Hacker News: zabzonk

New comment by zabzonk in "Count Binface"

zabzonk — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 04:49:48 +0000

> isn't British English.

Eh? Most commonly uttered words in UK English: "Have you put the bins out?"

New comment by zabzonk in "Lessons from the Vasa Shipwreck"

zabzonk — Sun, 12 Jul 2026 15:05:11 +0000

Lessons from Vasa regarding C++ standardisation [pdf]: https://www.stroustrup.com/how-to-write-a-proposal.pdf

New comment by zabzonk in "Solid and Clean Code never felt solid or clean to me"

zabzonk — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 18:15:27 +0000

You are not alone in his style, but in what he actually says, all of which seems to me to be wrong.

New comment by zabzonk in "Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1852)"

zabzonk — Tue, 30 Jun 2026 16:32:44 +0000

Yep, tulips 1630s, south sea 1720s.

New comment by zabzonk in "Professor denounces mass AI fraud on an exam at Brown"

zabzonk — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 01:46:48 +0000

> Grading exams is tedious, but invigilating them is a neutral experience.

I don't mind grading exams (though I think grading is somewhat futile - see my link elsewhere). Sometimes an examinee will come up with a new idea, but we don't need formal examinations to check that kind of thing out. And you can do it in a comfortable chair, while listening to Miles Davis, unlike invigilation.

New comment by zabzonk in "Professor denounces mass AI fraud on an exam at Brown"

zabzonk — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 01:27:25 +0000

I have learned a lot about computer programming from reading books and from more experienced programmers. This is what Illich was talking about - give people an allowance and let them spend it as they will, for example on books and mentors, or indeed on classic universities.

> The whole grades-are-racist nonsense.

Wow, swerve off topic. I never mentioned anything like that and I do not want to.

More fun with high-speed rail in the UK

zabzonk — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 01:09:54 +0000

Article URL: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/29/pause-hs2-reset-until-you-are-confident-it-can-be-delivered-nao-tells-ministers

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48713597

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

New comment by zabzonk in "Professor denounces mass AI fraud on an exam at Brown"

zabzonk — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 01:04:28 +0000

While I am in no way a supporter of AI cheating, or whatever we want to call it, I can tell you from experience that there is nothing more tedious or soul destroying than invigilating a written multi-hour exam. It put me off teaching in higher education.

IMHO to solve many problems we should go with Ivan Illich's ideas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deschooling_Society and make education about education, not testing and certification.

New comment by zabzonk in "On cigarettes"

zabzonk — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:42:49 +0000

I did about the same, until my GF said "it's them or me". Haven't touched one in over 30 years, thank god.

To anyone out there that does smoke - stop. You will improve your health, your finances, and you won't smell (well, no more than you would otherwise). And you probably don't look much like James Dean anyway.

New comment by zabzonk in "On cigarettes"

zabzonk — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:36:23 +0000

> I have no clue what brand it is

You must have clue! If there is one thing tobacco companies are brilliant at it is branding. Why else would I have smoked Marlboro (and I am English) for all those sad, sad years.

New comment by zabzonk in "The Boeing 747 begins its final descent"

zabzonk — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:01:52 +0000

More or less. I remember the first time I flew in a tri-jet (after a 747), I was a bit worried on take-off about how we were still on the ground as the end of the runway approached.

To clarify slightly, I first heard "tower of power" used to describe the Saturn V. So two icons of the late 60s.

New comment by zabzonk in "The Boeing 747 begins its final descent"

zabzonk — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 22:38:55 +0000

Oh no - you were THOSE kids.

New comment by zabzonk in "The Boeing 747 begins its final descent"

zabzonk — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 21:53:12 +0000

I hated the top deck when flying east from NY to London. The rising sun poured in every time a crew member opened the cockpit door, waking me up. Best seat for me was the single one in the lower deck at the very nose of the aircraft.

The 747 was a great aircraft to fly in though. The tower of power effect on take-off really reassured you that you were going to get where you were going.

New comment by zabzonk in "DLL that was not present in memory despite not being formally unloaded"

zabzonk — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 15:04:38 +0000

Or, as the original article suggests, blame someone else.

New comment by zabzonk in "DLL that was not present in memory despite not being formally unloaded"

zabzonk — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 12:27:28 +0000

> The good news for the shell32 team is that they are off the hook; they are the victim. The bad news is that we don’t know who the culprit is.

The story of software development through the ages.

New comment by zabzonk in "Abandoned and Little-Known Airfields"

zabzonk — Sat, 27 Jun 2026 12:04:00 +0000

Well, I don't think farmers had to worry so much about those things back when I was a chid - they seemed to just like shouting. It's not like there was much we could wreck - the last use of Dunholme Lodge (as far as I'm aware) was as a Bloodhound SAM battery, notionally protecting Scampton. Anyway, I enjoyed playing at the place (RAF did not unfortunately leave the odd missile around), and as I said I never encountered your grandpa. :-)

New comment by zabzonk in "Fusion Programming Language"

zabzonk — Sat, 27 Jun 2026 09:27:16 +0000

We seem to be regressing to the overuse of classes again.

New comment by zabzonk in "WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)"

zabzonk — Sat, 27 Jun 2026 06:21:52 +0000

Using its text mode, WordStar made a pretty good programming editor.

New comment by zabzonk in "The Art of Kite Flying (1430–1929)"

zabzonk — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 21:05:11 +0000

Can be very dangerous: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-37115032

Actually, a large kite (I know fighters are not large) can be dangerous without glass on the string.

New comment by zabzonk in "The Art of Kite Flying (1430–1929)"

zabzonk — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 21:01:38 +0000

IMHO, you can't do better than The Penguin Book Of Kites: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Penguin-Book-Kites-Original/dp/0140...

Covers history, and building kites using all sorts of easily available materials.