Hacker News: delichon

New comment by delichon in "Firewood Splitting Simulator"

delichon — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 13:47:01 +0000

I have a lot of splitting to do right now, and you're welcome to it. I'll only charge a low nominal fee. But let me know before September, because that's when I usually go rent a hydraulic splitter from the local hardware store. Then I spend a very long day splitting so that I can return it the next day.

I've spent a lot of time splitting with a big maul, but for me it's harder that it looks. I've broken two mauls by striking to far. And even with "soft" wood, I have stacks of green rounds that I couldn't split at all, the maul just bounces off. But I'm glad that you enjoy the process, I'd probably enjoy watching you work.

New comment by delichon in "Police officer investigated for using AI to 'create evidence' in multiple cases"

delichon — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 23:45:07 +0000

I'd wager that it was just a shortcut to getting his work done. That banal motive is why we've seen an explosion of these cases and why they won't stop.

New comment by delichon in "US bans differential privacy in Census data"

delichon — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 15:18:13 +0000

The dueling political demands of accuracy and privacy are simply incompatible at some level. After reading this, maybe Hanlon's Razor isn't the right standard. Besides malice and stupidity, there is impossibility. Some problems just aren't solvable under certain constraints. I don't envy the statisticians tasked with finding a politically palatable solution to a math problem.

New comment by delichon in "Fully autonomous drones have killed human soldiers for the first time"

delichon — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 23:41:49 +0000

Oh, sorry. I didn't know that the "past" feature now sends comments back in time. That needs a confirmation pop up. It could really fuck up a timeline.

New comment by delichon in "Fully autonomous drones have killed human soldiers for the first time"

delichon — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 17:53:35 +0000

This was back in 2026, before they released the Dredd series for civilian applications with onboard due processing and agents for prosecution, defense, judge, jury and executioner with millisecond response times, drastically reducing price per perpetrator.

New comment by delichon in "AI misidentification results in wrongful arrest; man seeks justice"

delichon — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 23:37:11 +0000

Kidnapping and false imprisonment charges seem reasonable.

New comment by delichon in "If Claude Fable stops helping you, you'll never know"

delichon — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 22:57:47 +0000

The level of oppression necessary to get software geeks to stop making progress on AI is similar to that necessary to get Ukrainian geeks to stop making progress on drones.

New comment by delichon in "New Referendum Would Flip Brexit Result 10 Years On, Poll Finds"

delichon — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 18:37:45 +0000

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRkMGTgX0AEFhVp.png

This is for Denmark.

https://inquisitivebird.substack.com/p/the-effects-of-immigr...

The iPhone explains 33–52% of fertility decline among women aged 15–44

delichon — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 12:34:38 +0000

Article URL: https://www.nber.org/papers/w35310

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48444543

Points: 101

# Comments: 54

New comment by delichon in "Scientists ejected from diabetes conference for distributing journal reprints"

delichon — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 13:04:36 +0000

They were quietly, politely protesting, but protesting. If two identical conferences had a rule against protesting, but conference A had a plan to have zero tolerance for it, and conference B decided to play it by ear, evaluate based on the disruption and reasonableness and respond as the situation required ... I'd rather go to conference A. I'd feel the same way about a no smoking rule.

New comment by delichon in "You Can Run"

delichon — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 18:14:32 +0000

  The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. -- Ezekiel 18:20

That was aspirational around 590 BC when written, and still is. To isolate children from the iniquity of the parent would require the dissolution of the family.

New comment by delichon in "Police in England and Wales told to halt AI use in court statements"

delichon — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 17:29:47 +0000

We can get ambitious and try to head toward a form of statement more probative than even an officer personally typing a report: Have them narrate the facts of the event and the reasons for their decisions as soon as possible after the incident, as a video. Additions and corrections made later would be separate annotations. Where text is needed, auto-transcribe.

Courts prefer to have live witness testimony for a good reason. Detectives prefer to have statements made with the events as fresh as possible for a good reason. At the same time an oral report can save time and labor. Where we can take police or witness testimony verbally, more promptly, with less work, and including body language, we should.

And video is more AI tamper evident than text.

New comment by delichon in "Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers"

delichon — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 14:57:28 +0000

There are many Not In My Orbit people on this very page. Many current national politicians would be happy to vote AI out of orbit today. Space is not an escape from earthly politics.

New comment by delichon in "Fake Money Built America"

delichon — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 18:08:28 +0000

There is no sense in which counterfeiting bank notes was a creative force in the economy and not just theft. The article doesn't really attempt to justify the title.

New comment by delichon in "Cooldown Support for Ruby Bundler"

delichon — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 14:21:36 +0000

> A version whose source does not expose created_at, such as older gem servers, historical entries from before the v2 cutover, or private registries still on the v1 format, is treated as outside the window and stays resolvable.

How is that not an easy exploit to circumvent the cooldown?

New comment by delichon in "How Fear and Social Pressure Are 'Overarming' the U.S."

delichon — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 19:22:07 +0000

> The vast majority of people who buy a gun out of fear go to the range once and then put the gun in the top of the closet never to be seen again.

I'm close to that, but I put its potential benefits similar to that of my fire extinguishers, and with no kids around the cost/risk is low. I am happy to be part of the statistics that raise the costs for intruders, and I like being ready to defend my dogs from the local coyotes, wolves and cougars. My guns and fire extinguishers are downstream of the same kind of fear.

New comment by delichon in "When AI Builds Itself: Our progress toward recursive self-improvement"

delichon — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 17:05:31 +0000

When AI is a more effective capital allocator than NI it will drive capital into the accounts of whoever controls the AI, gaining them increasing decision making power over the economy and culture. Maybe those controllers will be human at first.

New comment by delichon in "When AI Builds Itself: Our progress toward recursive self-improvement"

delichon — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 16:48:48 +0000

Is this the moment when the AI gets permission to approve its own PRs:

https://www.italianrenaissance.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/0...

Or is this?

https://www.egypttoursportal.com/images/2024/02/Ouroboros-Sy...

New comment by delichon in "Failing grades soar with AI usage, dwindling math skills in Berkeley CS classes"

delichon — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 16:35:11 +0000

All that's needed is a tight feedback loop between learning and applying those skills ... the thing that Google Translate helped you evade. AI can be a tool for evading or optimizing that loop, like a knife can cut your sandwich or your throat. Your choice.

New comment by delichon in "Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot"

delichon — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 14:31:43 +0000

When I was six or seven my older brother untied my shoelaces when I wasn't looking, and I tripped on them and almost fell down. This was apparently a traumatic event for me since it has affected my behavior ever since. I've double-knotted my shoelaces every time since then, usually remembering why. For about the last 57 years. When I was about 12 the same brother tried it again and failed due to the double knot. It was a moment of triumph.

But the double knot still sometimes comes untied somehow so I've never been entirely happy with it. Maybe if I take the effort to overcome my muscle memory and learn Ian's knot, it will quell the PTSD from being victimized at a young age and I can find inner peace.