Hacker News: ampersandwhich

New comment by ampersandwhich in "OpenAI Executive Who Opposed 'Adult Mode' Fired for Sexual Discrimination"

ampersandwhich — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 10:42:57 +0000

I mean, it definitely depends on which 'Here' we are talking about. If we're talking about Berlin, sure, I agree with you. But just as America is diverse, so, too, is Europe.

New comment by ampersandwhich in "Windows Notepad App Remote Code Execution Vulnerability"

ampersandwhich — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 10:08:09 +0000

Recently, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the Microsoft Store has a built-in CLI with that exact functionality. You just run `store updates` to check for updates to store-managed apps, and you can target specific items with `store update `. Of course, there's also winget for non-store applications (`winget upgrade`). I find them pretty handy as I have become quite used to managing my Linux installations with pacman over the past year or so. I discovered the store CLI completely by accident. It's not widely advertised.

New comment by ampersandwhich in "Direct Current Data Centers"

ampersandwhich — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 11:59:59 +0000

Also not a rocket surgeon, but to my understanding, modern satellites already have solar panels and radiators that account for the system's overall energy absorption and dissipation in low Earth orbit [1]. Therefore, plugging a supercomputer into the solar array instead of another instrument would likely not affect the overall heat profile meaningfully. Most energy in LEO is ultimately derived from solar irradiance and passes through the spacecraft regardless of internal usage. That said, take this with a grain of salt due to the aforementioned lack of astrochirurgical bona fides.

Edit: Added some primary sources [2][3][4], including an interactive website by Andrew McCalip which lets you play around with the unit economics of orbital 'datacenters' at various price points [4].

[1] https://youtu.be/DCto6UkBJoI

[2] https://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/suncatcher_paper.p...

[3] https://starcloudinc.github.io/wp.pdf

[4] https://andrewmccalip.com/space-datacenters

New comment by ampersandwhich in "EU hits X with €120M fine for breaching the Digital Services Act"

ampersandwhich — Sat, 06 Dec 2025 18:25:03 +0000

alephnerd, I have to flat out disagree with your grievances [0][1][2][3][4][5]. The more I read, the worse it gets. The fact that some people in a foreign country feel personally persecuted by the DSA and are willing to bully us around is not a good argument against it [1]. In fact, I think the American attitude of having "red lines" about this is quite frankly irrelevant to the bigger picture [2]. I think there are plenty of ego-syntonic justifications for why it's okay to take a different stance than us on our policies, but while there are plenty of sources, I don't think there is a lot of reasoned analysis [3]. I'm sure much of it is shaped by personal circumstances. But I admit, sweeping historical references can be interesting too [4]. As a Swede, I can tell you that not a single person I know cares about random companies in Czechia, Luxembourg, Germany or France getting pressured [5]. I'm not very familiar with it, but I'm sure Finland already regrets their previous stance on cloud-infra. Perceptions have fundamentally changed about the United States as an ally. As for GCAP and FCAS, they have different requirements and serve different purposes. What's your take on the next Gripen?

If you want to pressure Volkswagen, go ahead. Nobody cares. The fundamental flaw in your position is your implicit assumption about what we value or what motivates us. We're not Americans. I don't think America's "non-tariff barriers" are a valid concern. They are disingenuous rhetoric for domestic consumption. Heads would roll if there was ever an agreement with the US to lower our standards and open up local industries to competition from lower quality foreign importers due to geopolitical pressure. Pressure is not going to undo the DSA or the GDPR because they have broad support. As others have said, it is decades overdue. If Elon Musk is mad about having to follow the law, I'm sure he can find sympathy elsewhere. His sour grapes are not principled, they are about protecting his ego and finding others who do so for him.

Sorry for the bluntness, but I feel it is very much warranted.

[0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46170027#46170683

[1] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46170027#46170823

[2] - ibid.

[3] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46170027#46171255

[4] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46170027#46174642

[5] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46170027#46175036

New comment by ampersandwhich in "X hit with $140M EU fine for breaching content rules"

ampersandwhich — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 20:19:15 +0000

I see where this concern comes from. But I think people overinterpret the EU’s legislative agenda by focusing on which companies get fined. Since American firms dominate the global tech market, they naturally end up in the crosshairs more often. That can look like a racket if you disagree with the laws, especially given the size of the penalties.

I think a more mundane explanation, which I personally subscribe to, is that Europeans have different priorities than Americans. They don’t want the same trade-offs, and they’re willing to make certain business models economically unviable if they believe those models are harmful or in bad taste. US companies are disproportionately affected because they don't share those values. First amendment, etc.

From the outside, this can create the impression of "hidden motives": the stated reasons sound unconvincing, the effects fall heavily on US companies, and so people infer that the EU is targeting Americans. But really, I think we're just different. If US laws disproportionately burdened EU citizens, I’d expect Europeans to be equally upset. It's only natural. I'm sure few people in Europe would be thrilled to find out that GDPR doesn't apply to ChatGPT because they got involved in some copyright lawsuit in New York.

That said, there's always a mix of motivations. I'm personally not a fan of other EU initiatives, like the one on encryption, but I think GDPR and DSA mostly mirror what the average João wants. I'm not sure most people care that much about the geopolitics.

New comment by ampersandwhich in "Europe is not ready to be a “third superpower”"

ampersandwhich — Thu, 13 Apr 2023 18:57:45 +0000

The EU envisions a united, prosperous, and sustainable Europe, prioritizing democracy, social justice, and coöperation both internal and global.

Despite its clear humanist project, the anglosphere's continued failure to recognize this is almost farcical by now.

Edit: To be clear, I agree, for the most part, with this article.

New comment by ampersandwhich in "ChatGPT broke the EU plan to regulate AI"

ampersandwhich — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 16:36:48 +0000

No it's not.

New comment by ampersandwhich in "The 27th Letter"

ampersandwhich — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 13:09:40 +0000

Many languages lack an equivalent of "and". What you do is to just juxtapose the two concepts, or perhaps you have structural redundancies in the grammar.

Honestly, we could just use commas: After some discussion back, forth; we decided to get fish, chips. Then we droned on, on about this, that.