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France's homegrown open source online office suite

https://github.com/suitenumerique
65•nar001•1h ago•31 comments

Start all of your commands with a comma (2009)

https://rhodesmill.org/brandon/2009/commands-with-comma/
326•theblazehen•2d ago•108 comments

Hoot: Scheme on WebAssembly

https://www.spritely.institute/hoot/
44•AlexeyBrin•2h ago•8 comments

Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback

https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.12501
24•onurkanbkrc•1h ago•1 comments

OpenCiv3: Open-source, cross-platform reimagining of Civilization III

https://openciv3.org/
725•klaussilveira•16h ago•225 comments

Software Engineering Is Back

https://blog.alaindichiappari.dev/p/software-engineering-is-back
52•alainrk•1h ago•51 comments

The Waymo World Model

https://waymo.com/blog/2026/02/the-waymo-world-model-a-new-frontier-for-autonomous-driving-simula...
986•xnx•22h ago•562 comments

Vocal Guide – belt sing without killing yourself

https://jesperordrup.github.io/vocal-guide/
109•jesperordrup•7h ago•44 comments

Ga68, a GNU Algol 68 Compiler

https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/event/PEXRTN-ga68-intro/
22•matt_d•3d ago•4 comments

Unseen Footage of Atari Battlezone Arcade Cabinet Production

https://arcadeblogger.com/2026/02/02/unseen-footage-of-atari-battlezone-cabinet-production/
79•videotopia•4d ago•12 comments

Making geo joins faster with H3 indexes

https://floedb.ai/blog/how-we-made-geo-joins-400-faster-with-h3-indexes
143•matheusalmeida•2d ago•37 comments

Show HN: Look Ma, No Linux: Shell, App Installer, Vi, Cc on ESP32-S3 / BreezyBox

https://github.com/valdanylchuk/breezydemo
245•isitcontent•17h ago•27 comments

Monty: A minimal, secure Python interpreter written in Rust for use by AI

https://github.com/pydantic/monty
254•dmpetrov•17h ago•131 comments

Cross-Region MSK Replication: K2K vs. MirrorMaker2

https://medium.com/lensesio/cross-region-msk-replication-a-comprehensive-performance-comparison-o...
5•andmarios•4d ago•1 comments

Show HN: I spent 4 years building a UI design tool with only the features I use

https://vecti.com
349•vecti•19h ago•155 comments

Hackers (1995) Animated Experience

https://hackers-1995.vercel.app/
515•todsacerdoti•1d ago•251 comments

Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Technical Info

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/
397•ostacke•23h ago•102 comments

What Is Ruliology?

https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2026/01/what-is-ruliology/
49•helloplanets•4d ago•51 comments

Show HN: If you lose your memory, how to regain access to your computer?

https://eljojo.github.io/rememory/
313•eljojo•19h ago•194 comments

Microsoft open-sources LiteBox, a security-focused library OS

https://github.com/microsoft/litebox
363•aktau•23h ago•189 comments

An Update on Heroku

https://www.heroku.com/blog/an-update-on-heroku/
443•lstoll•23h ago•292 comments

Show HN: Kappal – CLI to Run Docker Compose YML on Kubernetes for Local Dev

https://github.com/sandys/kappal
4•sandGorgon•2d ago•2 comments

PC Floppy Copy Protection: Vault Prolok

https://martypc.blogspot.com/2024/09/pc-floppy-copy-protection-vault-prolok.html
78•kmm•5d ago•11 comments

Dark Alley Mathematics

https://blog.szczepan.org/blog/three-points/
98•quibono•4d ago•24 comments

How to effectively write quality code with AI

https://heidenstedt.org/posts/2026/how-to-effectively-write-quality-code-with-ai/
283•i5heu•19h ago•232 comments

Was Benoit Mandelbrot a hedgehog or a fox?

https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.01122
26•bikenaga•3d ago•14 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...
48•gmays•12h ago•19 comments

I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

https://kirkville.com/i-now-assume-that-all-ads-on-apple-news-are-scams/
1094•cdrnsf•1d ago•474 comments

Understanding Neural Network, Visually

https://visualrambling.space/neural-network/
313•surprisetalk•3d ago•45 comments

Introducing the Developer Knowledge API and MCP Server

https://developers.googleblog.com/introducing-the-developer-knowledge-api-and-mcp-server/
69•gfortaine•14h ago•30 comments
Open in hackernews

Stone blocks from the Lighthouse of Alexandria recovered from seafloor

https://archaeologymag.com/2025/07/lighthouse-of-alexandria-rises-again/
130•gnabgib•6mo ago

Comments

dang•6mo ago
We changed the URL from https://greekreporter.com/2025/07/01/lighthouse-alexandria-g... to an article that it appears to have been cribbed from, although it's not entirely clear.
dang•6mo ago
[stub for offtopicness]

[original URL was https://greekreporter.com/2025/07/01/lighthouse-alexandria-g... - see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44598029]

lapetitejort•6mo ago
> Interpretation of the Lighthouse of Alexandria. Credit: Midjounrey / Open Domain / Free Use

In addition to not paying artists for interpretations, they also apparently do not pay editors to proofread.

richwater•6mo ago
A human artist rendering would not have changed how anyone consumes this article. In fact it may even be less realistic given how artists are not experts in every field and more often than not take wide liberties (see dinosaurs)
IncreasePosts•6mo ago
I think they're commenting on "Midjounrey"
nkrisc•6mo ago
If you care, you can hire an artist and a subject matter expert to collaborate and produce accurate (to current scientific knowledge) renderings.

Or even an artist who has prior experience creating accurate renderings from archeological data.

If you care.

jaysonelliot•6mo ago
Using Midjourney to visualize a historical structure like this is not just lazy, it's very misleading.

Especially when there are actual digital recreations, available for free use under Creative Commons, based on historical information and modern surveys: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PHAROS2013-3000x2250...

IG_Semmelweiss•6mo ago
I dont understand your comment

Your comment implies that (some) article images are somehow the result of LLMs. I don't think that is the case at all based on the articles' source attributions.

alexey-salmin•6mo ago
Check the original article link posted above
dr_dshiv•6mo ago
It was the tallest building in the world? And it survived till the 1300s?? Wild.
pgreenwood•6mo ago
This seems like an odd error for the article to make. The great pyramid in Giza is nearly 50% taller, was built nearly 2500 years earlier, and still stands today.
hansvm•6mo ago
A pyramid stretches the limits of what it means to be a "building" though. I don't know that it's a crazy thing to ignore it.
adolph•6mo ago
Why does it “stretch the limits of what it means to be a building?” As far as I understand, the Giza pyramid was built block by block like any other building. Both building probably didn’t many people going to the office every day in them, although the lighthouse probably had some light keepers enjoying a better view than folks keeping the triangle gods happy.
photonthug•6mo ago
It's about what you define as "free standing" i.e. self supporting, which at least means no wire anchors, but arguably also means no pyramids because they are a sort of refined mound, no ziggurats, no cheating by excavating around mountains and putting a cap on it
hansvm•6mo ago
The aquaducts and viae were built block by block too, but they're, I hope we agree, clearly not buildings. In my mind at least, the pyramids are too close to not having an inside relative to how big the outside is -- like how you wouldn't call a mine or a tunnel a building either.

Words are fuzzy concepts meant to convey ideas. Etymologically, I imagine the pyramids are "buildings" in that they're things that are built, like you're describing, but in my internal idea of what a building is, pyramids are too close to just being a carefully shaped mountain. There's also the issue of the fact that they weren't designed for _any_ living person to stay or visit, pushing it closer to a "monument" or "memorial" or something than a "building" in my mind.

Interestingly, if there were more internal space or if they were actively used by people (at any point in history) instead of just being left to the dead in the sands of time then it'd be a lot less clear-cut for me.

I'm not totally sure how other people use that word, but a (obviously biased) survey of the top 10 people I knew would care and respond quickly unanimously called the pyramids of giza "not buildings," the most common alternative description being a "monument."

timschmidt•6mo ago
Kufu's pyramid was actively used. It's the only likely reason for the design of it's portcullis, which doesn't defend as well against entry as previous designs, and is equipped for repeated opening. Plenty of information on the topic here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItAQSrlG9WQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5Qe7xDf_ks

adolph•6mo ago
Your reasoning is well taken and haven recently read Hofstadter's "Surfaces and Essences" the idea of what is a thing and what is not is fascinating.

Some of the criteria are questionable to me. For example, some monuments or memorials are still buildings, such as a mausoleum. Would your survey respondents deny a mausoleum is a building?

I could also ask myself, would I consider the Statue of Liberty a building? It is in active use; it has some usable interior volume; it is free-standing above the surface. And yet I hesitate to call it a building more than I hesitate to agree a lighthouse is a building.

poulsbohemian•6mo ago
Without exploring etymology, what strikes me as interesting here is that buildings are generally structures in which we live or work. Mausoleums and pyramids are interesting in this regard because they are the opposite: they are places for the dead. Perhaps it is this use rather than the actual form that is cause for debate in the description of building, given that a building can take so many forms even in our agreed definition of the term.
dr_dshiv•6mo ago
Wikipedia on Pharos says “height estimated at between 115 and 145 meters (384 – 469 ft)”

At the upper bound, it was (almost) taller than the great pyramid (146m originally).

echelon_musk•6mo ago
Seems like there's a gulf between the artist's computer rendering and the mosaic.
ekaryotic•6mo ago
i dare say archaeologists have multiple depictions of the lighthouse, considering how famous it was.
jaysonelliot•6mo ago
It wasn't a rendering by an artist, it's just an autogenerated Midjourney image.
wolfd•6mo ago
Are you talking about the 3D rendering in the article? The source is linked, and it was uploaded to Wikimedia in 2013.

Edit: Oh! I see, the article URL was changed after you made your comment and before I made mine.

m3kw9•6mo ago
Was the point of light houses to attract trade?
foobar1962•6mo ago
To help ships navigate. Being 100 meters tall it would be visible from quite a distance off shore, something like 36km or 22 miles, before land itself could be seen.

> The Lighthouse, or Pharos of Alexandria... stood more than 100 meters tall above the island of Pharos, guiding ships safely through Alexandria’s treacherous coastal waters

Note that making navigation safer would also benefit trade. Given the choice of landing in a port that was difficult to find and one that had such a lighthouse as a guide...

mcmoor•6mo ago
It's only a 1 bit signal that says "don't come here" isn't it? I've seen claims that lighthouse helps ships somehow navigate difficult waves and I'm always curious how exactly one high lamp do that. Saying that it "guides" is a bit of an overstatement isn't it? Like saying that a road sign saying "dangerous hole here" guides riders navigate the road.
stockresearcher•6mo ago
A lighthouse is in a known location and has a known height. It allows you to identify your present location with great accuracy - the horizontal angle gives direction and the vertical angle gives distance.

If you know your location you can do a much better job of avoiding known hazards.

mcmoor•6mo ago
Thanks! I didn't think about that dimension. The information resolution still feels a bit too low for my liking (I thought it'd help a ship zigzag with precision), but I guess it's much much better than none.

I just realized that if there's 3 of them, it'd constitute an ancient GPS isn't it. Or even only two?

foobar1962•6mo ago
Motor powered ships don't zig zag. Sail powered ships need to tack and gybe to go directly upwind and downwind, but TBH in busy harbours with navigation hazards and a lot of commercial traffic most would furl the sails and use the motor for safety.

You might be interested in "lead marks" which are two signs visible from a distance. They "lead" ships by providing a straight path through difficult passages when the two signs line up. Very simple and effective.

Note that modern lighthouse lights either rotate or blink, the flash frequency is unique and marked on charts to further help identify location at night.

labster•6mo ago
Lighthouses fulfill roughly the same purpose as hazard signs on freeways — everyone makes more money when ordered goods actually arrive. Rocks on the sea are more dangerous than falling rocks on the roads.

Monument lighthouses have an extra purpose: they project power and wealth. Merchants know this place is Important. Like modern day monuments, whether people need a giant expensive building/statue/obelisk to learn this or it’s just a vanity project for the ruler is a matter of opinion. People aren’t really all that different over the last 2000 years.

dochne•6mo ago
One place I would love to visit is the Tower of Hercules which was built in the first century and based on the original plans of the Lighthouse of Alexandria.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Hercules

evolve2k•6mo ago
This being to mind the open source game 0AD (https://play0ad.com).

I could be misremembering but I’m pretty sure the lighthouse is one of the wonders you can build in the game.

  Check it out if you’ve never given it a go. Built by a tonne of volunteers who aim for historically accurate soldiers and buildings in this Age of Empires like RTS game.