Secret Cyberweapon Poisons Nuclear Science For Decades!

Rediscovering the Handcart

Key Points

• Handcarts offer low-cost, energy-independent urban transport for moving goods.
• Historical use depended on road quality, with prominence in early industrialized cities and in China.
• Community-shared handcarts could broaden access while addressing storage needs.

Show HN: Browse GitHub repos in Emacs without cloning

Key Points

• Browse GitHub repos in Emacs read-only without cloning via a virtual filesystem backed by the GitHub API.
• Single-call tree fetch with in-memory caching and on-demand content retrieval using the Git Trees API and gh.
• Currently GitHub-only, with planned support for GitLab and Codeberg; read-only with defined limitations.

Terra API (YC W21) Hiring: Applied AI Strategist(Health Intelligence)

Key Points

• Terra API is hiring an Applied AI Strategist to translate market signals into product and GTM priorities.
• The role requires deep user engagement, market segmentation, and synthesis of Terra’s internal product signals.
• Terra provides a unified platform for accessing and building on fragmented health data sources.

The West Forgot How to Make Things. Now It's Forgetting How to Code

Key Points

• Western production lines struggled to restart legacy systems like Stinger missiles due to lost expertise.
• EU’s one‑million‑shell pledge was delayed nine months, revealing significant capacity overestimation.
• U.S. and EU munitions supply chains exhibited multiple single‑point failures and material shortages.

Quirks of Human Anatomy

Key Points

• Inverted retinal design causes a blind spot, masked by vision processing.
• Shared airway and esophagus create choking risk; infant anatomy mitigates it.
• Birth and spine mechanics impose significant constraints and health risks.

Exposing Floating Point – Bartosz Ciechanowski

Key Points

• Introduces float.exposed as a tool for inspecting floating-point numbers.
• Explains scientific notation and precision using significant digits and rounding.
• Defines IEEE 754 scope and maps half/float/double to binary16/32/64, with binary examples.

APL is more French than English

Key Points

• Perlis discovered APL’s expressive power via Iverson’s concise one-liner at a Newcastle meeting.
• APL contrasted with FORTRAN/ALGOL/PL/I in its emphasis on elegance and brevity.
• APL’s shift from notation to implementation was enabled by IBM, System/360, and timesharing.

Tushonka: Cultivating Soviet Postwar Taste (2010)

Key Points

• U.S. produced tushonka to a Soviet recipe under Lend-Lease during WWII.
• Tushonka persisted postwar as a staple in Soviet civilian distribution.
• Policy changes in 1945 left canned meat as one of the few ongoing shipments.

The Knight Programming Language

Key Points

• Minimalistic language aimed at ease of implementation.
• Fully functional and capable of complex tasks.
• Uses undefined behavior to simplify implementers’ work.

Statecharts: hierarchical state machines

Key Points

• Statecharts enhance state machines to manage complexity and mitigate state explosion.
• Benefits include readability, decoupled/testable behavior, exhaustive state coverage, and scalability.
• W3C’s SCXML standard (2005–2015) defines key statechart semantics.

Eden AI – European Alternative to OpenRouter

Key Points

• Single API for LLMs and specialized AI (OCR, speech, vision, translation)
• Smart Routing with automatic failover and built-in fallbacks for reliability
• Model selection by cost, latency, and region to optimize usage

Show HN: Turning a Gaussian Splat into a videogame

Key Points

• Streamed SOG enables device-aware, chunk-based loading for large Gaussian splat scenes.
• splat-transform generates both the streamed splat and a watertight .collision.glb for physics.
• The PlayCanvas demo adds navmesh, lighting probes, and NPCs to deliver a browser-based FPS.

Cheating at Tetris

Key Points

• I/J/L/O can be arranged to cyclically clear the board; S/T/Z can maintain a bounded stack height.
• Repeating any single tetromino indefinitely cannot force a game over under the stated rules.
• The analysis assumes a 10×20 field, seven tetrominoes, constant speed, and unrestricted piece repetition.

Show HN: A free ESG stock screener that publishes its losses and methodology

Key Points

• Historical screen (May 15, 2018) shows methodology using Growth and Momentum signals.
• Backtest: equal-weighted 8-stock portfolio +599% vs. S&P 500 +185% over same period.
• Strong disclaimers: illustrative only, split-adjusted prices, not investment advice.

Asahi Linux Progress Linux 7.0

Key Points

• Automated GitHub-based build and deployment pipeline for the Asahi Installer
• Fixes for Devicetree mismatches that blocked Linux 6.18+ live boots
• Installer 0.8.0 adds m1n1 1.5.2, Mac Pro support, and firmware update mode

My .config Ship of Theseus

Key Points

• Whitelist-first .gitignore tracks only essential config files.
• Return to Neovim and OpenCode to avoid provider lock-in.
• Terminal-centric workflow favored for focus and portability.

At least 10 people tied to sensitive US research have died or disappeared

Key Points

• FBI leads a multi-agency review into potential links among at least 10 cases tied to sensitive research.
• House Oversight Committee requests briefings from FBI, DoD, DOE, and NASA as part of a congressional probe.
• NASA reports no current indication of a national security threat while coordination continues.

Mine, a Coalton and Common Lisp IDE

Key Points

• Single-download, cross-platform IDE for Coalton and Common Lisp with integrated REPL workflow and debugging.
• Includes professional IDE features plus built-in Quicklisp setup and project scaffolding.
• Deliberately non-extensible, privacy-first design focused solely on Coalton/Common Lisp.

The Nintendo Switch Switch (2019)

Key Points

• Fix for missing USB NIC drivers was applying a switchroot boot update.
• Linux bridge (br0) created with brctl and ip enabled switching between two USB NICs.
• Achieved ~90 Mbps throughput, limited by a 100 Mbps adapter.

QNX on the Commodore 900 – Raiders of the lost hard drive [video]

Key Points

• Commodore 900 prototypes are scarce due to project cancellation after the Amiga acquisition.
• Restoration required BIOS disassembly, interface reverse engineering, and disk format analysis.
• The presenter helped two additional owners restore their C900 machines.

Why SWE-bench Verified no longer measures frontier coding capabilities

Key Points

• SWE-bench Verified deemed unreliable due to flawed tests and data contamination.
• OpenAI stops reporting Verified scores; recommends using SWE-bench Pro.
• New uncontaminated coding evaluations are in development.

GitHub unwanted UX change: issue links now open in a popup

Key Points

• Issue links within GitHub Issues open in a popup overlay in some repositories.
• No documentation was found in GitHub’s changelog or roadmap for this behavior.
• The author requests information on rollout status and opt-out/configuration options.

Clay PCB Tutorial

Key Points

• Reuses ATmega328P chips from Arduino Unos for a clay-based PCB design.
• Finds ~1.2 mm imprint depth and ~5% shrinkage as key design parameters for clay substrates.
• Explores lower-energy open-wood firing as an alternative to high-temperature electric kiln porcelain firing.

Databases Were Not Designed for This

Key Points

• Agentic AI breaks deterministic query and intentional write assumptions in database design.
• Use PostgreSQL role-level timeouts (statement_timeout, idle_in_transaction_session_timeout) to constrain agent behavior.
• Implement safe write patterns (idempotency, validations) and enforce soft deletes for agent-writable tables.

Free Textbook on Engineering Thermodynamics

Key Points

• Free 330‑page CC BY‑SA textbook with SI units, updated Oct 19, 2025
• Covers fundamentals to advanced power cycles with 59 examples, 96 solved problems
• Multiple formats: free PDF, 2 € digital (1.5 € to author), 43 € print (5 € to author)

Dear friend, you have built a Kubernetes (2024)

Key Points

• Homegrown scripts plus Docker Compose often evolve into Kubernetes-like systems.
• Multi-server scaling introduces networking and service discovery requirements.
• Security and maintainability needs drive adoption of config management and controlled APIs.

The Visible Zorker: Zork 1

Key Points

• Displays Infocom’s Zork I startup info with Revision 88 / Serial 840726.
• Shows internal tags for object queuing and engine calls prior to gameplay text.
• Concludes with the classic “West of House” opening description.

GoDaddy Gave a Domain to a Stranger Without Any Documentation

Key Points

• Domain was transferred internally within GoDaddy despite 2FA and protection features.
• DNS zone reset to default caused a four-day outage for web and email.
• Support responses were inconsistent, with shifting contacts and no immediate resolution.

Sloppy Copies

Key Points

• Viral exposure preceded unusual bot activity and the appearance of near-identical copycat sites.
• Copycats ranged from splash pages to basic apps monetized with ads or subscriptions, showing multiple red flags.
• Similar patterns of suspicious clones were found across other niche hobby communities.

Dillo Browser Release 3.3.0

Key Points

• New dilloc utility provides extensive command-line control over Dillo via UNIX socket.
• Experimental FLTK 1.4 support (use 1.4.5) with cautions about DPI/Wayland rendering.
• OAuth login fixed; project hosting moved to self-hosted cgit with Codeberg/SourceHut mirrors.

Waymo says expecting driverless taxis to stay out of bike lanes is unrealistic

Key Points

• Advocates say Waymo AVs enter bike lanes for pick-ups/drop-offs, calling avoidance “too high a bar.”
• UK Highway Code prohibits driving/parking in cycle lanes, underscoring regulatory conflict.
• A San Francisco lawsuit alleges Safe Exit failure in a bike-lane “dooring” incident.

Plants can sense the sound of rain, a new study finds

Key Points

• Rice seeds germinate faster when exposed to rain sound vibrations.
• Vibrations likely dislodge statoliths, triggering growth signals in seeds.
• Published in Scientific Reports; researchers plan to study other natural vibrations like wind.

If more than 50% press blue, everyone survives. Red pressers always survive

Key Points

• If ≥50% press blue, everyone survives; otherwise, blue pressers die while red pressers survive.
• A sample probability model yields 11% expected fatalities, showing coordination risk.
• An X poll’s slim margin above the threshold suggests caution in real-world behavior.

Orinoco: Young Generation Garbage Collection

Key Points

• V8 replaced its single-threaded Cheney semispace with a parallel Scavenger in v6.2.
• Young-generation GC uses roots from stack and old-to-young references to drive copying and promotion.
• A parallel Mark-Evacuate approach was evaluated, based on full Mark-Sweep-Compact phases.

A.I. is creating engineers who can't think without it

Key Points

• AI can save time on routine engineering tasks but risks enabling simulated competence.
• Valuable engineers use AI for leverage while maintaining full understanding of outputs.
• Judgment and rigor are non-negotiable; outsourcing thinking is a long-term dead end.

If You Stop Hiring Juniors, Your Senior Engineers Own You

Key Points

• Stopping junior hiring due to AI increases senior engineers’ leverage and costs.
• Juniors form the pipeline that becomes mid-levels and seniors with institutional knowledge.
• Ignoring pipeline development risks succession gaps and costly senior replacements.

Magic: The Gathering Took Me from N2 to Japanese Fluency

Key Points

• Using Japanese-only cards shifted explanatory responsibility to the learner and reduced game friction.
• Aggro deck choices supported clear, proactive communication; the Prowess mechanic required precise announcements.
• Tokyo’s active gaming community provided consistent, real-world practice beyond classroom learning.

Fast16: The Cyberweapon That Predates Stuxnet by Five Years

Key Points

• Fast16 corrupted scientific simulation outputs while appearing normal.
• Earliest known Windows malware embedding a Lua 5.0 engine (compiled August 30, 2005).
• Modular “cluster munition” architecture enables network spread and tailored payloads.

Human Source License (HSL)

Key Points

• Free for individuals, researchers, and internal use
• Commercial license required for >$100M revenue companies’ external use
• Commercial license required for third-party AI model-related use

The 1944 Warsaw Uprising, in Color

Key Points

• Manual colorization supervised by historians and Warsaw experts ensures fidelity.
• Images are paired with artifacts from the Warsaw Uprising Museum for context.
• Studio Produkcyjne ORKA recreated period-accurate details from preserved objects.

Show HN: AI memory with biological decay (52% recall)

Key Points

• YourMemory achieved 59% Recall@5 on LoCoMo-10, roughly double Zep Cloud.
• Simple local setup with Python, spaCy, and DuckDB; MCP integration across multiple clients.
• Category-based decay governs how long different memory types persist.

Show HN: Auge Vision from Your Terminal

Key Points

• On-device Vision analyses via a Swift CLI for macOS with no dependencies or API keys.
• Supports OCR, classification, barcode decoding, and face detection with --all for one-pass processing.
• Structured outputs (JSON, Markdown, NDJSON) and runtime network blocking via URLProtocol for privacy.

Sawe smashes two-hour mark to 'move goalposts for marathon running'

Key Points

• Sabastian Sawe wins London Marathon in 1:59:30, first sub-two-hour competitive marathon.
• Tigst Assefa sets a women-only field world record of 2:15:41, retaining her title.
• Marcel Hug equals the record for most men’s wheelchair wins; Catherine Debrunner retains the women’s wheelchair title.

1:59:30: Sabastian Sawe Shatters the 2-Hour Barrier at 2026 London Marathon

Key Points

• Sabastian Sawe set a 1:59:30 world record, the first official sub-2 marathon.
• Yomif Kejelcha and Jacob Kiplimo also beat the previous world record, highlighting unprecedented race depth.
• Sawe’s legal pacing, negative split, and exceptional late-race segments underpinned the record.

Butterflies are in decline across North America, a look at the Western Monarch

Key Points

• Western monarchs counted at Pacific Grove totaled 99 during a November survey.
• A 2024 local die-off was linked to a pesticide cocktail, including residential toxins.
• Eastern monarchs’ 2026 overwintering habitat area rose 64% year over year.

MoQ Boy

Key Points

• MoQ CDN aggregates subscriptions so publishers handle at most one per track.
• Encoders and the emulator are paused when no viewers are subscribed to save resources.
• Bidirectional control is built from two unidirectional streams via MoQ discovery and subscriptions.

XOXO Festival Archive

Key Points

• Archive spans 2012–2024 festival years.
• Focus on stories and struggles of online creative work.
• Full video archive available for viewing.

U.S. Mint Buys Drug Cartel Gold and Sells It as 'American'

Key Points

• NYT alleges the U.S. Mint sourced foreign, illegal gold while selling coins as 100% American.
• Sources cited include cartel-linked Colombian gold, pawn shop gold from Mexico and Peru, and Congolese mine gold partly owned by China.
• Federal law requires bullion coins be made from newly mined American gold; the Mint allegedly violated this across administrations.

I bought Friendster for $30k – Here's what I'm doing with it

Key Points

• Previous owner bought friendster.com for $7,456 at gname.com and monetized traffic.
• Carson acquired the domain via $20,000 in Bitcoin plus a revenue-generating domain, and later secured trademarks.
• Friendster’s relaunch features an iOS app requiring in-person phone taps to add friends.

Chernobyl Wildlife Forty Years On

Key Points

• Tree frogs inside the Chernobyl exclusion zone were found to be darker on average in a 2022 study.
• Melanin-linked radiation protection is hypothesized but remains unproven.
• Persistent hotspots and absence of humans shape wildlife outcomes in the 60km exclusion zone.

Show HN: Startup Equity Adventure Game

Key Points

• It teaches equity concepts from founding to IPO, tracking founder ownership.
• 83(b) election timing and tax implications are explained and assumed filed.
• Option pools (10–20%) are set before priced rounds, diluting founders.

Box to Save Memory in Rust

Key Points

• Deserializing AWS Smithy JSON into Rust structs initially used about 895 MB of memory.
• Most optional string fields were absent, informing a restructuring of data layout.
• Optimizations to struct layout and deserialization reduced memory usage by 460 MB.

Running Bare-Metal Rust Alongside ESP-IDF on the ESP32-S3's Second Core

Key Points

• FreeRTOS runs only on Core 0 via CONFIG_FREERTOS_UNICORE; Core 1 runs bare‑metal Rust.
• xTaskCreatePinnedToCore is avoided due to scheduler preemption risks.
• Rust is compiled as a static library and linked into ESP‑IDF; Core 1 is manually booted and managed.

Show HN: Tiao, A two-player turn-based board game

Key Points

• Two-player, turn-based board game with local and online modes.
• Private online games via invite codes; account required for custom game features.
• Flexible time controls, including an unlimited time option.

The Last of the Lost Generation

Key Points

• Malcolm Cowley’s editorial work significantly shaped modern American literature.
• Gerald Howard’s biography is presented as the first full account of Cowley’s life and career.
• Howard’s publishing career placed him in direct professional contact with Cowley.

The QEII garden – built from its own ruins – opens in Regent's Park

Key Points

• 1,000 m³ of concrete reused on-site as gravel to shape the garden and influence high-pH planting.
• Planting strategy favors deep-rooted, slow-growing species for climate resilience and gradual maturation.
• Design features include Commonwealth-themed pergola, wildlife habitats, water bodies, and accessible, reused-material paths.

Self-updating screenshots

Key Points

• Screenshot instructions are embedded in Markdown comments and processed during the build.
• A Rake task drives headless Chrome via Capybara/Cuprite to automate capture.
• Multiple modes and options handle dynamic UI states, cropping, and styling effects.

The fastest Linux timestamps

Key Points

• Naive std::chrono timestamping via vDSO costs ~46–49 ns, near the per-span budget.
• Custom timers using x86 TSC can bypass vDSO and maintain precision.
• The approach yields ~30% speedup and >50% overhead reduction from the initial attempt.

Lessons from building multiplayer browsers

Key Points

• Forked Chromium enabled deep browser integration for collaborative features.
• Raised a $5.5M seed from prominent investors to pursue the multiplayer browser vision.
• Despite iteration and research, the products did not reach product-market fit.

When the cheap one is the cool one

Key Points

• MacBook Neo is attracting both new and existing Mac buyers over pricier Air/Pro models.
• Porsche’s 968 case shows stripping and selective additions can hit lower price targets without losing appeal.
• MacBook Neo reportedly uses older iPhone silicon, leveraging existing components to reduce cost.

Three constraints before I build anything

Key Points

• Require a one-page plan for every idea to limit complexity and guide communication.
• Ensure a separable core technology that compounds independently of product pivots.
• Adopt a front-and-center constraint to define product identity and limit scope.

Voice Modems

Key Points

• Older phones used direct analog audio paths controlled by the cellular modem.
• The AT command set from the Hayes Smartmodem era still underpins modern modem control.
• Modern 5G modems employ multiple UART channels to separate control, data, and GNSS.

Music of the BBC Microcomputer System

Key Points

• Mid-1980s BBC Micro music demos faced rising copyright scrutiny and legal actions.
• Many demos were preserved and consolidated into accessible discs; some were converted to Acorn Electron.
• The article highlights specific demos and technical features (SOUND, ENVELOPE, display modes).

FreeBSD Device Drivers Book

Key Points

• Targets FreeBSD 14.x with examples verified against FreeBSD 14.3.
• Hands-on labs and an evolving “myfirst” driver emphasize practical learning.
• Includes end-to-end contribution workflow via Phabricator to the FreeBSD Project.

Show HN: The Unix Magic poster, annotated (updated)

Key Points

• Pipeline builds a website to annotate the classic UNIX Magic poster.
• Created by Gary Overacre; published by UniTech Software, Inc. in the 1980s.
• Contributions invited with guidelines emphasizing historical and technical context.

Notepad++ for Mac

Key Points

• Native macOS port of Notepad++ released under GPL v3.
• Universal Binary runs on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs; no emulation required.
• Apple-signed and notarized, with source available on GitHub and plugin support.

When Your Digital Life Vanishes

Key Points

• Data loss is frequent and sometimes reversible, but not guaranteed.
• Professional recovery services like DriveSavers handle diverse, extreme cases.
• Regular, verified backups and careful device handling are essential.

EvanFlow – A TDD driven feedback loop for Claude Code

Key Points

• TDD-driven loop with checkpoints and no auto git operations.
• Iterate phase applies Five Failure Modes checks and UI screenshots via headless Chromium.
• Parallel coder/overseer orchestration uses integration tests as executable contracts.

TurboQuant: A First-Principles Walkthrough

Key Points

• Compresses AI vector coordinates to 2–4 bits with near‑optimal distortion and zero scale‑factor overhead.
• Uses high‑dimensional random rotation to enable a reusable distribution‑aware codebook.
• Provides foundational primer (vectors, inner products, MSE, unbiasedness) supporting the quantization method.

The Prompt API

Key Points

• Prompt API runs Gemini Nano locally in Chrome for generative AI tasks.
• Strict platform, storage, and hardware requirements apply; mobile Chrome is unsupported.
• Initial download requires an unmetered network; subsequent use is offline with no data sent to Google.

Revocation of X.509 Certificates

Key Points

• Recent changes by the CA/Browser Forum and Let’s Encrypt affect certificate revocation and trust.
• PKI and X.509 certificates underpin authenticity, verifiability, and encrypted sessions via TLS/HTTPS.
• Certificate trust is time-bounded by notBefore and notAfter validity fields.

Flipdiscs

Key Points

• Nine AlfaZeta panels form a 3×3 flip-disc display (84×42 discs).
• Power is provided by a 24V 10A MEAN WELL HLG-240H-24 PSU (1A per board).
• RS485 cabling is used; limit to six panels per line for higher frame rates.

Low-Dose Aspirin Usage for Primary Prevention Has Fallen by >50% Since 2018

Key Points

• Primary-prevention aspirin use fell over 50% from mid‑2018 to late 2025.
• Major bleeding risk from aspirin is significantly higher in adults 75+, not in those under 75.
• Trends and risks align with 2018 trials and subsequent ACC/AHA and USPSTF guideline updates.

A Guide to CubeSat Mission and Bus Design

Key Points

• Comprehensive coverage of CubeSat mission and bus design, from fundamentals to advanced topics.
• Inclusion of systems engineering processes: requirements, decision tools, and risk management.
• Hands-on labs using FreeFlyer and STK for practical mission analysis and modeling.