Hacker News: RankingMember

New comment by RankingMember in "Lost and Found"

RankingMember — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 18:07:12 +0000

Walzr's stuff is a fun portal into an earlier era of lighthearted fun internet projects. Keep it up buddy. Bop Spotter is probably still my favorite.

New comment by RankingMember in "Apple raises prices of MacBooks, iPads"

RankingMember — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 18:23:08 +0000

Oh boy, that app. I only use it once in a while, and it's slower and more enshittified every time. The last time I opened it, there was now a Verizon ad in the bottom left-hand corner asking me to watch a 30 second video to "win 200 Orbs!", whatever the hell that means.

New comment by RankingMember in "Jobs and Software Is Fucked"

RankingMember — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 20:15:02 +0000

FWIW, there's a huge difference in job quality between diesel and a regular auto mechanic (at least if you're in the states): Unless you work somewhere rare and amazing, auto mechanics typically work within the flat-rate system. In case you're not familiar, this is a joke of a wage system wherein you're not actually paid for the time a job takes, but the time a book says it should take in a perfect world. Rusty fasteners, broken equipment, bad/wrong parts- all the real-world complications that come up during jobs will conspire to make you take longer than book time and, especially for new people, can leave you making less than you'd make in fast food.

New comment by RankingMember in "Never Give Them Your Face"

RankingMember — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 14:24:39 +0000

Especially in the modern era where peoples' attention is particularly stretched thin, trying to get the average person to add another thing to be hyper-vigilant about is going to be a hard sell. People only have so many spoons.

Not sure why you shoehorned some antivax nonsense in there though.

New comment by RankingMember in "Never Give Them Your Face"

RankingMember — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 14:22:15 +0000

I agree 100% with the message and think we should strive to reject this kind of gathering wherever possible, but it feels like the horse is already out of the barn insofar as each and every one of our faces being out there. Hell, we have entire states where people can't watch porn without uploading their ID. The inertia is such that (I'm in the U.S.) we really need a constitutional amendment at this point to stop this.

New comment by RankingMember in "The founder of Craigslist has given away half a billion dollars"

RankingMember — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 18:15:15 +0000

This is a great reminder even for those of us who aren't multi-millionaires. It's easy to get wrapped up pursuing ostentation and even notoriety as elements of our culture hold it up as as goal to strive for, and I think it's important to see it for the hollow goal it is regardless of your income.

New comment by RankingMember in "I hacked into the worst e-bike and fixed it [video]"

RankingMember — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 13:56:05 +0000

Coincidentally he just made a video elaborating on this as well as a general overview of the history and state of mountain biking channels on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/_oQ4XY4P1n8

New comment by RankingMember in "Your ePub Is fine"

RankingMember — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 19:54:27 +0000

Lol, damn, I do not miss those days. I'm also reminded of those awful LowerMyBills.com flash ads. Sadly, they're still around, just using whatever tech is at hand to make the worst ads possible, e.g. https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/98a1yp/l...

New comment by RankingMember in "Waymo Premier"

RankingMember — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 19:15:08 +0000

Certainly true, but my 1989 Honda Civic would still be obliterated in a collision with a modern one- everything has grown substantially.

New comment by RankingMember in "Waymo Premier"

RankingMember — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 18:14:16 +0000

I think you and I may be a rarity. Most people seem to value having new vehicles, and I don't say that dismissively- there's definitely something to be said for modern safety features as vehicles continue to grow bigger and heavier.

New comment by RankingMember in "Amazon Says Its Data Centers Use 2.5B Gallons of Water"

RankingMember — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 17:35:19 +0000

Sure, but people who use platforms can still advocate against the negative impact of their infrastructure. It's like how participating in an unjust society doesn't negate arguments you make towards bettering it.

New comment by RankingMember in "FCC wants to kill burner phones by forcing telecoms to get all customers' IDs"

RankingMember — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 17:59:54 +0000

Yep, they'll still prompt for the info.

New comment by RankingMember in "He Blew the Whistle on DOGE. Then His Brakes Were Cut"

RankingMember — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 15:57:08 +0000

I've owned plenty of shitboxes and done my share of goofy fixes, but fucking around with integral safety equipment like airbag wiring is where I draw the line and get it fixed for real. It's one thing if it's only ever you in the car and you don't care about your own safety, but if other people are ever in the car they're going to rightfully expect you've at least got the safety equipment working to factory standard.

New comment by RankingMember in "He Blew the Whistle on DOGE. Then His Brakes Were Cut"

RankingMember — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 15:50:07 +0000

As others have noted, this article seems light on details/hand-wavy to draw clicks. Vehicles have had dual-circuit brake systems since 1967 (mandated), so cutting one line wouldn't do the job, plus you'd be getting a light on the dash. The image in the article is of a stripped electric wire as though implying to the unfamiliar that this is a cut brake line.

New comment by RankingMember in "CT scans of BYD car parts"

RankingMember — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 14:15:23 +0000

Look into Speed Queen. They're known for being well-built commercial-grade machines.

New comment by RankingMember in "Surface Laptop Ultra"

RankingMember — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 19:21:35 +0000

> Whoever is responsible for the sound interface driver in a Dell laptop is unlikely to be a user of that laptop and even less likely to have the capability to get Dell to ship a fixed version

Oh boy, don't get me started on Dell haha. Sure, they've got a better service model (people come to you), but at least in my experience they contract with service people who service multiple brands who can't help but shit-talk Dell. Not very confidence inspiring, particularly when the cause of the issue ends up being a connector not being fully plugged in from the factory.

New comment by RankingMember in "The Pirate Bay Remains Resilient, 20 Years After the Raid"

RankingMember — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 18:21:59 +0000

Anecdotally, the people I talk to outside the U.S. see the film industry there as stuck in a Disney/Marvel pattern for the most part. Sure, there are good films, but there's a lot of cynical slop being turned out too and it's become so prevalent that it's a bit of a joke at this point. I blame the stagnation on the extreme consolidation of media companies.

New comment by RankingMember in "Microsoft builds MacBook Pro rival with NVIDIA-powered Surface Laptop Ultra"

RankingMember — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 18:16:08 +0000

My experience with Surfaces and, particularly, the Surface Book and its accompanying dock were such that I'd have to be paid to use one again. For example, the dock would get its own updates silently and brick itself randomly and the proprietary magnetic connector between the dock and the computer was prone to a poor connection. I remember many occasions trying to work and my screens just randomly blinking in and out. To get service we'd have to go to a local Microsoft Store, a sad replica of the aging Apple "shiny glass minimalism" aesthetic, which have since all closed so we'd have to mail the thing today instead.

New comment by RankingMember in "Microsoft builds MacBook Pro rival with NVIDIA-powered Surface Laptop Ultra"

RankingMember — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 18:10:53 +0000

Yeah what bizarro world is their marketing team living in where that's something to tout?

New comment by RankingMember in "United Airlines 767 returns to Newark after Bluetooth name sparks alert"

RankingMember — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 14:43:17 +0000

I was just thinking "watch someone now invent a single-purpose easy-to-use Bluetooth hone-in device and sell it to the airlines for exactly this situation".