Hacker News: headbiznatch

New comment by headbiznatch in "Fundamental design principles for non-designers"

headbiznatch — Wed, 15 May 2019 19:59:43 +0000

"The Non-Designer's Design Book" by Robin Williams was a big help to me when I needed to take a leap in my ability to pretty things up. The tenets in there seem to be rediscovered and reworded often (not sure if this book is the first, honestly) but I think the main idea is to have some kind of strategy for how to be purposeful with your design choices. From the book: Proximity, Alignment, Repetition, Contrast. I think that ordering is less funny as an acronym but more useful as a guide with respect to what you focus on first (Proximity - grouping ideas is a natural place to start, Contrast - which comes last because it's the trickiest).

New comment by headbiznatch in "Paul Graham on the Transition to Meat Substitutes"

headbiznatch — Mon, 25 Feb 2019 16:25:38 +0000

I think your analogy is poor - an LED does not produce fake light. Is a candle fake light compared to the sun?

But anyway, you missed the point - I am not telling you what to do. I am simply suggesting the alternative of "not faking it" by adding to a comment I felt was doing the same. If you feel like you are being told what to do, I apologize.

New comment by headbiznatch in "Paul Graham on the Transition to Meat Substitutes"

headbiznatch — Mon, 25 Feb 2019 16:16:43 +0000

Informative. Thanks for sharing!

New comment by headbiznatch in "Paul Graham on the Transition to Meat Substitutes"

headbiznatch — Mon, 25 Feb 2019 04:44:19 +0000

This reply is worth a thousand down-votes. I see where you are coming from and I appreciate that you shared it in words, not just a click on a down arrow. Thank you.

But I still think the down-voters are taking it personally. I don't believe anyone is actually being chastised for their position by this commenter. I took it as offering another option - instead of telling someone who likes meat that you have a great substitute that tastes just like meat and they'll never know the difference, try saying "there are many ways to prepare any of a large variety of vegetables - maybe you can enjoy vegetables as much as you enjoy meat if you find some recipes you like". Maybe those dishes will taste "meat-like" or whatever, but there is value in saying "Stop trying to fake it. Embrace the choice to do it differently."

For the record, I personally believe that this is a more honest tack for someone who is pursuing the option for ethical/environmental reasons.

New comment by headbiznatch in "Paul Graham on the Transition to Meat Substitutes"

headbiznatch — Mon, 25 Feb 2019 02:51:22 +0000

I know meta-discussion on HN is frowned upon, but seriously, I just have to ask those who down-voted this comment: why? Just... why? What is the problem with this sentiment with respect to its contribution to this thread?

If it helps, I think this is a reasonable point (don't try to fake the meat, just skip it - i've thought it myself often).

I haven't commented in here in SO LONG, and I know I will pay for the insurrection of asking the invisible commenters to justify yourselves, but I just can't help it because I do not understand how down-voting this is justifiable in any way with respect to content moderation.

New comment by headbiznatch in "Steven Colbert On Vessyl Digital Cup [video]"

headbiznatch — Tue, 15 Jul 2014 20:31:45 +0000

Detecting rohypnol, or similar scenarios where you are "truth testing" the ingredients. Pretty sure rohypnol detecting glasses (or drink umbrellas, etc.) exist, but I am not Googling that.

New comment by headbiznatch in "2x2048"

headbiznatch — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 22:10:54 +0000

I honestly believe the nerdery around 2048 to be a generally positive thing. I love games and the possibilities they hold for shared understanding of systems...

New comment by headbiznatch in "2x2048"

headbiznatch — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 22:09:10 +0000

FUCK THAT

sorry - had to

New comment by headbiznatch in "Almost Everything You Have Been Told About The Minimum Wage Is False"

headbiznatch — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 16:53:54 +0000

Here - someone did the few minutes of Google searching and rational analysis that Dorfman didn't have time for, you know, to keep this piece from being complete bullshit.

http://www.mathofpolitics.com/2014/01/30/poor-work-counting-...

New comment by headbiznatch in "Why is a minute divided into 60 seconds, an hour into 60 minutes?"

headbiznatch — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 21:14:53 +0000

Fun topic which inspires me to mention two goodies that help fuel in-depth conversations about measurement and conversion:

1) The Measure of All Things - http://www.kenalder.com/measure/ (science history goodness)

2) Frink - http://futureboy.us/frinkdocs/ (one of my first discoveries on HN and still one of the most fun to return to)

New comment by headbiznatch in "Introducing the Humble Store"

headbiznatch — Mon, 11 Nov 2013 20:38:53 +0000

I appreciate the evolution of the Humble Bundle idea. The indie bundles seem to be obvious wins for the developers, the non-indies seem like sensible plays to make more money on older titles, and the promotion of worthwhile charities is legit. And you can always move your Humble Bundle tip to $0 if you don't think they deserve it - what's not to like?

New comment by headbiznatch in "Svg.js"

headbiznatch — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 18:48:29 +0000

Re: SVG drawing tools - why not Inkscape? It's native format is SVG and it allows editing the markup directly. I get much better results using it than converting XAML to SVG (which is JUST different enough to be annoying). Would love to see the tools you've written... Thanks for sharing.

New comment by headbiznatch in "Making a better, prettier, more functional Windows Command Line"

headbiznatch — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 16:14:38 +0000

Nice! Thanks.

New comment by headbiznatch in "Making a better, prettier, more functional Windows Command Line"

headbiznatch — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 16:57:22 +0000

Powershell is really quite good if you don't mind learning a slightly different shell. And there are good tools to extend it (PowerGUI is one I like).

New comment by headbiznatch in "Making a better, prettier, more functional Windows Command Line"

headbiznatch — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 16:46:01 +0000

Because they had to pick something and you can't please anybody ever when picking typefaces?

New comment by headbiznatch in "NeXT Computer"

headbiznatch — Fri, 03 May 2013 20:32:30 +0000

Steve Jobs blah blah blah UNIX blah blah blah Apple blah blah UX nerdery blah blah blah blah blah.

OK - now the important stuff about the Cube:

https://www.google.com/search?q=next+magnesium+case+burn

New comment by headbiznatch in "We Can Do Better"

headbiznatch — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 02:27:51 +0000

Hilarious. The world hates you because of how you treat PEOPLE. Yer a record label, idiots - you fuck people over for fun and profit: coders (artists - remember when you pioneered thinking of coders this way?) and players (you understand the analogy at this point, right?)

New comment by headbiznatch in "Why are We Still Talking about LucasArts' Old Adventure Games?"

headbiznatch — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 01:56:13 +0000

Anyone who has ever jumped out of the room because of a windshield attack in "Rescue on Fractalus" understands... Manipulate the psyche, not the eyes. (Bonus - at the time LucasArts also manipulated the eyes with their 8-bit fractal landscapes et al. But that was a BONUS.)

New comment by headbiznatch in "O’Reilly Media Has Lost Its Soul"

headbiznatch — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 20:04:42 +0000

Everybody makes their own deal.

O'Reilly must have recognized by Mr. Few's demands that these expensive details mattered to him or else they would not have signed the contract. But they did. Belly-ache all day about the margins and practical difficulties inherent in printing a book to Mr. Few's standards, but they signed it to get the deal and then broke their word. What is he missing about that, the central theme of this piece?

P.S. $50 to $200? O'Reilly sells their poorly bound books at the low-to-middle of that range. You are not helping them by mentioning what a nicely printed book costs.

New comment by headbiznatch in "Meldium (YC W13) Controls Your Team’s Shared App Passwords For You"

headbiznatch — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 03:21:39 +0000

I second the bizarre unfriendliness of LastPass enterprise. I have recently been using PassPack (https://www.passpack.com/) which has a decent pricing model and a fairly sensible sharing workflow. Browser integration is only bookmarklets and not as strong as LastPass's browser extensions, but for small group password sharing, it's been convenient enough so far.