Hacker News: fred69

New comment by fred69 in "AI's energy footprint"

fred69 — Tue, 20 May 2025 22:01:21 +0000

Might have missed it but was disappointed to see no mention of externalized costs like the scraping burden imposed on every IP-connected server. From discussions on HN this sounds quite substantial. And again, why exactly should the few AI companies reap all the value when other companies and individuals are incurring costs for it?

New comment by fred69 in "I decided to pay off a school’s lunch debt"

fred69 — Mon, 05 May 2025 15:55:21 +0000

Shame is the Protestant enforcement mechanism for guilt.

New comment by fred69 in "Scientists Develop Artificial Leaf, Uses Sunlight to Produce Valuable Chemicals"

fred69 — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 13:18:07 +0000

Early seventies here, can extend and confirm your observation. Also flying cars, artificial intelligence, fusion power, equitable wealth distribution, ...

New comment by fred69 in "Man pages are great, man readers are the problem"

fred69 — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 14:25:14 +0000

Success! Coffee through nose achieved.

Printouts, usually many of them, are the original "overlapping windows".

New comment by fred69 in "Our interfaces have lost their senses"

fred69 — Sun, 16 Mar 2025 19:03:46 +0000

Our interfaces have more modalities than before but they are disconnected from both physical and emotional reality. Buzzes and dings and flaps are nothing like hearing a happy shout from a friend or feeling the 'clunk' of an actual motor starter engaging.

I totally agree with OP that the 'flat' visual style is appalling. (And gray-on-gray text is an obscenity.)

New comment by fred69 in "Finland's National Allergy Program Successfully Reduces Allergic Diseases"

fred69 — Sat, 15 Mar 2025 13:45:57 +0000

Further to the Hygiene Hypothesis based approach, add exposure to cattle. They are another common factor during evolution and have a microbial footprint unlike common pets. Over years there have been a number of studies on this, sorry to not have a list of URLs. Take your kids -- and yourselves -- to visit farms and petting zoos.

And my anecdotal input: grew up on a livestock farm, also spending a lot of time in woods and river. No allergy problems at all. Moved to a city and had annoyance-level problems ever since. Decades of observation lead me to suspect particulates (engine soot, tire dust, etc.) as significant antagonists beyond the more commonly cited biological villains. Any chemical with a big-enough stretch of molecule to match what an immune cell is using as its search key.

New comment by fred69 in "A New, Chemical View of Ecosystems"

fred69 — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 19:00:47 +0000

Summary: biology uses chemical signalling. Signals can be used for multiple purposes by different critters.

New comment by fred69 in "17-20% fewer construction workers: Great Recession's lasting scar on housing"

fred69 — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 19:41:49 +0000

A "small picture" local observation of impact: Big construction firms and projects scoop up all available workers and materials (concrete, for example) with year-long exclusive contracts. Individual homeowners with small projects, such as updating a bathroom, are generally screwed. Horror stories abound, search if interested. Years-long delays, projects started then abandoned, etc.

DIY is great IFF you have tools, capabilities, willingness to ignore building code requirements for licensed workers, ...

New comment by fred69 in "Study of cockatoo Snowball suggests humans aren't the only ones who can dance"

fred69 — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 17:28:27 +0000

Definitely for anyone living in an environment that contains animals. Vastly more so for anyone connected to the Interwebs. Soooo many videos of animals responding to music by dancing. Trying to portray this as "science" is more than just irritating, it is fodder for the anti-science population to advance their garbage positions.

If you are a professor somewhere and this is all you can come up with to publish, might I suggest you need to find a different line of work. Everyone has the right to _try_ becoming whatever they want but there is no right to success at it.

New comment by fred69 in "Device uses wind to create ammonia out of air"

fred69 — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 16:51:32 +0000

I'm guessing you have never gotten a snoutfull of ammonia? Relatively low concentrations in air feel like asphyxiation. It also hangs around near the ground rather than floating upward.

New comment by fred69 in "First known photos of 'lost bird' captured by scientists"

fred69 — Sun, 03 Mar 2024 15:39:21 +0000

Anything with a name like "Red-bellied Squeaker Frog" begs for a video clip.

New comment by fred69 in "Ask HN: Are we building a tech dystopia?"

fred69 — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 15:24:34 +0000

Agree with Hedora: We already did. But we are now chipping away at the mountain with (slowly) increasing general awareness of privacy concerns. The far bigger problem than tech dystopia is its monster social/political cousin. Take just a quick look at world news.

BTW, 70-something.