Hacker News: blairharper

New comment by blairharper in "The cult of vibe coding is dogfooding run amok"

blairharper — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 10:02:34 +0000

The real cult is the engineers who refuse to shift their perception of what "good" or "quality" means in a world where humans, for the most part, won't be reading or writing code anymore.

I get it, existential threats are scary, but you can't just shit talk them and hope they go away.

New comment by blairharper in "Much philanthropy is a routinized exchange between salaried bureaucrats"

blairharper — Tue, 24 May 2022 08:38:05 +0000

Welfare should rightly fund "survival" and "levelling the playing field" resources, but charity can offer more than that - it can offer quality of life and a sense of community/belonging. It's nice to be around other people who are going through the same things, and people who support you.

So I think charity will always have a role, both financially and socially.

New comment by blairharper in "London and the Anxiety Threshold"

blairharper — Sat, 26 Sep 2020 14:50:10 +0000

Thank you for the kind words! I’m glad you appreciated my writing.

False modesty wasn’t my intention, I’ll do better to explain myself next time. I didn’t mean to address any view of my own competence, more that I was able to build a successful career without going through conventional channels, and with an anxiety disorder. I was by all accounts, a drop out with mental health problems.

My writing skills come from a career in writing government policy documents and stakeholder communications. Not formal education channels.

New comment by blairharper in "London and the Anxiety Threshold"

blairharper — Sat, 26 Sep 2020 14:09:10 +0000

The London tube system is one of the oldest underground networks in the world. There’s no air conditioning, in fact it’s gotten so hot down there that the network has heated up the soil and clay around the tunnels. Heat management is a big infrastructure problem for Transport for London.

You’re completely right though, feeling too hot in a crowded space made me claustrophobic and became a significant environmental factor for me.

That’s interesting about financial/housing anxiety in NYC. I wonder if that’s something to do with renting? I was fortunate to be able to buy a place in London which meant my outgoings were fairly stable and predictable. Working in government also meant my job was pretty secure.

London and the Anxiety Threshold

blairharper — Sat, 26 Sep 2020 13:18:12 +0000

Article URL: https://medium.com/@dptvhjhr/london-and-the-anxiety-threshold-acb1d82f383a

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24598599

Points: 15

# Comments: 7