Hacker News: marpstar

New comment by marpstar in "US saw record high of 5,668 books banned in libraries in 2025, says agency"

marpstar — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 21:31:42 +0000

Not everyone has the money to buy whatever book they want to read and it's wrong no matter who does it.

New comment by marpstar in "Scores decline again for 13-year-old students in reading and mathematics"

marpstar — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 21:01:29 +0000

I don't know why I was so surprised when my kids told me there was nothing called a "computer lab" at their school... why would there be when each kid has their own device?

New comment by marpstar in "Three hundred synths, 3 hardware projects, and one app"

marpstar — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 17:35:39 +0000

Glad to see this on here. I've been using an iPad as the "brain" in my music setup and found this project not long ago. I've since opened PRs for a couple of Line 6 pedals I've got. I've also got a Novation Launch Control XL 3, for which Ben (the creator) has made an editor available to make targeting specific devices much easier. I've had a few email correspondence with him regarding the idea of open-sourcing that editor and he's a super nice dude.

Thanks again, Ben! (if you're reading this)

New comment by marpstar in "AI singer now occupies eleven spots on iTunes singles chart"

marpstar — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 01:57:20 +0000

These days I'm programming drums on dedicated hardware but Logic Pro's Drummer feature had been immensely helpful for me as a guitarist who hadn't done much drum programming but wanted to play along with interesting drum beats while arranging a song. Just a few options but that's what makes it so approachable. It's helped me keep the song "mine" without the hassle of sourcing loops/samples manually, even if only temporarily.

New comment by marpstar in "Windows native app development is a mess"

marpstar — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 15:00:15 +0000

MyLifeOrganized was the biggest thing I gave up when I switched to Mac in 2013. Still miss it -- nothing else (Omnifocus, Things, outliners, etc) has been as effective as a system for me. They've been talking about a potential Mac app for year, I'm on the waiting list, but I've given up hope that it'll ever come. Even if it does, I doubt it'll be as good as it is on Windows.

New comment by marpstar in "Payphone Go"

marpstar — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 16:51:28 +0000

In many cities there are "Emergency Call Boxes" throughout the streets that are distinct from payphones but operate similarly in that they allow you to get in contact with emergency services.

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

marpstar — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 15:44:08 +0000

I maxed my M1 out when I bought it because I was frustrated with the 16GB max in the previous machines. I use my machine for all sorts of things and some days you just don't feel like exiting apps to make space for new ones.

I still don't have a strong urge to upgrade. I could probably get by on 32GB (like my work-issued machine is) but 64GB is the right amount of headroom for me.

New comment by marpstar in "Lessons you will learn living in a snowy place"

marpstar — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 22:51:37 +0000

Honestly, even better. It's the wet snow that's especially heavy (and risky for your back), so not having to lift it is invaluable. Only when the snow is considerably taller than the scoop does it begun to show its weaknesses.

New comment by marpstar in "Lessons you will learn living in a snowy place"

marpstar — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 18:39:40 +0000

The most recent thing I've learned after a lifetime in the Midwest US: There's nothing like the 'Snow Wonder Snow Scoop'[1] for moving snow manually.

Someone left theirs at my wife's previous home and she's kept it since. I don't get sore after shoveling anymore. I have a snow blower but only use it when there's more than 6" on the ground.

I've tried other "push sled" style scoops and none of them work this well (and weigh so little).

[1]: https://snowscoop.com

New comment by marpstar in "The most banned books in U.S. schools"

marpstar — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 20:03:45 +0000

It goes far beyond that. The Iowa legislature has already moved to make changes to how libraries work in Iowa as a result of all of the attention these issues are getting here. They're essentially trying to condense the power to the state level instead of at the municipal level, where it belongs. It's a power grab that'll have repercussions that may very well cause the smallest of libraries here to cease existing.

And it all started with people complaining about books in the library.

New comment by marpstar in "Sega Channel: VGHF Recovers over 100 Sega Channel ROMs (and More)"

marpstar — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 16:58:06 +0000

We were also on TCI when I was a kid. I begged for Sega Channel. My mom tried to sign us up, but being across the river from the city meant we got half the TV channels, no PPV, and no Sega Channel.

New comment by marpstar in "How Quake.exe got its TCP/IP stack"

marpstar — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 15:59:33 +0000

I took an 8-week, 1-credit badminton course to fulfill my PE requirements. I wouldn't be surprised to find a marksmanship course.

New comment by marpstar in "How Tube Amplifiers Work"

marpstar — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 13:44:49 +0000

This is what has kept me from working on amps. I'm comfortable working inside of pedals (9v) or with USB-powered circuits, but anything with a large transformer just seems a lot scarier.

New comment by marpstar in "What if tariffs?"

marpstar — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 14:23:44 +0000

The enthusiasm around Bernie in 2016 was palpable. The DNC took it from him.

New comment by marpstar in "Trump Orders National Guard to Washington and Takeover of Capital’s Police"

marpstar — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 03:04:35 +0000

Deployment of the National Guard within a state is at the discretion of that state's governor. DC is the only place the president has jurisdiction in this scenario.

New comment by marpstar in "The Game Genie Generation"

marpstar — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 03:25:12 +0000

You're right that N64 did not have Game Genie (Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis also did), but N64 did have Gameshark, which was the spiritual successor to Game Genie (along with Action Replay). There is a project (https://github.com/JCR64/GoldenEye-007-N64-Gun-Game) that adds games to Goldeneye via Gameshark

New comment by marpstar in "A Secret Trove of Rare Guitars Heads to the Met"

marpstar — Wed, 21 May 2025 15:56:39 +0000

People with more money than reason to play who can't seem to find "the one" have been supplying me with excellent second-hand guitars for years.

New comment by marpstar in "OpenVSX, which VSCode forks rely on for extensions, down for 24 hours"

marpstar — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 15:15:29 +0000

I think GP was speaking tongue-in-cheek about the situation.

New comment by marpstar in "US tech tariff exemption may only be temporary, says Lutnick"

marpstar — Sun, 13 Apr 2025 15:55:42 +0000

Post was deleted.

New comment by marpstar in "Coding Isn't Programming"

marpstar — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 01:07:48 +0000

Did not say "computer science" == "science with a computer", was merely trying to focus on exactly what I said: "doing science with a computer" versus "engineering software".