Hacker News: pgsandstrom

New comment by pgsandstrom in "Even 'uncensored' models can't say what they want"

pgsandstrom — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 08:40:36 +0000

Could you break it down for someone who isnt in the know?

New comment by pgsandstrom in "Grindr trials premium $500 per month plan to become 'AI-first' app"

pgsandstrom — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 15:05:22 +0000

You might not fully grasp what Grindr is all about...

New comment by pgsandstrom in "Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes"

pgsandstrom — Sat, 03 Jan 2026 08:32:07 +0000

I try to stay humble when predicting the future. But there is just no way there will be a literal military invasion. Trump would never risk a bunch of american dying on the ground, it would be terrible optics.

New comment by pgsandstrom in "How does a "you interview for US company, we do the work" scam work?"

pgsandstrom — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 11:46:28 +0000

Maybe they just want access to the specific companies? Like, you get hired by the company. You hand over username/password/vpn-info to them. Then they have a way inside the company and can try to steal information, install backdoors, whatever, with very low risk of getting caught.

New comment by pgsandstrom in "GPT-5.1: A smarter, more conversational ChatGPT"

pgsandstrom — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 20:40:52 +0000

I added the custom instruction "Please go straight to the point, be less chatty". Now it begins every answer with: "Straight to the point, no fluff:" or something similar. It seems to be perfectly unable to simply write out the answer without some form of small talk first.

New comment by pgsandstrom in "Where did the Smurfs get their hats (2018)"

pgsandstrom — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 05:54:53 +0000

What, you think the article was written by AI? Why?

New comment by pgsandstrom in "Looking back at my transition from Windows to Linux"

pgsandstrom — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 11:35:30 +0000

I've coded on linux for a decade now, but always used windows at home. Just last week I switched from windows 10 to ubuntu on my media computer since it cant upgrade to windows 11.

I open up firefox, go to youtube, and immediately notice that 30% of all frames are gone. Hardware acceleration isnt working.

I put the computer to sleep and go make dinner. When I return my wireless keyboard cant wake it up, I have to hard-reboot the computer to wake it up.

I ask chatgpt about solutions to these problems, and it start spitting out terminal commands that end up making no difference.

In my experience, 2025 is not yet the year of linux. I'll try again in 2027.

New comment by pgsandstrom in "Software development topics I've changed my mind on"

pgsandstrom — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 11:39:23 +0000

Agree. People who join a project and insist on changing the default styling configs are insane weirdos. But people who dont want to use any styling solution on a project with several developers are EVEN MORE insane weirdos.

New comment by pgsandstrom in "Software development topics I've changed my mind on"

pgsandstrom — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 11:34:02 +0000

> Most programming should be done long before a single line of code is written

I'd rephrase this to something like: Most programming should be done before 5% of the code is written. Because "no plan survives contact with the enemy". I often develop a plan, work for just a tiny bit, and realize some new constraints. It's after that point that you should construct your grand battle plan.

New comment by pgsandstrom in "Sweden is a nearly cashless society – how it affects people who are left out"

pgsandstrom — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 14:15:51 +0000

I work at a swedish bank. We spend very much time and effort to prepare for different situations such as that. Some preparation is required by the EU Dora act: https://www.digital-operational-resilience-act.com/ (yes I know that HN hates all EU regulations)

Being a cashless society does require some extra emergency planning, but I feel confident that Sweden has prepared as well as you could ever expect for such a crisis.

New comment by pgsandstrom in "Don't sit on the toilet for more than 10 minutes, doctors warn"

pgsandstrom — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 07:51:55 +0000

I'm pretty sure its a joke. It's based on the thinking that "the government" is trying to remove all our pleasure of life, such as smoking, eating meat and drinking. The joke is to compare the pleasure of sitting on the toilet with these vices.

New comment by pgsandstrom in "Who Killed the World?"

pgsandstrom — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 08:54:21 +0000

I think it is interesting that a majority of the changes happened between the 50s and the 70s. I guess it might be attributed to post-war optimism and the golden age of capitalism that lasted just about the same era.

New comment by pgsandstrom in "[dead]"

pgsandstrom — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 11:23:17 +0000

The article mentions a few points that I consider more likely explanations:

1. Being autistic makes you not consider what is "normal" as important.

2. Autistic people are more likely to spend a very large amount of time online.

New comment by pgsandstrom in "I switched to Vim – and it took me only 6 years to learn it"

pgsandstrom — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 08:51:43 +0000

VSCode has a really great neovim-plugin that I'm currently using. Best of both worlds: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=asvetlia...

New comment by pgsandstrom in "Microwaves Not Made in China"

pgsandstrom — Sun, 19 May 2024 10:43:30 +0000

Swede here. We fear a chinese hegemony as well.

New comment by pgsandstrom in "Biden proposes 30% tax on crypto mining"

pgsandstrom — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 06:56:23 +0000

I love this argument. "Can you define EXACTLY what you want to ban"? I'd say a significant part of all criminalized activities can't be EXACTLY defined. Somehow we still manage.

New comment by pgsandstrom in "The new science on what ultra-processed food does to the brain"

pgsandstrom — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 05:44:50 +0000

I think it helps to look at it from another perspective: We are seeing a trend of certain health problems that are related to what we eat. We notice that a certain type of food is the root cause. Our currenty categorization of foods isn't helpful in finding the issue. The best label we have found for this type of food is "ultra-processed".

New comment by pgsandstrom in "The Power of the 0.1x Developer: Unsung Heroes of the Codebase"

pgsandstrom — Sun, 03 Mar 2024 09:10:18 +0000

In the book "Masters of doom", at least during the doom era, Carmack seemed like a really bad collegue. Very, very demanding and complete lack of social tact. The book gave the impression that he wanted everyone to be as commited as him, and his commitment was extreme.

Obviously this was a few decades ago.

New comment by pgsandstrom in "The dating app paradox"

pgsandstrom — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 14:49:38 +0000

I have a somewhat unrealistic dream that someday dating apps will be viewed the same way as roads: Essential infrastructure that needs to be handled by the public. A government developed dating app whose only goal is to help people find healthy relationships. All my american friends balk at this. But as a swede, I dont think it is completely impossible.

The completely impossible dream would be that we as a society stopped using dating apps and just met away from the keyboard instead.

New comment by pgsandstrom in "Gödel, Escher, Bach is the most influential book in my life (2022)"

pgsandstrom — Mon, 05 Feb 2024 08:08:25 +0000

I can appreciate a book being obscure or dragging things out when it is trying to give the reader an aesthetic experience. But this point seem to be one that would easiest be communicated clearly and succinctly.

Or is the point "there is so much mystery in these systems that perhaps there is room for an explanation for consciousness"? Maybe then I would be more sympathetic.

Or perhaps I should just read the book before condemning it :)