Hacker News: pje

Oracle slashes 30k jobs

pje — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 14:30:48 +0000

Article URL: https://rollingout.com/2026/03/31/oracle-slashes-30000-jobs-with-a-cold-6/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47587935

Points: 919

# Comments: 853

Taming the internet: From horizontal to vertical, from keyboards to screens

pje — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 17:17:49 +0000

Article URL: https://www.northsouthnotes.org/p/taming-the-internet

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46466997

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by pje in "Ask HN: Share your AI prompt that stumps every model"

pje — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 19:13:00 +0000

I was using "bullshit" in the Technical Sense™, i.e. _indifferent to the truth of the output_.

[ChatGPT is bullshit ]: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10676-024-09775-5

New comment by pje in "Ask HN: Share your AI prompt that stumps every model"

pje — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 17:39:23 +0000

GPT 4.5 even doubles down when challenged:

> Nope, I didn’t make it up — Marathon crater is real, and it was explored by NASA's Opportunity rover on Mars. The crater got its name because Opportunity had driven about 42.2 kilometers (26.2 miles — a marathon distance) when it reached that point in March 2015. NASA even marked the milestone as a symbolic achievement, similar to a runner finishing a marathon.

(Obviously all of that is bullshit.)

Tesla odometer uses "predictive algorithms" to void warranty, lawsuit claims

pje — Fri, 18 Apr 2025 17:20:35 +0000

Article URL: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/04/tesla-makes-its-cars-lie-about-their-mileage-lawsuit-claims/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43730036

Points: 16

# Comments: 1

New comment by pje in "How many ants live on Earth? (2022)"

pje — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 17:36:15 +0000

The nematode population is probably much closer to stellar figures

Turntablist Transcription Method

pje — Tue, 28 Jan 2025 19:33:56 +0000

Article URL: https://www.ttm-dj.com/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42856845

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by pje in "CUNY paid Oracle $600M for its HR software (2013)"

pje — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 17:15:29 +0000

Bryan Cantrill's rant about Oracle for those who haven't seen it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zRN7XLCRhc&t=2047s

> There has been no entity in human history with less complexity or nuance to it than Oracle. [...] This company is about one man, his ego, and what he wants to inflict on humanity. That's it.

New comment by pje in "We do not prefer chords to be perfectly in mathematical ratios: study"

pje — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 20:07:57 +0000

"Imperfect" tunings are pretty common even in western musical instruments.

Fender Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric pianos, for example, which are staples of pop and jazz, usually use what's called Stretch Tuning, wherein notes an octave apart are just slightly higher than 2:1 frequency ratios.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stretched_tuning

New comment by pje in "Machine embroidery of light-emitting textiles with electroluminescent threads"

pje — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 19:07:36 +0000

What's the power source?

Two weird things about randomness and queues

pje — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 16:00:01 +0000

Article URL: https://www.golaminar.de/thoughts/2022-11-29-two-weird-things.html

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34596796

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

New comment by pje in "Worst Opening Sentences of 2022"

pje — Fri, 16 Dec 2022 18:06:42 +0000

Totally disagree!

The structure is clunky, but the payoff at the end is actually really good! Also the dumbness of the name is funny enough to work in the right context. With a little bit of editing this would make a great piece of flash sci-fi on something like nanoism.

https://twitter.com/nanoism

New comment by pje in "Web3 is going just great"

pje — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 21:00:21 +0000

They literally don't have money in Star Trek. Their society considers itself to have advanced beyond the need for money entirely. This couldn't be further from the future envisioned by web3 people, who seem to want to further financialize, marketize, and commodify all of human experience and interaction.

How Marxism and Buddhism Complement Each Other

pje — Tue, 02 Nov 2021 20:37:48 +0000

Article URL: https://aeon.co/essays/how-marxism-and-buddhism-complement-each-other

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29087026

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

Criticisms of blockchain consensus mechanisms in cryptocurrency

pje — Sun, 31 Oct 2021 20:10:31 +0000

Article URL: https://antsstyle.medium.com/explanation-of-blockchain-consensus-algorithms-pow-pos-etc-735fa50d93c8

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29059958

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

The House That Came in the Mail

pje — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 14:52:28 +0000

Article URL: https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-house-that-came-in-the-mail/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27461431

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

Gangs in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department

pje — Tue, 27 Apr 2021 14:06:28 +0000

Article URL: https://knock-la.com/tradition-of-violence-lasd-gang-history/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26955993

Points: 38

# Comments: 0

New comment by pje in "Amazon illegally fired activist workers, Labor Board finds"

pje — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 15:55:25 +0000

Literally none of the hard problems in forming a union are technical. I can't stress this enough—the hard problems in organizing are much squishier and amorphous.

You're trying to get a majority of people to feel like they have a personal stake in improving the material conditions of others. It's not quorum algorithms, it's not apps, it's not encrypted communication platforms. The hard part is organizing people.

New comment by pje in "What solitary confinement taught me about surviving isolation (2020)"

pje — Fri, 26 Mar 2021 20:25:07 +0000

Solitary confinement for longer than fifteen days is literally torture as defined by the U.N.

New comment by pje in "Ask HN: How to build empathy?"

pje — Sat, 20 Mar 2021 19:51:51 +0000

You may not know what's best for other people!

Instead of the Golden Rule, think of it this way:

"Ask others how they want to be treated, and then treat them that way."