Hacker News: billfor

New comment by billfor in "What we lost when we stopped letting kids leave the front yard"

billfor — Mon, 25 May 2026 15:14:21 +0000

History Channel has a good series about what gen X and baby boomers grew up with: https://www.history.com/shows/hazardous-history-with-henry-w...

In general there is excessive alarmism, and the internet makes it possible.

Leroy's elusive little people: A review on lilliputian hallucinations (2021)

billfor — Thu, 21 May 2026 15:14:00 +0000

Article URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763421001068

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48224172

Points: 4

# Comments: 1

New comment by billfor in "[dead]"

billfor — Thu, 21 May 2026 03:06:18 +0000

That's a rather long screed possibly by an AI thing, so it may have been mentioned in there, but you don't need to be a judge to be on the supreme court. So while it may be nice to hate Alito and file it, there is no practical benefit other than your (or the robots) enjoyment.

New comment by billfor in "Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit"

billfor — Thu, 21 May 2026 02:40:49 +0000

It proves nothing because Biden generally didn't fire anybody. Name all the times Biden fired ANYONE from his cabinet. Below the cabinet, compared to any other president, he just didn't fire people to any degree.

New comment by billfor in "Declining America"

billfor — Wed, 20 May 2026 21:29:40 +0000

If they lose it will be because they don’t track unfavorabilty ratings for your democrats as much as they do the current admin. It’s not enough (for moderates) to just say you hate the other guy.

New comment by billfor in "Tennessee man jailed 37 days for Trump meme wins settlement after lawsuit"

billfor — Wed, 20 May 2026 20:24:46 +0000

No there isn't, according to the appeals court which overturned it.

New comment by billfor in "What You Will Lose When You Retire – By Dan Haylett"

billfor — Wed, 20 May 2026 20:15:30 +0000

Genetically and environmentally some people need a job for identity and some don't. There are benefits and drawbacks to everything. If you are in the former category keep working indefinitely. Know yourself.

New comment by billfor in "Classic 7 is a Windows 10 LTSC mod to look 1:1 to Windows 7"

billfor — Thu, 14 May 2026 14:00:58 +0000

Similarly I think Android 4 or 8 were the best UI for phones, and anything beyond 8 just gets in the way.

New comment by billfor in "US inflation jumps to 3.8% as energy costs surge from Iran war"

billfor — Tue, 12 May 2026 15:07:48 +0000

What do you mean delivery tech? Your delivery tech is a cargo ship. We're not talking about an ICBM that requires sophisticated re-entry materials. We are talking about a crude gun-device like Hiroshima, which is actually pretty easy if you google it.

New comment by billfor in "I hate soldering"

billfor — Mon, 11 May 2026 21:54:17 +0000

I hate to say I love the fumes - that rosin smell is unique. Did many soldering projects in an enclosed area back when I was a kid. Everyone worked that way years ago. I wonder if the fumes kill more people than being neurotic about the fumes.

New comment by billfor in "A recent experience with ChatGPT 5.5 Pro"

billfor — Sun, 10 May 2026 06:34:45 +0000

Blame The Bee Gees: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jive_Talkin'

New comment by billfor in "Show HN: I wrote a flight simulator in my own programming language"

billfor — Sat, 09 May 2026 20:20:05 +0000

"The smartest programmer that has ever lived..." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TempleOS

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

billfor — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 03:56:53 +0000

It would be expensive to build a new train to JFK. The unions and regulations in NYC make those projects very long and very expensive (look at the 2nd Ave subway line). There is an "AirTrain" to JFK but you have to take other trains to get to it first. There was supposed to be one to LGA but it got cancelled. We used to have a really nice water shuttle to LGA but that also stopped many years ago. People didn't want to travel to the water shuttle and pay $20 to get to the airport in 15 minutes. I'm hard pressed to see how a cheap quadcopter ride is going to be anything other than a novelty unless the FAA allows the heliports to be built inland -- we've had a bad history with blades flying through the streets.

New comment by billfor in "Kyoto cherry blossoms now bloom earlier than at any point in 1,200 years"

billfor — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 23:57:49 +0000

Yes I am diminishing the case of global warming about the tree. The tree they kept records of 1200 years ago is not the cultivated one seen in many parks now. That tree is about a million years old. Article just says "Kyoto’s cherry trees", which would include the old and new ones. Importantly, the new cultivated ones bloom earlier.

This could be a case of trying to make a climate argument, when the underlying data is more nuanced. Maybe we should just say it's nice the trees are blooming earlier.

New comment by billfor in "Kyoto cherry blossoms now bloom earlier than at any point in 1,200 years"

billfor — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 21:21:06 +0000

I'm just clarifying parent comment that "1200 years of data is climate" by saying that longer periods also are climate data. I could have posted a graph of the holocene as well (I don't know that it would materially change my point). I made two points. The other was that we are in an ice age.

New comment by billfor in "Kyoto cherry blossoms now bloom earlier than at any point in 1,200 years"

billfor — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 20:45:31 +0000

If you go back a few million, that's also climate. We're still in an ice age. https://www.climate.gov/media/16817

New comment by billfor in "U.S. war in Iran has cost $25B so far, says Pentagon official"

billfor — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 16:30:35 +0000

He made efforts to end that already by being the first sitting president to meet with them during his first term, so I guess we'll see but Cuba is apparently next in line...

New comment by billfor in "U.S. war in Iran has cost $25B so far, says Pentagon official"

billfor — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 16:07:18 +0000

I think he ran on ending "forever wars", not whether or not Israel could flatten Palestine. He would probably also argue that Iran is a 47 year forever war that he is finally ending.

New comment by billfor in "Framework Laptop 13 Pro: Major Upgrades and Linux Front and Center"

billfor — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 19:09:05 +0000

I have an early 13 and find the expansion cards take a lot of effort to remove, so maybe it’s a batch thing. Seems like the new 13 redesigned it a bit anyway. I’ll probably get the new bottom so I can use the new battery.

New comment by billfor in "Work with the garage door up (2024)"

billfor — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 05:08:03 +0000

That's because most liberals don't like to be questioned or defend their positions, in general. On X they are forced to confront or actively block people. Note that the your comment is downvoted for essentially saying "twitter is still good" with no malice, and parent is still totally fine after saying (speciously) "twitter is for horny cryptobros". They have no actual response other than to downvote or leave for an echo chamber. This has been hashed out here many time before. Truth does not mind being questioned. A lie does not like being challenged.