<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: retrocryptid</title><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=retrocryptid</link><description>Hacker News RSS</description><docs>https://hnrss.org/</docs><generator>hnrss v2.1.1</generator><lastBuildDate>Sun, 21 Jun 2026 02:44:26 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://hnrss.org/user?id=retrocryptid" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"></atom:link><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by retrocryptid in "Mounting git commits as folders with NFS (2023)"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Oh man.  I was just reminded of ClearCase and Perforce and sort of threw up a little in the back of my mouth.  You young whipper-snappers who didn't have to use ClearCase and have only used hg or git don't know how bad it <i>could</i> be.  When ClearCase was properly configured, it was fine.  But having used it at IBM, DSCCC and Bell Canada, only IBM managed it properly.  At DSCCC, we had 40 Sun workstations on a single thin-net segment, each of them trying to mount an NFS share from ClearCase.  You had to get there at 6AM to be one of the first five people to log in because if you didn't it was unlikely you COULD even log in.  I kept a copy of the part of the code I was working with on a tape and would go into the lab and restore it from tape, do some work, then back it up to tape at the end of the day (the lab machines were reformatted at midnight every day.)<p>But... yes... this is just using NFS locally to see what's already in GIT, which is perfectly find and as Julia says, allows you to appreciate the structure of the git repo.  Ignore this old man yelling at clouds.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 21 May 2026 17:58:14 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48226619</link><dc:creator>retrocryptid</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48226619</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48226619</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by retrocryptid in "Waymo pauses Atlanta service as its robotaxis keep driving into floods"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>That being said... it's actually somewhat uncommon for humans to drive into flooded streets.  To the degree that people think it's notable enough to take videos and post them to social media.  I don't have the data, but would be interested to see how many times per passenger mile travelled human-directed and remotely-operated vehicles like Weymos drove into flooded streets.<p>I can appreciate the cameras and lidar on the Weymos don't give their remote operators a lot of good data about the depth of water on the road-way.  As you point out, humans in cars often don't get this right.  I think the humans that don't drive into deep water are the ones who a) give any amount of water on the roadway a big NOPE and b) people familiar with the local environment and use multiple visual clues to judge the true depth of the flooding.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 21 May 2026 17:50:08 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48226518</link><dc:creator>retrocryptid</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48226518</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48226518</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by retrocryptid in "Waymo pauses Atlanta service as its robotaxis keep driving into floods"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I thought Weymo's were supposed to be "supervised" by humans in the Philippines.  Maybe driving in circles in the suburbs and driving into flood waters happens only when the cars are out of mobile data range?  Did Weymo pay their mobile phone bill?  Does the (somewhat) autonomous system on the car decide when to flag a human for help?  I would have expected a human to be watching all the time.  Are they experiencing labor problems in the Philippines?  Maybe Weymo doesn't want to pay their remote operators as much as the remote operators want to get paid?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 21 May 2026 17:44:51 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48226457</link><dc:creator>retrocryptid</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48226457</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48226457</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by retrocryptid in "Project Hail Mary – Stellar Navigation Chart"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>NICE!</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 21 May 2026 17:39:43 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48226385</link><dc:creator>retrocryptid</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48226385</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48226385</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by retrocryptid in "What Do Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems Mean?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p><p><pre><code>      Natalie mentions  the Newman &  Nagel's text "Gödel's  Proof," a
      (//the//?) 1958 classic on the subject. [[ 1 ]]  Having left IBM
      in December  1990, I spent a  month with the text,  dipping into
      mild insanity, taking to strange  wines to relieve myself of the
      fear that my previous years  long study of Whitehead & Russell's
      "Principia Mathematica" [[ 2 ]] was useless.
   
      I  really  appreciate  the  inclusion of  Alvir's  statement  on
      whether  or not  Gödel  thought he  proved  all logical  systems
      undecidable and incomplete.   About 80% into the  article is her
      quote:
   
      >> Often people will speak as if  the CH is the smoking gun that
      >> shows sometimes  mathematical questions have no  answer.  But
      >> in my  opinion, this situation provides  very little evidence
      >> that   there   are  “absolutely   undecidable”   mathematical
      >> problems, relative to any given permissible framework.
   
      Though  I  would have  added  a  reference to  Infinitary  Logic
      [[ 3 ]]  after dropping  the  reference  to L-omega-1-omega.   I
      suspect most  readers would find discussion  of higher-order and
      modern logic a bit confusing  without a pause for further study.
      But a guide post pointing  in the appropriate direction would be
      good.

      That this is  the only critique I have of  the article speaks to
      Wolchover's  skill  in communicating  complex  ideas  for a  lay
      audience.  I really  liked this article, so  thank you @baruchel
      for posting the reference to it.
   
   :: References
   
      1. https://search.worldcat.org/title/1543160023
   
      2. https://search.worldcat.org/title/933122838
   
      3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinitary_logic</code></pre></p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 21 May 2026 16:14:45 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48225168</link><dc:creator>retrocryptid</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48225168</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48225168</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by retrocryptid in "Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to the US Constitution"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I just hope they stop him before he nukes the west coast. He said something about ending a society, I just wonder if he meant he wanted to to nuke San Francisco.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 07 Apr 2026 20:41:37 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47681099</link><dc:creator>retrocryptid</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47681099</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47681099</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by retrocryptid in "Can AI answer tax questions reliably?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Data point:  A couple years ago I worked for a company that calculated sales tax for customers.  They had developed expertise in knowing where each jurisdiction kept it's tax code and how to turn that tax code into software.  I was peripherally involved in a proof-of-concept where a reasonably well skilled team trained some sort of model on tax code for one US state.  They demoed it to the board of directors where one of the directors asked a somewhat complex question.<p>The model returned an answer that looked legit, but after the board meeting someone pointed out that the answer was wrong and had we given this answer to a paying customer, we might have been criminally liable.  I'm not sure <i>who</i> would have been criminally liable.  I don't think they would arrest the entire company.<p>This was over two years ago and Claude seems to be getting MUCH better over the last year, so maybe things are better now.  But, as the Russians say, "доверяй, но проверяй" (trust, but verify.)</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 06 Apr 2026 21:53:42 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47667742</link><dc:creator>retrocryptid</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47667742</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47667742</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[YouTube Video Critiques Facebook's Push into the Metaverse]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Article URL: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFtjwm6cwvQ">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFtjwm6cwvQ</a></p>
<p>Comments URL: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47427567">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47427567</a></p>
<p>Points: 2</p>
<p># Comments: 1</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2026 16:11:59 +0000</pubDate><link>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFtjwm6cwvQ</link><dc:creator>retrocryptid</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47427567</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47427567</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by retrocryptid in "Electric Propulsion's Dirty Secret: Why Lithium Can't Fly (Or Float) Profitably"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>but the metric the OP was using was power density.  nuke fuels are MUCH more energy dense than hydrocarbon fuels.  but putting a reactor on each plane would probably have negative externalities.<p>but mixing your comment with a few others, maybe a nuke plant on the ground that cracks the co2 in the atmosphere to make carbon neutral hydrocarbon fuel.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 18 Apr 2025 21:29:39 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43732024</link><dc:creator>retrocryptid</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43732024</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43732024</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by retrocryptid in "Electric Propulsion's Dirty Secret: Why Lithium Can't Fly (Or Float) Profitably"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>it might be fun to try to make a modern wooden sailing ship cargo fleet.<p>maybe with an emergency diesel engine in the back.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 18 Apr 2025 21:21:54 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43731973</link><dc:creator>retrocryptid</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43731973</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43731973</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by retrocryptid in "Electric Propulsion's Dirty Secret: Why Lithium Can't Fly (Or Float) Profitably"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>i wish there was more talk about this.  it seems i heard a lot about making hydrocarbons from co2 in the air + solar or algae a couple years ago.  if your hydrocarbons are made this way it seems they would be carbon neutral.<p>i'm guessing there's more research to make it feasable since i haven't seen "carbon neutral gas alternative" at the local Chevron.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 18 Apr 2025 21:19:49 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43731964</link><dc:creator>retrocryptid</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43731964</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43731964</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by retrocryptid in "Electric Propulsion's Dirty Secret: Why Lithium Can't Fly (Or Float) Profitably"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>i would have given this guy credit if he compared cost of production for petro fuels when talking about energy debt.<p>also conflates power with energy, but fine.<p>if you talk about cost (dollar or kilowatt hour) per joule delivered to a vehicle and then compared the total cost of electric vs. the total cost of petro, i would listen.  but he ignored the fact that petro fuels cost money, energy and water to produce.<p>and there some things electric motors can do that ice can't.  an electric ekranoplan isn't too infeasible, but we know from soviet studies you can't keep salt water out of an aspirated motor when you're that close to the water's surface.  turns out electric motors can be sealed against water.<p>and dissing physicists?  wtf?  makes me think he failed out of an engineering physics degree cause he didn't understand math.  as we used to say, the limit of a bs or be as gpa approaches zero is bba.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 18 Apr 2025 21:11:46 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43731905</link><dc:creator>retrocryptid</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43731905</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43731905</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by retrocryptid in "Googler... ex-Googler"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Back in the day Convex Computer Corporation was laying off a large fraction of its staff.<p>The plan was to come into the warroom and just hang out.  Your manager would come and get you and take you into a private conference room to discuss your package with an HR specialist.  The packages were pretty decent, at least.<p>In gallows humor I drew some stick figures on a white board for each of my team with their unix logins below them.  As people were RIFfed, I would go over and put a universal red circle and slash "no" symbol around the figures who were laid off.<p>My time came and I marked myself as a "no" and handed the red marker to a co-worker.<p>I remember being a little ticked off at my manager, but when I came back to say goodbye to everyone I noticed his figure / login name had been exed out.  The last thing he did before metaphorically being shot in the head was to metaphorically strangle half his children.<p>"What was deluxe became debris, I never questioned loyalty.  But this dead end demolishes the dream of an open highway."</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 14 Apr 2025 16:23:49 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43683004</link><dc:creator>retrocryptid</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43683004</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43683004</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by retrocryptid in "Systems Correctness Practices at AWS: Leveraging Formal and Semi-Formal Methods"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Modern CS programs teach to what they perceive to be the interview their students will encounter after graduation: what is a tree data structure, how to craft a SQL query and how to calculate a CRC with a python library.  More advanced CS/CE departments still teach discrete math and compilers/parsing for students intending to go to grad schools.<p>My experience with recent CS grads is it's easier to hire Art and Political Science grads and take the time to teach them programming and all it's fundamentals.  At least they won't argue with you when you tell them not to use regexes to parse HTML.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 01 Apr 2025 19:09:13 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43550333</link><dc:creator>retrocryptid</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43550333</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43550333</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by retrocryptid in "[dead]"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Maybe we'll see a boost in worker productivity.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 27 Feb 2025 03:30:13 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43191023</link><dc:creator>retrocryptid</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43191023</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43191023</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by retrocryptid in "Quintrophy1x – A Quantum-Proof Cipher That Leaves AES-256-GCM in the Dust"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I couldn't find reference to quintrophy or quintrophy1x in the IACR eprint archive (or on a google search.)  And I think you forgot the references to external review.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 27 Feb 2025 03:27:54 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43191010</link><dc:creator>retrocryptid</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43191010</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43191010</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by retrocryptid in "The XB-70 (2019)"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>yup, there was just so much money flowing around.  it was like the dot com era for aeronautical engineers and machinists.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 25 Feb 2025 21:06:00 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43177387</link><dc:creator>retrocryptid</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43177387</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43177387</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by retrocryptid in "The XB-70 (2019)"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>we lived in rona hills for about 4 years.  not biking distance, but close enough to visit frequently.  and as a youngster they let me conduct the AF orchestra there at the AF 25th anniversary.  Very good memories.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 25 Feb 2025 21:02:39 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43177350</link><dc:creator>retrocryptid</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43177350</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43177350</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by retrocryptid in "The XB-70 (2019)"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>They tell the most pernicious lies about radiation.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 25 Feb 2025 20:58:14 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43177305</link><dc:creator>retrocryptid</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43177305</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43177305</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by retrocryptid in "The XB-70 (2019)"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>not really.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 25 Feb 2025 20:54:34 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43177270</link><dc:creator>retrocryptid</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43177270</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43177270</guid></item></channel></rss>