Hacker News: ASUfool

New comment by ASUfool in "An old photo of a large BBS (2022)"

ASUfool — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 18:54:23 +0000

I still remember the number for Bob's Answering Machine in Phoenix, one of the local Fidonet-connected BBS's.

But oddly, at the same time, I was running a WBBS (wave to Mr. W. Conrad, the author) as a local dual 360K floppy PC-XT BBS, I don't recall my OWN phone number for it.

New comment by ASUfool in "Arizona Bill Requires Age Verification for All Apps"

ASUfool — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 20:52:21 +0000

Since I'm in AZ, I had to look about the sponsor. Here's what Michael Way has on his campaign website :

"Michael is NOT a politician. He has spent his career in business, not government. We need bold, conservative outsiders to shake up business-as-usual."

https://michaelwayforaz.com/about/

The bill sure sounds contradictory to his campaign statement.

New comment by ASUfool in "Waymo granted permit to begin testing in New York City"

ASUfool — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 22:48:06 +0000

I sometimes use Tatum with PV's speed vans parked on the side of the road to head towards downtown Phx and, yes, the common speed is definitely around 40. But pretty much as soon as past McDonald and on 44th St, I resume the the normalized 7-8 mph over the posted limit because I know there are no more speed cameras.

New comment by ASUfool in "About Asteroids, Atari's biggest arcade hit"

ASUfool — Mon, 19 May 2025 19:22:59 +0000

>if you ended with the game with specific scores, different things would happen. The most notorious, was it would grant 40 credits to the game.

I must thank you for that nugget as a HS friend and I inherited the 40 game jackpot a couple times and had no idea how. Any memory of what some of those specific scores were?

New comment by ASUfool in "I made a college punching bag for rejected highschoolers"

ASUfool — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 18:20:53 +0000

Kind of surprised my NYU (Stern, '01) is #3. I'd think maybe Duke could be high up the list during March Madness if hoops fans got wind of the site.

New comment by ASUfool in "It would take three years to install a speed bump. So I bought my own"

ASUfool — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 21:14:29 +0000

Perhaps applications are required because there is no automated way of knowing where those "actual accidents, injuries and fatalities" occur. The "squeaky neighbors" are needed to help point out those locations so they can be examined more closely as there is only so much manpower/money to go around, even for a government agency.

It takes time to do the right thing. After all, do you do things of consequence without planning?

New comment by ASUfool in "The Return of Digg, a Star of an Earlier Internet Era"

ASUfool — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 19:27:57 +0000

To me, he's just a mother of another sort that I cannot say in polite company.

New comment by ASUfool in "US Judge invalidates blood glucose sensor patent, opens door for Apple Watch"

ASUfool — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:20:14 +0000

Those with deep Confederate roots might be bothered.

Or Red Sox fans.

New comment by ASUfool in "ICE wants to know if you're posting negative things about it online"

ASUfool — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 20:35:15 +0000

ICE --> Hail --> Heil

New comment by ASUfool in "Surnames from nicknames nobody has any more"

ASUfool — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 18:16:59 +0000

Epic mic drop there.

New comment by ASUfool in "Surnames from nicknames nobody has any more"

ASUfool — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 18:05:17 +0000

Bumpkin?

"an awkward, simple, unsophisticated person from a rural area" (dictionary.com)

New comment by ASUfool in "Steve Meretzky – Working with Douglas Adams on the Hitchhiker's Guide"

ASUfool — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 19:32:17 +0000

I found this last year on the Internet Archive and it gives you more insight into what went into the Infocom game than the interview.

https://archive.org/details/InfocomCabinetHitchhikersGuide

New comment by ASUfool in "Scrabble star wins Spanish world title despite not speaking Spanish"

ASUfool — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 18:21:55 +0000

You can find many annotated games if you check some higher-ranked players at www.cross-tables.com. Pull up a player's page such as Mack Meller and there's a whole slew of games he's played which you can view.

New comment by ASUfool in "Scrabble star wins Spanish world title despite not speaking Spanish"

ASUfool — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 18:12:54 +0000

Actually, the point values should be printed on each tile so they do not have to be memorized, though it may help in considering the opponent's responses if they have certain letters that combine with yours.

And it's also acceptable to have a pre-printed scoresheet where one can track the letters that have been played so that would show the frequency of each.

Tracking helps one a lot at the end as you know what letters your opponent has and can adjust your play to suit. Of course, at most tournament level play, they have been tracking and know your final rack too.

New comment by ASUfool in "Scrabble star wins Spanish world title despite not speaking Spanish"

ASUfool — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 17:59:57 +0000

Sorry, but you do not *want to "basically memorize every word that uses the high scoring tiles." Rather, you want to study the low-scoring tile-filled words because those are more likely to be found on one's rack.

A key to high-scoring games is scoring "bingos" or using all 7 letters in a rack in a single turn as it gives a 50 point bonus. This is why we're taught to memorize the word lists that have such letters as TISANE in them as that string combines with most every other letter to make a bingo. The letters in TISANE are 1 point each.

You also don't want to leave vowels (all of which are worth 1 point each) adjacent to the bonus squares. A parallel play with an I under/to the right of a triple-letter-square can easily score 62 if one puts a Q on the triple and another I to make QI both ways.

New comment by ASUfool in "OK, I can partly explain the LLM chess weirdness now"

ASUfool — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 17:54:56 +0000

Could one have two white bishops after promoting a pawn?

New comment by ASUfool in "How good are American roads?"

ASUfool — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 18:02:34 +0000

Quick attempt:

https://ibb.co/DYVtXz2

New comment by ASUfool in "Germans decry influence of English as 'idiot's apostrophe' gets approval"

ASUfool — Wed, 09 Oct 2024 20:01:50 +0000

You could be like Doug Hopkins here in Arizona and start a firm to buy hauses.

https://www.doughopkins.com/

New comment by ASUfool in "Why does man print "gimme gimme gimme" at 00:30? (2017)"

ASUfool — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 20:50:30 +0000

I hope you never built a rooTKit.

New comment by ASUfool in "The Cheating Device (ChatGPT on a TI-84) [video]"

ASUfool — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 15:56:06 +0000

So many of you are making me feel old.

My cheat was to write the formula for quadratic equations for a TI 57 with its 50 step programming capacity. I just put in the a, b, and c values then R/S (run/stop) and it'd spit out the answers on a red LED display for the high school algebra test I was taking in 1980 as a freshman.