Hacker News: slyfox125

New comment by slyfox125 in "FreeBSD 14.4-Release Announcement"

slyfox125 — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 21:35:59 +0000

For those who are only familiar with Linux (or Windows): don't relegate yourself to any one system. FreeBSD has its benefits and so does Linux (and Windows, though that shrinks by the day - and MacOS). Use the best tool for the job at hand and enjoy things for what they are. Personally, I find enjoyment and usefulness in all of them (BSD, Linux, Mac, Windows), and use them all regularly (daily to weekly).

New comment by slyfox125 in "Using the new bridges of FreeBSD 15"

slyfox125 — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 10:47:28 +0000

Perhaps the initial posts spurred reader interest in FreeBSD which then spurred further posts?

FreeBSD is great - good to see it get positive "airtime."

New comment by slyfox125 in "LibreOffice blasts OnlyOffice for working with Microsoft to lock users in"

slyfox125 — Sat, 21 Feb 2026 10:38:47 +0000

It looks great using Plasma. If the comparison and "problem" is the lack of a "ribbon" menu, etc., then you are missing the whole point of Office alternatives: they are free, open source, but most importantly, they are usable. That is, they do not eschew usability and function for the sake of change, pure aesthetics, or a company's latest foray into some new gimmick.

Ultimately, the "classic" approach taken is because many users feel that the classic style is more usable and makes them more productive irrespective of their learned habits of the past 20-30 years.

New comment by slyfox125 in "The state of Linux music players in 2026"

slyfox125 — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 13:37:28 +0000

Fooyin is great. For those spoiles by foobar2000, there are no alternatives.

New comment by slyfox125 in "FreeBSD"

slyfox125 — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 22:29:02 +0000

The typical touted benefit is the native first-party ZFS support.

New comment by slyfox125 in "The closer we look at time, the stranger it gets"

slyfox125 — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 09:05:01 +0000

You believe it is irrelevant - I believe it is relevant. I argue matter itself has more basis in reality in that it cannot be as easily explained away as time. In the context you're speaking in, there is much more evidence and logic to support the existence of matter. My point is that time as we believe it exists, is a construct that has meaning to us because of its benefit to our survival, rather than it being an objective reality.

New comment by slyfox125 in "The closer we look at time, the stranger it gets"

slyfox125 — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 08:31:27 +0000

How do you know anything outside of your perception is true? All things boil down to a philosophical argument. The simplest answer is that "time" as we imagine it is a product of our interpretation and the true nature of "it" is hidden from us.

New comment by slyfox125 in "The closer we look at time, the stranger it gets"

slyfox125 — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 08:18:04 +0000

We understand "time" in the context that we must: to subsist in order to procreate. The extent it exists outside of our own perception as we imagine it does, is debatable. Ultimately, time is our sensory interpretation of the world around us to facilitate our survival and thus, we may never make sense of it outside the constraints it exists within.

New comment by slyfox125 in "Physical Media Is Cool Again. Streaming Services Have Themselves to Blame"

slyfox125 — Sat, 09 Aug 2025 20:06:45 +0000

Likewise. UHD blurays are still quite common; perhaps not in physical stores so much, but that holds true for many products.

New comment by slyfox125 in "Self-employed, self-exhausted"

slyfox125 — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 11:09:54 +0000

Life isn't inherently easy - or fair. For most, it is much easier today because of the efforts of those who came before us. We are lucky for those efforts because they afford us moderation and comfort that are not guaranteed.

To expect results without hard work is presumptuous and pretentious, of which this author has in spades.

New comment by slyfox125 in "FreeBSD Kernel Modules Pkg(8) Repositories"

slyfox125 — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 04:12:18 +0000

Rock solid and plenty of ports. I use it for multiple ZFS file servers, which subsequently led me to utilizing Linux regularly, which then led to dropping Windows altogether. It sounds corny to say but FreeBSD changed my life is a measurable way.

New comment by slyfox125 in "A maths proof that is only true in Japan"

slyfox125 — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 10:57:13 +0000

Agreed - it wasted my time.

New comment by slyfox125 in "A maths proof that is only true in Japan"

slyfox125 — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 10:53:42 +0000

I was also disappointed.

New comment by slyfox125 in "Is Philosophy Still Useful in the Age of Science?"

slyfox125 — Fri, 23 May 2025 01:07:23 +0000

The answer is a resounding yes.

The article conflates philosophy with the formal study of philosophy.

In truth, philosophy necessarily exists just as math does, even if no one studies it. And also like math, even when people don't realize it, they utilize it. Both are foundational to reality, so much so that the very word reality invokes philosophy itself.

New comment by slyfox125 in "Stack Overflow is almost dead"

slyfox125 — Fri, 16 May 2025 01:25:55 +0000

Even if you - and the stance SO takes/took - are correct, that doesn't erase the fact that the decorum is unpalatable to a vast majority of the user-base.

Being correct does not necessarily engender popularity or success. Often, humility, patience, and kindness are key.

New comment by slyfox125 in "Applications of Classical Physics"

slyfox125 — Sun, 11 May 2025 21:22:04 +0000

We are victims of our success.

New comment by slyfox125 in "[dead]"

slyfox125 — Wed, 07 May 2025 01:38:28 +0000

While what you say may be true, I would wager poor password hygiene isn't relegated to just this administration; rather, it seems to be a human weakness in general.

New comment by slyfox125 in "An Alabama landline that keeps ringing"

slyfox125 — Sun, 04 May 2025 22:40:20 +0000

Interesting point that I also alluded to elsewhere. The perspective of good/bad could vary highly depending on the individual. And really, it could vary highly based on what any one individual is looking for out of a particular conversation at that moment: unconditonal affirmation, critical obversations, etc.

New comment by slyfox125 in "An Alabama landline that keeps ringing"

slyfox125 — Sun, 04 May 2025 20:15:41 +0000

Existence of a/the soul isn't the only reason machines cannot replace people in the context of something like this.

One reason is that the human experience is dependent upon the biological nature of man. The biological systems color the experience. The pumping of blood, the nervous system, the heart beating, and ultimately, one's awareness of the specific type of mortality inherent to biological organisms, are integral to the experience. If you accurately reproduce that experience then perhaps you've simply made a human rather than a machine. Of course that claim spurs many subsequent philosophical arguments. Ultimately though, a video game console emulator is not the literal console no matter how accurate it is.

A second reason is simply the subjective experience of a person. Regardless of how accurate the simulation is, ultimately, if the person is aware the other end isn't human, the experience is tainted (for better or worse depending on the individual's opinion - but tainted nonetheless). Knowledge of the truth will necessarily affect the experience. The alternative - being in the dark or outright deception - raises other questions of genuinity that taint the experience.

A conversation with a human, by another human, will never be the same as a conversation with a machine - by definition.

New comment by slyfox125 in "An Alabama landline that keeps ringing"

slyfox125 — Sun, 04 May 2025 13:36:55 +0000

It cannot because it is not human. It can emulate the experience but it will never be genuine. Generally, if a caller ever became aware that it wasn't truly a person on the other end it would lessen the interaction. Whether that is justified or not is debatable, but it is nonetheless the case and thus the end result is not the same.