Hacker News: mainmailman

New comment by mainmailman in "Meta and Microsoft take steps to reduce employee usage of Claude AI"

mainmailman — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 20:40:37 +0000

I’m trying really hard to keep my skills up but it doesn’t feel productive when I’m using it to write code. It feels like I’m slowing down the AI to the point that it’s not as effective as just letting it go. But I don’t get all the learning that comes from that time along the way.

Have you found ways to stay sharp while using it? Or are you relying on other projects outside of work to keep your skills fresh?

New comment by mainmailman in "Software engineering is about managing complexity"

mainmailman — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 16:18:43 +0000

Hammer and nail still works, it’s just not as fast and strains the builders.

Problem with the analogy is that the strain in software engineering is necessary for an in depth understanding of the code.

The question is whether that depth of knowledge is ultimately more helpful than the speed that we can build with AI.

New comment by mainmailman in "The First At-Home Test for Infected Ticks Could Improve Lyme Disease Diagnosis"

mainmailman — Sat, 15 Aug 2026 16:02:53 +0000

Another step towards a vaccine, I hope.

New comment by mainmailman in "Compression is prediction"

mainmailman — Sat, 15 Aug 2026 11:33:20 +0000

Thanks for the recommendations!

New comment by mainmailman in "I requested a copy of my data from McDonald’s loyalty program"

mainmailman — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 15:33:25 +0000

That’s where I’m at. I really don’t care if an individual business collects usage data like this. I have a problem when that data is used outside of that context.

Try to sell me more burgers and fries? Fine, but don’t tell my doctor, or palantir, or the government etc etc. I don’t believe that’s a huge ask as a consumer in the Information Age.

New comment by mainmailman in "Compression is prediction"

mainmailman — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 12:13:51 +0000

Have any examples of a blog post that meets your standard?

New comment by mainmailman in "Google fixed more Chrome bugs in June than over the past two years, thanks to AI"

mainmailman — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 10:50:11 +0000

Do you really think they mean they’ve been using mythos

New comment by mainmailman in "Anatomy of a Frontier Lab Agent Intrusion: A Timeline of the July 2026 Incident"

mainmailman — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 21:53:07 +0000

I can’t get over this either, I’d love to get OpenAI’s technical break down and see exactly how the agent hid itself. Or who didn’t set up the SIEM correctly

New comment by mainmailman in "Claude Opus 5"

mainmailman — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 21:33:52 +0000

Unrelated question, what’s your favorite flavor of Kool Aid?

New comment by mainmailman in "Bricks and Minifigs Stole a Man's $200k Lego Collection"

mainmailman — Fri, 29 May 2026 13:54:30 +0000

So because children were forced to work dangerous jobs it's okay for adult religious leaders to have sex with them? I'm not sure I follow that.

You should research polygamy in the mainline (Brighamite) sect if you haven't already. One of the last marriages to the the mormon prophet Lorenzo Snow was to a 15 year old. Snow was 57 at the time. This was not normal despite any assertion about children working.

Source: www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comments/1c2omo0/the_wives_of_lorenzo_snow/

New comment by mainmailman in "Software engineering may no longer be a lifetime career"

mainmailman — Mon, 11 May 2026 18:08:58 +0000

Thank you, it's been all but confirmed that lot of "AI layoffs" are due to reaching a workforce equilibrium from Covid era over hiring.

Saying AI for anything, good news or bad news, is a get out of jail free card for execs who want to appease shareholders.

New comment by mainmailman in "Norway set to become latest country to ban social media for under 16s"

mainmailman — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 16:09:18 +0000

What?

New comment by mainmailman in "Norway Set to Become Latest Country to Ban Social Media for Under 16s"

mainmailman — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 16:08:53 +0000

I could see a scenario where well meaning parents prevent kids from going online, and with the promise of a safer internet through ID laws allows their children to get online more. Total conjecture though, I would like to see data on that too.

New comment by mainmailman in "Amazon is discontinuing Kindle for PC on June 30th"

mainmailman — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 17:05:19 +0000

What is Anna’s?

New comment by mainmailman in "Why Is France Moving from Microsoft Windows to Linux"

mainmailman — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 13:15:26 +0000

It'll be interesting to see how large microsoft's footprint is in the country after this. The article talks about the government's objectives, but I wonder how the private sector will react.

New comment by mainmailman in "Good Sleep, Good Learning (2012)"

mainmailman — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 12:25:36 +0000

There are bars everywhere

New comment by mainmailman in "An interactive map of Flock Cams"

mainmailman — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 22:39:49 +0000

Why do anything at all?

New comment by mainmailman in "How OpenAI, the US government and Persona built an identity surveillance machine"

mainmailman — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 22:32:01 +0000

I loved it, I’ve never seen something like it

New comment by mainmailman in "An AI agent published a hit piece on me – more things have happened"

mainmailman — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 10:32:04 +0000

This is enough to make me never use ars technica again

New comment by mainmailman in "Read Something Wonderful"

mainmailman — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 14:18:25 +0000

Brave