Hacker News: dirtbox

New comment by dirtbox in "Kidney Stones Are More Beautiful Than You Might Think"

dirtbox — Wed, 26 Sep 2018 06:57:40 +0000

Sorry, I missed this - Quite simply my kidneys filter more than they're meant to, it's hereditary, as you've discovered. I've found that a cup of stone breaker tea once or twice a week keeps them at bay so that's well worth looking into. Look it up on Amazon.

New comment by dirtbox in "Kidney Stones Are More Beautiful Than You Might Think"

dirtbox — Thu, 20 Sep 2018 07:24:36 +0000

I get one to two stones per year because my kidneys are over efficient. I'm fairly used to it now and can usually pass one with minimal discomfort, but every now and then it destroys me. The only beautiful thing about them is when they exit.

New comment by dirtbox in "The C256 Phoenix Project aka What Commodore 256 could have been like"

dirtbox — Sun, 10 Jun 2018 22:44:46 +0000

I grew up with the ZX Spectrum, initially starting out with the ZX80 and 81 which I soldered together myself with the help of my equally clueless father.

One of the most enduring and engaging aspects of the old micros is the inherent limitation of the hardware. You're constantly battling with extreme optimisation and utilising often quite hacky hardware tricks to do things that would otherwise be impossible to achieve while mastering the arcane arts of assembler. I think above all that's the beauty of them and why people are still supporting these projects.

I'm very sad about missing out on the Spectrum Next which is nearly due to ship their completed cased model after a successful release of only the board. Complete with keyboard and design from the recently late original designer of those same machines I had in the 80s, Rick Dickinson.

New comment by dirtbox in "It certainly looks bad for Uber"

dirtbox — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 09:36:09 +0000

You can continue to cast the blame for frankly abysmal state of cyclist safety in this country, meanwhile cyclists die with alarming regularity however many of those factors are in play.

New comment by dirtbox in "It certainly looks bad for Uber"

dirtbox — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 07:36:39 +0000

I moved to the US a few years ago and have already lost count of how many cyclists wearing dark clothing and no lights on poorly lit roads I've nearly hit at night.

I had to take a cycling proficiency test in the UK, here no one seems to have a clue, they don't even always ride on the right side of the road.

This woman neglected any due care and her death, while tragic, is entirely her own fault.

New comment by dirtbox in "Paper is dead, long live paper programming"

dirtbox — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 18:26:20 +0000

I wish I'd thought of that, now I have bad handwriting and a plethora of D's.

New comment by dirtbox in "The FBI, CIA and NSA say American citizens shouldn't use Huawei phones"

dirtbox — Thu, 15 Feb 2018 02:27:35 +0000

The takeaway being that the Kirin line of CPUs is proving difficult to create a backdoor for.

New comment by dirtbox in "Fermented Shark, Anyone?"

dirtbox — Sat, 20 Jan 2018 01:02:22 +0000

For me worse than shark was ordering lamb and being served an entire sheep's head.

New comment by dirtbox in "Meltdown Proof-of-Concept"

dirtbox — Wed, 10 Jan 2018 16:45:37 +0000

No.

It's just that it's highly suspicious that anyone is making any type of mention of it at all.

New comment by dirtbox in "Meltdown Proof-of-Concept"

dirtbox — Wed, 10 Jan 2018 00:15:49 +0000

It's the type of announcement that makes me wonder if they had the chip makers incorporate it specifically for them to exploit.

New comment by dirtbox in "A CPU bug with undocumented opcodes, possibly Intel (scroll to p. 155)"

dirtbox — Thu, 04 Jan 2018 13:10:05 +0000

Here's the page for all who wondered.

https://image.prntscr.com/image/KDuFv8gRQYeLJG3pO8wwmQ.png

Within the context of the prior and subsequent pages, it appears to be talking about AMD.

New comment by dirtbox in "Apple has admitted to purposely slowing down iPhones"

dirtbox — Thu, 21 Dec 2017 09:01:47 +0000

If improving stability was the intention, why haven't they ever warned anyone that it would make their expensive, perfectly functioning phone relatively useless?

Nothing about their reason rings true. If it were the case then why didn't the previous IOS installation have limited performance before the update?

New comment by dirtbox in "Google Maps' Moat"

dirtbox — Wed, 20 Dec 2017 05:31:08 +0000

Even more impressive, when in satellite view hold control, click and drag upwards.

New comment by dirtbox in "Google Maps' Moat"

dirtbox — Wed, 20 Dec 2017 05:26:44 +0000

I wouldn't even know my own neighbourhood as well as I do without Google maps. One of, if not the single most impressive digital feats freely available to all on the internet.

New comment by dirtbox in "F.C.C. Repeals Net Neutrality Rules"

dirtbox — Fri, 15 Dec 2017 02:47:31 +0000

This seems like a last gasp attempt to tighten the monopoly, and it's doomed to fail. If nothing else, this will set the wheels in motion to bypass the established ISPs altogether, whether it's via node distribution or banking on Musk's satellite network. Or holding out hope that Google will pick up their fiber business again. Whatever happens, it's going to be interesting.

New comment by dirtbox in "“The Orville” is on a smoother trajectory, with just a bit of turbulence"

dirtbox — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 03:21:51 +0000

To be fair, the first season of TNG fared worse.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/star_trek_the_next_generat...

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/star_trek_discovery/s01

New comment by dirtbox in "Ask HN: Is there a fitness wristband that is hackable?"

dirtbox — Fri, 01 Dec 2017 20:05:18 +0000

Hah. You're not wrong about calling it a downgrade. Absolutely everything I've tried has been a downgrade from pebble. It's as if everyone is deliberately avoiding what was, for me at least, perfection.

New comment by dirtbox in "Ask HN: Is there a fitness wristband that is hackable?"

dirtbox — Fri, 01 Dec 2017 20:01:23 +0000

Someone posted a proof of concept a year or two ago on reddit.com/r/pebble Beyond that I don't know any specifics.

New comment by dirtbox in "Ask HN: Is there a fitness wristband that is hackable?"

dirtbox — Fri, 01 Dec 2017 19:58:33 +0000

It lasts up to 10 days on one charge and the app has been decentralised, meaning it's not reliant on external servers.

New comment by dirtbox in "Ask HN: Is there a fitness wristband that is hackable?"

dirtbox — Fri, 01 Dec 2017 14:45:23 +0000

Which, from your point of view, isn't a bad thing. It's no longer dependant on external servers, yet still enjoys a lot of support, is easy to code for, plus it's superb as smart watches go. Charging 3 times a month rather than every night means you can track your sleep with it effectively as well.