<rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><channel><title>Hacker News: xethos</title><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=xethos</link><description>Hacker News RSS</description><docs>https://hnrss.org/</docs><generator>hnrss v2.1.1</generator><lastBuildDate>Sun, 24 May 2026 23:14:48 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://hnrss.org/user?id=xethos" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"></atom:link><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by xethos in "Green card seekers must leave U.S. to apply, Trump administration says"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>> I guess once you get yours everyone else can go to hell.<p>Sounds they truly have become naturalized Americans</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 24 May 2026 02:13:23 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48253666</link><dc:creator>xethos</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48253666</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48253666</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by xethos in "Green card seekers must leave U.S. to apply, Trump administration says"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>They called Miller out as one aspect, not the totality of the problem.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 24 May 2026 02:11:11 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48253653</link><dc:creator>xethos</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48253653</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48253653</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by xethos in "The memory shortage is causing a repricing of consumer electronics"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>No, but it's a fun line for any automotive or other old-industry workers to throw at programmers, as they were the ones promised re-training in industries they would have to start from the bottom in.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 22 May 2026 03:13:32 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48231548</link><dc:creator>xethos</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48231548</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48231548</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by xethos in "Declining America"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Do they regret voting <i>Republican</i>, or do they regret voting for <i>this particular Republican candidate</i>?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 21 May 2026 00:39:25 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48216309</link><dc:creator>xethos</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48216309</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48216309</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by xethos in "Congress Wants You to Pay $130 a Year Just to Drive an Electric Car"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Hey, at least this isn't a comment section about the states, which rate safety based on how the driver fares in a collision! Which would mean the people least likely to be hurt are the ones that are trying to cheat the tax, and the ones injured or killed are external to the vehicle.<p>Except of course it is: Americans externalizing costs to save a buck seems to have become endemic</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 20 May 2026 17:39:07 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48211257</link><dc:creator>xethos</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48211257</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48211257</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by xethos in "Congress Wants You to Pay $130 a Year Just to Drive an Electric Car"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I mean sure, it's not perfectly, 100% fair, but do you have a better <i>plan</i>, or just complaints? Because rural populations seem to want to have their cake and eat it too - living in a rural area to save money and have additional space, without wanting to pay for the extremely expensive roads that enable their lifestyle, or even to admit that it's infeasible for everyone to live that way<p>More driving both increases the likelyhood of damages to vehicles or people, and makes this a useage-based fee - so while not perfect, it's the closest we can realistically get without becoming mired in PR mis-understandings or complications, technicalities, and enforcement difficulties.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 20 May 2026 17:28:47 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48211116</link><dc:creator>xethos</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48211116</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48211116</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by xethos in "US bill proposes new national EV tax, while some push to slash gas tax to zero"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>We're discussing a country that bases "Safety ratings" by how well they protect the driver, and ignore every other person outside the vehicle - meaning the people least likely to be hurt here are the ones trying to cheat the tax</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 19 May 2026 16:24:33 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48195467</link><dc:creator>xethos</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48195467</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48195467</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by xethos in "Hindenburg’s Smoking Room"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Now see, the worst part is, I believe you. Your username pops up frequently enough, and is recognizable enough, that I consider you a reasonable, thoughtful person. And the rationale makes sense - juggling multiple engines is extremely complex<p>But now way in hell can I, in good conscience, repeat that without a source</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 18 May 2026 13:26:07 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48179562</link><dc:creator>xethos</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48179562</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48179562</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by xethos in "Hindenburg’s Smoking Room"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>> took a loooong time for Boeing to convince the FAA that a twin engine jet was safer than a 4 engine for ocean crossings<p>I don't believe they convinced the FAA twin is <i>safer</i>, just that it meets the necessary <i>safety margins</i>. Airlines want them to meet that regulation for fuel efficiency, but I'd want a source that they're actually <i>safe-er</i>, instead of simply safe enough</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 18 May 2026 04:50:51 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48175695</link><dc:creator>xethos</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48175695</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48175695</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by xethos in "Waymo updates 3,800 robotaxis after they 'drive into standing water'"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Advertising slightly heavier traffic isn't the worst thing in the world. Telling hundreds of motorists "There's a navigable road here" when there isn't, is a bigger problem, for both Apple's PR team, and the motorists in question<p>Verifying indepenantly is probably the reasonable response</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 16 May 2026 12:58:08 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48159867</link><dc:creator>xethos</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48159867</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48159867</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by xethos in "Power Tools Got Worse on Purpose. Who Owns DeWalt, Craftsman, and Milwaukee?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>> didn't have 1/10th the power a corded tool does<p>What boggles the mind is that, at this point, corded gets dunked on by battery-run tools in power output. Corded is limited to the 1500W one can safely pull fromn the wall, but cordless can have higher output. Normally one might assume it'd be a distinction without a difference, but things like table or chop saws can be <i>hungry</i>.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 15 May 2026 17:08:25 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48151145</link><dc:creator>xethos</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48151145</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48151145</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by xethos in "Solar-based sleep patterns compared to modern norms"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>It's actually the rest of the world that makes this difficult, in my experience. Working graveyard is fine, it's the hardware stores, the grocery stores, social life, and acceptable hours to do, say, laundry in an apartment, or mow ones lawn, that can make life hard</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 15 May 2026 12:03:12 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48147558</link><dc:creator>xethos</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48147558</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48147558</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by xethos in "Twin brothers wipe 96 government databases minutes after being fired"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Instead of comparing AI to any other tool, especially one closer to "useful with a computer", the common comparison is always a weapon of some kind.<p>If the design of tools are neutral, one tool should do as well as another in this common comparison. But the useful application of tools is inherent in their design.<p>If tools <i>were</i> neutral, as so many on this site claim, why is AI only ever compared to knives and hammers?<p>Parent has lots of links to other common objects causing harm, why are they never used as the example when tools are allegedly neutral? That would be a stronger argument opposing AI regulation - ethernet has less regulations that knives, but can still be used as a murder weapon</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 14 May 2026 01:48:32 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48130199</link><dc:creator>xethos</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48130199</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48130199</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by xethos in "Twin brothers wipe 96 government databases minutes after being fired"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>My larger point is that nobody - <i>nobody</i> - defaults to telling us the coffee mug is unregulated, as AI allegedly ought to be. They always compare it to something much more commonly used as a weapon; something that, when asked to name a household object likely to be <i>used</i> as a weapon, the average person would guess.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 13 May 2026 22:40:26 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48128543</link><dc:creator>xethos</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48128543</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48128543</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by xethos in "Twin brothers wipe 96 government databases minutes after being fired"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>The tools we use are not neutral. A sword can be <i>made to work</i> like an axe, but we use axes for chopping wood because a sword makes a shitty axe. A sword is designed to kill people. The handle, the mass, the weight distribution, and every other aspect I am not qualified to get in to, means swords are designed to kill. They are a tool, and their use is not neutral.<p>This is a clear example, but I don't believe any tools are neutral. Your immediate fallback was to a hammer, not a mouse, with the obvious corrollary being to bludgeon, but the same line applies. Tools are not neutral, and that's why when you looked for something that causes harm, you grabbed something that's objectively been serving a dual-purpose for hundreds of years. Nobody's using a computer mouse to bludgeon someone to death; it makes a shitty bludgeon, and the design of the tool reflects that.<p>That's also why these comparisons always fall back to knives, or hammers, or the AK-47: they are dangerous tools that are designed to make killing easier. Nobody is making these comparisons to more benign tools, like desk lamps, coffee cups, or car stereos, and it's because tools are not neutral, and none of my examples are designed to make direct, bodily harm, easier.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 13 May 2026 20:13:46 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48126871</link><dc:creator>xethos</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48126871</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48126871</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[WhatsApp Plus]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Article URL: <a href="https://faq.whatsapp.com/1480290710396618/?cms_platform=web">https://faq.whatsapp.com/1480290710396618/?cms_platform=web</a></p>
<p>Comments URL: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48094059">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48094059</a></p>
<p>Points: 3</p>
<p># Comments: 0</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 11 May 2026 12:21:16 +0000</pubDate><link>https://faq.whatsapp.com/1480290710396618/?cms_platform=web</link><dc:creator>xethos</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48094059</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48094059</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by xethos in "Plex's price hikes prove I was right to switch to Jellyfin"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>It's possible, because I used the Plex app on that same hardware for years. It certainly wasn't Google's software gettng heavier (it was already RAM and battery-hungry enough I'd dropped it), but trying to use Plex became an exercise in frustration around that time</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 11 May 2026 11:23:10 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48093596</link><dc:creator>xethos</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48093596</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48093596</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by xethos in "Plex's price hikes prove I was right to switch to Jellyfin"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Plex's outrageously heavy Android client (on my admittedly older phone) was actually what pushed me the rest of the way over to Jellyfin<p>They support (or did previously support) more platforms, but Jellyfind is what runs at a reasonable speed on my phone, so that's what'll get used</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 11 May 2026 04:30:01 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48091065</link><dc:creator>xethos</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48091065</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48091065</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by xethos in "France moves to break encrypted messaging"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>My examples are all based on the CIA and NSA playbook though, as it was the NSA director that said the quiet part out loud, explicitly, in front of Congress. The NSA is effectively America's red team, an offensive arm, meaning they (should be) focused on threats (percieved or otherwise) outside the country<p>The FBI has been much quieter about this though - there has yet to be a Snowden-for-the-FBI, though they would be one of the agencies I would fully expect to be doing similar work domestically.<p>As this becomes more well-known, I would expect state and county police to start looking into data and metadata as well. In some cases, they already are [0] - even if some aspects of that case are less relevant today (Google Maps no longer uploads location history, though cell tower trilateration is getting more accurate, not less).<p>It's far more prevalent than most people realize, though I invite you to consider which you'd rather have when building a second-by-second profile of a person's life: the message contents, or the metadata?<p>[0] <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/find-my-iphone-arson-case/" rel="nofollow">https://www.wired.com/story/find-my-iphone-arson-case/</a></p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 10 May 2026 02:14:38 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48080361</link><dc:creator>xethos</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48080361</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48080361</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by xethos in "France moves to break encrypted messaging"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>> I can't think of a lot of crimes whose metadata warrants being killed for personally<p>You're (literally) missing links then. If A is a high-value target that we look at closely (because they're a high-value target), what if B frequently contacts A? If C, D, and E always recieve messages from B immediately following A messaging B?<p>What about times? Is B messaging F at a consistant time, and never outside of that? Is A only messaging G, at a set time, with G's phone immediately being put into (ineffective) airplane mode immediately before and after?<p>Facebook built their business on the social graph, but the CIA's been at this for <i>decades</i></p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 10 May 2026 01:52:48 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48080219</link><dc:creator>xethos</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48080219</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48080219</guid></item></channel></rss>