Hacker News: mayormcmatt

New comment by mayormcmatt in "Show HN: If YouTube had actual channels"

mayormcmatt — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 15:59:10 +0000

Also really enjoyed it and echo these execution questions.

New comment by mayormcmatt in "Scientists discover a cause of lupus, possible way to reverse it"

mayormcmatt — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 16:14:23 +0000

It's not lupus!

New comment by mayormcmatt in "Ask HN: Tell me your stories of taking lower paid work to be happier"

mayormcmatt — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 20:06:47 +0000

Not yet, but I'm trying to leave retail marketing web development to work at a local water utility. It's difficult to find a position I'm qualified for, though. If it pans out, it'll be a 25-30% drop in income, but with the benefit of a short commute, good long-term job security, and the peace of mind that my work helps keep the community alive and in clean water.

My best to all those out there pursuing peace of mind and happiness.

New comment by mayormcmatt in "Engineering for Slow Internet"

mayormcmatt — Fri, 31 May 2024 16:23:27 +0000

This topic resonates with me, because I'm currently building a horrible marketing static page with images and videos that top 150MB, prior to optimization. It causes me psychic pain to think about pushing that over the wire to people that might have data caps. Not my call, though...

New comment by mayormcmatt in "Swiss vs. American parenting: Differences according to a US mom"

mayormcmatt — Wed, 15 May 2024 17:28:20 +0000

Back when I grew up in the 80s and 90s there was a child abduction scare due to high profile cases like the Michaela Garecht case in Hayward, California. In fact, we lived in the same general community as her family (my parents knew the Garechts). Yet they still allowed my sister and I to choose how we got to and home from school (bus, walking, or bike) or to our friends' house. Speaking to them in adulthood about it, they said their choice to allow that was a combination of what you said -- teaching us to be autonomous -- and also that it jibed with their busy professional lives. Seems like they also got stares of disapproval from other parents, but I think it was the right choice.

New comment by mayormcmatt in "Claude Émile Jean-Baptiste Litre"

mayormcmatt — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 15:53:39 +0000

Adding this to my list of favorite April Fool's pranks -- my favorite being the recently featured islands of San Serriffe.

New comment by mayormcmatt in "Brutalist Churches"

mayormcmatt — Fri, 26 Apr 2024 21:38:34 +0000

Our family used to attend Newman Hall Church in Berkeley, California back in the '90s -- a very brutalist building of a church. Although religion never took for me, I had fond memories of the after-church donut feasts in the community space. I don't know if the intention of the architecture was to get me to focus on the mass, but young me just spent the entire time taking in the strange geometries of the place. https://maps.app.goo.gl/3TtT716k3bUkdAVh6

New comment by mayormcmatt in "Work begins on a $12B high-speed rail line between Las Vegas and Los Angeles"

mayormcmatt — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 16:14:56 +0000

This, exactly. We Americans have very little knowledge base on how to build HSR, so it's as much a workforce training and proving ground as it is a functional line.

New comment by mayormcmatt in "The Great American Rail-Trail"

mayormcmatt — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 16:25:16 +0000

Well, DC to Chicago sounds like it would allow me to catch up on podcasts...

New comment by mayormcmatt in "The Rise and Fall of 3M's Floppy Disk (2023)"

mayormcmatt — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 16:09:31 +0000

The folks at CD Projekt Red certainly haven't forgotten about them for their "very special" edition of CP 2077: https://www.cyberpunk.net/en/news/50098/introducing-a-limite...

New comment by mayormcmatt in "Japan nappy maker shifts from babies to adults"

mayormcmatt — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 16:14:31 +0000

Normally, yes, you would be correct. But in the case of the Shinkanzen, it rolls to a stop, carefully opens it doors and allows the elderly to depart, gazes at the natural beauty of Japan all around it, and ponders on the question of whether the elderly passengers really exist at all. It decides they do and, as soon as the conductors are back aboard, closes its doors and departs the station at a deliberate speed. It moves towards the next station on this line and on the wheel of dharma.

New comment by mayormcmatt in "Why is it so hard to build an airport?"

mayormcmatt — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 16:26:52 +0000

Arlanda is my favorite major-city airport. I'm not as well-traveled as many, but I've been to dozens and it's my favorite. I've transited between Stockholm, Norrtalje, and the airport in bus, tax, and train, with each being the easiest experience I've had with that respective form of transit.

New comment by mayormcmatt in "[dead]"

mayormcmatt — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 19:23:36 +0000

A journalist acquaintance of mine in NYC was in touch with the orthodox community there, who were somehow associated with the Temple Institute, the organization working together with American evangelicals to breed a red heifer. According to scripture, sacrificing a red heifer at the Temple in Jerusalem would herald the coming of the messiah. So the plan (as I understand it) is to breed the heifer, demolish Al-Aqsa Mosque, rebuild the temple there, sacrifice said heifer, and Bob's your uncle, here comes the messiah.

If this is all the actual case (I'm going on his word, since I wasn't the one in touch with these individuals), it represents a real attempt to bring about the apocalypse -- at least according to scripture. It would certainly cause an enormous amount of turmoil around the world, especially the Middle East.

New comment by mayormcmatt in "The first email from space [video]"

mayormcmatt — Thu, 08 Feb 2024 17:12:06 +0000

Wait, that's not the downvote button? I always thought that's how posts gained their light grey status.

New comment by mayormcmatt in "A writer fabricated a series of stories for Atlas Obscura"

mayormcmatt — Mon, 29 Jan 2024 17:29:32 +0000

A real Life of Brian moment. https://youtu.be/0lczHvB3Y9s?si=tbyIauh3fBCdLWi4

New comment by mayormcmatt in "The lithium revolution has arrived at California's Salton Sea"

mayormcmatt — Fri, 26 Jan 2024 17:37:07 +0000

Hearing your description really makes me want to visit and experience the...dread? Similarly was a motorcycle ride I took through the Searles Valley and the town of Trona, much further north of there and near Death Valley. What an unreal setting that place is.

New comment by mayormcmatt in "A Single Small Map Is Enough for a Lifetime"

mayormcmatt — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 18:07:33 +0000

Sweden has a similar right to roam called "Allemansrätten" that allows people to go cross-country through private natural lands as long as they follow a handful of guidelines. I think it's generally that the traveler needs to stay out of private gardens, off farmland, away from homes, and not despoil the land. There is so much open land in Sweden that it's pretty simple to achieve all of these goals just a few dozen kilometers outside Stockholm (my opinion: I haven't actually tried it).

New comment by mayormcmatt in "Waterway Map"

mayormcmatt — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 17:26:06 +0000

Gush on! This is the kind of thing I love to occasionally see here. Wish I could live on the water, but slip fees are pricey and limited where I'm at. Best to you!

New comment by mayormcmatt in "I made a website to share rejection letters"

mayormcmatt — Fri, 19 Jan 2024 00:26:01 +0000

The companies that told me I was a rejected applicant via email, I was disappointed for a short while, but moved on. The companies that left me hanging and never said a thing, I still hold a grudge.

My respect to the companies that care enough to offer us that swift closure.

New comment by mayormcmatt in "Serious incident to the 777-300ER on 5 April 2022 at CDG [pdf]"

mayormcmatt — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 17:30:58 +0000

Yup, Aeroflot 593. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroflot_Flight_593