Hacker News: jfil

New comment by jfil in "The Rise of the Bullshittery"

jfil — Thu, 14 May 2026 02:42:50 +0000

I recomment reading "The Management Myth" by Matthew Stewart, on this topic

New comment by jfil in "The Rise of the Bullshittery"

jfil — Thu, 14 May 2026 02:35:36 +0000

Ah, the "colonize the stars solution".

New comment by jfil in "Ask HN: What are you working on? (May 2026)"

jfil — Tue, 12 May 2026 23:36:44 +0000

For site-search, I recommend making it a much better value for money. Sites with 300 pages don't really require a search engine. Imagine people with 30,000-300,000 pages where 99% don't ever change (so don't need a re-crawl) and who get 10,000 total visitors a month. That's a wholly different point on the searches x crawl frequency x number of docs matrix that you can still serve profitably.

New comment by jfil in "Ask HN: What are you working on? (May 2026)"

jfil — Mon, 11 May 2026 19:37:53 +0000

I'm creating a piece of "home cooked software" - a multi-player web game to play with my team at your monthly Social. Made for a specific team, for a specific occasion.

Its janky, and I made several time-saving decisions that'll cost me more time in the end, but I'm having fun.

Hanoi Hannah

jfil — Thu, 07 May 2026 16:20:27 +0000

Article URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanoi_Hannah

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48051254

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

New comment by jfil in "Google Cloud fraud defense, the next evolution of reCAPTCHA"

jfil — Thu, 07 May 2026 14:04:38 +0000

It's unpleasant to face, but this initiative from Google is a concrete example that the homeless/too-poor-for-phone do not matter. I've heard of cases where university library apps/admin systems required a phone, and for those cases you could borrow a phone from a "device library" on campus. But, obviously, there's nothing like this for the homeless guy being blocked by Google...

New comment by jfil in "Nuclear receptor 4A1 linked to health effects of coffee: study"

jfil — Mon, 04 May 2026 20:18:01 +0000

I've had a roasted barley drink called "Orzo" in Italian McDonalds. It had some of those same roasted/caramelized flavour notes as in coffee.

New comment by jfil in "Ask.com has closed"

jfil — Sun, 03 May 2026 13:56:32 +0000

I used to read through search engine patents back in 2006-7 when I was an SEO consultant. I could see the same names from the AltaVista patents later start appearing as authors on the Google patents.

New comment by jfil in "Ask.com has closed"

jfil — Sun, 03 May 2026 13:46:39 +0000

>one of the ways that Google Ads milks (scams?) unsophisticated buyers

The average advertiser has no clue about this. Google's role in the advertising ecosystem has been as a scammer and monopolist for many years now. Unfortunately, every major ad network learned from them, and they all have a similar trick default setting.

The latest scam from Google is PMAX, where you YOLO your placements/ad creative/landing page combos to Google and they optimize it automatically. This serves as an optimal mechanism to funnel your ads to the most fraudulent publishers, who's army of employees fills out your forms and bypasses bot protections most effectively. Google's team will then helpfully recommend to "ummm... maybe block their IPs?". Absolute racket.

New comment by jfil in "Your biggest vulnerability is your shitty compensation"

jfil — Fri, 01 May 2026 13:50:08 +0000

I think the existance of the Soviet Union - some alternative system to compete with - kept Western governments more honest and mindful of consequences. With no alternative "exit" from the system, its easier to abuse workers now.

Your biggest vulnerability is your shitty compensation

jfil — Fri, 01 May 2026 03:53:44 +0000

Article URL: https://green.spacedino.net/your-biggest-vulnerability-is-your-shitty-compensation/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47971134

Points: 107

# Comments: 49

New comment by jfil in "SFO Quiet Airport (2025)"

jfil — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 16:30:59 +0000

This is why Intercom and Pendo are in my adblock list. Enough pop overs!

New comment by jfil in "Ask HN: Do small changes in workspace setup affect focus or productivity?"

jfil — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 04:54:41 +0000

I think the impact of specific workspace arrangements will be different for each person. And no e of these adjustments are going to unlock a torrent of productivity.

From my own experience: * Getting an ear-covering gamer headset was most effective at blocking external sounds, and helping with focus * Replacing my cushioned work chair with a mesh bottom-and-back chair reduced sweating * Having an e-ink frame with certain reminders/affirmations helps me get through tough stretches at work

New comment by jfil in "Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price"

jfil — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 12:29:34 +0000

On point 2: take a page out of John Deere's book, sell branded hats, t-shirts, toys and sell the movie license.

New comment by jfil in "Ask HN: Getting depressed day by day, how to cope?"

jfil — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 19:17:45 +0000

First step: stop reading reddit, and take a sabbatical from all news. Take HN with a huge grain of salt - for better and for worse, you're hearing outlier opinions here.

Optional second step: none of what's happening in the industry has to do with the technology of AI. It has to do with a certain class of people declaring war on another. It's happened before in history and there are ways to deal with it, its just our first experience of it in our lifetime...

New comment by jfil in "Making Wax Sealed Letters at Scale"

jfil — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 16:37:15 +0000

The big appeal of a wax seal is that the recipent had imprinted it with their own hands. Doing it at scale takes away the magic. Yes, for marketing, it takes advantage of that residual cultural significance of the seal - but doing it at scale destroys that significance.

Like having an AI generated video of yourself wishing happy birthday to each of your friends. Or a pen plotter making your letters look hand-written. Or hiring a taskrabbit employee to sing lullabies to your child.

New comment by jfil in "Traders placed over $1B in perfectly timed bets on the Iran war"

jfil — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 15:19:00 +0000

>>You'll need to look for your own individual scheme, ethics be damned

This is remarkably similar to how workers in the Soviet Union got ahead. Your job provided a lot of ways to make money on the side, none of them were beneficial to productivity/trust. I think this kind of reality might just be normal for societies in collapse (also, "gerontocracy")

Chained Library

jfil — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 02:46:37 +0000

Article URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chained_library

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47821412

Points: 2

# Comments: 1

New comment by jfil in "Canada Can't Pretend America Is Still the Good Guy"

jfil — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 22:22:41 +0000

As a Canadian, I think our government should do more to disentangle our defence and intelligence services from the USA's. But we also have to remember that much of the USA's current behaviour is being directed by a certain Russian gentleman.

New comment by jfil in "Layoff Thinking"

jfil — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 13:54:54 +0000

I think this "I will die" thought is one of the persistent fallacies that create stress for people who are unemployed (and keep the currently-employed quiet and compliant).

Everyone should consider, will you actually die? And - the converse - do you think you'll avoid death forever?