Hacker News: Steltek

New comment by Steltek in "I'm Getting into Mesh Networks (Meshtastic, MeshCore, and Reticulum)"

Steltek — Thu, 28 May 2026 13:35:14 +0000

Off-grid messaging is helpful for my family (skiing, camping, hiking). They have zero interest in ham radio but a funny looking messaging app isn't a problem. Regular walkies talkies (FRS, GMRS) don't relay/hop, work asynchronously, or transmit GPS positions.

New comment by Steltek in "Declining America"

Steltek — Thu, 21 May 2026 01:34:59 +0000

I have regrets when I say something dumb or drive through an intersection on a not-quite-yellow light.

Innocent people, including children, are dead. Republicans have done irreparable harm to this country on every imaginable level: civil liberties, trade, global power, economics. Open and naked corruption is so off the charts it can only be described with comparisons to the post-Soviet era.

"Regret" is, quite frankly, insulting.

New comment by Steltek in "US bill proposes new national EV tax, while some push to slash gas tax to zero"

Steltek — Tue, 19 May 2026 12:36:01 +0000

Absolutely not. I'm in a deep blue state, in a dense urban area well served by charging infra. EV registration is like 10% here.

New comment by Steltek in "US bill proposes new national EV tax, while some push to slash gas tax to zero"

Steltek — Tue, 19 May 2026 12:30:30 +0000

Irrelevant to the fact that city roads are not Federal roads! State and municipal taxes are already doing the job here.

New comment by Steltek in "Restore full BambuNetwork support for Bambu Lab printers"

Steltek — Wed, 13 May 2026 19:38:10 +0000

Really? My 3D printer uses filament from any vendor. My slicer has profiles for all of these filaments and printer combinations. Hell, my 3D printer is more reliable than my 2D printer.

New comment by Steltek in "Louis Rossmann offers to pay legal fees for a threatened OrcaSlicer developer"

Steltek — Mon, 11 May 2026 19:41:16 +0000

My mk3s+ (circa 2020) had a bed sensor. It's still super reliable and I'm only upgrading it to a Core One L because of the upcoming INDX system. Prusa quality, ethics, and true multi-material (not multi-color) in a compact package? Yes please!

New comment by Steltek in "Your phone is about to stop being yours"

Steltek — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 13:07:23 +0000

How about instead: is an e-bike a bicycle? Is it a motorcycle?

The apparent user experience between a computer and a mobile are markedly different - especially if you were a Windows user circa 10 years ago. If you were a Windows user in the 90's to 00's, it's nearly unrecognizable in how much ownership you feel over your own device.

New comment by Steltek in "Android CLI: Build Android apps 3x faster using any agent"

Steltek — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 13:53:24 +0000

I can't be the only one with a severe aversion to language/platform specific IDEs. "Oh no, you can't write Python in Vim, you need to get Pycharm!" "iOS apps? Don't try anything except XCode."

IDEs are (were? :-/) a very personal choice. Maybe I'm an AI but I would have loved a CLI-centric workflow. It would have kept options open.

New comment by Steltek in "North American English Dialects"

Steltek — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 20:52:10 +0000

And right next door, the Maine accent is lumped in with Boston. The differences aren't worth correcting anybody unless you're talking about a project like this.

I'm not an expert on accents or anything but I think you can hear it in "dinner". Boston is the typical "R's don't exist" thing. Maine is more like "dinnyah" - your jaw kicks back a bit.

New comment by Steltek in "Filing the corners off my MacBooks"

Steltek — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 01:05:02 +0000

This is why I like cheaper tools. Yes, that means cheaper quality but it's far easier to approach taking a dremel to it. And the DIY look usually matches the stock materials better anyway.

New comment by Steltek in "LittleSnitch for Linux"

Steltek — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 13:02:49 +0000

WinAmp skins. Alternate shells for Windows(!). Cygwin because I still played too many games to go full Linux.

Yeah...

New comment by Steltek in "Are We Idiocracy Yet?"

Steltek — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 13:18:34 +0000

I thought it was just the opposite: people recognized it as satire but what they really wanted was the dumb action movie. Spare us the social commentary and show us some power armor with jump jets.

New comment by Steltek in "Iran War Live Updates: U.S. and Iran Send Conflicting Signals on Peace Prospects"

Steltek — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 13:56:21 +0000

I'll go one step further: I avoid all comedy and late night shows. Even The Daily Show, as much as that pains me.

My mental health wouldn't stand a chance if I actually stared into the abyss.

New comment by Steltek in "MoD sources warn Palantir role at heart of government is threat to UK security"

Steltek — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 13:13:28 +0000

It was a powerful tool made for good but trivially corrupted to serve evil. It's a perfect description of the real world thing, IMO.

New comment by Steltek in "Oil hits $100 a barrel despite deal to release record amount of reserves"

Steltek — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 17:12:08 +0000

That only works when there's time to adapt. This is like the insane tariff rollercoaster. There was no time to plan or adapt. It was a black swan event and wrecked everything for no appreciable benefit.

New comment by Steltek in "U.S. Troops Were Told Iran War Is for "Armageddon,""

Steltek — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 01:56:26 +0000

ACA mandates that ~80% of insurance co. revenue must go back towards medical service. So not "non-profit" per se but there is some kind of restriction there.

New comment by Steltek in "What does " 2>&1 " mean?"

Steltek — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 15:59:11 +0000

For a while, there was a strong trend of "I want to do everything in one singular language". Your coding is in language XYZ. Your build tools will be configured/written in XYZ. Your UI frontend will be generated from XYZ. Everything will be defined in XYZ.

Shell is from a time when you had a huge selection of languages, each for different purposes, and you picked the right one for the job. For complex applications, you would have multiple languages working together.

People look at Bash and think, "I would never dare do $Task with that language!". And you'd be right, because you're thinking you only have one tool in the toolbox.

New comment by Steltek in "What does " 2>&1 " mean?"

Steltek — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 15:51:23 +0000

You could make a list of WTFs about any language.

Bash syntax is the pinnacle of Chesterton's Fence. If you can't articulate why it was done that way, you have no right to remove it. Python would be an absolutely unusable shell language.

New comment by Steltek in "Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash"

Steltek — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 14:47:42 +0000

Is it really "got caught" if you run a Super Bowl ad? And put out a press release.

New comment by Steltek in "London's most controversial cyclist"

Steltek — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 01:51:23 +0000

They only wish they were saving 3 minutes. Drivers pull the most outlandish, dangerous crap to end up 2-3 car lengths ahead of where they were.