<rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><channel><title>Hacker News: DrBazza</title><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=DrBazza</link><description>Hacker News RSS</description><docs>https://hnrss.org/</docs><generator>hnrss v2.1.1</generator><lastBuildDate>Sat, 01 Aug 2026 11:56:36 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://hnrss.org/user?id=DrBazza" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"></atom:link><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by DrBazza in "Ten advances in mathematics and theoretical computer science"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Replace philosophers for mathematicians and Douglas Adams was spot on again.<p>Whilst current models can't 'intuit' and come up with conjectures, they can certainly disprove some of them very quickly through the kind of grind that humans can't do.  I suppose there really are some mathematicians out there today, whose last few years of study, have just been up-ended by this.<p>--<p>"Yes we are," insisted Majikthise. "We are quite definitely here as representatives of the Amalgamated Union of Philosophers, Sages, Luminaries and Other Thinking Persons, and we want this machine off, and we want it off now!"<p>"What's the problem?" said Lunkwill.<p>"I'll tell you what the problem is mate," said Majikthise, "demarcation, that's the problem!"<p>"We demand," yelled Vroomfondel, "that demarcation may or may not be the problem!"<p>"You just let the machines get on with the adding up," warned Majikthise, "and we'll take care of the eternal verities thank you very much. You want to check your legal position you do mate. Under law the Quest for Ultimate Truth is quite clearly the inalienable prerogative of your working thinkers. Any bloody machine goes and actually finds it and we're straight out of a job aren't we? I mean what's the use of our sitting up half the night arguing that there may or may not be a God if this machine only goes and gives us his bleeding phone number the next morning?"</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 01 Aug 2026 10:50:18 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49133172</link><dc:creator>DrBazza</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49133172</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49133172</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by DrBazza in "Apple sues OpenAI, accuses ex-employees of stealing trade secrets"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>> Apple have deep enough pockets that they can actually sue OpenAI but I bet OpenAI are surprised they got caught.<p>Maybe?  But more likely their 'surprise' will be that it's actually happened, because the <i>people</i> doing this kind of thing must surely know it's wrong and won't be telling their bosses, and/or <i>their</i> bosses definitely won't be passing that info up the chain.  Just like movies, 'plausible deniability'.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 11 Jul 2026 09:39:07 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48870399</link><dc:creator>DrBazza</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48870399</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48870399</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by DrBazza in "EU Parliament greenlights Chat Control 1.0"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>> because the populace was not asked at all about the treaty<p>Well, the UK has only been asked about Europe twice - once to join and once to leave. Unlike many other European countries that frequently ask their populace as a way of standard governance.<p>The only other UK referendum in my lifetime was the 'alternative vote'<p>The UK government (no matter the party) just doesn't seem to like asking the public's <i>opinion</i>, on things.  And after 2016, I'd be very surprised to see another referendum on anything, any time soon as the outcome of that was opposite to what the 'establishment' wanted (cue the last decade of squabbling).  They will instead use the excuse: 'you gave us the mandate choosing us at the General Election'.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2026 13:19:06 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48859540</link><dc:creator>DrBazza</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48859540</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48859540</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by DrBazza in "Scientists find molecular-level evidence for two structures in liquid water"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>If I add water to a glass of whiskey and dilute it, why don't I get twice as drunk?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 30 Jun 2026 03:43:35 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48728270</link><dc:creator>DrBazza</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48728270</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48728270</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by DrBazza in "U.S. government will decide who gets to use GPT-5.6"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I probably did ;)</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 27 Jun 2026 11:28:47 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48697311</link><dc:creator>DrBazza</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48697311</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48697311</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by DrBazza in "U.S. government will decide who gets to use GPT-5.6"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I said kerfuffle. I didn’t say ‘export’.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 27 Jun 2026 11:28:02 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48697305</link><dc:creator>DrBazza</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48697305</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48697305</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by DrBazza in "U.S. government will decide who gets to use GPT-5.6"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I guess if the new model has the <i>capability</i> to do 'something' that's national security threat, then this makes sense.  Otherwise this move makes zero sense, and actually is a drag on innovation - who wants to invest money and people to make a better model that can't actually be sufficiently sold to make a return on investment?  Meanwhile other models from Europe or China that are better steal market share.  Though that's not to say they won't do the same thing for the same reasons.<p>> Are we heading to a world where GPU use is regulated<p>Well, there was the kerfuffle around PS3 (IIRC) and 'supercomputers'.  I suppose that would be the 2020s version of that.  What's old is new again.  Ultimately you can just continually wire together less powerful hardware to come up with something that can do the job.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 27 Jun 2026 09:45:42 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48696710</link><dc:creator>DrBazza</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48696710</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48696710</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by DrBazza in "Springer Nature has removed two studies by Max Planck"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Back in the 90s, my post-doc piracy was photocopying and distribution at every conference, and large mail drops.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 27 Jun 2026 09:39:53 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48696684</link><dc:creator>DrBazza</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48696684</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48696684</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by DrBazza in "Springer Nature has removed two studies by Max Planck"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>It would be nice if billion dollar big tech, in particular those that have R&D donate and form a not-for-profit together with universities that puts this to sleep once and for all.  The small irony is that they're paying to submit their own research to another company to make it publicly available.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 27 Jun 2026 09:38:07 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48696676</link><dc:creator>DrBazza</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48696676</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48696676</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by DrBazza in "Wikipedia Workers to Seek Union Recognition"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>That's UK politics in general, which I suppose is microcosm of the UK.  Everything is now a career.  We have many, many, sitting MPs, that have only ever studied topics like politics with the sole aim of becoming a politician.  Or never worked in private industry, or even worked in the public sector in parts that aren't necessarily unionized.  In the past many MPs had 'life experience' outside of politics.<p>They are therefore naturally detached from unions, and more worryingly, the every day reality of the electorate.<p>For some of these MPs, losing their seat at a General Election is the first time in their entire lives they've ever lost a job, unlike the general public that have to put up with routine dismissals, via redundancy, company bankruptcy and so on.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 26 Jun 2026 15:34:27 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48687897</link><dc:creator>DrBazza</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48687897</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48687897</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by DrBazza in "Wikipedia Workers to Seek Union Recognition"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Indeed.  I paraphrased this line from wikipedia - "The LTV is usually associated with Marxian economics" perhaps I should have read the next bit ", although it also appears in the theories of earlier classical economists such as Adam Smith and David Ricardo. "</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 26 Jun 2026 15:29:31 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48687835</link><dc:creator>DrBazza</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48687835</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48687835</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by DrBazza in "Wikipedia Workers to Seek Union Recognition"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Perhaps.  Though if you strike endlessly, you have no product to sell.  So people buy elsewhere and you go out of business.  If you disagree, perhaps edit this line in wikipedia:<p>> These internal issues, which were never satisfactorily solved, <i>combined with serious industrial relations problems with trade unions</i>, the 1973 oil crisis, the three-day week, high inflation and ineffectual management meant that BL became an unmanageable and financially crippled behemoth<p>(emphasis, mine).</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 26 Jun 2026 15:27:57 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48687816</link><dc:creator>DrBazza</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48687816</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48687816</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by DrBazza in "Wikipedia Workers to Seek Union Recognition"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>In which country, the USA?  In the UK, all Government bodies are unionized.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2026 12:45:00 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48672522</link><dc:creator>DrBazza</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48672522</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48672522</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by DrBazza in "Wikipedia Workers to Seek Union Recognition"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>The reverse is true.  Unionization of the UK car industry in the 1970s, more than played its part in the collapse of the UK car industry, for example:<p>> The company became an infamous example of the industrial turmoil that plagued the United Kingdom in the 1970s. Action by unions frequently crippled BL manufacturing.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Leyland#1975%E2%80%931982:_Collapse,_the_Ryder_Report_and_the_Edwardes_era" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Leyland#1975%E2%80%931...</a><p>'work deserves to be compensated fairly' - are you talking about Marx's 'labour theory of value'? Even though Marx himself criticised it?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2026 11:55:44 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48672103</link><dc:creator>DrBazza</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48672103</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48672103</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by DrBazza in "Wikipedia Workers to Seek Union Recognition"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>The Labour party was founded by unions, so it's no surprise they're still completely beholden to them.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Labour_Party_(UK)#" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Labour_Party_(U...</a></p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2026 11:48:59 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48672042</link><dc:creator>DrBazza</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48672042</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48672042</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by DrBazza in "Wikipedia Workers to Seek Union Recognition"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>In a jobs market place of wide choice, unionization is unnecessary.  The tech job pool spans multiple industries, so if your employer is treating you poorly, leave.<p>In a jobs market where there are few employers, maybe unionize, because those employers are essentially a monopsony.  Hence, in the UK, the NHS, teaching, and public transport, where the employer is the Government, they're heavily unionized.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2026 11:45:41 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48672013</link><dc:creator>DrBazza</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48672013</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48672013</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by DrBazza in "Windows UI evolution: Clicking an unassociated file"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>This is the correct answer.  Win2k was probably the most solid and cruft-free release that they did.<p>Then the enshittification started with Window XP, jelly-mold/curved glass buttons, activation, and .NET everywhere, followed by the disaster that was Vista.<p>They released Windows 7, and somehow then decided, yet again, to screw things up with Windows 8 because 'mobile'.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 21 Jun 2026 15:12:19 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48619634</link><dc:creator>DrBazza</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48619634</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48619634</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by DrBazza in "VPN ban update for UK households as government looks at 'age-gate'"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>It's the UK gov.  Rather than do something, it's endless inquiries and 'research'.<p>Example, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_Thames_Crossing" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_Thames_Crossing</a> - the planning application is 360,000 pages and not a single shovel is in the ground. Or HS2.  The list goes on.  This is a really, really minor example of the same sickness that infests British politics for the last few decades.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 20 Jun 2026 21:30:16 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48613156</link><dc:creator>DrBazza</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48613156</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48613156</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by DrBazza in "VPN ban update for UK households as government looks at 'age-gate'"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>More context:<p>> Elizabeth Louise Kendall (born 11 June 1971)[1] is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology 
> [sic] graduating with first class honours in history in 1993
> [sic] after graduating from Cambridge, worked at the Institute for Public Policy Research (charity)<p>tl;dr never worked in the private sector, and utterly unqualified to make judgements on technology.<p>So of course she's the science minister.<p>This is what UK parliament is full of, ill qualified, political lifers.<p>What a depressing time to live in the UK.<p>- <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liz_Kendall" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liz_Kendall</a></p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 20 Jun 2026 21:26:50 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48613132</link><dc:creator>DrBazza</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48613132</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48613132</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by DrBazza in "Microsoft new Outlook takes 10 seconds to do what Outlook Classic does instantly"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>MS has inertia on its side, and its abusive marketing and lock-in strategies of the 90s.  Remember when you couldn't buy a PC <i>without</i> Windows from most vendors?  Meaning <i>you</i> were paying MS, even if you immediately uninstalled it?<p>The long term outcome of that is that 90+% of industry still buys Windows PCs.  And non-industry: once non-techie people are on an OS (Windows/MacOS), many don't move off it, though Apple's ecosystem has been a good carrot+stick.<p>One of the more interesting indicators is (even though desktop software is in decline) -  the number of apps that are Windows <i>and</i> Mac and maybe linux, and the <i>increasing</i> number of apps that Mac-only or Mac+Linux but do NOT have a Windows download.  Something unimaginable in the 90s and 00s.<p>MS are certainly accelerating adoption of other platforms due to their own mismanagement.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 19 Jun 2026 08:51:48 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48596399</link><dc:creator>DrBazza</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48596399</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48596399</guid></item></channel></rss>