1. Language is primarily a tool for communication rather than thought [pdf]
Total comment counts : 56
Summary
error
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the different ways in which people experience their thoughts. It mentions that some people have a strong internal monologue while thinking, while others do not. There is also a mention of some people visualizing their thoughts as text, such as when remembering names. The University of Wisconsin conducted a study on this topic and provides a quiz for readers to determine their own thinking preferences.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the process of creating words or phrases to label common concepts, and how not every concept is given importance in every language. It provides examples of common words in other languages that do not have a direct translation in English, such as “tsundoku” in Japanese, which means buying books and letting them pile up without reading them. The article also mentions the limitations of language in expressing certain types of thoughts, and introduces Large Multimodal Models (LMMs) as a solution to address these limitations. LMMs utilize more detailed data beyond just language to improve spatial intelligence.
2. Internet Archive forced to remove 500k books after publishers’ court win
Total comment counts : 36
Summary
The free online library, Internet Archive (IA), has recently suffered a loss of approximately 500,000 book titles as a result of successful lawsuits from book publishers. IA is now appealing the court’s decision, arguing that its lending practices should be considered fair use under copyright law. IA claims that the publishers have no evidence that their e-book market has been harmed by IA’s lending. IA is using industry-standard technology to prevent book downloads and redistribution. The removal of books has caused frustration among readers, particularly those in underserved communities who rely on IA for access to books. Supporters of IA have written an open letter to publishers, urging them to reconsider forcing takedowns and restore access. IA’s appeal is set to begin on June 28.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article argues that while it should be legal for IA (presumably Internet Archive) to offer older and out of print books, it currently is not. It highlights the potential legal risks and negative consequences faced by IA for their actions. The author calls for people to support copyright reform, suggesting that copyright terms are excessively long and can be changed with enough advocacy.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the issue of copyright and the accessibility of books written by deceased authors. A fan of the Internet Archive (IA) expressed frustration because they believe that if publishers stop printing a book and it becomes unavailable, the copyright holder should not have the right to demand its removal from IA. The reasoning behind this is that if a book is not readily available for purchase, the publishers are not losing any money. The author suggests that copyright should follow a “use it or lose it” principle, meaning that if copyright holders do not make their books easily accessible, their right to demand their removal from platforms like IA should not be upheld.
3. Farm: Fast vite compatible build tool written in Rust
Total comment counts : 24
Summary
The article discusses a software tool called Farm, which allows users to start a React or Vue project quickly and perform hot module replacement (HMR) updates within milliseconds. Written in Rust, Farm supports incremental building, which means that modules are only compiled if they have changed. It also provides support for compiling various file types such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, JSON, and static assets, with plugins available for popular frameworks like Sass, Less, PostCSS, Vue, React, and Solid. Farm is powered by plugins and supports both Rust and JavaScript plugins, including Vite plugins. Additionally, it offers partial bundling, which bundles the project into a few bundles to speed up resource loading without sacrificing caching granularity. Farm is compatible with both legacy (ES5) and modern browsers.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author of the article decided to compare the build times of Vite and Farm for a real-world project with no cache. They found that Vite took 28.21 seconds to build, while Farm took 13.35 seconds, resulting in a 53% decrease in build times. The author considers this improvement to be neat, but is unsure if it is worth relying on a new player.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author expresses mixed feelings about a project that aims to rewrite Vite in Rust. They believe that Vite is already fast enough for most purposes and question the justification of adopting a new and potentially unstable project for marginal performance improvements.
4. Connection Machine Lisp (1986)
Total comment counts : 7
Summary
error
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the impact of a paper on the author’s scientific career. The paper mentions an experimental version of Connection Machine Lisp with lazy xappings, which inspired the author to develop the Petalisp programming language. The author emphasizes the importance of experimenting with unconventional ideas and openly discussing those experiments. After eight years of development, the author confirms that lazy arrays/xappings are complex to implement but have practical uses.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author discusses their experience with DARPA providing them with a Connection Machine 1, an early SIMD architecture. They mention using a Lisp simulator for software development and having to physically travel to the machine to use it. They also express regret for misplacing Danny Hillis’s Connection Machine book. The author mentions working with hardware designers to run backprop neural networks in the 1980s and expresses fascination with modern projects like Groq that improve inferencing speed. They also mention Hillis’s involvement in various interesting projects throughout his career.
5. My Windows Computer Just Doesn’t Feel Like Mine Anymore
Total comment counts : 94
Summary
error
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author of the article cannot remove the “Recommended” section from the start menu, even on a Pro for Workstations version of Windows. They are frustrated because every time they search on the start menu, a web search pops up that they cannot turn off. The author also experienced issues with their search provider being reset after installing and uninstalling Edge Beta. They find the constant notifications and reminders annoying, particularly regarding backing up files. They feel like they no longer have control over their own computer. Furthermore, the author noticed that Windows installed an older version of a driver after they had already updated it, which they find confusing and illogical.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author abandoned Windows on their personal PC a year ago and switched to a Linux desktop. They had been using a Linux desktop in a work environment for ten years but still relied on Windows for gaming. However, Valve’s efforts have now made Linux gaming possible, allowing the author to fully switch to Linux. The author expresses hope that more people will be able to make the switch in the future, as they are personally satisfied with their chosen Linux distribution (Pop!_OS).
6. Memory sealing for the GNU C Library
Total comment counts : 5
Summary
The article discusses the mseal() system call, which allows a process to prevent changes to certain parts of its address space, thereby increasing security. The system call was merged for the upcoming 6.10 kernel release and is now being added to the GNU C library (glibc). The patch series by Adhemerval Zanella includes sealing various parts of the address space, such as the binary code, shared libraries, and preloaded libraries. The article also mentions a glibc tunable called gtld.rtld.seal, which controls the sealing behavior. Overall, this new system call aims to improve address-space protection for systems using glibc.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses a hypothetical attack exploiting a vulnerability in the munmap and mmap system calls. The attacker would corrupt a pointer passed to munmap, causing a future mmap call to reuse that address with writable permissions. By controlling the writable page, the attacker can execute code at a known address. This attack requires a JIT compiler and the presence of either a bug in the compiler or a separate thread to perform the necessary steps. The article does not provide examples of this specific attack happening and asks if there are simpler attacks.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article mentioned discusses a topic that was recently discussed on a website called Hacker News. The link provided leads to the specific page where the discussion took place. The user “chmaynard” posted the topic 10 days ago and it has received 36 points so far.
7. Using Stockfish to identify ideal squares
Total comment counts : 4
Summary
The article discusses an exercise in chess called the ideal square exercise, which involves determining the best square for a piece to be placed. The author attempts to write a program using Stockfish to identify the ideal square for a piece. The program evaluates different positions and compares changes in evaluation to choose the ideal square. However, the author acknowledges that this approach is too naive, as it does not consider tactical reasons. The article provides examples of the program’s results for different pieces, including knights, bishops, and rooks. While the program shows promise, there are still cases where it gives incorrect answers. The author highlights the challenge of determining which squares are realistically reachable and suggests improvements for future development.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the difference between chess and shogi, a Japanese chess-like game. In shogi, captured pieces can be placed anywhere on the board, making the calculation of an “ideal square” more natural and flexible for players. This is because in addition to moving existing pieces, players can also drop captured pieces onto the board. This feature of being able to drop pieces is a basic aspect of shogi gameplay and allows for strategic piece exchanges. The author notes that they are a beginner in shogi, so experts may have a different perspective on this topic.
Top 2 Comment Summary
This article discusses an exercise that involves assessing a chess piece and determining the best square for it, without considering how to move it there. The author asks how to do this mental evaluation without relying on a computer program and suggests using a rubric to compare the suitability of different squares. The author acknowledges being a low-level player.
8. After my dad died, I ran and sold his company (2018)
Total comment counts : 23
Summary
This article is written by the founder of CB Insights, who shares the story of taking over his late father’s chemical manufacturing company in India. The author reflects on the challenges he faced, his lack of knowledge about the industry, and his initial reluctance to take on this responsibility. He explains that he had already considered the possibility of running his father’s business when his father was in the hospital, but he had hoped things would go back to normal. However, after his father passed away, he found himself in charge of Atlas Fine Chemicals (now called AIMS Impex). The company specializes in flavor and fragrance chemicals and has major clients in the industry. The author describes the contrast between his technology company, CB Insights, and Atlas, emphasizing his lack of qualifications at the time. He shares his initial actions of requesting reports from the team and trying to exude confidence despite his uncertainty about what to do. The author also reflects on his previous experience working at Atlas and his frustration with his father not recognizing his potential.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the chemical compound coumarin and its unexpected use as a substitute for vanillin. The author expresses surprise at discovering coumarin’s role in the chemical industry, considering it looks nothing like vanillin. The article also praises the author’s writing style, describing it as a seamless connection of facts and personal stories. The phrase “Touching the product makes it different” is highlighted as particularly noteworthy.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author describes taking a break from the tech industry to work in their family’s construction manufacturing business in Egypt. They mention that the economic and political climate, as well as their interesting uncle, made the experience challenging. The author also discusses corruption in the construction industry and the influence of culture and hierarchy on their transition.
9. Own Constant Folder in C/C++
Total comment counts : 21
Summary
The article discusses a workaround for a bug in the Clang compiler that affects the use of the square root intrinsic function (sqrtps) in code. When using the -ffast-math flag, Clang mishandles the intrinsic, resulting in incorrect code generation. The author suggests using inline assembly to guarantee the correct instruction selection. However, this approach has a drawback related to constant folding. To address this, the author proposes using LLVM’s intrinsic is_constant, but notes that it cannot be used with vectors. A workaround is presented, which involves an ugly solution but achieves the desired constant folding. The author concludes by considering advocating for a revision of the built-in functionality and potentially filing a GitHub issue. The full example code is provided for reference.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses an issue encountered in Rust when trying to optimize machine learning code. Rust’s strict type-safe math operations require matching types to get the euclidean non-negative remainder of a division. When dealing with a float-point dividend and an integral divisor, the operation becomes much slower because the divisor gets promoted to a floating-point value. The author created their own function to solve this and improve performance, but it cannot be universally applied due to range limitations. They suggest that the compiler could provide support by inferring upper/lower bounds or when coercing the result to an integer or when the dividend is a constant value within a certain range. The article mentions a workaround using a slower but still faster function that raises the functional limits of the operation. The author concludes that they continuously copy the function between machine learning projects, as there is no alternative solution.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the _mm_sqrt_ps() function and its relevance to Intel processors. It questions the naming convention of the function and speculates on why it is specifically associated with Intel. The article provides a link to Intel’s documentation on the function for further reference.
10. An Introduction to Sleep Obfuscation for Malware (2023)
Total comment counts : 2
Summary
The article discusses sleep obfuscation, a technique used to obfuscate payloads while they are dormant. It explains that as defensive software becomes more advanced, techniques like sleep obfuscation need to be implemented to bypass detection. The article specifically focuses on the Ekko sleep obfuscation implementation by C5pider and modifying it to evade the tool Hunt Sleeping Beacons. It explains terms like “unbacked” and “RX” related to memory allocation and permissions. The article then delves into how Ekko works by using timers, ROP, and callbacks. It explains the concept of callbacks and how they are executed by another function. The article also explains how Ekko utilizes the NtContinue function and control of registers to perform ROP. It describes the initial implementation of Ekko’s timer queue callbacks and the use of RtlCaptureContext to modify and utilize the CONTEXT structure for each callback.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the viability of sleep obfuscation as a method to evade detection by scanners. The author suggests that scanners could hook the VirtualProtect calls and scan the associated memory region only when these calls are made. They also mention that using ROP (Return-Oriented Programming) can make the calls appear to come from trusted modules. However, the author questions whether a kernel driver or hypervisor could still detect these calls. They speculate that the detection process may be too taxing on system performance or that there may be other limitations.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The user is asking if using specific mathematical techniques could be more efficient for concealing sleep operations without significantly affecting the CPU’s performance.