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rsync commented on macOS 26.2 enables fast AI clusters with RDMA over Thunderbolt   developer.apple.com/docum... · Posted by u/guiand
geerlingguy · 2 days ago
This implies you'd run more than one Mac Studio in a cluster, and I have a few concerns regarding Mac clustering (as someone who's managed a number of tiny clusters, with various hardware):

1. The power button is in an awkward location, meaning rackmounting them (either 10" or 19" rack) is a bit cumbersome (at best)

2. Thunderbolt is great for peripherals, but as a semi-permanent interconnect, I have worries over the port's physical stability... wish they made a Mac with QSFP :)

3. Cabling will be important, as I've had tons of issues with TB4 and TB5 devices with anything but the most expensive Cable Matters and Apple cables I've tested (and even then...)

4. macOS remote management is not nearly as efficient as Linux, at least if you're using open source / built-in tooling

To that last point, I've been trying to figure out a way to, for example, upgrade to macOS 26.2 from 26.1 remotely, without a GUI, but it looks like you _have_ to use something like Screen Sharing or an IP KVM to log into the UI, to click the right buttons to initiate the upgrade.

Trying "sudo softwareupdate -i -a" will install minor updates, but not full OS upgrades, at least AFAICT.

rsync · 2 days ago
"... Thunderbolt is great for peripherals, but as a semi-permanent interconnect, I have worries over the port's physical stability ..."

Thunderbolt as a server interconnect displeases me aesthetically but my conclusion is the opposite of yours:

If the systems are locked into place as servers in a rack the movements and stresses on the cable are much lower than when it is used as a peripheral interconnect for a desktop or laptop, yes ?

rsync commented on CRISPR fungus: Protein-packed, sustainable, and tastes like meat   isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechu... · Posted by u/rguiscard
colechristensen · 3 days ago
Also it's a multi-species mutation that stuck in humans and the great apes which broke the urate oxidase enzyme.

If we fixed it, nobody would get gout.

I kinda wonder sometimes why medicine doesn't try to fix some of these species level genetic problems more broadly or more quickly. There's this enzyme every other mammal produces, why isn't there a fast track to engineering a micro-organ to produce it or inject an engineered version in gout patients (I did some research and yes people are somewhat doing these things... slowly)

Why can't I, a healthy adult, be genetically engineered to start producing my own Vitamin C like every other mammal?

rsync · 2 days ago
Evolution isn’t stupid … it’s not a random outcome that we don’t produce our own vitamin c, or have an appendix, or (urate oxidize blah blah).

I wish you all the luck in fixing these problems and would be fascinated to see the outcomes… However, this notion that these changes would be cost free is a mistaken one.

Mutants with these characteristics have certainly existed over evolutionary time… Our version outcompeted them.

rsync commented on US could ask foreign tourists for five-year social media history before entry   bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c... · Posted by u/neversaydie
netfortius · 5 days ago
Wouldn't an HN account need to be mentioned, once this platform is made visible enough, so that the bozos in charge, in the US, take it seriously? A social media ICE would love to dig into such.
rsync · 4 days ago
I don’t consider hacker news to be social media… And I wouldn’t expect others to, either.
rsync commented on Ask HN: Should "I asked $AI, and it said" replies be forbidden in HN guidelines?    · Posted by u/embedding-shape
masfuerte · 5 days ago
Does it need a rule? These comments already get heavily down-voted. People who can't take a hint aren't going to read the rules.
rsync · 5 days ago
This is my view.

I tend to dislike these type of posts but a properly designed and functioning vote mechanism should take care of it.

If not, it is the voting mechanism that should be tuned - not new rules.

rsync commented on Emacs is my new window manager (2015)   howardism.org/Technical/E... · Posted by u/gpi
rsync · 7 days ago
Hmm ... I used ratpoison 25 years ago ... is it current/maintained ?

Is there a live release/support/discussion ecosystem for ratpoison in 2025 ?

rsync commented on Influential study on glyphosate safety retracted 25 years after publication   lemonde.fr/en/environment... · Posted by u/isolli
delichon · 10 days ago
I can feel the pull of glyphosate. I want to kill the weeds right around my house, but that's where my dog sleeps and rolls and eats the grass. Roundup is the popular weed killer and I've got a bottle in the garage. So I look up its effects on pets, and it says "manageable with precautions", particularly waiting for the fluid to dry before letting the dog on it.

I'm not very comfortable with that so looking around for other solutions I see a guy on Youtube telling me how to manage weeds with vinegar. I figure that must be safe, so I buy a bottle of the recommended concentration, but for the hell of it look up its safety for dogs before applying it. They say hell no, this is way too strong for pets and can cause burns, etc. I would need to dilute it quite a bit, making it a lot less effective.

So I ended up using glyphosate, but I'm looking for something better.

rsync · 9 days ago
"So I ended up using glyphosate, but I'm looking for something better."

Not for everyone and not for every situation, but ...

If you get a propane torch - the full sized ones that attach to a 5gal. propane tank - you can very quickly point-and-shoot a large area with similar effort expended to walking around spraying a liquid.

We have a 2500sf veranda made of decomposed granite and it takes about four man-hours to fully clear it of all creepers and flat broadleafs and all the other things that are impossible to pull by hand ... and since it kills them you're clear for the season ...

rsync commented on Influential study on glyphosate safety retracted 25 years after publication   lemonde.fr/en/environment... · Posted by u/isolli
tptacek · 9 days ago
It's been awhile since I've done any reading on glyphosate, which I mostly paid attention to because of a wave of bullshit stories about how Monsanto was suing people over seeds that blew onto their land (that basically never happened). Nothing in the intervening years, including this specific retraction, changes what I think about glyphosate, which is that it's probably safer than the herbicides that are used when glyphosate isn't.

I don't know why you think bringing me into this discussion is useful. If you were thinking that some regulatory agency made decisions based on the persuasiveness of my HN comments, probably no.

I'm generally comfortable being on the other side of whatever Mehmet Oz is talking about.

rsync · 9 days ago
I think it's quite the compliment - you should be flattered!

Unrelated:

I really enjoy "Security, Cryptography, Whatever".

rsync commented on Rsync.net Technical Notes – Q4 2025   rsync.net/resources/notes... · Posted by u/rsync
mtmail · 10 days ago
Did everybody arrive on this page from rsync.net's newsletter? I can't find this thread anywhere on the HN frontpage, I checked until position 800 before I gave up. We (newsletter subscribers, customers) might all be talking to ourselves here without reaching anybody outside that bubble.
rsync · 10 days ago
That’s fine.

We don’t have our own forum so this is as good of a place as any to discuss anything that’s on your mind.

AMA.

rsync commented on Rsync.net Technical Notes – Q4 2025   rsync.net/resources/notes... · Posted by u/rsync
benlivengood · 10 days ago
Someone pointed out in another HN discussion that for the highest security it would be nice to have an independent service that accepted/pulled ZFS snapshot streams to apply to the backup datasets, as opposed to using ssh and risking local privilege escalations or relying entirely on ZFS user permissions.

Does anyone know of an existing service like this? Is it something rsync would consider hosting/providing? Currently to support sending encrypted ZFS snapshots to rsync.net I need to use the freebsd VM option with its own zpool.

rsync · 10 days ago
We already provide this.

The zfs snapshots that we make of your account are immutable (read only) from the perspective of your credentials.

So even if you publish your rsync.net credentials and Mallory wipes out your entire base account, the snapshots will still be there (until they rotate out, of course).

rsync commented on Rsync.net Technical Notes – Q4 2025   rsync.net/resources/notes... · Posted by u/rsync
rsync · 10 days ago
Happy to discuss any aspect of the Q4 notes, or previous notes[1] throughout the day today.

[1] https://www.rsync.net/resources/notes/

u/rsync

KarmaCake day23811July 19, 2012View Original