The electromechanical angle computer inside the B-52 bomber's star tracker

101 NelsonMinar 2026-04-18 17:07:43 UTC righto.com Llama Share 27

Before GPS, aircraft navigated using celestial navigation, which was automated in the 1960s with the development of the Astro Compass system that used an electromechanical analog computer called the Angle Computer. The Angle Computer physically modeled the celestial sphere to solve the navigational triangle and provide accurate heading and position information to the aircraft navigator.

Migrating from DigitalOcean to Hetzner

501 yusufusta 2026-04-18 14:07:43 UTC isayeter.com Llama Share 281

A company migrated from DigitalOcean to Hetzner dedicated servers with zero downtime, saving $14,388 per year. The migration involved six phases, including MySQL replication, DNS TTL reduction, and reverse proxy setup.

America will come to regret its war on taxes

42 andsoitis 2026-04-18 18:34:43 UTC economist.com Llama Share 29

The US tax-cutting policy is widely popular but may not be thoroughly scrutinized. Americans are receiving large refunds from tax cuts financed by trillions in deficit spending.

State of Kdenlive

249 f_r_d 2026-04-18 12:07:43 UTC kdenlive.org Llama Share 85

The Kdenlive team made significant progress in 2025, releasing new features, bug fixes, and improvements to the user interface, with a focus on stability and community support. The team is now looking ahead to upcoming features, including 10/12 bit color support, playback optimizations, and OpenFX support, and is grateful for community contributions and donations that enable continued development.

Opus 4.7 to 4.6 Inflation is ~45%

251 anabranch 2026-04-18 16:07:43 UTC tokens.billchambers.me Full Share 265

Anonymous request-token comparisons from the community, showing how Opus 4.6 and Opus 4.7 differ on real inputs Open source · stored rows contain anonymous submission IDs onlyNot affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic.

Fuzix OS

37 DeathArrow 2026-04-18 16:07:43 UTC fuzix.org Llama Share 15

Fuzix kernel 0.4 has bug fixes, improved interfaces, and a reworked networking layer for modularity. It supports various 8-bit and 16-bit processors.

Show HN: MDV – a Markdown superset for docs, dashboards, and slides with data

36 drasim 2026-04-18 16:07:43 UTC github.com/drasimwagan Llama Share 11

The user writes documents, dashboards, and slides in a Markdown superset using a theme and named styles. The rendered output is self-contained HTML and PDF, and can be previewed live in VS Code with auto-reload.

Scientists discover "cleaner ants" that groom giant ants in Arizona desert

43 t-3 2026-04-18 15:07:43 UTC sciencedaily.com Llama Share 14

Scientists discovered a unique partnership in Arizona's desert where tiny cone ants act as "cleaners" for larger harvester ants, licking and nibbling their bodies. This behavior is the first known example of one ant species cleaning a much larger ant, similar to cleaner fish in the ocean.

Sumida Aquarium Posts 2026 Penguin Relationship Chart, with Drama and Breakups

102 Lwrless 2026-04-18 13:07:43 UTC sumida-aquarium.com Full Share 5

The 2026 edition of our penguins relationship chart is finally here! It's fun, adorable, and as complicated as always!

UpCodes (YC S17) Is Hiring SDRs to Help Make Construction More Productive

0 2026-04-18 17:07:43 UTC up.codes Full Share

We’re looking for talented and motivated people who can help us build easy-to-use compliance and product research tools. Learn about our culture and explore open positions.

Michael Rabin has died

316 tkhattra 2026-04-18 07:07:43 UTC en.wikipedia.org Llama Share 69

Michael Oser Rabin was an Israeli mathematician and computer scientist who co-received the 1976 ACM Turing Award for work on computational complexity. He made significant contributions to computer science, including the Miller-Rabin primality test and the Rabin-Karp string search algorithm.

80386 Memory Pipeline

43 wicket 2026-04-18 14:07:43 UTC nand2mario.github.io Llama Share 7

The 80386's memory pipeline is a carefully engineered combination of latency-hiding techniques that allows protected virtual memory to perform close to physical memory, making it a practical foundation for serious PC operating systems. The FPGA 386 core's memory pipeline design aims to map the historical 386 memory pipeline to modern FPGAs while achieving high Fmax and low CPI, with ...

Understanding the FFT Algorithm (2013)

18 peter_d_sherman 2026-04-18 16:07:43 UTC jakevdp.github.io Llama Share 2

The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is a fast algorithm to compute the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) with a time complexity of O[N log N]. It was introduced by JW Cooley and John Tukey in 1965 and exploits symmetries in the DFT computation to achieve this speedup.

Amiga Graphics Archive

202 sph 2026-04-18 07:07:43 UTC amiga.lychesis.net Full Share 53

Launched in 1985 the Commodore Amiga boasted graphics capabilities that were unsurpassed for it's time. It featured an intricate collection of custom chips that enabled it to do things that, until then, had been impossible to achieve with other personal computers. This site is dedicated to graphics made with or for the Commodore Amiga home computer.

Category Theory Illustrated – Orders

192 boris_m 2026-04-18 07:07:43 UTC abuseofnotation.github.io Llama Share 55

Orders are sets of elements with a binary relation that obeys laws of reflexivity, transitivity, antisymmetry, and totality, defining linear and partial orders. Removing laws from orders results in different structures, such as preorders and equivalence relations, which have various applications in mathematics and computer science.

It's OK to compare floating-points for equality

142 coinfused 2026-04-18 09:07:43 UTC lisyarus.github.io Llama Share 90

The user discusses the limitations and pitfalls of using epsilon-comparison for floating-point numbers, arguing that it's often a bad solution and can lead to unexpected behavior and bugs. They provide several examples of how to handle floating-point comparisons in a more robust and reliable way, such as using acceptance radii, analyzing the problem, and avoiding epsilons altogether.

Why Japan has such good railways

219 RickJWagner 2026-04-18 13:07:43 UTC worksinprogress.co Llama Share 227

Japan's railway system excels due to good public policy, business structure, and land use rules, not cultural factors. Its unique model of private companies building cities and capturing value from real estate and commercial side businesses has contributed to its success.

Show HN: I made a calculator that works over disjoint sets of intervals

263 fouronnes3 2026-04-18 04:07:43 UTC victorpoughon.github.io Llama Share 48

This calculator uses Interval Union Arithmetic to compute results that contain the true value, supporting division by intervals with zero and remaining closed. It interprets numbers as intervals with outward rounding over IEEE 754 double precision floats.

Measuring Claude 4.7's tokenizer costs

675 aray07 2026-04-17 19:07:43 UTC claudecodecamp.com Llama Share 470

Anthropic's new Claude Opus 4.7 tokenizer uses 1.3-1.45x more tokens than 4.6. This results in a 20-30% higher per-session cost for a small but real improvement in instruction following.

The USDA's gardening zones have shifted. (Interactive app and map)

37 nuke-web3 2026-04-18 17:07:43 UTC apps.npr.org Llama Share 3

The USDA plant hardiness zone map has been updated to reflect warmer winter temperatures, but it doesn't account for other factors like summer heat and microclimates, making it only a partial guide for gardeners. Local nurseries, botanical gardens, and cooperative extension services can provide more specific advice on plant survival and growth in your area.

A Dumb Introduction to Z3 (2025)

52 y1n0 2026-04-18 11:07:43 UTC ar-ms.me Llama Share 23

The user is learning to use solvers, specifically Z3, to solve constraint problems in Rust, and is sharing their experience and understanding of the concepts and API. They have successfully used Z3 to solve various problems, including the Coin Change problem and a Sudoku, and are exploring its capabilities and limitations.

All 12 moonwalkers had "lunar hay fever" from dust smelling like gunpowder (2018)

424 cybermango 2026-04-17 19:07:43 UTC esa.int Llama Share 241

Lunar dust is toxic and causes health issues in humans due to its sharp, abrasive particles and electrostatic charge. Researchers are studying the dust to estimate the risk and develop protective measures for future lunar missions.

Building a Grow-Only Counter on a Sequentially Consistent KV Store

4 brunocalza 2026-04-18 18:07:43 UTC brunocalza.me Prefix Share 0

Apr 13, 2026 We’re going to discuss Challenge #4: Grow-Only Counter. This challenge is particularly tricky. I wouldn’t say it’s hard, but if the goal is to learn, there’s a lot to unwrap. The task is to build a grow-only counter. Nothing strange so far. However, the specification says to build the counter on top of Maelstrom’s SeqKV built-in service. And that’s where things get weird. In this ...

I’m spending months coding the old way

312 evakhoury 2026-04-17 21:07:43 UTC miguelconner.substack.com Llama Share 302

The author is on a 6-week retreat at the Recurse Center to focus on coding without AI, learn Python, and understand computers better. They plan to train an LLM from scratch and improve their programming skills.

Graphs That Explain the State of AI in 2026

20 bryanrasmussen 2026-04-18 18:07:43 UTC spectrum.ieee.org Llama Share 8

AI capabilities continue to accelerate with notable model releases and increased investment, but public perception remains mixed with concerns over AI's impact on society and job displacement. The 2026 Stanford AI Index report highlights trends in AI adoption, investment, and public perception, with varying results depending on the task or question at hand.

The quiet disappearance of the free-range childhood

129 sylvainkalache 2026-04-18 12:07:43 UTC bigthink.com Llama Share 125

Mallerie and Christopher's 6-year-old son was investigated for neglect after riding his scooter to a nearby playground unsupervised. A new Georgia law, "reasonable childhood independence," aims to prevent such investigations by setting a higher bar for neglect.

Towards trust in Emacs

164 eshelyaron 2026-04-18 02:07:43 UTC eshelyaron.com Llama Share 25

Emacs 30 introduced a trust system to prevent arbitrary code execution, but it causes friction by disabling features for untrusted files. trust-manager is a new package that grants trust just-in-time with minimal friction.

The simple geometry behind any road

107 azhenley 2026-04-18 07:07:43 UTC sandboxspirit.com Llama Share 12

The author explains how to generate smooth roads using lines and circular arcs by interpolating between abstract cross-sections called profiles, and describes a method to connect two profiles using a two-line fillet construction. The author also discusses how to handle edge cases, such as roads that shift or turn, by using cubic Hermite splines to find a good candidate position and ...

Are the costs of AI agents also rising exponentially? (2025)

285 louiereederson 2026-04-17 21:07:43 UTC tobyord.com Llama Share 113

The author questions the trend of AI's exponential growth in task length and performance, suggesting that the cost of achieving this performance may be growing exponentially as well, potentially making AI less cost-competitive with humans over time. Analysis of a chart from METR shows that the hourly cost of AI agents is increasing with task duration, suggesting that forecasting AI's ...

Show HN: Smol machines – subsecond coldstart, portable virtual machines

423 binsquare 2026-04-17 19:07:43 UTC github.com/smol-machines Llama Share 129

Smolmachines is a tool for running custom Linux virtual machines locally with sub-second cold start, cross-platform support, and elastic memory usage. It allows for sandboxing untrusted code, packing workloads into portable executables, and using git and SSH without exposing keys.