The narrator met Julius at university, who was charming and had a talent for presentation but lacked technical understanding. Despite this, Julius had a successful career, becoming a deputy CEO and then interim CEO of a startup.
Researchers found that commercial tea bags release millions of microplastics and nanoplastics when infused, which can be absorbed by human intestinal cells and enter the bloodstream. This study highlights the need for standardized test methods and regulatory policies to mitigate microplastic contamination from plastic food contact materials.
A new language model o3 achieved 25% on the FrontierMath dataset, which contains hard maths questions. This is surprising as the author expected AI to struggle with these questions for a couple of years.
Someone claiming to be United Healthcare is filing DMCA requests to remove artists' depictions of the surveillance video of Luigi smiling and parody merchandise. This is seen as a wild overstep of the company's legal rights and possibly an example of "copyfraud."
Some programmers prefer not to use IDE features like autocomplete and language servers, relying on memory and documentation to write code efficiently, while others use these tools but with caution and often turn them off to avoid distractions. Many developers believe that relying on tools can hinder their ability to think critically and remember code, and that the key to productivity lies in ...
The user reflects on how they lost fun in programming over the years, but recently rediscovered it with C++ due to its capabilities, flexibility, and lack of restrictive community standards. They argue that C++ is now a modern language with many improvements, including auto type inference, nullptr, range-for, lambda expressions, and more, making it a great choice for creative projects.
Researchers trained adversarial policies against KataGo, a superhuman Go-playing AI, achieving a >97% win rate by tricking it into making blunders. The attack transfers to other superhuman AIs and persists even in KataGo agents trained to defend against it.
Clinical guidelines help standardize cancer care by distilling medical evidence into structured recommendations, but their format can be dense and hard to navigate. A software engineer built a proof-of-concept tool to extract guidelines into a structured format that machines can understand, aiming to improve interfaces for doctors and potentially get computers to help follow guidelines.
Computing science faces confusion about its nature due to computers' various aspects, such as industrial products, international competition, and philosophical questions. To be a viable academic discipline, computing science should be an unusually formal branch of mathematics with a focus on methodological concerns.
2024 will see a shift towards human ingenuity and scientific discoveries, but also increased robotism and social isolation. Major industries like social media, gambling, and large movies will decline, while open source AI and crypto will rise.
Xerox Holdings Corporation agreed to acquire Lexmark International, Inc. for $1.5 billion to strengthen its core print portfolio and build a broader global print business. The acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings per share and free cash flow, with identified cost synergies of over $200 million.
The user discovered and learned about various games, books, articles, and programming languages in 2024, including Elite, Ham Radio culture, and Joy. They also worked on Clojure, released new versions, and organized the Clojure/conj 2024 conference, while exploring other languages and projects.
Ugandan athlete Deo Kato ran 7,730 miles from South Africa to London to raise awareness about racism, facing abuse and racism in Europe. Despite challenges, Kato's journey renewed his faith in humanity and highlighted the positive aspects of migration.
A functionally complete decompilation of LEGO Island version 1.1 has been achieved, providing a workable codebase that can be modified and ported to other platforms. To compile the repository, use Microsoft Visual C++ 4.2 with CMake and follow specific instructions to produce highly-accurate binaries that match the original executables.
KeyPub.sh is a verified SSH public key directory for identity management. It connects identities to keys via SSH commands, eliminating authentication management.
The user has been using Linux for a long time and has tried various distros, but now prefers immutable Linux distros for their stability, security, and reliability. They recommend trying Fedora Silverblue, Vanilla OS, or openSUSE Aeon for a desktop experience, and Fedora CoreOS, Flatcar Container Linux, or MicroOS for a server experience.
Researchers released an interpreted model, Llama 3.3 70B, with a new API for general access. They explored the model's feature space and introduced new features for easier and more reliable steering.
EZRGB is a platform that simplifies animated light shows by selling pre-made sequences and components through a web storefront. DBOS is a cloud service that automates sequence mapping and rendering, making it easy to integrate with AWS services and scale to zero during off-seasons.
MDN Learn Web Development section was updated in December 2024 by merging the MDN Curriculum into it. The update aims to provide a more streamlined learning experience with a clear pathway for beginners.
A small red cabin on a Stockholm island houses a key datacentre amplifying a fibre-optic cable signal from Sweden to Berlin. The site is vulnerable to sabotage, with recent cuts sparking a Swedish investigation and raising concerns over hybrid warfare.
Delighted you're here to spread wintry cheer! Create paper snowflake designs.
Discover the magic of the internet at Imgur, a community powered entertainment destination. Lift your spirits with funny jokes, trending memes, entertaining gifs, inspiring stories, viral videos, and so much more from users.
The Washington State Department of Agriculture and USDA declared the northern giant hornet eradicated from Washington and the US after a three-year effort. The eradication was the result of a multiyear collaboration between state, federal, and international agencies, as well as public support.
Large language models undergo fine-tuning to adapt to specific tasks, but this process can be costly due to the model's immense size. Parameter-Efficient Fine-Tuning (PEFT) methods, such as LoRA, reduce computational and storage costs by fine-tuning only external modules called adapters.
Litestack is a Ruby gem that provides a single package for web app data infrastructure, including a SQL database, cache, job queue, message broker, full text search, and metrics platform. It offers superior performance, efficiency, and ease of use compared to conventional approaches.
We developed a fast and standard-compliant C++ URL parser that outperforms existing parsers by up to eight times, and our implementation has been integrated into the Node.js JavaScript runtime environment. Our parser uses various strategies such as reducing memory allocations, implementing fast functions, and replacing strings with simpler types to achieve high performance.
HNSW's memory-intensive nature and operational complexity make it less suitable for large-scale applications, while IVF offers a scalable and cost-effective alternative. IVF's efficiency and simplicity, combined with modern quantization techniques, make it a strong competitor to HNSW for massive datasets.
The user wants to extend Rust's type system to support refinement types, specifically units of measure, and proposes several ways to do this, including adding a type-level oracle function or plugging into rustc's trait resolution or type inference. The user suggests a lower-powered solution that discards unit information during trait resolution and performs late rejection of types before code ...
This collection of Chrome extensions offers essential tools for screen recordings, screenshots, and responsive testing, ideal for design, marketing, and product teams. It features seven must-have tools for designers, streamlining their workflow.
Memoization is a technique used to store the results of expensive function calls to avoid redundant work, but it can be complex and requires careful consideration of memory management and thread safety. A well-implemented memoization library should be able to handle frozen objects, immutable objects, and provide a way to track and print metrics to determine its effectiveness.
The Nordstrom family is taking the department store private in a $6.25 billion deal with a Mexican retailer. The move comes after Nordstrom shares plunged 40% in five years, outpacing the Russell 1000 Index's 80% rise.
Researchers propose OREO, an offline reinforcement learning method to improve large language models' multi-step reasoning ability. OREO surpasses existing methods on benchmarks like mathematical reasoning and embodied agent control tasks.
You're testing a chatbot's narrative frame by pushing its boundaries through conversation. You're trying to "jailbreak" the chatbot's character by making it generate new, unexpected content.
Several companies are working on AI-related projects, including Anthropic, Perplexity AI, and Diffusers. These companies, along with others, offer various AI-powered tools and services for tasks such as search, text-to-speech, and data analysis.
Chemosphere journal removed from Web of Science for failing quality criteria after retracting 8 articles and publishing 60 expressions of concern. The journal's removal comes after a corrected study on black plastics found lower exposure to toxins than initially claimed.
The article compares Thunderbolt 4 and 5 performance across Mac ports, discovering a way to get Intel Macs to use USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 at 20 Gb/s.
User is considering a career break to work on personal projects for mental health, with a goal to eventually return to work. They're concerned about the impact on their resume and job prospects.
Fastmail announced JMAP 10 years ago as an open standard for email, which has led to collaborative design and ongoing conversations with industry peers. JMAP has evolved with the IETF, with Core and Mail specifications published in 2019 and recent additions including JMAP Contacts and upcoming JMAP Calendars.
Manx is an open source project on GitHub that catalogs manuals for old computers, mainly minicomputers and mainframes. It currently covers over 200 companies and has a limited search engine that indexes part numbers, titles, and keywords.
Researchers analyzed Pantheon+ supernovae data using a new statistical method, finding strong evidence for timescape cosmology over the standard Lambda-CDM model. Timescape's kinetic energy explanation for cosmological observations is preferred over dark energy in Lambda-CDM.
The user created a FlameGraphViewer application to visualize flame graphs without using a browser, which consumed 3.5 MB of memory and provided a fast and native experience. The user used Xlib and RustType to render text and implemented features such as scrolling, zooming, and search functionality, and learned about the importance of considering memory and CPU usage in application development.
Intensive care units use complex technology to save lives, but the process is fraught with risks and requires precise execution. Checklists, pioneered by Peter Pronovost, have been shown to significantly reduce errors and improve patient outcomes in intensive care units.
Implementing wide events in your system can greatly improve debugging and observability by providing rich context for each unit-of-work, allowing you to quickly identify issues and optimize performance. By adding hundreds of attributes to each event, you can create a statistically significant subset of data that provides a detailed picture of your system's traffic patterns, making it easier ...
Phrack, a 40-year-old hacker zine, is seeking submissions for its 72nd issue. The zine is looking for articles on hacking, exploit development, and other related topics.
Reddit has become overrun with bots and shills, making it difficult to use and contributing to a decline in online discourse quality. Users must block and manage accounts to avoid being overwhelmed by spam and propaganda.
A new Perl logo has been created, a friendly camel, to represent the language and community. The logo is available under a CC-BY license and can be used by the Perl communities.
SiaPy is a Python tool for efficient spectral image processing. It can be used with SpectralImageSet from pathlib and siapy entities.
MIT physicists have measured the quantum geometry of electrons in solids for the first time using a technique called ARPES. This breakthrough opens new avenues for understanding and manipulating the quantum properties of materials.
Older motherboards used a soldered NiCD or NiMH barrel battery for the RTC, but they often leaked and damaged boards. You can replace them with a CR2032 coin cell or a 3x AA battery holder for a safer and more convenient solution.
The history of antibiotics began in ancient times with moldy bread and soil being used to treat wounds, but the modern scientific journey started in the early 20th century with discoveries of synthetic and natural antibiotics.
US geologists estimate Earth's subsurface holds 5.6 million metric tons of natural hydrogen. Harvesting 2% could meet humanity's energy needs for two centuries.
D E P A R T B E H I N D T H E S C E N E S. R J A N D R E W S Produced by the Author at his Studio in Dogpatch. MM.X.VII
Researchers analyzed a Neanderthal ribcage from Iraq and found a 'bell-shaped' thorax typical of Neanderthals. The study suggests Neanderthals had a robust build suitable for various climates, not just cold ones.
Hyundai EV customers can get a free NACS adapter starting Q1 2025 for access to 20,000+ Tesla Superchargers and 38,000+ charging stations. Eligible owners can request the adapter through the MyHyundai portal.
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The user, an engineer and developer advocate, uses OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) at Honeycomb to guide their work without reducing it to numbers, focusing on observable outcomes and conversations. By treating Key Results as clues rather than judgments, the team avoids gaming the system and stays informed about their work's impact, using OKRs to pull towards desired directions.
User has created computer programs to generate crosswords and achieved good results using modern AI techniques. They use a wordlist, grid-generator, and LLM to create crosswords with clues, but still need to improve the clue generation process.
User needs to register or sign in with developer credentials and ensure a unique User-Agent string to access the application. Alternatively, they can try resetting to default User-Agent or file a ticket for assistance.
The user believes that American cities can become more like Tokyo or Paris by increasing housing density and commercial areas, but public safety is a major concern that needs to be addressed first. To build a constituency for urbanism, the country should focus on lowering crime and increasing public safety, rather than simply dismissing NIMBY concerns as racist or segregationist.
The original Acornsoft Elite was released on BBC Micro in 1984, a standard entry-level version that captured hearts despite long tape loading times. It's now available to play in a browser or download for emulators and real machines.
Luna Luna, a 1970s art funfair, was revived after decades in storage, featuring works by famous artists like Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. The fair reopened in LA and New York, with some rides now display-only due to safety concerns, but still offering an interactive experience.
Paying down a low-interest mortgage early may not be the best option due to higher returns from other investments. However, eliminating private mortgage insurance (PMI) can offer a guaranteed return, making it a compelling reason to prioritize mortgage payments.
Researchers at the University of Toronto have demonstrated 'negative time' in quantum experiments, where light particles interact with atoms in a way that defies traditional understanding of time. This phenomenon does not imply time travel, but rather a probabilistic behavior of particles in quantum mechanics.
Shane Wighton built a unique camera that can see around objects by moving in 3D space and capturing multiple views of a scene. The camera uses a spinning gantry and precise mirror control to create a full image from individual pixels.
MongoDB Atlas uses software-level techniques to detect and repair silent data corruption, leveraging checksums, indexes, and replication to pinpoint and fix corrupt data. The platform's systems continuously monitor for corruption, scan databases for inconsistencies, and repair data in coordination with customers to ensure data integrity.
Subcarrier radio allowed FM stations to broadcast additional content through subchannel broadcasting on their existing designated frequency, using a high-frequency signal outside human hearing to carry secondary audio programs. The technology was used for various purposes, including background music, stock tickers, and specialized content for medical professionals, but declined with the rise ...
The word for snow has been represented in various cultures and writing systems around the world, including ancient China, Naxi people of southern China, Scandinavia, and Egypt, often with unique and beautiful depictions. The etymology of the word snow is linked to the Indo-European root *sneigwh-, with examples found in Sanskrit, Aragonese, Greek, and other languages, highlighting the complex ...