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2026-05-19

• 09:07 UTC Bournegol – Bournegol The original source code for the Bourne shell in early versions of UNIX is legendarily bizarre, as it was written in "Bournegol", the ALGOL-like dialect of C that Steve Bourne came up with, with a load of macros to make C look a bit like ALGOL 68. This page has a good representative sample. Thanks to Tony Finch for the reminder Tags: via:fanf bournegol algol programming languages bizarre funny unix bin-sh macros

2026-05-18

• 10:11 UTC A Geometric Calculator Inside a Neural Network – A Geometric Calculator Inside a Neural Network The way that LLMs perform numerical arithmetic using circles and spirals is really fascinating. This page is a great exploration of that topic, using Llama 3.1 8B. Language models use a group of circles in activation space to represent a single number. Each circle corresponds to the number modulo a second number, i.e., the remainder after division.[1] For example, the number 17 would be represented as a 1 on the mod-2 circle, 2 on the mod-5 circle, 7 on the mod-10 circle, and 17 on the mod-100 circle.[2] Several prior works have established that circular features exist across multiple different LLMs [...] Using a bunch of circles to represent a number probably seems like an alien solution, but it is a common mathematical technique known as a Fourier decomposition (see the paper for more detail). Each of the inputs and the output of the addition module is represented using such a set of circles, and the circuitry within the module works by doing computations over these circles. Tags: llms language arithmetic maths calculation fourier circles

2026-05-12

• 08:57 UTC Social Media Is Now Parasocial Media – danah boyd, 2026 – Social Media Is Now Parasocial Media - danah boyd, 2026 danah boyd is 100% correct here; what was once "social" media is no longer so. Nowadays it's parasocial: When practitioners used the term “social media” to describe the internet tools that emerged in the mid-aughts, they were giving a name to the kinds of platforms and protocols that allowed people to socialize with friends and communities of interest by using digital technologies. Twenty years later, users of social media are far more likely to scroll than post – and the content that they consume is often strategically produced and algorithmically curated. In this essay, I argue that the very essence of social media has changed. To more effectively interrogate what we are witnessing, we need to stop presuming that these tools are “social media” and begin recognizing that they are now “parasocial media.” Tags: parasocial social-media social-networking web internet

2026-05-08

• 08:57 UTC I toyed around with using Language Embeddings as a way to categorize my RSS Feeds – I toyed around with using Language Embeddings as a way to categorize my RSS Feeds interesting HN comment around low-cost home usage of LLMS/embeddings: "I toyed around with using Language Embeddings [via Cohere V3 Embeddings and Amazon Bedrock] as a way to categorize my RSS Feeds. It works pretty well. But importantly, it's so cheap that I have never really seen it on my bill. An earlier prototype used OpenAI embeddings. I loaded 5$ API credits and after a year the credits expired." This is the first time I've ever seen anyone call Bedrock cheap, lol. Tags: amazon bedrock llms ai embeddings language categorization classification rss text

2026-05-07

• 14:59 UTC Eyeglass Scratch Repair – Eyeglass Scratch Repair turns out scratched glasses can be repaired easily enough, I had no idea! Tags: glasses eyeglasses spectacles repair diy cleaning scratches

2026-05-05

• 14:23 UTC The Problem With Counterfeit People – The Problem With Counterfeit People An excellent essay from Daniel Dennett back in 2023 which I wholeheartedly agree with. As BBC journalist Tom Chatfield puts it: The way we're using AI to impersonate human beings has already put us on a dangerous trajectory. [Dennett] called such AIs "counterfeit people", and told me that rolling out such entities en masse constituted "mischief of the worst sort": a form of "social vandalism" that should be addressed by law. Why? Because, if convincing digital representations of humans can be created at whim, the entire business of collectively assessing other people's claims, experiences and actions is put at risk – not to mention essential social infrastructure such as contracts, obligations and consequences. Hence the need for legal prohibitions, a case he made at length in a May 2023 article for The Atlantic. "It won't be perfect," he told me, "but it will help if we can make it against the law to make counterfeit people. We can have stiff penalties for counterfeiting people, same as we do for counterfeit money... we should make it a mark of shame, not pride, when you make your AI more human." Tags: ethics future ai llms daniel-dennett philosophy regulation law humanity people
• 14:23 UTC isene/glass – isene/glass I love the purism of this -- "pure assembly terminal emulator. x86_64 Linux, no libc, X11 wire protocol". Terminal emulator written in x86_64 Linux assembly. No libc, no runtime, pure syscalls. Speaks X11 wire protocol directly via Unix socket. Single static binary, ~155KB. No toolkit, no rendering library, no external font engine. The TTF rasterizer (glyph) is embedded in-binary via %include. Just your keystrokes, the X11 server, and the kernel. Part of the CHasm (CHange to ASM) suite: bare (shell), show (file viewer), glass (terminal emulator). Tags: asm x86_64 assembly terminal hacks unix linux glass chasm optimization x11
• 10:23 UTC The Paradox of Medical AI Implementation – by Eric Topol – The Paradox of Medical AI Implementation - by Eric Topol Deep learning-based AI has been proven to help in medicine, but GenAI is easier to deploy and is being used instead: [Deep learning-based] AI for medical images, with extensive research dating back more than a decade ago, is not being implemented. Whether it’s a mammogram, a CT scan, a retinal image, or colonoscopy, that have all been extensively studied, their value to improve accuracy and risk assessment in medicine is being missed and essentially disregarded. On the other hand, tens of millions of Americans are using AI chatbots for medical support, as are a substantial proportion of physicians. There are many reasons to use AI here that are easy to support, because they represent an extension of a web/Google search. Just with much more specificity and depth of response, not something that would be subject to regulatory oversight. But when it comes to making a diagnosis or providing a treatment plan there needs to be proof that LLMs are improving accuracy and outcomes. Tags: medicine deep-learning ai genai llms healthcare science imaging chatbots eric-topol
• 09:20 UTC “Invisible” bend insensitive bidi fiber – "Invisible" bend insensitive bidi fiber Bookmarking for a future home-network upgrade.... this tiny fiber cable is practically invisible, bends easily, and supports 10Gbps: "invisible" bend insensitive fiber (G.657.A2 / G.657.B3). It's under a millimeter in diameter and basically vanishes into corners and base board crevices. From more than a meter away is't completely unnoticeable. Together with a pair of bidirectional SFP transceivers this makes an amazing retrofit option for locations where laying new runs is not an option. Tags: 10gbps networking home fibre fiber wiring via:itc

2026-04-30

• 10:05 UTC Amazon Connect Talent vs. bias law – Amazon Connect Talent vs. bias law Excellent post from Corey Quinn, which I agree with 100%: Amazon Connect Talent was just announced. It conducts AI-powered conversational interviews with candidates, generates "anonymized competency scores," and surfaces ranked candidates to recruiters who "make the call." Fun fact: in New York City, that is an Automated Employment Decision Tool under Local Law 144. AEDTs require an annual independent bias audit with publicly posted results, plus at least ten business days of notice to candidates before use. Illinois, Colorado, and the EU AI Act impose adjacent obligations. The launch materials mention none of this. The compliance posture appears to be: candidate names are stripped from recruiter dashboards, therefore bias is solved. That is not how any of this works. Proxies for protected class -- speech patterns, zip codes, education history, the resume already sitting in your ATS -- are exactly what bias audits exist to measure. I don't think the product is bad. I think the announcement is conspicuously missing the guidance customers need before they can deploy it in NYC without violating Local Law 144 on day one. (The day's other news so far: Amazon Connect now ships as a four-SKU family, and there is a new design philosophy called "humorphism" with its own .com. Both feel small next to the above.) If you're selling automated hiring decisions in 2026, the bias-audit conversation belongs in the launch. Tags: bias law amazon aws recruiting regulation automation ai

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