News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

thiagoharry

Of course, defeating Nazi Germany was not the work of a single country. But it is perfectly possible to say that the contribution of the Soviet Union was greater, not because they lost more people, but because they defeated far more Nazi soldiers. The majority of the Nazis' losses were against the Soviet Union. If they did this with less technology than the United States and with fewer resources, that makes the feat even greater, as it explains the much greater sacrifice they made to achieve it.
USA always did far worse things than Russia. Nothing new here.
Re:The case against boolean logic on Friday May 22, 2026 @08:49AM (#48235157)
Yes, in some contexts absolute truth/falsity exists. For example, in a list of exercises about Boolean logic. Or circuits modelled after Boolean logic.
Re:Cuba says it has run out of fuel, blames U.S. embargo on Thursday May 21, 2026 @05:53PM (#48229297)
As a sovereign country, Cuba has the right to nationalize economic activity if it deems it necessary. It compensated all countries whose businesses were nationalized, such as Switzerland, France, and Canada. Except the United States, which refused the compensation and began attacking its neighbor.
Because neutral ships also need permission to cross the strait, even if they have not been explicitly banned. Because the status of the blockade has changed and continues to change according to tensions in the region. Several countries have obtained permission to cross: China, Russia, India, Iraq, Pakistan, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. Even so, it is understandable that ships are hesitant to pass through there and are seeking less uncertain routes, because of the tensions, risk of war and because in addition to Iran, the United States also claims to have imposed a blockade and has attacked ships.
It is not the world. Only Israel, USA and their direct allies are explicitly banned. Most of the world is not.
Ukraine import mercenaries from all over the world. So, you mean that they have no organic support for fighting?
Re:DeepSeek v4 on Friday April 24, 2026 @07:02PM (#47896876)
> Many of us (worldwide, I'm not American) watched China massacre thousands of its own children at Tiananmen Square. The US is descending into totalitarianism, but it hasn't reached that level yet.

Wasn't the US bombing its own children just 4 years earlier in Philadelphia?

Re:In the AI propaganda war, Iran is winning on Saturday April 18, 2026 @07:50PM (#47820559)
Since the beginning of the war, the American presence in the region has weakened, with military bases having their infrastructure destroyed or even being expelled and attacked by local groups, as in the case of Iraq. Many of the dictatorial regimes that are allies of the United States are learning that the United States will not effectively protect them if they host American military bases on their territory. This makes such bases a huge disadvantage, as they drag these regimes into a war they never wanted to start. Meanwhile, Iran has grown stronger by effectively controlling the Strait of Hormuz without anyone being able to stop it, while the American hope for a change of government in Iran to one more docile to its demands is further away than before the war.

To me, this looks something very close to "winning." Which isn't much of a surprise. The United States has never been very good at winning wars against those who can defend themselves. Of course, Iran cannot survive a total war with the United States. But a total war would also be too costly for the United States and the global economy, making such a scenario more difficult to pursue.

Re:Cuba's Fragile Power Grid Finds a Powerful New Partner on Tuesday March 24, 2026 @12:50PM (#47505608)
Sure. But why only DR? We also have Jamaica and Haiti near Cuba.

The Human Development Index:

Dominican Republic: 0,776 Cuba: 0,762 Jamaica: 0,720 Haiti: 0,554

Only Cuba is socialist. The other three are capitalist. Considering that Cuba suffers from sanctions, like Haiti, it is impressive how they managed to achieve an HDI almost as high as the DR, a value considerably higher than the average in the Caribbean.

Re:Chuck Norris has died on Friday March 20, 2026 @12:47PM (#47457193)
And yet death was defeated. And with that, Chuck Norris took up its mantle.
Yes, they are already doing that. Tourism, exporting skilled workers (doctors), exporting rum and cigars. Exactly the economic activities that do not require external raw materials. And with that, they have achieved social indicators vastly better than all their neighbors. So I don't really see the basis for your accusation of incompetence: Cuba does well what it can.

But what it can do is fragile. Without industrialization, there is no way to have stable wealth. China and Vietnam themselves only industrialized and followed that path after trade blockades were lifted. Without that, the Chinese reform and its opening to the market would have come to nothing.

Moreover, it is strange to defend a crime by naturalizing the idea that the criminal will always act that way. That may well be the case. In that case, it is morally necessary to turn against him and stop him.

Sure, starting a prolonged war, having the Strait of Hormuz closed and its military bases destroyed while having the largest aircraft carrier forced to retreat, is all part of a larger plan. Everything going as predicted.
You are forgetting the criminal economic and trade embargo against Cuba. With what money would they buy these Chinese solar panels? How exactly would they obtain the dollars? What economic activity do you propose for them to industrialize and become internationally competitive, given that they are an island with very few natural resources and, thanks to the embargo, have to pay much more for any resource compared to any other country?
No, the private ownership of the means of production needs to be created and maintained by a state. There is nothing natural about it; if you see it as natural, it is because you naturalize the society you live in. First of all, like any type of property, it is a social construct that must be upheld by laws and instruments of coercion. And speaking of the means of production, to ensure wage labor, a process or arrangement is needed that guarantees one group of people holds ownership while others do not. In the case of land, for example, this requires enclosure, the destruction of the concept of land as something communal.
I don't think the American people can change their country's policy oriented toward a constant state of war, aggression, and invasions of other countries under the current system. This is a constant state policy, regardless of the party or the president. So it can be said that the United States is not a democracy. Money and capital rule, not the people.This can only be changed by a fundamental shift that empowers people over capital.

Of course, I agree that Trump is worse because, by removing the mask of civility and attacking others without first bothering to create propaganda and a narrative about how it is for the greater good and justice, he made the plundering and crimes faster and more efficient.

Re:Can you reverse engineer our neural network? on Friday February 27, 2026 @08:39AM (#47180366)
We let the market dictate how society's resources are allocated. And we see, as a result, how the market is actually not at all interested in the satisfaction and well-being of the people in society.
Re:Venezuela's capital hit by explosions, smoke seen on Saturday January 03, 2026 @03:46PM (#46481359)
It will not. Chavismo did not end with the death of Hugo Chávez. Nor will it end with the kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro.
Re:Venezuela's capital hit by explosions, smoke seen on Saturday January 03, 2026 @03:42PM (#46481318)
That was the policy that allowed him to build a social welfare state for people tired of being exploited. Famine decreased, life expectancy increased, and the HDI became high. Unfortunately, this ended when the country was sanctioned and embargoed.
Re:Venezuela's capital hit by explosions, smoke seen on Saturday January 03, 2026 @03:37PM (#46481262)
They just do not want colonizers to steal their country and interfere in their internal decisions. Unfortunately, this is the story with every First World colonizer: they do not agree with that.
Re:US Removes Brazil Supreme Court Judge from Sanctions List on Friday December 12, 2025 @07:39PM (#46250789)
Well, putting Supreme Court judges on this list solely to try to force the release and acquittal of a criminal never made any sense.
Re:US Removes Brazil Supreme Court Judge from Sanctions List on Friday December 12, 2025 @07:37PM (#46250777)
Source?
She advocates for U.S. bombings against her own country. She supports the illegal killings that Trump is carrying out against ships in the Caribbean. She participated in the 2002 coup and signed the Carmona Decree, which erased the Constitution and dissolved all public institutions overnight. She supported Israel’s genocide in Palestine, saying she would reopen Venezuela’s embassy in Jerusalem. Not all Maduro opponents support these things.
Re:DeepSeek uses banned Nvidia chips for AI model, report says on Thursday December 11, 2025 @07:57AM (#46230819)
They did not subtract anything from anyone.
Re:Exile Economics: If Globalisation Fails on Tuesday August 12, 2025 @06:15PM (#44882413)
The World Wars? It was after capitalism conquered the entire planet, and the main powers began disputing markets and colonies.
Re:What Will Become of the CIA? on Tuesday July 22, 2025 @06:13AM (#44645132)
They will continue commiting crimes around the world. Do not worry.
Re:What Happens When Housing Prices Go Down? on Monday July 21, 2025 @03:55PM (#44639722)
Adam Smith also would agree with the argument.
Re:Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (June 2025) on Monday June 30, 2025 @12:29PM (#44425135)
https://github.com/thiagoharry/weaver-interface-metafont

I started by trying to reimplement the METAFONT language, adding support for real-time rendering with OpenGL. Eventually, I decided to introduce some incompatible changes, creating a new language. But it still retains a syntax and internal logic very similar to METAFONT.

This new language also supports animation, and since it is part of a larger project (a game engine), it can be used not only for font rendering but also to generate textures and sprites for games.

The language is successfully compiling to WebAssembly, and I’m currently working on a web page with tutorials, documentation and examples where you can modify the code and instantly see the results. Since this is a literate programming project, there is also an English and Portuguese version of the code. But the english version still needs considerable polishing.

Re:Literate programming tool for any language on Monday June 23, 2025 @03:47PM (#44359327)
> FWIW, I am working to reimplement parts of METAFONT in my current project (need the curves, and want an implementation which will also allow me to write out a .mp file) and I'm finding _METAFONT: The Program_ very helpful.

I have a reimplementation of parts of METAFONT as a hobby project. In fact, it is no longer METAFONT; it is a language based on METAFONT. However, I used the same Hobby's algorithm to generate curves. It understands pens, paths and renders it to an OpenGL texture. The results are not compatible with Knuth's METAFONT, as I use floating-point numbers instead of the fixed-point arithmetic. It is still under development and needs some cleaning, but if what you are developing is for personal use or is free software compatible with GNU Affero GPL, perhaps parts of the code, or even the whole, could be of use.

https://github.com/thiagoharry/weaver-interface-metafont

Re:Burning Mao on Saturday May 03, 2025 @05:11PM (#43882350)
I edited the comment. Indeed, by the number of deaths, the last great famines surpass the deaths in war and occupation.

Older »