Hacker News: DamnInteresting

New comment by DamnInteresting in "Fruit Is Too Sweet"

DamnInteresting — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 23:49:44 +0000

Unlike many other apple varieties these days, SweeTango are only available in traditional "apple season" (Autumn months through November in the USA). I've long been a fan of HoneyCrisp, so I tried SweeTango, and while it was quite good, I still prefer HoneyCrisp. I had a similar experience with Cosmic Crisp--not as good as HoneyCrisp, but nice for some variety.

New comment by DamnInteresting in "Ask HN: What Are You Working On?"

DamnInteresting — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:37:46 +0000

I've started working on a new browser-based word game[1], it'll be my third so far. I'm also sketching out the next one after that. I didn't know this kind of thing would be habit-forming.

[1] I'd link to my first two, but I'm not a fan of self-promotion.

New comment by DamnInteresting in "Gaussian Point Splatting"

DamnInteresting — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 14:36:00 +0000

Video overview of the technology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8yRlA7jqEQ

Ordinarily I don't prefer video, but the visuals are helpful here.

Also, an online interactive, but it seems to only work in Chrome: https://superspl.at/scene/ff1d0393

New comment by DamnInteresting in "Please don't spam people looking for employment. It's just cruel"

DamnInteresting — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 18:02:23 +0000

All my life I've gone by my middle name, and it's turned out to be useful in a similar way. When I receive a message or phone call and they address me by my first name, I immediately know it's someone who doesn't really know who I am.

New comment by DamnInteresting in "Please don't spam people looking for employment. It's just cruel"

DamnInteresting — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 17:47:28 +0000

I received the exact same email, except they offered me 50% of earnings, so the message sending script probably has some randomization built in. My guess is that their true objective is to get you to install their "interview support app" which is mentioned at the end of the email, I anticipate that it makes your device remotely useful to them, or installs ransomware. But it could be a more involved scam.

New comment by DamnInteresting in "Google Hates You"

DamnInteresting — Fri, 29 May 2026 02:09:45 +0000

No, money down![1]

[1] https://old.reddit.com/r/TheSimpsons/comments/102sh8/one_of_...

Microsoft open-sources “the earliest DOS source code discovered to date”

DamnInteresting — Sun, 24 May 2026 01:21:13 +0000

https://opensource.microsoft.com/blog/2026/04/28/continuing-...

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48253386

Points: 517

# Comments: 197

New comment by DamnInteresting in "AI is just unauthorised plagiarism at a bigger scale"

DamnInteresting — Thu, 21 May 2026 20:08:48 +0000

I've had my writings directly plagiarized by other people--people who made word-for-word copies of my work, replaced my name with their own, and made a tidy profit on it. They profit more than I ever managed, because they have more resources. In the aftermath, my writings are still "there", not "stolen" in the physical world sense, but my ability to make a living is damaged, and the plagiarism is deeply unethical.

LLMs and "AI" are just one small step removed from straight-up plagiarism. They are massive moral injury[1] machines.

[1] https://moralinjuryproject.syr.edu/about-moral-injury/

New comment by DamnInteresting in "Throwing AI-generated walls of text into conversations"

DamnInteresting — Thu, 21 May 2026 16:33:10 +0000

It was so long ago that the specifics have faded, but I remember I was coached to use a variety of positive responses. "That's a great question," yes, but also things like "I'm glad you brought that up," and "I was hoping someone would ask about that!" It wasn't my cup of tea, too artificial, but the advice was contemplated.

The next question (which is a great one, from what I understand) is: Why do LLMs use these phrases so much if humans rarely use them in written form? Maybe a fair portion of training data comes from lecture transcripts, where such responses are common when responding to direct questions? And/or system prompts are just instructed to be like that?

New comment by DamnInteresting in "Throwing AI-generated walls of text into conversations"

DamnInteresting — Thu, 21 May 2026 14:50:01 +0000

That's a great question! Ahem.

I remember being advised to do this ~20 years ago when I was going to be answering questions from a group of people. I was told that it's good practice to say something like "that's a great question" every time someone asks anything, as a form of social lubrication, to encourage others to ask questions. I can't say whether it works, and it was advice for a spoken context rather than written, but I don't know how to finish this sentence.

New comment by DamnInteresting in "WordPress 7.0"

DamnInteresting — Thu, 21 May 2026 03:27:15 +0000

Thanks for the kind words!

New comment by DamnInteresting in "WordPress 7.0"

DamnInteresting — Wed, 20 May 2026 22:36:17 +0000

I've been running websites on WordPress almost as long as WordPress has existed, my oldest site has been running on it continuously for 20+ years[1]. Between forcing Gutenberg into the core (it should have been a plugin), Mullenweg's recent unhinged actions (e.g., the ACF fiasco[2]), the increasing number of naggy subscription-based plugins, and now this contemptible AI integration, I'm going to start the process of migrating my sites, probably to ClassicPress[3].

Oh well, we had a pretty good run.

[1] https://www.damninteresting.com/

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41828958

[3] https://www.classicpress.net/

New comment by DamnInteresting in "Earth's Radio Bubble: Every signal we've ever sent into space"

DamnInteresting — Tue, 19 May 2026 01:21:13 +0000

I wrote an article about this same general topic way back in 2007[1], wherein I conducted a thought experiment with an Arecibo observatory traveling away from Earth. I calculated that even mighty Arecibo would be unable to detect Earth's omnidirectional FM radio as far out as Saturn, let alone from another star.

Since that writing, we've lost Arecibo observatory, discovered gobs of exoplanets, started scrutinizing those exoplanets with JWST, and increased our radio sphere radius by another 19 lightyears.

[1] https://www.damninteresting.com/space-radio-more-static-less...

You're Not Imagining It: Cookie-Cutter Offices Are Making You Less Productive

DamnInteresting — Mon, 04 May 2026 14:01:39 +0000

Article URL: https://thewalrus.ca/youre-not-imagining-it-cookie-cutter-offices-are-making-you-less-productive/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48008914

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

New comment by DamnInteresting in "AI Resistance: some recent anti-AI stuff that’s worth discussing"

DamnInteresting — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 14:24:36 +0000

> I don't really understand the folks that released their software under open source license and are now upset that LLMs are training on it

The key word there is "license." Open source often has strings attached--an obligation to credit the source, an obligation to release derivative code under the same license, etc. LLMs seldom respect the license, they just quietly and extensively plagiarize everything.

Archive of BYTE magazine, starting with issue #1 in 1975

DamnInteresting — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 14:07:28 +0000

Article URL: https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1975-09

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47806096

Points: 602

# Comments: 153

New comment by DamnInteresting in "Viktor Orbán concedes defeat after 'painful' election result"

DamnInteresting — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 20:57:28 +0000

> You know, I took a second look at it, and weirdly enough, I can't vouch it for some reason.

The 'vouch' option doesn't appear until/unless the post becomes [dead].

New comment by DamnInteresting in "Ask HN: What are you building that's not AI related?"

DamnInteresting — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 16:12:37 +0000

I'm happy she's enjoying the game! If you hit the Menu button on the top right, you should see a "reset puzzle" button in the lower right quadrant of the menu.

New comment by DamnInteresting in "Ask HN: What are you building that's not AI related?"

DamnInteresting — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:36:44 +0000

I'm working on the next update of Omiword[1], an ongoing daily word game previously discussed on HN[2]. I'm building an alternate stand-alone app version with access to all of the archived puzzles. It's slow going since it's just one of many side-projects I like to work on, but that's the tinkerer's dilemma.

Yes, I know that [insert LLM here] could do a lot of that conversion for me in mere minutes. No thank you. I'm doing it, in part, for the doing.

[1] https://omiword.com

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43654350

New comment by DamnInteresting in "They're made out of meat (1991)"

DamnInteresting — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 16:43:36 +0000

I love this short story, it's one whose memory visits me unbidden from time to time. I blogged about it over 20 years ago[1], and it was already around 15 years old at that time. OMNI magazine was great.

[1] https://www.damninteresting.com/retired/short-fiction-made-o...