Hacker News: MDib

New comment by MDib in "Advertise in ChatGPT"

MDib — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 19:38:58 +0000

I wish I were joking but GEO (generative engine optimisation) has stuck from the 22-23ish period when Google was really pusing the 'Gen AI' brand

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generative_engine_optimization

New comment by MDib in "Advertise in ChatGPT"

MDib — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 19:35:13 +0000

Would you say that this user too might be a plant?

New comment by MDib in "The Xteink X4 E-Ink Reader"

MDib — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 09:18:01 +0000

Agree, for me less words on screen is a feature not a bug. At least for the shape of my brain, it stops me from getting lost in the text or skipping up/down the page accidentally. The side/front page turn button redundancy means the act of page turning just fades into reflexiveness and I end up reading faster and retaining more

New comment by MDib in "I love my Bluetooth keyboard"

MDib — Mon, 25 May 2026 10:54:54 +0000

I got the slightly smaller BK03 in Japan a few years back. I travel with it along with a mag-safe battery pack with a built-in kickstand, so that it forms a lovely typing setup even on a small cafe table.

An unexpected bonus is that the setup short-circuits a lot of reflexive app-switching and idle scrolling. With the phone propped up, I have to actually reach for the screen, so my thumbs don’t just wander from typing to home/app drawer gesture.

New comment by MDib in "Show HN: I made a site where you practice typing by retyping entire novels"

MDib — Tue, 06 Oct 2020 13:43:08 +0000

This should tide you over until then, works pretty seamlessly on this site: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/dark-reader/eimadp...

New comment by MDib in "Scientists say a mind-bending rhythm in the brain can act like ketamine"

MDib — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 09:39:36 +0000

Might be fun for you to check out what https://www.brain.fm/science is doing, which takes an alternative approach focusing on generating rhythm and tone tracks that, for lack of a more detailed term 'lull' your brain into focused or relaxed states. I get a lot of mileage out of it when working, don't often use it for relaxation because I find simple nature tracks better for doing standing meditation.

New comment by MDib in "World's largest bee ‘rediscovered’ after 38 years"

MDib — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 16:23:10 +0000

This used to worry me too, but I read this article [1] and it cheered me up! Sure, most of civilisation would likely crumble if centres of production and distribution were nuked and vast tracts of the world would be irradiated, but it's by no means an ELE.

1: https://www.quora.com/In-a-total-nuclear-exchange-where-the-...

New comment by MDib in "The Art of Kimchi (2009)"

MDib — Thu, 07 Jun 2018 10:01:25 +0000

Yep! It's called Xian Cai (salted vegetable) or Suan Cai (sour vegetable) and like basically any other cuisine, there are dozens of variations on it across China. If you look at the picture on the wiki [1] you'll see that it's fermented almost exactly like sauerkraut, albeit whole not sliced.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suan_cai

New comment by MDib in "Japan Fights Crowds of Crows (2008)"

MDib — Fri, 01 Jun 2018 15:25:39 +0000

Fascinating, the first time I heard about this phenomenon is when this amusing video [1] was doing the rounds. Apparently it's a seasonal issue largely linked to them being particularly aggressive in their defence of newly-hatched broods. What's weird though is that in certain magpie-swooping zones, the swooping is selective [2]. It seems quite accepted that corvids can recognise faces and otherwise identify individual humans, but what makes it single out people that haven't attacked it is a real mystery.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGGTcYfrEZU [2] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jun/28/when-mag...

New comment by MDib in "Introspect Yourself"

MDib — Wed, 25 Apr 2018 16:22:16 +0000

For anyone getting a 502: https://web.archive.org/web/20180425160041/https://dcgross.c...

New comment by MDib in "Brain-stimulation trials get personal to lift depression"

MDib — Thu, 05 Apr 2018 10:33:49 +0000

I think it's scary too, but maybe for different reasons. It's a step towards building an experience machine [1]. Whilst I fully empathise with DBS as a treatment to otherwise incurable atypically negative mental states, much as I am on-board with VR enabling physically or financially limited persons to enjoy the full gamut of human experience, I baulk at the idea of this becoming mainstream.

Why? Because the implication of a 'happy button' in the hands of everyone and anyone horrifies me. Sure, you and I might have better things to do than to hold that sucker down and experience unending monotone bliss for the remainder of days, but how sure are you that the majority of humanity won't? How many lives might be wasted because someone's instinct was to go for immediate bliss instead of trying to make things better in the long run? It'd be the final drug.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experience_machine

New comment by MDib in "McConnell bill would legalize hemp as agricultural product"

MDib — Thu, 29 Mar 2018 08:57:54 +0000

Here's [1] a good rundown of the conspiracy. To wit, it's a conspiracy of two: DuPont wanting to outlaw hemp which could have provided an alternative to Nylon, and Hearst which was heavily invested in wood-pulping machinery for paper production, again for which hemp was a good alternative.

1. https://www.alternet.org/story/77339/debunking_the_hemp_cons...

New comment by MDib in "Chipotle Taps Taco Bell CEO to Be Its New Head"

MDib — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 14:58:53 +0000

This was eye-opening, thank you. In my experience living in Urban Europe, the late-night market is much more fragmented between small deep-fry focused, chicken-focused, middle-eastern/grill and pizza establishments. Some global fast-food chains do run 24h locations in the denser areas, and typically some chicken chains reach a regional/municipal level of franchising. However, we don't have anything as ubiquitous as Taco Bell, such that you would find one open at 4 AM in the neighbourhood of a small rural town.

New comment by MDib in "Finance world in the dark as Bloomberg terminals go offline"

MDib — Fri, 17 Apr 2015 12:19:12 +0000

Depends on exactly what but FactSet. Have used both, FactSet is more user friendly, Bloomberg is way faster once you get used to it.

New comment by MDib in "US Navy develops cannon-launched 'swarming' drones"

MDib — Fri, 17 Apr 2015 12:12:30 +0000

Are we sure that the drones themselves will be carrying payloads though? Just judging by the video and also just thinking about logistics of accurately bombing something from that airframe plus general sizes of ordinance, it looks more like they are lasing targets for some kind of guided ordinance launched from another platform.

The key benefit here is for them to be sent out to autonomously seek and 'destroy' without having to waste man-hours trooping through the bush looking for a target that may or may not be there.

New comment by MDib in "Ask HN: Scratched my own itch. Is one week too soon to pivot?"

MDib — Thu, 02 May 2013 09:33:35 +0000

Pick up a phone and call 50 offices, push through to SysAdmin. Happy to break down why, but for now, try this.

Alternatively, but more difficult, track down some local IT integration specialists, resell through them.

All it costs is your time and possibly phone bills.