<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: SamBam</title><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=SamBam</link><description>Hacker News RSS</description><docs>https://hnrss.org/</docs><generator>hnrss v2.1.1</generator><lastBuildDate>Mon, 06 Apr 2026 02:11:03 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://hnrss.org/user?id=SamBam" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"></atom:link><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by SamBam in "Artemis computer running two instances of MS outlook; they can't figure out why"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Alpine and Mutt are about 20 and 30 years old, respectively.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 02 Apr 2026 22:00:12 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47620726</link><dc:creator>SamBam</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47620726</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47620726</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by SamBam in "Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile story"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>How about something that they would see more as a genuine threat?<p>Bet on whether they get into a car accident, and then see what happens if all of a sudden that number starts spiking towards 100%.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2026 20:48:34 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47404661</link><dc:creator>SamBam</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47404661</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47404661</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by SamBam in "Little Free Library"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Same reason you're allowed to gift your gold watch to someone, or sell your car.<p>Both of them do potentially deprive the creator of a sale, but they keep the same total number of things in circulation.<p>Sure, you can argue that philosophically it comes to the same thing, but the problem is that, if you win that argument, the powers that be are more likely to ban giving away things you own than they are to allow piracy...</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:37:05 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47234948</link><dc:creator>SamBam</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47234948</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47234948</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by SamBam in "Little Free Library"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Huh, I've literally never heard of someone before thinking it's supposed to be a library that you return books to. Must be different attitudes in different places. I've always seen people treat it as a swap-shop. Take some books you want, and some other day drop off some books you want to give away.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:32:57 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47234893</link><dc:creator>SamBam</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47234893</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47234893</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by SamBam in "Simple screw counter"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Hmmm, so if I wanted to assemble the lovely Cloud City, all I would need is 697 of my best friends to call in and report that they had lost a different piece...</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:30:30 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47234867</link><dc:creator>SamBam</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47234867</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47234867</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by SamBam in "Little Free Library"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Sure, but how do you honestly know that? Is it based on the profile of the person you see looking through them? Some people don't look like they should be readers? Or the fact that the "good ones" -- the ones that people presumably want to read -- get taken?<p>I guess I'm happier not getting angry over things that I don't know for sure, I'm happier generally assuming the best of my neighbors, and I accept that the books are out of my control once I drop them off at the library.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 02 Mar 2026 16:21:33 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47220042</link><dc:creator>SamBam</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47220042</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47220042</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by SamBam in "Little Free Library"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I don't understand the meaning of the word "stolen" in this context.<p>I've never seen a LFL with explicit rules on who can or cannot take out the books, or what they're allowed to do with the books afterward.<p>If someone sees "all the good books," are they not allowed to want all the good books? What if they take them and don't get around to reading them, are they stealing them?<p>I understand that there's a potential tragedy of the commons with a LFL, but if I put some of my books in one, am not going to worry about whether they're being read the "right" way. Mostly I'm happy to have had a place to donate my books, and figure there's a non-zero chance they'll be read again.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 02 Mar 2026 13:23:44 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47217677</link><dc:creator>SamBam</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47217677</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47217677</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by SamBam in "Men in their 50s may be aging faster due to toxic 'forever chemicals'"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Honestly it doesn't take too long to learn how to cook properly on other types of pans. I use my cast iron pans for nearly everything. I have stainless steel for the rest. There is nothing I can't do in them.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 26 Feb 2026 15:19:22 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47167241</link><dc:creator>SamBam</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47167241</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47167241</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by SamBam in "What's wrong with bunny hands on dinosaurs? (2018)"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>So if I understand right, this image of a T-Rex [1] would be wrong, because its palms are facing downward, while this image of a T-Rex [2] would be right because its palms are in a "clapping" posture?<p>But I'm still a little confused. Most quadrupeds have their front toes facing forward, right? If the first T-Rex did a belly-flop and caught itself on its palms, they'd be facing forward like a dog's. If the second T-Rex did a belly flop, its toes would be facing outward, like Charlie Chaplin's feet.<p>1. <a href="https://geppettostoybox.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/trex.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://geppettostoybox.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/trex....</a><p>2. <a href="https://s3.envato.com/files/471149443/Realistic%20Trex%20Dinosaur%2001.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://s3.envato.com/files/471149443/Realistic%20Trex%20Din...</a></p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2026 03:07:02 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46908559</link><dc:creator>SamBam</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46908559</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46908559</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by SamBam in "[dead]"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Is that an iPhone thing? On Android airplane mode turns off both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 31 Jan 2026 02:17:55 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46832679</link><dc:creator>SamBam</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46832679</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46832679</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by SamBam in "[dead]"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I came here to ask the same thing. Students in my district put their phones in Yondr pouches every day. No one removes the case.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 31 Jan 2026 02:16:31 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46832672</link><dc:creator>SamBam</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46832672</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46832672</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by SamBam in "Antirender: remove the glossy shine on architectural renderings"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I played it with my wife on the couch over many winters evenings, and then ten years later played it with my daughter. Good times. Reminded me of playing Sierra games as a kid.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 30 Jan 2026 22:23:14 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46830768</link><dc:creator>SamBam</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46830768</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46830768</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by SamBam in "Time Station Emulator"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Ah, hunting the serial number led me to discover that the clock is part of a centrally-synchronized wireless clock system. The company is discontinued, so who knows how old these are. So I'm going to hunt down a wireless transmitter somewhere in the building that is setting my clock four minutes fast... Oh well, I don't get to try out OP's cool tech!</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 28 Jan 2026 19:20:05 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46800242</link><dc:creator>SamBam</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46800242</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46800242</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by SamBam in "Time Station Emulator"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I have a big old analog radio-controlled clock in my classroom, and it's always about 4 minutes fast, which would drive me nuts except most of my students can't read analog time so they're never confused by it.<p>Regardless, I'm excited to try this out next time I'm in the classroom. I'm a little confused by time zones, however. My clock has no controls on the back whatsoever (at least that I can find, I haven't opened it up), so I assume <i>it</i> doesn't know what time zone I'm in.<p>So do I need to set the time zone on the station emulator? There's an "offset" setting, but it says it's only for correcting "minor errors."</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 28 Jan 2026 03:29:24 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46790714</link><dc:creator>SamBam</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46790714</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46790714</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by SamBam in "Try text scaling support in Chrome Canary"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>These days the vast majority of the (at least, English-speaking) web is only on a few dozen websites. The 80-20 rule would get you pretty far for most users' daily interactions.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 28 Jan 2026 03:17:16 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46790635</link><dc:creator>SamBam</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46790635</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46790635</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by SamBam in "The Unix Pipe Card Game"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>As a science teacher and former software dev, I find this totally cute, and I understand exactly why the creator chose to make it a physical card game.<p>That said, I do think the translation into a physical card game means that kids aren't getting the experimentation and near-instant feedback that they'd be getting if they were doing this digitally.<p>In order for a kid to "win," they either have to already know, or explicitly be told using words, what all of the commands do. Then they have to hear the parent analyze their solution, and tell them where they went wrong. Picture, however, a different game, played online: A kid has no idea what "sort" does, but when they link the "sort" command to a blob of text, all the lines are sorted in order. Now no one has told them what this command does, but they've discovered it. By playing the role of a scientist discovering these commands, they might actually gain an intuitive understanding of them.<p>I'm thinking of the board game "robot turtle," where kids needed to create a "program" of commands to move a turtle to a goal. When they did that, they had near-instantaneous feedback: the parent moved the turtle. If the kid mixed up their left with the robot's left, the failure was obvious. But if the game has been re-made so that there was no board, and the parent and kid just needed to talk about whether the turtle would actually end up seven paces forward and three paces to the left -- i.e. doing it all verbally -- it wouldn't have been nearly as powerful.<p>So I'm not raining on this, I can see this as very cool. But I am having a hard time imagining it's the best way to learn to pipe together commands.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 20 Jan 2026 17:36:19 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46694993</link><dc:creator>SamBam</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46694993</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46694993</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by SamBam in "Simple Sabotage Field Manual (1944) [pdf]"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I came to say the same thing: I love the idea of the quick escape, but some of the sites take way too long to load. They should prioritize sites with the fastest loading (smallest footprint) over some of the jokey-er websites like "43 Gifts for Every Type of Boss."</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 20 Jan 2026 03:55:13 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46687746</link><dc:creator>SamBam</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46687746</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46687746</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by SamBam in "The Dilbert Afterlife"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>> "Why are we only allowed to have sex when <i>you</i> want it?"<p>> "Um, no honey, we <i>both</i> have to want to have sex in order for us to have sex."<p>> "Exactly, so men are only allowed to have sex when <i>women</i> want it. Access to sex is strictly controlled by the woman."<p>Two fundamentally different ways of looking at the same thing. Why did he feel like it ought to be any other way?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 18 Jan 2026 23:36:51 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46673343</link><dc:creator>SamBam</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46673343</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46673343</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by SamBam in "Gaussian Splatting – A$AP Rocky "Helicopter" music video"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I really disagree with the label brainrot. Brainrot is low-quality garbage with no artistic merit, and very little thought behind its creation, which does nothing but make you briefly pause while scrolling, before scrolling away with no lasting impression being done to your mind (besides increased boredom and inability to focus).<p>This is clearly an artistic statement, whether you like the art or not. A ton of thought and time was put into it. And people will likely be thinking and discussing this video for some time to come.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 18 Jan 2026 23:30:53 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46673309</link><dc:creator>SamBam</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46673309</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46673309</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by SamBam in "The Dilbert Afterlife"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Long before the racism thing, I remember how grossed out I was by him complaining that he only got to have sex when his girlfriend wanted it, therefore his girlfriend, and women in general, were the "gatekeepers" of sex.<p>Completing failing to recognize that consent is a two person affair.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 17 Jan 2026 16:15:42 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46659197</link><dc:creator>SamBam</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46659197</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46659197</guid></item></channel></rss>