Hacker News: unholythree

New comment by unholythree in "Why do LLMs freak out over the seahorse emoji?"

unholythree — Mon, 06 Oct 2025 22:13:29 +0000

Tropical tree seahorse?

New comment by unholythree in "Germicidal UV could make airborne diseases as rare as those carried by water"

unholythree — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 17:04:24 +0000

You gotta make sure they install them right. The UV light can degrade the insulation on wires, or break down expensive HEPA or bag filters.

If they put the light in the wrong place it can mess your equipment up.

New comment by unholythree in "U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat"

unholythree — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 04:49:18 +0000

So why did this conversation needed to be kept from malign rogue anti-Trumpers in the NSA (who would be risking very real jail time) but did not require the basic level of OPSEC that would keep the editor of the Atlantic out?

New comment by unholythree in "U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat"

unholythree — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 04:15:26 +0000

Well Jefferson certainly wasn't ever wrong about anything. He certainly wouldn't have held any beliefs contrary to 20th or 21st century values. /s

Obviously the dude had a lot of good ideas, but just grabbing anything he said and acting like it's gospel is flawed for dare I say a pretty glaring reason...

New comment by unholythree in "AI Data Centers May Consume More Electricity Than Entire Cities"

unholythree — Sat, 23 Nov 2024 18:16:09 +0000

I guess you could argue back in 1776 AI and aluminum had a roughly equal impact, only for aluminum to over take AI and become far more important by the early 20th century…

Pedantic sarcasm of course.

New comment by unholythree in "World conker champion found with steel chestnut, cleared of cheating"

unholythree — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 17:49:38 +0000

Yeah people forget that Sushi was once considered very adventurous to most people, and than a huge percentage of American men only first experienced hot sauce as Tabasco sauce in the army. Other than ethic enclaves I think the American palette was historically considered pretty underdeveloped.

New comment by unholythree in "Panic at the Job Market"

unholythree — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 12:00:22 +0000

He’s not your “bro” little mister, he’s clearly your elder!

New comment by unholythree in "Johns Hopkins medical school will be free for most after $1B donation"

unholythree — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 11:19:31 +0000

I wonder if a better use would be to establish a new medical school at a university without one. It seems like if society has too few doctors we need additional medical student spots more than a reduction in medical student debt.

New comment by unholythree in "A Louisiana gas plant sea wall shows challenges of flooding, energy demand"

unholythree — Mon, 08 Jul 2024 02:41:34 +0000

Yeah it’s always crazy looking down some street perpendicular to the levee and seeing something the size of a skyscraper on its side slide by at 10 mph.

New comment by unholythree in "The greatest social media site is Craigslist"

unholythree — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 20:08:54 +0000

If the scratches are on the inside it might not look too bad after you fill it with water, but still a bummer.

New comment by unholythree in "The tiny chip that powers Montreal subway tickets"

unholythree — Sun, 23 Jun 2024 20:06:46 +0000

The noise maker (alarm) is still close to him.

New comment by unholythree in "A new map of medieval London"

unholythree — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 16:59:03 +0000

True, but these are also medieval farmer’s fields, about as all-natural and organic as possible. They are certainly more natural than a parking lot, and barring very much stone construction would probably rewild within a generation or two.

Edit: The more I think of it the stone construction really is the most unnatural part. Especially the ancient tradition of building those little walls using the stones you cleared in order to plow.

New comment by unholythree in "CO2 helps viruses stay alive longer in the air"

unholythree — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 17:16:13 +0000

Definitely. Filtering particulates and tempering the outside air is the way to go in anything but most extreme situations. I suspect even designing a fallout shelter you would want to go that route.

New comment by unholythree in "Why do some leading geologists reject the term "Anthropocene"?"

unholythree — Sun, 21 Apr 2024 07:09:34 +0000

That’s like saying spheres aren't real because no perfect sphere exists. I think objectively exploring the merits of both sides of an argument is possible, and in many cases laudable.

I’m not saying all arguments on every issue are made in good faith or are worth exploring, and of course some things are simply facts. I’m also not condemning editorials where a writer is expected to try and persuade. However, I do think there is merit in a form of journalism that summarizes the strongest arguments on both sides of an issue in dispute, rather than simply picking one side and running with it.

New comment by unholythree in "NPR suspends veteran editor as it grapples with his public criticism"

unholythree — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 04:40:50 +0000

I recall hearing an NPR piece in the past couple months that was discussing how best to handle reparations for slavery. The entire piece clearly came from the conceit that reparations would be good and desirable. All of the expert interviewees supported and spoke favorably of reparations with no counterpoints, the few opponents were extemporaneous "man on the street" interviews. The end effect was an one sided piece almost contemptuously disregarding any opposition. Certainly not a convincing message to the 68% of US adults (including 49% of Democrats) that don't support reparations.

More than the staking a clear political position on the matter, it was the presumption and condescension that was the most off-putting. Far too often their pieces have adopted that tone. With the "right-thinking" guest or guests interviewed by the "right-thinking" host about a issue clearly the listener would agree with too... if they are "right-thinking."

New comment by unholythree in "NPR suspends veteran editor as it grapples with his public criticism"

unholythree — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 02:56:39 +0000

Indeed. While you might dislike Neo-liberalism, Reagan-ism, or Bush's "Compassionate Conservatism," as Walter Sobchak said: at least it's an ethos.

Trumpism believes in nothing but suborning yourself to Trump's will and needs. Sure there's some vague isolationism and xenophobia, and some pandering to Christian nationalism, but the only consistent policy position is fielty to Trump. That's why there aren't any interesting Trumpist pundits. The House is twisting itself in knots right now because they can't decide what he wants or will tolerate regarding Ukraine funding. A real party with a policy would have an articulatable agenda, probably with some dissenters on this or that, but all the current Republican party can agree on is how great dear leader is, and Democrats are bad.

New comment by unholythree in "This is a teenager"

unholythree — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 21:23:54 +0000

Except inflation, in the US we gave everyone money a couple of years ago (probably had to) and it caused (probably unavoidable) spectacular inflation. We narrowly achieved our soft landing, but that should have taught us that while sometime helicopter money works, it isn’t free.

New comment by unholythree in "Biden Announces $7.4B in Student Debt Cancellation for 277,000 Americans"

unholythree — Fri, 12 Apr 2024 18:43:22 +0000

I think this will go over poorly in some parts of the democratic coalition. I don’t know that blue collar workers including blacks and hispanics will care for this much, or that centrist suburbanites will like it either. Continuing to loose support in the first group or slowing/receding support in the second could be a serious problem.

New comment by unholythree in "Biden Announces $7.4B in Student Debt Cancellation for 277,000 Americans"

unholythree — Fri, 12 Apr 2024 18:34:36 +0000

The public service loan discharge “used” to be broken and people were always rejected, but they made significant overhauls a few years back. My father for example, had his loans forgiven for working at a public library for a decade or so.

New comment by unholythree in "Biden Announces $7.4B in Student Debt Cancellation for 277,000 Americans"

unholythree — Fri, 12 Apr 2024 18:25:44 +0000

The comparison was specifically to the last attempt which was just scattershot. Radiologist who just paid off you loans: no soup for you! Radiologist who still has loans but will soon also be rich: have a bunch of free money.

This new loan forgiveness (which as a loan-less dropout I’m not crazy about either) at least seems directed as a handout to poorer loan holders. If I’m going to be screwed, it’s slightly nicer knowing it’s not to a give-away to the tax brackets above me.