Hacker News: Beestie

New comment by Beestie in "EFF is leaving X"

Beestie — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 18:57:28 +0000

Interesting timing - just days after the announcement that Nicole Ozer will be taking over for Cindy Cohn as the Executive Director of EFF.

New comment by Beestie in "iNaturalist"

Beestie — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 18:13:33 +0000

This site was helpful in documenting the spread of lantern flies (invasive critters that damage trees on the U.S. East Coast) - the more folks that report sightings (of anything not just problem critters) the better for all concerned.

Conversely, its also beneficial to report sightings of helpful bugs/birds/bats/etc. so can get an early warning when a population starts to thin out.

New comment by Beestie in "LinkedIn is searching your browser extensions"

Beestie — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 19:50:23 +0000

I rather suspect the information was siphoned to linkedin from the payroll company the consulting firm was using. While there are a zillion small consulting firms, there are a small number of firms which process their payroll (whether to employees or independent contractors like myself). I have no evidence to back this up but after thinking it through, it made more sense than every little mom/pop/medium size niche company all cooperating with linkedin vs a hand full of mega payroll consolidators selling aggregated lists to linkedin. Again, speculation on my part.

New comment by Beestie in "LinkedIn is searching your browser extensions"

Beestie — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 17:19:30 +0000

I don't have a linkedin acct. So imagine my shock when I "googled" myself and found a linkedin profile connecting my name to a company I presently have a consulting arrangement with (1099 not W2). I went ballistic and fired off an email to the consulting firm to take down the profile immediately or face legal action (a bluff). Couple days later, the company forwarded an email they received from linkedin confirming the profile had been taken down.

So this is just a heads up that even if you don't have a linkedin account, they will create one on your behalf so might better check (assuming you neither have nor want one).

New comment by Beestie in "Chess in SQL"

Beestie — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 14:07:11 +0000

Fascinating idea. Since the board starting position never changes, I'd skip the initial table and pivot and just go straight to loading an 8x8 grid with the pieces. I would also make a table of the 6 piece types and movement parameters. So, for ex, the bishop move restriction is dX=dY, the rook (dXdY=0), knight (dXdY=2), etc. Then a child table to record for each piece, the changes in X,Y throughout the game (so the current position of any piece is X = (Xstart + SUM(dX)) & Y = (Ystart + SUM(dY)) and a column to show if the piece was captured. Any proposed "move" (e.g., 3 squares up) would be evaluated against the move restrictions, the current location of the piece and whether or not the move will either land on an empty square, an opponent piece or gulp off the board and either allow or disallow it.

I'm still working on an idea to have a "state" check to know when checkmate happens but that's gonna take a wee bit more time.

But, the idea is very novel and very thought provoking and has provided me with a refreshing distraction from the boring problem I was working on before seeing your post.

New comment by Beestie in "New Washington state law bans noncompete agreements"

Beestie — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 20:23:05 +0000

Not really. Individuals who can build a company are under no obligation to sell it to anyone placing unreasonable conditions on the sale. If I'm buying your company, I have a concern that you might pull of of the customers back (having started a new company) but the price I'm willing to offer you compensates you for the book of business you are selling to me. That's where non-solicitation clauses come in.

I think the operative principal here is that employees are at a disadvantage w/r to employers. Buyers and sellers are not presumed to be at any disadvantage w/r to each other.

New comment by Beestie in "New Washington state law bans noncompete agreements"

Beestie — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 18:55:10 +0000

A clause I frequently see (as one who performs a lot of contract work) is a restriction on accepting an offer of employment from the client of the consulting firm I'm contracting with. Whenever I see this clause, I redline it out and advise the consulting firm to fashion a buyout clause* with the client. I'm very firm that the consulting firm cannot restrict my employment opportunities.

* The buyout clause is between the client and consulting firm and roughly compensates the consulting firm for the lost profit of the rate diff over the remaining term of my contract with the consulting firm.

New comment by Beestie in "New Washington state law bans noncompete agreements"

Beestie — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 18:49:28 +0000

Non-competes are restrictions on employees by their current employer. A non-compete agreement between a seller and buyer is perfectly fine.

New comment by Beestie in "False claims in a widely-cited paper"

Beestie — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 09:26:50 +0000

Stopped reading not long after noticing the title of the paper in question.

The very hypothesis is laughable. It is completely irrelevant if the hypothesis is supported or not.

That paper is like flypaper for anyone seeking affirmation of sustainability policies.

I could write a paper tomorrow claiming that [insert conspiracy theory here] is absolutely true and why Big [insert hated industry here] doesn't want you to know the truth and it would be cited until the earth crashes into the sun.

It's not about the truth anymore. It's about opinion validation.

I could write a paper about that but wouldn't hold my breath on getting any cites.

New comment by Beestie in "Do Not Turn Child Protection into Internet Access Control"

Beestie — Sat, 21 Mar 2026 23:17:40 +0000

Well age verification works so well to keep alcohol, tobacco and weed beyond the reach of minors so....

New comment by Beestie in "Aliens.gov ~ domain registered 17MAR2026"

Beestie — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 14:25:59 +0000

I, for one, welcome our new alien overlords.

New comment by Beestie in "Revealed: Face of 75,000-year-old female Neanderthal from cave"

Beestie — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 18:56:09 +0000

I'm just glad that the dumb idea that Neanderthals were dumb, club carrying knuckledraggers is finally being laid to rest. I hope we eventually learn what happened to them. They survived the choke point of 75,000 years ago only to disappear 30,000 years later. So cool to put a face to the name :-)

New comment by Beestie in "Revealed: Face of 75,000-year-old female Neanderthal from cave"

Beestie — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 18:51:47 +0000

Neanderthals are a distinct species. If "human" in the context you are using it is confined to Homo sapiens then no, Neanderthals are not human. If your definition of human is anything in the genus homo then yes, Neanderthals are human.

New comment by Beestie in "Innocent woman jailed after being misidentified using AI facial recognition"

Beestie — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:49:20 +0000

Something big is missing from this story. How did face ID in ND pick up a matching little old grandma in TN that a TN judge would hold her without bail for 5 months?

Yeah, there is a whole lot more to this story.

New comment by Beestie in "The Emotional Labor Behind AI Intimacy (2025) [pdf]"

Beestie — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 20:26:22 +0000

I read the 404 article and its nauseating - the story of the young man from Africa is very unpleasant. We all know the pr0n industry is a thing but this is off the rails.

New comment by Beestie in "We were right about Havana syndrome"

Beestie — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 20:31:42 +0000

Here is a 2019 study that supports the claims of actual injury:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2738552

New comment by Beestie in "Let yourself fall down more"

Beestie — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 17:04:28 +0000

I'm at a point in life where all the major forks are in my rear view mirror. But when you are young, energetic, don't have dependents and have time to recover then you should absolutely take calculated risks. Playing it safe will haunt you in your later years.

New comment by Beestie in "Ask HN: How to be alone?"

Beestie — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 17:42:34 +0000

Apologies if already mentioned but the three big things I think can help are: 1. Volunteering - the need for volunteers is great but dig deep and find something that works for you. Its hard to feel down when helping others in need; 2. Join a gym and take exercise classes. Not necessarily to meet people but seeing the same folks in class leads to some familiarity but to take care of yourself; 3. Find a site you are comfortable with to improve healthy eating habits (Zoe.com is one of many). Super important to eat healthy, exercise some, and give of yourself to others in need.

Sorry to hear you are having a tough time - you are wise to share what's happening and ask for suggestions. Tells me you are already on the way back. Believe in yourself and avoid those who don't.

[edited to add] I also concur laying off dating apps at least until you have healed.

New comment by Beestie in "OpenAI – How to delete your account"

Beestie — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 12:58:26 +0000

Done.

New comment by Beestie in "The Hunt for Dark Breakfast"

Beestie — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 13:39:53 +0000

I am humbled by the genius of this article.