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MDTHLN

70 karma · joined March 10, 2019

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MDTHLN··on Digital minimalism
I think you're kind of proving their point about 'normies' when your first instinct is to start talking about 'leftwing folks' and 'moderate views'. Most normal people aren't talking politics on the internet.

My experience as a young adult in the UK was that most people I knew had moved from Facebook to Instagram & Twitter in their early 20's.

Normal people whose interests would be things like football, going out drinking, and reality TV. The extent of their politics would be sharing a meme of Boris Johnson or complaining about COVID restrictions. I don't like the word 'normie', but that's exactly how you would describe them.

Looking through my following list now, these type of people have now either deleted their account, or haven't posted in years.

I don't think it's entirely political. But the rebrand to X and Musk's involvement made using it very uncool. It's seen of in the same vein as Facebook now, it's kind of embarrassing to admit you still use it.

MDTHLN··on AI isn't replacing SREs, it's deskilling them
What is it with weirdo tech executives and calling people losers? First DHH, now this guy.
MDTHLN··on How Block Blast harvests its players for ad money
> The lethal puzzle is a generator, and any rule can ask for it.

Ashamed of myself for getting halfway through the article before realising it was AI written.

MDTHLN··on Tell HN: Reddit JSON endpoints might have been turned off
I’m probably not as smart as their leadership team, but I can’t see how this ends well for them.

I've found myself using LLMs for things I'd normally search Reddit for because I'm tired of being pushed onto New Reddit, and I’m tired of private profiles hiding bots, astroturfers, and other bad actors.

Providing I treat it with some scepticism, why bother visiting Reddit when my LLM uses their data without me having to deal with their anti-patterns?

And if I (someone who prides themselves on trying to make decent contributions) am no longer visiting the site, then I’m no longer contributing either.

MDTHLN··on AirPods 5
I would pay for the stem volume controls alone.

I prefer the regular AirPods to in-ear. But I still keep an old pair of Pro's around purely because the stem is so convenient for changing volume when I'm walking the dog or out for a run and I'd rather not get my phone out my pocket.

MDTHLN··on Don't Wordle
This is quite fun, but I can’t believe the amount of cookies it wants to set!
MDTHLN··on Show HN: How to mentally calculate the day of the week for any date
I can’t decide whether I find the AI writing or AI design more offensive.

Laughable that the footer has the stereotypical “made with <3” tagline (because of course AI has to use an emoji instead of words), for a site that almost certainly took less time to prompt than it takes to read it.

MDTHLN··on What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers
This is a wonderful comment, and I’m glad I scrolled far enough to see it.

> Some of these crafts people may have never got to the point of being masters yet either, they were working their way towards it, but now it looks like those skills may not be valued by the market, did they waste their most valuable years working towards a goal that no longer exists?

This is the tradeoff that hurts me the most. I spent a significant chunk of my 20’s learning new paradigms, languages, and frameworks. I thought I knew the tradeoff I was making. I thought any sacrifice now would pay off in the future. Instead, it seems like any learning outside of the first few years of my career was completely useless.

I would love to go out on my own terms like you suggest, but unfortunately I have at least 25 more years in this profession before I can retire. If the profession survives that long.

MDTHLN··on Why a $154B CEO just endorsed stripping most Americans of voting rights
Ed Zitron had a great quote that's relevant to this.

> [they] have filled their skulls with a sense of moral and intellectual superiority - that because they have succeeded at work, they understand society better than others, and can only perceive the world through that lens of privilege

MDTHLN··on Postmortem of a British Startup: Tract
I don’t think that’s very fair.

They seemingly learned a lot. Unfortunately a lot of what they learnt should have been obvious from the start.

It shouldn’t take two years to figure out you need to speak to your customers and bring in revenue.

MDTHLN··on MacBook Neo and how the iPad should be
> The iPad is fantastic for, as the author points out, “reading the news and watching YouTube and playing games”

> I think there’s just a kind of techie who desperately wishes they could do everything on an iPad, but really the machine meant for them is a lightweight MacBook (Neo or Air)

Couldn't agree more. I am that person. I spent months deliberating before buying an 11" iPad (with keyboard). Used it for a week for the novelty. But the keyboard, trackpad, and multi-tasking is so janky compared to my Mac that it's sat in a cupboard ever since.

The MacBook Air is so quick and light that it's always just as convenient to get the MacBook out instead.

And that's not even for 'techie' tasks. Basic note-taking, researching, and simple spreadsheets are all easier on the Mac. The only time I reach for the iPad is if I want to watch a video and my girlfriend is already using the TV.

That being said, the iPad mini is a perfect companion if you do want an iPad but already have a decent MacBook. Such a great form-factor and doesn't pretend to be a laptop replacement.

MDTHLN··on Refactoring – Not on the backlog (2014)
The ‘Boy Scout Rule’ and Kent Beck’s idea to “First make the change easy, then make the easy change” are probably the two most important bits of advice I received in my career.

I attribute most of my success to following those rules.

And maybe I’m just applying my own biases, but all the best developers I’ve worked with seem to follow those rules as well.

MDTHLN··on Vince Zampella, developer of Call of Duty and Battlefield has died
Absolutely awful to hear.

His games were a significant part of my teenagehood, as I'm sure they were for many others. Thank you for all the memories Vince.

MDTHLN··on Microsoft Copilot AI Comes to LG TVs, and Can't Be Deleted
I'm not refuting that they don't sell your data, I haven't checked. But your link is not relevant to the discussion.

It's the privacy policy of the Apple TV app, not the Apple TV device.

MDTHLN··on Gleam OTP – Fault Tolerant Multicore Programs with Actors
I love Gleam, but I would start with Elixir if you're interested in learning about how powerful the BEAM & OTP are.

There's not much documentation/resources around OTP in Gleam. When I was playing around with it I often found myself referring to the Elixir docs and then 'translating' that knowledge to Gleam's OTP implementation.

Gleam is still very new so this is totally understandable, and both are great languages so you'll likely have a lot of fun learning either of them.

MDTHLN··on The social media censorship era is over (for now)
DHH posts are starting to read like the ramblings of a mad man.

  people who've traded in their Trump Derangement Syndrome diagnosis for a Musk Derangement Syndrome

  holy tenants of the woke religion

  the day-to-day antics of the meme lord at large
Maybe the political culture is different in America, but I can't imagine anyone in real life ever talking like this. And if they did, you'd have a real concern for their well-being.
MDTHLN··on Gleam v1.5 Released
I'm glad that they've managed to find another corporate sponsor (as well as fly.io returning).

Gleam is such a lovely language to use, and I really hope it catches on.

MDTHLN··on Ask HN: What is your new year's resolution?
This may sound a little odd, but I want to be more hedonistic.

I’ve spent my entire adult life up to now saving and investing so that I could buy a house. Now that I’ve done that it would be nice to indulge just a little bit.

MDTHLN··on Threeuk is blocking Tutanota
In regards to ISP’s, I’ve had a lot of luck with some of the new fibre networks.

HyperOptic (who run their own networks) and Zen Internet (CityFibre) have both been excellent for me.

MDTHLN··on Aria-label is a code smell
> I have not reached the point of why aria label is code smell before giving up

The main point was that they often see it used to label non-interactive elements, when it should only be used for interactive elements. It's a useful point to make, but that's not a code smell, that's faulty code.

The author should have chosen a better title, e.g. "Think twice before using aria-label".

MDTHLN··on When is short tenure a red flag?
This almost certainly depends on the size of the company.

Two years is plenty of time to make an impact at a startup.

MDTHLN··on Tesla Model 3 = 31% of UK Electric Vehicle Sales
I think you’re right but for the opposite reason.

Tesla have shown very little inclination to design cars suitable for European roads (e.g. small-medium sized hatchbacks). B-segment car buyers in Europe will opt for an ID3.

For motorway mile-munchers Tesla still have the advantage of their super-charging network to set them apart.