skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
My understanding of how Microsoft won this bid is they had a special team of Hololens developers work overtime to setup a special demo for the US Armed forces, where they rented out a warehouse and setup a maze. Then the armed forces decision makers could run around and "shoot terrorists" that were overlaid on their hololens.

It is amazing a demo this stupid resulted in a 21 billion windfall for Microsoft. I'm only posting this because this is such a terrible use of taxpayer dollars.
There is no country in the world that does not have an 'artificially constrained supply of doctors.'

Yet most of those countries have cheaper/better/cheaper and better health outcomes.

'The supply of doctors is constrained' is largely a red herring.
It’d be interesting to see how much of this speculative engineering ended up matching how NASA implemented Project Mercury.
It's disingenuous, or confusing to me at least, to present Cardano, a cryptocurrency started in 2017 I haven't even heard of, as proving the same thing as real used and tested cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Etherium.
It's International Trans day of Visibility, and if you, for some reason; haven't checkout Wendy Carlos' work yet, first - you're missing out - and, secondly, it's a great excuse to do so.

Switched-on Bach is phenomenal, and obviously the Clockwork Orange OST is just something else. :)
Ask HN: Is ICANN allowing new gTLDs? Does anyone have experience with this?
A carbon tax.

If addressing climate change relies on people changing habits against their selfish interests, then we are doomed.

The externality should be internalised with a carbon tax. It's the simple, most obvious solution and it will cause selfish interest and ethical choices to align when it comes to carbon emission.
My bad. I guess I really should've made it clear enough that I not suggest there is some conspiracy going on. I just replied with few ideas on how this can be used in more of black mirror scenario.
Yeah, they just use coal somewhere you don't see it.
This is insane and I love it. Lol
I was present in a data center during a scheduled complete shut-down so that some significant power and equipment moves could be done. At the designated time, the manager ceremoniously pressed the Big Red Button by the door and.... nothing happened.

So an electrician was sent to throw some switches elsewhere in the building.

I never got a clear explanation of what went wrong, only that it had been "fixed" and would work if needed in the future.
I imagine it could be as simple as Bezos finding some trusted goon and instructing the goon to find a shady company with a history of doing this kind of thing well and then sending money based on results.
This seems like a pretty baseless conspiracy theory.
“I have no interest in activist software” that’s my exact sentiment.

Provide the option, sure. Plenty of people care enough to use it.

But don’t force it on me. I’ll find software that actually wants to serve its purpose.
A quick Google search shows the average age was 30 in 2017.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/patriciagbarnes/2019/07/20/deja...
What a fun video. I do think that "no configuration at all" is probably a little too extreme, and the real answer lies somewhere in the middle. But I think we should all be aware of metawork - it's far too easy to go down that rabbit-hole while feeling like we're being productive! I’ve literally spent a year working on a vscode plugin... sigh.
And then they will disable the comments section and that's that.
How is the fastest route not the least carbon footprint?
FYI: Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, many annual wellness checkups are covered without copay or coinsurance for anyone with insurance. Anyone concerned should check into these benefits.

Obviously, those without any form of health insurance still fall through the cracks.
Perhaps some of our richest, urban, and politically left states could show us the way. It's not like they don't have enough money or political support.

Maybe unchecked immigration and a vast welfare state will work out just great. I'd just rather California prove it out first before we roll it out to the rest of us.
I'm so glad I left my big tech job.
> It'd just be nice if the manufacturers would establish some vendor-neutral standards already, paving the way for this future.

I don’t think we’ll ever see this happen. Being able to tweak battery chemistry to suite different vehicles is just too valuable. I imagine at some point different manufacturers will start touting their specific magic battery sauce as being a reason to buy their cars over a competitor. Not to mention the onward march of incrementally better battery chemistries.

But equally the fundamentals of the battery chemistry don’t change that much, and in a recycling scenario where you don’t need to squeeze every last electron into, or out of the battery. You can probably throw a very generic battery management circuit over the top and call it a day.

As for the physical form factor. Again I suspect this will always be different for different cars. But equally, if you can find the positive contact and the negative contact, then the physical form factor doesn’t matter much.

So at the end of day, we probably won’t see much standardisation. But equally it’s probably not that important if you’re recycling. Fundamentally all the batteries will be electrically similar enough it won’t really matter.
I searched PopOs! repos and I couldn't find where they maintained their Gtk-3.0 patches or code. It didn't look to me like they altered Gtk-3.0 itself at all and likely just altered individual applications.
For teaching (and indeed writing) compilers, I greatly prefer Niklaus Wirth's simple recursive descent approach (and associated texts) to the encyclopedic bulk and complexity of the Dragon book!

However, I like Automata Theory, Languages and Computation. It's a book that has grown on me over the years.

As an aside, I think it's kind of interesting and cool to give the Turing award this year for writing textbooks! It's a type of deep scholarship that seems underappreciated and rarely rewarded.
Granted I didn't ask if that was standard interview prep for them prior to interviewing, so this is partly my own biases filtering through, but I didn't get the sense that the seasoned 30-40 yold engineers were on leetcode for 6 months to pass interviews. I'm not saying none of them do that, but I found the Google interview process pretty standard fare for any place that has a similar quality bar.

I remember my interviews with Google & Facebook as a new grad & they felt far more grueling than as a senior engineer (that & 10 years ago they were still asking those brain teasers like find the voltage between two points of an infinite lattice circuit).

At this stage in my career, I've found the interview questions are all about how to design large pieces of software with the coding aspect being a smaller piece of the pie to make sure I'm not BS'ing.
All observation is theory-laden; data cannot speak for itself.
The way I look at it is some rights are good ideas, some are bad ideas, and some are nonsensical and unworkable ideas (regardless of whether they would be good or bad in an idealized world). Health care as a right is the last of those.
I think that is a false dichotomy, GP might care and want to change habits, but considers car exhaust such a small piece of the problem that it isn't worth changing driving habits. I'm not saying that is right, simply pointing out it isn't certain GP doesn't value changing habits.
>>I don't use Maps to express my environmental values

Actually, you do. Your environmental values happen to be efficiency (Km/hour) trumps efficiency (Km/gram of CO2). You wish the software to continue to express only your environmental values. It is an activist stance nonetheless.
You act as though people are rational actors.
It’s 29 days 12 hours 44 minutes on average but not every lunar month is identical. Normally lunar calendars alternate 29, 30, 29, 30 days evenly as that pattern is easy to see.

Years are more complicated but in 864, Japan adopted one of the Chinese calendars in which a year was defined as 365.2446 which is quite close to the actual 365.2425 days and thus worked fine for long periods.

However, the 44 minutes adjustment needs a leap day every ~2.6 years or it obviously drifts out of sync. Adding a full month is pointless because it doesn’t change the offset.
HoloLens for 120k Army personnel: Microsoft inks $21.9B deal
I find it more believable that Google attracts engineers who want to save the environment than Google is secretly manipulating the routes of the masses for profit.
We see similar patterns in food production and consumer staples. See lead prevalence in baby food, toys, and clothing for examples of other problematic contamination.
I almost always take the simpler route, especially in areas I’m not familiar with. It’s a very nice quality of life feature that doesn’t get mentioned much.
You are either a very ignorant person(and in full demonstration of the Dunning-Kruger effect) or a disingenuous
and dishonest troll.

" L’équation E=MC2 est-elle une équation sexuée ? Peut-être que oui. Faisons l'hypothèse que oui, dans la mesure où elle privilégie la vitesse de la lumière par rapport à d’autres vitesses dont nous avons vitalement besoin. Ce qui me semble une possibilité de la signature sexuée de l'équation, ce n'est pas directement ses utilisations par les armements nucléaires, c'est d'avoir privilégié ce qui va le plus vite "

Irigaray, Luce. 1987b. “Sujet de la science, sujet sexué?” In : Sens et place des connaissances dans la société, pp. 95-121. Paris: Centre National de Recherche Scientifique.Vol 3.

You can see here the page, https://imgur.com/a/kJg67dl

Here it is the link to the book in Gallica https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3347401c.texteImage
There's lots of people in this country that think universal healthcare is socialism.
But the person can not buy insurance. Or buy other insurance. Or buy less insurance. When the government forces it there is no choice.
In the US you need to be very rich to do this as you need to be an "accredited investor" which means either millions in the bank or work with a Wall Street bank to get a license to invest. Normal people are prevented from investing until most of the alpha is gone.
Google has over a hundred thousand employees so discussing stereotypes isn't all that useful.

For example, maybe you got in before you had a kid? Also, you don't necessarily need to study that much to pass the interview.
We already do that ourselves naturally as an organism, as does the environment around us.

A simple synthetic cell is so far off from the myriad of potentially deadly cellular organisms(or even deadly malformed protein chains) that already exist and evolve right this instant that it's not worth a second thought in the context of "organisms that can kill us" for now.
The outcome doesn't bother me. The reasoning for high social value professions vs. low social value does, since it works for non-contagious situations as well.

The teachers continue to be the ones "taking care of our beloved children, the next generation"; The nurses continue to be "healthcare heroes"; the firefighters continue to be "brave and courageous"; all this continues to be true when I'm getting in line to have pancreatic cancer treated. I don't want to die because some pretty primary school teacher showed up at the last moment for that kidney transplant and society has decided that it wants her more than it wants me.

And obviously I have no objection to vaccinating high-degree nodes before low-degree nodes subject to the usual arguments.
Three questions:

Was there really a rope, and you really cut it with an axe?

What did this do to the life expectancy of the ax operator?

Does any of this have anything to do with your HN username? If there's a story, would you tell?
I worked around this (with parental support) by simply enrolling the local community college and getting a home-school program (which I think had some connection to Wes Beach? It's been a while...) to say "yeah, you're doing at least what you'd do in high school".
>I don't want to leave the determination of what constitutes a bad health-related decision to the vote.

The answer is to maintain both private and public insurance systems. As is already the case with Medicare. I don't think anyone is stopping you from buying your own private insurance if you are 65+.

And that's the thing I find strange about the healthcare debate in the US. There is already a huge public insurance system in place - Medicare. Yet people pretend that a public system like that is some sort of ideological novelty in the US. It's not.
>> no good argument or replacement for this

Should be:

>> no good argument against, or replacement for this
Additionally, the system and crew are tested on a regular basis with live drills. Sometimes surprise live drills. Its one of the most commonly-tested systems on the ship. Not to the point of actually causing a reactivity excursion, but the physical act of rapid rod insertion using the scram control switches (or breakers) happens all the time.
Insureance has choice in it. I am buying what I please. Young healthy person is not in need for same coverage of middle age person: it is also use risk pools so that I am not group in with sickly persons. Data are showing that 5% of patients have create 50% of health costs; I am not wanting to pay these. https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelbell/2013/01/10/why-5-of...
Snowflakes. IT sector have quite a lot snowflakes. And since they have access to media outlets much more readily then most other workers, their voices are amplified. They are free to work in any other companies given the skillsets they have. They chose to be there and chose to embrace the conditions there. Suddenly they want to unionised because their feelings hurt when they could have done so years ago. Their "bad treatments" are light years milder than what others had to endure.
I am with you on the "lowest stress" thing.

While I guess some people:"lowest stress = fastest time"
For me it is: not having to do a turn across 4 lanes of traffic(2 in either direction) without traffic lights.

Wife and I constantly scan google route and make up something when it does that.
The lesson here for anyone in mainstream computing, is that strongly typed languages are better than weakly, or untyped languages. The reasoning being that early detection of problems is cheaper, and better in terms of outcome, than delayed detection.

To be more on point, This effect can happen outside of the US too. Many people (like me) who laud being in a full-service health system economy don't talk about how optical and dental services are excluded from "full" and incur excess costs. You have to meet income tests to qualify for free, and if your health cover is not sufficiently generous, (yes, even with full service public health we are encouraged to have private cover, and we have co=pay costs, simply 2-3 orders of magnitude less than the US and basically discretionary for many things: either wait, or pay, but if you do wait you will be treated) then delaying service until you are on a pension is a bad, but sort-of rational choice.

I know people who say "I'll wait until I retire to deal with that"
(April 1) clowns.help – Uber for social workers
URL: http://clowns.help

This is a pitch I wrote during the last lockdown. Since German brand humor is currently is high in demand, I decided to share it today.

Firstly, the idea is inspired by the “UBER for X” analogy prominent in startups 5-8 years ago: Others get your dog groomed in 15 minutes. We get you a social worker.

Secondly, it is a reaction to the Covid denier movement in Germany. The protests literally look like clown parades. Maybe the government has to adjust?

Lastly, I don’t like that clown emojis are basically a trolling tool on Twitter now. I am a fan of humor. That’s why I wanted to leave a positive note.

I am not sure it would make a good startup. There is nothing proprietary – everybody can copy it and I am totally fine with that. Good jokes are meant to be told.

Maybe it is an idea to turn it into a Spinal Tap-like mockumentary. It could be epic scenes: Hundreds of clowns going from door to door to help.

If you have any “1. April” startup ideas maybe post them below or start a new thread - there should be plenty today! Happy April Fools' Day :-)
The collapse of Arecibo made me sad, like our space infra is in decay. Space X is a bright light and, I hope, represents a change in direction towards positive growth.
Zoom video call is powered by Google’s quantum computer
A healthy mix of finding new people to blame with the occasional spending of resources to make the unbearable bearable for a little while longer while the min-maxers find a new way to reduce spending to keep the cycle going.
As mentioned in another reply, Apple Maps many times suggests the “simplest” path (I believe it’s the minimum number of turns, but I’m not sure) as an option next to the fastest route. I think it’s my favorite feature of Apple Maps, and it’s the primary reason I use it over Google Maps.
People blame Windows for bloat, but Linux today is the true bloated software in my opinion - Linux used to be the OS we turned to run on machines where Windows used to crawl. But look at the state of Linux today. As someone asked in the Youtube comment too, I wonder where the bloat is in Linux that makes it so slow today, compared to its breezier past?
Biden to Let Trump’s H-1B Visa Ban Expire in Win for Tech
thedance provided a nice overview of the "readability" process here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22620455

Essentially what it means is that, when writing code in certain programming languages, one of your code reviewers has to have proved that they're fluent in that language and the style guide for it.
Everybody is trying to explain that it's fine or that you should care or whatever, but the real counterpoint is that Google doesn't care what mapping app a few motivated cranks use.

On average people won't even notice.
Unless of course they optimize for me not driving under a train bridge with my camper. That would be a big help. I wish they took into account the vehicle you are driving.
Yes I agree with your observations. And I've also noticed an aggressive pop up add campaign from Google asking whether I want purchase Youtube Premium.
asdfasdfasdfasdf

Didn't know you could execute javascript emebedded in an image like that. I used some basic filtering rules, but I can clearly see I have some way to go. I won't sleep tonight until I get this fixed!

EDIT: The glitch in the matrix is no more. Thank you for pointing this out!
> Should the US federal government (continue to) ensure that some level of health care is provided for all, and what level is that?

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/09/29/increasing-... ("Pew Research: Increasing share of Americans favor a single government program to provide health care coverage (2020)"

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/10/03/most-contin... ("Pew Research: Most continue to say ensuring health care coverage is government’s responsibility (2018)"

I won't pollute the thread by bloating this comment with large citations, but both links are interesting reads as to who falls where on the spectrum.
I have great insurance, every trip to the doctor is a fun waiting game as you get bill after bill in the mail for seemingly random amounts, by organization you've never heard of.

Hmm... I went to Dr. Smith, I just got a bill from Sunshine Medical Associates for $37.82 and another bill from Kweil, Zatack, and Yttrium Health Services for $17.89

I guess I could call this number, spend an hour on hold, talk to someone, have them ask me if I know the procedure's billing code, go, "I have no idea what the billing code is" have them treat me like an idiot or skip that part and end up paying the bill because in the long run $17.89 is a small price to pay to not have your credit ruined.

I recently called my insurance to check on out-of-network coverage for something they have no providers for, it is covered at 70% after a $750 deductible, but only up to the "Allowable Price."

I asked them what the "Allowable Price" was for this procedure, and they responded that they couldn't provide that. Odd, it seems like when they go to bill me they will know that number, but I'm not allowed to know it before I submit the bill for reimbursement. Even if you spend a huge amount of time up front ticking off boxes and patiently being passed from one CSR to another, you can't figure out what anything is going to cost.
It moves the question as to why is the fine constant exactly what it is to support life. If it was off by a billionth of a percent, hydrogen wouldn’t form, etc.

You are a cloud of atoms wondering about why the atoms exist.
> One might consider “clothing” a right

Clothing as a "right" is as ridiculous as health care as a "right", in my opinion. Though I also believe that governments should make efforts to provide both to those lacking them.
Well, if I’m driving a van, I’d expect to avoid stop and go streets to minimize fuel use. When I’m in my hybrid, I can take those stop signs like a champ. Will Google Maps support that type of logic?
Based on [1]; readability in google means you've been certified to review code according to Google's code style in a given language.

Seems like if you've been certified you don't need an extra person who has been certified in 'readability' to review your code so it makes it easier.

1) https://www.pullrequest.com/blog/google-code-review-readabil...
this is just sad. we have been collectively conned by the American private health insurance industry under the guise of "socialism is bad"
Efficiency drops sharply at high speed.
It seems to be a version of the sunk cost fallacy.

Democrats spent a lot of political capital to pass the ACA, and the thanks they got from voters was being kicked out of the majority for almost a decade. The law was unpopular at first, but now that people have gotten used to it, the ACA finally has majority approval. Today, Democrats are back in the majority and one of the major figures in passing the ACA is serving as POTUS, so he sets the agenda, and the agenda is to fortify the bill which is essentially his legacy.

Meanwhile M4A is championed by an Independent senator who isn't even a Democrat. No way Democrats are going to go with his plan, even if it's supported by a majority of their base.

Politics is weird.
> Under a public option system, you'd still be able to buy private insurance. No one is banning this.

Of course not. A public option obviously implies there is a private option. But a public option isn't the only thing being suggested. This was in the Medicare For All draft bill that Sanders introduced:

> SEC. 107. PROHIBITION AGAINST DUPLICATING COVERAGE. (a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning on the effective date described in section 106(a), it shall be unlawful for— (1) a private health insurer to sell health insurance coverage that duplicates the benefits provided under this Act; or (2) an employer to provide benefits for an employee, former employee, or the dependents of an employee or former employee that duplicate the benefits provided under this Act.

You can say "well, he's only one senator and he got toasted by Biden in the primary anyway", but he's a very influential and powerful figure and it's unfair to say that nobody is suggesting banning it.
It looks like part of the carbon footprint model is based on road inclines and traffic congestion.

For example, a super-fast route that's up an extremely-steep incline on the way may technically be faster from point A to B, but would be less carbon efficient than taking a slightly-longer route that is flatter.