Hacker News: AugustusCrunch

New comment by AugustusCrunch in "Canada plans 'nuclear renaissance' with up to 10 reactors built by 2040"

AugustusCrunch — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 06:24:26 +0000

Alberta has energy. Canada wants energy without Alberta. The Candu reactor program is so defunct that the feds have been trying to sell it for about a decade. Candu makes plutonium and was responsible for a lot of nuclear weapons proliferation in the 1980s, but again, Candu isn't Alberta. Also it's a way to spend an enormous amount of money, and Canada isn't quite bankrupt yet. I say go for it.

New comment by AugustusCrunch in "The U.S. government may finally mandate safer table saws"

AugustusCrunch — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 22:16:37 +0000

I can't support any business that tries to make their product mandatory. Someone says here he's not scum, he is absolutely delusional scum. Does anyone else think having the government mandate what you can buy is a good idea? Another company designed a saw which did the same thing and which didn't destroy a $200 cartridge and the blade. He said he'd sue them into oblivion. He's a greedy prick who would see people maimed before he'd give up the profits on his half-assed, shitty, Chinese made trash. Use a blade guard, ffs. Don't support this asshole.

New comment by AugustusCrunch in "Ask HN: What are some unpopular technologies you wish people knew more about?"

AugustusCrunch — Sun, 03 Dec 2023 05:49:37 +0000

I just agreed with several other people that we'd start sending handwritten mail to each other.

New comment by AugustusCrunch in "Ask HN: What are some unpopular technologies you wish people knew more about?"

AugustusCrunch — Sun, 03 Dec 2023 05:46:36 +0000

Yes. I thought this thread would be cool, and it's pretty good, but way too much about programming languages. Books, on the other hand, are amazing.

New comment by AugustusCrunch in "Ask HN: What cool desk ideas do you have for a home office?"

AugustusCrunch — Sat, 09 Sep 2023 20:23:47 +0000

I think anything you can mount the computer in a drawer. Not having the case sitting on the floor or on the desk sounds really nice. I've told my wife for several years that I'm going to make a desk with a hinged top, and every night at midnight a small motor lifts it up until everything slides off onto the floor. That way people wouldn't stack random junk on my desk rather than figuring out where it should really go.

New comment by AugustusCrunch in "Total Commander"

AugustusCrunch — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 09:01:38 +0000

I've done things that people thought were magic. It was TC. There are about twenty similar programs, all descended from the Norton Commander. Any one of them is enormously better than the file managers that come with most OSs, especially windows. Ive read estimates that say you're about four times as productive if you use on, and I think that may be very conservative. There are a lot of things you can't do without one. A friend worked at a place where management disabled the search function in windows, probably because people were getting stuff done. I set him up with TC, which has its own search. The IT lead at one place I worked said, "I don't like that program. it makes things easier than they should be." TC is the best of its kind. It's so good I paid for it. (I've had twenty years of free upgrades.)

New comment by AugustusCrunch in "How to slow down scientific progress, according to Leo Szilard"

AugustusCrunch — Fri, 06 Jan 2023 01:47:40 +0000

I read this story in my teens and was fascinated. Those who remember it will be horrified by some of the postulated advances, especially in the field of dentistry. I don't wish to comment on the truth of various popular ideas, but the selective way in which research is funded on on matters such as global warming, fusion, and Alzheimer's is strikingly similar to those suggested in the story, and, I believe, observed by that author. It's interesting to note that this sort of thing is quickly internalized - people are not just quick to follow the money, they're quick to believe what they have to in order to get it. I think this has led to a creeping belief that while science is important, it can properly be done in an atmosphere where the truth has been received before the facts are at all clear. I hope it's obvious that this isn't true.

New comment by AugustusCrunch in "Tell HN: A hacker's life is in danger, your awareness may be life saving"

AugustusCrunch — Sat, 05 Nov 2022 19:27:39 +0000

I'm following the protests. I'm not sure why a cruel and sadistic minority can run a country, but it happens. I'm inclined to wonder why the US military, pulling out, didn't arm every woman and intellectual in the country. I won't forget his name.

New comment by AugustusCrunch in "Childhood antibiotics as a risk factor for Crohn's disease: Cohort study"

AugustusCrunch — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 02:47:11 +0000

I have a child who had Crohns. This has been known since antibiotics were invented. All IBS conditions are caused by the wrong gut bacteria - typically c. diff - and the cure rate for fecal bacteriotherapy is about 95% in one shot. It's ludicrous that we're still studying this and acting as though it's such a mystery, while people suffer and die.