Hacker News: foobarian

New comment by foobarian in "Software development with AI is starting to feel like cooking steak"

foobarian — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 05:50:18 +0000

My problem with deep frying (besides the points you bring up) is the waste. I can't stomach the amounts of oil I end up disposing even if I get several uses.

New comment by foobarian in "I’m leaving OpenAI to build telepathy"

foobarian — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 18:24:55 +0000

If it doesn't work try thinking in Russian

New comment by foobarian in "The End of an Era"

foobarian — Sat, 01 Aug 2026 17:27:00 +0000

I think it is a net positive for me, because I am super unconfident by nature and the agreeable, almost sycophantic output from major LLMs give me just enough of a boost to debias me. They are certainly better than a physical rubber duck.

New comment by foobarian in "I Fired My AI Assitant"

foobarian — Sat, 01 Aug 2026 17:23:41 +0000

I don't mind it so much, for example that is how I learned the word 'abaft' the other day.

New comment by foobarian in "The most official water costs $120k a gallon"

foobarian — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 21:09:18 +0000

Can I ask why :-) Sounds like an interesting project.

New comment by foobarian in "The End of an Era"

foobarian — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 19:44:13 +0000

I like the term I've seen someone use for LLMs: a "thought partner." Truly it's the duck programming duck I've always wanted.

New comment by foobarian in "The lost civic life of movie rental stores"

foobarian — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 16:38:29 +0000

I sometimes wonder if it was all worth it. What if we banned/rolled back the internet? Would we go back to more small-town-like community, and again have the nerd minority who "can't wait to get out of this place?" It feels like the current tech landscape is a reaction to that environment.

New comment by foobarian in "Europe's fires are just the start"

foobarian — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 16:33:27 +0000

I imagine it wouldn't be nearly in the same ballpark, since one side does not perform the classic mechanical generation from temperature difference, and deal with the associated waste heat.

New comment by foobarian in "Europe's fires are just the start"

foobarian — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 14:45:47 +0000

I wonder how much battery you could install in a typical nuclear site. Maybe even stacked; if we make an apples-to-apples comparison in materials and say we can use the same amount of concrete and metal, could probably have several levels of batteries. Except no water needed, and no waste risks.

New comment by foobarian in "A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands"

foobarian — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 19:05:55 +0000

I imagine a Bernoulli pattern would work too

New comment by foobarian in "So, you want to make a game engine (2023)"

foobarian — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 20:36:15 +0000

I took it to mean the frameworky coding you kind of get sucked into when you start a project when you realize off-the-shelf libraries are flawed or you could do so much better. Like the old trope of getting a task to write a billing system but first writing a full text mode UI framework, menu system, etc.

New comment by foobarian in "Netflix employee fired for sharing personal details in retreat trust exercise"

foobarian — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 18:46:56 +0000

Part 1: https://www.salon.com/2001/03/23/wizards/

Part 2: https://www.salon.com/2001/03/26/wizards_part2/

New comment by foobarian in "Harmony Explained: Progress Towards a Scientific Theory of Music (2012)"

foobarian — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 16:59:11 +0000

I find the major/minor thing so fascinating. I remember it having the "happy"/"sad" vibes from my earliest memories and have a really hard time with the idea that it could be cultural. But if it's not cultural, then why? Also is the fact that major 9ths have a beach/island vibe cultural due to Brazilian jazz? :-)

New comment by foobarian in "Netflix employee fired for sharing personal details in retreat trust exercise"

foobarian — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 01:38:26 +0000

Reminds me of that super cringy one that Wizards of the Coast did early on

New comment by foobarian in "India's first privately-developed rocket reaches orbit on debut launch"

foobarian — Sat, 25 Jul 2026 15:23:28 +0000

The other neat thing is that in space, the background temperatures are a lot lower than Earth due to lack of atmosphere, and available potentially more often than 1/2 the day cycle depending how high you're prepared to orbit.

New comment by foobarian in "Medici family mystery may be solved after more than 400 years"

foobarian — Sat, 25 Jul 2026 14:38:45 +0000

Or, maybe the poisoner did it by releasing a jar of malaria-laden mosquitoes in the guy's bedroom. Such plausible deniability!

New comment by foobarian in "Don't Take the Black Pill [video]"

foobarian — Sat, 25 Jul 2026 01:08:00 +0000

I feel like religion is the original corporation. You even have weekly 1-on-1s with your manager!

New comment by foobarian in "Don't Take the Black Pill [video]"

foobarian — Sat, 25 Jul 2026 01:05:39 +0000

Sadly I have run into people like that. To this day I am convinced they paid someone to stand in for the interviews.

New comment by foobarian in "Latest Airbus single aisle aircraft innovations"

foobarian — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 19:14:48 +0000

I'm unusually tall and flying has always been unpleasant no matter what. I can actually deal with the reclining because it's actually physically impossible for the person ahead of me to recline since my knees are in the way. What really gets me is the fact that the seat back only comes up to my neck and I can't sleep because my head just flops around. I've been meaning to find some security-friendly contraption that could extend the back a little bit to immobilize me a bit better.

New comment by foobarian in "Writing by hand is good for your brain"

foobarian — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 17:32:47 +0000

I wonder if Brandon Sanderson writes by hand :-D