<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: ff317</title><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=ff317</link><description>Hacker News RSS</description><docs>https://hnrss.org/</docs><generator>hnrss v2.1.1</generator><lastBuildDate>Mon, 06 Apr 2026 13:27:43 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://hnrss.org/user?id=ff317" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"></atom:link><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ff317 in "Malus – Clean Room as a Service"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>The reason speed limits make such a great example for these arguments is because they're a preemptive law.  Technically, nobody is directly harmed by speeding.  We outlaw speeding on the belief that it statistically leads to and/or is correlated with other harms.  Contrast this to a law against assault or theft: in those kinds of cases, the law makes the direct harm itself illegal.<p>Increasing the precision of enforcement makes a lot more sense for direct-harm laws.  You won't find anyone seriously arguing that full 100% enforcement of murder laws is a bad idea.  It's the preemptive laws, which were often lazily enforced, especially when no real harm resulted from the action, where this all gets complicated.  Maybe this is the distinction to focus on.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2026 19:12:32 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47355683</link><dc:creator>ff317</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47355683</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47355683</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ff317 in "Getting ready to issue IP address certificates"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>It might be interesting for "opportunistic" DoTLS towards authdns servers, which might listen on the DoTLS port with a cert containing a SAN that matches the public IP of the authdns server.  (You can do this now with authdns server hostnames, but there could be many varied names for one public authdns IP, and this kinda ties things together more-clearly and directly).</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 25 Jun 2025 17:25:45 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44379778</link><dc:creator>ff317</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44379778</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44379778</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ff317 in "My AI skeptic friends are all nuts"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I like this argument, but it does somewhat apply to software development as well!  The only real difference is that the bulk of the "licensed work" the LLMs are consuming to learn to generate code happened to use some open source license that didn't specifically exclude use of the code as training data for an AI.<p>For some of the free-er licenses this might mostly be just a lack-of-attribution issue, but in the case of some stronger licenses like GPL/AGPL, I'd argue that training a commercial AI codegen tool (which is then used to generate commercial closed-source code) on licensed code is against the spirit of the license, even if it's not against the letter of the license (probably mostly because the license authors didn't predict this future we live in).</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 04 Jun 2025 13:11:47 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44180391</link><dc:creator>ff317</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44180391</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44180391</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ff317 in "F8 – an 8 bit architecture designed for C and memory efficiency [video]"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p><a href="https://ziglang.org/" rel="nofollow">https://ziglang.org/</a> is a solid future C-replacement, IMHO.  There's pretty much no downsides and all upsides from a C hacker's perspective. It just hasn't reached 1.0 yet!</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 20 Feb 2025 17:33:29 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43117656</link><dc:creator>ff317</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43117656</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43117656</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ff317 in "Happy 400th birthday to the world’s oldest bond"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>The hole in the system, though, is fixed-rate loans over the long term, and the ability to refinance relatively-cheaply.  If you buy a house when rates and inflation are low, then over the life of the loan you'll win on inflation.  All you have to do is hang on to that low-interest loan.  If you happen to buy when rates are high, then you refinance the next time they're low and hold that loan.  It's the ability to (worst-case, "eventually") lock in a low rate for decades that lets you win from inflation in the long term.  There are a lot of people that were holding onto real estate loans at ~2-4% throughout the pandemic monetary+housing inflation cycle that made out very well.  They didn't have to predict it or time it, they just grabbed a low-rate loan some time back whenever they could, and then waited for the inevitable to eventually happen.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 24 Dec 2024 15:12:01 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42502374</link><dc:creator>ff317</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42502374</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42502374</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ff317 in "Trump wins presidency for second time"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Inflation being a years-long painful problem to wrestle with was inevitable with all the stimulus pumped in to keep us afloat through the pandemic.  We could have fared far worse, and many countries did.  I don't know why the left didn't push on this argument harder to defend themselves.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 06 Nov 2024 15:52:22 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42064162</link><dc:creator>ff317</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42064162</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42064162</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ff317 in "Trump wins presidency for second time"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>The laws in question are ambiguously worded and untested-yet in courts.  They promise severe financial penalties and prison terms for offenders.  I don't blame a doctor for being scared.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 06 Nov 2024 15:46:05 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42064055</link><dc:creator>ff317</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42064055</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42064055</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ff317 in "New York Times Tech Guild goes on strike"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Why were those "rentiers and parasites" ever involved?  Why wasn't the NYT (or any other Thing) just created by the workers without their involvement?  The answer in practice is that they provided value by providing the necessary capital to build the thing, and they did so in return for a cut of the future wealth earned by the thing.  It's arguable that the wealth inequality that set the initial conditions for this is out of hand, but given the starting conditions, how else do you make big things?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 04 Nov 2024 19:24:12 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42045132</link><dc:creator>ff317</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42045132</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42045132</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ff317 in "Cooking with black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I cook on cast iron multiple times a week.  Have for years, using a very antique pan from a dead relative.  My rules are fairly straightforward.  I don't do any other maintenance or cleaning than this after-care routine:<p>* Let the pan cool (if I'm lazy or it's late, possibly this is overnight and then I do the rest in the morning).<p>* Scrape out any easy solid waste (burnt food bits, etc) with a wood spatula edge and throw the waste in the trash.<p>* Toss a healthy amount of salt into the pan and scrub the pan using the salt, with your hands/fingers.  The salt is a great abrasive, like sand, but I don't want sand ground into my cookware, while salt is fine for food.<p>* Rinse out the dirty-salt-mess with plain water from the sink.<p>* Occasionally, if stuck-on things are particularly stubborn, repeat some of the above steps as necessary until the pan surface is smooth and clean.<p>* Wipe off most of the remaining wetness with a paper towel (the towel will probably look pretty dirty, that's ok).<p>* Throw the pan back on the cooktop, pour a few tbsp of cheap olive oil in the middle, and turn the burner on as high as it goes.  Wait a few minutes for the oil to thin, spread, and smoke.  Once it's smoking pretty well, shut off the fire and leave the pan to cool again.<p>* Later when it's cooled off again (possibly overnight or hours later, whatever), gently wipe off any excess liquid oil with a paper towel and store the pan back in the cabinet, ready for next use.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 31 Oct 2024 16:44:02 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42008588</link><dc:creator>ff317</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42008588</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42008588</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ff317 in "Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>What if they live in a country in which genetic evidence of a disease can deny or significantly increase the cost of health coverage?  Even if you're clear of those for now, a new marker may be discovered tomorrow.  Apparently (according another commenter) Life Insurance /can/ legally look at this even in the US.  What about employers?  What if it puts them on the DNA-evidence hook for a "crime" in their jurisdiction which you and they don't think is an ethical law (evidence of homosexual activity in a country that imprisons for it, or worse).</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 18 Sep 2024 13:56:28 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41579799</link><dc:creator>ff317</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41579799</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41579799</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ff317 in "Lottery Simulator (2023)"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>That's kind of how I look at it, in practice.  I get the mathematical reality that buying lotto tickets is a financial waste.  However, if I never buy a single ticket, there is a definite 0% chance I'll ever win the big prize.  Whereas if I play at all, at least there's a chance, however remote, of a quite life-changing positive event happening.  So, therefore, it makes sense to put a very small amount of totally throw-away income into big-prize lotto tickets, just so you're in the game at all.<p>Based on this kind of thinking, my personal rules are: never spend more than 0.1% of take-home pay per time-period buying tickets, and only buy big-prize lotto tickets that have potentially-life-changing payouts.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 10 Sep 2024 22:18:32 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41506188</link><dc:creator>ff317</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41506188</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41506188</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ff317 in "Self-Driving Cars Get Help from Humans Miles Away"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>But it does offer a reasonable hybrid solution: the software in the car doesn't have to solve all possible scenarios, it just has to be good enough to navigate the common, easy scenarios and should always be able to safely handle any situation for a short window of time, even if "handle" means "come to a quick safe stop within X seconds and turn on the hazards", all the while it's already starting the process of asking for remote assistance to take over whatever tricky situation, hopefully before the local code actually reaches the emergency-stopped case.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 04 Sep 2024 13:06:07 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41445242</link><dc:creator>ff317</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41445242</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41445242</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ff317 in "The ancient art of roasting agave"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>My favorite is American restaurant menus describing a "French Dip" as "with au jus sauce" :)</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 09 Aug 2024 13:29:32 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41201633</link><dc:creator>ff317</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41201633</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41201633</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ff317 in "Is a 'slow' swimming pool impeding world records?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Yeah but it's not just "water", as in plain H2O.  All water has different things dissolved or mixed into it.  In pools there's commonly several chemicals added to that water: to correct the pH for humans, to sanitize, control corrosion of metal, avoid calcium deposits on other surfaces, etc.  It's entirely possible that the additives in the water could be way off of normal and somehow affect things like viscosity or surface tension.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 31 Jul 2024 19:57:02 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41122856</link><dc:creator>ff317</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41122856</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41122856</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ff317 in "Why Triplebyte Failed"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>The problem is that software development is less like hiring an airline pilot or a structural engineer, and more like hiring an artist.  Try making up a "standard exam" that will tell you whether an artist will produce several great unique works for you in the future, so you know which one to hire...</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 10 Jun 2024 20:11:57 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40638319</link><dc:creator>ff317</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40638319</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40638319</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ff317 in "Wikimedia Enterprise – APIs for LLMs, AI Training, and More"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Over the long term of many years you're /lucky/ if a stable very-low-risk investment can net ~3% when accounting for inflation.  Thus $250M could maybe net you roughly $7.5M/year.  Exactly how many network links, servers, and engineering staff do you think that buys?  It's way under what it operates on today, which is way under what it ideally should be for site like Wikipedia.  And that's /just/ the operational engineering of the sites on a technical level.<p>You also need HR, you need Finance, you need a lot of Lawyers, you need software developers, you need a travel department, a fundraising team, PR people, community relations people, grant-making for the extended open ecosystem around the Wikimedia movement, conference planning, and the list goes on.<p>You're off by enough to seem troll-ish at best.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 22 May 2024 03:25:23 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40437020</link><dc:creator>ff317</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40437020</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40437020</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ff317 in "Can turning office towers into apartments save downtowns?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>What about common spaces?  Put the dwellings on the outer edges, and use the middle of each floor around the elevators as: gyms, libraries, swimming pools, saunas, indoor sports/games (pickleball? table tennis? air hockey? retro arcade machines?), meeting rooms and small-event spaces for residents? maybe a food court with 3rd party vendors?  All kinds of creative things can be done!</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 07 May 2024 17:55:32 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40289181</link><dc:creator>ff317</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40289181</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40289181</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ff317 in "Gitlab Duo"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>There's two issues here still, IMHO:<p>1) The LLM owners really can't guarantee that it won't directly plagiarize without attribution or licensing.  Your code may contain a unique algorithm or method for solving something, and when someone asks the right question, your code may simply be the only answer it knows to give.<p>2) While the code being used as training input was open source and visible to the public to learn from, the models being built often aren't.  It seems unethical to train from public data yet keep the resulting weights private and charge for access to use the trained weights.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 23 Apr 2024 12:22:24 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40131107</link><dc:creator>ff317</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40131107</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40131107</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ff317 in "Vernor Vinge has died"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Yeah this is the angle I look at the most, the Humans+Internet combo.<p>I don't believe LLMs will really get us much of anywhere, Singularity-wise.  They're just ridiculously inefficient in terms of compute (and thus power) needs to even do the basic pattern-prediction they do today.  They're neat tools for human augmentation in some cases, but that's about all they contribute.<p>I think, even prior to the recent explosion of LLM stuff, that the aggregate of Humans and the depth of their interconnections on the Internet is already starting to form at least the beginnings of a sort of Singularity, without any AI-related topics needing to be introduced.  The way memes (real memes, not silly jokes) spread around the Internet and shape thoughts across all the users, the way the users bounce ideas off each other and refine them, the way viral advocacy and information sharing works, etc.  Basically the Singularity is just going to be the emergent group consciousness and capabilities of the collective Internet-connected set of Humans.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 22 Mar 2024 13:31:11 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39790545</link><dc:creator>ff317</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39790545</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39790545</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ff317 in "Spotting LLMs with Binoculars: Zero-Shot Detection of Machine-Generated Text"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Maybe rather than focusing so much on how to detect AI-generated content, we should instead focus on our general ability to validate the truthiness of content regardless of source.  I don't really care if an AI wrote it, so long as the content is meaningful and informative.  I do care if it's a load of junk, even if a human did write it.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 23 Jan 2024 23:47:44 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39111628</link><dc:creator>ff317</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39111628</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39111628</guid></item></channel></rss>