Hacker News: ThinkingGuy

New comment by ThinkingGuy in "eBay Restricts Listings of Radio Equipment, but Exempts Ham-Band-Only Gear"

ThinkingGuy — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 19:41:37 +0000

Licensed US amateur operator here. In general the FCC regulations allow you to listen on whatever frequencies you like, EXCEPT the cellular frequencies (This dates back to the analog era, before cellular traffic was encrypted). Some jurisdictions may also have restrictions on, for example, using a police scanner in a vehicle, that would restrict listening (even though most of that traffic is now also encrypted).

New comment by ThinkingGuy in "Donaldson Futuro House in Idyllwild, California, USA"

ThinkingGuy — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 13:52:12 +0000

Looks like it would be hard to close the door (ramp?) behind you when you leave for work.

New comment by ThinkingGuy in "Automatic Transmission – a data-privacy study of connected vehicles"

ThinkingGuy — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 22:28:00 +0000

This is the way.

New comment by ThinkingGuy in "Accidental Aesthetics and Romance of Power Wires"

ThinkingGuy — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 20:21:07 +0000

As an American, I'm reminded of Henry Farney's 1904 painting "The Song of the Talking Wire"

https://www.csub.edu/~gsantos/img0038.html

New comment by ThinkingGuy in "Bookshelf – Self-hosted eBook library that runs on object storage"

ThinkingGuy — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 14:08:39 +0000

I recommend LibraryThing to every book lover I meet.

https://www.librarything.com/

New comment by ThinkingGuy in "Fairphone is now officially available in the United States"

ThinkingGuy — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 14:17:33 +0000

The Fairphone (Gen. 6+) comes with upgraded internal hardware that doesn’t compromise on our industry-leading repairability standards. The ‘plus’ isn't about adding features for a longer spec sheet; it's about intentional improvements that keep your device capable for longer.

AI-like typing detected.

New comment by ThinkingGuy in "Mars Bar from 1991 found – and it's 20g bigger than today's"

ThinkingGuy — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 17:53:51 +0000

They don't last as long anymore and are more difficult to repair.

New comment by ThinkingGuy in "Launching Health in ChatGPT to US Users"

ThinkingGuy — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 14:06:21 +0000

It's an acronym in which neither 'P' stands for 'privacy'

New comment by ThinkingGuy in "Moist Towelette Museum"

ThinkingGuy — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 13:32:08 +0000

This reminds me something my the teacher of my university public speaking class told us (in the context of doing research): No matter how trivial, esoteric or obscure the topic, there is someone on earth who has devoted their entire career to studying it.

New comment by ThinkingGuy in "Moist Towelette Museum"

ThinkingGuy — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 13:29:46 +0000

I had to look up that reference:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Community_characters#P...

New comment by ThinkingGuy in "DOGE is done. What happened to its records?"

ThinkingGuy — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 17:44:00 +0000

New comment by ThinkingGuy in "The 'absolute magic' of Morse code that still connects people globally"

ThinkingGuy — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 17:38:42 +0000

I've told my family that if I'm ever in a hospital bed due and seemingly unresponsive due to injury or illness, to check whether I'm not trying to communicate (using eye movements, finger twitches, or whatever) in morse code.

New comment by ThinkingGuy in "DOGE is done. What happened to its records?"

ThinkingGuy — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 17:31:50 +0000

While your point is perfectly valid, there's a little more nuance to the $400 (or $600) hammer story:

https://www.govexec.com/federal-news/1998/12/the-myth-of-the...

China's AI boom is creating a different kind of entrepreneur

ThinkingGuy — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 13:48:32 +0000

Article URL: https://restofworld.org/2026/china-ai-worker-innovation/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48845794

Points: 5

# Comments: 0

New comment by ThinkingGuy in "Men's average testosterone levels have halved in last 50 years"

ThinkingGuy — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 22:02:12 +0000

Could this be a possible factor in the reduction in violent crime (at least in some countries)?

New comment by ThinkingGuy in "Microsoft new Outlook takes 10 seconds to do what Outlook Classic does instantly"

ThinkingGuy — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 15:04:23 +0000

IM is fine for quick, ephemeral communications ("I just arrived at the restaurant") or automated processes ("Your authentication code for $BANK is 9975"), but for meaningful, thoughtful communication between human beings, email works better for me. The main advantages:

- I use my own domain, so I'm not tied to any single provider

- I can keep a copy of everything (I still have some emails from 30 years ago)

New comment by ThinkingGuy in "Age verification tech could put children at greater risk, says think tank"

ThinkingGuy — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 15:40:50 +0000

If only there were some way to use a phone to contact people, without going through a social media platform.

New comment by ThinkingGuy in "The newest Instagram “exploit” is the goofiest I've seen"

ThinkingGuy — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 17:30:27 +0000

If they really want them, they can get them, one way or another.

New comment by ThinkingGuy in "Naphtha shortages in Japan"

ThinkingGuy — Sat, 30 May 2026 14:23:11 +0000

Unsurprisingly, XKCD has already contemplated this:

https://xkcd.com/993/

New comment by ThinkingGuy in "The first British person in space"

ThinkingGuy — Fri, 22 May 2026 15:40:52 +0000

Couldn't help but be reminded of Eddie Izzard's old "Career Advisor" bit:

"I want to be a space astronaut, go to outer space and discover things that have never been discovered!"

"Look, you're British, so scale it down a bit, all right?"

https://youtu.be/xGGeLHnDQk8?si=XNEC8Pg8xER6EBOX&t=12