Hacker News: sosull

New comment by sosull in "Show HN: The load-bearing vocabulary of Claude"

sosull — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 16:05:42 +0000

I really love this. It’s comprehensive, it consolidates the data to the point where the argument effectively ‘makes itself’, and the way it’s presented respects the reader’s time. It also makes for an interesting challenge (for me at least) to try to characterise the subject matter of a language problem so narrowly.

No ream of slides. No narrative. Just a lovely big painful conclusion.

New comment by sosull in "Apple violated antitrust ruling, judge finds"

sosull — Thu, 01 May 2025 12:11:16 +0000

With only a passing knowledge of the field, I'm aware that the standard of monopolistic effect varies between the EU and US (neither specifically uses financial size as the standard). In the EU it's about whether there is sufficient competition in the market, whereas in the US it's about whether the price is sufficiently competitive.

New comment by sosull in "Apple violated antitrust ruling, judge finds"

sosull — Thu, 01 May 2025 12:05:45 +0000

He has such a talent for brevity: "You know a judge is pissed when she busts out the bold italics."

New comment by sosull in "Apple violated antitrust ruling, judge finds"

sosull — Thu, 01 May 2025 11:47:37 +0000

For me (IANAL), reading the judgment was initially shocking primarily for its facts and tone, rather than having any understanding of the legal consequences. I initially skipped over the phrase 'contempt of court' because the phrase seems so familiar from TV. But on reflection, it's the most consequential part of the document because, as you say, it has actual consequences for the people involved.

New comment by sosull in "Rising rates of cancer in young people prompts hunt for environmental culprit"

sosull — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 08:20:51 +0000

Cast iron, presumably.

New comment by sosull in "U.S. Steel Shareholders Approve Sale to Japan's Nippon Steel"

sosull — Sun, 14 Apr 2024 22:53:05 +0000

+1. I read this a few weeks back and it really stuck with me.

New comment by sosull in "Making steel without emitting CO2"

sosull — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 23:41:54 +0000

The article is saying ‘kinda’. The process works in lab conditions with highly purified ore, but produces an equivalent amount of chlorine gas and iron.

New comment by sosull in "Microsoft completes $69B deal to buy Activision Blizzard"

sosull — Fri, 13 Oct 2023 22:07:55 +0000

I think there's a reasonable case to be made that consoles (and the vertically integrated business structure that they represent) inherently encourage more diverse kinds of games development while also attracting new buyers. Their business practices aren't ideal, granted. But it's not entirely clear to me that a walled garden constitutes a true monopoly. That is to say that the console makers aren't using their control over their own systems to force their way into adjacent, unrelated markets.

Also, the standard for what constitutes anti-competitive behaviour is different in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. The US uses higher pricing as the prime signal, whereas the EU uses a lack of viable competitiors.

New comment by sosull in "Can You Customize My Startup's Login Page?"

sosull — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 12:46:31 +0000

It pulls at a compelling thread about the differential possibilities of design and the identities it's coded against. Anti-design is an inherently valuable approach to work. It can let us think about how to achieve the right client fit, the right product motivations, and the right overall system incentives. This isn't to agree (per se) that only bad clients want glossy design in prototypes, but rather to suggest that we as people self-segregate into particular visual cultures that may seem inherently bad to outsiders. Design, or the perceived lack of it, can be a form of (highly valued) in-group signalling that allows us to sieve out the wrong kinds of interactions.

And then sometimes bad design is just great on its own merits. By way of example: https://x.com/NCTreasurer/status/1577673238536245248?s=20

New comment by sosull in "Seven Sins of Writing"

sosull — Mon, 28 Aug 2023 11:53:50 +0000

Book hack: some lengthy autobiographies have an ‘about the author’ section on the inside cover.

New comment by sosull in "Britain’s biggest skills problem is that many firms don’t value them"

sosull — Sun, 26 Feb 2023 20:10:10 +0000

I would think that software engineering is the exception that proves the rule: people with domain knowledge are highly motivated to share what they know, ask questions, consolidate knowledge, and refine processes using the Internet.

Working in another field (public services might be a good example) it’s often not possible to test out hypothetical solutions, or find relevant expertise, or to even discover that whole areas of knowledge actually exist. In that context, relevant qualifications have a little more weight.

New comment by sosull in "Apple avoids job cuts because it didn’t overhire like Google and Amazon"

sosull — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 19:56:17 +0000

I can empathise. Telling them that you didn’t want a management-style position was probably the right move given all the reasons you laid out, but it’s also an implicit rejection of everything that the people around you are striving for. They equate management with productivity and respect. You’re thinking of it like the difference between a pilot and an air traffic controller. Jobs with vastly different purposes. But still, your decision called their value system into question in a very profound way. It’s not like saying that you don’t want that kind of job, it’s more like you didn’t want to work with them more closely. And most people, myself included, don’t have the emotional intelligence to handle rejection maturely. It all gets very petty.

New comment by sosull in "The contagious visual blandness of Netflix"

sosull — Sun, 22 Jan 2023 17:34:22 +0000

But not in Schitt’s Creek. Worthwhile things have always been rare.

New comment by sosull in "Gasoline made of carbon sucked from the air (2018)"

sosull — Mon, 16 Jan 2023 11:31:28 +0000

I say this as someone living in Northern Europe in a wooden house: there’s a fairly good reason that the building industry uses brick rather than lumber here. The combination of humidity, temperature, and often densely-packed housing created both a skills base and a supply chain that has, over time, made it needlessly costly to build with lumber. And, a lot of our historic architectural styles prioritise brick, which is a huge pull factor when people are deciding on styles for new buildings.

New comment by sosull in "Americans duped into losing $10B by illegal Indian call centres in 2022: report"

sosull — Tue, 27 Dec 2022 18:06:49 +0000

Ah sure look.

New comment by sosull in "Typography for Lawyers, 2nd Edition (2018)"

sosull — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 20:52:07 +0000

I've spent years admiring his work as a type designer. It's vexing work to create a serif that's versatile enough to compete with the simplicity and legibility of standard office-type fonts. I think he pulled the rabbit out of the hat with the Equity font. It's intended for lawyers, IANAL, but it's genuinely useful in a much bigger mixture of situations.

New comment by sosull in "Twitter’s Entire A11y Experience Team Let Go"

sosull — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 13:02:22 +0000

It was a somewhat rushed point, admittedly. I was reaching for enlightenment-era imagery to challenge the seeming disavowal of morality itself. I note that OP extended those remarks elsewhere to claim that the law is the preferred source of moral constraint. I'm not even sure of what to say to that.

But I very much appreciate the depth of your point. I've always found validation (?) in the deontological aspect of Kant's idealism because I think it neatly describes why people feel obligations to those they interact with most closely (i.e. I feed my child because I should, rather than to avoid his hunger). I certainly take your point that the categorical imperative isn't the best or only tool for interpreting moral dilemmas. Honestly, I was bringing it up in part because it's a recognisable phrase that might infer that there's more to the question of ethics than unexamined instinct.

New comment by sosull in "Twitter’s Entire A11y Experience Team Let Go"

sosull — Sun, 06 Nov 2022 21:09:11 +0000

Immanuel Kant came up with the idea of a categorical imperative. It’s one of the foundation stones in the field of moral philosophy (or ethics). An example would be the moral requirement not to kill other people. The only way to successfully prove that there are no moral requirements is by arguing the point with people who don’t know any better.

New comment by sosull in "Twitter users jump to Mastodon, but what is it?"

sosull — Sun, 06 Nov 2022 20:57:40 +0000

Yes, you’re correct. I was wrong. Apologies.

New comment by sosull in "Twitter users jump to Mastodon, but what is it?"

sosull — Sun, 06 Nov 2022 19:52:39 +0000

Is there even a remotely balanced alignment between the number of users on a platform and that platform’s advertising market share? I think the answer is no. Google and Meta dominate ads. No-one else really has traction, irrespective of their platform’s success.