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Show HN: Serverless GraphQL analytics framework for AWS

https://github.com/acikelli/oc-graphql
1•oacikelli•4m ago•0 comments

My parenting screen time philosophy

https://mikemcquaid.com/my-parenting-screen-time-philosophy/
1•wrxd•5m ago•0 comments

Pentagon Reportedly Testing Radio Wave Device Linked to 'Havana Syndrome'

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pentagon-reportedly-testing-radio-wave-device-linked-t...
1•beardyw•6m ago•0 comments

How to make users know that this is the heartopia wiki website they need?

https://www.heartopia-tips.com/
1•pacewang•6m ago•0 comments

CoreWeave Hid Data Center Delays, Investors Say

https://www.law360.com/articles/2429441/coreweave-hid-data-center-delays-investors-say
1•zerosizedweasle•7m ago•0 comments

Popular Python Libraries Used in Hugging Face Models

https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/13/ai_python_library_bugs_allow/
1•jruohonen•10m ago•1 comments

I Manage My Personal Infrastructure in 2026

https://taoofmac.com/space/blog/2026/01/09/1900
2•rcarmo•12m ago•0 comments

AI as Entertainment

https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.08768
1•50kIters•12m ago•0 comments

Sargasso Sea

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sargasso_Sea
2•thunderbong•14m ago•0 comments

Better `pre-commit`, re-engineered in Rust

https://github.com/j178/prek
2•vismit2000•14m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Drop The Adverb – Replace weak verb+adverb pairs

https://droptheadverb.com
1•ClozeLine•14m ago•1 comments

How to De-Risk from America

https://www.ft.com/content/331ec18b-9960-4954-8728-f2ff5bb5ee7b
3•KnuthIsGod•14m ago•0 comments

WordPress as a Headless CMS: A Production-Ready Plugin Stack

https://nesmachny.com/post/my-wordpress-stack-for-headless
1•taubek•15m ago•0 comments

Scott Adams, 'Dilbert' Creator, Dies at 68

https://variety.com/2026/artisans/people-news/scott-adams-dead-dilbert-creator-1236630162/
1•Rant423•19m ago•0 comments

Bad Science, Good Politics

https://shaemclaughlin.substack.com/p/bad-science-good-politics
1•MaysonL•19m ago•0 comments

The Internet Archive Crawler

https://github.com/internetarchive/heritrix3
1•dvrp•35m ago•0 comments

US State Department Threatens UK over Probe into Elon Musk's X

https://www.politico.eu/article/us-state-department-threaten-uk-probe-elon-musk-x-grok/
5•saubeidl•37m ago•1 comments

Ask HN: How do you apply for jobs in the age of AI?

1•surrTurr•37m ago•0 comments

I've created a prototype for the front-end of a website inside an AI chatbot

1•5color•38m ago•1 comments

Claude Cowork Runs Linux VM via Apple Virtualization Framework

https://gist.github.com/simonw/35732f187edbe4fbd0bf976d013f22c8
2•jumploops•42m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Gilda runs multiple LLMs, compares them, and merges the result

https://gildaapp.com/
1•osgohe•47m ago•1 comments

When competition leads to human values by Beren Millidge [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua67aXBP76k
1•ljosifov•48m ago•0 comments

VoidLink: The Cloud-Native Malware Framework Weaponizing Linux Infrastructure

https://blog.checkpoint.com/research/voidlink-the-cloud-native-malware-framework-weaponizing-linu...
2•laktak•48m ago•0 comments

McKinsey challenges graduates to use AI chatbot in recruitment overhaul

https://www.ft.com/content/de7855f0-f586-4708-a8ed-f0458eb25586
1•jorisboris•53m ago•1 comments

PulseDaily – a local‑first, no‑login habit tracker with gentle reminders

https://pulsedaily.codezs.online
1•fcxl•54m ago•2 comments

PartyBench: AI throws a house party and is graded on its performance [SATIRE]

https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/sota-on-bay-area-house-party
1•ryan_j_naughton•55m ago•0 comments

Static sites from shell (part 1/2) – feeling the html.energy (2022)

https://www.evalapply.org/posts/shite-the-static-sites-from-shell-part-1/index.html
1•adityaathalye•59m ago•0 comments

Tesla will stop selling FSD after Feb 14

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/2011324998653513810
5•0xedb•1h ago•0 comments

In the DOM We Trust: The Hidden Dangers of Reading the DOM on the Web [pdf]

https://trouge.net/papers/in_the_dom_we_trust_ccs25.pdf
1•ArneVogel•1h ago•1 comments

Multi-Service Debug Sandbox

https://github.com/kp7008/multi-service-debug-sandbox
2•kp7008•1h ago•0 comments
Open in hackernews

Millihertz 5 Mechanical Computer (2022)

https://www.srimech.com/MHZ5.html
95•gene-h•8mo ago

Comments

thechao•8mo ago
I've always wanted to build (distinct) mechanical computers out of the following kinds of elements:

1. Spur-gear differential; and,

2. Shishi-odoshi.

Both of these are saturating mechanical devices that can be used to build NAND gates; the latter, I think, would be very pleasing, if exceedingly slow.

For the spur-gear differential, you'd need to up-scale the output by a factor of 2 (since the output is half-speed), and use a locking wedge to build a one-way gear out of one of the spur-gear differentials. However, it has the nice property that the logic is made entirely out of a single element: the spur-gear differential.

Similarly, for the shishi-odoshi: you're going to have to do a bit of analysis (drilling a hole in the bottom part of the bamboo ladle), to figure out the in-flow and out-flow to build the basic AND gate, and then balancing out the NOT gate, to build your basic NAND. This is, obviously, very finicky; but, I supposed, that'd be quite a bit of the charm of a Zen computer garden?

hnlmorg•8mo ago
A shishi-odoshi ALU would be amazing to see…and hear too.

I love that idea.

blackhaz•8mo ago
I wanna run my neural net on shishi-odoshi.
rightbyte•8mo ago
Has any computer been built out of spur-gear differentials? Like maybe some sort of adder circuit, not necessarily a full instruction executing computer. The only uses I could find was what seems to me like the differentials being part of some sort of analogue computer.
thechao•8mo ago
Spur gear differentials are naturally adders (with carry!); so, traditionally they've only ever been used for analogue logic. They're overly complicated for digital logic: you need two spur gears to build a single gate (NAND) to perform a single binary operation. If you want any sort of reasonable lash characteristics you're going to need ~60 teeth. At that point, two 60 teeth spur gears give you a 3600-valued adder. That'd take something like 300+ spur gears in binary: it just doesn't make any damn sense.

I think the last time I looked at this, if I used the cast spur gears available I needed a staged approach to "start" the computer and a 1100 hp motor to run it.

rightbyte•8mo ago
> a 1100 hp motor to run it

Oh, ye that sounds impractical. A really big truck engine more or less.

thechao•8mo ago
Convincing Mrs. thechao that we needed to drop 80000$ on a blown V8 to build a 4b 3 function calculator didn't workout, BTW.
rightbyte•8mo ago
Well I want to be on your side but I think one need to keep the dreams not within grasp but at least in sight.
jcgrillo•8mo ago
A huge steam engine might be the ticket, that'll solve your starting torque problem
byronknoll•8mo ago
I built some logic gates using water and a 3D printed "seesaw" that tilts to the left or right: https://byronknoll.blogspot.com/2022/06/water-computer.html
thechao•8mo ago
Beautiful! Thank you!
QuadmasterXLII•8mo ago
the shishi-odoshu seems like the more promising avenue. The key question in mechanical computing is never designing gates, its designing power amplifiers.
eccentricwind•8mo ago
What a gem of a site Thank you for sharing
mrandish•8mo ago
I just smile hearing the term "Millihertz Computer". I'd love it if building and designing mechanical and analog computers grew as a hobby/educational activity as I find them both fascinating and somehow satisfying.

Also, this 1950s Naval Training film explaining the fundamentals of how mechanical fire control computers work to solve complex problems is excellent. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1i-dnAH9Y4

256_•8mo ago
I was incredibly surprised to find that this actually is a computer. Normally when you hear about a "computer" constructed in an unusual medium, it turns out to just be a binary adder or an analogue computer. I've learned to expect disappointment.
ryukoposting•8mo ago
About 8 years ago I visited TU Chemnitz and they had a lab making similar things to this. It wasn't clear to me what the goal was, but it was very cool nonetheless.
ogogmad•8mo ago
Is anyone going to produce a proof-of-concept Analytical Engine?

Will robots (which will hopefully soon be available) be able to do it?

tenthirtyam•8mo ago
This brings to mind two stories: Exhalation by Ted Chiang (short story), and the Three Body Problem (specifically the human computer) by Cixin Liu (novel length).

Exhalation really gets me thinking about what it means to be sentient & self-aware. If the neurons in our brains could, even in theory, be simulated by logic gates then, equally in theory, a Turing machine could be sentient. I can even imagine a bunch of rocks being sentient: https://xkcd.com/505/