<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: samplatt</title><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=samplatt</link><description>Hacker News RSS</description><docs>https://hnrss.org/</docs><generator>hnrss v2.1.1</generator><lastBuildDate>Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:25:27 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://hnrss.org/user?id=samplatt" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"></atom:link><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by samplatt in "What is going on with ceiling fans"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>>I prefer longer videos myself.<p>So does YouTube. It rewards longer videos both monetarily and algorithmically.<p>This is why there's been so many videos over the last few years that are just barely over 20min or just barely over 60min.<p>The result is video essays that could be 5min that are padded out to 20min.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 05 Oct 2026 05:16:09 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49960936</link><dc:creator>samplatt</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49960936</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49960936</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by samplatt in "The softness of metal"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Almost every big-name band now, metal or not, will have an 'R U OK' moment somewhere in the set. Metal has (for me) been the only gigs where it actually feels authentic.<p>Tall fat & autistic, I've spent my whole life trying to make myself small and not "in the way". A concert is the only place where I stand up straight, naturally, without even thinking about it. I can't stand the idea of sweat (mine or other peoples) yet I'm perfectly happy drowning in it in the middle of moshpit, grinning ear to ear with the person next to me, knowing we're experiencing the same thing. You help each other up when you fall, and you embrace each other when it's all too much.<p>Anyone that's been to a Devin Townsend concert will be familiar with the sight of a hundred big burly bearded blokes bawling their eyes out and hugging each other.<p>Therapy WISHES it had the effectiveness of metal.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 23 Sep 2026 05:04:42 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49811863</link><dc:creator>samplatt</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49811863</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49811863</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by samplatt in "Microsoft killed FoxPro in 2007. Anyway, here's FoxPro revived"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Ugh, yeah. VBA not VBS. I'd like to say "the keys are right next to each other", but the truth is I've been in both those worlds for far too long...</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 23 Sep 2026 04:53:52 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49811794</link><dc:creator>samplatt</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49811794</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49811794</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by samplatt in "Microsoft killed FoxPro in 2007. Anyway, here's FoxPro revived"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>>In 2026, Microsoft Access is still fully supported and bundled into Microsoft 365 Enterprise subscriptions.<p>Having a subscription is only a small part of the total cost. Access works best when combined with a bunch of VBS/macro scripts, which IT departments globally are trying very hard to stamp out completely. Access also needs its own set of permissions and manager of permissions since it can't inherit permissions from anywhere of the other usual Microslop security stores - at least, not without having its own developer/maintainer/champion on tap.<p>Not to mention the agreed wisdom that while Access is fantastic for rapid-prototyping applications/warehouses/ETL processes, any "permanent" DB/DBMS/solution worth doing in Access is worth doing in a 'proper' database with a proper front-end.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 22 Sep 2026 23:32:16 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49809711</link><dc:creator>samplatt</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49809711</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49809711</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by samplatt in "Amiga Unix, Again"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Thanks for that info.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 22 Sep 2026 03:50:49 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49796615</link><dc:creator>samplatt</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49796615</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49796615</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by samplatt in "Amiga Unix, Again"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Wait, what? I'm on the waitlist for that phone as I thought it was a great idea in general, regardless of the renders. Have I been had?<p>I've never (ever) bought a phone because of what it looks like in marketing material.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2026 03:57:39 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49782893</link><dc:creator>samplatt</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49782893</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49782893</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by samplatt in "Show HN: What if the speed of light was 5 km/h?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>You're not controlling an FPS character walking, you're controlling the 'throttle' of how fast you're moving fwd or backward. Holding it down increases speed.<p>Forward means light is hitting your eyes faster, making it look like the distance the light had to cross is condensed, meaning it looks further away.<p>Moving backwards slights the light hitting your eyes, to the point where you're moving away from the light, so everything goes black.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2026 05:29:36 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49638778</link><dc:creator>samplatt</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49638778</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49638778</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by samplatt in "I'm sorry, you're not going to die from an AI-engineered supervirus"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>That's perfectly believable! Just a pity one hasn't been invented yet, and going by, well... <gestures vaguely in the air> ...everything, never will be.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2026 02:30:49 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49637635</link><dc:creator>samplatt</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49637635</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49637635</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by samplatt in "MS Paint and Photos inivisibly watermark even locally generated output with GUID"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>>the cost of switching is just not that high<p>Oh, my sweet summer child. Please realise that such blanket statements like that are profoundly ignorant. (Note: I'm running an entirely Windows-free household. )<p>The problem is changing the way companies build themselves up to work. Business logic. Even for medium-sized companies (100-1000 heads), what you're proposing is paying scores of business analysts months (years?) worth of time to review business processes, before you even get the teams of IT people to start making the switchover.<p>And that's not even taking into considering the fact that many large software packages simply do not work under nix and there is no realistic alternative. Basically every industry related to engineering simply cannot switch.<p>The processes and systems required to build Big Things in the real world are gargantuan and terrifying and sickening. Companies spend hundreds of millions every year putting up with Microsoft's bullshit because there is no alternative.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 25 Aug 2026 02:32:40 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49428426</link><dc:creator>samplatt</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49428426</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49428426</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by samplatt in "The Amazon tax"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>>I'm fine seeing results for multiple trims if I didn't specify one.<p>And when you DO specify one, but get results for something else entirely?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 2026 02:57:51 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49356087</link><dc:creator>samplatt</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49356087</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49356087</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by samplatt in "The Amazon tax"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>The day searches started giving us ads <i>instead of</i> what we asked for (as opposed to <i>in addition to</i> what we asked for) was the day they stopped being useful. Which for Google was many years ago. This is not "cross shopping suggestions", it's an abuse of a monopoly for profit.<p>Literally everyone I know feels this way, even if they don't care about it as passionately. No one "appreciates" being openly manipulated to their financial detriment.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 2026 02:56:36 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49356078</link><dc:creator>samplatt</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49356078</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49356078</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by samplatt in "Quake Shareware, a CD-ROM just a little too full"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Honestly that'd probably appeal to Reznor's aesthetic.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2026 03:15:58 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49340821</link><dc:creator>samplatt</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49340821</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49340821</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by samplatt in "The UK's war on anonymity has come to America"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>That'd be a lot easier to believe if you provided a source, which you should do if you care enough to comment in the first place, I think?<p>A cursory google suggests that the return-to-office movement is primarily driven by management's desire for voluntary turnover, avoiding the bad press of mass layoffs. But certainly doesn't show that it's 'been debunked 100 times'.<p>In my own experience, it's been 50/50 a desire for voluntary turnover, and also a control tactic. Employees are easier to strong-arm when they're immersed in the idea that company culture actually matters.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 11 Aug 2026 01:19:40 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49252163</link><dc:creator>samplatt</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49252163</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49252163</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by samplatt in "Quake – 30th Anniversary Update"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I compiled the project on a whim during COVID. It played okay. There was even a very small pool of players who had presumably just done exactly the same thing.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 07 Aug 2026 03:54:25 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49205741</link><dc:creator>samplatt</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49205741</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49205741</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by samplatt in "So Reddit has decided that plain HTML is unsafe"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I was a hypocrite even writing that comment; my latest phone ALSO has an FM radio. Guess that reddit-quippiness infected me too much that day, sorry.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2026 00:56:43 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49030071</link><dc:creator>samplatt</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49030071</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49030071</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by samplatt in "So Reddit has decided that plain HTML is unsafe"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Just like with VR, you can keep on claiming forums are "dead" all you like. Me and all my friends will keep on using them daily.<p>therearedozensofus.gif</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 23 Jul 2026 05:53:47 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49017420</link><dc:creator>samplatt</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49017420</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49017420</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by samplatt in "John C. Dvorak has died"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>How did you get it? ... How many titles do you have?!<p>I know there's people like Sir David Attenborough who have three alphabets worth of letters after their name, but I hadn't considered the idea of gaming the system to get superfluous titles.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 23 Jul 2026 01:52:36 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49015843</link><dc:creator>samplatt</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49015843</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49015843</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by samplatt in "It's a shame what's happened to radio"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Good thing you're the majority of people, then.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 22 Jul 2026 06:43:23 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49002685</link><dc:creator>samplatt</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49002685</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49002685</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by samplatt in "The human-in-the-loop is tired"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>"It's not" only has two matches; the third is "It's noticable". The other two are a whole paragraph dedicated to "it's not X, it's Y" which is a little more than you'd normally expect.<p>Firefox doesn't seem to discriminate between em-dashes and hyphens using ctrl-F so I'm not sure about those.<p>Having said that the tone REEKS of AI generation, so meh.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 17 Jul 2026 03:03:53 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48942948</link><dc:creator>samplatt</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48942948</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48942948</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by samplatt in "Star Just Ate a Planet, and It's Not Done Yet"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>My ex wife's parents couldn't change a tire. I had to do it for them, once.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2026 02:42:38 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48855145</link><dc:creator>samplatt</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48855145</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48855145</guid></item></channel></rss>