Hacker News: emptybits

New comment by emptybits in "Apple’s grey list: Words and phrases your iPhone won’t help you spell"

emptybits — Sun, 08 Nov 2026 00:13:41 +0000

But your phone would not send those things.

Pressing send after a swiped/typed/predicted sequence of words is still entirely up to YOU.

New comment by emptybits in "Why Don't We Live in an Art Nouveau World?"

emptybits — Tue, 03 Nov 2026 21:30:15 +0000

Have a listen to “Little Boxes”, sung by Pete Seeger, written by Malvina Reynolds.

Architecture. Goals. Values.

New comment by emptybits in "I post trained a model on Demoscenes"

emptybits — Sat, 31 Oct 2026 20:50:51 +0000

The human side of the demo scene is what I think makes it appealing. Sharing and consuming. A fellow human did that! Coder-as-problem-solver-and-artist.

For sure it’s intellectually interesting if AI can generate something novel within demoscene constraints (140 chars or extreme low res or a POKEY chip at 1MHz or whatever) … something humans maybe thought impossible … like a winning move that makes a go or chess grandmaster say WTF. It changes what’s possible. But then most of us (?) still hope the sport/scene/art goes back to human endeavour.

I’ve been to parties where demos are running on a large screen, even ones we’ve seen before, and the audience will ooo and aah because a human figured out how to do that stuff under constraint. The magic is lost if it’s generated IMO.

New comment by emptybits in "Will it be a golden age or a dark age for mathematics (and science)?"

emptybits — Sun, 18 Oct 2026 16:11:01 +0000

I like everything you said, but do you think AI assisted math may primarily give us a more productive age for individuals, with less need for human-human collaboration?

Maybe it doesn’t matter and maybe that’s just the new flavour of golden.

Timekeepers Have Gotten Rid of the Leap Second and Introduced the Leap Hour

emptybits — Sat, 17 Oct 2026 07:07:54 +0000

Article URL: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/its-official-timekeepers-have-gotten-rid-of-the-leap-second-and-introduced-the-leap-hour-instead-180989685/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50128685

Points: 4

# Comments: 0

New comment by emptybits in "Recreational Programming"

emptybits — Wed, 14 Oct 2026 03:13:54 +0000

One of the first slides clarifies that recreational programming is INTRINSICALLY MOTIVATED. I agree with this definition.

So if an external factor like LLM prowess “killed it all” for you, I would suggest you may not have been intrinsically motivated in the first place.

Long live recreational programming. It’s fun and, personally, it’s satisfying building things close to the metal.

New comment by emptybits in "A sustainable web career, for when all this blows over"

emptybits — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 18:05:37 +0000

I hear you, and you're right that rigidity and the extra work of clear specs and strong tests don't bother an LLM. When they're used. And they should be used. But experienced software developers also use those procedures and understand their value. i.e. working on a codebase that doesn't make you want to quit!

Anyways, you've obviously got good policy in place for generating code. This wisdom isn't universal.

New comment by emptybits in "A sustainable web career, for when all this blows over"

emptybits — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 21:22:26 +0000

We would have. IF a typical C codebase in its early years sucked as much as some AI generated codebases do today.

But instead, humans preferred the productivity AND the readability AND maintainability that elevated us above assembly. Maybe AI-generated code will get there also.

Anthropic reported diary entry to police, woman faces felony charge

emptybits — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 05:37:40 +0000

Article URL: https://www.techspot.com/news/114091-florida-woman-used-claude-diary-anthropic-reported-shoot.html

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49961057

Points: 840

# Comments: 680

New comment by emptybits in "Ask HN: What are you reading?"

emptybits — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 06:55:43 +0000

1. I love this question and not just on HN, but the answers are very high quality here. At a house party, at a baseball game, on a hike, whatever ... if anyone asks out loud to a group, "what are you reading?" I get ready to scribble down a new list!

2. Obvious (?) observation: Today's list consists of human-authored books. Will that trend hold? Can you imagine this question being asked in X years with predominantly AI-authored books as the answers? Novels or nonfiction. I get a thrill out of a good book, partly, because it lets me into the head of a lucid or genius or maniacal fellow human.

New comment by emptybits in "New time zone code: PCT for British Columbia"

emptybits — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 19:26:21 +0000

I favoured the untabled option: year round standard time instead of daylight saving time. But so be it, here we are, at least we're not changing twice yearly.

AFAICT, this code is equivalent to PDT and UTC-7. (And, thus, redundant?) Maybe someone can explain if this PCT code is truly going to be adopted.

If or when WA, OR, and CA choose to stop changing their clocks, are we looking at yet more redundant time zone codes? (It's hard to imagine America in its current stance adopting the "Pacific Canadian Time" code.)

New time zone code: PCT for British Columbia

emptybits — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 19:24:49 +0000

Article URL: https://archive.news.gov.bc.ca/releases/news_releases_2024-2028/2026CITZ0009-001073.htm

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49806776

Points: 1

# Comments: 1

New comment by emptybits in "Aging may be a program, not a breakdown"

emptybits — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 17:29:55 +0000

IANAB but lobsters are worth a look. They apparently do not get slower or weaker or even lose fertility as they age. And apparently Greenland Sharks might live for 300-500 years, are immune to cancers, and their DNA can repair itself. Maybe leaving the ocean was our ancestors' mistake.

New comment by emptybits in "ChatGPT now knows what you do on other websites via ad collector"

emptybits — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 00:31:26 +0000

Yes, “Go” plan users pay and also receive ads. They pay less.

New comment by emptybits in "ChatGPT now knows what you do on other websites via ad collector"

emptybits — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 17:10:23 +0000

Similar, yes, but some people are paying OpenAI to be part of this business model, unlike typical free-riding Google and Facebook users.

Why Canada may become the European Union's first ever 'associate member'

emptybits — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 03:49:27 +0000

Article URL: https://theconversation.com/thanks-trump-why-canada-may-become-the-european-unions-first-ever-associate-member-292059

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49736172

Points: 2

# Comments: 1

New comment by emptybits in "Japan's book scene is moving from bookstores to libraries"

emptybits — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 02:49:38 +0000

It's a trend in Canada also. Libraries are being seen as a social safety net.

https://www.policyalternatives.ca/news-research/public-libra...

New comment by emptybits in "Chopping up books when they're physically too big"

emptybits — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 23:20:15 +0000

The word concentric reminded me of sort of an inverse idea in vinyl. Equally cool IMO: concentric grooves. Rush did it. Kate Bush did it. Probably more recent examples. It works like this: drop the needle at a different starting point and the whole record plays through a different groove. Cool, eh?

New comment by emptybits in "Australia 'on the same page' as Canada as it seeks deeper EU alliance"

emptybits — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 22:57:13 +0000

Agree completely. The most common barriers to trade are tariffs and I'm glad we don't have those within Canada. The next most common barriers are regulatory and legislative and we've got those but the good news is (unlike the US-Canada trend lately) those barriers are diminishing (at a government pace) in a consistent trend over time.

I'm not aware of steps backwards (as in US-Canada relations) where barriers between provinces increased. Am I wrong to be optimistic?

New comment by emptybits in "Australia 'on the same page' as Canada as it seeks deeper EU alliance"

emptybits — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 16:00:58 +0000

No. You claimed Canada doesn't have free trade internally. The most common barriers to free trade are tariffs. IME tariffs and duties are what most people think of as non-free trade. Witness the current US-Canada trade war. I can order lots of things from all around the world and the main resistance to me doing that are tariffs and duties, wouldn't you agree?

I'm clarifying that the trade barriers on things like liquor and food between Canadian provinces are regulations, not tariffs.