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vstuart

Re:Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (March 2026) on Monday March 09, 2026 @10:51AM (#47309903)
In my personal research I investigate Wealth, power, and influence: Issues and solutions.

https://persagen.org/wpi/

I am fundamentally interested in ontology, relationships, and epistemology. I map ontological placement of entities as a foundational mapping of wealth, power, influence etc.

The current version (in pdf form) is 688 pp -- a dated (Nov 2025; 493 pp.) online version can be found online at

https://persagen.org/wpi/docs/wpi-ontology.pdf

Re:Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (February 2026) on Tuesday February 10, 2026 @09:40AM (#46960282)
Bespoke ontology - older version here (currently - Feb 2026) approaching 650 pages as shown in PDF).

https://persagen.org/wpi/docs/wpi-ontology.pdf

Re:Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (December 2025) on Tuesday December 16, 2025 @10:22AM (#46289630)
Bespoke, grounded, cross-referenced ontology with focus on

* wealth, power, influence

* politics

* science, math, engineering, technology

* ...

https://persagen.org/wpi/docs/wpi-ontology.pdf

Re:Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (Nov 2025) on Tuesday November 11, 2025 @01:06PM (#45890708)
I hand-curate a bespoke ontology related to my personal, independent research interests.

https://persagen.org/wpi/docs/wpi-ontology.pdf

Re:Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (November 2024) on Saturday November 02, 2024 @01:50PM (#42027918)
Name: Dr. Victoria A. Stuart, Ph.D. (Biology: molecular genetics)

Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Remote: yes

Willing to relocate: no

Title: Independent research (advocacy) | Life sciences consultancy

C.V., cover letter: two streams - (1) social justice advocacy; (2) scientific research << contact me: [email protected]

Website: https://persagen.org/wpi/

Focus: Knowledge engine devoted to social justice, environmental protection, universal human rights.

Subject matter expert: life/biomedical sciences, politics, wealth, power, influence, ontology

Volunteer board member: two 2SLGBTQIA+ seniors-focused nonprofits

Recent technologies: I designed and built Persagen.org. Hand-coded (Vim: HTML / JS / CSS / PHP); self-managed VPS; backend server Apache Solr secured by TLS/SSL; demo ontology, knowledge graph; ...

Data science; programming (intermediate: Python; BASH; Linux superuser; knowledge graphs; NLP; some past ML, hands-on, older)

Technologies (skills): Bacterial genetics, Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Bioinformatics, Biomedical research, Cancer research, Computer Science, CSS, Data management, Data science, Data visualization, Digital humanities, Graphical models, HTML coding, Informatics, Java, JavaScript, Knowledge graphs, Linux superuser, Machine Learning, Microbiology, Molecular biology, Molecular genetics, MySQL, Natural language processing, Ontology, PHP, Political analysis, PSQL, Python, R (GNU S), Scientific authorship, Scientific consultant, Semantic web, SQL, Web development, XML, Yeast genetics

Re:Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (October 2024) on Wednesday October 02, 2024 @10:53AM (#41721229)
Name: Dr. Victoria A. Stuart, Ph.D. (Biology: molecular genetics)

Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Remote: yes

Willing to relocate: no

Title: Independent research (advocacy) | Life sciences consultancy

C.V., cover letter: two streams - (1) advocacy; (2) research << contact me: [email protected]

Website: https://persagen.org/wpi/

Focus: Knowledge engine devoted to social justice, environmental protection, universal human rights.

Subject matter expert: life/biomedical sciences, politics, wealth, power, influence, ontology

Recent technologies: I designed and built Persagen.org. Hand-coded (Vim: HTML / JS / CSS / PHP); self-managed VPS; backend server Apache Solr secured by TLS/SSL; demo ontology, knowledge graph; ...

Data science; programming (intermediate: Python; BASH; Linux superuser; knowledge graphs; NLP; some past ML, hands-on, older)

Technologies (skills): Bacterial genetics, Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Bioinformatics, Biomedical research, Cancer research, Computer Science, CSS, Data management, Data science, Data visualization, Digital humanities, Graphical models, HTML coding, Informatics, Java, JavaScript, Knowledge graphs, Linux superuser, Machine Learning, Microbiology, Molecular biology, Molecular genetics, MySQL, Natural language processing, Ontology, PHP, Political analysis, PSQL, Python, R (GNU S), Scientific authorship, Scientific consultant, Semantic web, SQL, Web development, XML, Yeast genetics

Re:Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (September 2024) on Friday September 06, 2024 @05:05PM (#41469719)
Name: Dr. Victoria A. Stuart, Ph.D. (Biology: molecular genetics)

Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Remote: yes

Willing to relocate: no

Title: Independent research (advocacy) | Life sciences consultancy

C.V., cover letter: two streams - (1) advocacy; (2) research << contact me: [email protected]

Website: https://persagen.com/

Focus: Knowledge engine devoted to social justice, environmental protection, universal human rights.

Recent technologies: I designed and built Persagen.com. Hand-coded (Vim: HTML / JS / CSS / PHP); self-managed VPS; backend server Apache Solr secured by TLS/SSL; demo ontology, knowledge graph; ...

Data science; programming (intermediate: Python; BASH; Linux superuser; knowledge graphs; NLP; some past ML, hands-on, older)

Technologies (skills): Bacterial genetics, Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Bioinformatics, Biomedical research, Cancer research, Computer Science, CSS, Data management, Data science, Data visualization, Digital humanities, Graphical models, HTML coding, Informatics, Java, JavaScript, Knowledge graphs, Linux superuser, Machine Learning, Microbiology, Molecular biology, Molecular genetics, MySQL, Natural language processing, Ontology, PHP, Political analysis, PSQL, Python, R (GNU S), Scientific authorship, Scientific consultant, Semantic web, SQL, Web development, XML, Yeast genetics

Re:Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (August 2024) on Friday August 02, 2024 @01:24PM (#41140738)
Location: Vancouver, B.C., Canada

Remote: yes

Willing to relocate: possibly

Technologies: SME life sciences, molecular genetics, politics; self-taught programmer; ontology; graphs

Cover letter: https://files.persagen.com/01/cl-plain-web-2024-07-10.pdf

C.V. https://persagen.com/about/victoria/cv.pdf

email: see letter/C.V.

Re:Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (January 2024) on Wednesday January 03, 2024 @04:53PM (#38860425)
Name: Dr. Victoria A. Stuart, Ph.D.

Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Remote: yes

Willing to relocate: yes

Title: Scientific consultant / Independent scientist / Subject matter expert / Creator, Owner, Persagen.com

C.V.: https://persagen.com/about/victoria/cv.pdf

Cover Letter: https://persagen.com/about/victoria/cl.pdf

Website: https://persagen.com/

Focus: Knowledge engine devoted to social justice, environmental protection, universal human rights.

Recent technologies: I designed and built Persagen.com. Hand-coded (Vim: HTML / JS / CSS / PHP); self-managed VPS; backend server Apache Solr secured by TLS/SSL; demo ontology, knowledge graph; ...

Contact: see C.V.

General introduction: https://persagen.com/html/intro_01.html

Technical introduction: https://persagen.com/html/intro_01.html

Technologies (skills): Bacterial genetics, Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Bioinformatics, Biomedical research, Cancer research, Computer Science, CSS, Data management, Data science, Data visualization, Digital humanities, Graphical models, HTML coding, Informatics, Java, JavaScript, Knowledge graphs, Linux superuser, Machine Learning, Microbiology, Molecular biology, Molecular genetics, MySQL, Natural language processing, Ontology, PHP, Political analysis, PSQL, Python, R (GNU S), Scientific authorship, Scientific consultant, Semantic web, SQL, Web development, XML, Yeast genetics

Re:Ask HN: Freelancer? Seeking freelancer? (January 2024) on Wednesday January 03, 2024 @04:46PM (#38860361)
Seeking work - I am a:

Scientific consultant / Independent scientist / Subject matter expert / Creator, Owner, Persagen.com

Social justice / advocacy, human rights, environmental health

2024-01-03

My academic background (Ph.D.) is in the biomedical life sciences (molecular biology/genetics), with which I remain current. [1]

My more recent experience is programmatic (programming; data sciences; informatics). [1, 2]

I advocate for universal social justice and equality, environmental protection, and universal human rights. To that end, I created Persagen.com [3] as a self-taught, solo programmer. [4]

That research provides expertise on the history and root causes of contemporary culture wars, conservative politics, and erosions of democracy and civil liberties. [4, 5]

For additional background, please see my cover letter [4] and curriculum vitae [1].

Pronouns: she, her

Dr. Victoria A. Stuart, Ph.D.

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

[email protected]

[1] https://persagen.com/about/victoria/cv.pdf

[2] https://stackoverflow.com/users/1904943/victoria-stuart

[3] https://persagen.com

[4] https://persagen.com/about/victoria/cl.pdf

[5] https://persagen.com/html/intro_01.html

Re:Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (November 2023) on Thursday November 02, 2023 @06:35PM (#38121321)
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Remote: Yes

Willing to relocate: Perhaps

Technologies: WebDev / Python / Javascript (all intermed); Linux/scripts ...

Résumé/CV: https://persagen.com/about/victoria/cv.pdf

Cover letter: https://persagen.com/about/victoria/cl.pdf

Email: see C.V.

INTRODUCTION

Hello, my name is Dr. Victoria Stuart, Ph.D. (Biology, University of Victoria, 2000; pronouns: she, her). This is my professional cover letter. Please see VictoriasJourney.com for my personal background.

PERSONAL STATEMENT. Building on a wealth of academic and programmatic experience, I seek solutions to scientific and societal issues through the application of science and technology. I advocate for human rights and freedoms with a vision of universal social justice, environmental health, and sustainability for future generations.

I am seeking part- or full-time employment in any of the domains described in my cover letter, my curriculum vitae (C.V.), or my personal websites (links above / below). I am open to collaboration and partnership, subcontracting (including SBIR), shared work, and other opportunities not mentioned in these documents.

Show HN: Knowledge engine tracking wealth, power, influence

https://persagen.com

I created Persagen.com [1] as a self-taught, solo programmer.Persagen is a knowledge / search engine devoted to the pursuit of universal social justice and equality, environmental protection, and universal human rights.Persagen tracks and curates wealth, power, and influence affecting these issues.Persagen seeks a better world and society. Sustainability; people over profit.My premise is that...

( Read More... | no comments | on HN )
Re:Making a Concave Mirror Using 15th Century Technology (2018) on Saturday December 24, 2022 @01:25PM (#34119558)
Very cool. You can 3D transform the image in Gimp to view the skull:

https://i.imgur.com/DxY3uEo.png

Re:DuckDuckGo is growing fast on Thursday September 17, 2020 @12:36PM (#24506769)
Non-Docker Local Installation of searX on Linux: https://persagen.com/2020/02/02/searx.html
Re:Degoogle: Cutting Google out of your life on Sunday August 23, 2020 @12:34PM (#24253068)
Agreed on self-hosted search. I wrote a post in Feb. 2020 describing localhost installation of searX, which I've using since then as my interface to web searches. At times I revert to Google, e.g. for image searches, but I do that logged out of my Google accounts.

Non-Docker Local Installation of searX on Linux: https://persagen.com/2020/02/02/searx.html

Re:Searx instances on Sunday August 23, 2020 @12:12PM (#24252871)
I wrote a short quide on installing searX on a Linux system back in Feb. 2020

Non-Docker Local Installation of searX on Linux: https://persagen.com/2020/02/02/searx.html

I use it routinely as my default search interface to the web, defaulting rarely e.g. to Google for image seaches.

Related: no mention in that article of notorious (Vancouver B.C.) Kayla Bourque, who once studied criminal law purportedly to better accomplish the future murder of a homeless person, plus other sociopathic behaviors ...

https://www.google.com/search?q=kayla+bourque+romanian+orpha...

Re:Hacker_news_scraper on Tuesday April 14, 2020 @12:19PM (#22867805)
Good to know; thank you. :-) I suppose the advantages (mine) may include keyword exclusions (I'm not sure if that functionality is available in the API), and local hosted (hence, more "private" -- whatever that means these days ;-) code.

Hacker_news_scraper

hacker_news_scraper | https://github.com/victoriastuart/hacker_news_scraperA Python 3 script for scraping the Hacker News feed, filtering that content by* number of points, and/or* number of comments, and/or* excluding posts {dead | flagged | youtube | wikipedia | ...} according to a keywords listRun via ~/.bashrc alias or crontab.Experimental code; I will monitor it locally (scheduled to run...

( Read More... | 2 comments | on HN )
Facebook Wanted NSO Spyware to Monitor Users, NSO CEO Claims In a court-filed declaration, NSO Group’s CEO says Facebook tried to buy an Apple spying tool in 2017. | https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/pke9k9/facebook-wanted-ns...
Re:How to Download YouTube Videos on Monday March 23, 2020 @11:55PM (#22671717)
Once you get past the initial learning curve and setup (not that hard, honestly), this tool (63k stars, GitHub) is amazing.

https://github.com/ytdl-org/youtube-dl

Re:Fast Searching with Ripgrep on Thursday March 19, 2020 @07:38PM (#22632943)
Some `ripgrep` vs. `grep` performance comparisons (mine) here.

https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep/issues/113#issuecommen...

See also:

* Firm wielding Theranos patents asks judge to block coronavirus test | https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/03/firm-uses-theran...

Associated reddit: https://old.reddit.com/r/news/comments/fk9sfs/firm_wielding_...

That looks pretty comprehensive.

For anyone interested in the topic, earlier this week (coincidentally) I wrote a blog post,

"Creating Python Dictionaries With Default Values and Immutable Keys [Bonus: Work On A Deepcopy]"

https://persagen.com/2020/03/05/python_dictionaries_default_...

Re:DuckDuckGo is good enough for regular use on Friday March 06, 2020 @12:35PM (#22505506)
Non-Docker Local Installation of searX on Linux | https://persagen.com/2020/02/02/searx.html

searX is a free metasearch engine with the aim of protecting the privacy of its users.

    * searX does not share users’ IP addresses or search history.
    * Tracking cookies served by the search engines are blocked.
    * searX queries do not appear in search engine webserver logs.
In addition to the general search, the engine also features tabs to search within specific domains:

General | Files | Images | IT | Maps | Music | News | Science | Social Media | Videos

Notably:

    * Each search result is given as a direct link to the respective site,
      rather than a tracked redirect link as used by Google.

    * When available, these direct links are accompanied by “cached” and/or
      “proxied” links that allow viewing results pages without 
      actually visiting the sites in question.

    * The “cached” links point to saved versions of a page on archive.org, while
      the “proxied” links allow viewing the current live page
      via a searX-based web proxy.
Tip: I do a lot of technical searches (StackOverflow …) and in my preliminary use of searX

I find that selecting “General” (only) as the Default Category (in Preferences) gives the best results.

Re:Ask HN: Freelancer? Seeking freelancer? (March 2020) on Monday March 02, 2020 @01:49PM (#22467445)

  Location: Vancouver, Canada
  Remote: maybe [generally: no]?
  Willing to relocate: yes
  Technologies: NLP (natural language processing); machine learning; graphical
                models; information extraction; genetics; genomics; Linux; Bash;
                Python; PostgreSQL/PSQL; knowledge discovery; truth/disinformation; ...
  Curriculum vitae: https://persagen.com/about/victoria/cv.pdf
  Cover Letter: https://persagen.com/about/victoria/cl.pdf
  Email: [email protected]
Re:Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (March 2020) on Monday March 02, 2020 @01:47PM (#22467421)

  Location: Vancouver, Canada
  Remote: maybe [generally: no]?
  Willing to relocate: yes
  Technologies: NLP (natural language processing); machine learning; graphical models;
                information extraction; genetics; genomics; Linux; Bash; Python;
                PostgreSQL/PSQL; knowledge discovery; truth/disinformation; ...
  Curriculum vitae: https://persagen.com/about/victoria/cv.pdf
  Cover Letter: https://persagen.com/about/victoria/cl.pdf
  Email: [email protected]
Re:Replacing Google on Thursday February 27, 2020 @03:21PM (#22437360)
Non-Docker Local Installation of searX on Linux

https://persagen.com/2020/02/02/searx.html

TL/DR

* searX is a free metasearch engine with the aim of protecting the privacy of its users.

* searX does not share users’ IP addresses or search history.

* Tracking cookies served by the search engines are blocked.

* searX queries do not appear in search engine webserver logs.

In addition to the general search, the engine also features tabs to search within specific domains:

    General|Files|Images|IT|Maps|Music|News|Science|Social Media|Videos
I do a lot of technical searches (StackOverflow …) and in my preliminary use of searX I find that selecting “General” (only) as the Default Category (in Preferences) gives the best results.

Notably:

* Each search result is given as a direct link to the respective site, rather than a tracked redirect link as used by Google.

* When available, these direct links are accompanied by “cached” and/or “proxied” links that allow viewing results pages without actually visiting the sites in question.

* The “cached” links point to saved versions of a page on archive.org, while the “proxied” links allow viewing the current live page via a searX-based web proxy.

Re:Operation Highjump and the UFO Connection on Wednesday February 19, 2020 @04:12PM (#22370114)
Fake News About a Secret Nazi UFO Base In Antarctica Refuses to Die This researcher at Cambridge has a PhD and still had to take time to prove why the Nazi Antarctic UFO base is a hoax.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/nz53eq/fake-news-about-a-...

* Operation Highjump | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Highjump

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