Hacker News: newsgremlin

New comment by newsgremlin in "Quarantine will normalize WFH and recession will denormalize full-time jobs"

newsgremlin — Mon, 09 Mar 2020 11:30:31 +0000

As a dev I don't mind coming into the office, infact I probably would never want a 100% WFH situation because I know I would get too comfortable to be productive when I need to be. But I'd like more days of WFH to break up the mundane office culture and burnout.

New comment by newsgremlin in "British billionaire Hohn launches campaign to starve coal plants of finance"

newsgremlin — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 11:05:55 +0000

But by margins of billions? Figures like this are thrown around a lot but it's hard to grasp how much just one billion, even 1/1000 of that can make an individuals life unrecognizable before having that wealth.

New comment by newsgremlin in "Love Zombies? Thank the Public Domain"

newsgremlin — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 11:17:11 +0000

Indeed, the one thing that can't be manipulated by dubious actors is time.

New comment by newsgremlin in "Disney CEO Bob Iger immediately steps down from CEO position"

newsgremlin — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 17:19:04 +0000

As someone born in the 90s I actually enjoyed the prequel movies, being a kid and all. They are terribly campy but it has been the source of many in-jokes.

New comment by newsgremlin in "The BBC’s attempt to build a Netflix-style service was snuffed by regulation"

newsgremlin — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 12:16:41 +0000

The funding isn't controlled by the government but it may aswell be given how the BBC board is selected and their approval of the non-executives and the director of the BBC. The Queen (i.e. Ministers on her behalf) appoints all of them.

Those appointed from outside the BBC tend not to have any background in NGO or non-profits. Bit strange for a not for profit public broadcaster.

It's a very hairy arrangement and I don't think most of the public are aware of it.

New comment by newsgremlin in "No visas for low-skilled workers, UK government says"

newsgremlin — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 10:14:02 +0000

But if you represent part of the society that is entirely against said strong governments policies which directly affects you, relations, or your morals and ideals - you don't want strong governments to have unmitigated power.

But instead people end up voting for a party just because its the only one that can beat "the other", not because it actually represents their ideology. All the talk of freedom and sovereignty goes out the window when we concede that our only practical options are limited by the ruling system and not stifled by a foreign entity.

A meaningless vote to me is one that only counts for one and only one possible option in a vast sea of them. That's what PR and STV address better than FPTP in a democracy.

Bigger unions in the world are forming not dying and the UK will get eaten up by one of them or remain a secluded island of funneling suspect finances, it won't be the one pushing its weight around other big unions, it's the empire mentality that hasn't been shaken off and the sooner it fades the better decision making by the national government and people.

New comment by newsgremlin in "No visas for low-skilled workers, UK government says"

newsgremlin — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 10:47:05 +0000

I don't know where this idea that brexit has fundamentally changed british society, it hasn't, all it has shown is that the entire country is still polarized by class and political leaning. The two party state still exists, or perhaps one party state by the current looks of things, a broken FPTP voting system still in use. The undemocratic house of lords still lives and monarchy that uses celebrity style PR to justify their existence by attributing all tourism revenue to their existence. The welfare of this welfare state slowly decaying away.

Leaving the EU won't stop the twilight years for a generation of people that want things the way they never will be the same again.

New comment by newsgremlin in "Why has progress stalled? (2014)"

newsgremlin — Fri, 14 Feb 2020 12:08:28 +0000

Methinks AI will be used like google is used today. Humans still need to make the decisions but AI will provide us with the information and conclusion of what should be done. Then it will definitely feel like AI is nearly ready to take over jobs completely around the next corner.

We'll really progress when AI cannot be tricked by politicians double speak.

New comment by newsgremlin in "New Coronavirus Gets an Official Name from the World Health Organization"

newsgremlin — Tue, 11 Feb 2020 17:18:04 +0000

COVID-19 is certainly not catchy. But I find there's been a lot of casual discrimination towards east Asians living in western society. A case I noticed last week that was local to me where a Taiwanese market trader was confronted by other traders and told to leave [1]. There's a lot of ignorance around it, people have given themselves a bit of leeway to presume they are infectious. Recent cases in Brighton, UK won't bare the same cautious response towards residents there.

1. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-51358502

New comment by newsgremlin in "Britain’s Productivity Decline Is the Worst in 250 Years"

newsgremlin — Wed, 05 Feb 2020 11:17:10 +0000

You don't have to be dirt poor to have a cause for national sovereignty. The difference is Scotland has no sovereignty, the British/English do, inside the EU.

New comment by newsgremlin in "Can We Have Prosperity Without Growth?"

newsgremlin — Tue, 04 Feb 2020 12:25:50 +0000

We can, we just need to not burn out our resources and single planetary home before then.

New comment by newsgremlin in "Rescuing vintage arcade video games from an abandoned ship (2016)"

newsgremlin — Tue, 04 Feb 2020 12:17:20 +0000

Bit strange to find it's actually docked in Mostyn, the northEAST of Wales since '79. Guessing the author lost his bearings and doesn't know the area.

New comment by newsgremlin in "Britain’s Productivity Decline Is the Worst in 250 Years"

newsgremlin — Tue, 04 Feb 2020 12:11:00 +0000

Now the UK is free to do...what exactly that they could not before?

New comment by newsgremlin in "U.K. Police Will Soon Be Able to Search Through U.S. Data Without Asking a Judge"

newsgremlin — Thu, 30 Jan 2020 12:23:04 +0000

The intelligence services of both countries that openly admit they cooperate with each other, they just don't say to what degree. Also Five eyes, which has been operating since the 1940s.

New comment by newsgremlin in "Teens don't have a clue about IT? (2016)"

newsgremlin — Wed, 29 Jan 2020 09:10:33 +0000

Thinking back to my adolescence, there were few that were that proficient and similar observations could have been made, being able to use limewire and the office suite was about as technical as it got for my late millennial class.

I think we are getting smarter overall, but I don't expect it to be the norm, it requires a societal shift away from distracting platforms and entertainment that don't facilitate the need to explore and learn.

New comment by newsgremlin in "A Sad Day for Rust"

newsgremlin — Fri, 17 Jan 2020 17:42:01 +0000

>distrust and aggression towards authority

Not an exclusive characteristic of a reddit user, there are many different levels and types of authority. Perhaps the aggression towards all authority, or weighted to certain personalities of authority rather than the ones in the background, especially the ones that don't really matter i.e. internet forum moderators

I agree with your general point that reddit fills a social vacuum in people's lives, like most social media does for others in different ways. Validation and expression etc.

Personally I think think that's why society in general has become generally more toxic, everyone is really telling it straight to others but not being honest with themselves.

New comment by newsgremlin in "It is perfectly OK to only code at work, you can have a life too"

newsgremlin — Wed, 08 Jan 2020 11:55:17 +0000

I think that resentment stems from a bit of imposter syndrome, preferences for potential employees are not new, but it does feel like the industry as a whole expects programmers to mostly be passionate nerds whose main/only focus is this one thing related to their job. It's a good thing that so many are passionate and have the opportunity to make a living out of it, but even those may be searching for contentment in their own abilities when comparing to how society as a whole views the profession. 'Where' you work being a measure of how successful you are as a programmer.

New comment by newsgremlin in "The falling price of a TV set"

newsgremlin — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 13:42:55 +0000

Seems like in the present-future the only thing people will own is their debt. All our possessions are being turned into services, financed by our debt. Low interest rates makes saving impractical, it will all be put into some monthly fee, repayment, or subscription.

New comment by newsgremlin in "Coders Programming Themselves Out of a Job (2018)"

newsgremlin — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 13:23:45 +0000

The risk most fear is losing the ability to provide for yourself and family, for most people that is only one or two significant financial mistakes away.

New comment by newsgremlin in "Coders Programming Themselves Out of a Job (2018)"

newsgremlin — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 13:20:43 +0000

And then they can hire their own employees...who proceed to automate their own jobs.

So nothing has changed and nothing is fixed.