Hacker News: dev_dull

New comment by dev_dull in "How to run your own mail server (2017)"

dev_dull — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 00:27:09 +0000

Before you get too far down this rabbit hole (like I did) for a home mail server, make sure that your ISP supports inbound/outbound mail traffic. Mine blocks it permanently, and I've been unsuccessful at getting it changed. In fact, I can't even get the tech support people to understand the traffic is blocked before it reaches my house and it's not a "firewall" thing.

New comment by dev_dull in "Heliogen’s new tech could unlock renewable energy for industrial manufacturing"

dev_dull — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 17:59:41 +0000

> Previous commercial concentrating solar thermal systems could only reach temperatures of 565 degrees Celsius, the company said. That’s useful for generating power, but can’t meet the needs of industrial processes.

Or we could build more nuclear power plants, which have the duty cycle necessary for industrial applications. It's no wonder that the more conservative politicians seem to love nuclear more: it's a pro-business, pro-industry carbon-free energy source, unlike wind and solar (or the insane amount of batteries to make it work.

New comment by dev_dull in "Seiko 7S26 for Novice Horologists (2012)"

dev_dull — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 20:54:20 +0000

Really cool site and instructions for an automatic watch. I recently switched to a manual watch, and I think personally I prefer it more. Winding my watch is now part of my every day routine and I look forward to it.

I also calculated that each "click" on the wind represents 15 minutes, so when I wind it up and hear the clicks, I know that's time I'll spend today that I won't get back, so spend it well!

New comment by dev_dull in "The Value in Go’s Simplicity"

dev_dull — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 17:05:46 +0000

The problem is you’re delighted by the code but everyone who comes after you can’t stand it.

New comment by dev_dull in "The Value in Go’s Simplicity"

dev_dull — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 15:40:36 +0000

For CLI it’s true to the Go mantra. If the flags library is “good enough” why not just use it and avoid being fancy?

Besides, isn’t it feasible someone might confuse long and short options? “Is -d and —delete the same, or is -d —debug??” KISS even if it’s annoying.

As for loops, I know that they’re generally more common in Go. Another example is finding if an element exists in a slice. Most of the implementations is this stuff is just a loop under the hood in the end.

From a Java background it was strange to me because I’m used to dealing with classes and there’s always a method for this or that...

New comment by dev_dull in "GitHub Archive Program"

dev_dull — Wed, 13 Nov 2019 19:51:23 +0000

"Python 2.7 only??!"

New comment by dev_dull in "Snopes Under Legal Attack from Salon.com"

dev_dull — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 21:49:14 +0000

Here's a "partisan" topic: "Have Democrats Tried to Impeach Every GOP President Since Ike?"[1]

According to their site it's 5 out of 6 presidents, or roughly 80%. Their rating: mostly false. Looks mostly true to me.

1. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/dems-impeach-gop-president...

New comment by dev_dull in "Snopes Under Legal Attack from Salon.com"

dev_dull — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 21:44:04 +0000

> Actual headline: "Did CNN Purchase an Industrial-Sized Washing Machine to Spin News"

What line does this walk? Things that are even physically possible and things that are not? I just can't believe Snopes dedicated cycles to debunking this.

Thankfully it got some press and they changed the label to "satire". I can't tell exactly when because the snopes link has been excluded from the way back machine (for whatever reason).

New comment by dev_dull in "Snopes Under Legal Attack from Salon.com"

dev_dull — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 15:33:45 +0000

I’m glad I’m not the only one wondering what was up with that.

Also, snopes is not an innocent reference site. Their “debunking” of satire like Babylonbee can cause those sites to be deplatformed.

New comment by dev_dull in "Facebook iOS app has camera active during use"

dev_dull — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 04:36:23 +0000

This can be done easily and without jail breaking on any iPhone with tools such as Charles proxy (provided they don’t do certificate pinning). They work by having you generate, install, and trust a profile which includes a root CA.

New comment by dev_dull in "When your data doesn’t fit in memory: the basic techniques"

dev_dull — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 22:27:59 +0000

My assumption was that the system had finite ram available, whether that's serialized in a database or read directly into the program.

New comment by dev_dull in "Elephants Rarely Get Cancer, Now We Know Why (2015)"

dev_dull — Sat, 09 Nov 2019 07:08:00 +0000

A Tasmanian devil though??!

New comment by dev_dull in "NASA Flew Gas Detectors Above California, Found ‘Super Emitters’"

dev_dull — Fri, 08 Nov 2019 18:37:41 +0000

> The report doesn’t identify these “super emitters,” but notes that landfills give off more methane than any other source in the state. NASA’s equipment found that a subset of these landfills were the largest emitters in California and exhibited “persistent anomalous activity.”

Is the problem here that the trash is breaking down, or it's breaking down in a suboptimal way (such as anaerobic activity) that's causing methane to be released instead of a more benign gas?

New comment by dev_dull in "In Praise of the 5-Hour Workday and Other ‘Radical’ Ideas"

dev_dull — Thu, 07 Nov 2019 05:32:20 +0000

Exactly! I have so many side projects I like to tinker with while I'm at home. I use them as a way to learn a new skill. Eventually those skills will come home to my employer, either with new ideas, frameworks, experience, etc. But for that to happen I need the time to self-explore and follow my own ideas.

New comment by dev_dull in "Indiana Bell moved a functioning building in 1930"

dev_dull — Thu, 07 Nov 2019 05:28:13 +0000

Sometimes I wonder if we were just a different type of people 100 years ago. People were standing in the balcony while it was being lifted? Going to work as normal!? Society would never tolerate such risk these days.

New comment by dev_dull in "Solar farm has to switch off every second day due to negative prices"

dev_dull — Thu, 07 Nov 2019 05:20:17 +0000

why would they pay for someone else to use their energy? It just eats into their profits and means that their normal customers have to pay more for the solar energy.

New comment by dev_dull in "German government expands subsidies for electric cars"

dev_dull — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 16:39:54 +0000

I paid $11k for my used 2015 leaf about 2 years ago. I charge it every other day (90 mile range) by plugging it in at work or at home into a DC charger that’s connected to my dryer outlet.

For these cars they work great but you have to accept that they usually have to be charged every other day.

New comment by dev_dull in "Apple Commits $2.5B to Ease California Housing Crunch"

dev_dull — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 20:11:03 +0000

You’re taking a loan out. How’s does it “make” money without negative interest rate? And I missing something??

New comment by dev_dull in "Apple Commits $2.5B to Ease California Housing Crunch"

dev_dull — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 18:46:32 +0000

> The increase in price funds much of their retirement.

What increase in price? Your “profits” were simply transferred to the other home owners profits. To extract real benefit you need to move out of state which is not what a lot of people want to do.

New comment by dev_dull in "Apple Commits $2.5B to Ease California Housing Crunch"

dev_dull — Mon, 04 Nov 2019 18:44:52 +0000

> Because a housing crisis leads to skyrocketing home values. They benefit from increased housing prices.

That’s the point I’m trying to make. A home’s value is NOT liquid. You can’t extract any portion of it until you move. And you have to move AWAY to get that value.

The best you get is a relatively low interest HELOC but that’s hardly a money maker.

In fact a lot of people are stuck in their homes for that reason. Any move would be a 5x or 10x change in property tax bill.