Hacker News: jonyt

New comment by jonyt in "Ask HN: What was your "oh shit" moment with GenAI?"

jonyt — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 20:44:11 +0000

Sure. I haven't published it yet, so here's the OneDrive link https://1drv.ms/t/c/bc01c33494ab32b1/IQDSR0rolJrKSqaqvWuyQtn...

New comment by jonyt in "Ask HN: What was your "oh shit" moment with GenAI?"

jonyt — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 16:01:50 +0000

The WWII article, or the bug hunting story?

New comment by jonyt in "Ask HN: What was your "oh shit" moment with GenAI?"

jonyt — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 08:34:55 +0000

Two things, both from this week.

First, I asked Claude to write an article based on an idea I had about WWII. In a passage about the futility (from the German side) of the Battle of Britain it wrote: "The Luftwaffe was fighting to unlock a door that opened onto a wall." I couldn't find any mention of a similar metaphor, and I think it's a great one. Claude has really improved its creative writing skills lately, I wonder if it's an artifact of improvements in other fields, or if Anthropic is working on it specifically.

Second, Claude, with access to DataDog and a code repo, managed to find the reason for a bug, propose an effective temporary fix and a permanent one in code. To be clear, this was something that had multiple engineers stumped.

New comment by jonyt in "The Elite Iranian Cyber Unit Targeting Israel"

jonyt — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 20:34:19 +0000

https://archive.is/8vKQk

The Elite Iranian Cyber Unit Targeting Israel

jonyt — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 20:27:53 +0000

Article URL: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/security-aviation/2025-11-20/ty-article-magazine/.premium/charming-kitten-exposed-elite-iranian-cyber-unit-targeting-israels-most-sensitive-sites/0000019a-9d88-d67f-adbe-dfcb94cb0000

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45997261

Points: 3

# Comments: 1

New comment by jonyt in "What will become of the CIA?"

jonyt — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 12:23:59 +0000

The article comes off as a laughable attempt to fire the arrow and then paint the target around it. For example the author claims about 9/11 that "the first attack had already achieved its aims: it dragged the U.S. into a protracted war in Afghanistan, pushed the country back into the moral swamp of torture, and, as a bonus, helped goad America into invading Iraq." Bin Laden was a fanatical mass murderer and his aim was to establish a caliphate. I highly, highly, highly doubt that he saw the attacks as an attempt to degrade the morals of the CIA (or any of the other outlandish claptrap that the author claims).

New comment by jonyt in "U.S. bombs Iranian nuclear sites"

jonyt — Sun, 22 Jun 2025 14:39:22 +0000

Iran isn't being attacked because it's not nice to its own people (which is a shame really, all dictators and theocrats should worry for their lives). It's being attacked because it has ballistic missiles, a nuclear weapons program, a giant sign in the middle of Tehran counting down the existence of Israel and its leaders have repeatedly called for Israel's destruction. So weapon, opportunity and motive. It's of course free to work towards the destruction of Israel but then it's hardly fair to complain that Israel may try to preempt that.

New comment by jonyt in "U.S. bombs Iranian nuclear sites"

jonyt — Sun, 22 Jun 2025 14:34:54 +0000

Iran is a signatory of the NPT so - not approved.

New comment by jonyt in "Ask HN: What are you working on (September 2024)?"

jonyt — Sun, 29 Sep 2024 21:47:00 +0000

Thanks! It's historical fiction so 90% true :-) The novel is set during the First Jewish–Roman War[0] and I tried as much as possible to adhere to what we know of actual events. There's a good case to be made that the effect it had on Judaism greatly impacted the development of Christianity. Plus it helped crown the Flavian Dynasty. I have just a short blurb and the first chapter here[1]. I'll definitely post more about the book and the process if I manage to get it published. There are quite a few aspiring novelists here so it might be encouraging to them.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Jewish%E2%80%93Roman_War

[1] https://jonyomtov.me/the-deserter

New comment by jonyt in "Ask HN: What are you working on (September 2024)?"

jonyt — Sun, 29 Sep 2024 21:06:31 +0000

Getting my historical fiction novel published. I finished writing it a couple of months back. Extremely short plot summary: guy deserts from the Roman XI legion, goes back home only to find that his entire province is about to revolt against the Roman Empire at the height of its power. It's one of the most spectacular feats of collective self-immolation in human history and it had a large effect on human history. I think not enough has been written about the role of abject stupidity in human affairs. This book is an attempt to correct that.

New comment by jonyt in "Intuit pouring money into lobbying amid push for free government-run tax filing"

jonyt — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 21:26:39 +0000

Already done in Israel. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobby_99

The most important thing in microesrvices

jonyt — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 18:04:32 +0000

Article URL: https://www.sysaid.com/blog/sysaid-tech/microservices-architecture-asynchronouscommunication-better

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31030795

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by jonyt in "Chernobyl power plant captured by Russian forces"

jonyt — Fri, 25 Feb 2022 08:34:09 +0000

I think the commenters here relying on a more robust response if Putin invades a NATO country are being overly optimistic. Let's be honest with ourselves and recognize that without the US NATO is no match for Russia. Fragmented, with small and outdated armed forces, the Russian army would quickly roll over any resistance. Can you imagine a Republican president committing US troops to the defence of Lithuania in the current climate? Just look at what Trump is saying right now. If I were a European leader I'd be investing very heavily in an my armed forces right about now. Putin has succeeded in undermining the international order. First, by getting someone like Trump elected and undercutting faith in NATO. Second, by invading neighboring countries and having everyone realize this has no real consequences. It's likely that, unfortunately, the new world order is the old world order. Either a country has the power to defend itself or it doesn't. Other countries can't be relied upon to help.

The Surprisingly Low Price Tag on Preventing Climate Disaster

jonyt — Fri, 21 Jan 2022 13:29:39 +0000

Article URL: https://time.com/6132395/two-percent-climate-solution/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30023190

Points: 2

# Comments: 1

New comment by jonyt in "Six Palestinian organizations hacked with NSO Group’s Pegasus Spyware"

jonyt — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 11:19:33 +0000

Where in the linked article does it say "Israel infiltrated high levels of government and got compromising information"?

Ask HN: Any online educational games for young kids?

jonyt — Mon, 30 Mar 2020 11:00:48 +0000

My 4 year old son really likes https://countable.github.io/cats-of-jasnah/ It's an enjoyable quarantine activity. Are there any similar games in terms of being educational and playable on a smartphone?

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22726914

Points: 2

# Comments: 1