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nerdralph

94 karma · joined January 17, 2025

Aspie in the GWN. nerdralph.blogspot.ca github.com/nerdralph
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nerdralph··on Why is the liver so weirdly regenerative?
I think learning to cook food was likely a greater benefit. It's like we externally expanded our means of digestion.

I watched a Ted talk where the speaker suggested our large brains with their high energy consumption would not have been possible were it not for cooking.

nerdralph··on Ancient cave art suggests first known humans in Ireland walked over from Wales
This doesn't make sense: "With summertime temperatures typically -10°C to -20°C". Maybe the negative was mistakenly added, and nobody noticed in editing? 10°C to 20°C would be reasonable for a "forested and grassland plateau".
nerdralph··on The browser's main thread is expensive
I agree with most of the article, but would clarify the following: > For the screen to look smooth, frames have to be drawn at the display’s refresh rate. On the most common 60Hz display, that means 60 frames per second, or about 16.6 milliseconds per frame.

It isn't absolutely necessary to match the display refresh rate. With a 144Hz monitor, 72FPS is going to look smooth for the vast majority of the people, and even 48FPS will look smooth for most people. I agree that higher FPS is better, but there are diminishing returns.

nerdralph··on Aging brains blend memories together instead of just forgetting them
My theory was that memory had some form of static store, something molecular like methylation. I hadn't considered something dynamic/temporal like you describe.

Would delay line memory be a fair analogy? Information stored in a delay line memory never stays in one place. I think you are saying biological information is "stored" in the amplitude and phase of oscillations of our cells. Is that correct?

I'm still inclined to believe there is some form of static store, which would be required for inherited memories. Things like our (and many other mammals) ability to recognize emotions in others. Somehow our gametes encode what a happy, sad, or scared face looks like. I instincts as inherited memories.

nerdralph··on Autism mutations drive neurodevelopmental pathology
I can remember liking girls from the time I was 5. As with neurotypical pre-pubescent boys I had no sexual interest; holding hands was the only physical contact I desired. Around 11-12, some other boys talking differently about girls, noticing the ones with breasts and other body changes associated with sexual attractiveness.
nerdralph··on Autism mutations drive neurodevelopmental pathology
I'm an aspie, and think my "version" of ASD has a large epigenetic component. I think social emotions that develop through childhood and adolescence happen through epigenetic changes that enable and disable sets of genetic material (not necessarily just genes) as the person develops. I think the physical changes that happen with puberty must involve timed epigenetic changes. I think the same thing happens with emotional development.

I don't feel shame. I don't feel deference to authority. I never developed innate lust (sexual desire); it was learned after my girlfriend initiated sex. I never had problems with peer pressure. I like getting along with other people, but I don't NEED to get along with other people.

My "problems" with empathy are primarily related to social emotions I don't feel. All my basic/mammalian emotions are fine. I cringe when I see someone stub their toe or cut their finger. I can't even watch bloody dramas on TV, because I feel uncomfortable despite knowing that it is fake.

I think epigenetic differences likely play a larger role than genetic (DNA) differences because the mutation rate of the epigenome is higher than the mutation rate of the genome. Of course, I agree that the biology of ASD (and biology in general) is very complex, so I'm sure there's a lot more going on than just epigenetic differences.

When I say "epigenetic", I'm not just referring to histone/methylation/cromatin changes to DNA, and perhaps there's a better word for what I'm trying to describe. It's my suspicion that some of the differences in my variant of ASD are not due to DNA variations, but other differences outside DNA such as RNA, prions, germ cell transposon differences, etc.

nerdralph··on Someone is running mass vulnerability scans, spoofing AI bots like ClaudeBot
I have a domain with an SSL cert. https://solarsi.ca/ I tried posting on /r/sysadmin asking for help testing a bot blocker, but a moderator quickly deleted the post, claiming it was marketing/promoting.

Thanks for the github suggestion; I'll add a repo for the bot blocker Apache config, and include the above server URL that I'm using to test the blocker.

nerdralph··on Someone is running mass vulnerability scans, spoofing AI bots like ClaudeBot
How can I attract more of these bots to my server? I want to test my Apache bad bot blocker. It uses basic header fingerprinting and h2 support to filter them. I get less than 5000 hits on an average day, and want a lot more.
nerdralph··on Berkshire's $397B Bet Against an Overheated Market
Instead of cash, I like debt like mortgage funds. High single-digit returns with low volatility.
nerdralph··on County with 37 Data Centers Asks Schools to 'Conserve Electricity'
The article didn't include the actual power rates. I think the applicable tariff is $3.316/kW of demand + 16.82c/kWh. https://www.scc.virginia.gov/docketsearch/DOCS/89pc01!.PDF

Compared to my local utility (and most of Canada), the demand charge is low, but the per kWh charge is high. NSPower's general tariff is $9.089/kW + 15.738c/kWh for the first 200/mth, and 12.674c/kWh after that. Equivalent rates in Quebec and Manitoba are about half that. https://www.nspower.ca/your-business/save-money-energy/busin...

Current CAD/USD is 0.7, so subtract 30% for NSPower's rates in USD.

nerdralph··on The real cost of owning a home
My wife and I have a few rental properties that I manage. They are investments, chosen based on return on investment and equity (ROI/ROE). Maintenance costs were factored into those calculations. We take care of repairs not because our job is "providing the service of housing", but because we are honest and would not sign a lease (or any contract) in bad faith. When the lease says the property includes appliances, then we ensure broken appliances are fixed or replaced promptly. If/when we can't make a reasonable ROE on a rental property, we don't cut corners to squeeze a bit more profit out of it, we sell it and invest the money elsewhere.
nerdralph··on Telus Uses AI to Alter Call-Agent Accents
Gift expired.
nerdralph··on Dav2d
First off, don't block the first connection of the day from a given IP. Rate limit/block from there, for example how sshguard does it.

I've seen several posts on HN and elsewhere showing many bots can be fingerprinted and blocked based on HTTP headers and TLS.

For the bots that perfectly match the fingerprint of an interactive browser and don't trigger rate limits, use hidden links to tarpits and zip bombs. Many of these have been discussed on HN. Here's the first one that came to memory: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42725147

nerdralph··on Dav2d
I highly doubt there is no other technically feasible option to block the AI bots. You end up blocking not just bots, but many humans too. When I clicked on the link and the bot block came up, I just clicked back. I think HN posts should have warnings when the site blocks you from seeing it until you somehow, maybe, prove you are human.
nerdralph··on Electrical transformer manufacturing is throttling the electrified future
HVDC transmission over 100kV lines are common now. https://www.emeranl.com/maritime-link/overview
nerdralph··on Scientists crack a 20-year nuclear mystery behind the creation of gold
Since you didn't show your math, I did a quick calculation. .45J/g/C specific heat of iron means .45MJ/tonne. 1811K to melt iron means 815MJ/tonne. 3.6kWh/MJ, so 226.4 kWh should melt 1t of iron.
nerdralph··on AI for American-produced cement and concrete
Concrete mixes have become more complicated over time. Flyash has been around for a while, GU/L is relatively new and seems to set faster, often requiring retarders. Many different water-reducing additives are available. Air entraining agents tend to reduce strength. Fibers or steel pins added to the mix can improve crack resistance.

Batch plants will design mixes so some water can be added on site to improve workability. If you don't add water, the concrete will likely exceed spec.

A slump test is only one factor if many that impact concrete strength.

nerdralph··on Following 35% growth, solar has passed hydro on US grid
I know. AIKO has been using copper in their BC cells, and LONGi is making the transition. Many TOPCon cell manufacturers are using silver-coated copper pastes, but full copper metallization is unlikely to happen in the next year or two.
nerdralph··on Following 35% growth, solar has passed hydro on US grid
Don't start with a 5MW project. Start with a 10-20kW ground-mount project in your back yard. Then build a 100-200kW project before trying MW.
nerdralph··on Following 35% growth, solar has passed hydro on US grid
Panels prices bottomed about a year ago below many manufacturer's cash cost, and have gone mostly sideways since. https://www.pvxchange.com/Price-Index

If silver stays above $70/oz, prices will likely go up by 5-10%.

Until Perovskite tandem technology matures, there's unlikely to be any significant reduction in PV module prices.

nerdralph··on Show HN: A Unix environment in a single HTML file (420 KB)
The gcc stub surprised me:

  user@shiro:/tmp/hn$ cat main.c
  #include <stdio.h>
  int main()
  {
    printf("Hello\n");
  }

  user@shiro:/tmp/hn$ cc main.c -o main; ./main
  Hello, World!

  user@shiro:/tmp/hn$ cat main
  #!/bin/sh
  echo 'Hello, World!'
nerdralph··on Martial arts robots dazzle at 2026 Spring Festival Gala [video]
I'm intrigued. I'd like to see an analysis of how this was done. My first guess is they record humans doing the moves, and then map that to the robot movements. Then I'd like to see a teardown of one of the robots to understand their construction.
nerdralph··on Claude Sonnet 4.6
I'm using Sonnet with a free account.
nerdralph··on Claude Sonnet 4.6
The mouse is invisible on the splash screen, except for when I manage to move it over the play button.
nerdralph··on Claude Sonnet 4.6
Are you saying Haiku is better than Sonnet for some coding use? I've used Sonnet 4.5 for python and basic web development (pure JS, CCS & HTML) and had assumed Haiku wouldn't be very good for coding.
nerdralph··on GLM-5: Targeting complex systems engineering and long-horizon agentic tasks
Maybe it is just the HN effect, but it is really slow.
nerdralph··on The Legacy of Daniel Kahneman: A Personal View (2025)
Isn't "I know" just a subjective threshold for the probability of being true? A layman may put that probability at 90%, while I scientist may put the probability at 99.999% before saying, "I know".
nerdralph··on The Legacy of Daniel Kahneman: A Personal View (2025)
I read "Thinking, Fast and Slow" and some of the other references in the article. I found Kahneman's arguments persuasive, however the article makes me re-evaluate those conclusions.

When asked what is more probable, I think in terms of statistical probabilities. However the article makes an interesting argument that most people don't define the term, "more probable" the same way. I'm not convinced Kahneman was wrong, but I do see how simple changes in the wording of a question can lead to a material difference in answers. I also see that my own interpretation regarding the "correct" meaning of words aligned with Kahneman, and contributed to my general agreement with his conclusions.

nerdralph··on Heritability of intrinsic human life span is about 50%
There's a lot of genes that impact lifespan, both good and bad. For example my father has hereditary hemochromatosis due to 2 copies of the HFE C282Y mutation. He was diagnosed in his 50's, so I'd expect the damage it did to his body to impact lifespan.

In my case I don't have it (I'm just a genetic carrier). If I did have the genotype and took the necessary dietary measures to avoid the phenotype, then it likely wouldn't impact lifespan.

On one hand you can argue a heritable disease like HHC has an impact on lifespan, but with genetic testing and treatment you can argue it doesn't impact lifespan (or it's impact is significantly mitigated).

nerdralph··on The 'untouchable hacker god' behind Finland's biggest crime
Julius Kivimäki was released pending the outcome of his appeal. https://www.bankinfosecurity.com/finnish-vastaamo-hacker-fre...

The article cites "Ryan" as one of his aliases, so the id ryanlol commenting in this thread could plausibly be Kivimäki.

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