Hacker News: thomaslangston

New comment by thomaslangston in "Reasons Not to Refactor"

thomaslangston — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 20:54:22 +0000

I'd say #2 and #3 need to be modified.

#2 Are there related changes on the horizon for the code being refactored?

I think more qualifications than that probably miss times you should refactor.

#3 Has the code been changing recently OR have changes been delayed because modifying the unrefactored code is considered too difficult.

I've seen too many times where unrefactored code is considered too dangerous/difficult to modify even with total test coverage. Refactoring is a necessary step towards self documenting code in those cases.

New comment by thomaslangston in "String of recent killings linked to Bay Area 'Zizians'"

thomaslangston — Sat, 01 Feb 2025 20:55:15 +0000

Less Wrong

New comment by thomaslangston in "The history of spaghetti squash in America"

thomaslangston — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 12:53:35 +0000

Recommendation for eating spaghetti squash in the spaghetti style, use half actual spaghetti pasta. You get the taste of pasta you're craving in each bite but with half the benefits of substituting of a full plate of spaghetti squash.

New comment by thomaslangston in "Goodreads has no incentive to be good"

thomaslangston — Fri, 30 Jun 2023 13:57:01 +0000

Not OP, but

Different Translations

Corrections or Updates

Additions

Different Illustrations

New comment by thomaslangston in "A Senior Engineer’s Guide to FAANG Interviews"

thomaslangston — Mon, 26 Jun 2023 20:27:18 +0000

Yes

New comment by thomaslangston in "Framework Laptop 13 Review"

thomaslangston — Wed, 17 May 2023 13:32:47 +0000

Would a blank ISO keyboard work?

My Google skills are failing me and I can't seem to get a clear answer if the Scandinavian layout fits on ISO keys.

New comment by thomaslangston in "For the first time, renewable energy generation beat out coal in the US"

thomaslangston — Sun, 02 Apr 2023 12:29:50 +0000

Batteries are not cheap, but they are cost effective based on local conditions.

Time of use billing. The battery is generating ROI if it can arbitrage energy over the day.

Net metering + solar. If net metering is not available, or sufficiently discounted, and your energy usage is not high enough during the day to use all your solar power, then batteries generate ROI.

Grid stability. A battery effectively is insurance against outages of a few hours. With sufficient solar and rationing, that may extend to week long outages (think natural disasters).

New comment by thomaslangston in "NPR cancels 4 podcasts amid major layoffs"

thomaslangston — Fri, 24 Mar 2023 21:02:59 +0000

Short Wave is a short week day science NPR podcast I enjoy.

New comment by thomaslangston in "Building a city optimized for bikes is a choice"

thomaslangston — Fri, 10 Mar 2023 13:13:22 +0000

Cold doesn't have to be an obstacle. Here's a video on Finland's bike infrastructure.

https://youtu.be/Uhx-26GfCBU

New comment by thomaslangston in "Twilight of the Libraries: What Gets Lost When Books Go Off-Site and Online (2022)"

thomaslangston — Wed, 01 Mar 2023 21:24:16 +0000

> This gives publishers the ability to retroactively wipe libraries' catalogs on the basis that they own them.

This doesn't have to be true. We could have licenses that are perpetual.

New comment by thomaslangston in "Sci-fi becomes real as renowned magazine closes submissions due to AI writers"

thomaslangston — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 00:31:24 +0000

I've often thought an authenticated proof of donation to a global charity could be a solution to these types of problems, scaled in price to the senders locale.

Not refundable, but at least a donation to UNICEF allows the receiver to impose a submission cost without the implication they are doing so out of greed.

New comment by thomaslangston in "Solar panels on cars make no sense at this point"

thomaslangston — Sun, 29 Jan 2023 17:14:13 +0000

This doesn't compute.

Higher interest rates makes a highly efficient and modestly sized two seater more attractive not less.

New comment by thomaslangston in "Solar panels on cars make no sense at this point"

thomaslangston — Sun, 29 Jan 2023 16:21:21 +0000

One way to approach the engineering question of how to make solar cars for the mass market is to push the car body design to be extremely efficient. Aptera's three wheel, two seat, design seems more likely to deliver the type of daily range extension that will make solar cars a contender in the market.

https://aptera.us/vehicle/

New comment by thomaslangston in "Ask HN: Those making $500+/month on side projects in 2023 – Show and tell"

thomaslangston — Sun, 22 Jan 2023 23:03:06 +0000

There are some YouTube channels that specialize in landscaping. I could see digitally and entrepreneurially minded landscaping professionals being a good part of their audience. Might be worth sponsoring a video or two.

New comment by thomaslangston in "Ask HN: What is your opinion of “unlimited” PTO?"

thomaslangston — Wed, 11 Jan 2023 16:57:52 +0000

I'd much prefer an explicit required amount of yearly PTO, plus the freedom for a manager to freely grant bonus PTO.

New comment by thomaslangston in "After 20 years the Dwarf Fortress devs have to get used to being millionaires"

thomaslangston — Tue, 13 Dec 2022 22:54:23 +0000

That's using a 5 percent withdrawal rate.

A 4 or even 3 percent withdrawal rate is more likely to be sustainable. Those are also rates I see suggested more commonly on retirement planning sites.

New comment by thomaslangston in "Just use Postgres for everything"

thomaslangston — Sat, 10 Dec 2022 18:18:09 +0000

Good tests are a lot easier to write with good interfaces.

New comment by thomaslangston in "Engineered ‘Superplant’ Cleans Indoor Air Like 30 Regular Plants"

thomaslangston — Sat, 05 Nov 2022 19:18:52 +0000

They make A&H boxes that are designed to have sections torn off to let air through but not spill the baking soda.

New comment by thomaslangston in "Multiple assertions are fine in a unit test"

thomaslangston — Sat, 05 Nov 2022 19:15:27 +0000

Test order should be random, so that the ability to run them in parallel and distribute them across multiple hosts is not lost by missing enforcement of test isolation.

New comment by thomaslangston in "Elon Musk owns Twitter: The story so far"

thomaslangston — Fri, 28 Oct 2022 19:49:36 +0000

My experience has been tradeoffs.

Real identity has those most vulnerable get more threats, the majority get less.