Hacker News: alanbernstein

New comment by alanbernstein in "Show HN: Jigsaw Haiku"

alanbernstein — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 22:40:34 +0000

Thanks!

Another suggestion: more feedback when two pieces click together - I'm currently dragging it around to check if they're connected. For example, they could lose the outline that separates them, or change outline color to be the same.

New comment by alanbernstein in "Λ Snap – An inviting programming language for kids and adults for CS study"

alanbernstein — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 18:54:27 +0000

If you appreciate when keyboard interaction gets added to a GUI, then you might think of a graphical language as the opposite, as it essentially removes keyboard interaction from what is normally a text-based system.

New comment by alanbernstein in "Show HN: Jigsaw Haiku"

alanbernstein — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 00:39:42 +0000

Neat. Doesn't work well in android Firefox for me.

New comment by alanbernstein in "Programming is Art"

alanbernstein — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 13:41:13 +0000

No, because it doesn't make sense to experience it in that context. I think of it as more like poetry . For example: https://www.norvig.com/spell-correct.html

New comment by alanbernstein in "Turn satellite imagery into a paper globe you fold yourself"

alanbernstein — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 07:29:42 +0000

Clearly the classic of polyhedral globes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dymaxion_map

New comment by alanbernstein in "An internal OpenAI Astra model solved 10 major open math and CS problems"

alanbernstein — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 13:00:17 +0000

Not that I disagree, but I think this is how many people feel about AI output in fields they care about.

It's also a funny historical mirror to an earlier phase of math proof culture: in a previous era, cryptic result dumps were quite common.

New comment by alanbernstein in "The Complete Homemade Juggling Beanbag Guide"

alanbernstein — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 23:06:41 +0000

Aluminum chain mail!

New comment by alanbernstein in "The Complete Homemade Juggling Beanbag Guide"

alanbernstein — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 23:05:21 +0000

These look nice. I met someone with juggling balls made of aluminum chain mail, I immediately thought it was the best material for the purpose. She said she made them herself, then shared the instructions with me. It was a great COVID project. Now I have three juggling balls, and a bunch of leftover rings that I use occasionally for small repair and mounting tasks.

New comment by alanbernstein in "Costco is the anti-Amazon"

alanbernstein — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 21:49:38 +0000

No, not if you're matching the volume of items between the two scenarios.

New comment by alanbernstein in "Costco is the anti-Amazon"

alanbernstein — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 20:44:15 +0000

Right, 100 trucks delivering 100 single items to 100 homes, or 100 consumers each making 1 trip to buy 100 things. It really depends on the details too much to simplify it so far.

New comment by alanbernstein in "Calvin and Hobbes and the price of integrity"

alanbernstein — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 21:19:54 +0000

I suggested it to my young kids and it became an instant favorite.

New comment by alanbernstein in "The worst job interview I ever had"

alanbernstein — Wed, 27 May 2026 06:09:49 +0000

Do you experience many "life challenges" at work?

New comment by alanbernstein in "I want to live like Costco people"

alanbernstein — Thu, 07 May 2026 22:36:14 +0000

Is the super-consumption aspect of it really so different than any other big box store?

New comment by alanbernstein in "Valve releases Steam Controller CAD files under Creative Commons license"

alanbernstein — Thu, 07 May 2026 05:27:01 +0000

In steam deck desktop mode, the touchpad-as-mouse makes it just bearable enough to use. I can't use desktop mode with a wireless Xbox controller with no touchpads. It's really the missing input type that makes the steam deck a complete tv-docked PC.

New comment by alanbernstein in "Neanderthals ran 'fat factories' 125k years ago (2025)"

alanbernstein — Sun, 03 May 2026 10:14:50 +0000

As they say, history rhymes

New comment by alanbernstein in "Neanderthals ran 'fat factories' 125,000 years ago (2025)"

alanbernstein — Sun, 03 May 2026 10:12:47 +0000

You might enjoy Hominids by Robert Sawyer

New comment by alanbernstein in "Ti-84 Evo"

alanbernstein — Fri, 01 May 2026 21:00:09 +0000

Ti89 emulator on my android. Muscle memory from high school and college use is strong.

New comment by alanbernstein in "Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln in the same photo (2010)"

alanbernstein — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 17:57:29 +0000

And yet, anything beyond one lifetime is entirely out of reach...

New comment by alanbernstein in "AI Will Be Met with Violence, and Nothing Good Will Come of It"

alanbernstein — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 15:09:26 +0000

The tearing down of those institutions IS the ebb.

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

alanbernstein — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 23:08:13 +0000

The most material is removed at the corners of the lid-lifting notch. Those are IMO the most offensive pointy part on the body.