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Logic Puzzles: Why the Liar Is the Helpful One

https://blog.szczepan.org/blog/knights-and-knaves/
1•wasabi991011•7m ago•0 comments

Optical Combs Help Radio Telescopes Work Together

https://hackaday.com/2026/02/03/optical-combs-help-radio-telescopes-work-together/
1•toomuchtodo•12m ago•1 comments

Show HN: Myanon – fast, deterministic MySQL dump anonymizer

https://github.com/ppomes/myanon
1•pierrepomes•19m ago•0 comments

The Tao of Programming

http://www.canonical.org/~kragen/tao-of-programming.html
1•alexjplant•20m ago•0 comments

Forcing Rust: How Big Tech Lobbied the Government into a Language Mandate

https://medium.com/@ognian.milanov/forcing-rust-how-big-tech-lobbied-the-government-into-a-langua...
1•akagusu•20m ago•0 comments

PanelBench: We evaluated Cursor's Visual Editor on 89 test cases. 43 fail

https://www.tryinspector.com/blog/code-first-design-tools
2•quentinrl•22m ago•1 comments

Can You Draw Every Flag in PowerPoint? (Part 2) [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BztF7MODsKI
1•fgclue•27m ago•0 comments

Show HN: MCP-baepsae – MCP server for iOS Simulator automation

https://github.com/oozoofrog/mcp-baepsae
1•oozoofrog•31m ago•0 comments

Make Trust Irrelevant: A Gamer's Take on Agentic AI Safety

https://github.com/Deso-PK/make-trust-irrelevant
2•DesoPK•35m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Sem – Semantic diffs and patches for Git

https://ataraxy-labs.github.io/sem/
1•rs545837•36m ago•1 comments

Hello world does not compile

https://github.com/anthropics/claudes-c-compiler/issues/1
21•mfiguiere•42m ago•8 comments

Show HN: ZigZag – A Bubble Tea-Inspired TUI Framework for Zig

https://github.com/meszmate/zigzag
3•meszmate•44m ago•0 comments

Metaphor+Metonymy: "To love that well which thou must leave ere long"(Sonnet73)

https://www.huckgutman.com/blog-1/shakespeare-sonnet-73
1•gsf_emergency_6•46m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Django N+1 Queries Checker

https://github.com/richardhapb/django-check
1•richardhapb•1h ago•1 comments

Emacs-tramp-RPC: High-performance TRAMP back end using JSON-RPC instead of shell

https://github.com/ArthurHeymans/emacs-tramp-rpc
1•todsacerdoti•1h ago•0 comments

Protocol Validation with Affine MPST in Rust

https://hibanaworks.dev
1•o8vm•1h ago•1 comments

Female Asian Elephant Calf Born at the Smithsonian National Zoo

https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/releases/female-asian-elephant-calf-born-smithsonians-national-zoo-an...
3•gmays•1h ago•0 comments

Show HN: Zest – A hands-on simulator for Staff+ system design scenarios

https://staff-engineering-simulator-880284904082.us-west1.run.app/
1•chanip0114•1h ago•1 comments

Show HN: DeSync – Decentralized Economic Realm with Blockchain-Based Governance

https://github.com/MelzLabs/DeSync
1•0xUnavailable•1h ago•0 comments

Automatic Programming Returns

https://cyber-omelette.com/posts/the-abstraction-rises.html
1•benrules2•1h ago•1 comments

Why Are There Still So Many Jobs? The History and Future of Workplace Automation [pdf]

https://economics.mit.edu/sites/default/files/inline-files/Why%20Are%20there%20Still%20So%20Many%...
2•oidar•1h ago•0 comments

The Search Engine Map

https://www.searchenginemap.com
1•cratermoon•1h ago•0 comments

Show HN: Souls.directory – SOUL.md templates for AI agent personalities

https://souls.directory
1•thedaviddias•1h ago•0 comments

Real-Time ETL for Enterprise-Grade Data Integration

https://tabsdata.com
1•teleforce•1h ago•0 comments

Economics Puzzle Leads to a New Understanding of a Fundamental Law of Physics

https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/economics-puzzle-leads-to-a-new-understanding-of-a-fundamental...
3•geox•1h ago•1 comments

Switzerland's Extraordinary Medieval Library

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20260202-inside-switzerlands-extraordinary-medieval-library
4•bookmtn•1h ago•0 comments

A new comet was just discovered. Will it be visible in broad daylight?

https://phys.org/news/2026-02-comet-visible-broad-daylight.html
5•bookmtn•1h ago•0 comments

ESR: Comes the news that Anthropic has vibecoded a C compiler

https://twitter.com/esrtweet/status/2019562859978539342
2•tjr•1h ago•0 comments

Frisco residents divided over H-1B visas, 'Indian takeover' at council meeting

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2026/02/04/frisco-residents-divided-over-h-1b-visas-indi...
5•alephnerd•1h ago•5 comments

If CNN Covered Star Wars

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vArJg_SU4Lc
1•keepamovin•1h ago•1 comments
Open in hackernews

Finding Shawn Mendes (2019)

https://ericneyman.wordpress.com/2019/11/26/finding-shawn-mendes/
389•jzwinck•8mo ago

Comments

saaaaaam•8mo ago
I’m really not sure what I just read. I mean, I know what I read in terms of the words - but I don’t understand what its purpose is. But I don’t necessarily think it matters…

It was thoroughly diverting, held my attention and made me wish that more people wrote pieces like this where the only real purpose is the conceit, and the subsequent journey the author takes you on.

tough•8mo ago
I also read it fully, which i don't usually do.

I'm just left guessing if there's some cryptpic yet important geo-political statement hidden in a funny post about some celebrity i had never heard of until now

4ggr0•8mo ago
to me it reads as a well done parody on conspiracy theories.
tough•8mo ago
right! that's it, its like this nonsense numbers conspiracy theories that seem ramblings of some mentally ill person, but written in a more coherent, interestnig way that any of these (they usually are harder/cryptic to read due to its nonsense) so it ends up being an easier read as a parody than an actual conspiracy theory
sylens•8mo ago
It’s a satire on how deeply some fandoms read into lyrics or “hidden messages” from artists and works of art in general
dooglius•8mo ago
Not everything needs to have a purpose. The most likely explanation to me is just that inspiration happened to strike the author as he heard the song.
whycome•8mo ago
That sounds like a purpose.
stavros•8mo ago
I think this is one of those things that either has intrinsic purpose for you, or it doesn't. As for me, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about this analysis of Shawn Mendes' cryptic lyric.
pryelluw•8mo ago
It’s the brain ticking itself.
amiga386•8mo ago
It's taking vapid pop lyrics literally for humourous effect.

You could call it bathos.

permo-w•7mo ago
that's not really what bathos is though. bathos is an attempt at pathos that turns into something else less meaningful through cliche or lack of believability or other
dechov•8mo ago
I'd consider it a satisfying little exercise in deductive reasoning / OSINT – if reasoning is worthwhile and exercises are worthwhile, then this must be as well
jjj123•8mo ago
My favorite in this genre is by the Gawker legend Caity Weaver.

My 14-hour search for the end of TGI Friday’s endless appetizers: https://www.gawkerarchives.com/my-14-hour-search-for-the-end...

p1nkpineapple•8mo ago
that was an absolute joy of a read, thanks for sharing!
xp84•8mo ago
I miss Caity's writing so much. She brought so much joy to me back in those days, and even a lot of her work at NYT was great as well. Thanks for the inspiration to try to find what she's up to now.
hdjrudni•8mo ago
I'm trying to decide if that would be worth 5 days off or not. The "not read a book" criteria is especially cruel.
morley•8mo ago
By the way, if you liked this post, this taking-silly-things-way-to-seriously is the comedic wheelhouse of Nathan Fielder.
rwmj•8mo ago
Sort of on-topic: The Kuril islands are a big deal in Hokkaido. I attended a protest there (by accident) a few years ago with many Japanese demonstrating for a return of the islands to Japan. It was kind of odd as an outsider because the protest clearly has no effect, and there's no chance of it ever happening outside of Russia losing a war.
fshafique•8mo ago
And thus was born a new game, one that combined knowledge of history, politics, and pop trivia.
Brajeshwar•8mo ago
Oh Man. A few years back, my daughter played so much of Lost in Japan repeatedly. I thought the singer was another girl, because of the others in the playlist such as Kate Perry, and Justin Beiber.
tempodox•8mo ago
FYI, Justin Bieber is not a girl.
falcor84•8mo ago
I see you italicized Bieber, this is surely not a coincidence, because nothing is ever a coincidence.
tempodox•8mo ago
Because GP misspelled the name as “Beiber”.
4ggr0•8mo ago
That's exactly the kind of thing they'd want you to believe!!
yzydserd•8mo ago
Who? The Beliebers or the non-Beliebers?
tempodox•8mo ago
I think it would be the Beleibers.
low_tech_love•8mo ago
Amazon Prime disagrees with you.

https://www.primevideo.com/detail/Justin-Beiber-The-Next-Cha...

xuanwo•8mo ago
We have to invite Shawn Mendes to read this post.
IAmBroom•8mo ago
Shades of "Shia Laboeuf"
nati0n•8mo ago
This… this is impressive dedication to a gag blog post. Enjoyed the read.
_luiza_•8mo ago
lovely
erratic_chargi•8mo ago
Man this is so dumb I love it Unfortunately the song is stuck in my head again...
dkga•8mo ago
Precisely the type of thing I immensely enjoy reading on a holiday!
CommenterPerson•8mo ago
I'm patting myself on the back. After reading the first couple paragraphs, I went Eh? and came here to the comments. Thanks everyone for saving me the time.
stavros•8mo ago
Saving you the time of reading a fantastic article? I think not.
willvarfar•8mo ago
So I just had a fun 5 minutes trying to talk gemini around to believing that Shawn has a position on the Kuril Islands dispute by submitting all the evidence in the article, but the llm is pretty impressively consistent and insistent that the song is figurative etc. Miss the days when it was so easy to get an LLM to argue for anything by persistence.
mmillin•8mo ago
Reading this felt very similar to watching “Pitch Perfect 237” (Anna Kendrick 9/11 conspiracy) https://youtube.com/watch?v=MiC9X_MoE1M
shalmanese•8mo ago
A significant amount of context is missing if you're not aware of Room 237: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_237

A documentary about the various conspiracy theories developed around The Shining. The music in the YT video is from the documentary.

layer8•8mo ago
It’s sad that LLMs seem unable to produce that kind of brilliant deductive reasoning.
speed_spread•8mo ago
I disagree. It'll be sad the day they can do so. This kind of brilliant but absurd joke is still a refuge from the AI slop onslaught.
wy35•8mo ago
This is hilarious, I need to find more blog posts like this.
saretup•8mo ago
https://youtu.be/1NBfZcNU4O0
Scarblac•8mo ago
But just how seriously should we take Shawn Mendes' stand on the Kuril islands? How big of a hit was _Lost in Japan_?
eps•8mo ago
Excellent deduction, but somewhat rushed at the end. Almost sloppy. If Mendez is flying to meet up with a friend at a hotel, it's clearly necassary to check if there are any hotels on that island to begin with.

We can, of course, assume that if there's an airport, there's a hotel, but being a Russian territory even the most benign assumption may prove false, so it's still prudent to check.

The good news is that there is not one, but two hotels on Iturup, both with impressive ratings (even if across a dozen reviews each). With this in place, I trust, we can put the final dot to the story of finding Shawn Mendez and his views on the annexation of the Kurils.

benatkin•8mo ago
I think patio11 would do this part well. https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/two-americas-one-bank...
rts_cts•8mo ago
If Where in the World is Carman Sandiego on the Apple ][ taught me anything, it's that there is always a hotel and it is the best place to check on arrival.
xixixao•8mo ago
The article suspiciously leaves out whether there’s a hotel on Iturup Island, on which the whole argument hinges.

Quick Google Maps reveales there indeed is one.

What a relief!

codazoda•8mo ago
This is also an exercise in deductive reasoning, which I recently read, somewhere here on Hacker News, is a good skill to exercise.
rsynnott•8mo ago
This misses one obvious possibility; that it just happened before Okinawa was returned to Japan.

(Granted, that was a while ago, and he looks young-ish, but I don't really know anything about Shawn Mendes, so am entirely open to the possibility that he's in his 70s and doing that blood boy thing from Silicon Valley.)

sota_pop•8mo ago
What a journey. Bravo, I am surely convinced beyond a reasonable doubt.
rahimnathwani•8mo ago
This reminded me of "Where is Ja?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo-ddYhXAZc

QuesnayJr•8mo ago
I think of the line "I want some answers that Ja Rule might not have right now" pretty often.
cwnyth•8mo ago
There is a mistake in blogger's logic. Mendes never says that he is flying to Japan. He only states that he is a couple hundred of miles away from Japan. He could be flying from South Korea to Taipei.
kin•8mo ago
According to Genius, some fans believe the lyrics to reference when he toured in the Philippines and flew to Japan after. https://genius.com/14147648

The timing of the song being released in 2018 lines up.

lmm•8mo ago
He says he's only a couple hundred miles from Japan, not that the flight is a couple hundred miles. He could be in Taiwan and flying to Naha (there are evening flights on that route).

Or, more intriguingly, he could be a supporter of Okinawan independence who doesn't acknowledge Okinawa as part of Japan, in which case he might also regard Okinawa as being in the Seibu Hyojunji timezone rather than Japan Standard Time.

permo-w•7mo ago
"we'd be in the same timezone" certainly does not imply that he's not currently in that timezone