<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: blunte</title><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=blunte</link><description>Hacker News RSS</description><docs>https://hnrss.org/</docs><generator>hnrss v2.1.1</generator><lastBuildDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2026 01:23:36 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://hnrss.org/user?id=blunte" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"></atom:link><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by blunte in "Tell HN: HN is not immune to manipulation"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Did you bother to look at the poster's submissions?  It's not "thought policing".  It is intent-awareness.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 14 Apr 2022 01:46:20 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31022531</link><dc:creator>blunte</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31022531</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31022531</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by blunte in "A lesson in game design – Tempest"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>That's unfortunate.  The submission page says link or text, and I wanted to say something.<p>Thank you for the suggestion!</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 13 Apr 2022 23:58:24 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31021821</link><dc:creator>blunte</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31021821</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31021821</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by blunte in "Ask HN: Have you created programs for only your personal use?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Perhaps because ffmpeg and other swiss army knife tools can do so many useful things.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 13 Apr 2022 23:03:30 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31021396</link><dc:creator>blunte</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31021396</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31021396</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by blunte in "Ask HN: Have you created programs for only your personal use?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>For dev-types and general tinker-problemsolver types, that's assumed.<p>I can't count how many things I've made, most of which I abandoned after I stopped needing them.  Sometimes I just make a one line shell script that uses a command line util, and other cases I'll write a bigger "script" (higher level programming language" which often still leverages command line tools.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 13 Apr 2022 23:02:53 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31021391</link><dc:creator>blunte</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31021391</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31021391</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by blunte in "You’re muted – or are you? Videoconferencing apps may listen when mic is off"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>What's not clear to me is whether other participants of the meeting are aware of my sound while my mic is "muted".<p>I'm far less concerned about the videoconference system hearing me than my other meeting participants.  This morning during a boring company-wide meeting I accidentally fell asleep (it was an early morning meeting and I was still in bed!)<p>All that said, it should really be a right of consumers that audio and video capture devices have a physical on/off switch.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 13 Apr 2022 22:59:12 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31021360</link><dc:creator>blunte</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31021360</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31021360</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by blunte in "A dirty dish by the sink can be a big marriage problem"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>It's a question of what you live for and where you find your worth.  If you live for other people, and you find your worth in them, then you will direct your path accordingly.<p>If you find your worth from within, or perhaps from without in a very broad sense (making something big that the world needs/wants/admires), then 1:1 is not so important.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 13 Apr 2022 22:46:11 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31021255</link><dc:creator>blunte</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31021255</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31021255</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by blunte in "A dirty dish by the sink can be a big marriage problem"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Maybe this is my pessimistic view, but most relationships don't last.  Some of the ones that do last only because of complacency or discipline (but they arguably should dissolve).<p>Conscious memory seems to favor the positives.  Unconscious memory favors the negatives.  If you quickly raise your hand near a person who has been physically abused a child, even as an adult they may instinctively recoil.  But if you ask someone about their lost relationship, they will often speak of the great things of their partner, ignoring the (perhaps incomprehensible or inarticulable) negatives.<p>Life is hopefully quite long.  Relationships involve 2 (+?) people.  During one's life, one hopefully changes a lot.  Picture vectors in two dimensions.  People who pair up are vectors that cross at one moment (brief) or run somewhat parallel for a period.  Try as we might, adjusting our trajectories, it's practically impossible to maintain a parallel path without giving up some or all of our own development.<p>So realistically in our modern times, relationships are based on a period of relatively parallel trajectories.  And when the distance between those vectors becomes to great, it's time to stop trying to maintain a connection.  That involves some feelings of sadness, but it also offers new possibilities.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 13 Apr 2022 22:44:03 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31021236</link><dc:creator>blunte</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31021236</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31021236</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by blunte in "A dirty dish by the sink can be a big marriage problem"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>There's really a lot in this essay, and I'll forget or get before before I provide all the commentary I might want to.<p>> But she never did. She never agreed.<p>Your rights end where mine begin.  And by that, I mean "my intolerance trumps whatever your opinion is".<p>That means the most flexible people, often the most rational, have to accept the intolerance and lack of flexibility of others to coexist.<p>I don't like my kitchen counter cleaned with a rag that becomes dirty upon first use and then adds bacteria on multiple following uses.  I would rather the counter keep only the germs it currently has.  Or better yet, I would prefer it be cleaned with a fresh towel or even light detergent and very hot water.<p>I don't like the toothpaste bottle to be buried in a basket under my wife's nightly consumables, such that when I go to bed later I have to dig through a lot of stuff to find the toothpaste.  I would rather the bottle be left on the counter where both people can find it.  But that bottle on the counter is a no-no.  So I bend, but it pushes me a little more away every night.<p>> It was about consideration<p>I do not believe that consideration was the issue with TFA's wife.  TFA had valid reasons for leaving a glass on the counter.  Wife lacked consideration and pragmatism.<p>As an alien to earth, I realize my perspective may be warped.  But it makes sense to me.<p>And as such, I think the problem with most relationships is ignorance and lack of ability to reason.<p>Reasons people feel how they feel:<p>- there is a practical time/money/pain cost between the alternatives<p>- there is a habit which is hard to change<p>- there is a behavior with no forethought and no post-evaluation<p>Some things have assessable costs.  I could come up with any number of examples, but one very silly example would be parking.  If I choose to park behind someone on a driveway instead of beside or on the street, it will take the starting and moving of my car (time, fuel, and minor wear and tear cost) to move my car out of the way so they can leave.  Now in the larger consideration, perhaps there is no side-by-side room, and the street option is risky.  Then it's a matter of risk balancing and personal time cost.<p>Some things are just habits, often learned from our upbringing.  Someone who grows up with a particular scarcity will be extra sensitive to waste on that resource.  Even when the resource is no longer restricted (what's the right word I'm looking for?), the habit remains.  "Don't use so much water!".  "Yes, but it takes 60 seconds for the hot water to reach the faucet, and proper washing requires (debatable) water temperature."  Or "nothing should be left on the counter", so the toothpaste goes into a bin beneath many other things.  So whomever comes next to brush must dig for the toothpaste.  Amusingly (passively-aggressively) my solution to the toothpaste problem was to buy a freaking lot of them and get a new one each night, allowing them to pile up.<p>Finally, there are just behaviors we learned as kids before we had reason.  Some things must be done a very specific way, and other things can be done any way.  Unfortunately, two people from different families will have different combinations of specific and any.  Then it comes down to realization of the behavior and rational analysis of the pros and cons, and perhaps then the alternatives.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 13 Apr 2022 22:35:43 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31021159</link><dc:creator>blunte</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31021159</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31021159</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by blunte in "Xkcd: Weird Unicode Math Symbols"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Never a dull moment!  Some good laughs on several of those :).  def avoid the snakes!</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 13 Apr 2022 22:15:02 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31020969</link><dc:creator>blunte</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31020969</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31020969</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[A lesson in game design – Tempest]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Tempest: Atari 1981<p>Simple mechanics, novel design, increasing complexity<p>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempest_(video_game)<p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiTgA3ZOoSo<p>Because of the CRT screen and the vector graphics, the in-person experience was unique and difficult to replicate.  Likewise, the very simple button and rotating knob interface combination was approachable but presented unique challenges in the gameplay.</p>
<hr>
<p>Comments URL: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31020953">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31020953</a></p>
<p>Points: 4</p>
<p># Comments: 2</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 13 Apr 2022 22:13:07 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31020953</link><dc:creator>blunte</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31020953</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31020953</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by blunte in "Ask HN: How do you find an expert?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>These would typically be short, time-boxed engagements (like one or two hours or less).<p>For example, some years ago I was trying to setup a Stellar (cryptocurrency) node, but I was having some problems with configuration.  I asked on the Stellar slack or discord group and found someone who was willing to help.  We negotiated $100/hr, and then we arranged a time to meet online.  In the end, I paid for 1.5 hours of time, and it was well worth it.  If he had solved my problem in 5 minutes, I would have still paid for a minimum 1 hour; win-win.<p>It seems like there could be a matchmaking service to facilitate exchanges like this.  It's a bit like how you can go to stackoverflow, and if you happen to see a question you know the answer to but which has no answers, you may choose to take 5 minutes (for free!) and answer it.<p>In this case, however, requests would expire after a specified time.  Solution providers could setup notifications for certain topics so they know when there's a need for their expertise.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 13 Apr 2022 13:29:58 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31014417</link><dc:creator>blunte</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31014417</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31014417</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by blunte in "Collision hotspots for migrating birds revealed in new study"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>The point was that this article had useless links in the article which were not pertinent to the specific topic, and it mentioned a map from a study, but it did not show or link to the map (or the study!).<p>Other commenters replied to me and linked to the study, which does have a low-res but useful map.  That is all I wanted, and it should have been linked in the original article.<p>Paper: <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.14160" rel="nofollow">https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365...</a><p>Map: <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/cms/asset/9cf4b1bf-94b6-4fb5-a473-d5d515f2c352/jpe14160-fig-0001-m.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/cms/asset/9cf4b1...</a></p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 13 Apr 2022 08:59:37 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31012510</link><dc:creator>blunte</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31012510</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31012510</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by blunte in "Tell HN: HN is not immune to manipulation"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Ok.  Even so, I think there could be some automation to at least hold submissions for review based on patterns.<p>Perhaps I'm lazy, but I can't imagine submitting 10+ links per day.  That seems like a bit of an outlier which could be identified programmatically.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 13 Apr 2022 01:57:48 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31010424</link><dc:creator>blunte</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31010424</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31010424</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by blunte in "Tell HN: HN is not immune to manipulation"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I intentionally did not identify the poster.  But if you look at recent submissions regarding birds and phys.org, you'll find them.<p>As for hyperbole, I think it's a valid concern.  If that user is allowed to operate freely, (and assuming that user is being paid or is a bot), then we can expect many more like them to appear.  Then indeed HN will be drowned in garbage submissions.<p>Unless the mods have analytics which identify odd patterns of behavior, they will depend on users to flag things.  And if only a few users flag something, then most other users won't see it.  Thus, it only gets "some" flags.<p>It seems more reasonable to judge a user by the volume of posts and submissions over time.  Who legitmately has time or motivation to submit 10+ things per day?  Or to do that several days in a short period?  Even if that is a real human choosing to promote content, does that not suggest some behavior which is likely to be detrimental to HN as a gathering place?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 13 Apr 2022 01:55:51 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31010416</link><dc:creator>blunte</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31010416</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31010416</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by blunte in "Tell HN: HN is not immune to manipulation"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>The suspicion of manipulation is based on years of evidence of "troll farms" and other social media campaigns.  To think that HN is immune is naive.<p>If arguably the smartest tech group on the internet cannot devise a defense, then we're more doomed than I thought.  After all, at the opposite end of the spectrum we have "AI" at Google and other companies banning users based on incomprehensible algorithms.  Surely there's a path between the extremes.<p>Consider for a moment how little it would cost to pay people to post on HN.  Other HN readers don't even need to see it; it just needs to get indexed by search engines.  That adds the weight of HN to the content which it is linking to as far as the search engines are concerned.  They probably aren't measuring HN reader votes.<p>So the question is, should we allow HN to be used as a lever to promote anything that a financially-backed group wants to promote?  Or can we devise ways to reduce or eliminate this?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 13 Apr 2022 01:48:41 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31010374</link><dc:creator>blunte</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31010374</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31010374</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by blunte in "Tell HN: HN is not immune to manipulation"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>That's the problem though... the post I saw wasn't flag-worthy.  It was a bit poor quality in my opinion, but it wasn't objectionable.<p>What was obvious to me was the frequency of submissions of the account, and additionally nature of the topics.<p>Simplistically, I would question the need for any HN user to submit more than one or two entries per day.  People who submit 10+ are probably suspect.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 13 Apr 2022 01:16:52 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31010164</link><dc:creator>blunte</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31010164</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31010164</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by blunte in "Ask HN: How do you find an expert?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I didn't know about AWS IQ.  That could be useful, but that is likely targeting more lengthy engagements (1 week and beyond).  I was thinking of shorter term, such as hours or few days.<p>As for how much to pay, it would depend on the problem and the buyer.  In my case, since my need is semi-hobby, I would pay $200 or less for someone who could answer my question.  The challenge is finding someone who actually knows the problem and scenario.  For that magical person, they can probably spend 15 minutes and earn $200.  Someone who doesn't immediately recognize the problem will spend more time, and then it will obviously be worth less to them.<p>So the challenge is in identifying the need and providing the matchmaking.  Especially for the HN crowd, we are likely to have exhausted the obvious web search solutions already; so we need someone who really knows the narrow domain.  Like in my case, I know there are probably 20-100 people in the world who have setup a pihole with cloudflared succesfully.  The trick is finding them :).</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 13 Apr 2022 01:05:05 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31010083</link><dc:creator>blunte</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31010083</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31010083</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Tell HN: HN is not immune to manipulation]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>It started innocently.  There was (is) a submission from phys.org about birds and windmills which caught my attention.  Ironically, it was the odd article which didn't provide links to the actual research or paper it mentioned which caught my eye.<p>Then in the comments, I saw a strange post from an HN reader (who was also the submitter) which merely pasted an intro paragraph from the phys.org page.  The comment and quote added nothing other than a visible "1 comment" to the post.<p>Looking at the submissions from this user, I saw dozens of submissions each day for the last several days.  Many had a particular slant related to a particular ongoing war.<p>Moderator dang is one person.  Is there any way we can keep HN from becoming drowned in garbage?</p>
<hr>
<p>Comments URL: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31009915">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31009915</a></p>
<p>Points: 12</p>
<p># Comments: 13</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 13 Apr 2022 00:40:34 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31009915</link><dc:creator>blunte</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31009915</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31009915</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by blunte in "Collision hotspots for migrating birds revealed in new study"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>The article has links for "power lines" (twice!), "wind" turbines, and "birds".<p>Despite mentioning the vulnerability maps, it does not link to such a map.  It does not even link to the study or paper.  I imagine many people would be interested in those significant details.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 13 Apr 2022 00:32:16 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31009872</link><dc:creator>blunte</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31009872</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31009872</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by blunte in "GoPro ripped out the guts of the Hero10 Black to give its bones to drones"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>GoPro has been performing relative miracles for years.  Their products are well worth the money for the benefits they provide -- if you have a reason to use them.<p>I've watched a lot of youtube videos, some of which were shot with quite expensive gear.  And honestly, the ones shot with a gopro set on wide (not ultra-wide) provide reliably great video in so many conditions, and very importantly without tearing or other weird artefacts which a lot of phones introduce.<p>Honestly, I'd like a 4th camera in the iPhone which is a GoPro...</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 13 Apr 2022 00:25:54 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31009831</link><dc:creator>blunte</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31009831</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31009831</guid></item></channel></rss>