Hacker News: AdmiralAsshat

New comment by AdmiralAsshat in "South African diamond mines are closing due to weak sales and lab-grown stones"

AdmiralAsshat — Sat, 05 Sep 2026 22:57:50 +0000

"Millennials are killing diamond mines!"

Cities are suing residents who try to take action against data centers

AdmiralAsshat — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 15:48:59 +0000

Article URL: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/kansas-data-center-petition-lawsuit-b3042167.html

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49523640

Points: 7

# Comments: 1

Insider: Red Hat is capping devs' bot budgets

AdmiralAsshat — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 14:21:40 +0000

Article URL: https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/09/01/insider-red-hat-is-capping-devs-bot-budgets/5292620

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49522403

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

New comment by AdmiralAsshat in "Apple caught off guard by AI demand for Mac Mini and Mac Studio"

AdmiralAsshat — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 13:59:54 +0000

Mac Mini's were really nice HTPC candidates, too, before the AI boom. Like all things genuinely useful and affordable, they were snatched from the hands of normal consumers by a bunch of schmucks chasing the latest gold rush.

New comment by AdmiralAsshat in "Kobo can run apps now"

AdmiralAsshat — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 18:30:24 +0000

There's a contingent of enthusiasts who, once they find out a device runs Linux or can run Linux, seems determined to expose a terminal on it. I don't know why someone needs to SSH into their toaster, but damned if they're not gonna do it, just because they can.

Me personally, I just want a reliable toaster.

New comment by AdmiralAsshat in "The Lost Treasure of Sid Meier's Pirates"

AdmiralAsshat — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 13:08:22 +0000

"In a browser" is always an option:

https://archive.org/details/msdos_Sid_Meiers_Pirates_1987

https://archive.org/details/PiratesMacintosh

There are probably others, but Archive.org is misbehaving at the moment.

New comment by AdmiralAsshat in "CIA funding helped keep NeXT afloat in the 80s"

AdmiralAsshat — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 17:24:34 +0000

Did you know about the CIA's DECADES-LONG FUNDING of Coca-Cola? I have a hot tip from my good friend the soda machine technician that the CIA regularly funnels THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS a month into the pockets of BIG SODA when they restock their office kitchens and vending machines with Coca-Cola products!

This insidious relationship goes ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP, my friend!

New comment by AdmiralAsshat in "A 25-year-old video patent just expired, ending a legal headache for Linux"

AdmiralAsshat — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 16:13:03 +0000

Didn't VCDs do the same thing? IIRC the Sega Saturn could play them.

New comment by AdmiralAsshat in "Rings forged from meteorites may have been fashionable among ancient Greek elite"

AdmiralAsshat — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 12:26:40 +0000

My engagement ring contains meteorite, supposedly from the Gibeon Meteorite, although the fact that a single meteorite is a component advertised in so many rings makes me somewhat suspicious as to the quantity or authenticity. But it looks pretty, anyway.

New comment by AdmiralAsshat in "How does IKEA come up with names for its products?"

AdmiralAsshat — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 21:22:03 +0000

Article is missing the urban legend about "Bite the wax tadpole"

New comment by AdmiralAsshat in "Fairphone is now officially available in the United States"

AdmiralAsshat — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 13:22:15 +0000

No Verizon support. :(

New comment by AdmiralAsshat in "England set to be one of the first countries to eliminate hepatitis C"

AdmiralAsshat — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 15:28:23 +0000

Introducing: Hepatitis C++

Why your Amazon order confirmation emails have become so unhelpful

AdmiralAsshat — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 14:54:27 +0000

Article URL: https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/977733/amazon-order-emails-google-gmail-ai-agents-data

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49259404

Points: 4

# Comments: 1

New comment by AdmiralAsshat in "Squeak 6.1"

AdmiralAsshat — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 14:29:10 +0000

The UI has been a huge impediment in my getting into Squeak development. Every couple years I decide I will try it again, and then see that very little has changed.

It's a shame. Smalltalk/Squeak/Pharo was supposed to be the future, but it feels like an IDE stuck in the 90's.

New comment by AdmiralAsshat in "A Rant About “Technology” (2005)"

AdmiralAsshat — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 15:59:14 +0000

By that construction, it seems like "hard sci-fi" would allow little to no creativity to push the envelope unless the author is also a theoretical physicist.

New comment by AdmiralAsshat in "A Rant About “Technology” (2005)"

AdmiralAsshat — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 15:58:12 +0000

Half of Star Trek would basically be "magic" by that rubric. I think she reasoned through a problem and conceived of a solution, even if she didn't have the implementation details figured out.

New comment by AdmiralAsshat in "A Rant About “Technology” (2005)"

AdmiralAsshat — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 15:12:03 +0000

To wit, LeGuin is the one who originally coined the term "ansible," which is about as hard sci-fi as you can get.

Winamp aims for a comeback with a new music player powered by Deezer

AdmiralAsshat — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 12:51:37 +0000

Article URL: https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/29/winamp-aims-for-a-comeback-with-a-new-music-player-powered-by-deezer/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49122481

Points: 4

# Comments: 0

New comment by AdmiralAsshat in "Half-Life ported to Mac OS 9"

AdmiralAsshat — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 13:56:59 +0000

Of course, if Rebecca is to be believed (per the above interview)...that's not at all why they cancelled it. They cancelled it because Valve was pissed off with Apple for lying to them about the size of their userbase, and then unilaterally decreed henceforth that no Valve game would ever see a release on an Apple platform.

New comment by AdmiralAsshat in "Worse on Purpose"

AdmiralAsshat — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 14:30:17 +0000

I sure wasn't expecting to see multi-level-marketing company Cutco on the list of "Approved" vendors. I guess it depends on which moral failing you're monitoring.