Hacker News: twirlip

New comment by twirlip in "LibreOffice Writer now supports Markdown"

twirlip — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 19:12:03 +0000

Back in the long-ago times, I saw ordinary people fight tooth-and-nail to keep their WordPerfect on DOS instead of switching to Windows and Word, despite it requiring those overlays kept above their keyboard function keys and being non-WYSIWYG. Ordinary people aren't neophiles, nor is Word especially intuitive. They simply want what that app to which they are familiar.

New comment by twirlip in "Thousands of U.S. farmers have Parkinson's. They blame a deadly pesticide"

twirlip — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 15:28:09 +0000

If you actually read the article, it indicated epidemiological studies showing that people living or working near farmland where paraquat is used have a higher incidence of Parkinson's.

Additionally, the article cites a leading neuroscientist in Parkinson's research who says that pesticides are one of the "biggest threats" linked to Parkinson's

Lastly, I personally discount your sort of arguments because it is the same kind we've witnessed the tobacco industry, the sugar industry, and the gasoline industry use regarding the science showing harmful effects of their products.

New comment by twirlip in "Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros"

twirlip — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 20:12:17 +0000

1938 Superman didn't fly; he jumped. And he was named Kal-L. But he was also a lot more of a social justice warrior. His chest emblem was different, too. But yeah, I expect good things.

New comment by twirlip in "My favorite cult sci-fi and fantasy books you may not have heard of before"

twirlip — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 16:35:01 +0000

The page is more for lesser known authors, while the late Iain M Banks is certainly a master of science fiction, he is one of the best known authors.

New comment by twirlip in "The right wing is coming for Wikipedia"

twirlip — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 16:40:19 +0000

There's a reason why Conservapedia sucks and isn't used by anybody.

New comment by twirlip in "SpaceX's giant Starship Mars rocket nails critical 10th test flight"

twirlip — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 16:09:18 +0000

R&D and prototyping is an up-front expense. Amortization over many units spreads out the costs to long term profitability. Does SpaceX have that kind of time, though? A prospective global depression would dry up the capital for funding Starship development.

New comment by twirlip in "Is Porn Misleading Men?"

twirlip — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 21:19:43 +0000

... From a pool of respondents who follow this internet personality. She acknowledges that only 10% of her followers identify as women and may respond differently than their cohorts.

New comment by twirlip in "Wild animals are spiraling to extinction. Can a bunch of bureaucrats save them?"

twirlip — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 18:54:14 +0000

It's the "ingenuity of Humanity" that's causing the collapse, is it not? Our intelligence, or ingenuity, has outpaced our wisdom. Surely the advent of thermonuclear weapons, biological weapons, poisoning ourselves and our ecosystem, is a hint that our little branch of the evolutionary tree is beset with peril of our clever little hands and brains.

New comment by twirlip in "With 'Megalopolis,' the Flop Era Returns to Cinemas"

twirlip — Sat, 12 Oct 2024 19:53:31 +0000

>> "... artists lose their ability to make art when their brain is infected by money and power."

I disagree. It's largely age based. Especially for filmmakers as novelty is part of the appeal of movies. As the artist ages, I think Yeats said it best: "What can I but enumerate old themes".

Coppola is 85. How many octogenarians are still creatively significant? Yes, they can still put out an album or a film or a book, but their best days are behind them.

Coppola paid for "Megalopolis" out of his own pocket. He wrote and directed the story and cast the actors that he wanted. What is art in its purist form but the self-expression on an individual?

Previously, Coppola mortgaged his home and went legendarily overtime and overbudget for "Apocalypse Now". That's regarded as a classic and was lauded in its time. "Megalopolis", not so much, though time could add a new perspective, as sometimes art becomes more favorably viewed upon reflection.

New comment by twirlip in "Starship Integrated Flight Test 2 at 7 Am Central Time"

twirlip — Sun, 19 Nov 2023 21:58:12 +0000

Your analogy with carmaker companies doesn't communicate the illogic you believe it does as there are several instances where car companies produced inferior followups to successful models. Furthermore, the self-same manufacturers largely did improve their vehicles to high levels of reliability and performance.

New comment by twirlip in "As the public begins to believe Google isn’t as useful, what happens to SEO?"

twirlip — Thu, 02 Nov 2023 00:30:32 +0000

Oh, you!

New comment by twirlip in "AI art is folk art, and a revolt against the arts establishment"

twirlip — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 17:41:40 +0000

Remove any copyright protection for AI derived content and I have little problem with AI generated media.

New comment by twirlip in "Who’s Afraid of Lorne Michaels?"

twirlip — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 02:11:37 +0000

I think of Lorne Michaels holds a similar place in culture as did Hugh Hefner. SNL was highly influential, but has been coasting on eroding cultural relevance since the internet became more interesting than broadcast television. Comics are discovering they don't need an impresario or producer as they did in the more rarefied entertainment environment of the past.

New comment by twirlip in "A conversation with a newspaper owner raided by cops"

twirlip — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 15:10:01 +0000

There are metrics that describe such standards. One such is the University of Würzburg's Democracy Matrix, another is the Corruption Perception Index.

New comment by twirlip in "Hollywood’s Cold War Dissidents in Ireland"

twirlip — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 15:00:01 +0000

You are right. Those not killed within a week's time were sent to to concentration camps. Many were forced labor (slave) and then moved to death camps.when they could no longer work. My apologies for being unclear.

New comment by twirlip in "A conversation with a newspaper owner raided by cops"

twirlip — Sat, 12 Aug 2023 21:04:36 +0000

In the age of ubiquitous information sharing, the news of cops raiding a newspaper office is rather not a signal the system is working, than it is a klaxon that the system is failing.

New comment by twirlip in "Hollywood’s Cold War Dissidents in Ireland"

twirlip — Sat, 12 Aug 2023 20:44:29 +0000

The German industrialists of the early 20th Century feared unionism, socialism, and communism. They backed Hitler and funded the Nazi party. In turn, Nazis enacted the Nacht und Nebel slave labor program, Lex Krupp, and allowed companies such as Krupp to take property from conquered nations.

New comment by twirlip in "Transcript of taped conversations among German nuclear physicists (1945)"

twirlip — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 21:00:54 +0000

I wonder if the horrific aftermath of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan prevented later usage of nuclear weapons.

New comment by twirlip in "HuggingFace Text Generation License No Longer Open-Source"

twirlip — Sat, 29 Jul 2023 16:38:05 +0000

Rather, it is the dilution of the meaning of open source because true and pure open source such as GPL or Apache is too powerful for some people to accept.

New comment by twirlip in "A beautiful, broken America: what I learned on a 2,800-mile bus ride"

twirlip — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 21:39:30 +0000

At least she acknowledged her bias in knowing about "the negatives". Imagine the unacknowledged biases of those who refuse to see "the negatives".