HN user
2023-10-27 20:18:56 -0700 (PST) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38046769 Show HN: knowledge engine tracking wealth, power, influence
I created Persagen.com [1] as a self-taught, solo programmer.
Persagen is a knowledge / search engine devoted to the pursuit of universal social justice and equality, environmental protection, and universal human rights.
Persagen tracks and curates wealth, power, and influence affecting these issues.
Persagen seeks a better world and society: sustainability; people over profit.
My premise is that better knowledge enables better decision-making: voting; solutions, etc.
Aside: I am trans [2], so the polarizing anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, protests and legislation (Canada, USA) are of particular concern / interest.
Key attributes:
* curation of news and data relating to wealth, power, influence * backend: Apache Solr, JavaScript, etc. * frontend: search, some visualization examples (d3.js) * curated data sources [3] * bespoke ontology [4] * prototype knowledge graph * FAQ [5] * Mastodon social media account [6] * external news RSS feed [7] * general introduction / overview [8] * technical introduction [9] * privacy-respecting (no trackers, ...) * demonstration page [10]
Due to the backend server (Apache Solr; SSL/TLS-enabled) and the loading of some content into external tabs, JavaScript and popups are required:
u/n: guest p/w: @Guest123
Aside: I am seeking employment: please see my C.V. [11] and cover letter [12]. Thank you.
[1] https://Persagen.com [2] https://victoriasjourney.com/ [3] https://persagen.com/docs/sources.html [4] https://persagen.com/html/blog/2022-06-30-what_is_an_ontology.html [5] https://persagen.com/html/faq.html [6] https://mastodon.social/@persagen [7] https://persagen.com/rss/pg-extnews.xml [8] https://persagen.com/html/intro_01.html [9] https://persagen.com/html/intro_02.html [10] https://persagen.com/docs/leonard_leo.html [11] https://persagen.com/about/victoria/cv.pdf [12] https://persagen.com/about/victoria/cl.pdf
In my personal research I investigate Wealth, power, and influence: Issues and solutions.
I am fundamentally interested in ontology, relationships, and epistemology. I map ontological placement of entities as a foundational mapping of wealth, power, influence etc.
The current version (in pdf form) is 688 pp -- a dated (Nov 2025; 493 pp.) online version can be found online at
Bespoke ontology - older version here (currently - Feb 2026) approaching 650 pages as shown in PDF).
Bespoke, grounded, cross-referenced ontology with focus on
* wealth, power, influence
* politics
* science, math, engineering, technology
* ...
I hand-curate a bespoke ontology related to my personal, independent research interests.
Name: Dr. Victoria A. Stuart, Ph.D. (Biology: molecular genetics)
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Remote: yes
Willing to relocate: no
Title: Independent research (advocacy) | Life sciences consultancy
C.V., cover letter: two streams - (1) social justice advocacy; (2) scientific research << contact me: mail@VictoriasJourney.com
Website: https://persagen.org/wpi/
Focus: Knowledge engine devoted to social justice, environmental protection, universal human rights.
Subject matter expert: life/biomedical sciences, politics, wealth, power, influence, ontology
Volunteer board member: two 2SLGBTQIA+ seniors-focused nonprofits
Recent technologies: I designed and built Persagen.org. Hand-coded (Vim: HTML / JS / CSS / PHP); self-managed VPS; backend server Apache Solr secured by TLS/SSL; demo ontology, knowledge graph; ...
Data science; programming (intermediate: Python; BASH; Linux superuser; knowledge graphs; NLP; some past ML, hands-on, older)
Technologies (skills): Bacterial genetics, Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Bioinformatics, Biomedical research, Cancer research, Computer Science, CSS, Data management, Data science, Data visualization, Digital humanities, Graphical models, HTML coding, Informatics, Java, JavaScript, Knowledge graphs, Linux superuser, Machine Learning, Microbiology, Molecular biology, Molecular genetics, MySQL, Natural language processing, Ontology, PHP, Political analysis, PSQL, Python, R (GNU S), Scientific authorship, Scientific consultant, Semantic web, SQL, Web development, XML, Yeast genetics
Name: Dr. Victoria A. Stuart, Ph.D. (Biology: molecular genetics)
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Remote: yes
Willing to relocate: no
Title: Independent research (advocacy) | Life sciences consultancy
C.V., cover letter: two streams - (1) advocacy; (2) research << contact me: mail@VictoriasJourney.com
Website: https://persagen.org/wpi/
Focus: Knowledge engine devoted to social justice, environmental protection, universal human rights.
Subject matter expert: life/biomedical sciences, politics, wealth, power, influence, ontology
Recent technologies: I designed and built Persagen.org. Hand-coded (Vim: HTML / JS / CSS / PHP); self-managed VPS; backend server Apache Solr secured by TLS/SSL; demo ontology, knowledge graph; ...
Data science; programming (intermediate: Python; BASH; Linux superuser; knowledge graphs; NLP; some past ML, hands-on, older)
Technologies (skills): Bacterial genetics, Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Bioinformatics, Biomedical research, Cancer research, Computer Science, CSS, Data management, Data science, Data visualization, Digital humanities, Graphical models, HTML coding, Informatics, Java, JavaScript, Knowledge graphs, Linux superuser, Machine Learning, Microbiology, Molecular biology, Molecular genetics, MySQL, Natural language processing, Ontology, PHP, Political analysis, PSQL, Python, R (GNU S), Scientific authorship, Scientific consultant, Semantic web, SQL, Web development, XML, Yeast genetics
Name: Dr. Victoria A. Stuart, Ph.D. (Biology: molecular genetics)
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Remote: yes
Willing to relocate: no
Title: Independent research (advocacy) | Life sciences consultancy
C.V., cover letter: two streams - (1) advocacy; (2) research << contact me: mail@VictoriasJourney.com
Website: https://persagen.com/
Focus: Knowledge engine devoted to social justice, environmental protection, universal human rights.
Recent technologies: I designed and built Persagen.com. Hand-coded (Vim: HTML / JS / CSS / PHP); self-managed VPS; backend server Apache Solr secured by TLS/SSL; demo ontology, knowledge graph; ...
Data science; programming (intermediate: Python; BASH; Linux superuser; knowledge graphs; NLP; some past ML, hands-on, older)
Technologies (skills): Bacterial genetics, Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Bioinformatics, Biomedical research, Cancer research, Computer Science, CSS, Data management, Data science, Data visualization, Digital humanities, Graphical models, HTML coding, Informatics, Java, JavaScript, Knowledge graphs, Linux superuser, Machine Learning, Microbiology, Molecular biology, Molecular genetics, MySQL, Natural language processing, Ontology, PHP, Political analysis, PSQL, Python, R (GNU S), Scientific authorship, Scientific consultant, Semantic web, SQL, Web development, XML, Yeast genetics
Location: Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Remote: yes
Willing to relocate: possibly
Technologies: SME life sciences, molecular genetics, politics; self-taught programmer; ontology; graphs
Cover letter: https://files.persagen.com/01/cl-plain-web-2024-07-10.pdf
C.V. https://persagen.com/about/victoria/cv.pdf
email: see letter/C.V.
Name: Dr. Victoria A. Stuart, Ph.D.
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Remote: yes
Willing to relocate: yes
Title: Scientific consultant / Independent scientist / Subject matter expert / Creator, Owner, Persagen.com
C.V.: https://persagen.com/about/victoria/cv.pdf
Cover Letter: https://persagen.com/about/victoria/cl.pdf
Website: https://persagen.com/
Focus: Knowledge engine devoted to social justice, environmental protection, universal human rights.
Recent technologies: I designed and built Persagen.com. Hand-coded (Vim: HTML / JS / CSS / PHP); self-managed VPS; backend server Apache Solr secured by TLS/SSL; demo ontology, knowledge graph; ...
Contact: see C.V.
General introduction: https://persagen.com/html/intro_01.html
Technical introduction: https://persagen.com/html/intro_01.html
Technologies (skills): Bacterial genetics, Biochemistry, Bioengineering, Bioinformatics, Biomedical research, Cancer research, Computer Science, CSS, Data management, Data science, Data visualization, Digital humanities, Graphical models, HTML coding, Informatics, Java, JavaScript, Knowledge graphs, Linux superuser, Machine Learning, Microbiology, Molecular biology, Molecular genetics, MySQL, Natural language processing, Ontology, PHP, Political analysis, PSQL, Python, R (GNU S), Scientific authorship, Scientific consultant, Semantic web, SQL, Web development, XML, Yeast genetics
Seeking work - I am a:
Scientific consultant / Independent scientist / Subject matter expert / Creator, Owner, Persagen.com
Social justice / advocacy, human rights, environmental health
2024-01-03
My academic background (Ph.D.) is in the biomedical life sciences (molecular biology/genetics), with which I remain current. [1]
My more recent experience is programmatic (programming; data sciences; informatics). [1, 2]
I advocate for universal social justice and equality, environmental protection, and universal human rights. To that end, I created Persagen.com [3] as a self-taught, solo programmer. [4]
That research provides expertise on the history and root causes of contemporary culture wars, conservative politics, and erosions of democracy and civil liberties. [4, 5]
For additional background, please see my cover letter [4] and curriculum vitae [1].
Pronouns: she, her
Dr. Victoria A. Stuart, Ph.D.
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
mail@VictoriasJourney.com
[1] https://persagen.com/about/victoria/cv.pdf
[2] https://stackoverflow.com/users/1904943/victoria-stuart
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Remote: Yes
Willing to relocate: Perhaps
Technologies: WebDev / Python / Javascript (all intermed); Linux/scripts ...
Résumé/CV: https://persagen.com/about/victoria/cv.pdf
Cover letter: https://persagen.com/about/victoria/cl.pdf
Email: see C.V.
INTRODUCTION
Hello, my name is Dr. Victoria Stuart, Ph.D. (Biology, University of Victoria, 2000; pronouns: she, her). This is my professional cover letter. Please see VictoriasJourney.com for my personal background.
PERSONAL STATEMENT. Building on a wealth of academic and programmatic experience, I seek solutions to scientific and societal issues through the application of science and technology. I advocate for human rights and freedoms with a vision of universal social justice, environmental health, and sustainability for future generations.
I am seeking part- or full-time employment in any of the domains described in my cover letter, my curriculum vitae (C.V.), or my personal websites (links above, below). I am open to collaboration and partnership, subcontracting (including SBIR), shared work, and other opportunities not mentioned in these documents.
Professional website: https://Persagen.com
Personal website: https://victoriasjourney.com/
Curated sources: https://persagen.com/docs/sources.html
Ontology: https://persagen.com/html/blog/2022-06-30-what_is_an_ontolog...
FAQ: https://persagen.com/html/faq.html
Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@persagen
News RSS feed: https://persagen.com/rss/pg-extnews.xml
General introduction: https://persagen.com/html/intro_01.html
Technical introduction: https://persagen.com/html/intro_02.html
Demonstration (SME): https://persagen.com/docs/leonard_leo.html
Very cool. You can 3D transform the image in Gimp to view the skull:
Non-Docker Local Installation of searX on Linux: https://persagen.com/2020/02/02/searx.html
Agreed on self-hosted search. I wrote a post in Feb. 2020 describing localhost installation of searX, which I've using since then as my interface to web searches. At times I revert to Google, e.g. for image searches, but I do that logged out of my Google accounts.
Non-Docker Local Installation of searX on Linux: https://persagen.com/2020/02/02/searx.html
I wrote a short quide on installing searX on a Linux system back in Feb. 2020
Non-Docker Local Installation of searX on Linux: https://persagen.com/2020/02/02/searx.html
I use it routinely as my default search interface to the web, defaulting rarely e.g. to Google for image seaches.
Related: no mention in that article of notorious (Vancouver B.C.) Kayla Bourque, who once studied criminal law purportedly to better accomplish the future murder of a homeless person, plus other sociopathic behaviors ...
https://www.google.com/search?q=kayla+bourque+romanian+orpha...
Good to know; thank you. :-) I suppose the advantages (mine) may include keyword exclusions (I'm not sure if that functionality is available in the API), and local hosted (hence, more "private" -- whatever that means these days ;-) code.
Facebook Wanted NSO Spyware to Monitor Users, NSO CEO Claims In a court-filed declaration, NSO Group’s CEO says Facebook tried to buy an Apple spying tool in 2017. | https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/pke9k9/facebook-wanted-ns...
Once you get past the initial learning curve and setup (not that hard, honestly), this tool (63k stars, GitHub) is amazing.
Some `ripgrep` vs. `grep` performance comparisons (mine) here.
https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep/issues/113#issuecommen...
See also:
* Firm wielding Theranos patents asks judge to block coronavirus test | https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/03/firm-uses-theran...
Associated reddit: https://old.reddit.com/r/news/comments/fk9sfs/firm_wielding_...
That looks pretty comprehensive.
For anyone interested in the topic, earlier this week (coincidentally) I wrote a blog post,
"Creating Python Dictionaries With Default Values and Immutable Keys [Bonus: Work On A Deepcopy]"
https://persagen.com/2020/03/05/python_dictionaries_default_...
Non-Docker Local Installation of searX on Linux | https://persagen.com/2020/02/02/searx.html
searX is a free metasearch engine with the aim of protecting the privacy of its users.
* searX does not share users’ IP addresses or search history.
* Tracking cookies served by the search engines are blocked.
* searX queries do not appear in search engine webserver logs.
General | Files | Images | IT | Maps | Music | News | Science | Social Media | Videos
Notably:
* Each search result is given as a direct link to the respective site,
rather than a tracked redirect link as used by Google.
* When available, these direct links are accompanied by “cached” and/or
“proxied” links that allow viewing results pages without
actually visiting the sites in question.
* The “cached” links point to saved versions of a page on archive.org, while
the “proxied” links allow viewing the current live page
via a searX-based web proxy.
I find that selecting “General” (only) as the Default Category (in Preferences) gives the best results.
Previously (4 months ago), https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21448983, re: same IEEE source article, https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/artificial-intelligence/...
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Remote: maybe [generally: no]?
Willing to relocate: yes
Technologies: NLP (natural language processing); machine learning; graphical
models; information extraction; genetics; genomics; Linux; Bash;
Python; PostgreSQL/PSQL; knowledge discovery; truth/disinformation; ...
Curriculum vitae: https://persagen.com/about/victoria/cv.pdf
Cover Letter: https://persagen.com/about/victoria/cl.pdf
Email: mail@VictoriasJourney.com Location: Vancouver, Canada
Remote: maybe [generally: no]?
Willing to relocate: yes
Technologies: NLP (natural language processing); machine learning; graphical models;
information extraction; genetics; genomics; Linux; Bash; Python;
PostgreSQL/PSQL; knowledge discovery; truth/disinformation; ...
Curriculum vitae: https://persagen.com/about/victoria/cv.pdf
Cover Letter: https://persagen.com/about/victoria/cl.pdf
Email: mail@VictoriasJourney.comNon-Docker Local Installation of searX on Linux
https://persagen.com/2020/02/02/searx.html
TL/DR
* searX is a free metasearch engine with the aim of protecting the privacy of its users.
* searX does not share users’ IP addresses or search history.
* Tracking cookies served by the search engines are blocked.
* searX queries do not appear in search engine webserver logs.
In addition to the general search, the engine also features tabs to search within specific domains:
General|Files|Images|IT|Maps|Music|News|Science|Social Media|Videos
Notably:
* Each search result is given as a direct link to the respective site, rather than a tracked redirect link as used by Google.
* When available, these direct links are accompanied by “cached” and/or “proxied” links that allow viewing results pages without actually visiting the sites in question.
* The “cached” links point to saved versions of a page on archive.org, while the “proxied” links allow viewing the current live page via a searX-based web proxy.
Fake News About a Secret Nazi UFO Base In Antarctica Refuses to Die This researcher at Cambridge has a PhD and still had to take time to prove why the Nazi Antarctic UFO base is a hoax.
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/nz53eq/fake-news-about-a-...
* Operation Highjump | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Highjump
searx? https://persagen.com/2020/02/02/searx.html
I've been using it for a couple of weeks and I am quite happy with it.
Per your comments, I think anything that does a metasearch (not relying on a single search engine -- Google ...) [Dogpile? ...] will offer benefits.
Yes all of that (thank you h/e for the suggestions ;-). I backup a large datastore: rclone needs to scan everything to `diff` local << >> Dropbox -- takes literally 10-12h.