<rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><channel><title>Hacker News: arbitrary_name</title><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=arbitrary_name</link><description>Hacker News RSS</description><docs>https://hnrss.org/</docs><generator>hnrss v2.1.1</generator><lastBuildDate>Sun, 21 Jun 2026 11:20:37 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://hnrss.org/user?id=arbitrary_name" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"></atom:link><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by arbitrary_name in "Is AI ruining our skills? Early results are in – and they're not good"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I'm using it to learn coding.<p>i could not get through the hurdles of installing an IDE and js/python modules before.<p>now i am learning basic scripting and data modeling etc.<p>it is phenomenal for learning languages.<p>i built a chicken coop and some furniture. the skills and confidence i gained are real. am i failing to learn certain skills in the process? of course. but I'm getting further then i would on my own, and that is truly meaningful.<p>you can keep dismissing it; but I'm genuinely using it to break down barriers, give me confidence, and highlight my ignorance in very productive ways.<p>i find it bizarre how unwilling some people are to recognize that.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 19 Jun 2026 19:05:38 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48602018</link><dc:creator>arbitrary_name</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48602018</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48602018</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by arbitrary_name in "U.S. pulling ocean sensors a 'shock' for Canadian research as El Niño nears"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>it is extremely difficult to do in cases like this. again, why are we pulling the sensors? why not leave them in place and stop paying for maintenance?<p>why not find alternate funding mechanisms?<p>because we know who these people are, and what their motives are. they show us time and and time again.<p>empathy is something to be used against us.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 16 Jun 2026 20:47:54 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48561844</link><dc:creator>arbitrary_name</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48561844</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48561844</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by arbitrary_name in "Peopleless economy? Not technically impossible"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>yes? why is that even a question.<p>you have enough money to buy a phone and spare time to comment, just like me, while people die of hunger and thirst in Sudan: 50 dollars would buy life saving medicines and water treatment. but i spent it on a Spotify subscription and some weed.<p>also, i stepped over a homeless guy on my way into the grocery store last week.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 16 Jun 2026 15:54:27 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48557247</link><dc:creator>arbitrary_name</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48557247</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48557247</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by arbitrary_name in "Solar generates more energy in US than coal for first time"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>i think that is an overly simplistic axiom: the utilities must cover a fixed asset base (poles and wires and transformers), pretty much regardless of how much or whether a household consumes from the grid.<p>the less the utility recoups via billing for energy usage, the bigger the deficit to cover their fixed network costs.<p>they are frequently interested in having you consume energy, to help defray those costs, especially where the marginal cost of the energy is very low.<p>the more users who disconnect, the more the fixed costs must be recouped from a shrinking customer base, triggering more incentive to leave the network. this is called the death spiral.<p>In addition, things like balcony solar don't save them cost: it introduces complexity because they need to safely manage that load, they need to be able to predict and measure it; in my experience working with utilities and network operators for many years, they flat out don't want these distributed generation sources unless they have a lot of say in how they are added to the grid, and how users can be charged for the privilege of generating their own power. that is often a very significant barrier to regulatory change.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 11 Jun 2026 17:56:26 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48493966</link><dc:creator>arbitrary_name</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48493966</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48493966</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by arbitrary_name in "India's surprise baby bust"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>>The greatest thing a person can do is raise a child and build a legacy.<p>nice opinion, but it seems you are increasingly in the minority.<p>if the older generations can't find it in their hearts to take the long term view on social security funding, housing, climate change... why should we feel obligated to breed so there is a nice conveyor belt of wage slaves for them the pull the ladder on?<p>you sound very entitled.<p>and i think about myself because in the US, if i don't, no one else will.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 06 Jun 2026 04:35:29 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48421422</link><dc:creator>arbitrary_name</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48421422</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48421422</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by arbitrary_name in "Roughly a quarter of American professionals hit a wall in their careers"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>you mispelled 'every circle of hell'.<p>out of curiosity, why would you censor that word?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 01 Jun 2026 16:04:28 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48358690</link><dc:creator>arbitrary_name</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48358690</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48358690</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by arbitrary_name in "New York passes pied-a-terre tax"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>what does this even mean?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 28 May 2026 17:58:10 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48312857</link><dc:creator>arbitrary_name</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48312857</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48312857</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by arbitrary_name in "Ferrari Luce"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>why would the ultra wealthy care about it being an ev? operating cost and climate impact are not a priority when you are dropping 650k and living in a oil rich ME kingdom.<p>performance and aesthetics s would be more important, surely?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 26 May 2026 14:20:29 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48280234</link><dc:creator>arbitrary_name</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48280234</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48280234</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by arbitrary_name in "NSA is using Anthropic's Mythos despite blacklist"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>1) the Biden administration didn't start the war with Iran.<p>2)Sleepy Joe didn't pick a fight with the Pope<p>and that's just in the last month!<p>but that won't change your mind. nothing will.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 19:46:42 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47839599</link><dc:creator>arbitrary_name</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47839599</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47839599</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by arbitrary_name in "NSA is using Anthropic's Mythos despite blacklist"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>the Biden administration ( i hated sleepy Joe) was so much more competent and less corrupt then these guys.<p>it's not even close.<p>"Hunter bidens laptop!!" seems so distant and quaint.<p>the Pentagon declared Anthropic a supply chain risk, attempting to punitively destroy the company, then is adopting their product; please name a similarly asinine and farcical event from ANY  administration.<p>your whataboutism is just not capable of standing up to the weaponized idiocy of these guys.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 19:44:13 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47839559</link><dc:creator>arbitrary_name</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47839559</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47839559</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by arbitrary_name in "ChatGPT for Excel"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>just tried it: i can't even use CSV files with Copilot...<p>Without coming across as overly rude, it is frankly astonishing how limited Copilot is.<p>I do not like being an MS customer or user.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 16 Apr 2026 18:18:34 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47797372</link><dc:creator>arbitrary_name</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47797372</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47797372</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by arbitrary_name in "The future of everything is lies, I guess: Work"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>it's an interesting question: how much more productive would we all be if we were all as savvy/literate/productive with computers as some hypothetical comparator (I'm not sure programmers are the right comparison to make)?<p>for example, i am in operations and strategy, but have always wanted to be more technical because i could see the value for many many tasks. however, the learning curve was steep and so learning and doing other things drove better returns for me.<p>now, LLMs make learning basic concepts and executing simple tasks extremely easy, and i am realizing a higher level of productivity then previously; i used codex to do a test data migration and then evaluate the data quality. i could simply not have done this previously, but it is a meaningful change for me, that i can execute on this.<p>there is no maintenance burden: i don't have to keep the code alive. it simply sped up an otherwise manual and non repeated task.<p>i think that's what's so interesting and concerning about this technology: i think power and productivity will flow more broadly across the workforce. this will result in relative winners and losers, and some who will experience no real change at all.<p>similarly to the costs and benefits of mobile devices diffusing technology access; it changed some things, it created winners and losers and yet our daily lives are recognizable to someone from 50 or even more years ago.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 15 Apr 2026 21:47:08 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47785722</link><dc:creator>arbitrary_name</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47785722</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47785722</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by arbitrary_name in "The Future of Everything Is Lies, I Guess: New Jobs"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>the culture section of this writeup links to explicitly adult/erotic content in the footnotes and discusses 'adult themes' directly. his caution seems reasonable.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 15 Apr 2026 16:50:36 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47781762</link><dc:creator>arbitrary_name</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47781762</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47781762</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by arbitrary_name in "Seven countries now generate nearly all their electricity from renewables (2024)"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>why are you ignoring wind power in this argument thread?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2026 15:05:30 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47753076</link><dc:creator>arbitrary_name</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47753076</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47753076</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by arbitrary_name in "US and Iran agree to provisional ceasefire"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>you mean like when we deposed the Shah, creating the current regime?<p>you mean like when we invaded Iraq and Afghanistan? So many great examples of successful intervention to refer to!<p>you mean like Libya, right? or North Korea? should we fix them again too?<p>how... how do you hold this position without reading even just 20 years of history?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 08 Apr 2026 20:55:23 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47696134</link><dc:creator>arbitrary_name</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47696134</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47696134</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by arbitrary_name in "US and Iran agree to provisional ceasefire"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>the no kings movement draws a line between no kings in the USA, and leaving other countries to pursue the same.<p>didn't Donald Trump campaign on no more foreign wars? doesn't America First mean not starting some forever war?<p>and if there is a good case for intervention: then make it! what are the objectives? Regime change? we killed most of their leadership, and they are still running the show. We killed Osama... and then fled Afghanistan decades later. why is there such a short memory in this case? these dudes HATE US: their recruiting propaganda gets more effective with every bomb we drop on them.<p>and if regime change is so important, than surely we will invade North Korea next right? and Russia? what about them? how about Venezuela? ohhh, yeah we left the regime in place, with no change for the people living under it.<p>perhaps was controlling oil the key objective? well... we stopped sanctioning the Iranian regime, and they are still in a position to stop traffic in Hormuz: the current  terms they are asking gives them more control over the strait, rather than less?<p>so what the hell is our objective? can we just admit that we have no idea what we're doing, because we have no strategy?<p>Be an apologist for something that isn't truly riddled with internal inconsistency.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 08 Apr 2026 20:52:36 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47696105</link><dc:creator>arbitrary_name</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47696105</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47696105</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by arbitrary_name in "US and Iran agree to provisional ceasefire"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>why is that relevant? Israel is a nation state, the others are 'terrorist groups'. are they equivalent? your response seems to imply that.<p>Interesting.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 08 Apr 2026 16:04:48 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47692089</link><dc:creator>arbitrary_name</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47692089</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47692089</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by arbitrary_name in "Learn Claude Code by doing, not reading"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>sounds like you might benefit from a tutorial!</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 30 Mar 2026 22:33:16 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47580553</link><dc:creator>arbitrary_name</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47580553</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47580553</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by arbitrary_name in "We haven't seen the worst of what gambling and prediction markets will do"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>but not universally. oil refineries were causing asthma and environmental degradation.<p>them moving to another state is a regulatory failure (they shouldn't have another jurisdiction to move to, they should just operate without imposing negative externalities on others, spelling of the refineries).<p>what value is clean air? what is the value of a human life? how much is your attention worth?<p>these are questions that capitalism should not answer, but will nevertheless try to.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 27 Mar 2026 01:21:03 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47537995</link><dc:creator>arbitrary_name</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47537995</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47537995</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by arbitrary_name in "Walmart: ChatGPT checkout converted 3x worse than website"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>that's sad.<p>my neighbors are wonderful and i like chatting to them.<p>are you the bad neighbor?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 23 Mar 2026 21:54:53 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47495639</link><dc:creator>arbitrary_name</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47495639</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47495639</guid></item></channel></rss>