Hacker News: kraig911

New comment by kraig911 in "The American Healthcare Conundrum"

kraig911 — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 16:06:43 +0000

try being diabetic ugh. I am constantly grinding against made up barriers. 150$ in strips and about 500-700$ for insulin. Meanwhile I meet a friend and he's just buying the base insulin from walmart for about 50$ a vial.

New comment by kraig911 in "Qwen3.5 Fine-Tuning Guide"

kraig911 — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 15:28:42 +0000

this right here I think we all need to think on what is happening right now. Dead internet theory might be plausible. What goal would an AI writing crap responses on reddit/hacker news/what not have to even need to comment?

New comment by kraig911 in "MacBook Neo"

kraig911 — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 15:02:15 +0000

I want one for all my kids. I love it. I just wish it had more ram. Personally though this direction is good. I wish now apple would add some sort of AI to it's icloud offering that these computers could use that wasn't necessarily 'local'

New comment by kraig911 in "MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and M5 Max"

kraig911 — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 02:09:25 +0000

what model were you using?

New comment by kraig911 in "I pitched a roller coaster to Disneyland at age 10 in 1978"

kraig911 — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 15:30:55 +0000

I think that's a different thing. Yes it's a possibility. I'm just saying a site where say there's a group of engineers/scientist that are just there to listen and praise. No judging No competition just a place to keep kids interested and not dither away their creativity watching other kids play roblox on youtube.

New comment by kraig911 in "I pitched a roller coaster to Disneyland at age 10 in 1978"

kraig911 — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 15:29:19 +0000

Engineering in general to me just means 'designed' by specification per an area study. Whether software or hardware/industrial application. I know UK is all about titles though as if they're 'worth' something. A lot of stuff we use in modern day was made by someone who claimed to be an engineer but was really a hobbyist on to something.

That said in the US there are some specifications of a license engineer that you have to earn. Electrical/Petroleum/Nuclear/Structural etc those areas do have licensing associated that is different state by state. The main issue with software engineering is it forgoes that completely there just wasn't time to make a process about it. It was/is always about time to market.

New comment by kraig911 in "Artist who “paints” portraits on glass by hitting it with a hammer"

kraig911 — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 15:24:06 +0000

As someone who also loves to paint esp portraits I was wondering in your opinion what looks like a good portrait? Because every time I go out on a limb and do what I think is neat the subject/audience seems less than interested. It's like people like a good photo.

New comment by kraig911 in "I pitched a roller coaster to Disneyland at age 10 in 1978"

kraig911 — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 16:22:42 +0000

I so much wish we could all get together as engineers and make a site where kids can write to and send videos etc on and we just praise them and tell them their ideas are good as a community.

New comment by kraig911 in "Rethinking High-School Science Fairs"

kraig911 — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 15:29:27 +0000

I think there's more than that. When your parents think the earth is flat it's hard to learn science. George Bush's "No Child Left Behind" we're finally seeing the ramifications across our country. When you can never fail you can never learn.

New comment by kraig911 in "The US is flirting with its first-ever population decline"

kraig911 — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 21:57:19 +0000

It's simply hard to plan. Before kids I'd typically meet up with friend around 8 or so maybe 9. Now bedtime rules my evenings. When my kids are asleep I'm exhausted. Most of my friends evenings are just starting at that time! (lol) and I completely understand. The other thing is I can't go out and get drunk or party because being hung over with a 3 year old pissing the bed after they crawl in to sleep/cuddle with you - nothing better/worse.

It's simply hard to relate. I have some very good friends who we've stayed in touch. I'm forever grateful for them. But when you're out and about and you meet a random person and try to strike up a friendship say at a conference. The second I mention I'm a dad I feel I'm relegated to the back of the bus.

New comment by kraig911 in "The US is flirting with its first-ever population decline"

kraig911 — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 21:53:51 +0000

Now to me I think is a point in time earlier than now. I'm thinking somewhere when people didn't need to get out and do stuff with another. I think when I was a kid it was normal to have grandparents, and church settings, and just after school programs at the Y or kids in general would find each other in the neighborhood and play. I don't see much of that the same in the 'now'

New comment by kraig911 in "The US is flirting with its first-ever population decline"

kraig911 — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 21:51:42 +0000

I feel kids need that sense of community and social setting. I know it's hard to get a handle on when there's nothing I went through that with my other two during covid. The difference is night and day with dealing with anxiety in social settings.

New comment by kraig911 in "The US is flirting with its first-ever population decline"

kraig911 — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 21:50:39 +0000

I wish I could accord private nanny. Do you know of good resources to find this? Esp in the USA I'm in texas.

New comment by kraig911 in "The US is flirting with its first-ever population decline"

kraig911 — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 21:49:30 +0000

Only two are in daycare. LOL I wish it was for all 4. My autistic girls insurance cost I hit the OOP max in 2 months but still.

New comment by kraig911 in "The US is flirting with its first-ever population decline"

kraig911 — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 17:15:08 +0000

It's just hard now. Before I had kids I had a network of friends and had a great social life. Now it's just me and my wife. If I want more friends I'll have to have more kids I guess? I have 4 now. One (my first) is severely autistic.

Financially the cost? I pay about 6,000 a month in daycare. 2k a month in healthcare expenses.

Then community wise. Every time I've gone to take them to the movies, or to a restaurant or hell now even the grocery store I always get shafted. Everything is so overstimulated and kids get in the way to strangers trying to ignore reality with their phones. So when one of my kids throws a tantrum everyone's looks and disdain doesn't help. It's a part of growing up that I think most young adults don't realize.

Then for your career it's the most destablizing thing there is. Everyone around me who doesn't have kids the sky is the limit. Midnight PR's and no problem handling oncall. I missed a pagerduty alert when I was careflly bottle feeding my 8 month old who caught pertussis from some idiot who thought they were above that. I had no choice in getting out of pagerduty because 'it's only fair'

Don't get me start on dog/cat people who equate their struggles to mine... or people who have no idea how hard life is already for a kid who is disabled.

Having a family sucks hard sometimes. But I wouldn't change my past for the world. They are my everything. The advantages of having kids are lost on most but I'll let others provide input if they feel like it.

New comment by kraig911 in "I started programming when I was 7. I'm 50 now and the thing I loved has changed"

kraig911 — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 17:01:29 +0000

"Over four decades I’ve been through more technology transitions than I can count. New languages, new platforms, new paradigms. CLI to GUI. Desktop to web. Web to mobile. Monoliths to microservices. Tapes, floppy discs, hard drives, SSDs. JavaScript frameworks arriving and dying like mayflies."... made me think of

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.

where we came from and where we're going this whole time in my career those things are kind of hard to pinpoint. Abstraction is killing us for sure. Time to market above all else. It's no wonder why software in cars, appliances and medical equipment is a factor that is killing people.

New comment by kraig911 in "A 26,000-year astronomical monument hidden in plain sight (2019)"

kraig911 — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 19:07:11 +0000

I loved this. I wish I had the ability to do the same innocuous deep dive into a easter egg in code - but I fear it would never be discovered at this rate of which AI is generating similar stuff. But much like this article maybe there's a time and place.

New comment by kraig911 in "Nano Banana Pro"

kraig911 — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 16:20:11 +0000

be fi fo famo nano

New comment by kraig911 in "Nano Banana Pro"

kraig911 — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 16:19:49 +0000

nano banano pronano.

New comment by kraig911 in "Vitamin D reduces incidence and duration of colds in those with low levels"

kraig911 — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 17:20:41 +0000

I wonder if adding zinc on top of this would do.