Hacker News Reader

pmagson Harvard's response to federal government letter demanding changes

I predict a surge of alumni donations in the weeks and months to come, not just at Harvard but also at other institutions that are showing their willingness to stand up against the creeping fascism of the current administration.

I think people who value education, academic freedom, and understand the economic and societal role that universities play, were hoping to see one or more of the major institutions stand up for these principles.

pmagson [dead]

If, like me, you were curious about the qualifications and background of the author of the linked article, here is some context from Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Kory:

* During his testimony before the US senate in 202, Kory erroneously claimed that the antiparasitic medication ivermectin was a "wonder drug" with "miraculous effectiveness" against COVID-19.

* In August 2023, the American Board of Internal Medicine informed Kory his certifications were to be revoked for spreading medical misinformation. As of August 2024, Kory's three certifications are listed as "not certified, revoked" on ABIM's website.

pmagson Team Trump Is Gaming Out How to Ship US Citizens to El Salvador

Trump has now said it outright that he intends to deport US citizens:

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/trump-wants-deport-so...

Here's a direct quote (as reported by the NY Times):

“I’m all for it,” Trump said, adding that his attorney general was studying whether the idea was legally feasible. “If it’s a homegrown criminal, I have no problem, no,” he said, adding: “I’m talking about violent people. I’m talking about really bad people.”

pmagson Google created a new AI model for talking to dolphins

The Arstechnica article touches on this briefly:

While DolphinGemma has been trained on Atlantic spotted dolphin sounds, Google suggests it should be feasible to fine-tune it for other cetacean species.

I haven't read the paper below, but here's a reference that seems relevant to your question:

Luís, A.R., May-Collado, L.J., Rako-Gospić, N. et al. Vocal universals and geographic variations in the acoustic repertoire of the common bottlenose dolphin. Sci Rep 11, 11847 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-90710-9

pmagson Google created a new AI model for talking to dolphins

That was my first reaction as well, and actually double checked the posting date. But apparently it's a real thing:

https://blog.google/technology/ai/dolphingemma/

As to conversations and whether cetacean communication has a syntax, I think that's a super interesting question. I know next to nothing about cetacean communication but a quick PubMed search turned up this reference which looks like it might be a useful jumping off point for the literature in this area:

King SL, Guarino E, Donegan K, McMullen C, Jaakkola K. Evidence that bottlenose dolphins can communicate with vocal signals to solve a cooperative task. R Soc Open Sci. 2021 Mar 17;8(3):202073. doi: 10.1098/rsos.202073. PMID: 33959360; PMCID: PMC8074934.

pmagson Google created a new AI model for talking to dolphins

Interesting days ahead at the local aquarium? ;-)

pmagson Germany creates 'super–high-tech ministry' for research, technology, aerospace

I take it you missed / didn't read the response immediately above yours where I cited data on malnutrition related deaths in the US?

• Mostafa, N., Sayed, A., Rashad, O. et al. Malnutrition-related mortality trends in older adults in the United States from 1999 to 2020. BMC Med 21, 421 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-023-03143-8

pmagson [dead]

My interests are science, science policy, public health, infectious disease, education, law and economic policy. Those are all undergoing radical changes in the US, and those changes seem worthy of discussion.

Judging by your submission history, your interests seem to lean towards AI and science. Sometimes you even post the same article twice (e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43647984, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43655440).

Interestingly you seem to post a decent number of articles of the type you are complaining about with respect to my submissions (science policy, economic policy). Here are some of your own recent postings that would seem to fall under the umbrellas of science policy, economic policy, public health, etc:

• Does US science have a future in Antarctica? Trump cuts threaten fieldwork -- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43625553

• 154M lives and counting: 5 charts reveal the power of vaccines -- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43617884

• Samsung under pressure as US tariffs rattle South Korean economy -- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43647001

• Separated by a Border, but with Fates Entwined (news.harvard.edu) -- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43646630

• Delta Air Lines had been expecting a record year. Then a trade war broke out - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43635006

• The 'ghost reporters' writing pro-Russian propaganda in West Africa -- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43616096

• Center for Public Integrity Is Shutting Down -- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43552540

Your own comment history is "interesting" in that they seem to be pages and pages of "Previously" and "Discussion" links but you seem to rarely contribute meaningfully to discussions.

pmagson Sound as Code: The Intelligence of Listening

Perfect Circuit (a music gear shop in CA) have very interesting set of articles in their "SIGNAL" (https://www.perfectcircuit.com/signal) online publication that are probably of interest to some slice of the HN-readership.

Here are a few other articles worth reading if you're interested in sound and synthesis:

• Inventing Electronic Music: Harold Bode -- https://www.perfectcircuit.com/signal/harald-bode

• Mutable Instruments: a (Brief) Retrospective -- https://www.perfectcircuit.com/signal/mutable-instruments-re...

And many more...

pmagson Tom Waits for No One, the Pioneering Animated Music Video from 1979

I really dig Tom Waits -- the broad mix of musical styles he incorporates, the narrative structure of his songwriting, melancholy, wry humor, and honest sentimentality, etc all resonate with me.

"Closing Time" and "Rain Dogs" are the Waits albums that I keep coming back to the most, but there are so many good albums and songs.

Wait's gravelly growl in this animated short sounds particularly menacing -- more so than I've noticed in my many years of Waits listening.

pmagson A Cautionary Tale of 408 Tentacles

A human interest story sitting at the intersection of citizen science and social media. Interesting octopus husbandry facts for the budding invertebrate biologist...

pmagson Why educational inequality runs in families: Genetics more than environment

Some reading if you'd like to some critical framing of this and similar twin studies and path analysis models:

Gusev, S. Twin heritability models can tell you whatever you want to hear. https://theinfinitesimal.substack.com/p/twin-heritability-mo...

Feldman Marcus W. and Ramachandran Sohini. 2018. Missing compared to what? Revisiting heritability, genes and culture. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B37320170064 http://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2017.0064

pmagson [dead]

Kozak’s update, submitted 10 minutes after a court-ordered deadline Saturday, included just 49 words on Abrego Garcia’s location and no information about what officials had already done or planned to do to correct their error.

pmagson CDC denies help for lead poisoning in Milwaukee schools due to layoffs

The real, and grim, consequences of purging expertise and shutting down important functionality of the Federal government will haunt the US for years to come.

I think we're just starting to see the first inkling of the sh*tshow that awaits us...

pmagson Germany creates 'super–high-tech ministry' for research, technology, aerospace

I'm not German and have only made a couple of short visits to Germany, so I have no basis on which to judge your statement that Germans don't have a digital mindset.

But if that is indeed true, I find it equally interesting the Germany has been an important center for the development of electronic music. Berlin in particular is "arguably the world capital of underground electronic music" (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/arts/music/women-djs-berl...)

pmagson Trump's Revenge on Public Health

That is indeed hilarious/sad.

I've used UBlock origin for so long I have to admit I'm no longer aware of what kind of junk gets served up on many of the sites I read regularly.

pmagson 'Several dozen' Johns Hopkins student visas revoked

To emphasize, at both Hopkins and other universities, student visas are being revoked without any explanation and often without notification of the schools.

Zero, None, Zilch.

pmagson Dept of Energy cuts indirect rates to universities

They're trying to do this to grants already awarded. Attempts to do this to current NIH awards have already been barred by the Federal judiciary:

https://www.highereddive.com/news/judge-permanently-blocks-n...

All of this cases are likely to move up to the Court of Appeals next.

pmagson Trump administration overrode Social Security staff to list immigrants as dead