<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: zestyping</title><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=zestyping</link><description>Hacker News RSS</description><docs>https://hnrss.org/</docs><generator>hnrss v2.1.1</generator><lastBuildDate>Tue, 30 Jun 2026 08:48:09 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://hnrss.org/user?id=zestyping" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"></atom:link><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by zestyping in "In defense of YAML"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>So now there are two mutually incompatible versions of YAML that silently apply different semantics: both do implicit coercion but _different kinds_ of implicit coercion.  YAML 1.2 still coerces an arbitrary set of ways to spell "true" and that's exactly the insanity that created this disaster in the first place.  The YAML spec writers just couldn't let go of their bad habits.<p>Honestly, this seems like an even worse situation than before.  If you're making a new tool and choosing a configuration format, stay away from YAML.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 28 May 2026 10:49:11 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48307158</link><dc:creator>zestyping</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48307158</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48307158</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by zestyping in "Amazon's Ring and Google's Nest reveal the severity of U.S. surveillance state"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Approval, not ranked-choice.<p>Ranked-choice reduces transparency and understanding of the vote-counting process, disenfranchises an alarming percentage of lower-income voters, obstructs risk-limiting audits (which are essential for security), and is non-monotonic (increasing voter support for a candidate can make them lose).  Further, ranked-choice doesn't actually fix the spoiler problem and won't eliminate two-party dominance.<p>Approval voting is cheap and easy to implement, dead simple to explain, count, and audit.  Not only does it eliminate the spoiler problem, it is easy to see why it does so: your ability to vote for any candidate is independent of your ability to vote for any other.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 15 Feb 2026 20:17:47 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47027119</link><dc:creator>zestyping</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47027119</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47027119</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by zestyping in "The "AI agent hit piece" situation clarifies how dumb we are acting"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Whether they are sentient isn't even relevant.  I agree with you that they aren't, but sentience is the wrong thing to focus on.  It's also the sort of hairy, sensational question that will easily lead people down rabbit holes (and unfortunately that includes journalists).<p>Children are sentient, but we still hold their parents accountable.  Adults are sentient, but in some coercive situations we hold the party in power accountable.  The fact that they are sentient is not determinative.<p>What matters is that we have _no accountability mechanism_ for them.  There is no effective way to hold AIs accountable, therefore we must hold their operators accountable, full stop.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 14 Feb 2026 20:54:07 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47018286</link><dc:creator>zestyping</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47018286</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47018286</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by zestyping in "The EU moves to kill infinite scrolling"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>The important indicator is "I spend more time on this than I myself want to."  That applies equally well to games or anything else.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 14 Feb 2026 20:17:59 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47017974</link><dc:creator>zestyping</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47017974</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47017974</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by zestyping in "The EU moves to kill infinite scrolling"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I like this approach.<p>Specifying the requirement in terms of measured impact is a good strategy because it motivates the app companies to do the research and find effective ways to address addiction, not just replace specific addictive UI patterns with different addictive UI patterns.<p>Building measurement into the law also produces a metric for how well the law is working and helps inform improvements to the law.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 14 Feb 2026 19:50:19 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47017713</link><dc:creator>zestyping</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47017713</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47017713</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by zestyping in "Show HN: LemonSlice – Upgrade your voice agents to real-time video"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I don't think the same of them because they are not the same thing.  Can you not see that the potential for harm is far greater?  You can't simply ignore the potential uses of the technology you create.  You have the choice to design your technology so it retains its usefulness while limiting the harm; have you given any time to thinking about how you could do that?<p>The alien is a diversion from the concern; I'm talking about realistic human avatars.  Let's stay focused on that.<p>Let me suggest a worthwhile exercise.  Just take ten minutes.  What are some of the ways that realistic human avatars would make deception more effective or more scalable than previously possible?<p>Come up with three scenarios, and let's talk about them, honestly and thoughtfully.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 05 Feb 2026 21:04:04 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46905294</link><dc:creator>zestyping</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46905294</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46905294</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by zestyping in "Show HN: LemonSlice – Upgrade your voice agents to real-time video"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>When you generate real-time video of realistic-looking talking characters, the definition of success is fooling people into believing they are talking to a real person when they aren't.<p>If you pursue this, your explicit goal is deception, and it's a massively harmful kind of deception.  I don't see how you can claim to be operating ethically here if that's your goal.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 29 Jan 2026 16:18:02 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46812274</link><dc:creator>zestyping</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46812274</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46812274</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by zestyping in "Show HN: LemonSlice – Upgrade your voice agents to real-time video"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>The primary purpose of generating real-time video of realistic-looking talking people is deception.  The explicit goal is to make people believe that they're talking to a real person when they aren't.<p>It's on you to identify the "immense" benefits that outweigh that explicit goal.  What are they?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 29 Jan 2026 16:09:06 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46812127</link><dc:creator>zestyping</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46812127</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46812127</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by zestyping in "Bugs Apple loves"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Renaming files from a window title bar broke some years ago and has never been fixed.  I most often want to do this in Preview, but every other app with clickable filenames in the title bar has the same problem.<p>The filename in the title bar has a down-pointing chevron next to it, indicating you can click it.  You click it.  A small drop-down window appears with the filename, the tags, and the folder where it is located.  You edit the filename and press Return, as you would when renaming the file in Finder, or as you would when completing any text field.  Nothing happens.  The file isn't renamed.<p>Only if you press Tab (?!) is the file renamed.  Insanity.<p>itle</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 24 Jan 2026 22:30:04 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46748380</link><dc:creator>zestyping</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46748380</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46748380</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by zestyping in "ASCII characters are not pixels: a deep dive into ASCII rendering"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>My thought exactly.  The sampling circles only enable you to (awkwardly) solve a problem that was fabricated by using circles in the first place.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 17 Jan 2026 17:16:09 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46659761</link><dc:creator>zestyping</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46659761</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46659761</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by zestyping in "Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>That's a legitimately run _election_, which is necessary for but not the same as a legitimate democracy.  For a democracy to be legitimate you need an impartial judiciary, an enforced constitution, fundamental civil liberties, and an accountable government.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 05 Jan 2026 05:23:52 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46495598</link><dc:creator>zestyping</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46495598</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46495598</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by zestyping in "Being poor vs. being broke"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>What does "be a lifeline" mean?  If it means "rescue them every time they have a financial emergency", is that an infinite commitment?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 16 Nov 2025 07:33:43 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45943406</link><dc:creator>zestyping</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45943406</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45943406</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by zestyping in "Show HN: Cactoide – Federated RSVP Platform"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Please, consider a better name.  It's really hard to promote something with a name that no one can pronounce or spell.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 13 Nov 2025 03:58:25 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45910445</link><dc:creator>zestyping</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45910445</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45910445</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by zestyping in "Why an abundance of choice is not the same as freedom"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Are you able to understand the difference between taxes and slavery?  If you can, try your hand at explaining why taxes and slavery are different.  I'm am not merely asking rhetorically; I'm serious.  It's a worthwhile exercise because it reveals something about your underlying model of the world.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 20 Oct 2025 06:00:34 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45640484</link><dc:creator>zestyping</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45640484</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45640484</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by zestyping in "I switched from Htmx to Datastar"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Can you explain how these work?  Does the server send small subrectangles of the large grid when the user scrolls to new regions of the grid?  Does the browser actually have a two-dimensional array in memory with a billion items, or is there some other data structure?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 11 Oct 2025 17:30:17 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45550983</link><dc:creator>zestyping</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45550983</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45550983</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by zestyping in "Python 3.14 is here. How fast is it?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Goodness gracious, that font in the new logo is the most hideous font I've seen in a very long time.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 10 Oct 2025 09:10:03 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45536738</link><dc:creator>zestyping</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45536738</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45536738</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by zestyping in "Fire destroys S. Korean government's cloud storage system, no backups available"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>> This is incredible. Government telling me how to backup my data. Incredible.<p>No more incredible than the government telling you that you need liability insurance in order to drive a car.  Do you think that is justifiable?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 06 Oct 2025 07:59:00 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45488796</link><dc:creator>zestyping</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45488796</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45488796</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by zestyping in "How I, a non-developer, read the tutorial you, a developer, wrote for me"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Code can show you HOW something is done.  Only documentation can explain WHY it is done that way.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 23 Sep 2025 07:46:16 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45343990</link><dc:creator>zestyping</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45343990</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45343990</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by zestyping in "NPM debug and chalk packages compromised"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Interesting.  According to <a href="https://www.wiz.io/blog/s1ngularity-supply-chain-attack" rel="nofollow">https://www.wiz.io/blog/s1ngularity-supply-chain-attack</a> the initial entry point was a "flawed GitHub Actions workflow that allowed code injection through unsanitized pull request titles" — which was detected and mitigated on August 29.<p><i>That was more than ten days ago</i>, and yet major packages were compromised yesterday.  How?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 09 Sep 2025 23:09:20 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45190724</link><dc:creator>zestyping</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45190724</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45190724</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by zestyping in "Anthropic raises $13B Series F"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Also wrong.  You can always destroy value by making a mistake.  Trading and then realizing you made a mistake, just like investing labour and then realizing you made a mistake, does not create value.  Trading is not special in this regard.<p>Value can be created either way: through labour or trade.<p>Regardless, your statement that all wealth is created by trade is false.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 06 Sep 2025 16:52:36 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45150879</link><dc:creator>zestyping</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45150879</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45150879</guid></item></channel></rss>