Hacker News: klondike_klive

New comment by klondike_klive in "Microsoft Comic Chat is now open source"

klondike_klive — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 17:57:31 +0000

One of my first ever gigs was writing comedy sketches for a BBC digital channel using MS Comic Chat, which they filmed as if it were a super low frame rate cartoon. The most incredibly cheap TV. I think we (my writing/performing partners and I) generated a few hours of usable footage for them and got paid about 50 quid each.

New comment by klondike_klive in "Amazon without the knockoffs"

klondike_klive — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 20:42:19 +0000

By coincidence it's flying ant evening in my part of the world. One of them just flew into my mouth and I said HDJWNSK three times in a row.

New comment by klondike_klive in "Factories are just rooms"

klondike_klive — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 18:28:56 +0000

Its still one of the summer jobs I look back on with a wistful what-if. I worked in a small (10ish employees) factory in the 1990s. I selected, bent and inserted resistors into fire alarm PCBs. If I'd been there longer than 6 weeks I think I'd have learned more about it. But I'd already lined up my next job at the pub a few doors down.

New comment by klondike_klive in "Half-Baked Product"

klondike_klive — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 13:22:37 +0000

I would for sure be that rookie who is paralysed with indecision over whether to read "clean" as an adjective or an imperative. Is it telling me that it's clean or that it needs cleaning?

New comment by klondike_klive in "On cigarettes"

klondike_klive — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 16:05:09 +0000

Pipe smoking has always seemed a bit more acceptable than other methods. The smell of pipe tobacco burning is much more fragrant than that of cigarettes or cigars. It also has a kind of nostalgic charm.

I made a herbal smoking mixture recently with various dried herbs and leaves. Mullein, lemonbalm, marshmallow root, hazel, blackberry and beech leaves, which I smoke in a briar pipe that I've had for years. It's a nice way to relax in the evening every couple of days or so, although I'm sure it's not entirely free of harmful chemicals. And I wouldn't do it outside of my own garden, not until I'm into my 60's I think. I'd be too self-conscious.

New comment by klondike_klive in "Stealing Is a Skill"

klondike_klive — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 23:11:41 +0000

It's taken me reaching my fifties and entering an entirely new career to realise this. That arrogance and ambition of youth, the hard-line unwillingness to compromise and study other people's work really held me back!

New comment by klondike_klive in "Jerry's Map"

klondike_klive — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 22:47:52 +0000

I had the same experience when I ran into him at a bar backstage at a Blur gig in the mid 90s. My dad was friends with his dad in 1960s Sheffield, but since the bloke walked out on his family when Jarvis was 7, it wouldn't have been much of a conversation starter.

New comment by klondike_klive in "Why Drawing Tablet Brands Won't Collaborate on Linux Floss Drivers"

klondike_klive — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 22:36:11 +0000

I use an Xppen 24" Pro display tablet. I enjoy using it but my Linux mint machine simply won't boot with it plugged in. I haven't figured out a workaround beyond physically disconnecting both cables every time. And when I boot up and reconnect, my machine never remembers the screen mapping, so there's enough friction there for me to avoid plugging it in for days if not weeks at a time.

New comment by klondike_klive in "Renting a sewing machine from the library"

klondike_klive — Sun, 21 Jun 2026 21:34:46 +0000

I made a hat - an old one was getting threadbare so I used a seam ripper to take it apart, drew around the parts onto new fabric, and sewed the parts together. The brim was a bit tricky and the stitching isn't super straight because of the thick canvas (also, I wish I'd made it out of thinner material) but I get a kick out of saying I made it!

New comment by klondike_klive in "SPECS Augmented Reality Glasses"

klondike_klive — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 22:25:31 +0000

Tech specs for specs tech!

New comment by klondike_klive in "Firewood Splitting Simulator"

klondike_klive — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 22:36:05 +0000

I just knew who this was going to be before I even opened the link. One of the few accounts I miss from having deleted Instagram from my phone!

New comment by klondike_klive in "The oldest surviving animated feature film at 100"

klondike_klive — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 09:25:14 +0000

Animators (and storyboarders, layout artists, illustrators etc) are still taught to prioritise the clarity and readability of the character's silhouette, although they're usually working with a three quarter view (between side profile and front-on) rather than a profile like the shadow puppets here. Still I can't help thinking this film would be a good object of study.

Some of the forest scenes remind me of the original King Kong in their use of dark foreground shapes and framing devices to give an impression of scale.

https://youtu.be/j6DaB0Is4jM?t=1720

https://youtu.be/1vNv-pE8I_c?t=72

New comment by klondike_klive in "Time to talk about my writerdeck"

klondike_klive — Sun, 24 May 2026 08:58:03 +0000

Reminds me of getting a new pen and notebook for Christmas and all I could think of to write was "this is my new pen"

New comment by klondike_klive in "Chewing gum restores dad's taste and smell years after Covid"

klondike_klive — Thu, 21 May 2026 20:14:41 +0000

My mother lost her sense of smell after surgery for nasal polyps in her teens. She was mortally afraid of fire breaking out in the night and not being able to smell it.

New comment by klondike_klive in "We've made the world too complicated"

klondike_klive — Mon, 18 May 2026 10:15:43 +0000

I've been asked to come give a talk about my career(s) at a school where a friend of mine works.

Thinking about it is turning into a bit of an existential audit. Even though I've been the recipient of a big nationally-recognised award in my field, most of my adult life has been alternately starving in a garret and working for peanuts to make huge faceless conglomerates richer on licensing deals, all the while struggling with an undiagnosed neuro-developmental condition.

On the face of it I've been enormously successful in my career, yet executive function struggles meant I hit a wall 20 years ago and couldn't ascend to management. Now I've aged out of my industry and have had to pivot to a bunch of different things.

I'm really wondering what to say to these kids. The most honest version would be some version of the Far Side cartoon with a mother mantis saying to her dozens of wide eyed offspring "Of course, long before you mature, most of you will be eaten."

New comment by klondike_klive in "Project Gutenberg – keeps getting better"

klondike_klive — Fri, 15 May 2026 18:47:43 +0000

Not a recommendation per se but I used to use Amphetype on Gutenberg texts to practise touch-typing. There's something about writing out a book that hits differently to reading it. You skip less, odd parts stick with you. I think the last one I tried was The Island of Dr Moreau.

New comment by klondike_klive in "Solar-based sleep patterns compared to modern norms"

klondike_klive — Fri, 15 May 2026 09:01:45 +0000

"Here's the nap room. Don't be seen using it."

New comment by klondike_klive in "Using the internet like it's 1999"

klondike_klive — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 10:39:47 +0000

I've been resisting this for various reasons. Parking apps, maps, camera, podcast app, many many timers, and banking apps are all phone functions I use quite often and I can't see obvious ways around them which don't involve lots of other gubbins which I will inevitably lose or forget.

I could possibly uninstall everything but the absolute necessities on a smartphone for when I need it, and otherwise carry a flip phone. Maybe use the flip phone for tethering so the smartphone doesn't need a Sim card. But it seems that might be introducing lot of extra stress into my life, especially for stressful jobs like parking before a meeting, keeping up to date with clients, etc

New comment by klondike_klive in "Using the internet like it's 1999"

klondike_klive — Sat, 25 Apr 2026 10:28:25 +0000

Yes, it does help. But it's too easily switched off. I basically have to be my own worst enemy I have to order to prevent myself from being my own worst enemy!

New comment by klondike_klive in "Using the internet like it's 1999"

klondike_klive — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 11:05:25 +0000

That's just what I've been doing after deleting Instagram from my. phone. I can't trust my evening dopamine-seeking behaviour with the phone app, but there's much much less stickiness in the browser.