Hacker News: PopAlongKid

The computer science major is in trouble. At Berkeley, it's complicated

PopAlongKid — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 13:44:48 +0000

Article URL: https://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/2026-summer/major-issue/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49766570

Points: 4

# Comments: 2

New comment by PopAlongKid in "Plastic mechanical computer from 1963: The Digi-Comp 1 [video]"

PopAlongKid — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 14:36:47 +0000

There is an enthusiast discussion group at

https://groups.io/g/DIGI-COMP/topics

New comment by PopAlongKid in "Why Can't You Pack a Bag? (2024)"

PopAlongKid — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 20:30:24 +0000

In late 1970s, I spent two months hitching and riding trains around Europe, just an external frame backpack and a sleeping bag. A few years ago, I spent 2.5 weeks in U.K. and Ireland, with an 18-liter backpack and a waist bag (a.k.a. fanny pack ), which made getting around a breeze especially at airports and on trains. It even allowed me to carry a notebook computer. As mentioned in TFA, merino wool and no cotton garments helps. The rain was a minor inconvenience, but I did have lodging where I could get things rinsed and dried out in my room. I did buy an umbrella but should have splurged on better quality, even if I would end up abandoning it.

Best packing advice I ever received: take half as many clothes, and twice as much money, as you think you'll need.

New comment by PopAlongKid in "There Will Come Soft Rains (1950) [pdf]"

PopAlongKid — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 13:37:41 +0000

>My dad talks of regular Nuclear War drills in elementary school.

The boomer generation covers 18 years. While such drills may have been common for those in school during the 1950s, I suspect it was much less by the 1960s.

New comment by PopAlongKid in "AI financial advice is surprisingly good, especially if you ask right questions"

PopAlongKid — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 13:49:09 +0000

>Yes, there is a five year waiting period to withdraw contributions from a Roth IRA

No, there is not. Per IRS Publication 590-B, "You don't include in your gross income qualified distributions or distributions that are a return of your regular contributions from your Roth IRA(s)."

New comment by PopAlongKid in "AI financial advice is surprisingly good, especially if you ask right questions"

PopAlongKid — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 13:46:06 +0000

There is no five year clock for withdrawing your own Roth contributions. Contributions (not earnings or conversions) can be withdrawn at any time with no tax or penalty.

New comment by PopAlongKid in "AI Firms Are Buying Up Old Books, Then Scanning and Destroying Them"

PopAlongKid — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 14:51:50 +0000

I just finished re-reading this a month ago. In the book, the process went a little further. The books were shredded into confetti-sized pieces first, then as the shreds were blown about in the air, many photos were taken, and then AI was used to stitch the fragmentary pieces of text together into the original pages.

New comment by PopAlongKid in "IMDB now automatically creating user accounts when you are signed into Amazon"

PopAlongKid — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 15:27:35 +0000

Perhaps related to a recent change, where you now must be logged in to IMDB.com in order to view the User Reviews for movies.

New comment by PopAlongKid in "Satan's 19th-Century Bank Note (2017)"

PopAlongKid — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 14:03:44 +0000

(2017)

>Dismissed by some as Monopoly or plastic money, the new £5 and £10 notes in particular have come in for heavy criticism.

New comment by PopAlongKid in "More Bounce to the Ounce"

PopAlongKid — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 20:33:07 +0000

Also featured in the 1985 novel Footfall by Niven and Pournelle.

New comment by PopAlongKid in "The Preemptive Draw and Preemptive Grip in the Cash-in-Transit Sector"

PopAlongKid — Sun, 05 Jul 2026 13:35:56 +0000

>Stay tuned for Part 2 where I explore the why for this practice.

Took me a minute or two scrolling through the article before I found what I was looking for, at the very end.

New comment by PopAlongKid in "HiFi/Stereo Review-Stereo Review – Audiophile Magazine from 1958 to 1999"

PopAlongKid — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:12:07 +0000

To me, this was not about the buying guide or directory, but the regular monthly printed issues received in the terrestrial mail.

Among other benefits, I attribute my fondness of Western classical music to eagerly reading this rag from cover to cover each month for a number of years during my teenage years (not the full run, of course).

HiFi/Stereo Review-Stereo Review – Audiophile Magazine from 1958 to 1999

PopAlongKid — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:08:09 +0000

Article URL: https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Audio/HiFI-Stereo-Review.htm

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48623931

Points: 4

# Comments: 1

New comment by PopAlongKid in "Private Equity Bought America's Essential Services"

PopAlongKid — Wed, 27 May 2026 14:12:23 +0000

>It's like taking out a mortgage on a house, but letting the house owe the debt.

Isn't that a non-recourse loan, which in some states is the default for the initial loan to acquire the housel

New comment by PopAlongKid in "How to convert between wealth and income tax"

PopAlongKid — Sat, 23 May 2026 13:49:02 +0000

> living primarily off the unrealized gains on their home equity.

How is that paying for food? Insurance? Electricity? Gasoline? Health care? Gifts and charity? Or even taxes?

New comment by PopAlongKid in "Age Shapes the Adoption of New Technologies"

PopAlongKid — Tue, 19 May 2026 23:57:59 +0000

From the article: "As older people take up a greater share of society, the likelihood that society as a whole will adopt new technologies more slowly may increase"

Age Shapes the Adoption of New Technologies

PopAlongKid — Tue, 19 May 2026 23:57:31 +0000

Article URL: https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/swipe-or-tap-how-age-shapes-the-adoption-of-new-technologies

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48201277

Points: 3

# Comments: 1

New comment by PopAlongKid in "Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels"

PopAlongKid — Mon, 18 May 2026 14:01:20 +0000

It's odd that you confuse a massive capital investment with maintenance.

New comment by PopAlongKid in "Points are a weird and inconsistent unit of measure"

PopAlongKid — Sat, 16 May 2026 14:10:44 +0000

From the title I thought this was going to be about basis points, as used in finance. (A basis point is one hundredth of 1 percentage point).

New comment by PopAlongKid in "You can reverse much of the damage alcohol has done to your body, science says"

PopAlongKid — Thu, 14 May 2026 15:09:33 +0000

>Research often defines heavy drinking as more than 40 grams pure alcohol a day for women and 60 grams a day for men. Translated, that’s 1.4 ounces of liquor for women and 2.1 ounces for men.

To clarify this muddled statement (it's not clear that by "liquor" they mean "pure alcohol"), in the United States, a standard drink has 0.6 ounces (14 grams) of pure alcohol. That's a 12-oz 5% beer, or a 5-oz glass of wine.