Hacker News: fracus

New comment by fracus in "Supersonic flight returning to US after half-century ban"

fracus — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 19:14:21 +0000

They simply mention that the sonic boom will be less than it has been. It seems obvious the current admin is just stripping away regulation that harms the billionaire class.

New comment by fracus in "The Boeing 747 begins its final descent"

fracus — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 21:51:35 +0000

My memory of the 747 was that it was originally the military who paid for the design. They wanted an aircraft that could be loaded from the front. This led to the bubble at the front of the plane. For whatever reason, the military didn't bite so they repurposed it as a commercial aircraft.

New comment by fracus in "The Low-Tech AI of Elden Ring"

fracus — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 04:35:52 +0000

NPC behaviour has always been described as AI though, even before the AI as we know it now was even invented. AI is a very general umbrella term being repurposed to describe LLMs.

New comment by fracus in "There is minimal downside to switching to open models"

fracus — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 18:20:13 +0000

I felt your exact experience. Felt like the title and article simply served to complain about Claude's impending ID rules.

New comment by fracus in "Microsoft new Outlook takes 10 seconds to do what Outlook Classic does instantly"

fracus — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 03:05:29 +0000

Same for me. Possibly longer. I just never think about Windows anymore. I think it helps these days that "programs" aren't so much a thing anymore. A lot of what used to be an OS program is now a free online service.. like email, word processing, chats, multimedia, etc..

New comment by fracus in "The greatest shot in television: James Burke had one chance to nail this scene (2024)"

fracus — Mon, 11 May 2026 05:02:47 +0000

Wow, I've only known the Carl Sagan shot in Cosmos. I'm happy to know the original now.

New comment by fracus in "United flight from SFO disrupted by 'possible drone strike'"

fracus — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 22:40:36 +0000

I know that my drone's software doesn't allow it to fly above 500 feet. I can't imagine this drone being an ignorant or careless recreational operator. Aren't these things heavily regulated now?

New comment by fracus in "The buns in McDonald's Japan's burger photos are all slightly askew"

fracus — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 02:17:45 +0000

They probably never wash them so there is this insulating layer of grease and grime on the screen that inhibits touch detection.

New comment by fracus in "The buns in McDonald's Japan's burger photos are all slightly askew"

fracus — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 02:08:03 +0000

I'm the same, although I understand OP's sentiment to a degree. I also like no interaction with someone who is potentially or visibly sick and contagious. That is why I never stand in the service line at the grocery store. It's always self serve only.

New comment by fracus in "Two pilots dead after plane and ground vehicle collide at LaGuardia"

fracus — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 02:02:25 +0000

Planes aren't built to withstand head on collisions because in almost every case the passengers would all die anyway and to keep the weight of the plane down for fuel efficiency. Firetrucks on the other hand are super heavy due to all the water they carry.

New comment by fracus in "Two pilots dead after plane and ground vehicle collide at LaGuardia"

fracus — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 01:58:36 +0000

It is my understanding the buck stops with the Firetruck driver. No matter what clearance they had, they were supposed to visually check the runway was clear before crossing. The truck didn't slow down at all.

New comment by fracus in "The unreasonable effectiveness of the Fourier transform"

fracus — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 01:07:48 +0000

Learning about the Fourier Transform in my Signals and Systems class was mind opening. The idea you can represent any cycling function with sinusoidal functions would not only never occur to me but I would have said it wasn't possible.

New comment by fracus in "Show HN: Witr – Explain why a process is running on your Linux system"

fracus — Sat, 27 Dec 2025 02:09:23 +0000

I really like this. Something like this should already exist, stock.

New comment by fracus in "When exercising copyrights puts a gamedev under threat: My take on GBCOMPO 25"

fracus — Mon, 08 Dec 2025 00:05:55 +0000

This quote in a comment after the article from a pseudo stake holder or relevant consultant was disturbing..

> I believe it is unfair to benefit - especially financially - from a community effort, then turn your back on said community. It is your right, you are correct in saying so, but it is also a bridge that you are burning and you must be aware of that.

Correct is correct. It isn't their fault the rules didn't explicitly state rights in perpetuity. Retaliation based on vibe logic is not only childish but also in this case, illegal.

This person suggested the request for prize money returned and and awards rescinded. And from the tone and logic, no doubt they are doing more behind the scenes.

New comment by fracus in "People keep flocking to Linux, not just to escape Windows"

fracus — Sun, 30 Nov 2025 23:12:21 +0000

I've been a Linux user without Windows for longer than I can remember. My biggest worry is Linux dominates the market because a FOSS OS can't dominate the market. A capitalist market won't allow it. Of course though, if say Ubuntu was heavily monetized in some way, then it simply becomes the new Windows and the FOSS community will simply present an alternative. I'm sorry you had to go on this circular journey with me.

New comment by fracus in "Is Matrix Multiplication Ugly?"

fracus — Sat, 22 Nov 2025 00:45:33 +0000

I think it is just a matter of perspective. You can both be right. I don't think there is an objective answer to this question.

New comment by fracus in "Raccoons are showing early signs of domestication"

fracus — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 19:48:54 +0000

> 10% of raccoons that expose people or pets have rabies

I don't understand the language of this quote. What does it mean for an animal to expose people?

New comment by fracus in "Steam Machine"

fracus — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 23:54:18 +0000

I've been using Linux instead of Windows for over a decade now. If Linux exploded in popularity I would be afraid enshitification and monetization would kick in super quickly. FOSS can't dominate the market. The market won't allow it. They will find a way to exploit it. This is just a fear based on generalizations. Perhaps it is misguided.

New comment by fracus in "Rockstar employee shares account of the company's union-busting efforts"

fracus — Fri, 07 Nov 2025 20:51:00 +0000

Didn't the gaming community essentially kill Star Wars Battlefront 2 for EA because of the microtransaction PR fumble?

New comment by fracus in "Rockstar employee shares account of the company's union-busting efforts"

fracus — Fri, 07 Nov 2025 20:48:53 +0000

I think the offline gameplay of GTA is becoming dated. Playing GTAV just felt like cut scene, then chores, cut scene, then chores, rinse, repeat. To be fair, I don't understand the purpose of GTA online but it was wildly popular.