Hacker News: Tarsul

New comment by Tarsul in "I am worried about Bun"

Tarsul — Tue, 05 May 2026 01:23:53 +0000

positive ROI for customers?

New comment by Tarsul in "The Australian government has announced gambling advertising reforms"

Tarsul — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 22:48:54 +0000

I gotta admit I laughed heartily at the quote. I expected the slippery slope argument, I did not expect it to be made so clumsy :)

btw. what followed is worse: <>

Gambling business is not a positive force. It's not even zero sum. It's a negative sum game. I hope no one is nodding along to these kind of arguments, they are nonsensical.

New comment by Tarsul in "Bets on US-Iran ceasefire show signs of insider knowledge, say experts"

Tarsul — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 02:25:43 +0000

Not nefarious enough?

New comment by Tarsul in "Wired headphone sales are exploding. What's with the Bluetooth backlash?"

Tarsul — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 19:55:14 +0000

here's hoping that someday headphones without pressure (e.g. active/passive noise cancelling) will make a comeback, too. But then again I think there still exist cheap wired ones without such "advanced" technology. As one woman in the article said best: "'I don't like how this feels' and we're all kind of returning to the last place we were comfortable."

New comment by Tarsul in "Iranian Women Graduate in Stem 3× the Rate of U.S. Women and Has 5× More PhDs"

Tarsul — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 11:42:28 +0000

I have an anecdata where it was true: Angela Merkel. She studied physics not because it was her favorite but because in the system that she lived (GDR) it made more sense than social studies or politics.

New comment by Tarsul in "Motorola GrapheneOS devices will be bootloader unlockable/relockable"

Tarsul — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 17:00:03 +0000

I got the same or similar but let's not kid ourselves that this is in any way small. It would have been giant by 2015 standards. That's how much the overton window has shifted.

New comment by Tarsul in "Metformin shown to prevent Long Covid across risk groups in randomized trials"

Tarsul — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 17:07:45 +0000

I once read a study during the height of covid about this[1], which is why I loaded up on Metform. Was lucky enough not to get covid in the meanwhile (or didn't notice), but better safe than sorry.[2]

[1]2022: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2201662 [2]2024: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/common-diabetes-drug-low...

Screen time limits for children are no longer enough, new US report finds

Tarsul — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 02:27:21 +0000

Article URL: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/25/screen-time-report

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46761150

Points: 6

# Comments: 2

New comment by Tarsul in "Trump's Letter to Norway Should Be the Last Straw"

Tarsul — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 19:02:21 +0000

I've been thinking: Trump won't settle for less than Greenland unless it's the Nobel Peace Price. So... why not give it to him but with caveats? E.g. It will be presented to him in an extraordinary pompous celebration (to tickle his ego) but will remain in Norway until the day of the end of Trump's presidency. He will receive it again on that day, and can keep it!, in another majestic ceremony.

New comment by Tarsul in "The unbearable joy of sitting alone in a café"

Tarsul — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 17:49:09 +0000

Humans are not rational. Even if you are 99% of the time, with a smartphone in your pocket there's a good chance you will use it for your emotional 1% within 2hours (and unravel). Read Rutger Bregman's goal for 2026: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/jan/04/lifes-t...

New comment by Tarsul in "AI-generated videos showing young and attractive women promote Poland's EU exit"

Tarsul — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 13:25:19 +0000

Yes. It's propaganda, not speech. Also the algorithms favor this sh*t. Also this massive generation of content floods the zone[1]. There is nothing "freedom of choice" about it if it resurfaces all the time. Upvotes/Views count disproportionally in most social media against downvotes/"not interested" (tiktok is better but even there you can't downvote enough AI-videos for them to not resurface. Probably because the algorithm isn't good enough to understand what is AI and what not, so these downvotes often don't count against AI).

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

New comment by Tarsul in "Country makes call to cancel all visas for Americans"

Tarsul — Sun, 28 Dec 2025 21:32:22 +0000

the country is Niger, not Antigua. Thanks for playing, better luck next time.

New comment by Tarsul in "BMW Patents Proprietary Screws That Only Dealerships Can Remove"

Tarsul — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 16:13:14 +0000

No. No, you don't understand. This is actually pro-consumer because if the patent is enforced, other car-manufacturers cannot pull this stunt. So, thanks BMW, good job for keeping anti-competetive practices at bay by patenting them.

New comment by Tarsul in "We Let AI Run Our Office Vending Machine. It Lost Hundreds of Dollars"

Tarsul — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 19:24:58 +0000

After watching the video: It feels like this is basically the same result as what would've happened with ChatGPT in December 2022 with a custom prompt. I mean ok, probably more back and forth to break it but in the end... it feels like nothing's really changed, has it? (and yes, programmers might argue otherwise, but for the general "chatbot" experience for the general audience I really feel like we are treading water)

New comment by Tarsul in "An off-grid, flat-packable washing machine"

Tarsul — Sun, 14 Dec 2025 03:17:40 +0000

He started in 2018. In 2021 he had shipped 30 (to Iraq). Wanted to ship 7500 in the next 3 years. Fast foward to 2025: he has shipped 500 in 13 countries. Hopefully, with his partnerships and local production (in India) his ramp-up will fasten up. I wish him luck.

New comment by Tarsul in "Gundam is just the same as Jane Austen but happens to include giant mech suits"

Tarsul — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 12:43:15 +0000

Just read Treasure Island. It's a classic but one that is easy to comprehend and also timeless.

New comment by Tarsul in "Petition to formally recognize open source work as civic service in Germany"

Tarsul — Fri, 28 Nov 2025 22:11:36 +0000

In Germany you can get 20 Euros for blood donations (at least at the Deutsches Rotes Kreuz).

New comment by Tarsul in "From blood sugar to brain relief: GLP-1 therapy slashes migraine frequency"

Tarsul — Wed, 26 Nov 2025 21:41:43 +0000

When I developed pre-diabetes symptoms (having to drink a lot - like 5-6l per day, consequently having to pee a lot, when not doing the first: getting headaches), I noticed that cutting on sugar meant (next to other benefits) that the thirst-induced headaches were the first thing that went away. Not the thirst itself (still have it).

However, not an expert on headaches and can't say if it has anything to do with the migraines in the article. But the point that reducing sugar helps in a myriad of ways, stands and is worth repeating.

New comment by Tarsul in "The fall of Labubus and the mush of modern internet trends"

Tarsul — Wed, 26 Nov 2025 09:33:00 +0000

Don't do it for the world. Do it for your own clear conscience. That way you can always say to yourself: At least I did my part (even though it's clear everyone can do more, but perfectionism doesn't help either. Personally I am content if my climate impact is better than 70-80% of my cohort.).

New comment by Tarsul in "Dark Mode Sucks"

Tarsul — Sun, 23 Nov 2025 22:35:09 +0000

Yes! I use "Dark Background and Light Text" addon for firefox, where you can set the colors yourself, which I did. I use #FFF2cc (I'd like to call it sandy) as my background color for nearly every website (even HN). (+permanent night mode, +blue light glasses that are orange-tinted, so your mileage may vary)