Hacker News: robrain

Russian strikes destroy 12M books ahead of Ukraine's first week back at school

robrain — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 09:12:43 +0000

Article URL: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly5v8qmy64o

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49507484

Points: 15

# Comments: 0

New comment by robrain in "Honest Government Ad – AI Data Centres [video]"

robrain — Sat, 15 Aug 2026 12:14:55 +0000

It’s funny, laugh. Or cry, your call.

Honest Government Ad – AI Data Centres [video]

robrain — Sat, 15 Aug 2026 12:14:55 +0000

Article URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kON2ZI2BNj8

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49309969

Points: 4

# Comments: 2

New comment by robrain in "I made tinnitus my friend, then it disappeared [video]"

robrain — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 09:33:23 +0000

Also have floaters, but I suspect that if you’re the sort of person who notices and is annoyed by tinnitus (like I have been in the past) then you’re possibly also more likely to notice other body sensations, like floaters, audible heartbeats, tics, etc.

I know I go through phases of noticing stuff. When I just get on with living I no longer notice them, unless I go looking for them.

Not exactly a revelation, I know.

New comment by robrain in "The Vanishing Page: AI Firms Scan Then Destroy Rare Book Editions"

robrain — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 13:24:31 +0000

It's possible to be opposed to excessive copyright and also be opposed to the mass theft of media for profit and subsequent abuse of copyright that the scrapers are guilty of. The AI pillagers are taking everything in, then gatekeeping access. And as they acknowledge with their "nothing after 2022" preferences, they (or their users at least) are salting the earth for future seekers of knowledge.

New comment by robrain in "No Stack Overflow, No Autocomplete: What Coding Felt Like in the 80s"

robrain — Sun, 26 Jul 2026 11:02:03 +0000

Memory error - it was a Seikosha dot matrix I used back then. The FX80 came later.

New comment by robrain in "No Stack Overflow, No Autocomplete: What Coding Felt Like in the 80s"

robrain — Sun, 26 Jul 2026 10:49:59 +0000

Grab BBC Basic manual (supplied with the computer) off the shelf, switch my Model B on (later Master). Within milliseconds a fresh working environment is created (ie a cursor starts flashing next to a “>”) and I’m off to the races.

Hope the tape recorder works to save my work every hour or so. Switch on my Epson fx80 to dump hard copy.

Simpler, happier times.

New comment by robrain in "Funny item co-occurrences in 3.2M Instacart orders"

robrain — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 12:03:02 +0000

Apples are kept in cold storage to extend “the season” across the year. No guarantee you’ll get fresh apples in a supermarket even if you see workers harvesting them as you drive to the store.

New comment by robrain in "Interrail: 6,379Km and 13 Countries over 7 weeks"

robrain — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 16:19:49 +0000

We’re just finishing a two month Norway-focused motorhome jaunt. We planned the ferry from UK to Rotterdam (both directions) and two campsites in the Netherlands and Germany. After that it was two campsites ahead at most. Ended up visiting 21 campsites with no wild camping needed.

We’re both somewhere on some spectrum (and in our fifties) and it has been occasionally stressful for my partner. But we more often want to stretch a visit somewhere than curtail it, so flexibility has been pivotal to getting the most out of the trip.

We’ve identified five or so camps that we’ll definitely revisit next year or 2028, but they’ll be part of another freewheeling trip, I hope.

In general I’m a planner, a contingency-identifier and a worrier, but when we’re on the open road most of that goes out the window.

New comment by robrain in "Show HN: 18 Words"

robrain — Fri, 10 Jul 2026 06:31:19 +0000

Relaxed mode please. Also “HEARDS” - in what language is that an acceptable word?

New comment by robrain in "CarPlay Is Additive"

robrain — Fri, 03 Jul 2026 06:04:46 +0000

Most likely they’ll do both, with a straight face.

New comment by robrain in "AI in mathematics is forcing big questions"

robrain — Sat, 27 Jun 2026 16:53:26 +0000

I said no such thing - the comment that you just replied to is the first thing I’ve said in this thread.

New comment by robrain in "Saving the Biggest Machine You've never heard of"

robrain — Sat, 27 Jun 2026 12:59:26 +0000

A machinist describes how he helped, in a small way, the efforts to keep the largest refracting telescope in the world working.

Saving the Biggest Machine You've never heard of

robrain — Sat, 27 Jun 2026 12:59:26 +0000

Article URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7G1MRHatuw

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48697869

Points: 3

# Comments: 1

New comment by robrain in "Abandoned and Little-Known Airfields"

robrain — Sat, 27 Jun 2026 10:28:41 +0000

Didn't see this before. My dad was a happy farmer, but the stereotype holds in general. Weather, markets, governments, voters (bloody Brexit) all attract farmers' ire. And even when it's going well, they're still working harder than 63.5% of the populace.

Seems the stereotype might have skipped a generation :)

New comment by robrain in "AI in mathematics is forcing big questions"

robrain — Sat, 27 Jun 2026 10:08:47 +0000

The mechanic who repairs the cars knows how the engine works.

The telco that manages loads and allocates networks knows how voice compression works.

The farmers and supermarkets know how the supply chain works.

None of your questions show why mathematics should include blobs of incomprehensible gloop, where no mathematician, no logician, no philosopher, no man on the street can make sense of said gloop, or use it in any way to further human knowledge.

When it's been decomposed down we can discuss this further, but now it's like saying red is red, just because.

How a secret Microsoft tool fixed Windows Performance

robrain — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 07:49:30 +0000

Article URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH0BYAkPj78

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48582169

Points: 6

# Comments: 0

New comment by robrain in "Abandoned and Little-Known Airfields"

robrain — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 14:58:41 +0000

That was on a neighbouring farm to one of ours. It’s just a bit of concrete in the middle of their fields now. You possibly got shouted at by my famously grumpy grandad.

New comment by robrain in "Abandoned and Little-Known Airfields"

robrain — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 14:23:28 +0000

My family used to farm a chunk of land in Lincolnshire, UK. Many of our farms were on or surrounded by active or decommissioned RAF bases.

I learnt to drive on the unused tarmac at one of those old bases, RAF Wickenby. As the parent poster mentioned, many of the bases are worth a visit and Wickenby in particular has a memorial to airmen lost in the world wars.

New comment by robrain in "Improvement in advanced Alzheimer’s disease following high-dose psilocybin"

robrain — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 19:37:57 +0000

My dad died of cancer(s) fifteen years ago. He spent his final month in bed at home, chatting with us and friends, knowing that he’d soon be gone, bed bound but sharp as a tack.

The day before he died, he climbed nimbly out of bed and did a little jig to show how spry he was.

Charming in its own way, although his lack of garments on his lower body (it made life easier as functions became less controlled) added a certain edginess to the event.