Hacker News: zabzonk

New comment by zabzonk in "Dolly Parton has died"

zabzonk — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 23:07:44 +0000

Somehow "USS Dolly Parton" has a bit of a ring to it for the next US warship after the "USS Dorie Miller".

New comment by zabzonk in "Dolly Parton has died"

zabzonk — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 19:26:11 +0000

> Sierra Ferrell does a pretty good rendition of that.

Emmylou Harris does a great one also.

New comment by zabzonk in "Don't Wordle"

zabzonk — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 13:08:28 +0000

that "i before e except after c" rule often gets taken too seriously

New comment by zabzonk in "Octopus intelligence may be related to never-before-seen mutation"

zabzonk — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 03:23:24 +0000

Indeed, AFAIK. I've never seen an explanation for this. Most things that reproduce successfully want to do it again - or at least their DNA does. Perhaps octopuses are simply disappointed by the experience.

New comment by zabzonk in "Octopus intelligence may be related to never-before-seen mutation"

zabzonk — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:18:27 +0000

Though FWIW, they do protect their eggs quite well.

New comment by zabzonk in "Where did all the public bathrooms go?"

zabzonk — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 17:47:35 +0000

Hence one of the activities they are best known for - "cottaging".

New comment by zabzonk in "My favorite nonfiction books about cults, scams, and schemes"

zabzonk — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 14:58:18 +0000

Not exactly a cult, but... "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" by Tom Wolfe. Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters. It sounds like fun, until it doesn't so much. Soundtrack by The Grateful Dead.

New comment by zabzonk in "To become a better writer, read as much as you can"

zabzonk — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 12:05:09 +0000

> language and style of speaking sentences

Nabokov? His protagonists have very special styles of speaking. I'd recommend "Pale Fire" (which is also very funny and has an interesting hypertext-like structure) as a starter.

New comment by zabzonk in "The Art and Beauty of Blade Runner (2015)"

zabzonk — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 11:47:57 +0000

> At the same time, the replicants are being perceived as becoming more human.

Surely this is what the acknowledged replicants in the film do, particularly Roy Batty when he saves Deckard?

I was a great PKD fan (collected his books), and was a little disappointed when the film first came out, but it does grow on you.

New comment by zabzonk in "I like 'em thick: an apology to my English teachers"

zabzonk — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 20:01:08 +0000

Go for "Great Expectations", "David Copperfield" and "Bleak House". If they are not great novels, I don't know what are.

New comment by zabzonk in "I should have loved biology (2020)"

zabzonk — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 19:52:08 +0000

As an ex-microbiologist, the thing I can't stand is how smelly life is. Be in the same room as gangrenous flesh and your intestinal fortitude will be severely tested.

Other than that, I don't mind it, but I still prefer silicon.

New comment by zabzonk in "Deus Ex creator Warren Spector is retiring from game development"

zabzonk — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 16:23:59 +0000

> exploring the entire city

there were many sites, not just one city

New comment by zabzonk in "Teaching my kid to code with a modern MUD"

zabzonk — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 12:52:31 +0000

I honestly think the child would be far better served with Scratch rather than some half-assed adventure writing language (having created several such languages myself).

Edit: To clarify, the languages I created were also half-assed - it's very difficult to create a good one.

New comment by zabzonk in "How Gödel's Proof Works (2020)"

zabzonk — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 22:11:53 +0000

> which they put on the bookshelf and never actually read.

Much like the many unread copies of Knuth's TAOCP.

New comment by zabzonk in "Gateway 2000's hilariously bad ads in the 90s (Part II)"

zabzonk — Sun, 09 Aug 2026 00:34:19 +0000

LTT did a very funny video on bad tech ads: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXVeSJ1WAt0

New comment by zabzonk in "Maryland Closes More of Cunningham Falls State Park After Second Beaver Attack"

zabzonk — Sun, 09 Aug 2026 00:31:08 +0000

> beaver was rabid

We don't have rabies in the UK, thankfully, and I don't think my bro got a rabies jab for his French coypu bite. Just naturally grumpy rodents, I guess.

New comment by zabzonk in "Maryland Closes More of Cunningham Falls State Park After Second Beaver Attack"

zabzonk — Sat, 08 Aug 2026 23:00:37 +0000

My little brother was attacked once in France by a coypu. Needed medical attention. Beavers (we already have coypu) are being re-introduced into the UK, so maybe this sort of thing will increase here.

New comment by zabzonk in "“Code was never the hard part” is an insult to all programmers"

zabzonk — Sat, 08 Aug 2026 22:18:45 +0000

Trading systems? Most complex things I've worked on.

New comment by zabzonk in "No one can afford to make Myst games anymore"

zabzonk — Sat, 08 Aug 2026 14:25:49 +0000

Well, I don't know. Most of the Myst games seem to be background, painted, with a bit of moving art. Comparing this with (say) an isometric RPG (think BG3, Pillars of Eternity) and those look a lot more expensive, but still capable of making money. Or maybe it's just that I never liked Myst - too stupid, I guess.

New comment by zabzonk in "Why Estonians invite strangers into their back gardens each summer"

zabzonk — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 18:07:03 +0000

Thanks, but I think that is more gardens that are owned by people with professional gardeners and other caretakers. The scheme I was thinking of was more individuals. I remember looking in to a small bungalow garden, where the owner proudly showed off her border plants, and offered us some cuttings.