Hacker News: chkaloon

New comment by chkaloon in "Lost my phone at the office. Claude suggested tracking Bluetooth signal strength"

chkaloon — Sat, 08 Aug 2026 01:52:16 +0000

I did that a few years ago when my wife lost her fitbit in the woods. She knew the approximate area, +/- 50ft. Thick brush. Using a BT meter on the phone led me right to it like a metal detector

New comment by chkaloon in "The AI Aesthetic"

chkaloon — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 13:08:08 +0000

I use AI all the time, but I avoid the sparkle icons like the plague. Nothing good comes from accidentally hitting one of those.

New comment by chkaloon in "A nicer voltmeter clock"

chkaloon — Sun, 17 May 2026 01:11:03 +0000

Cool! I was at least hoping for an op amp or two for the circuit however ;)

New comment by chkaloon in "North American English Dialects"

chkaloon — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 13:08:09 +0000

Glad to see the special mention of the Mat Su Valley in Alaska. Lived there for 10 years, originally from Wisconsin. And yes, the two are VERY similar. Not the exactly the same, I did notice a difference when I moved back to WI, more nasal. But the Mat Su Valley was populated by Midwestern farmers during the Depression, so it makes sense.

New comment by chkaloon in "“It turns out” (2010)"

chkaloon — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 04:43:57 +0000

Massimo Pigliucci's favorite phrase. Used to drive me insane listening to Rationally Speaking

New comment by chkaloon in "The Space Race's Forgotten Theme Park"

chkaloon — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 03:07:57 +0000

Glad for the Disney reference. Before it became a marketing arm for Pixar movies it was an awesome venue for an optimistic future in Tomorrowland and then Epcot. It's a shadow of that former glory unfortunately.

New comment by chkaloon in "Everett shuts down Flock camera network after judge rules footage public record"

chkaloon — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 05:32:08 +0000

Awesome. I think I'll put in an open records request for the cameras down the street in my little Wisconsin town. See what happens

New comment by chkaloon in "We Will Not Be Divided"

chkaloon — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 05:09:24 +0000

Too late

New comment by chkaloon in "OpenAI reaches deal to deploy AI models on U.S. DoW classified network"

chkaloon — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 05:07:02 +0000

They know Sam has few scruples and will go for the money if the DoW says jump. These clauses mean zilch if Sam is involved

New comment by chkaloon in "We mourn our craft"

chkaloon — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 23:31:44 +0000

Depends on the project. For web based functionality it seems great, because of all the prior work that is out there. For more obscure things like Obsidian Note extentions or Home Assistant help it's more hit and miss

New comment by chkaloon in "Scientists find a way to regrow cartilage in mice and human tissue samples"

chkaloon — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 20:23:13 +0000

Years and years away unfortunately. Many trials and chances for failure on the human side.

It's discouraging to see these on HN and then realize that most never go anywhere, or are so far out you may not see it in your lifetime.

Maybe we should flag anything not already in a phase 3 trial :)

New comment by chkaloon in "Ask HN: What tech purchase did you regret even though reviews were great?"

chkaloon — Fri, 26 Dec 2025 02:18:43 +0000

Useful tho

New comment by chkaloon in "Private Equity Finds a New Source of Profit: Volunteer Fire Departments"

chkaloon — Sun, 14 Dec 2025 18:36:33 +0000

I'm always suspicious of articles like this. Having been part of a company that was the target of a few NYT articles, there is always more to the story. And parts that are just flat out wrong, but not being an expert or in the industry you just need to take their word for it and believe their anecdata.

New comment by chkaloon in "Installing and using HP-UX 9"

chkaloon — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 11:20:02 +0000

Thanks for this. Brings back so many memories of the long hours spent in computer rooms with HP 9000s and RS/6000s back in the 90s. Seeing that SAM interface made me shiver :)

It's great that there are folks like you preserving this history

New comment by chkaloon in "YouTube is taking down videos on performing nonstandard Windows 11 installs"

chkaloon — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 13:17:55 +0000

LAN Manager legacy still hanging around after 40+(?) years

New comment by chkaloon in "The American Nations regions across North America"

chkaloon — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 01:48:22 +0000

I would extend Yankeedom to the Mat-Su Valley of Alaska. Wisconsin, Minnesota colonists in the 1930s and more recent western Michigan transplants.

New comment by chkaloon in "Reverse Engineering the Mysterious Up-Data Link Test Set from Apollo"

chkaloon — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 01:54:52 +0000

So cool that the are people attempting to preserve this amazing, sometimes lost, history. I hope they are considering how to preserve their own work as they do this.

New comment by chkaloon in "Mushroom learns to crawl after being given robot body (2024)"

chkaloon — Sun, 20 Jul 2025 19:03:06 +0000

Here I thought ST Discovery had jumped the shark with its whole mycelium navigation plot device.

New comment by chkaloon in "The death of partying in the USA"

chkaloon — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 12:58:39 +0000

The article mentions alcohol consumption by kids, but I think it doesn't emphasize enough the effect of efforts like Mothers Against Drunk Driving and strict DUI laws. Back in the 70s and 80s having a few drinks at a party, bar or friend's house was normal and part of the social lubrication. Even drinks during lunch was common where I worked. No more. You either need to have a designated driver, find a taxi (which doesn't exist in most rural areas), or just not drink. The first two are a pain, so people opt for the latter and that social inhibition hangs around, and folks go home early. Have to get up for work in the morning, you know.

New comment by chkaloon in "Social anxiety disorder-associated gut microbiota increases social fear"

chkaloon — Sun, 15 Jun 2025 16:44:01 +0000

Can we just keep taking courses of scorched earth antibiotics until we come up with a microbiome combo that feels good?