Hacker News: montgomery_r

New comment by montgomery_r in "Tesla Roadster"

montgomery_r — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 23:14:01 +0000

My father taught me times tables, each one written on the back of a fag packet, in 1972. And we used matches for addition and multiplication before that.

Which would you prefer: an iPhone Duo, or an iPhone 18 Pro plus an iPad mini?

montgomery_r — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 08:45:36 +0000

I think the 2 device strategy might be a better bet:

$100 cheaper (assuming an ipad mini 256gb wifi)

much more battery life

much more storage at the base SKUs - you get 512 locally, albeit in 2 buckets.

You can use both screens simultaneously

iPadOS despite limitations is still better for multitasking.

You get the triple camera system.

Contra:

You give up pocketability - but I generally wear a sports jacket, and the mini would fit in the jacket pocket.

What do people think - one device or two?

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49640454

Points: 1

# Comments: 3

New Apple Dev Betas: Is it possible to force LLM requests to stay on device?

montgomery_r — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 07:21:45 +0000

I can imagine many corporates with MDM settings wanting to say 'data on the endpoint is OK, data off the endpoint is not, notwithstanding Apple's PCC protections'. I'm wondering if it's reasonably easy to toggle that. Appreciate we're at early beta stages.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48457734

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by montgomery_r in "George R. R. Martin Still Uses a DOS Word Processor [video]"

montgomery_r — Wed, 13 May 2026 13:32:28 +0000

WesterDOS.

New comment by montgomery_r in "Tim Cook Is Leaving. Good"

montgomery_r — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 14:01:11 +0000

Totally agreed! And I loved Snow Leopard. (And I still love Mac OS - just making the point, there have always been things to complain about :-) )

New comment by montgomery_r in "Tim Cook Is Leaving. Good"

montgomery_r — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 13:24:04 +0000

I think the criticisms of the current software stack are well founded. There is friction there, stuff doesnt work that should. OP even neglected to mention the glaring Finder column view bugs or the Taboe corner radius window selection issues. But as a user since System 6.x, including A/UX and MacOS X since public beta - it was ever thus. Macintosh pre OSX was well known as an acronym for Most Applications Crash, If Not, The Operating System Hangs. After OSX, Snow Leopard was needed to clear cruft.

The hardware is in sparkling form. Perhaps the software is closer to average. Where would you pick the next leader from - the hw side or the sw side?!

New comment by montgomery_r in "John Ternus to become Apple CEO"

montgomery_r — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 00:24:15 +0000

There’s a lot of commentary to the effect that the Mac hardware is good, but the software is somehow terrible. Speaking as someone who first used a Mac Plus, graduated to an SE/30, and is now on a Mac mini m4 pro… I can remember when Macintosh was widely held to be an acronym for Most Applications Crash, If Not, The Operating System Hangs. The software has always been terrible, until you try the other guys’ stuff. The hardware has often been good, and is in a purple period right now. Enjoy it while it lasts! (It won’t).

New comment by montgomery_r in "There Is No Progress in Philosophy (2011) [pdf]"

montgomery_r — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:29:54 +0000

That /rara avis/, an academic paper that is not only readable but witty. I do think the logics are real progress and could have wider application.

New comment by montgomery_r in "Show HN: FireChess – Find the chess mistakes you keep repeating"

montgomery_r — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 13:21:54 +0000

The radar measure was surprising - it told me my play falls of a cliff when i’m in a worse position- I would have guessed i’m quite good at battling on, so that was an eye opener. To be clear, I am sure the analysis is better than my gut feeling.

New comment by montgomery_r in "Show HN: FireChess – Find the chess mistakes you keep repeating"

montgomery_r — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 13:18:31 +0000

Aha! That worked. Brilliant idea, really useful - I’ve often thought ‘ i wonder what my better move is in this oft-repeated opening’ and this tells me. Thankyou!

New comment by montgomery_r in "Show HN: FireChess – Find the chess mistakes you keep repeating"

montgomery_r — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 09:33:51 +0000

This is a fantastic idea and I would love to try it. Am I missing something? I don't have a google account and I’m on chess.com not lichess - how do I make an account?

New comment by montgomery_r in "People who come off slimming jabs regain weight four times faster than dieters"

montgomery_r — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 14:30:49 +0000

English pedant and RP speaker here. Jabs is a colloquialism in British English, but the BBC website is riddled with grammatical and vocabulary errors daily and rarely rises above a secondary (high school) reading level.

New comment by montgomery_r in "Ask HN: What book are you currently reading?"

montgomery_r — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 12:48:42 +0000

Just finished ‘On the law of speaking freely’ Adam Tomkins - an excellent survey covering the US, UK and EU. In the middle of: Adventurers, David Howarth, an account of the beginnings of the East India Company, and Witch Wood, a delightful historical novel by John Buchan set in c16th Scotland. Just started: The House of War, the struggle between Christendom and the Caliphate, Simon Mayall. All good so far!

New comment by montgomery_r in "Life, Death and Mowing"

montgomery_r — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 10:06:46 +0000

Ploughing isn’t quite mowing, of course, but the great Rabbie Burns tilled the same furrow in To A Mouse: On Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough, November, 1785

Wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim’rous beastie, O, what a panic’s in thy breastie! Thou need na start awa sae hasty, Wi’ bickering brattle! I wad be laith to rin an’ chase thee, Wi’ murdering pattle!

I’m truly sorry Man’s dominion Has broken Nature’s social union, An’ justifies that ill opinion Which makes thee startle At me, thy poor, earth-born companion An’ fellow-mortal!

I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve; What then? poor beastie, thou maun live! A daimen-icker in a thrave ‘S a sma’ requet; I’ll get a blessin wi’ the lave, An’ never miss’t!

Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin! Its silly wa’s the win’s are strewin! An’ naething, now, to big a new ane, O’ foggage green! An’ bleak December’s win’s ensuing, Baith snell an’ keen!

Thou saw the fields laid bare an’ waste, An’ weary Winter comin fast, An’ cozie here, beneath the blast, Thou thought to dwell, Till crash! the cruel coulter past Out thro’ thy cell.

That wee bit heap o’ leaves and stibble, Has cost thee monie a weary nibble! Now thou’s turned out, for a’ thy trouble, But house or hald, To thole the Winter’s sleety dribble, An’ cranreuch cauld!

But Mousie, thou art no thy lane, In proving foresight may be vain: The best-laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men Gang aft agley, An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain, For promis’d joy!

Still thou are blest, compared wi’ me! The present only toucheth thee: But Och! I backward cast my e’e, On prospects drear! An’ forward, tho’ I cannot see, I guess an’ fear

New comment by montgomery_r in "Ask HN: What is your primary programming language?"

montgomery_r — Sat, 01 Nov 2025 14:09:25 +0000

Ruby

New comment by montgomery_r in "London's Most and Least Deprived"

montgomery_r — Sat, 01 Nov 2025 09:31:49 +0000

This ONS series is a poster child for ‘data is theory laden’. Nobody is ‘deprived’. And as OP notes, these gerrymandered patches do not capture rich and poor areas as seen by our own lyin’ eyes. Slice the data differently, you would have very different results.

New comment by montgomery_r in "An open letter to the Rails Core team and Ruby community"

montgomery_r — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 13:16:22 +0000

Apologies. Not a very HackerNews style comment. Please forgive a moment of irritation with the OP in the midst of a heavy cold.. should have taken a deep breath!

New comment by montgomery_r in "An open letter to the Rails Core team and Ruby community"

montgomery_r — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 10:10:20 +0000

This is so ridiculously childish. DHH’s politics should be entirely irrelevant. Ruby on Rails is not left or right wing, it’s a framework for building websites. Anyone with an ounce of sense will choose a framework on the technical merits. If you’re so caught up in school yard politics that you can’t bear to use the work of someone you consider to be a right wing technologist, build your own or use something else. But also: Look in the mirror and ask yourself if you are being juvenile and try growing up a bit. We can hold different opinions in a pluralist society and still get along. (And while I disagree with a great deal in DHH’s essays, the notion that he is fascist is puerile and frankly offensive in itself).

New comment by montgomery_r in "How I, a non-developer, read the tutorial you, a developer, wrote for me"

montgomery_r — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 05:59:59 +0000

Thank goodness it’s not just me. Had been assuming I was uniquely thick.

New comment by montgomery_r in "I know genomes and I didn’t delete my data from 23andMe"

montgomery_r — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 20:22:28 +0000

Salzberg states several times that one should browse in 'private' or 'incognito' mode to stop 3rd party tracking. This is false. Incognito mode stops data such as web history and cookies being stored on the computer you are using - it is good (enough) for obscuring what sites you have visited from other people who may have access to your computer. (It may not defeat a deep forensic search, it might save you from family embarrassment). Incognito mode does not hide any data at all from your ISP, your DNS server, or the web servers you visit - it does not do anything to defeat 3rd party tracking. An error of this magnitude does make me wonder whether any of his other propositions are true at all.