roughly what I'm referring to. As earnings drop, if prices remain as high as they are due to this inflation, the ratios should see a spike, not unlike the one seen in the chart linked for 2009.
Why are schemas strings?

It would seem much more natural to make them JSON structures since they're almost that anyway.
Correction: less than 4ms input lag
Launch HN: Fleetfn.com – Serverless Function Fastest
Hello Hacker News! I'm Matuzalem Teles from Fleet (fleetfn.com). I'm building a platform to run serverless functions much faster than other VM-based platforms, specifically functions for Node.js.

In a quick overview it is a technology that uses Node.js (On future we plan to add support for WebAssembly) that is able to perform tenant functions side by side, using V8 Isolate but with the Node.js APIs available in context, doing this in isolation with memory and "dedicated vCPU". This allows us to provision functions with cold starts to almost zero and faster startup time. For more details fleetfn.com/docs/how-it-works.html.

The idea is to go beyond solving performance problems but providing tools that help to improve the experience of deployment and using microservices. Fleet delivers a platform with a deployment system, preview and deployment history, fast rollback, teams, secrets, metrics built in. We will jointly launch two products:

- Fleet TS: You can create rules to automate your deployments based on data from the network, for example by defining a number of successful requests or threshold of exception errors, Learn more fleetfn.com/traffic-shifting.

- Fleet VPF: A virtual private network of functions that communicate with each other only, allowing only some functions to be accessed by the outside world (fleetfn.com/vpf).

Cloudflare Workers that follow the same concept of V8 Isolate, they built on top of the V8 and it was designed for the edge, making it limited for some cases, such as memory, CPU. Differently we are doing that Fleet runs close to the regions of your servers and allowing configuration of memory and other resources.

We are still in private beta, we opened the early access and within a few weeks we will start sending out the invitations. I'm very excited to share this with all of you, after working on it for a few years. Thanks for reading about it. Please let me know your thoughts and questions in the comments.
Correct!

> Another often-suggested escape from Buridan’s Principle is noise—the
introduction of randomness into the system. In theory, one can balance a
ball on a knife edge; in practice, this is impossible because tiny random
2
vibrations will cause the ball to fall, despite our best efforts to balance it.
Moreover, balancing the ball on a knife edge requires fixing very precisely
both the position and the momentum of the ball, which is forbidden by
Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle. A four-legged or human ass must also
have random noise and be subject to the Uncertainty Principle, so it cannot
be put into a situation where it will hang forever on a knife edge of indecision.
We use machines to do it and improve productivity. Then we employ people to make the machines.
From a systems point of view of "stocks and flows" the problem is we didn't shut it down. We shut _part_ of it down.

For example rents are still due. So money is flowing out of business and individuals stock and for those affected by layoffs or paycuts there isn't any flowing back in to replace it. This is the really problematic part that creates trouble for people. That creates it's own knock-on effects.
Non-commutative also means that if there are units, there may be different left and right units:

1L * A = A = A * 1R
Didn’t know google had so many senior vice presidents ...
It's a bit of a non sequitur, and as others have said, it wasn't elaborated on.
XM Cyber Launches Book on Red and Blue Teaming
I applause ProtonMail services and initiatives, it can only be good for us.

However why did they develop anything specific? SMTP / IMAP already support secure connection (i believe). Or it could be encapsulated in a secure lower transport protocol.

Also I thought there were tons of GPG/PGP extensions for email clients already to read encrypted emails
ByteDance is hiring 10,000.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-14/bytedance...
This is the unfortunate truth many fail to see. At some point we will have to decide to do what we can for those at high risk, and try to go about our normal lives again. We can require masks in public, even ban truly large gatherings (hundred plus), keep the high risk isolated, but at some point, if we all stay isolated, there'll be repercussions beyond just the economy. How many new relationships have started in the last month? How will peoples mental state handle prolonged isolation?

The virus likely entered the US in early February, and in 2 months shut down the country. Literally one case will lead to another outbreak, we've already seen it happen.
Do you have a source for this? I hear about it all the time but have never seen any evidence.
> I'm guessing because they can't effectively monitor information on the platform.

I not sure about this. Usually, they won't let a social platform operate without a self-censoring team, I guess they will force gaming platforms to
do the same.
11/6/18: Red and Blue
Economist has a radical plan to solve wealth inequality
As far I know a BSL-4 lab is simply a BSL-3 lab that includes a BSL-2 lab that includes a BSL-1 lab plus some extras.
Well, if COVID's R0 is 5.7, then herd immunity is 82%, which we could hit before there's a vaccine. Death rate is 3.4%, according to WHO (which is absurdly low in my mind), then population would drop by 2.8%, meaning GDP would drop by the same...assuming those that die spent an average amount of money
In my time abroad in Japan, I found that bringing a small bag was almost an imperative compared to the US where it still seems taboo. This relaxes the pocketability constraint so bringing a larger phone isn't as big of a deal.
https://archive.md/mjbka
Discovering Fake Browser Extensions That Target Users of Crypto Wallets
Personally, I only use external library CDNs during early stages of development, or quick prototypes.

There are advantages to having all needed assets locally. The main point for me is to minimize external dependencies during runtime - fewer points of failure. Also, vendor libraries can be a single minified bundle served from the same domain. In production they can be moved to a CDN, i.e., CloudFlare.

Using NPM makes sense once you start having more than a few dependencies, or a build step.

On the other hand, if you can get by with library CDNs and don't feel the need for NPM - I'd say that sounds fine, to keep it simple and practical.
Research papers, posted in comments on HN just days ago, show that the lab made hybrid bat-human cells in which to grow viruses. This was BSL-4. Both HIV and coronaviruses were grown. The idea was to breed the viruses until they would replicate well in ordinary human cells.

That's some diabolical research.

To put it in DnD terms: The researchers have high intelligence, low wisdom, and probably low dexterity.
Thought Experiments to deal with quarantine boredom
Good. Shut down the bootcamps. Stop telling people to learn to code. Lower the salaries. Move companies out of SV and spread across the country. We are long overdue for a bloodbath like 1999. It's not over until Level 10s are laid off and the computer science departments are empty.
Admins please edit title for clarity:

China to ban online gaming with, chatting in-game with foreigners outside Great Firewall.

Right now the title is very misleading and I was concerned that even on WeChat I wouldn't be able to talk to my Chinese friends.
Good luck not using NPM - it's completely pervasive. CDN should be used in certain contexts, for everything else you're best off using NPM.
Current monetary conditions are extremly good for stock market (as we have learned from post 2009 market).

There is unlimited amount of money and a buyer (FED) determined to buy everything (ETF, junk bonds, baseball card) regardless of price and underlying financials.

So for people who have capital there are guarateed returns in stocks. For the little guy it is other story.
Don't they have some non-overlapping tracks every now and then so these "write avalanches" don't continue all the way?
3% is massive. You can't just compare it with other things contracting 3%, thinking it doesn't sound like a big deal. The effects of each 0.1% the world economy contracts will shift whole industries.
Beulr Zoom-bot fakes class attendance
On the state of productivity in software development
Trump's AG turnstile

None of the three Attorneys General of the Obama administration chose to release this content either, and ProPublica didn't complain.
Can confirm. I did this, swapping my old SE for a Moto G7. After a few months, I still miss the iPhone. First, the convenience and care that shows in tiny aspects of the UI design. Second, Siri is usable while OK Google is not - it just fails too often to be worth even trying. I miss being able to use voice control.
It doesn't have to cross them. Showing a black screen won't burn it in. The problem is illuminated areas that stay that way for too long. The dvd logo itself just can't be in the same spot. They probably could have just had the tv turn off/show nothing. Maybe it would have confused users not knowing that the tv was still on.
I've read a story about Russian entrepreneur who sell bikes across the country and his sells are basically zero since quarantine. He's going to declare bankrupt soon.
In which contexts should I use CDNs and why am I otherwise better off with NPM?
Is there a way to make Spacemacs more performant? It felt slower than an IDE.
Want to share some links to them?
Yup. The push for "equitable distribution" means you know the geopolitical shit fight is going to go down.
(comment is reply to burfog too)

I would agree if the original name was China/Chinese Virus. The problem is that, that particular naming is targeted at china because they were being twats by making rumors/propaganda blaming America.

So I feel that the people using that name are using it as a middle finger, which I don't agree with. That doesn't make the words itself racist, but the usage of it racist.

I hope that makes sense?!?

Wuhan is just the place of origin and no one battered an eyelid to it when it was first named Wuhan Virus or Wu Flu. I've never seen it used negatively.
Database of databases: Discover and learn about 702 database management systems
Velar Consonant
Oil Rig Engineering
Agreed. Price discovery feels broken to me. Maybe it is because of the FED interventions. Infinite is infinite, right?

Perhaps the market is pricing in inflation instead of real growth? Perhaps it's because there's literally no other way of investing your money right now?

It's really become hard to say. The downturn in the previous weeks seems to be way too weak given the current circumstances.
There is no mention of Talos. This makes me sad.
Nasalization
The French have a saying - “revolution is only three meals away.”
Some insecure little boys feel extremely threatened and frightened by strong women in video games, and throw tantrums about it and viciously attack people in public, as we all know. She's brave to potentially subject herself to that kind of abuse and harassment by making such a decision.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamergate_controversy
I think a lot of it is politics and labor leverage and education. after the new deal and the second world war and the GI bill, a lot of our workers had free education. We had a serious safety net for the time and a very progressive tax system with very high top marginal rates to pay for it. and lots of unions. All things that give workers more negotiation power.
Soft Palate
But those don’t look like cheap cars. No one is perfect, but still it looks like some people set the wrong priorities between saving money and buying status symbols
Anecdotal, but having the same in early 30s. Was diagnosed with ADHD, low-dose long-form Adderall has basically reversed my symptoms, which from my understanding involves dopamine or dopamine receptors. Sleeping better and exercise are both also good boosts.
LM358 op-amp?
Q2 earnings season started this week, I expect the market to start pricing in reality again soon (down). There is no way we just go back to record low unemployment and high consumer confidence a month after the entire world was in lockdown.
> The current entry level iPhone; iPhone SE 2020 with A13 is now faster in Single Threaded performance than ALL current shipping Android, including Flagship Android.

I stopped to look at Single Thread performance long time ago when comparing phones. I now look for AI coprocessor performances, new sensor types and wireless charging performance
This is why you use HFS and a language like Common Lisp that is case insensitive.
> Yeah, for things that are not readily apparent, you might need a lawyer to help you understand if your conduct is illegal.

You're just talking about case law. That isn't actually any different. If something is made unambiguous by case law then it is unambiguous.

What I'm talking about are laws that a lawyer cannot tell you with a high degree of certainty what the outcome would be in court, because it was made purposely fuzzy specifically to allow the law to be retroactively interpreted adversely against anyone who draws the ire of the government.

> Feel free to describe a better system.

Here you go: In matters of statutory construction when the government is the prosecutor/regulator, the parties submit their briefs, they're read by 9 independent judges who are all told to construe the statute against the government if it's ambiguous, the judges don't get to talk to each other, the defense gets to choose which judge's interpretation to use, and that interpretation becomes precedent until the legislature changes it by statute. The government's only appeal is to the legislature (which then only applies to future cases).

Now if there is an ambiguity, it is likely to actually be construed against the government, so the government has an incentive to resolve it ahead of time whenever reasonably possible. When that isn't possible, it goes in favor of the defense in the original case and then the legislature has the opportunity to clarify what they want for future cases by passing new legislation.
I agree with you, we have much more in common than the current online zeitgeist would lead you to believe. Many of my Chinese friends are genuinely lovely people just trying to do what's best for them and their families. Just like the rest of the world.

Unfortunately a lot of this attitude comes from the Chinese themselves when we see the knee-jerk reaction to any criticism of China with "you just don't understand China". Maybe so, but this attitude is not helpful. Though I definitely understand that reaction when I think about how I would feel if some foreigners started criticising my country.

I think there are 2 important things I'd like people to take away.

1) You are not your government, especially when they are not elected. Criticism of a country's government != criticism of that country's people.

2) The people doing the criticising should take more care to specify the target of the criticism, and to understand the collateral damage it may have.
Google has too many projects, from wifi on Indian railways stations to dozens of messengers to a virtual phone service. Some of these units are going to suffer and I expect them to shut down. These people will then move to other more important areas.

I do not expect google's search business to go down.
Blogspam of / plagiarized from

https://cns.utexas.edu/news/long-living-tropical-trees-play-...

Actual author (uncredited) is Marc Airhart.
The reasons appear to be a total mystery! /s

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2018/oct/18/donald-tru...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/08/world/middleeast/saudi-mb...
https://theintercept.com/2018/03/21/jared-kushner-saudi-crow...
https://washingtonpress.com/2018/04/08/jared-kushner-just-go...
Why is the game sending all this data which is essentially just hidden by the UI? What is the point of sending enemy location and health data when they aren't near/visible to the player? For a non game dev like me it sounds like wasted bandwidth and a way to enable wallhack.
Google charges when you hit your limit on these services, which may be being increased now (at least for Gmail) when everyone is staying home.
Am I too demanding?

I went from iPhone (4 years) -> Android (3 years) -> iPhone (4 years), plus I used a stock Android phone for a month a while ago when I soaked my iPhone SE. I don't really see that point. For me they are about equal in interface complexity. The only thing that annoyed me in Android were the hamburger menus that were on top, which becomes painful on a large phone screen. The primary annoyance with the iPhone is that the removal of the home button introduced more gesture-driven interaction (though I like the edge to edge screen).

Apart from that, UI rendering has always been much smoother for me on iOS than Android. On Android it's generally fast, but then there are some weird hiccups.

At any rate, even if iOS was ten times more complex (which I don't believe), Android has become an unacceptable option for me due to grave violations of privacy and the amount of malware pushed through the Play Store.
Azure Storage Static Website and Azure Front Door
> Except vote, of course.

Or leave for somewhere else more amenable to ones quality of life on the ground and/or wait for things to deteriorate sufficiently enough such that people want to change things. Or a host of other things people could do in any given environment besides voting.
Six New Coronaviruses Discovered in Bats
This needs a better source. Other sources are saying this just a measure being thought off. Meanwhile no official word on this matter. The thing is there is lot of fake news going around regards China.

Also they'd be more nuanced now. They will likely ask/force Nintendo to crackdown than doing it themselves..