Hacker News: zeveb

New comment by zeveb in "Why I don't discuss politics with friends"

zeveb — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 18:23:40 +0000

> It was easier to have non-threatening debates because everyone felt more secure. When people are stressed and afraid, the debates aren’t just intellectual exercises but things that could mean the loss of real opportunities in their lives.

You’re right that people feel less secure, but that doesn’t mean that they are correct when they feel that.

By pretty much any measure, I believe that people in 2025 are far more secure than they were in 1975, 1985 or 1995.

The man who spent forty-two years at the Beverly Hills Hotel pool (1993)

zeveb — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 17:45:19 +0000

Article URL: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/02/22/beverly-hills-hotel-paradise-lost

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43186050

Points: 273

# Comments: 304

Thinking About Opening URLs in Emacs, and Wayland, and Stuff

zeveb — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 04:05:25 +0000

Article URL: https://lars.ingebrigtsen.no/2025/01/24/thinking-about-opening-urls-in-emacs-and-wayland-and-stuff/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42969258

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

New comment by zeveb in "Poorest US State Rivals Germany: GDP per Capita in US and Europe"

zeveb — Mon, 06 Jan 2025 21:52:01 +0000

> Mississippi, the poorest state in the United States, is close to surpassing Europe's largest economy Germany's GDP per capita.

Poorest US State Rivals Germany: GDP per Capita in US and Europe

zeveb — Mon, 06 Jan 2025 21:50:39 +0000

Article URL: https://www.euronews.com/business/2025/01/03/the-poorest-us-state-rivals-germany-gdp-per-capita-in-the-us-and-europe

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42616347

Points: 5

# Comments: 2

New comment by zeveb in "uBlock Origin GPL code being stolen by team behind Honey browser extension"

zeveb — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 11:12:15 +0000

Snopes in 2018 and Snopes in 2008 were sadly two very different things. They used to be such a great resource!

Why Microsoft Office is a bigger productivity drain than Candy Crush Saga (2018)

zeveb — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 03:21:25 +0000

Article URL: https://timharford.com/2018/02/microsoftofficevscandycrush/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42581986

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

New comment by zeveb in "Markdown is meant to be shown (2021)"

zeveb — Thu, 15 Aug 2024 13:18:41 +0000

I think that this is correct. Also, we really shouldn’t forget that Markdown is meant to generate HTML, and that HTML blocks are valid Markdown: a system which does not permit it isn’t really using Markdown.

Testing the Practical Common Lisp Code on Medley

zeveb — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 20:12:49 +0000

Article URL: https://journal.paoloamoroso.com/testing-the-practical-common-lisp-code-on-medley

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40136714

Points: 4

# Comments: 0

New comment by zeveb in "Show HN: Bonk, a command-line tool for X11 window management"

zeveb — Tue, 09 Apr 2024 22:51:33 +0000

> If you run more than one monitor with different DPI, Wayland is the only choice.

I run multiple monitors with differing physical DPIs on X11. Yeah, that means they have differing resolutions. It doesn’t bother me, and I can do all the things that I want, unlike if I were using Wayland.

Maybe someday Wayland will be a replacement for X11, but that day is not today.

New comment by zeveb in "A brief interview with Tcl creator John Ousterhout"

zeveb — Sat, 11 Feb 2023 11:02:14 +0000

> Quoting is insane and hard to get right.

This really makes me wonder if you’ve used Tcl. Quoting in Tcl is so much simpler than in e.g. bash or cmake. It’s all about know when a string will be evaluated or not.

> Type errors are very common.

In my experience, no more so than in any other dynamic language, e.g. Python or Lua.

Again in my experience, if one wants a scripting language — i.e., one used to orchestrate a number of commands — then Tcl is exactly what the doctor ordered.

New comment by zeveb in "How to own an airline in 3 easy steps and grab the TSA nofly list along the way"

zeveb — Fri, 20 Jan 2023 02:56:56 +0000

> The last notable ban was Paul Graham for simply sharing their Mastodon handle.

Paul Graham is a man, not a plural entity.

New comment by zeveb in "Atom was archived today"

zeveb — Fri, 16 Dec 2022 15:25:07 +0000

> I'll take Java over JavaScript any day

Well sure, and I would choose to be hanged rather than broken on the wheel, but I’d rather neither.

Fortunately, Armed Bear Common Lisp runs fine on the JVM.

New comment by zeveb in "Atom was archived today"

zeveb — Fri, 16 Dec 2022 14:27:36 +0000

I think it’s more like how some people still wear wool and linen despite the fact that polyester and rayon exist. Popularity does not equal quality.

New comment by zeveb in "Atom was archived today"

zeveb — Fri, 16 Dec 2022 14:19:11 +0000

> Having a unified tool set works wonders for group productivity, no more messing around with some employees not having a certain package and others needing to customize their vim configs.

Completely agree: the entire company should be on a common, future-proof, extensible, free platform: Emacs!

I honestly don’t understand why anyone bothers wasting effort on any other editor.

New comment by zeveb in "New Zealand passes legislation banning cigarettes for future generations"

zeveb — Tue, 13 Dec 2022 21:45:11 +0000

Well, forbidding adults from smoking is one of the negative consequences.

New comment by zeveb in "Distributed Version Control is here to stay, baby (2010)"

zeveb — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 12:42:17 +0000

> I know, it’s strange… since 1972 everyone was thinking that we were manipulating versions, but, it turned out, surprisingly, that thinking about the changes themselves as first class solved a very important problem: the problem of merging branched code.

This is a very good point, and it really was revolutionary.

Distributed Version Control is here to stay, baby (2010)

zeveb — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 12:33:32 +0000

Article URL: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2010/03/17/distributed-version-control-is-here-to-stay-baby/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32520192

Points: 1

# Comments: 2

New comment by zeveb in "Engineering Festivus"

zeveb — Thu, 18 Aug 2022 14:46:10 +0000

These are hilarious. Is it a meta-joke that a series of videos about over-complicated technology are only visible if one allows JavaScript and embedded Twitter posts?

New comment by zeveb in "What Beirut was like before the war (2019)"

zeveb — Thu, 18 Aug 2022 14:28:11 +0000

It’s so much easier to destroy than to build. That applies to buildings, but it also applies to cultures and civilisations. The work of centuries — even of millennia — can be broken in decades or even years.

And what’s worse is that there’s not much one can do about it. One can preserve what one has inherited, and try to increase it, but others can knock it down much more easily.