Hacker News: karmonhardan

New comment by karmonhardan in "How the lore of New Year defeated the law of New Year"

karmonhardan — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 16:45:09 +0000

Engaging with TFA's thesis: occasionally, it's correct for institutions to insist on law over lore. For one, that lore might be just as artificial or short-lived or "mistaken" (as much as these things can be) as anything seeking to replace it - as some comments have mentioned, the "customary" start of the year was itself imposed by Caesar amid a history of a March start. It might also be in society's best interests that cooler heads determine a particular course. The "lore" of the demihumanity of certain populations takes hold popularly, from time to time, for example. The law prevents, in the worst cases, slaughter (or builds parameters for punishment and future deterrence after the fact).

New comment by karmonhardan in "Is stuff online worth saving?"

karmonhardan — Sun, 22 Dec 2024 02:32:16 +0000

It's funny you mention ticket stubs, because I also have a similar collection, and I kind of treasure it. Before my Google tracking my every step, before Twitter, as the years go by, I have some record of what I was doing at exceedingly specific times and dates. It helps to structure my memories a bit more than I'd otherwise be able to. I scanned them all at once (in several pages), and it's sort of a map of my adolescence. I can jump across time. I would be sad to lose it. (Along with the photo of the tickets for my make-shift - and first - double feature of Everything Everywhere/Dr. Strange. Multiverse-themed, doncha know?)

New comment by karmonhardan in "Wishing for a more orderly disruption may misunderstand government reform"

karmonhardan — Sun, 22 Dec 2024 01:51:26 +0000

There is a direct line between the KKK, American Nazi Party, and Republicans and "moderate" Democrats who are just over the past few years aging (dying) out of office. The ideology of the latter is going strong. But I appreciate the insult; it's the kind of hysterical mischaracterization that tends to come out when one is close to prescribing the proper corrective action to right-wing malfeasance.

New comment by karmonhardan in "Wishing for a more orderly disruption may misunderstand government reform"

karmonhardan — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:47:54 +0000

It's the kind of blame-ambiguifying ("Can't do anything, law says so," "Can't do anything, courts say so.") that happens when the opposition to a given reform are perfectly happy to beat, bomb, and shoot anyone who dares to try to [integrate schools/secure voting rights/offer reproductive care/marry two people of the same gender/etc.].

What you're actually asking for is for America to finally undertake its own form of denazification, and hoo boy, if you think that things are rough now...

Remember, there was an actual insurrection by these folks 4 years ago. They literally entered the building housing our legislature and threatened the lives of our lawmakers. There is, like, zero question of why there's been a chilling effect on finding legislative remedies to American issues, even if you cut out the massive influence of lobbyists. No one wants to get Abe'd.

New comment by karmonhardan in "Wishing for a more orderly disruption may misunderstand government reform"

karmonhardan — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:30:13 +0000

It's certainly funny how popular "Defund the" is when it ends with, "[agency with a track record of actually providing service and value to both individual Americans and the country as a whole]" instead of "police". Turns out, conservatism is selective when it comes to preservation of institutions. One guess what the qualifier is.

New comment by karmonhardan in "Google stops letting sites like Forbes rule search for "Best CBD Gummies""

karmonhardan — Fri, 29 Nov 2024 13:31:12 +0000

I'm not sure what your positive experience has to do with GPs negative experience. Is the implication that it negates it? Because it doesn't.

New comment by karmonhardan in "Google stops letting sites like Forbes rule search for "Best CBD Gummies""

karmonhardan — Fri, 29 Nov 2024 13:22:03 +0000

People need to stop saying this. The internet from 5-10 years ago was already post-social media revolution; it's not substantially different from today's internet, on the consumer side. Google has gotten substantially worse, however.

New comment by karmonhardan in "Flipping FLIP ship saved from scrapyard at last minute"

karmonhardan — Tue, 26 Nov 2024 12:41:37 +0000

Indeed, the moon landing wasn't the universally-lauded come-together moment people like to portray it as. MLK had been assassinated the previous year and the Vietnam War was in full swing; there were a lot of things on people's minds (and greatly varying opinions on what the government ought to be spending money on). The common memory of the event can mostly be chalked up to a combination of propaganda and the people who tend to be able to get their writing about it published (white Baby Boomers).

New comment by karmonhardan in "Ticketmaster’s attempt to game arbitration services fails"

karmonhardan — Sat, 09 Nov 2024 19:35:37 +0000

Except Valve, for their Steam service. But that's only because someone realized that you could Zerg rush them with arbitration claims, whose fees they were obliged to pay (since their ToS forced users into it). Their only option that wouldn't be massively disruptive financially, in that case, would be to agree to a settlement with the arb representatives. So, now, you're only allowed to sue Valve, in a specific court of their choosing.

New comment by karmonhardan in "FDA proposes ending use of oral phenylephrine as OTC nasal decongestant"

karmonhardan — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 13:37:29 +0000

The best thing I ever did for decongestion was to get outside and start wearing a mask during the winter. The air entering my nose is clearer and warmer, which causes less mucus production. The mucus that is produced is more likely to drain, rather than sit around thickening and waiting to be blown out. I wish I'd thought to wear a mask while out when I was younger; could have saved myself much suffering waiting at the bus stop and during the subsequent schoolday.

New comment by karmonhardan in "Λ-2D: An Exploration of Drawing as Programming Language"

karmonhardan — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 13:24:55 +0000

This reminds me of Lukasa memory boards, analogous to written language as this is to traditional programming (or as a table is to a chart). It's amazing how the way information is encoded and presented can affect its interpretation.

New comment by karmonhardan in "ChatGPT Search"

karmonhardan — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 13:06:27 +0000

I'm replying because I look at my post history. :)

New comment by karmonhardan in "Touchscreens are out, and tactile controls are back"

karmonhardan — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 14:07:52 +0000

IIRC Material Design actually came before iOS' pivot to Immaterial Aero We Have At Home. Metro was indeed first, though, so kudos for actually mentioning it. Everyone seems to forget that the Zune was what really got things rolling.

New comment by karmonhardan in "The Submerged Nabataean Temple in Puteoli at Pozzuoli, Italy"

karmonhardan — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 13:58:05 +0000

I honestly prefer this to the American version, "The governor owns a bunch of real estate that would benefit more from road upgrades than two major rail projects that have been in the works for decades, so he tries to cancel the latter - succeeding with one, delaying the other by 5 years, funneling state funds to Induced DemandLand, and forefeiting hundreds of millions of dollars in free federal grants."

If you're in Maryland, please vote Alsobrooks for Senate.

New comment by karmonhardan in "ChatGPT Search"

karmonhardan — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 13:48:29 +0000

n=1, very scientific methodology. How do you "feel" about homeopathy?

New comment by karmonhardan in "Sleep regularity is a stronger predictor of mortality than sleep duration (2023)"

karmonhardan — Sat, 02 Nov 2024 10:15:56 +0000

Older people tend to get up earlier. There is a special place in hell for the Baby Boomers who insisted on a 7:30 start time for our office (though, of course, as the guy who opened every morning, I had to be there earlier). The anxiety that I developed went away when I left and could get up when I wanted to. There are many, many monrings where I lie in bed at 7:30 and think, "I would have had to be a Bukowski quote by now."

New comment by karmonhardan in "ChatGPT Search"

karmonhardan — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 14:43:34 +0000

They're "integrated" the way Adobe or Autodesk's acquisitions are "integrated," which is to say that they're not, in any meaningful way - but at least you only have to log in/get your credit card out once. And that's sort of fine, because they never needed to be integrated. All of the individual applications work fine on their own, with common media formats if you need to move between them. In fact, the acquisitions should have never taken place at all; they should have been blocked for antitrust violations.

New comment by karmonhardan in "ChatGPT Search"

karmonhardan — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 13:58:32 +0000

People have been throwing up the, "You're just too technical," canard for years, and it's just not true. Google search does not find what anyone is looking for; it finds what it wants to sell, in a way that makes it more likely that a purchase will be made. Full stop.

New comment by karmonhardan in "Curly-Cue: Geometric Methods for Highly Coiled Hair"

karmonhardan — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 22:35:59 +0000

This leaves out the perspective of the young black people who would have been the disproportionate target of police interactions.

Unfortunately, moderation within a biased status quo doesn't achieve the goal of eliminating the bias. Those seeking a radical change can't reasonably be faulted for using radical rhetoric, only for wanting to change something that's "working."

New comment by karmonhardan in "Adobe's new image rotation tool is one of the most impressive AI tools seen"

karmonhardan — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 21:57:42 +0000

You joke, but it's literally in the interest of many companies to prop up the SP500 et al. by wasting money on M7 products, isn't it?