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They're the default keys because a lot of programs use the GNU readline package for line editing.


It's also possible to configure GNU readline on your system to use vi keys. See https://vim.fandom.com/wiki/Use_vi_shortcuts_in_terminal

Put this in ~/.inputrc

  set editing-mode vi
  set keymap vi-command


You'll also want `set show-mode-in-prompt on`.

Note that this feature is broken when you have a PS1 with a \n in it, in an older version of readline/bash (I am not sure which), so if you're having this problem, just upgrade your bash version.


Not sure if this is still supported, but Roam used to have an in-app query interface. You could use the JS console to run Datomic style Datalog queries.


I can’t comment on whether this is blind following or not. But it’s a real fact that the market will punish you less for layoffs when others are doing it too. It’s like how the best time to reveal a scandal is after someone else has revealed a bigger scandal.


It's not just that the market will punish you less. Companies are hoping that the market will actually reward them for layoffs. Unfortunately, these moves can and will be damaging to long term prospects at some companies. But long term thinking isn't something markets generally care about.

It's up to companies to push back against market pressure to maintain long term progress, but it's a tough balancing act to do that while avoiding being punished by investors.


Honestly, I don't think these layoffs (broadly speaking) are dangerous long term.

In fact, and this may be unpopular, I think they will be greatly beneficial long term.

Consider:

- These companies grew at greatly-expanded rates over the past few years. Google notoriously added 20% per year for 7 years straight, doubling their staff from 2017-2023. After layoffs, Google will still be right near ALL-TIME-HIGHS in staffing. Same with most of these firms. Small layoffs following the fastest growth period in their history isn't some catastrophe for their business

- Most roles being reduced at most companies are not product-creating but administrative. Lots of HR, hiring, marketing, middle managers, getting axed. If companies predict less hiring or lower ad budgets... then reducing those divisions makes sense. If you doubled your hiring team while you were hiring 20% per year, but now you expect to stay steady and only replace attrition ... what would you do with all that hiring staff?

The real damage to their long term prospects was over-hiring the past 3 years and saddling their businesses with a major problem.


> The real damage to their long term prospects was over-hiring the past 3 years and saddling their businesses with a major problem.

So, the real damage was the people who ordered to over hire (usually top-level executives). If any, they should be lay off to actually mitigate long-term damage.


I think this is all basically true, but what is interesting to me is that these incumbent tech companies were greedy when everyone was greedy and in so doing they created an opening for someone who is greedy when others are fearful to come and eat their cake.


That's wrong. If everyone is doing something irrational that is a big inefficiency in the market and whoever does the opposite eg. hiring will get better outcomes as opposed doing it when all do.


Yeah but in general if you're trying to minimise disaster instead of maximising being the winner, you opt for doing things that avoid revealing you as the being the only wrong one. Being wrong in a crowd is fine. Being the only one wrong is a big deal, "what were they thinking, they knew better than everyone else?!". If everyone does the same mistake, it's just shrugged off as "honest mistake, everyone was doing it."

Plus either way you're cutting expenses and maybe getting rid of some under performers.


Being wrong alone means you had a flawed thought process.

Being wrong in a crowd means you have no thought process at all.

All the big companies doing layoffs are in the stagnation phase. "minimise disaster instead of maximising being the winner" is exactly that.


Market values aren't driven by outcomes, those are in the future; they're driven by beliefs about outcomes.


I read the GP a bit differently... I didn't read it as saying obfuscation is evil, just that it is ineffective. More like "obfuscation can't prevent reversing, therefore it's not a valid security practice since all it does is slow down the casual observer but does not stop the determined adversary." The statement that most use of obfuscation is nefarious is a corollary... since obfuscation doesn't protect IP it is mostly used to hide malicious activity.


This, exactly. Thank you for putting it so succinctly.


"At its heart, our intervention is simple: it involves repeatedly approaching and talking to strangers."

So... the "intervention" to help people gain confidence talking to strangers was to have them talk to a bunch of strangers. What an odd thing to make an article about.


Sometimes the solution is obvious. The real mystery is how we let folks get to college without any opportunity to practice social situations.


If I understand the article correctly, it's about the research that tested whether talking to strangers improves wellbeing.


I used to run this on my home network. It was pleasant and occasionally useful. The code was pretty unstable though, and the project looks totally unmaintained now. E.g., the “news” link redirects to a vacant domain. Sourceforge complains about the code being in CVS and suggests migrating to Subversion.

Perhaps some HN visibility will encourage someone to adopt and resurrect it.


I'm not with IKEA but I've been part of other ontology exercises. Off the top of my head, they are a retailer with physical stores and distribution centers--which could both be categories within the concept "location". They have associates (people), and customers (maybe just "people" again, but maybe a different concept.) I could also imagine transactions or loyalty accounts as other concepts. Depending on how far they go, they could include things like "region" (i.e., region-> has many -> location) or general ledger accounts.


I don’t think they claimed it would work for everyone. Or indeed for anyone else. Seems like it's just saying "this is what we do."

(Edit: removed needlessly snarky wording.)


My main interest in a knowledge graph is the universal application of it, and I suspect that's true for much of HN audience. So of course it's natural when reading this article to wonder if their methodology applies, and I was answering my own implicit question.

Good on IKEA for solving the problem they have efficiently, but I can be interested in a larger scope.


Yes, you’re correct and that’s a reasonable interest. I also realize that I worded my comment in a needlessly obnoxious way.


Great to see this return! I had assumed it was just dead for good.


If you expect high inflation, isn’t it a rational action? The nominal debt will be easier to pay with devalued currency received as inflated wages.


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