imurray

However, OpenBLAS still links to the reference LAPACK in Fortran, because it's mostly made fast by linking it to a good BLAS implementation. It could be rewritten, or converted to C with f2c. Although there's a long tail of useful but often niche Fortran software, some in Fortran 90 that f2c can't convert. Having a fortran compiler is still useful, and covers all of them at once. Potentially that compiler could compile to another language, to cover more and future platforms all at once (like f2c does). It looks like that's what's going on here, compiling fortran to wasm.

Comment · 3 months ago

> It shouldn't be too hard for the gov to commission a RosettaStone like german learning app ((suboptimal, i know)) that works somewhat well and give it out for free, right?)

Deutsche Welle (DW) is funded by German taxes and has materials for learning German: https://learngerman.dw.com/ as well as regular new materials aimed at learners, such as the news spoken slowly https://learngerman.dw.com/de/langsam-gesprochene-nachrichte... -- although I found it easier to listen to the normal news (e.g. tagesschau) slowed down slightly. (W-h-e-n p-e-o-p-l-e s-p-e-a-k s-l-o-w-l-y i-t c-a-n b-e h-a-r-d-e-r t-o l-i-s-t-e-n t-o!)

Not state-funded, but I recommend https://www.easygerman.org/ -- they have lots of good youtube material, a nice podcast, and an app I've not used. Most of the material is free with bonus materials for supporters.

Comment · 3 months ago

John Skilling has used a generalization of the Hilbert curve to n-dimensions in his BayeSys software for Bayesian inference: https://www.inference.org.uk/bayesys/ -- the manual describes how (pdftex will make a nice pdf), with further references, and C code is available.

Comment · 4 months ago

Here is a pytorch optimizer that can maintain a matrix as orthogonal throughout optimization:

https://github.com/adrianjav/pogo — POGO: A Proximal One-step Geometric Orthoptimizer

https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.14656 — An Embarrassingly Simple Way to Optimize Orthogonal Matrices at Scale; Adrián Javaloy, Antonio Vergari

Comment · 4 months ago

I think you're thinking of "You Suck at Excel" by Joel Spolsky. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxBg4sMusIg

Lots of past HN discussion... https://hn.algolia.com/?q=you+suck+at+excel

That video was before the introduction of xlookup, which I believe is now worth considering over index and match.

Comment · 4 months ago

The Ubuntu backport did include regressions that an Ubuntu update a couple of days later addresses: https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8349-2

Comment · 5 months ago

That version has security fixes from the same day as the latest rsync release: https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8283-1

As usual, Ubuntu backported fixes and didn't upgrade to a new version. Whether or not they also backported regressions in edge cases that afflict the latest rsync, I don't know. Pinning the Ubuntu package may prevent getting further regressions, but is preventing you getting any future such backported security fixes.

Comment · 5 months ago

For those wanting alternatives to KL-divergence, the KL and Jensen–Shannon divergences are both F-divergences: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-divergence

Comment · 7 months ago

Reminds me of https://cr.yp.to/djbdns/ipv6mess.html

Which has been discussed previously: https://hn.algolia.com/?q=The+IPv6+mess

Comment · 7 months ago

I think that's meant to be covered by the "IPv4x when we can. NAT when we must" part, in particular "ISPs used carrier‑grade NAT as a compatibility shim rather than a lifeline: if you needed to reach an IPv4‑only service, CGNAT stepped in while IPv4x traffic flowed natively and without ceremony."

It seemed strange that the need for CGNAT wasn't mentioned until after the MIT story. The "Nothing broke" claim in that story seems unlikely; I was on a public IP at University at the end of the 90s and if I'd suddenly been put behind NAT, some things I did would have broken until the workarounds were worked out.

Comment · 8 months ago

Ooof, I'd never seen that. Thanks! From the wikipedia link:

> The May 1799 test at Oakengates carried a party of investors aboard the vessel, who nearly suffocated before they could be freed.

(!) ...and eventually they built a flight of nineteen locks instead, with a steam-powered pump to return water. The lift locks (and Falkirk Wheel) are a really impressive and elegant solution in comparison.

Comment · 8 months ago

The Falkirk Wheel is cool and a fun trip, along with the nearby Kelpies, which were much more striking in person than I'd anticipated.

The wheel is a one-of-a-kind, but there are other ways of avoiding having a ladder of flood locks, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boat_lift

I really liked this one in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterborough_Lift_Lock Built as a real working lift lock (originally 1904), rather than as a tourist attraction. Powered by a little bit of extra water in one of the buckets to tip the balance and drive the pistons.