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zhynn

445 karma · joined May 3, 2011

[ my public key: https://keybase.io/pol; my proof: https://keybase.io/pol/sigs/_wUJhffyeGk4dFeEWj5JPuBuZt0UDHwM-5t0Q5XehaA ]

Please contact me if you are curious about what it is like working remotely as a tech worker in rural VT! VT needs more people badly, but I think it is wildly overlooked.

Messaging via keybase is most reliable, but if you want to try an email, you can send to zhynn-hn@dualistic.com

submissionscomments
zhynn··on We want you to build the next Git platform on Cloudflare
I looked into beads but I didn't see a way to make it work any better than fossil, and fossil does more stuff. My typical setup is to use the repo as a working directory, the tickets for todo, wiki/forum for conversation. There is also a chat interface, but I haven't tried that with agents yet.

But I love fossil for this. You can create users for all of the agents (or agent roles). The CLI for fossil is just a binary and it compiles nearly everywhere.

+1 over here for agentic fossil. With fossil the "work" is integrated in with the code. Beads separates this out, the beads are instances of work that agents can consume, and they aren't part of the work repo. I could see why you might want this, but I still think that fossil gives you more utility.

More info on beads if you are curious: https://github.com/gastownhall/beads

zhynn··on Show HN: Capsule – Single-file web apps that save their data into SQLite
I did not know this! What a cool feature.
zhynn··on Show HN: Capsule – Single-file web apps that save their data into SQLite
I have been meaning to use Justine's RedBean to build a "project app" (kind of like what the OP describes, but leaning more towards something like Datasette). It would contain the data, the paper(s), and the UI for interacting with the data (and supporting scripts or R that can be run with other tools). I just like the idea of a portable single-file scientific artifact.

(also another call for jart to fix their certs!)

zhynn··on An update on Wayback Machine access
I have a recurring donation, there is so much cool stuff in the archive. It really is the library of the internet, and I love it.
zhynn··on Dwarf Fortress is getting the mother of all magic updates
You are thinking of the NoClip documentary! It is fantastic and well worth your time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwLSgaYPKA0&list=PL-THgg8Qnv...

zhynn··on Ask HN: Alternatives to GitHub
The closest thing I have is this: https://tenbolts.org/cgi-bin/repo/wiki?name=Dreams
zhynn··on Ask HN: Alternatives to GitHub
I love Fossil, I have been using it for all of my projects for the last couple years. Things that I love include:

    1. batteries included single-file functionality (fossil binary + sqlite file and I have everything!)
    2. Hosting them is super easy, I have a lighttpd server configured to do cgi-bin, and i just pop the project.fossil file onto the server and I have a project.
The biggest friction is managing users across repos. Each repo is its own RBAC, the "zhynn" user in one repo is not the same as the "zhynn" user in another repo. It would be cool to be able to sync users across repos, which should be possible with sql, but I think that it could get weird with repo-specific permissions. Currently I just add my user to each new repo, granting that user setup permissions, and removing the admin before I scp the .fossil file up to the webserver.

In the end though, I intend to use it for all of my personal projects from here out.

I have a pipe dream of turning a fossil repo into a portable distributed more-async-friendly slack clone, where the "chat", "wiki" and "forum" functionalities are all used as the back-end for a responsive UI that basically does the same thing that slack does, but lives in a single sqlite file + binary. It could run mostly offline in a kind of scuttlebutt/limited connectivity pattern (when online push/pull messages, get latest chats/files/etc, go back offline. As you go through the content, make your responses locally, then go back online, push/pull again, repeat.)

I have another pipe dream of making a RedBean APE fossil UI. I think it would be cool to have a single file universal executable that is my project repo.

zhynn··on Ghostty is leaving GitHub
I found out today that I am user 6082. I have been using github since the rubyconf (railsconf? I can't remember) where it was announced. I loved octocat. I was a git fanatic. It has been extremely disappointing.

I am using fossil now. I kind of love it, just a sqlite file with a very trim binary to interact with it. I get all of my things that I want (wiki, forum, issues, docs, etc) all in one file.

But that's just for fun. At work we are still tied to Microsoft Github. Just typing that out feels dirty.

zhynn··on The Everdeck: A Universal Card System (2019)
Mu is awesome, one of my favorites. I especially like the "Mu and More" and "Mu and Much More" decks that have other games you can play in the box. It is a bit fiddly customizing the decks for the different games, but it is amazing how much game is in that one box. Njet was mentioned in another comment, and that is one of my go-to games when playing with non-gamers.

Mu is my favorite trick taking game of all time, but it is difficult enough that I don't get a chance to play it very often.

zhynn··on Steam Frame
Give it a try: https://fex-emu.com/
zhynn··on 1 Trillion Web Pages Archived
Thanks for helping to run my favorite library on earth.
zhynn··on How Israeli actions caused famine in Gaza, visualized
It appears that Hamas struck a deeper blow on October 7th than we realized. Perhaps Israel's humanity was the primary target. It's like watching a family member destroy everything in a fit of grief and rage. Surely there is a wiser path.
zhynn··on This map is not upside down
My very favorite map projection is the AuthaGraph map: http://www.authagraph.com

It is a novel (I would say amazing) map projection that manages to retain proportional landmass size by using an "ioso-area-mapping" technique. It maps the sphere to a tetrahedron and then slices and unfolds that tetrahedron into a 2d plane.

The method places all of the continents into the map (proportionally!), while also being able to tessellate (so you can move the "viewfinder" to focus on different map subsections without changing the overall map). It's easier to see than describe. The "4" link is an example of modifying the "view" of the tessellated surface to create maps that focus on particular regions.

The downside is that "north" and "south" are rather arbitrary points on the map, instead of being at the top/bottom.

It is still by far my favorite 2D map projection!

zhynn··on Bitchat – A decentralized messaging app that works over Bluetooth mesh networks
This reminds me a little of [Scuttlebutt](https://scuttlebutt.nz) (positive it has been posted on HN before). But I think these little projects are awesome, even if they have a limited audience. Go forth!
zhynn··on Why are there no good dinosaur films?
If you love hard-science dinosaur books, I cannot recommend Abby Howard's "Earth Before Us" series: https://www.goodreads.com/series/257878-earth-before-us

They are so so SO good, they have so much care about the science while also being delightfully whimsical and the art is beautiful. Please check them out!

zhynn··on InventWood is about to mass-produce wood that's stronger than steel
Aren't the solvents pretty nasty chemicals? I wonder how they deal with the sodium hydroxide + sodium sulfate saturated with lignin and hemicellulose... maybe it can be turned into a soap or glue? That sounds like a rough biproduct to have to deal with.

I guess those aren't as nasty as I thought, lye and sodium sulfate are pretty innocuous.

It's probably much less difficult to deal with than plastic byproducts.

zhynn··on Otter Wiki: A minimalistic wiki powered by Python, Markdown and git
Or you could just use fossil...
zhynn··on Can solar costs keep shrinking?
My town has about 500 people, but the really active community is about 50-100 that will show up at the various things we do. I am 30 minutes from grocery stores, and 3 hours from boston or montreal. I have fiber internet because the residents got sick of the telecoms and we built our own. And the forest is more dense than Montana (where I grew up), and doesn't light on fire every summer. Please come to VT. :)

Also, I a bought a ramshackle building at auction that I am turning into a community workshop. It will be fun!

zhynn··on Can solar costs keep shrinking?
Please come to Vermont, there is a lot of undeveloped land, ample water, and we need people.
zhynn··on Repair and Remain (2022)
I love the feeling I get when I recycle or repurpose something that would have been trash into something useful. Especially if it becomes even more beautiful from its past patina.

This can go too far and put you in a cycle of spending all of your time tending jank (and lowing your quality bar). It's a fine edge to walk. but that pleasure hit that most people get from buying stuff, it doesn't work for me. Buying new things often makes me feel guilty. Re-using or repurposing something though... for me it's one of the best highs there is.

zhynn··on Can we stop the decline of monarch butterflies and other pollinators?
Not sure if the wild milkweed out here in VT is the "big ugly broad-leaf one", but I think they are amazing plants. And I love the alien-looking pods with the almost fractal arrangement of fluff seeds inside. The flowers are interesting too if only because of their brevity, they only last a few days. I love watching the milkweed grow over the summer. Burdock too. Incredible plants.
zhynn··on The Right Kind of Stubborn
It's a paradox, expertise will tell you which one to pick (know when to quit | never give up). Tom Sachs called principals like these "Paradox Bullets". The movie: https://vimeo.com/293569057
zhynn··on It's getting harder to die
Thank you so so so much for posting this! I had no idea it existed, and I am so happy that it does.

I also discovered that my home state has ZERO listed green burial sites, which is shocking to me because... I live in VT. I would have guessed it would be the leader in green burial, it is right up our wheelhouse!

zhynn··on The case for not sanitising fairy tales
Also recommend the Kalevala if you are curious about such things. It's very interesting.
zhynn··on 'Right to roam' movement fights to give the commons back to the public
I'll just leave this here:

https://fpr.vermont.gov/recreation/activities/camping/primit...

There are many, and nobody goes there.

zhynn··on Is artificial consciousness achievable? Lessons from the human brain
I think consciousness is the combination of attention (ability to pick focus), imagination (simulate possible universe states), and reflection (compare what happened to what was imagined to happen and update imagination accordingly).

Attention is just what it feels like to update your internal state deliberately (you are doing it, it is not being done to you). Imagination is the use of your internal universe simulator to predict possible states (sometimes impossible ones). Reflection is what makes you the agent of the thinking or doing, it's the "I" part.

I also think we have neural systems of recognizing consciousness in others. This can be tricked, which is the source of the "machine elves" in DMT experiences. The chemical is poking the brain's "that is a conscious entity right there" button, and you are sure that the optical hallucinations are conscious, but it's just a sensory hallucination on top of the optical one. Interacting with an LLM doesn't poke our "there is a consciousness on the other end of this conversation" button yet, but it will get there since that is in part what we are working towards.

But I think it will not be convincing without attention, imagination, and reflection.

zhynn··on Stephen Wolfram – 4-Hour Conversational Documentary on My Entire Arc of Life [video]
blah blah (which I did in 1988) blah blah (which I completed in 1992).

He has no collaborators. He gives no credit to others. He just relentlessly names things after himself, takes singular credit for everything, and name-drops other famous scientists he bumped into.

I genuinely find the wolfram physics project interesting, but the behavior of wolfram himself sets off all my bullshit alarms.

I suspect that it will be someone else that will take these ideas over the finish line. He seems completely oblivious to the fact that his behavior makes it harder to take the ideas seriously.

My gateway to the ideas was Jonathan Gorard. Check out his videos if you are curious, they are much more accessible than Wolfram's own content.

zhynn··on Is the emergence of life an expected phase transition in the evolving universe?
My snarky take is: Assembly theory is testable, this one isn't.
zhynn··on David Attenborough is now narrating my life
yeah... you can't unring this bell.
zhynn··on Is my toddler a stochastic parrot?
Life creates novelty. Humans are a member of that category, but all life is producing novelty.

More information: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06600-9

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