Hacker News: mcdonje

New comment by mcdonje in "Ambient CSS v3 – Blender meets CSS"

mcdonje — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 17:39:40 +0000

There was a lot of one-upsmanship at the time. People did it because it was hard. When it wasn't difficult to do anymore, they stopped because it wasn't actually good clean design.

Also, early on, there was an idea that cyberspace should resemble meatspace so the meats don't get confused. That's no longer much of a concern.

New comment by mcdonje in "Darktable"

mcdonje — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 17:57:10 +0000

Pretty sure they said "go gimp" ironically

New comment by mcdonje in "Darktable"

mcdonje — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 17:54:56 +0000

You can have multiple instances with Darktable.

New comment by mcdonje in "Darktable"

mcdonje — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 17:51:38 +0000

I'm on Debian, which is of course behind. I tried installing the flatpak, which is up to date, but the packager removed the AI parts. The only option I have (short of moving to Arch or similar) is AppImage, which doesn't integrate well with the DE.

I get being against AI, but Darktable is very responsible about it according to their release notes. Local only, opt-in only, no nagging. It's not like Adobe trying to push AI on you when you don't want it.

New comment by mcdonje in "Darktable"

mcdonje — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 15:17:12 +0000

Darktable is great. You can easily do pro-level photo editing. Anything you need for editing RAW files, you can do. The modules are powerful. The UI is good. There is a learning curve, but there are also learning curves for the paid software options.

New comment by mcdonje in "Darktable"

mcdonje — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 15:11:59 +0000

Darktable is top class.

New comment by mcdonje in "Your 'app' could have been a webpage (so I fixed it for you)"

mcdonje — Tue, 14 Jul 2026 12:14:07 +0000

I wish PWAs took off, or a "desktop" environment for phones and tablets that allows me to save a simple website shortcut as an app.

I want my phone to be the portal to the places I want to go to and the things I want to see. I want to have the same experience going to a web app or website I regularly visit as with a normal app.

Like, I want to click on an icon and be there. I don't want to click on the browser and then find the tab.

Also, I want PWAs and website shortcuts to be first class citizens. I want a normal icon, not one that has some sort of visual marker that it's not a normal app.

It's been an ongoing annoyance, but it's getting to be more commonplace of an issue because there are a lot of people building cool things on atproto, and they generally start as a web app before they maybe build a phone app.

New comment by mcdonje in "LAPD lets contract with surveillance giant Flock expire"

mcdonje — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 19:18:52 +0000

This is naïve. The US government is less democratic than advertised, and there are many factors for that. Not going to write a tome, but if you're going to point a finger at one group, it shouldn't be private citizens.

New comment by mcdonje in "LAPD lets contract with surveillance giant Flock expire"

mcdonje — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 19:14:22 +0000

Does the city own the land the poles are on?

New comment by mcdonje in "Woman in Brazil enslaved for 55 years by 3 generations of the same family"

mcdonje — Sun, 12 Jul 2026 12:24:57 +0000

To whatever degree this site isn't a cesspool, we owe it to Dang, not the bad word police. They didn't swear at you, so there's no reason to get bent out of shape about it.

It's ironic you're taking this stance on an article about a respectable family that literally kept a slave.

There's a difference between superficial trappings of respectability, and actually treating people with respect.

New comment by mcdonje in "Woman in Brazil enslaved for 55 years by 3 generations of the same family"

mcdonje — Sun, 12 Jul 2026 12:19:38 +0000

If it operates like most corrupt systems, it binds the have-nots, but not the haves.

New comment by mcdonje in "Decoding the obfuscated bash script on a Uniqlo t-shirt"

mcdonje — Wed, 08 Jul 2026 17:33:38 +0000

ATTN, Uniqlo customer service employees: If someone tries to return a shirt claiming an error in the printed computer code, decline the request and reply, "A real script kiddie would've spotted that error before buying."

New comment by mcdonje in "Historical memory prices 1960-2026"

mcdonje — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:32:38 +0000

The graph wouldn't be a lot taller because it's using a logarithmic scale

New comment by mcdonje in "Extreme Heat conference cancelled due to extreme heat warning"

mcdonje — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 00:53:48 +0000

We deserve to be scolded for a lot of things, but not that.

New comment by mcdonje in "Can you see three trees?"

mcdonje — Sat, 20 Jun 2026 09:30:04 +0000

I read Don Quixote and thought it might be fun to visit some parts of Spain mentioned in the books. Then after looking at some maps and seeing a stark lack of trees, I decided I wouldn't enjoy the trip.

New comment by mcdonje in "Show HN: Kage – Shadow any website to a single binary for offline viewing"

mcdonje — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 02:43:50 +0000

Not to load you up with too many ideas, but a markdown folder sounds a lot like obsidian, which has a plugin system now.

Epub would also be a great target.

New comment by mcdonje in "Electric motors with no rare earths"

mcdonje — Sat, 13 Jun 2026 11:49:42 +0000

Another comment said they're not using brushes, so they shouldn't need more maintenance.

New comment by mcdonje in "How do you design a $30k electric pickup? Inside Ford's skunkworks"

mcdonje — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 09:14:40 +0000

US companies outsourcing all of their manufacturing to countries with cheaper labor and laxer environmental & labor laws led to this. What did those titans of industry think would happen down the road? "I'll be retired." Corporations have way too much power in the US, and that has considerably weakened it.

New comment by mcdonje in "Facebook is paying people overseas promoting Alberta separatism"

mcdonje — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 10:57:41 +0000

They definitely play both sides to spread chaos. That's been extremely effective for them in reducing American power and influence. Getting their messaging out there is also a goal.

New comment by mcdonje in "Show HN: I Derived a Pancake"

mcdonje — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 14:04:04 +0000

Good start, but it still requires eggs?