Hacker News: WastedCucumber

New comment by WastedCucumber in "What is it like to be a bat? (1974) [pdf]"

WastedCucumber — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 21:36:22 +0000

Probably it's a bit like this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_echolocation?wprov=sfla1

But on a more serious note that's a great paper and well worth the read.

New comment by WastedCucumber in "The Biggest Tell That Something Was Written by AI"

WastedCucumber — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 07:24:30 +0000

https://archive.ph/VlvTj

New comment by WastedCucumber in "Show HN: 500 years of Joseon court omens as an observability dashboard"

WastedCucumber — Sat, 30 May 2026 21:45:36 +0000

Thanks for that hilarious history tidbit. The actual record makes it even better. From the wiki page for Taejong of Joseon:

The king himself rode a horse and shot arrows at a deer. However, the horse stumbled, causing him to fall off, but he was not injured. Looking around, he said, "Do not let the historians know about this."

New comment by WastedCucumber in "Sauna effect on heart rate"

WastedCucumber — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 18:50:23 +0000

I think that's also consistent with the idea behind a hot shower. The shower doesn't help by increasing your body temperature, in fact it does the opposite. The hot shower induces the body to try to cool down, so near-skin blood vessels swell, and that dumps heat into the cold air, which reduces your core temperature, and a reduced core temperature helps you fall asleep.

I think where I read about this was Why We Sleep from Matthew Walker. But he suggests just washing your face with warm water, as opposed to a shower.

New comment by WastedCucumber in "We accepted surveillance as default"

WastedCucumber — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 17:29:26 +0000

that was my experience too!

New comment by WastedCucumber in "The Uncanny Valley and the Rising Power of Anti-AI Sentiment"

WastedCucumber — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 02:14:05 +0000

I think these studies aren't meaningless at all, but the fact that "AI" is a loosely used term means that many people might view even more simple ML methods with skepticism, as opposed to just, say, chat-like LLM tools.

New comment by WastedCucumber in "For the first time in the U.S., renewables generate more power than natural gas"

WastedCucumber — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:50:24 +0000

It doesn't seem like a silly argument to me, and certainly not moralizing. Rather "I wonder..." seems to be an indirectly phrased request for information, an open invitation for somebody who has seen the numbers to provide a link.

But I do think I get your point - the subsidies are there so we should compare the costs as they are.

New comment by WastedCucumber in "How to break America's great scientific stagnation"

WastedCucumber — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 23:54:28 +0000

This is vapid politics, not a thoughtful analysis, which you would expect from the title.

New comment by WastedCucumber in "Microsoft says Windows 11's bugs are all "resolved""

WastedCucumber — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 21:19:25 +0000

That's what I told my advisor about the model round about once a month, and round about a week later I'd tell him about the new bug I'd found.

New comment by WastedCucumber in "Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones"

WastedCucumber — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 13:29:25 +0000

>They could make huge improvements in safety by actively preventing the use of illegally modified e-bikes that travel too fast.

Or by regulating bicycle food delivery services so thatheir employees' continued employment and wage magnitude doesn't hinge quite so thoroughly on how rapidly they deliver.

New comment by WastedCucumber in "Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones"

WastedCucumber — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 13:11:57 +0000

In Germany we have rules, and one of those rules is that pedestrians on the sidewalk who are in the cyclepath (usually a too-subtle red stone) do, in fact, have to get out of the way for cyclists.

I imagine there's also a rule about directing airhorns against law abiding cyclists.

New comment by WastedCucumber in "US and Iran agree to provisional ceasefire"

WastedCucumber — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 09:59:33 +0000

Or else they'll eventually alienate a majority of their patron state's voting population, and finally get hemmed in / risk losing your military (and other) funding that their state is dependent on.

Heavens to Betsy please don't be so passive.

New comment by WastedCucumber in "Slovenia becomes first EU country to introduce fuel rationing"

WastedCucumber — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 22:57:08 +0000

I was just talking to a kiwi yesterday about diesel. The price has more than doubled already there. So there goes large chunk of the US beef supply.

New comment by WastedCucumber in "Slovenia becomes first EU country to introduce fuel rationing"

WastedCucumber — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 22:51:44 +0000

I think the point is that a world with renewable electricity wouldn't need as much oil, thereby making smaller sources of carbon sufficient.

New comment by WastedCucumber in "4Chan mocks £520k fine for UK online safety breaches"

WastedCucumber — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 23:59:42 +0000

At first I took the comment about transferring nukes as a bit of a joke, but you make a fair point. Let Iceland have em!

New comment by WastedCucumber in "Grandparents are glued to their phones [video]"

WastedCucumber — Sun, 15 Mar 2026 19:07:04 +0000

The article in question:

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2025/12/do-your-paren...

New comment by WastedCucumber in "Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis"

WastedCucumber — Sun, 15 Mar 2026 19:03:55 +0000

I don't watch a movie a day, but I'm at my friendly local indie theater at least once a month. It's got a more comftorable audience, more consistently interesting films, and it costs less than the big theater. If I went just a bit more often, I'd for sure get a subscription. There's already so many good films, and so many good indie films being made, I just don't need the big cinemas.

New comment by WastedCucumber in "The government uses targeted advertising to track your location"

WastedCucumber — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 19:00:19 +0000

Just one more example here, which I think is a big one for some people - chat apps. Without Whatsapp, Telegram, and Signal, I can't really use my phone as telecommunications tool with friends and colleagues, because everyone is on them. The group chats are where a lot of discussion happens, so I can't just switch to SMS/calls.

New comment by WastedCucumber in "Number Research Inc"

WastedCucumber — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 06:34:21 +0000

Oh lord I feel old, I couldn't figure out why 67 was special until I read this.

New comment by WastedCucumber in "Guilty Displeasures"

WastedCucumber — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 20:42:19 +0000

+1 For Untilted Goose Game, it's wholesome and brilliant, also as a solo game.