Hacker News: anthony_d

New comment by anthony_d in "Has early Scratch experience led to fulfilling careers?"

anthony_d — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 10:25:05 +0000

I always love hearing from other people who started with computers by typing in basic from magazines.

For me it was a TI 99/4a and typing in code got me completely hooked on programming. Whether it was a game, a 4 bit cpu simulator of some sort (memories are vague) or a word search solver didn’t matter. It all felt magical.

Logo did nothing for me. It never gave me that sense of satisfaction that I got from writing in basic or assembly.

New comment by anthony_d in "And then the men with guns tell you to do it anyway"

anthony_d — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 21:52:02 +0000

The part I think people have given up on is the contract. There are no rights without obligations and there are no obligations with repercussions.

Side rant… every time I’ve heard "We're all in it together" it’s been from someone who believes the opposite. That phrase just grates now.

New comment by anthony_d in "How Americans view capitalism, socialism and free enterprise"

anthony_d — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 14:11:37 +0000

I can see the point but degree matters. If taxes are socialism then the world is essentially 100% socialist, and the word is essentially meaningless.

ChatGPT says 75-80% of business wealth in US is in publicly traded companies, so I’m skeptical the term owner is super useful either.

New comment by anthony_d in "How Americans view capitalism, socialism and free enterprise"

anthony_d — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 12:43:10 +0000

I think I like the suggestion, but it’s firmly on the capitalism end of the spectrum. Profit sharing is one of the incentives I look at when looking for a job. Not too far off from employee stock programs or matching 401k with company stock.

If you had suggested the “public” get a share of the profits then you start touching socialism but then I’d also hate the suggestion.

New comment by anthony_d in "Canceling "Hey""

anthony_d — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 23:05:04 +0000

Pretty sure they’re just a verbose troll.

New comment by anthony_d in "Teen hackers who live streamed cyber-attack on TfL jailed"

anthony_d — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 16:32:54 +0000

I’ve never seen Mother having an easier time. People don’t like admitting when they’re wrong.

New comment by anthony_d in "Why isn't LA repaving streets?"

anthony_d — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 22:07:09 +0000

References?

New comment by anthony_d in "Pentagon sets Friday deadline for Anthropic to abandon ethics rules for AI"

anthony_d — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 12:31:12 +0000

This is no different from the lawyers at any large organization telling individual teams not to use a specific vendor. It happens all the time.

Anthropic wants to dictate what the DoD can do with its product. The DoD said that means you’re not fit for purpose. Really not a big deal.

It’s just not reasonable to think the DoD will start doing license audits of individual missions so Anthropic can virtue signal.

New comment by anthony_d in "DOGE Track"

anthony_d — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 17:02:20 +0000

> My impression is that the vast majority of "savings" was never achieved by promised efficiency gains or elimination of pure waste, but instead simply by cutting projects, i.e. slashing some form of public service or benefit in order to save tax money. Which is obviously inferior.

That doesn’t seem inferior at all. There’s very little to be gained by doing everything the same but with less money; the only way to make an actual difference is to quit doing the stupid shit that’s expensive. That’s what 90% of the world means by efficiency, i.e. don’t do the things that don’t need done.

New comment by anthony_d in "China's CO2 emissions have now been flat or falling for 18 months"

anthony_d — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 14:56:38 +0000

What are you going on about? US emissions have been going down for the last 10 years: https://www.eia.gov/environment/

New comment by anthony_d in "The end of naked locker rooms"

anthony_d — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 23:23:31 +0000

Oppose and fear are not synonymous.

New comment by anthony_d in "The Washington Post Fired Me – But My Voice Will Not Be Silenced"

anthony_d — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 17:16:23 +0000

> > His point is not that black people are less capable but that DEI policies [cause] looser standards > These ideas are equivalent…

You’re grossly failing at basic logic here. One case is describing racism and one being racist. Those things are not the same.

> They don't believe that there are black people who are qualified…

Again, you’re failing at basic reading comprehension but now it looks intentional.

New comment by anthony_d in "The ROI of Exercise"

anthony_d — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 12:27:28 +0000

> How come it's the opposite in practice?

It’s not. “In practice” ≈ “your assumption”

New comment by anthony_d in "Forklifts require training"

anthony_d — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 23:07:12 +0000

I was under the impression that HN is at least as centered on self-promotion as any other social media site.

> You don't even have the dopamine hit of counting your content upvotes.

There’s a score displayed at the top right; I’m 100% that some percentage of visitors get a dopamine hit off that.

New comment by anthony_d in "Brad Lander detained by masked federal agents inside immigration court"

anthony_d — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 19:05:45 +0000

ICE agents are not generally required to present warrants. The agent has all sorts of conditions where they get to say no. If you think you’re above the law and can tell them what to do then you’re going to be arrested.

New comment by anthony_d in "Journalists wary of travelling to US due to Palantir surveillance"

anthony_d — Sun, 15 Jun 2025 17:01:42 +0000

I just started looking but I can’t find any supporting evidence for this story. The part where someone says “we both know why you’re here” just sounded like a cheesy movie line. The journalist mentioned that while being detained he met a woman who was on day 4 of detention… what exactly are the logistics of how they were handling detention?

It all just sounded so implausible. It reads like someone trying to spin a story to convince others of what they already wanted to believe, or maybe that kid in grade school who tells stories he read or saw, but swaps himself for the main character.

Why should I believe this person more than any random internet crank?

New comment by anthony_d in "How the US Built 5k Ships in WWII"

anthony_d — Thu, 08 May 2025 07:09:06 +0000

During war some tariffs essential go to infinity.

New comment by anthony_d in "How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?"

anthony_d — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 18:04:34 +0000

The need for inventory decreases at the same rate as the sales throughout, e.g. if it takes twice as long to sell a pair of shoes than you only need to hold half as many.

New comment by anthony_d in "Tourist in US chained 'like Hannibal Lecter'"

anthony_d — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 01:45:31 +0000

Did they tell you that?

New comment by anthony_d in "Tourist in US chained 'like Hannibal Lecter'"

anthony_d — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 17:36:20 +0000

I wouldn’t describe them as nationalistic or fascist. There’s no need to bring in any sort of political view… the problem is when little people get a little power. It can get ugly.