Hacker News Reader

ed_ballson There is no A.I.

I got a coding challenge as part of the interview process. I had 2h to complete it, but I finished in 30mins thanks to ChatGPT. I wrote some test cases and told ChatGPT to generate more. I reviewed them and copied a few relevant ones. It also hinted me that I could add support for fractions.

ed_ballson Car thieves using tech disguised inside old Nokia phones and Bluetooth speakers

sadly my Mercedes CLA has in the engine compartment. Probably it's better to swap it with a fake/damaged one.

ed_ballson Car thieves using tech disguised inside old Nokia phones and Bluetooth speakers

I know security through obscurity is not really a security, but thieves have a limited time to action and they would drop the car if there are problems or are spooked.

How you can prevent a car theft?

Hardware:

- Kill switch - hide a switch somewhere to the battery/ignition

- Steering wheel or pedal lock - annoying for the daily use. Not much of a deterrent if someone has a pick or liquid nitrogen.

- Chain and a lock in your garage - the need to cut something would be too risky. Doesn't help in a public place.

- Replace ODB with a fake - stops the hacking

PsyOp:

Have a message displayed or an extra devices that would communicate (this is car is being track, please leave the vehicle, police unit is dispatched etc.)

Tracking:

Thieves know how to disable car alarms with GSP, but Airtags maybe hard to find.

ed_ballson CATL has announced a new “condensed” battery with 500 Wh/kg

> ~27% of the energy required to run a normal car

It would be slightly worse in colder climates. I wish car manufactures would allow for easy installation for range extenders in the front trunk. I'd be a great source of heat for the heat pump. Range anxiety would be gone. No carbon tax since it would be an aftermarket solution.

It seems Mazda MX-30 r-ev is the only thing you can buy.

ed_ballson Load Balancing

you can improve this be picking top 3 server with least connections and then pick one randomly from these 3 servers.

ed_ballson NZ’s biggest data breach shows retention is the sleeping giant of data security

This will never happen. For a long time I thought there is a an USP in treating data as toxic substance, but with the rise of LLMs I think data is the new oil.

Company A that leverages data will outcompete company B.

ed_ballson Tell HN: The ratio of wants-to-be-hired to is-hiring is at a record high 0.94

I've compiles a list from 2015 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1350A5KGgmGI3Ed-tC7MP...

ed_ballson Tell HN: The ratio of wants-to-be-hired to is-hiring is at a record high 0.94

Here is the data from 2015 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1350A5KGgmGI3Ed-tC7MP...

Ratio Who wants to be hired?/Who is hiring?

2015 0,20

2016 0,21

2017 0,14

2018 0,10

2019 0,32

2020 0,44

2021 0,26

2022 0,40

2023 0,83

ed_ballson Tell HN: The ratio of wants-to-be-hired to is-hiring is at a record high 0.94

Date | Who is hiring? | Who wants to be hired | ratio

Jan 2019,966,265,0.27

Feb 2019,847,197,0.23

Mar 2019,880,246,0.27

Apr 2019,881,324,0.36

May 2019,1020,286,0.28

Jun 2019,800,232,0.29

Jul 2019,907,479,0.52

Aug 2019,861,284,0.32

Sep 2019,724,180,0.24

Oct 2019,905,406,0.44

Nov 2019,760,270,0.35

Dec 2019,907,271,0.29

ed_ballson Tell HN: The ratio of wants-to-be-hired to is-hiring is at a record high 0.94

Date | Who is hiring? | Who wants to be hired | ratio

Jan 2018,911,84,0.09

Feb 2018,1070,76,0.07

Mar 2018,1187,85,0.07

Apr 2018,1084,142,0.13

May 2018,1198,69,0.05

Jun 2018,911,90,0.09

Jul 2018,860,122,0.14

Aug 2018,1025,83,0.08

Sep 2018,922,73,0.07

Oct 2018,1110,113,0.10

Nov 2018,1057,162,0.15

Dec 2018,954,182,0.18

ed_ballson Tell HN: The ratio of wants-to-be-hired to is-hiring is at a record high 0.94

Date | Who is hiring? | Who wants to be hired | ratio

Jan 2017,939,275,0.29

Feb 2017,1236,106,0.08

Mar 2017,1069,114,0.10

Apr 2017,956,163,0.17

May 2017,1096,236,0.21

Jun 2017,994,101,0.10

Jul 2017,982,105,0.10

Aug 2017,955,224,0.23

Sep 2017,957,113,0.11

Oct 2017,1136,126,0.11

Nov 2017,1199,145,0.12

Dec 2017,1000,69,0.06

ed_ballson Tell HN: The ratio of wants-to-be-hired to is-hiring is at a record high 0.94

Date | Who is hiring? | Who wants to be hired | ratio

Jan 2016,471,110,0.23

Feb 2016,781,127,0.15

Mar 2016,825,202,0.24

Apr 2016,719,280,0.38

May 2016,983,166,0.16

Jun 2016,1007,248,0.24

Jul 2016,898,209,0.23

Aug 2016,945,118,0.12

Sep 2016,911,162,0.17

Oct 2016,989,261,0.26

Nov 2016,1121,249,0.22

Dec 2016,840,120,0.14

ed_ballson Tell HN: The ratio of wants-to-be-hired to is-hiring is at a record high 0.94

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

Date | Who is hiring? | Who wants to be hired | ratio

Jan 2015,334,98,0.29

Feb 2015,643,169,0.26

Mar 2015,680,177,0.26

Apr 2015,952,194,0.20

May 2015,891,199,0.22

Jun 2015,759,276,0.36

Jul 2015,1094,142,0.12

Aug 2015,974,176,0.18

Sep 2015,872,188,0.21

Oct 2015,1136,99,0.08

Nov 2015,896,99,0.11

Dec 2015,1000,95,0.09

ed_ballson Tell HN: The ratio of wants-to-be-hired to is-hiring is at a record high 0.94

in 2019 it was about 0.32

First who wants to be hired https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7685170

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1350A5KGgmGI3Ed-tC7MP...

ed_ballson UK Treasury trying to find a Head of Cyber Security for £55k

Alternately, they could be forced to find a UK resident first, before hiring a foreigner. First, you make an ad with requirements that have 0 possible candidates. You wait a few weeks as a proof that you tried to hire locally. Then you make a semi-hidden ad with the real position and salary*

*happened in my country. Position for a software engineer with 1.5x min wage salary.

ed_ballson The EV Transition Is Harder Than Anyone Thinks

VW id2

ed_ballson Launch HN: Play.ht (YC W23) – Generate and clone voices from 20 seconds of audio

You probably won't want to use sequential IDs https://playground.play.ht/listen/1

ed_ballson Py-template: one-click Python environment v0.2.0 update

Should the action substitute cookiecutter? I see `src/{{cookiecutter.repository}}` after generation

ed_ballson South Korea has the lowest fertility rate, with lessons for us all

Pure propaganda, but it's really hard to estimate. At least with China you have some data. Chinese government would say there were 10.5 mln live births in 2021, but there were only 4.6 mln mandatory tuberculosis vaccinations distributed.

Some kids were not vaccinated, you can use a single dose for 2 kids, but that gives you 9.5 mln.

ed_ballson Cyclists now outnumber motorists in City of London

> might be impossible depending on work or children

a dog it's even worse in this regard. I don't think any taxi will refuse a child.

ed_ballson Georgia’s big new nuclear reactors could be the last built in the US

nope. royce rolls SMR, Toshiba. Pretty much everybody invests in it.

There are others in US, but NuScale is the closest to a product.

ed_ballson Pipe Operator (|>) For JavaScript

Quite often I rewrite the code from

```

return validate(get_response(value))

```

value = get_response(value)

value = validate(value)

return value

```

into

```

res = get_response(value)

new_res = validate(res)

return new_res

```

Why? Easier to read and when Sentry throws an error I have each value from the call stack. Much easer to debug. In the example 2 you can accidentally move a line and not notice the error.

ed_ballson The Pretty Good House

Houses in US are made of wood because:

- wood is cheap in US (historically was 10x cheaper)

- there is a lot of land, plots are big, so you can fit everything in a single level

- wood is better for handling earthquakes, brick walls cracks

- cultural (wood has always been much better for construction in US)

ed_ballson Why Not Mars

> So I’ve come to believe the best way to look at our Mars program is as a faith-based initiative

All start to make sense when you look at it through geopolitics. Satellites have become one of the most critical components in the modern warfare. A lunar base helps you destroy enemy's satellites and you want humans in the loop.

ed_ballson GitHub Copilot isn't worth the risk

> It really does cut time by 10s of percent.

I used it for about a month. It gave me a few false positive that really burned me - it's not worth the risk. Maybe future versions would be better.

ed_ballson Russia to Withdraw Troops from Kherson

Finland was not a mistake*, they needed a strategic depth for the white sea and the goal was achieved(the cost was high and the was the single goal from many). If Stalin wouldn't get that, he would be removed.

ed_ballson Russia to Withdraw Troops from Kherson

> because he gets what he wants

no politician gets what she/he wants. They can only go upwind. The structural forces - like strategic interests - are forcing the decisions on them. They can move one inch left or right, but that's about it. It doesn't matter if this is a democracy or regime. You can observe it now, when Biden is continuing Trump's policies like trade tariffs on China.

No one wants a war, but if the stability of the system depends on it you are forced to act. I think this war is similar to Opium Wars. Without the trade British Empire would have serious problems.

The world is decarbonising and more than half of RF income comes from natural resources. Putin needed a better position to secure the future of Russian Federation. He tried to use the argument of force in a 3 day war, but the gamble didn't work.

ed_ballson Tesla Is Recalling 40k Cars in Its 17th Recall of the Year

> exceptional circumstances like potholes

I would not call it exceptional.

ed_ballson Mild autumn weather has sent European gas prices plummeting

Source for the downvoters https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/single-line-nord-str...

ed_ballson Mild autumn weather has sent European gas prices plummeting

"With the destruction of the Nordstream pipelines"

They are not destroyed. There are 4 pipes in total and 1 pipe of NS2 is intact. Most likely Russia destroyed the other pipes to get NS2 working (you want gas? Need to certify NS2 and we won't pay contract penalties, because this is not our fault)

Resources blackmail didn't work, hence nuclear threats and mobilisation.