Readit Newseasywood commented on Ask HN: What did you read in 2025? · Posted by u/kwar13
A few years ago I promised myself to read the top of "must reads" from world literature. Many of them were literally unreadable (hello Moby Dick).
But some of them are true gems, must-reads indeed.
I just finished "The Grapes of Wrath" and holy cow, this is an impressive piece of literature. And unfortunately, more relevant than ever.
Why not give science fiction a break and try this classic instead.
easywood commented on Show HN: I scraped 3B Goodreads reviews to train a better recommendation model book.sv... · Posted by u/costco
Thank you very much, I have always wished for something like this to be part of Goodreads itself. The intersect function especially will help me find hidden gems that other likeminded people have found. I'm looking forward to find out what books I have missed all my life.
easywood commented on Zürich voters ban noisy leaf blowers swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss-de... · Posted by u/mfi
I live in a very leafy area with a lot of deciduous forest cover, so we're no stranger to leaves. I have never understood leafblowing. It seems like such busy work. It's not hugely common here but I have seen people carefully shepherding leaves into little piles on pathways, battling against the entropy of a light breeze. I'm sure there's a good reason but it always just seems like the ultimate expression of man trying to conquer nature in every way
I live in an neighborhood with a lot of retired people, and I agree with the "busy work" sentiment. As soon as some leaves have fallen, you can hear them firing up their leafblowers.
Why? Why not wait until there is a decent amount of leaves and ... use a rake? I really think it's because they don't have anything else to do and it gives them a sense of purpose.
easywood commented on A bubble that knows it's a bubble craigmccaskill.com/ai-bub... · Posted by u/craigmccaskill
Self-contradictory communication seems to become his style.
"AI is an existential risk for humanity, that's why we have to dump all resources we have into building it".
"It's critically important that AI as an industry is regulated, but also we'll pull out of the EU if they try to regulate us"
I think you should read it like this:
"AI is an existential risk for humanity ...". ... so you should trust only us to build it
"AI as an industry should be regulated ..." ... to make it harder for newcomers on the market.
It's also ok not to attend funerals at all, even if you were close. I broke down every funeral I went to and would rather avoid that in the future.
Let me tell you, it is absolutely not ok. The family does notice who is and isn't at the funeral and they WILL assume you are just not emotionally involved. I have seen this scenario play out. Don't be surprised if people stop showing up at something you organize. Breaking down at a funeral is absolutely ok and will strengthen the bond with those left behind.
easywood commented on How long before superintelligence? (1997) nickbostrom.com/superinte... · Posted by u/jxmorris12
It triggers me that there's an obvious typo in 'Oxford' right under the author's name. I wonder if it was originally published like that since 1997 and never caught or changed with all the updates.
I wanted to say the exact same thing! No matter the subject, if you write the name of your own institute with "Oxfrord", I have a hard time taking it seriously.
"On a farm, a child is an investment. In a city, it's a liability".
In the past few decades, we have globally seen a massive shift towards living in a city. Even in times of war and pestilence, people needed extra hands on the farm. But when living in a city, children are just an extra burden on your time and budget. I feel articles like this are over-analyzing the issue.
easywood commented on 3blue1brown YouTube Bitcoin video taken down as copyright violation twitter.com/3blue1brown/s... · Posted by u/talonx
Pizza Hut outside the US
Indeed, in the version I saw, they said "Pizza Hut" but you could see it was badly dubbed. Only much later I learned it was originally "Taco Bell".