Hacker News: bb123

New comment by bb123 in "Report on an Unidentified Space Station – J.G. Ballard (1982)"

bb123 — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 10:53:18 +0000

I feel this should have a note that it's fictional in the title. I clicked this expecting to read about some kind of space race development with China or Russia.

New comment by bb123 in "AI will be used to estimate age of asylum seekers from next year"

bb123 — Fri, 29 May 2026 20:07:15 +0000

>the facade is painting over the underlying motivation which is to reject asylum claims.

That feels like an unfair read. Asylum seekers claiming to be younger than they are is a known reality, and it makes total sense that a system would need to guard against that. Are you suggesting we just take every person who shows up at the border at their word?

New comment by bb123 in "Apple accidentally left Claude.md files Apple Support app"

bb123 — Fri, 01 May 2026 15:40:45 +0000

"What a computer is to me is it's the most remarkable tool that we've ever come up with, and it's the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds." — Steve Jobs.

New comment by bb123 in "Joby kicks off NYC electric air taxi demos with historic JFK flight"

bb123 — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 08:27:48 +0000

I'm much less optimistic. Even when factoring in the poor thermal efficiency of gas turbines (~30-40%) compared to electric (>90%), the usable specific energy gap remains immense. Jet-A still delivers roughly 14 times more useful work per kilogram than modern batteries. Removing fuel plumbing and tweaking airframes won't overcome that fundamental physics. Also the issue with the high-altitude efficiency argument is that batteries, unlike liquid fuel, don't lose mass during flight meaning the aircraft to haul its maximum takeoff weight from departure to arrival. It's a double whammy.

New comment by bb123 in "Moleskine's AI Lord of the Rings collection can only mock"

bb123 — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 12:24:53 +0000

I don't really have a problem with this - the designs look nice and don't have any of the hallmarks of AI slop. My issue is when the AI generated product is just bad, not merely the fact it was AI generated.

New comment by bb123 in "Moleskine's AI Lord of the Rings collection can only mock"

bb123 — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 12:20:58 +0000

If you're asking me to pay for it, then yes.

New comment by bb123 in "Identify a London Underground Line just by listening to it"

bb123 — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 11:00:37 +0000

Nice! It would be fun to include some of the other sounds on the tube like the door closing chimes or the sounds the doors make when opening and closing.

New comment by bb123 in ""Token anxiety", a slot machine by any other name"

bb123 — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 10:41:02 +0000

What's with the lack of capitalisation at the start of sentences? It makes it hard to parse where one sentence ends and the next begins.

New comment by bb123 in "Grokipedia and the coup against reality"

bb123 — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 19:23:13 +0000

That has not been my experience with them at all. I've done nearly quarter of a million miles in various Teslas and never had a serious issue. My service experience with them has also been lightyears ahead of the traditional manufacturers.

New comment by bb123 in "Tesla Recalls Almost 13,000 EVs over Risk of Battery Power Loss"

bb123 — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 13:58:45 +0000

Nothing immediately - Teslas have a both a High Voltage system for the traction battery and a Low Voltage system powered by a separate 12-15V battery. The HV system keeps the LV system charged and most critical safety related functions run on the 12V system. The booster, ABS/ESP, airbags, and steering assist are all designed to remain functional long enough for a controlled stop after an HV disconnection.

You obviously wouldn't be able to speed up again, which depending on the situation, would be where the danger lies.

New comment by bb123 in "DoorDash and Waymo launch autonomous delivery service in Phoenix"

bb123 — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 17:36:27 +0000

Ok? So you've never lived anywhere that isn't relatively central and walkable. Many people do (even in Europe!). I am one of them. And on a night when I am working late being able to order a hot pizza to my front door is a godsend.

New comment by bb123 in "Ancient law requires a bale of straw to hang from Charing Cross rail bridge"

bb123 — Thu, 22 May 2025 11:08:32 +0000

Reminds me of the fact that for 500 years everyone graduating with a BA from Oxford had to swear that they would never agree to the reconciliation of Henry Symeonis, despite no one having any idea who he was for most of that time.

New comment by bb123 in "Changes in schizophrenia diagnoses associated with cannabis use disorder"

bb123 — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 01:23:11 +0000

I'm not really surprised by this finding. My anecdotal experience has been that pretty much everyone knows a friend or a friend of a friend who smoked too much pot and had their life go off the rails. It is pretty clear to me that it is not a harmless herb despite that being the commonly held belief on places like Reddit.

New comment by bb123 in "Operation Leg – a pilot unlike any other (2020)"

bb123 — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 16:32:38 +0000

I don't think that was the rationale. For captured senior/important figures were given all kinds of affordances and gestures made which contrast shockingly with the conditions we know people endured in concentration camps.

For example Senior officers at Colditz often received parcels from home with stuff like cigars, chocolates, and spirits, sometimes through diplomatic agreements with the Red Cross. This was at a time when Germany in general was starving. They also organised theatre productions, orchestras, and even sports events.

I think this is just a relic of a different era and a different code of war - similar to how long before this Naval captains from opposing sides often shared meals after a ship's surrender. It is hard to imagine now.

New comment by bb123 in "TikTok preparing for U.S. shut-off on Sunday"

bb123 — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 17:59:02 +0000

Reciprocity is not a good idea. Why would we want to copy every bad foreign law?

New comment by bb123 in "Chemists Create World's Thinnest Spaghetti"

bb123 — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 17:40:00 +0000

I think this is a branding thing. They refer to themselves pretty much everywhere as "UCL".

New comment by bb123 in "BYD to launch its smallest EV in Australia, hinting at low-cost Seagull arrival"

bb123 — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 09:27:08 +0000

The Peugeot e-208 starts at £22k and you can pick up one thats less than 2 years old for about £10k. The idea that there aren't any affordable EVs hasn't been true for years.

New comment by bb123 in "Microsoft Remote Desktop will be renamed to Windows App"

bb123 — Fri, 30 Aug 2024 15:04:31 +0000

I suppose this will become another instance of "Outlook" where finding documentation or support for your version of the product (the web service or the email application) is made needlessly more complex.

New comment by bb123 in "Australia starts peanut allergy treatment for babies"

bb123 — Sat, 03 Aug 2024 06:31:25 +0000

It was extremely costly :( But given how dangerous my peanut allergy was I considered it money well spent - it will probably save my life.

New comment by bb123 in "Australia starts peanut allergy treatment for babies"

bb123 — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 21:19:01 +0000

About a year overall but I started to have meaningful protection after about 6 months. There is no one in the UK currently offering it for adults so I had to travel to a specialist clinic Atlanta a few times.