Hacker News: Xxfireman

New comment by Xxfireman in "Z-Library Helps Students to Overcome Academic Poverty, Study Finds"

Xxfireman — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 04:12:20 +0000

Yes, this is how textbook manufactures sell to university. One time codes for online exercises / labs. This happens mostly for intro classes. I have no idea why universities do this, my guess is they are sold on hw problems being randomized so it makes cheating more difficult.

New comment by Xxfireman in "Hyrumtoken: A Go package to encrypt pagination tokens"

Xxfireman — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 05:10:11 +0000

“intellectual curiosity of your coworkers demands they base64-parse it.” This is crazy behavior. Creating your own pagination key, assuming it exists, and then putting that in production certainly proves “Hyrum’s law”.

New comment by Xxfireman in "The EdTech Revolution Has Failed"

Xxfireman — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 16:45:50 +0000

KISS. Teacher, Whiteboard, and a textbook. (Preferable one the student can keep at home and one in the classroom) EdTech resources are amazing for self-study, but should be divorced from the school system. There will be non-profit (Khan Academy) and for-profit options available for students and parents.

Though I am in favor of any suggestion that makes a teacher’s life easier.

However, I do have the controversial opinion that there should be no calculators allowed at all in K-12. So, I have some anti-tech bias.

New comment by Xxfireman in "The online sports gambling experiment"

Xxfireman — Mon, 11 Nov 2024 22:17:34 +0000

I agree that commentary was rambling anecdotes, stats, and repetition, but when I turn on the tennis channel and I see the commentators talking about the “Fan Dual match of the day” and the current match line odds, it makes me think the commentators are no longer for me (non-gambler), but for fan dual customers themselves. I do not have a problem with anyone gambling, but I would like prohibition of sports betting ads for content broadcasters, or at least limit advertisements to commercials only, no more integrating with the broadcast itself. Could you imagine commentators talking about the best F150 deals or any other commonly advertised product every 10 minutes? (Please don’t give advertisers any more ideas)

New comment by Xxfireman in "The online sports gambling experiment"

Xxfireman — Mon, 11 Nov 2024 21:51:02 +0000

This article touches slightly on how online sports gambling is ruining sports for non gamblers as well in the “The Product as Currently Offered is Terrible” section. We don’t get interesting stats or in-depth analysis by commentators now. All we get is the odds, over/under, etc. I will see pregame shows where commentators will pick 5 leg parlays (who benefits from this?) Sports as a product is shifting completely to a means of online gambling. I suspect it is because they make more money from a gambler than a viewer.

New comment by Xxfireman in "Brian Kernighan Reflects on Unix: A History and a Memoir [video]"

Xxfireman — Mon, 11 Nov 2024 20:48:10 +0000

link to the creators website: https://bookoverflow.io/

It has a list of previous books and talks. I was happy to see you could follow along with upcoming talks. Page numbers are included.

New comment by Xxfireman in "Virtual Windows 3.11 Computer"

Xxfireman — Mon, 11 Nov 2024 05:56:54 +0000

Does anyone else miss simple gray GUIs? There is something in my brain that associates that style with “real” computing. I would love to have an editor theme for it (IntelliJ / vs code / terminal.app).

New comment by Xxfireman in "Chegg is on its last legs after ChatGPT sent its stock down"

Xxfireman — Mon, 11 Nov 2024 05:35:54 +0000

I find the whole textbook market a scam for college students. How are colleges forcing students to buy the newest textbooks on subjects that have been around since the 1700s. There is no need for an intro calculus book printed in the 21st century.

New comment by Xxfireman in "Chegg Is on Its Last Legs After ChatGPT Sent Its Stock Down 99%"

Xxfireman — Mon, 11 Nov 2024 03:44:20 +0000

For Iphone users, I have been quite happy browsing in Safari using Wipr. It is incredible how long I went w/o it.

New comment by Xxfireman in "Standing Desk Might Be as Bad as Sitting All Day"

Xxfireman — Mon, 11 Nov 2024 01:57:06 +0000

I think it is obvious that staying stationary all day (standing vs. sitting) will be bad for cardiovascular health. I also don't think anyone believed standing would suddenly make working for 8+ hours a day in front of a computer screen healthy.

However, with a standing desk and split keyboard (apple trackpad in the middle), I personally feel I can work with some semblance of decent posture. When I work sitting down, especially for long periods of time, my posture degrades (tech neck, etc.) When standing up with a split keyboard, at least my posture is linear and my shoulders are back. From the study, apparently the improved posture benefits do not carry over to cardiovascular health benefits, but I would guess it is still beneficial. Very rarely in the office do I see people sitting with good posture (It is possible, but takes more conscience effort), but I will often see people standing with good "upright" posture.

tldr: Article mentions nothing about posture improvements. That is what I always thought improved the most moving from sitting to standing desks.