Hacker News: gib444

New comment by gib444 in "Europe's scorched landscapes seen from space after summer heatwaves"

gib444 — Sun, 16 Aug 2026 09:59:36 +0000

> Oh, you have the money.

Oh OK. What can be cut in our current spending?

New comment by gib444 in "Europe's scorched landscapes seen from space after summer heatwaves"

gib444 — Sat, 15 Aug 2026 19:16:52 +0000

> but wonder what is on European minds

UK here. It really feels like this year has been a massive wake-up call, a follow-up to the one of 2022 (and 2018, 2019, 2021...)

Some fire services have had their busiest months on record this year. In an extraordinary (and controversial) move, they convinced the government to use the phone Emergency Alert system to alert the entire country about the risk of fires.

Prior to summer, in the North of England, it was extremely windy and gloomy from September to May. Very very few blue skies. The other day, we went from a 2-day mini heat wave (35c & 28c) to gloomy cloud in 2 days - it's just so bizarre.

We've just had our 5th or 6th heatwave of the summer

A train derailed yesterday due to a buckled rail. Another derailed, cause of which is suspected to be heat/drought related. Luckily no fatalities.

We've had more wildfires than 2022 and drought is more widespread. I often can't have my window open at night when it's 29c inside because of the fires 10-20 miles away. I have no A/C

I'm wondering if our future is gales and grey for 9 months then heatwaves and drought? I know the North of England is historically gloomy, but it 'feels' different of late.

It feels like we do not have the money to begin to prepare and fix things that need fixing to continue the life we have. We haven't built a reservoir since 1990 despite massive population increase. Our rail network is not prepared for heat waves or long periods of drought or long periods of rain or long periods of ice/snow. London buses mostly have no A/C, ditto rest of the country. Many people don't have money for A/C at home - not even sure our electricity network could handle it. And about 100 other issues...

New comment by gib444 in "Every Fucking Website (2020)"

gib444 — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 16:28:47 +0000

That doesn't take away from the fact "I agree" etc can be displayed prominently and often is. "I agree" isn't outlawed

New comment by gib444 in "Every Fucking Website (2020)"

gib444 — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 15:01:44 +0000

Because it works

(AIUI "I agree" gets people to give explicit consent with good success and the subscribe modals are quite effective too)

New comment by gib444 in "London Underground begins scanning passengers' faces"

gib444 — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 10:57:30 +0000

For one of the three yup

New comment by gib444 in "The UK's war on anonymity has come to America"

gib444 — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 09:05:33 +0000

It's cute people think the UK has this level of influence over the USA

Like, pick a side: are we the tiny backwater micro state on the verge of bankruptcy with no standing in the world, or are we a hugely influencial world power directing US law?

New comment by gib444 in "Mars Bar from 1991 found – and it's 20g bigger than today's"

gib444 — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 05:00:06 +0000

I thought we took pint servings very very seriously in the UK?? Are you saying there is widespread fraud of a pint measure?

Should I take a measuring jug with me next time?

New comment by gib444 in "Mars Bar from 1991 found – and it's 20g bigger than today's"

gib444 — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 04:58:25 +0000

But your car now has Bluetooth and a reversing camera and that's easily a £10,000 value add so it all balances out !

New comment by gib444 in "Fastmail offers EU data region"

gib444 — Sat, 08 Aug 2026 19:23:55 +0000

And hosted on US infrastructure, satisfying the "or" clause in their post

New comment by gib444 in "Oxide Computer raises $445M (SEC Form D)"

gib444 — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 09:44:39 +0000

It's success, just not what you consider success.

New comment by gib444 in "Prevent cognitive debt by manually retyping LLM-generated code"

gib444 — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 07:13:16 +0000

The cope just keeps coming!

New comment by gib444 in "LLMs reward expertise"

gib444 — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 01:39:12 +0000

Is someone keeping a list of the excuses and varying instructions on how to hold it right? It would be fascinating historic documentation

New comment by gib444 in "Battle of the Beams"

gib444 — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 01:18:37 +0000

What a wild, fascinating and, as a Brit, a rather satisfying read.

So much luck, intelligence, perseverance and engineering.

I believe still today we have some of the world's finest radar and navigation tech etc?

New comment by gib444 in "More German than many Germans"

gib444 — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 12:36:40 +0000

pass score of 52%*

New comment by gib444 in "More German than many Germans"

gib444 — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 08:44:38 +0000

> People seem to think a German passport is handed out easily now. It isn't. You have to prove you paid into the social system for at least five years. You have to pass the citizenship test. You need German at B1 level. You need a sustainable livelihood while your application is running. And most importantly, you have to accept the democratic values of this country.

That is still relatively easy. 5 years is not a long time – various other European countries are longer.

The citizenship test is multiple-choice and has a pass rate of 52%. B1 should be easily achievable after 5 years in Germany. And B1 is lower-middle (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2), and is not fluency.

I'm not sure why paying taxes and having a job is highlighted as making it "not easy" - that should be the bare minimum.

And then he goes onto describe how painless the application process was. All digital. No bureaucratic games trying to trip him up. Seemed very easy

edit: Oh and ~700-800 EUR in total for all the fees? [0] Bargain!

[0] https://reddit.com/r/GermanCitizenship/comments/1q5ij2w/what...

New comment by gib444 in "Australia's social media ban has failed"

gib444 — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 07:47:19 +0000

Agree but the parents want the hardware for the kids' safety, and it has to be a smartphone specifically so the parents can GPS track them and to do facetime calls to prove they're OK...

New comment by gib444 in "Oil companies report sky-high profits thanks to wartime crude prices"

gib444 — Sat, 01 Aug 2026 19:49:54 +0000

You were brave, but nothing can stop the inevitable downvotes lol

New comment by gib444 in "Oil companies report sky-high profits thanks to wartime crude prices"

gib444 — Sat, 01 Aug 2026 19:47:36 +0000

Their point is that $100 in 2008 adjusted for inflation is around $155 today

New comment by gib444 in "A Surveillance Treaty in Disguise: Canada Signs UN Cybercrime Convention"

gib444 — Sat, 01 Aug 2026 17:04:05 +0000

Distantly related: similar to the local councils here in the UK that don't go after the obvious and prolific drug-front barbers and takeaways, because they pay business rates (local business tax) and probably employee taxes too for just enough staff for it to be believable.

New comment by gib444 in "The EU is making the Right to Repair the new standard in Europe"

gib444 — Sat, 01 Aug 2026 15:37:31 +0000

So...how do they make the decisions?

I was actually asking