skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
For sure. So the impermeable layer the water table is sitting on is actually limestone. The water is stupid hard. But the chance of heavy metal intrusion is next to nil, unless there’s an industrial accident upstream of the material aquifer flow. Not all regions of the US fall into this category but the vast Midwest mainly does. If you’re in an area with non sedimentary bedrock, or in an area where the impermeable layers are penetrated (like mining).

My father, also a hydrologist…. Heard non stop about rocks since I was a kid :)
I applied (for now) a pre-filled table with a 4096 default limit. Users can also specify an upper or lower limit from the UI directly now. Added chunk and recursive summarization too.
What is a good estimate of the number of times these boosters and engines will be reusable?
The rarity of goldilocks life-friendly plants seems far outweighed by the astronomical number of planets that must be out there... 100B stars in our own galaxy, and 100B-1T galaxies in the observable universe. Even if on average each galaxy only has one star/planet with life (i.e. only a 1-in-100,000,000,000 chance of a planet having life), that'd still mean 1T planets with life out there! In reality I'd bet there are tons of planets with life in our galaxy.

I'm not sure where you are getting "vast absence of life in the Universe" from... Our search for intelligent life has been limited to looking for radio transmissions. I wonder what the stats are on an intelligent species in our nearest neighboring galaxy happening on our own transmissions?

It's good to feel lucky/thankful for ones own fortunate circumstances, but merely existing isn't really one of them. If you are a drugged-up child soldier in Africa, who has just been forced to kill your own parents, then should you be feeling lucky to be alive?
U-Boot: a boot loader for Embedded boards
Not unless you know time travelers. It’s a statement about the future, and how this kind of industry consolidation tends toward regulatory capture.

So in 5 years or so, we suddenly see laws everywhere that require expensive certifications, new kinds of insurances, audit requirements, and so on in the name of “safety” no one can start a new small business in those industries without a team of consultants, lawyers, big auditing firms, and so forth.
> The standard "LAMP" stack, for example, has Apache in it for the actual server, talking to PHP using a CGI interface. So if your PHP script crashes or hangs, the server itself is still up, and capable of serving other clients.

Not exactly... the standard, typical LAMP stack makes use of mod_php, so the PHP engine is in-process with one of the Apache process.

The fact that Apache has multiprocess/hybrid workers is actually why the server stays up and can serve more requests.

Some contemporary LAMP stacks use FPM, I guess; most of those in shared hosting ISPs for example because of the possibility of running the script as a user process.
I have two kids, I'll probably work until 70 as a result (probably not different from the average retirement age in 1950s). But my point is: it is worth it.
Sure the safety part of it is something that should be verified before launch. But when they are launching multiple of these things and the variables are all mostly the same you don't need to do the same analysis over and over again.

A prime example is the environmental impact stuff. They have already done that multiple times. Nothing really changed. If it succeed and doesn't blow up the impact is X, if it blows up the impact is Y. Yet these approvals take weeks and months.

There are also multiple agencies that put their foot down. Famously fish and wildlife was worried starship would crash in the water and hit a shark/whale. No seriously. https://youtu.be/kS8G5D9fg3g?t=21

Then there is the story that at Vandenburg air base, they had to strap a seal to a board and play rocket noises through headphones to see if it was distressed. Keep in mind Vandenburg has been a military rocket launch site for decades. But only now when its SpaceX do these agencies put up road blocks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SvJP5wfN4k
Very interesting! For those who do not pay too much attention to Forth, the forth standard [0] still sees fairly regular updates. GForth, the implementation that I've spent the most time with, gets several commits per week, so it's not dead, though I suspect that it's a small handful of individuals who use it frequently that are keeping it alive and not widespread use.

Forth is absolutely worth learning, if for no other reason than understanding how stack-based interpreters work. The CPython VM, as an example, behaves similar in some respects to the average Forth program.

There's definitely better examples out there, but here[1] is an implementation of Mage the Awakening 2e's (tabletop game) spellcasting system in Forth that I wrote to help with playing awile ago.

[0]: https://forth-standard.org/

[1]: https://git.sr.ht/~chiefnoah/spellbook/tree
This can be handled by any decent text editor. In vim, highlight the problem area, then hit GQ. Everything is rewrapped.
I know the control algorithms are the mind-blowing part here but,

does anyone have any literature about how the Rocket localized itself with respect to the chopstick arms? It must've been some combination of GPS and Radar pings to the arms?

And then the onboard IMU to make sure it hits it straight.
A thousand dollars for a part worth ones of dollars will simply never be the better alternative, sorry
Gotta make the individual pieces small enough to mostly burn up completely on rentry.
> AI companies are already paying humans to produce new data to train on and will continue to do that.

The sheer difference in scale between the domain of “here are all the people in the world that have shared data publicly until now” and “here is the relatively tiny population of people being paid to add new information to an LLM” dooms the LLM to become outdated in an information hoarding society. So, the question in my mind is, “Why will people keep producing public information just for it to be devalued into LLMs?”
Efficient as in evolution or in business: you just need to be more efficient than most of the peers
> I wonder if there’s any training whatsoever.

Amazon here advertises, and this is closer to a literal quote than paraphrasing:

"Need a job? Can pass a background check? Apply today, start tomorrow, no interview required."

So I'm sure their attitude to training is probably "as little as possible".
They don't need to solve the Navier-Stokes equations, they don't care how the fluid is actually behaving, they just need to approximate how the mass is moving within a margin of error that the control system can handle.
Update: v 1.1 is out!

- # Changelog

## [1.1] - 2024-03-19

### Added
- New `model_tokens.json` file containing token limits for various Ollama models.
- Dynamic token limit updating based on selected model in options.
- Automatic loading of model-specific token limits from `model_tokens.json`.
- Chunking and recursive summary for long pages
- Better handling of markdown returns

### Changed
- Updated `manifest.json` to include `model_tokens.json` as a web accessible resource.
- Modified `options.js` to handle dynamic token limit updates:
- Added `loadModelTokens()` function to fetch model token data.
- Added `updateTokenLimit()` function to update token limit based on selected model.
- Updated `restoreOptions()` function to incorporate dynamic token limit updating.
- Added event listener for model selection changes.

### Improved
- User experience in options page with automatic token limit updates.
- Flexibility in handling different models and their respective token limits.

### Fixed
- Potential issues with incorrect token limits for different models.
> I hope that the Linux community will long retain at least some echo of that exploratory spirit, and extend that to projects like FreeBSD.

In that exploratory spirit, I ran FreeBSD for years. It has a number of every-day shortcomings compared to Linux. If Linux users want to be annoyed and inconvenienced regularly in the spirit of exploration, sure, they can give it a shot.
> To create true competition, the infrastructure and stations would need to be taken into public ownership and the train operators would run whatever services they see fit.

The problem with that is that on a mixed-traffic railway it's very easy to run out of capacity once you have a mixture of trains with differing stopping patterns (and perhaps some freight on top) running along the same line. Once you reach that point, competition stops being directly about passengers and starts being about train paths, which can have rather annoying side effects for passengers.

Plus connections don't really work well with competition, either, because a) that'd require coordination between possibly differing operators, which is anathema to unfettered competition, and b) where a regional feeder route might only run hourly or half-hourly, it's impossible to have good connections with more than one or at most two sets of connecting trains anyway.

(Also c) through-ticketing with sufficient passenger rights in case you miss a connection enroute – at least the UK kept a national ticketing system even throughout privatisation and including all open-access operators, whereas in Germany it's an incompatible free-for-all, despite a legal obligation for railway companies to ostensibly offer through-tickets.)
Rough framers cutting and nailing together dimensional lumber, yes I agree that is entry-level work does not pay very well. Skilled carpenters who can do things like design and build a beautiful deck or flawless ornamental woodwork, built-in cabinets, or custom furniture, or solve a tricky framing issue in an expensive historic renovation earn much more.

I should add that all the people I know who are earning really good money in the trades put in some years, established a solid personal reputation in the area, and then started their own businesses.
America has always tolerated enhanced levels of BS. I remember as a small kid finding US comics at the newsagent that had ads for "x-ray glasses". I thought that's amazing, why don't we have those here? We'll we didn't have them because they don't exist and it was illegal to sell stuff that doesn't exist where I lived.
The difference is only a small part- the shuttle itself- was reusable. The booster that put it into space was scrapped every time.
Okay, so where is it explained which three concepts are being diagrammed here? Did the artist have some in mind when assigning colours, or should we use our imagination? Sadly, the linked description page at www.cai.cam.ac.uk is a 404 already.

This is also interesting as a secular, scientific monument that happens to resemble some quite traditional representations of the Christian Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Perhaps it is not an accident that "three rings" were chosen for this prominent homage.
1. Security — I much prefer to hand write APIs rather than using security rules (see recent Arc browser exploit, among many others). Firebase pro’s will call those skill issues, but idk if that really makes it less of an issue.
2. Lock-in - I’m fine with S3 and SQS where the lock in is pretty limited, but Firebase is a floor to ceiling commitment to Google Cloud.
3. Cost - if your app succeeds, you will find yourself investing lots of time moving cost sensitive workloads off of Firebase, though this only matters if you are worried about ‘good’ problems.
- Buying an annuity with the same benefits as a good pension will cost over >$1M, so it's not much of a stretch to call anybody who was one of those a millionaire too.

- I think the keyword here in the title is "entrepreneur", not "plumbers & HVAC"
A lot of people ITT don't seem to understand very well what's going on with this attack. The Ars Technica article doesn't seem very well written, but we've had previous discussion[0].

Quick FAQ:

> Haven't we known about USB vulnerabilities forever (agent.btz, BadUSB etc.)?

The fact that USB devices were used to transfer the files is irrelevant to the attack.

The attack doesn't depend on running the malware directly off the USB device, on any kind of auto-run vulnerability, etc. It would have worked out the same way if files had been transferred, for example, by burning them to DVD. The attack only depends on the machines on the non-air-gapped side, being compromised such that the attackers can control what is put onto the USB. But the USB drives themselves are only being used as dumb storage here.

The attack instead primarily depends on social engineering that is helped along by the design of the Windows GUI. On the air-gapped machine, the user sees a "folder" which is actually an executable file. By default, Windows hides the .exe file extension (which it uses to determine executability of the file) in the GUI; and the icon can be customized. Double-clicking thus launches the malware installer when it was only supposed to open a folder. The folder has a name that the user expected to see (modulo the hidden extension).

It appears that the original setup involves hiding[1] (but still copying) the folder that was supposed to be transferred, and then renaming the malware to match. (Presumably, the malware could then arrange for Windows to open the hidden folder "normally", as part of its operation.) Windows can be configured to show "hidden" files (like `ls -a`), but it isn't the default.

Notice that this is social engineering applied only to the process of attempting to view the files - nobody was persuaded to use any storage devices "from outside".

> Isn't that, like, not actually air gapped?

The definition of an air gap generally allows for files to be passed across the air gap. Which is all the attack really depends on. See also "sneakernet". The point is that you can easily monitor and control all the transfers. But this attack is possible in spite of that control, because of the social engineering.

> How is it possible to exfiltrate data this way?

The actual mechanism isn't clearly described in media coverage so far, from what I can tell. But presumably, once malware is set up on the air-gapped machine, it copies the files back onto the USB, hiding them. When the device is transferred back to the non-air-gapped side, malware already present there monitors for the USB being plugged in, retrieves the files and uploads them (via the "GoldenMailer" or "GoldenDrive" components) elsewhere.

[0] https://www.welivesecurity.com/en/eset-research/mind-air-gap..., via https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41779952.

[1]: Windows file systems generally don't have an "executable bit" for files, but do have a "hidden bit", rather than relying on a leading-dot filename convention. So it's the opposite of what Linux does.
>Our results show that regulators must consider mass economic grid defection of PV-diesel generator-battery systems as a very real possibility in the near future. To prevent utility death spirals and increased carbon emissions, it’s imperative we have rate structures that encourage solar producers to remain on the grid.

>The worst thing regulators can do is allow the electric utilities to increase unavoidable costs for their short-term profits. This can backfire, as utilities will lose customers entirely in the long run. With solar and battery costs continuing to decline, this problem is only becoming more urgent.

Nationalize all the power companies, run them with low cost to consumer, zero carbon to the planet mandate.

Why do we even allow private utility companies to turn a profit off a natural monopoly?
Someone has probably tried this before. Your first step is finding devs in situations like yours and talking to them.

I doubt people who don't have the same burdens are going to help, or understand how to help.
Still if there indeed is "free" mass moving about, you need to make sure your control inputs don't make it slosh harder, so you compensate for that, so it sloshes even harder, etc - basically avoiding oscilation. :)
How did you find the fraudster?
Are they also as bad at reading as you?
News Minimalist [1] is one way, where it aggregates stories across outlets and uses LLMs to remove clickbait from titles. It also assigns loose 'scores' to each story to approximate how 'important' it is, which I've found to be directionally useful.

Ultimately, it comes down to why one consumes news at all. If it's to have something to discuss around the water cooler or dinner table, that's a very different use case than someone trying to pattern match on world events for trading stocks or selling their wares.

[1] https://www.newsminimalist.com/
That would be far too heavy in this case. :)
The private equity + consolidation part concerns me too. Bad for the customer and the next gen of small business owners.

I would expect those same PE companies to lobby for legislation to make it harder for new start up competitors to start.

We are stupid if we let this happen.
> In theory, just providing the grammar for a new programming language should be enough for a sufficiently smart LLM to answer problems in that language.

I doubt it. Take a language like Rust or Haskell or even modern Java or Python. Without prolonged experience with the language, you have no idea how the various features interact in practice, what the best practices and typical pitfalls are, what common patterns and habits have been established by its practitioners, and so on. At best, the system would have to simulate building a number of nontrivial systems using the language in order to discover that knowledge, and in the end it would still be like someone locked in a room without knowledge of how the language is actually applied in the real world.
This may be a joke, but counting your fingers to lucid dream has been a thing for a lot longer than diffusion models.

That being said, your reality will influence your dreams if you're exposed to some things enough. I used to play minecraft on a really bad PC back in the day, and in my lucid dreams I used to encounter the same slow chunk loading as I saw in the game.
I wonder how this article was pitched. Strange messaging, turning the news of private equity hoovering up HVAC companies into plumbers getting rich? Surely private equity will do what it always does, drive up prices, drive down quality, and bail out leaving behind a mess if or when it suits them. It also seems pretty funny to call it a “class” when they’re referring to a few dozen business owners, not really trades workers.

Did the plumbers getting rich meme start with Joe the Plumber? My cynical hypothesis is that it’s a movement to steer people away from college fearing a hollowing out of the working class and higher wages if everyone’s university educated. Are there other reasons this talking point keeps circling? Googling multiple sources shows plumbers making an average of $60k/year which is lower than the average teacher salary in the US. Neither of those classes is getting rich and both are feeling the squeeze of inflation, no doubt being contributed to by private equity.
The technology to probe brains and visual related neurons exists today. With limitless cpu cycles we would for sure be able to do make us see whatever we think about.
RIP.

My first paid programming gig ($20) was implementing the XMODEM checksum in 6502 assembly for a BBS sysop who had bought an early 1200 baud modem, only to find that his Atari BASIC BBS software was computing the checksum so slowly that it still created slowdowns in file transfers and needed a USR() that could compute it faster.

I learned a lot about protocols and algorithms from that exercise (now trivially simple, but wasn't for me at the time).
“Technically, I am homeless. I do not have a place of my own. I’m not on any lease,” he says.

That is not 'technically' homeless, or any other kind of homeless. If it was, millions of adults who move back home with their parents would be 'homeless.' Millions of spouses who aren't on the lease or deed would be 'homeless.' Millions of roommates, too -- which is, in fact, what this guy actually is.

I sympathize that the guy is in a tough spot, $70k a year is not a lot to live on in LA. But this kind of self-victimization is not helpful, Professor.
Sure but most common LLMs aren't going to be patronizing and presumptuous while they say so
The canonical paper on handling software failures: https://erlang.org/download/armstrong_thesis_2003.pdf
That has already begun. Saw stop technology is already working it's way into regulations. A decent non saw stop table saw will cost you ~500 USD. A saw stop saw will be 1200.
Because that is a lot more work, will only work for a single game, potentially requires more resources to run and will not get you the same level of realism.
I doubt it ever will. There's still pockets on the internet and a few tireless maintainers, but I doubt it'll ever see much of a resurgence. It's just too different. Maybe during "bring-up" of embedded systems, but even that I think is mostly on the way out sadly.
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Note I used periodic instead of intermittent for a reason. I seem to recall he was recently for something like a day a day and a half fast per month. Don't follow him that closely, did he move away from that too?
10x more slop for $1 is still 10x more slop, though.
SpaceX is really incredible in how regular the improvements are coming. Something in their structure is well balanced.
It's unclear to me why you believe this is relevant here. This attack indeed uses different tooling, and a completely different attack vector (social engineering via the presentation of a malicious executable in the GUI, as opposed to an auto-run exploit).
Also IIRC the massive main tanks in Super Heavy should be basically empty at landing & the landings propelants come from a set of small header tabks that are near the central axis of the vehicle & arr completely full. This should reduce or even fully remove sloshing issues at landing time.
Great article. Reinforces my reluctance to see movies in theaters anymore. At home, you can turn on subtitles. People who are not at all hard of hearing do it.
I disagree. It was useful because the UI was (and is!) great. Easy to use markdown input, lists of answers sorted by votes, very limited ads, etc. The gamification was also well done.

Compared to anything before it (endless phpBB forums, expertsexchange, etc.) it was just light years ahead.

Even today compared the SO UI with Quora. It's still 10x better.
What an odd dismissal. I don't know where you're based, but in most of the US the experience of hailing a cab vs getting an Uber is night and day. The ease of use, the ratings, the price transparency, the availability - are all way superior, price doesn't even come into this. I grabbed a taxi recently and got quickly reminded of what it was like with "sorry, the credit card machine is broken" BS. No thank you.
I'd love to see followup analysis of what that fire was all about.
> they don't focus on the end-user too much.

Of course they don't. Stuff like this is a proof of concept.

If they had a product that worked, they wouldn't be in academia. Instead, they would leave the world of research and create a multi billion dollar company.

Almost by definition, anything in academia isn't going to be productized, because if it was, then the researchers would just stop researching and make a bunch of money selling the product to consumers.

Such research is still useful for society, though, as it means that someone else can spend the millions and millions of dollars making a better version and then selling that.