Hacker News: ComputerPerson

New comment by ComputerPerson in "AI companies are shredding rare books"

ComputerPerson — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 18:04:34 +0000

A well-organized system derived from binder clips works for small/medium scale collections of debound books. It's a quick and easy, and relatively cheap, way to "rebind" them in parts. The clips even provide good surfaces for labels.

Archivists recommend standard ambient conditions or a little drier for long term storage. As you've said, too dry and the pages fall apart; permanent damage.

I suppose the fancy silica gels that maintain specific humidities would work in bags.

New comment by ComputerPerson in "AI companies are shredding rare books"

ComputerPerson — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 14:58:45 +0000

The issue is mold. Sealed plastic bags for old books is a recipe for mold. At least they're individually stored, so they would develop mold at independent rates. (And maybe the seal allows airflow.)

Most books have some mold by the time they're ~100 years old, it's just not enough to cause a serious problem. Sealed enclosures (wrappings, bags, tubs) are a nightmare situation. Even packing books too tighly on shelves accelerates mold growth to problematic levels.

New comment by ComputerPerson in "MouthPad: A Tongue-Controlled Touchpad"

ComputerPerson — Sat, 25 Jul 2026 22:04:42 +0000

As a replacement for a desktop user's mouse? No. Could write paragraphs about how it's a special niche, and the device shines in that niche.

I've been in the HCI-enthusiast space due to carpal tunnel for a while now. I actually caused myself to have to have the surgery after going all out with QMK mouse keys, which ended up just moving the problem to a different set of fingers. (So maybe not an expert.)

New comment by ComputerPerson in "The new rules of context engineering for Claude 5 generation models"

ComputerPerson — Sat, 25 Jul 2026 21:46:12 +0000

I was surprised by how abstract the article was.

I fall between your human-in-the-loop and hobbyist tinkering limits, where I want to force Claude to atop and talk to me at only a few specific points. I'm still not sure if my 600-word prompt templates are overbearing or not.

New comment by ComputerPerson in "Em dashes are amazing"

ComputerPerson — Sat, 25 Jul 2026 11:12:00 +0000

I find myself using semicolons excessively in my communication with LLMs. Those and nested parenthesis. I do this mostly to avoid having to restructure my words; my thought patterns are accurately reflected, and the machines have no trouble with lispish structure.

New comment by ComputerPerson in "How Doctors die. It’s not like the rest of us (2016)"

ComputerPerson — Sun, 12 Jul 2026 03:24:59 +0000

Pancreatic cancer caregiver here.

It's a battle, not a boxing match, that you're fighting. No shame in a battle chant or maybe even a battle cry.