Hacker News: razakel

New comment by razakel in "US appeals court declares 158-year-old home distilling ban unconstitutional"

razakel — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 09:44:49 +0000

>Prohibition regarding alcohol was not accepted by almost every demographic strata.

It's very difficult to ban something when even the police do it. I'm guessing that the number of cops who like a drink is somewhere around "most".

New comment by razakel in "Cambodia unveils statue to honour famous landmine-sniffing rat"

razakel — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 06:04:35 +0000

They've been banned since 1997, though Lithuania has withdrawn and Estonia, Latvia, Poland and Finland plan to.

New comment by razakel in "Gone (Almost) Phishin'"

razakel — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 16:56:14 +0000

It may be worth looking into getting him a phone that only allows trusted numbers to call him.

But regarding scammers, asking "is your mother proud that she raised a thief?" really annoys them.

One of them threatened to come over and rape my sister.

I don't have a sister.

New comment by razakel in "Gone (Almost) Phishin'"

razakel — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 08:23:11 +0000

An interesting one is .uk, because the UK's country code is actually GB (the ccTLD is delegated, but unused).

And that's before we get into the really weird not-a-proper-country ones like .im or .pn.

New comment by razakel in "Inside Nepal's Fake Rescue Racket"

razakel — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 15:59:09 +0000

Normal travel insurance doesn't cover high-risk activities like mountaineering. You have to buy a specialist policy.

New comment by razakel in "Oracle slashes 30k jobs"

razakel — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 21:03:03 +0000

Was the hospital affiliated with a religious order?

New comment by razakel in "Apple Business"

razakel — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 14:12:58 +0000

I'd take Dun & Bradstreet seriously if:

- They didn't sell your data to spammers, and

- Their website actually worked

New comment by razakel in "Iran-linked hackers breach FBI director's personal email"

razakel — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 10:43:18 +0000

The coup has already happened.

New comment by razakel in "‘Energy independence feels practical’: Europeans building mini solar farms"

razakel — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 09:32:37 +0000

Maybe it looks like you're trying to trick the meter into running backwards?

New comment by razakel in "Olympic Committee bars transgender athletes from women’s events"

razakel — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 10:50:18 +0000

Endocrinology wouldn't be an entire specialism of medicine if things were that simple.

New comment by razakel in "Apple discontinues the Mac Pro"

razakel — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 07:54:29 +0000

Apparently upgrading the SSD can be done, but it's a weird form factor and you need another Mac to restore it.

New comment by razakel in "Supreme Court Sides with Cox in Copyright Fight over Pirated Music"

razakel — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 17:28:13 +0000

Federal law says you can't. The PLCAA passed in 2005.

New comment by razakel in "Apple Business"

razakel — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 20:26:42 +0000

I gave up when it wanted a Dun and Bradstreet number (whoever they are) and the website to get one didn't work.

New comment by razakel in "Bombarding gamblers with offers greatly increases betting and gambling harm"

razakel — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 09:30:58 +0000

One thing the UK did was to ban gambling companies from accepting credit cards.

New comment by razakel in "Bombarding gamblers with offers greatly increases betting and gambling harm"

razakel — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 09:24:15 +0000

The BMJ publishes an annual Christmas joke paper.

For example, "The survival time of chocolates on hospital wards: covert observational study".

New comment by razakel in "Cockpit is a web-based graphical interface for servers"

razakel — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 22:47:53 +0000

And those who are actually curious will look into what it's doing under the hood.

Everyone has to start somewhere.

New comment by razakel in "AI is a horse (2024)"

razakel — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 18:02:05 +0000

The BBC made a docudrama, Micro Men, with Alexander Armstrong as Clive Sinclair and Martin Freeman as Chris Curry.

Sophie Wilson cameos when they have a fight.

New comment by razakel in "Douglas Adams on the English–American cultural divide over "heroes""

razakel — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 10:47:19 +0000

He was the first person in Europe to buy a Mac.

Stephen Fry was the second.

New comment by razakel in "Douglas Adams on the English–American cultural divide over "heroes""

razakel — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 10:21:37 +0000

>you rarely see in the UK

And when you do, the establishment resorts to skullduggery and smears them.

"The life-long anti-racism campaigner is somehow a racist because he didn't act on the report we deliberately hid from him!"

New comment by razakel in "East Germany balloon escape"

razakel — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 11:52:24 +0000

Authoritarianism isn't the same thing as fascism.