Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope you get some rest and can spend time with people who are dear to you and get to focus on what's important rather than getting lost in stressing about everything having to be perfect.
Also much love to everyone who cannot spend their Christmas with dear people.
To make sure this post meets the relevancy criteria, here is a Wikipedia article about some Christmas (more precisely advent) tradition which I personally really like: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_market
https://kwc.im/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/GKP_2025_26.pdf
>The paper carries a telling Latin motto: "Scire ubi aliquid invenire possis ea demum maxima pars eruditionis est" – "To know where you can find something is, after all, the greatest part of learning."
In the modern era it is acknowledged that people will use online search engines to find the answers but hopefully we all learn something on the way
May your glühwein be hot and your cats purring :)
https://oldcompcz.github.io/jgs/joan_stark/xmas.html#treewit...
And of course, the BBS Documentary: Artscene episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQrBbm5ZMlo&list=PL7nj3G6Jpv...
Merry Christmas and happy new years everyone!
https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc says:
> Text after a blank line that is indented by two or more spaces is reproduced verbatim. (This is intended for code.)
I assume that's how the top level comment posted the tree which is in a <pre><code> structure.
I thought it was just a straggler.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Stark
I wouldn't be surprised if someone comes up with obfuscated C code that looks like a christmas tree and prints out wishes by the end of the day/season.
Merry Christmas!
[0]: https://www.ioccc.org/
Ask HN: Who needs holiday help? (Follow up thread) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38706167 - Dec 2023 (9 comments)
Ask HN: Who needs help this holidays? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38492378 - Dec 2023 (210 comments)
Tell HN: Thank You - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34140096 - Dec 2022 (42 comments)
Tell HN: Everyone should have a holiday dinner this year - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34122118 - Dec 2022 (58 comments)
Unfortunately, Alex died a few months after his last round of holiday giving, about 1½ years ago now.
Tell HN: In Memory of Alexander Thomas Drummond - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40508725 - May 2024 (5 comments)
If you read the comments in that last thread, know that @toomuchtodo followed through last year and kept the tradition alive. Amazing and magnificent.
Ask HN: Who needs help this holidays? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42291246 - Dec 2024 (46 comments)
Thank you for posting this.
There was so much bad blood between him and the Oxford University that Oxford students had to take a pledge never to reconcile with Henry Symeonis upon ther Bc graduation. This tradition stuck for 550 years.
https://www.zmescience.com/feature-post/culture/bizarre-stor...
And we are still aware of him today. Neither an important king, nor a great artist, just a guy who triggered a petty revenge from some long-dead academicians who are, ironically, likely completely forgotten, name and all.
Adding my opinion: Especially if he's done so much good and especially if he's calling out Israel.
I would even argue that respect that can endure through numerous shitty takes, just because there's one facet of that person that isn't shitty, is far less genuine than otherwise holding that person up to a standard for your respect.
As the call is on our car throws a red light: Transmission malfunction: Service now. We take the next exit and happen to find a Big O Tire place which is where we get most of our car work done. The transmission is seized, but it's Christmas Eve and no one is open to get an estimate on a replacement. But that's okay a couple of cousins are able to pick us up to get to the party.
We get home and find big pile of presents on our doorstep but we find they are addressed to names we don't know. So we bring them in for safekeeping. Today I look around the apartment building and finding one with a dollhouse on the balcony give a knock but its the wrong door but they knew the family which was downstairs so the right family got the presents finally.
Now cinnamon rolls are baking for breakfast and starting dinner prep soon.
But somehow I have to figure out if I should replace the transmission on a 13 year old car which needs $4500 in suspension work too or replace the whole vehicle.
And find a way to make more money since the part-time job I have right now to open up time for caregiving won't be enough for all this, and it looks like caregiving won't be necessary for much longer anyway.
Being a non-Christian and it being Christmas time, I am sharing one verse from the New Testament that is, in my opinion, useful - or at the very least, insightful - to anyone, regardless of religion.
Luke 16:10: He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.
For anyone interested in approaching the Bible this season, perhaps as part of a New Year's resolution, there are many wonderful free and paid resources to do so. It's easy to get bogged down in a comparison of translations and tools, or to ambitiously pick a Bible in a Year reading plan and get waylaid in the pentateuch. Instead, I'd recommend starting with the Berean Standard Bible (a modern, public domain translation with good footnotes) and Mark (Matthew is my favorite, but it starts with a genealogy and requires some Old Testament knowledge to fully enjoy.)
Here's a link: https://biblehub.com/bsb/mark/1.htm
Thank you for sharing. Merry Christmas to you.
There's a German term for that 'Uboot Christen' - submarine Christians. They only emerge twice a year.
Easter also not pagan. But pophistory thinks that as well. Scholarship doesn’t line up.
"keep the big bang until later for your children, the bible is really a great set of fairy tales"
Im not religious at all, actually "implicitly fighting against it", though I have to admit: This sentence made sense and Im thinking still until today about it, because actually I think its quite true - for smaller children, the storylines in the bible are much more "real" and understandable than the story of: "hey, there was a big bang, all molecules were created then and you are consisting today of these molecules"
Modern Christians know that religion and science can go together. Science researches _how_ something works. Religion answers _who_ created it. The Big Bang theory is actually accepted by them today.
What part of the Bible are up for interpretation, and what parts are considered to be fact?
Perhaps it's possible that the beliefs and propositions of individual members of a greater body don't always align with the official stance of the greater body.
Can you tell the fundamentalists that? Thanks
We don't know that. Some Christians believe that because they believe the Bible is univocal, which it isn't, and because they want to use other unrelated scripture like "a day for God is like a thousand years" to support a framework for Genesis which they believe is validated by current science.
But I see no reason to believe that when the ancient Hebrews wrote about creation taking seven days, that they didn't mean seven actual days.
>It was written like that, because it would be easier for people to understand.
A supposition not backed up by evidence, and one that assumes the author of Genesis had a modern understanding of astrophysics, which they did not.
> Science wasn't a thing back then. If it were written in 2025, it would obviously be very different and probably much more detailed.
OK. So as I suspected you believe that the Genesis creation story (or at least one, as there are two conflicting creation narratives) represents literal truth, but that the account itself couches this literal truth in metaphor.
I suppose that's better than the Biblical literalists who insist that Old Testament genealogies prove the world is only 10,000 years old and that therefore things like carbon dating are fake, but I do wish Christians would just accept that Genesis (along with the rest of the Bible) is entirely mythology and that they don't have to "make it fit" with modern science. It just didn't happen.
>Science researches _how_ something works. Religion answers _who_ created it. Religion also makes just as many claims about how as who and why.
Religion doesn't answer anything of the sort, it claims to answer it, a priori, without evidence.
And of course there are countless religions with countless such "answers." You believe only one answer is valid, again, without evidence.
This is not an opportunity for you to proselytize to me.
Just look at something like John 1:1: «In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.» Most adults aren't in a position to comprehend that, never mind a child. It is one of the most profound sentences ever uttered (those with sufficient philosophical and theological background might find this recent book on this topic of interest [0]). Or consider Exodus 3:14: «God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”». If that doesn't knock you off your feet, then you have not understood it. This is an incredibly sophisticated metaphysical statement, the meaning of which was unknown to the ancient pagans. (A good, short introduction from a philosophical angle can be found here [1].)
But more importantly, both you and the author of that article have committed a very basic category mistake. The Bible is not in the same business as the physical sciences. It doesn't answer the same questions. The Bible is not a scientific treatise, and the physical science are not a path to salvation from sin.
The Bible is also not a text of mere parables and life lessons. Indeed, this is one of those distinguishing features of Christianity that many fail to appreciate. In other religious traditions, it doesn't really matter where the truth claims come from or who said them. You could accept the claims without knowing or caring about the author. But you cannot do that with the figure of Christ. You cannot say "Oh, I accept the lessons of the New Testament, I think Jesus was a wise teacher. I just don't accept his divinity or the resurrection or the miracles or all that other stuff my bourgeois sensibilities can't stomach." Those claims that are uniquely Christian are about Christ and rooted in the authority of Christ. It is Christ who saves - a person - not knowledge, not some method, not a technology, but a person. Christ calls himself the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of all creation, eternal, the Almighty, and the source and completion of history and salvation.
That's not just some "fun" or "cute" passage. The point is that - if Christianity is true - it is through Christ that Man's relationship to God is restored and elevated. It is through Christ that man is ennobled. Man is invited to participate in his divinity, and unlike other traditions that maintain Man can attain divinity through his own efforts alone, the Christian says "no", it is not in Man's power to do that, to pull himself up by his own bootstraps; only God can do that, and the way is by answering "yes" to his offer, by cooperating with him so he can accomplish that divinity in us. To do that, God humbled himself through the Incarnation to share in our humanity: «the Word became flesh and dwelt among us». He entered the pathology and disorder of the world to liberate it from it, to be the path out of it.
That is what Christianity teaches. That is what Christmas is about. Either that is true, or Jesus was a liar or a madman. What he wasn't was merely another "wise teacher". Either Christmas celebrates this momentous historical event of the Incarnation, or it is ridiculous.
[0] https://a.co/d/1QtQWCP
[1] https://a.co/d/bSqgkXq
"Don't be snarky."
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
This is etched into my mind.
This really is a job for a LLM.
With apologies to screen reader users: "space tab space space asterisk new line space space tab space new line space space space tab pipe new line ... forward slash o full stop full stop backslash ..."
Hell - mine one is crashed! Claude didnt work properly :-D
[0] https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AluminumChristma...
Love seeing the custom HN theme every year. Sometimes after Christmas, I avoid refreshing an HN tab, so I get to see the theme just a little bit longer :)
This year is a bit special to me. I recently moved countries for a new job, but I moved a bit too soon. Now I am spending the holiday season alone for the first time in my life. Learned a lot of lessons the hard way over the past week.
There's always browser extensions/scripts.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46266496
https://github.com/FreedomBen/hacker-news-christmas-colors-b...
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46379541
Thanks for continuing such an awesome tradition :-D
I was a bit eager to start work after three months of waiting for the HSP 1b visa. Tried to keep myself busy with side projects, and got quite far with embedded Rust. But the lack of a "regular schedule" from a job was making me eager to start "proper work" again.
So far, it has been a mixed bag of trade-offs. Made it in time for various events, got to see a few friends for the first time in a while, etc. However, nothing beats the comfort and security of one's parents home, especially during the holiday season.
Probably obvious to everybody, but seriously do not schedule a move in December. If it is feasible, spend the time to make memories with your family and loved ones.
A bit morbid, but reminds me of this passage by John Quincy Adams:
> Everything about the house is the same. I was not fully sensible of the change till I entered his bedchamber [...] That moment was inexpressibly painful, and struck me as if it had been an arrow to my heart. My father and mother have departed. The charm which has always made this house to me an abode of enchantment is dissolved; and yet my attachment to it, and to the whole region around, is stronger than I ever felt it before.
Hope you get to spend the next Christmas with your family!
Merry Christmas, HN!
Also, I had to turn off firefox's enhanced tracking protection for the font to load. Before that it was unicode tofu.
Side note: I assume you can’t call it ASCII art if it uses non-ASCII characters, but Unicode art doesn’t have the same ring.
Thanks
Merry Christmas!
https://share.cleanshot.com/vJZv6k03 (restarting the server)
https://share.cleanshot.com/qFyM347P (online but temporarily readonly)
https://share.cleanshot.com/kW8kY7mp (back online!)
Is it the convenience utilities for building and running container images?
https://freebsdfoundation.org/blog/oci-containers-on-freebsd...
However, I still can't pinpoint what the value proposition is compared to using jails. Is there anybody around here able and willing to shed some light? I know I didn't use Cunningham's Law to start the conversation like a clever netizen but maybe, just this once, a good faith response to a good faith question is possible.
ouch
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12183263
For stuff like HN, I like the peek behind the scenes it provides. It's all just software written by some humans and way too often people take themselves and their shitty software way too serious.
99.999999 is so overated.
It only affects traffic for about 10 seconds.
A relevant verse about a sometimes stressful day:
Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.
- Matthew 6:34
Hope everyone enjoy the break and start 2026 with energy to keep improving yourself and the world.
Merry Christmat!
¡Feliz Navidad!
Spread the love, please - try to give everyone around you a metaphorical "▲" (upvote), in HN-speak, to make this world a better place.
The ESV is the translation I have used since it came out for personal reading and study, though.
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will.”
https://biblehub.com/luke/2-14.htm
That was fun! I read that verse earlier today and I didn't know about the version with genitive case.
Being super-lonely this year, I hope all of you are much better off than me - this year contained some catastrophic external events in my life, which led to permanent change on some "layers" of my live (not only material, but also in psy etc.)
I hope the next year will bring the luck to re-align some things and bring them backs on the track, otherwise next year I will write the same post and add that Im in huge (final) trouble...
Enjoy the time with your family if they are near to you!
Turns out my best 2 tv shows of last couple of years are on Apple TV: Severance and Pluribus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NORAD_Tracks_Santa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Nicholas_Church,_Demre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_of_the_Christmas_Spider
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A4vle_goat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caganer
In case you didn’t know, you can check if Santa has reached out your location ;)
https://www.flightradar24.com/R3DN053/3d9fb50a
I wish you all a Merry Christmas full of joy, and I hope you can all appreciate, share, and express love for those around you, be it family, friends, or strangers on the internet. We are all very lucky to be part of the HN site and community. I have been here for about 15 years (at least that is what it feels like) with my other accounts that I don't want to dox.
Glory to God. For believers in Jesus, may the light of Christ guide you as it does me in difficult times. Wishing you all His peace and joy.
Merry Christmas to all!
Thank you HN and HN community for sharing the most interesting places of internet, ideas, discussions and points of views. Learned a lot and hope to learn more.
Something to read if you’re bored, https://www.plough.com/en/topics/culture/holidays/christmas-...
This not so little corner of the internet keeps delivering year after year, thank you all for the quality of the submissions and discussions!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjMNtEKHURU
Sharing the funniest Christmas themed video I know
Merry Christmas everyone.
https://github.com/bradly/christmas-lights.js
You can see it in action at https://bradlyfeeley.com and https://birdymusic.com
"An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”"
-Luke 2
I will continuing trying to give back in a small way, what the HN community has given me. Happy holidays.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
- Luke 2:10-11
Fun tidbit: The Charlie Brown Christmas animators had Linus drop his security blanket when he said, "fear not".
(I'm an atheist, but as an official GenXer™, I could almost recite this speech from memory.)
If you’d fancy a little holiday-themed adventure game - https://gricha.dev/happyholidays/terminal
<3 happy holidays, folks.
This is the Trinity College Choir’s advent concert - really puts me in the mood for the season, a remarkable performance and service: https://www.youtube.com/live/MsUd-twzG2U?si=1HMiaD2-Le70-fch
Best of luck with this. Back (and neck) pain really, truly sucks. Very under-treated in the U.S. as well. IME, completely stifles the ability to enter a “flow” state of cognitive function.
Merry Christmas to everyone.
(this is an old pg tradition btw)
Thanks to @dang!
That reminds me I have to update my HN theme to have the Christmas theme
Thanks HN for all the thoughtful comments and interesting articles.
“At the very moment that Augustus is making decrees as the ruler of the known world, and Herod is seething in his palace, God enters stage right. Not on the clouds, asserting his power and dominance, not with all the strength and might he rightly has. But in humility. Doing so with a profound statement that he is turning all our preconceived notions completely upside down.
One of the most beautiful, yet often overlooked, components to this story is Mary’s reaction to the news of her Son. In church tradition we call her carol The Magnificat:
“My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has begun to rejoice in God my Savior, because he has looked upon the humble state of his servant.
For from now on all generations will call me blessed, because he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name; from generation to generation he is merciful to those who fear him.
He has demonstrated power with his arm; he has scattered those whose pride wells up from the sheer arrogance of their hearts.
He has brought down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up those of lowly position; he has filled the hungry with good things, and has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel, remembering his mercy, as he promised to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” (Luke 1:46-55)
Amidst all the interpretations of Christmas that we hear at this time of year from clergy, advertisers, politicians, and journalists, we might benefit from listening to the mother who sits at the centre of it all. According to Mary, Christmas is about God scattering the proud, bringing down unjust rulers, lifting up the humble. It’s about God turning things upside down— which ironically is the right way up to begin with.
And God accomplishes all of this not “from on high,” like the decree of Augustus, or the brutality of Herod; instead, God achieves his purposes from below in the lowliness of a manger. With shepherds, livestock, and foreign magi as the first witnesses.
Christmas is about God turning things upside down—which ironically is the right way up to begin with.
Every detail about the Christmas story (and the subsequent life of Jesus as well), states that God will reverse the mess and do so by first getting his own hands dirty. God conquers by humbling himself, he will heal by being wounded, he will save us by sacrificing himself. The manger is a throne, and works as a beacon of how God intends to turn everything upside down.
Grace triumphs over dominance, mercy over force, and Mary’s song will be the world’s song.
Joy will pierce through the sorrow and sadness, fully and forever.”
- Wes Huff
I hope everyone has a wonderful, relaxing, and joyous time.
including not the original Rolf Harris version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQVEZLcBfS8
It is strange and sad to be alone this morning.
If you are in the same situation, know that you are not alone: I'm thinking of you.
Merry Christmas.
Here’s a quad tree:
11
11
—
0110
0110
1111
0110
—
00000000
00011000
00011000
00111100
01111110
11111111
00011000
00011000
Favorite Christmas movie?
And probably a hundred others.
https://youtu.be/1njzgXSzA-A?si=KIQy9e39lofX0aYP
#FestivusSavesTrees
Anyways, in case anyone needs to stumble upon something similar, I couldn't find something so perfect but...
hearing it now it's not as amazing as it was that night I needed to not be alone in grief, but here it is:
https://www.npr.org/2016/12/25/506715971/amy-grant-on-faith-...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LOqLV6Om4A
Merry Christmas to you!
Christus natus est
O Χριστός γεννιέται
Христос раждается
המשיח נולד
ابن الله يولد اليوم
Vrolijk Kerstmis
Merry Christmas!
Happy Yalda (Yuletide)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yalda_Night
>single html file, no frameworks, images or webgl
Happy Holidays https://xe.dev/xmas 2 points by jFriedensreich 15 hours ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46374804
Merry Christmas to all!
Wir Frässähn bis die Schwarte kracht!
I'm not saying this as a bad thing; I'm not and have never been religious but I still love Christmas.
https://xkcd.com/835/
All icey were the Reindeer hooves, moody and unlikely they were to play.
Then Christmas Eve did come about and, Santa, mounted slay he did.
Present bag taken firm in hand, one for each and every kid.
Down-down-down chimney stacks around each and every town.
Milk and cookies, warmth and hearth.
Every present for every home. Boys and girls light and dark.
Good or bad, used to matter. But Santa had a change of heart.
We all mess up sometimes. And, sometimes, we need a brand new start.
Enjoy the gifts! Santa yelled, as the reindeer took off once again.
Be kind to one another all, and try to make new friends.
Merry Christmas!
Answer: Here’s an ASCII Christmas tree that is also a Merkle tree (Each parent node is the hash of its two children; leaves are the “data blocks”.)
But that's a little too tidy to be a proper Christmas tree — so here’s a more “tree-like” version with ornaments, while still preserving the Merkle structure: Notes (so it’s actually Merkle-y)D0–D3 = data blocks (your “presents” )
H(0) = hash(D0 || D0) (duplicated leaf for balance, common in Merkle trees)
H(0-1) = hash(H(0) || H(1))
H(ROOT) = hash(H(0-1) || H(2-3))
If you want, I can:
generate a bigger tree (8, 16, 32 leaves),
make the hashes look like real hash strings,
or format it like a perfect triangular Christmas tree silhouette while keeping the Merkle parent/child layout.
-- Prompt: format it like a perfect triangular Christmas tree silhouette while keeping the Merkle parent/child layout.
Answer: You got it — here’s a perfect triangular Christmas tree silhouette that still preserves the Merkle parent/child layout (parents directly above their two children, leaves at the base).
If you want it even more like a Christmas tree (full silhouette + ornaments)Here’s a slightly more “filled” version while keeping the structure valid:
Edit: Note the emoji ornaments did not come through.Either way, merry Saturnalia to you! (Off-by-one day :D)