<rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><channel><title>Hacker News: ravenstine</title><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=ravenstine</link><description>Hacker News RSS</description><docs>https://hnrss.org/</docs><generator>hnrss v2.1.1</generator><lastBuildDate>Sat, 11 Apr 2026 13:06:18 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://hnrss.org/user?id=ravenstine" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"></atom:link><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ravenstine in "OpenAI raises $122B"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Though I think these companies are wildly overvalued, I don't see LLMs as a service going away in the future.  The value in OpenAI is that it provides extra compute, data access, etc.  My money is on local AI becoming more of a thing, while services like OpenAI still exist for local AIs to consult with.  If a local model can somehow know that it's out of it's depth on a question/prompt, it can ask an OpenAI model if it's available, but otherwise still work locally if OpenAI fails to respond or goes out of business.  To me that makes a lot more sense than the future being either-or.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 31 Mar 2026 21:16:40 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47593574</link><dc:creator>ravenstine</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47593574</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47593574</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ravenstine in "Acceptance of entomophagy among Canadians at an insectarium"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>They were more or less remarketed as a luxury, though.  Historically (at least in the US), lobster and crab were considered low class foods, if not outright <i>fertilizer</i> for crops.  Some terrestrial bug could theoretically be given the same sort of luxury status, but lobsters have the advantage of actually tasting good.  The best candidates would be snails and bee drone larvae.  But what would be the point?  Neither could be farmed at such a scale that they could be made food staples that are also better for the environment.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 31 Mar 2026 18:23:26 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47591460</link><dc:creator>ravenstine</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47591460</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47591460</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ravenstine in "Acceptance of entomophagy among Canadians at an insectarium"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>It's not even more economical than raising chickens.  Just because raising relatively small batches of crickets uses less water per unit of protein (which isn't even necessarily a problem) doesn't mean that it's manageable at scale.<p>Moreover, as you said, bugs have to taste good for people to want to eat them.  I was into entomophagy <i>way</i> before it became this sort of thing in the 2020s.  As much as I appreciate it from a curiosity standpoint, the truth is most bugs don't taste very good.  I think there's maybe one insect that I thought was truly worth eating again (sphinx moth caterpillars).  Supposedly bee drone larvae taste good but I've not had them.  Neither of those can be scaled for mass food production.  The rest of the bugs I've had either taste extremely earthy or like nothing.<p>Civilization should just scale with how much food it can produce.  The idea that food production should infinitely scale with civilization is backwards.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 31 Mar 2026 15:15:09 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47588573</link><dc:creator>ravenstine</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47588573</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47588573</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ravenstine in "Voyager 1 runs on 69 KB of memory and an 8-track tape recorder"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Good thing those gold plates give aliens the wrong directions to Earth anyway.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 29 Mar 2026 21:50:47 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47567760</link><dc:creator>ravenstine</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47567760</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47567760</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ravenstine in "Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Exactly. There's a sucker born every minute. I'm not saying people deserve to be taken advantage of. The reality is that there will always be people who can be lead off a cliff with minimal effort. There will always be people who believe that a guy with a thick Indian accent and broken English is a representative of Microsoft and that he can fix their computer in exchange for gift card codes. There comes a point where society sacrifices too much under the pretense of protecting the gullible. Prevent people from using technology at all and they'll go back to buying actual snake oil.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 18:49:16 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47458910</link><dc:creator>ravenstine</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47458910</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47458910</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ravenstine in "Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>This has nothing to do with keeping people safe.  If it did then power users could continue to install their own software by being given that ability as a developer setting.  The fact that some people are gullible enough to go into a hidden setting on their phone and enable that in order to install an app from a random Chinese website is not a good reason to take away everyone's freedom.  Consolidation of power is all this is about.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 19 Mar 2026 20:46:24 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47445819</link><dc:creator>ravenstine</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47445819</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47445819</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ravenstine in "Nightingale – open-source karaoke app that works with any song on your computer"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>> How come this is trying to install its own vendored dependencies, including executable binaries, instead of checking for what's already installed? That approach can lead to both security and performance issues.<p>I've been sympathetic to your viewpoint, and I can see why this kind of thing is becoming more common.<p>The idea that users can reliably supply their own vendor libs/execs for applications is a bit of a fantasy.  Devs working on fixing issues caused by the user having a strange issue due to the version of Python or whatever that they have installed is largely a waste of time when the application can "simply" ship with the exact dependencies it expects.  This is especially true when it comes to open source work.  Dealing with weird edge cases because the user has a version of FFMPEG installed that, for whatever reason, is missing h264, is work that nobody asked for.  Given that the audience of this kind of app is a general one (not specific at all to devs) then it doesn't make sense to require other system packages to be present; if things like Python and FFMPEG are not required and will be downloaded anyway as part of the app install process, then there's no point in not <i>always doing that</i>.  If you think about it, it's hardly different from any other sort of software dependency.  The dependencies are just relatively bigger.<p>Personally, I have no desire for my applications to use other executables on my system unless I request that they do so explicitly.  I'm sympathetic to the idea from a mere efficiency perspective, especially when it comes to developer tooling.  But a karaoke app?  No offense, but why care?  A Python interpreter will be anywhere between 50 and 200 megabytes.  FFMPEG is even smaller, especially if you don't enable every single feature and codec.  Compared to how ridiculously bloated your average basic mobile app is (without anything like a built in JIT), bundling a desktop application with something like Python provides a lot of power relative to the number of bytes added.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2026 16:54:09 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47428156</link><dc:creator>ravenstine</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47428156</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47428156</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ravenstine in "Kagi Small Web"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>That's totally fair, though I personally don't share your experience.  It could be that we just use search for slightly different reasons.<p>One of the reasons I love Kagi is that it respects double-quotes for exact matches.  This might seem trivial except I remember being frustrated with both Google and DDG years ago for throwing irrelevant results at me even when I'm querying for an exact match.  When Kagi was in beta and I got invited as an early adopter, my feedback to them was that I want a search engine that won't throw crap at me when I'm looking for an exact string match.  They've honored that feedback!  Even though Kagi doesn't necessarily have the most results, I want double-quotes and things like intitle to actually work as expected.<p>Another awesome thing about Kagi is how it lets you prioritize certain domain names.  Likewise, it's great for blocking domains completely.  All of this has made my search results <i>very clean</i>.<p>To each their own.  I'm not saying you're wrong, but to me there's no comparison between Kagi's results and every alternative I've tried.<p>Oh, another thing I like about Kagi is that it's less censored than Google, Bing, and DDG these days.  I used to be a fan of DDG until I noticed that results were sparse or nonexistent for anything even remotely controversial I queried.  It became too PG-rated.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 17 Mar 2026 17:45:22 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47415876</link><dc:creator>ravenstine</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47415876</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47415876</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ravenstine in "US Job Market Visualizer"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Wow, I had no idea the reason my peers and I can't find another position in less than 12 months is because the market for software developers is growing faster than average!</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2026 19:31:26 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47403664</link><dc:creator>ravenstine</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47403664</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47403664</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ravenstine in "Hollywood Enters Oscars Weekend in Existential Crisis"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>This is something I already knew, but I realized it even more upon seeing the film <i>Wendy and Lucy</i>.<p>Yes, it's an arthouse flick. No, it won't be everyone's cup of tea. No, it's not blockbuster material. But, what it does show is how filmmakers can do a lot with very little. It's a simple story with a bittersweet ending and no VFX. I'm certain it cost relatively nothing to make. And it's unfortunate that we don't get anything like it in mainstream theaters.<p>Hollywood has been pricing itself out of existence but they still have the surprised Pikachu face while things decline.<p>I had a conversation with a bunch of Hollywood people last year. Some were writers, actors, etc. A handful of film personnel. They were all quabbling about what was going to win at the Academy Awards, who was getting good and bad attention from the Hollywood Reporter, and so on. Simultaneously, they were lamenting about how bad things were in their industry.<p>I then asked the group if the industry had thought about making a good movie for a change instead of giving a shit what the Hollywood Reporter has to say. They were dumbstruck, probably due to a combination of my rudeness and not having a good counterargument. If people are losing their jobs and not making money then it's hard to deny how self-congratulatory the entertainment industry is.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 15 Mar 2026 22:19:57 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47392581</link><dc:creator>ravenstine</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47392581</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47392581</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ravenstine in "Temporal: A nine-year journey to fix time in JavaScript"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>When I write JavaScript, I make as many things immutable as I can.  Sometimes it adds verbosity and leads to less efficient computational patterns, but overall I believe I run into far fewer bugs that are hard to make sense of.  There are things about the design of Temporal I don't really like, but immutability was a solid move.<p>What I don't understand is why they had to make string formatting so rigid.  Maybe it has to do with internationalization?  I'd have liked if it included a sort of templating system to make the construction of rendered date-time strings much easier.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 11 Mar 2026 17:21:05 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47338422</link><dc:creator>ravenstine</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47338422</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47338422</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ravenstine in "The optimal age to freeze eggs is 19"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I honestly don't look forward to the day that we can do that.  It may redefine our very existence more so than even automation.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 09 Mar 2026 19:09:23 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47313891</link><dc:creator>ravenstine</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47313891</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47313891</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ravenstine in "Ask HN: How many of you hold an amateur radio license in your country?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I have a GMRS license, which isn't "amateur radio" per se, but can be used in much the same way. The main differences are that you're limited to a narrow band of "channels", and repeaters are not allowed to form networks. The tradeoff is that the license is basically just a fee and requires no test or advanced knowledge.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 07 Mar 2026 16:29:16 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47289055</link><dc:creator>ravenstine</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47289055</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47289055</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ravenstine in "How I use Obsidian (2023)"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I like the desktop app, but the android app is such ass. It's bad enough that I wonder why they even bother.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 18 Feb 2026 02:23:28 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47056359</link><dc:creator>ravenstine</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47056359</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47056359</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ravenstine in "ADHD and Methylphenidate Use in Prepubertal Children and Adult BMI and Height"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I take methylphenidate, actually.  I experienced the appetite suppressing effect, but I would say that after ~3 to 5 months on the drug that basically went away.  There's still a noticeable benefit for attention, but otherwise I eat just about as much as ever.  But yeah, different experiences for different folks.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 11 Feb 2026 18:47:15 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46979032</link><dc:creator>ravenstine</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46979032</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46979032</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ravenstine in "Chrome extensions spying on users' browsing data"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>This is why I disable automatic updates. Not just for browser extensions but everything. This whole "you gotta update immediately or you're gonna get hacked" thing is a charade. If anything, if you update you'll be hacked at this point.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 11 Feb 2026 16:02:13 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46976603</link><dc:creator>ravenstine</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46976603</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46976603</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ravenstine in "ADHD and Methylphenidate Use in Prepubertal Children and Adult BMI and Height"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Could the BMI thing be simply explained by the treated children expending less kinetic energy? In other words, they are less hyperactive, so it seems logical that they might actually be prone to some weight gain.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 17:07:52 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46947755</link><dc:creator>ravenstine</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46947755</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46947755</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ravenstine in "AirPods Pro 4 Could Feature Cameras to 'See Around You'"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>It reminds me of that principle of how people are more likely to be receptive to your request if you preface it with "because..."</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 16:59:23 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46947647</link><dc:creator>ravenstine</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46947647</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46947647</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ravenstine in "Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>There's this thing called the Wayback Machine, but I lol'd at your response. It's not untrue. xD</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 16:55:11 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46947595</link><dc:creator>ravenstine</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46947595</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46947595</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ravenstine in "Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>The difference with Reddit is it has way more persistent value. Everything on Discord is throwaway, but valuable posts on Reddit from years past are easily retrievable. The two aren't so comparable.<p>One of the unspoken reasons many people have for using Discord is they don't want what they say to easily be associated with them in perpetuity. Requiring ID really chips away at that, in spite of what Discord has to say about privacy around ID.<p>By no means am I saying that Discord will go extinct. I just haven't observed anything about it that's irreplaceable. Reddit, on the other hand, has a wealth of discussion dating back to the mid-to-late 00's.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 15:38:18 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46946385</link><dc:creator>ravenstine</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46946385</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46946385</guid></item></channel></rss>