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Circuit Tracing: Revealing Computational Graphs in Language Models (Anthropic) Published: 2025-03-31 | Origin: Hacker News The authors present a new method aimed at understanding how language models behave by creating graph descriptions of the model's computations when processing specific prompts. They achieve this by using a "replacement model" that substitutes more interpretable components, specifically a “cross-layer transcoder,” for parts of the language model, such as multi-layer perceptrons. The authors develop visualization and validation tools to explore these "attribution graphs," which illustrate the simple behaviors of an 18-layer language model, and set the stage for |
A decision to eject from a failing F-35B fighter and the betrayal in its wake Published: 2025-03-31 | Origin: Hacker News The weather forecast indicates cloudy conditions early, leading to partial sunshine later with a high of 78°F. Winds are expected from the southwest at 10 to 20 mph. Evening conditions will be cloudy with a 50% chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight, dropping to a low of 62°F. Charles "Tre" Del Pizzo, a retired Marine colonel, is currently adjusting to life in a new rental home near Washington, D.C., following his recent dismissal from a post in Y |
Built a Web Crawler: Because Stalking the Internet is a Skill Published: 2025-03-31 | Origin: /r/programming The author describes their experience building a simple web crawler for a graduation project, focusing on understanding its functionality rather than performance optimizations. The web crawler incorporates several key features, such as: - **Web Crawling** and **Parallel Web Crawling (Distributed)**: It allows multiple pages to be crawled simultaneously. - **Document Parsing** and **Breadth First Search**. The project is built on a microservice architecture designed for scalability. The main services include: 1. **Crawl Manager |
Win98-quickinstall: A framework and installer to quickly install Windows 98 Published: 2025-03-31 | Origin: Hacker News The content discusses a framework and installer designed to quickly install Windows 98 on various hardware, from older 486 systems to modern machines. The project operates without any endorsement from Microsoft and emphasizes that it is for enthusiasts of vintage computers. The framework allows users to create optimized Windows 98 installation ISO images by packaging the root file system from an existing installation, enabling the slipstreaming of drivers and tools. Using a Linux base for installation, the approach aims for rapid installation directly from CD to hard disk, |
AI-Assisted Engineering: My 2025 Substack Recap Published: 2025-03-31 | Origin: /r/programming The author summarizes key articles from their Substack newsletter, Elevate, focusing on the intersection of AI and software engineering. The pieces explore how AI impacts software development, highlighting several themes: 1. **The 70% Problem**: AI can help achieve 70% of a solution, but the final 30% poses challenges, particularly in the human-AI handoff and the limitations of current tools. 2. **Closing the Gap**: Strategies for developers on navigating ambiguity, debugging AI |
'Joker,' 'Matrix' producer Village Roadshow files for bankruptcy protection Published: 2025-03-31 | Origin: Hacker News Village Roadshow Entertainment has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing a lengthy legal dispute with Warner Bros. as a major factor in its decline. The West Hollywood company, known for financing successful film franchises like "Joker," "The Matrix," and "Ocean’s Eleven," claims that an unsuccessful shift towards independent film production prior to the pandemic also contributed to its financial troubles. The lawsuit against Warner Bros. stems from the studio's decision to release "The Matrix Resurrections" on HBO Max simultaneously |
Fixing exception safety in our task_sequencer Published: 2025-03-31 | Origin: /r/programming The task_sequencer class was developed to handle asynchronous operations in sequence, but there's an issue with the QueueTaskAsync implementation regarding exception handling. If an exception occurs during the `make_shared` call, it doesn't affect anything. However, if an exception arises when starting the lambda task, it results in problems since the current task is linked to m_latest but never progresses due to the failure to call `continue_with()`. To address this, the linking of the current task to the chain of tasks |
Fragments of a rare Merlin manuscript from c. 1300 Published: 2025-03-31 | Origin: Hacker News A rare fragment of a 13th-century Merlin manuscript has been uncovered and digitized during a groundbreaking project at Cambridge University Library. Initially discovered in 2019, the manuscript is identified as part of the Suite Vulgate du Merlin, a sequel to King Arthur's legend, which is part of the medieval Lancelot-Grail cycle. With less than 40 surviving copies of this manuscript, each uniquely handwritten, this fragment dates from between 1275 and 1315. The manuscript was |
Installing air filters in classrooms has surprisingly large educational benefits (2020) Published: 2025-03-31 | Origin: Hacker News Vox emphasizes a commitment to in-depth journalism that helps readers understand significant stories rather than simply reacting to headlines. They invite support from readers to fund their work. In a new study by NYU's Michael Gilraine, air filters installed in Los Angeles schools after a false alarm related to a gas leak in 2015 were found to significantly improve student test scores. The filters, costing around $700 each, represent a simple but impactful intervention, consistent with research linking air pollution to cognitive performance. |
Oka.wiki Published: 2025-03-30 | Origin: Hacker News The non-profit organization focuses on enhancing Wikipedia and other open platforms by providing monthly stipends to full-time contributors and translators. It prioritizes impactful work and aims to reduce systemic bias by hiring content writers from underrepresented countries. The organization is based in Switzerland, operates transparently, and recognizes the importance of volunteer contributions to Wikipedia, while also addressing gaps in content, particularly in subjects like science and non-English topics. The organization has created over 2,200 articles generating 8 million views annually, and |
Uncovering Tarot Biases with Simple NLP Published: 2025-03-30 | Origin: /r/programming The author describes their experience with a unique Tarot deck influenced by a Russian Orthodox sect, featuring vibrant colors and a humorous guide on divination. They utilize various sources, including learned tarot websites and "The Illustrated Key to the Tarot" by L. W. De Laurence, to gather interpretations, particularly enjoying the more unconventional insights it offers, though they take issue with certain stereotypes. Using their own Tarot page for quick reference during phone calls, they've observed a trend of more "male" cards and a predomin |
Ask HN: What are you working on? (March 2025) Published: 2025-03-30 | Origin: Hacker News The content discusses the functionality of an app called MergeFit, which allows users to easily merge multiple workouts into one on their Apple devices, streamlining data management. This is particularly useful for those who accidentally end workouts prematurely, as it avoids splitting stats across different sessions. Traditionally, users had to export workouts as FIT files and use an online tool to merge them, which can be cumbersome and requires internet access. MergeFit simplifies this process by handling merging directly on the device and interacting seamlessly with Apple Health. |
Public secrets exposure leads to supply chain attack on GitHub CodeQL Published: 2025-03-30 | Origin: Hacker News A potential supply chain attack on GitHub CodeQL was identified, starting with a publicly exposed secret that was valid for just over a second. During this brief window, an attacker could execute code within GitHub Actions workflows across many repositories using CodeQL, which is utilized by numerous projects. This scenario mirrors a previous supply chain attack on tj-actions/changed-files, but with CodeQL as the target. The attack could have systemic implications for both GitHub Cloud and GitHub Enterprise. Although GitHub |
The Art of Ruby Scripting Published: 2025-03-30 | Origin: /r/programming The content discusses the advantages of using Ruby for scripting, particularly in automating tasks efficiently. It presents a practical example of compressing video files (.mov and .mp4) in a "videos" directory using Ruby. The script employs Ruby's `Dir.glob` method to list relevant files, changes the working directory, and iterates through each file to create new filenames with a "_compressed" suffix using regular expressions. It then utilizes the command-line tool `ffmpeg` to compress the videos. |
Blue95: a desktop for your childhood home's computer room Published: 2025-03-30 | Origin: Hacker News The content discusses Blue95, a lightweight desktop experience inspired by vintage computing, built on Fedora Atomic Xfce with a Chicago95 theme. It notes that feedback from users is valued and encourages checking documentation for qualifiers. A new Live CD feature is being tested, allowing users to experience Blue95 without installation. However, the included installer is in alpha and users are urged to follow alternative installation methods. Issues exist with installer ISOs, and rebasing from another Xfce-based Fedora Atomic image, like |
Understanding Distributed Architectures - The Patterns Approach • Unmesh Joshi Published: 2025-03-30 | Origin: /r/programming Sure, please provide the content you would like me to summarize. |
TV Garden Published: 2025-03-30 | Origin: Hacker News tv.garden is a free live TV streaming platform that facilitates easy access to global channels, including news, sports, movies, and cultural programs. Users can explore channels using an interactive 3D globe, a sidebar, or a "Random Channel" button for spontaneity. The service emphasizes simplicity and a seamless viewing experience, ensuring that users encounter minimal buffering and functional links. tv.garden maintains political neutrality and adheres to UN-recognized country classifications while delivering content. The platform sources its channels |
Lehmer's Continued Fraction Factorization Algorithm Published: 2025-03-30 | Origin: /r/programming The content discusses a community of programmers interested in mathematical research and encourages joining a Reddit group. It highlights D.H. Lehmer and R.E. Powers' integer factorization algorithm based on continued fractions, published in 1931 but gaining attention in 1975 when used to factor the seventh Fermat number. The article aims to code Lehmer's method and explore the implementation details, referencing its simplicity and historical significance. It mentions significant aspects such as its importance for square root finding, its brevity |
Malware is harder to find when written in obscure languages like Delphi and Haskell Published: 2025-03-30 | Origin: /r/programming Failed to fetch content - HTTP Status - 403 |
Minimal CSS-only blurry image placeholders Published: 2025-03-30 | Origin: Hacker News The content discusses a CSS technique for creating blurry image placeholders (low quality image placeholders or LQIPs) using a single custom property, avoiding clutter in the HTML markup. While acknowledging that this method produces a blurrier placeholder compared to other solutions, it emphasizes its minimalism and lack of dependency on additional wrappers, attributes, or JavaScript. Various existing techniques for LQIPs are mentioned, including low-resolution images, SVG shapes, and progressive JPEGs. The author critiques pure CSS methods for their tendency |