Hacker News Reader

b2ccb2on Germany transforms former coal mines into Europe's largest lake landscape

Fear. I grew up when the radioactive cloud from Chernobyl reached us. I didn’t grow up eating mushrooms. We still measure radioactivity here, ask any hunter. When Fukushima happened, it tore open an old wound. Is it rational? I’m not sure, but I remember my parents taking in 2 Ukrainians for a month to detox in Germany.

b2ccb2on Germany transforms former coal mines into Europe's largest lake landscape

https://archive.is/20260416182412/https://www.spiegel.de/wir...

b2ccb2on Splinter Cell veteran says realistic modern lighting has screwed up stealth game

Just a quick shoutout to the Splinter Cell Enhanced patch[1], to restore, among other things, the shadows from the original console version.

And, as a bonus, the original Splinter Cell 75% off on Steam[2] and 50% off on GOG[3] (same price on both platforms).

[1] https://github.com/Joshhhuaaa/EnhancedSC

[2] https://store.steampowered.com/app/13560/Tom_Clancys_Splinte...

[3] https://www.gog.com/en/game/splinter_cell

b2ccb2on AI-assisted cognition endangers human development?

> Would you rather have them take an additional 30 minutes looking up their technical manual?

Yes

b2ccb2on ai;dr

I have quite a different take on that. As much as most people view documentation as a chore, there is value in it.

See it as code review, reflection, getting a birds eye view.

When I document my code, I often stop in between, and think: That implementation detail doesn't make sense/is over convoluted/can be simplified/seems to be lacking sanity check etc…

There is also the art of subtly injecting humor in it, with, e.g. code examples.

b2ccb2on Australian author's erotic novel is child sex abuse material, judge finds

Absolutely agree, wait until the judge finds out about Bukowski's "The Fiend".

b2ccb2on Todd C. Miller – Sudo maintainer for over 30 years

A good time to advertise for Sudo Mastery by Michael W. Lucas, highly recommend it if you want to dig in a bit deeper.

b2ccb2on You are not required to close your <p>, <li>, <img>, or <br> tags in HTML

That is invalid syntax. Only phrasing content is allowed the p element (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Guides/Con...)

b2ccb2on Calendar

It would be trivial to allow all possible languages with toLocaleString[0]:

  d = new Date();
  console.log(d.toLocaleString(window.navigator.language, {
    weekday: 'short'
  }));

[0] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Refe...

b2ccb2on Show HN: Mephisto – A RAM-only, ad-free disposable email PWA built with React

You got it. This is AI Slop at it's worst. And even the replies from the author reeks of AI. I read some of the source code, and it is slop, which I would never trust without scrutiny. Carefully read just the first words of benmxrt:

You're right that the current beta…

That is a great point

Absolutely agree with both of you

That is an intriguing feature request

That’s a very fair point

You hit the nail on the head

Great question

That is a valid point

Sharp eye

b2ccb2on Show HN: Mephisto – A RAM-only, ad-free disposable email PWA built with React

The GitHub link in the footer links to… GitHub

b2ccb2on Full Unicode Search at 50× ICU Speed with AVX‑512

The confusion likely stems from the relatively new introduction of the capitalized ẞ https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gro%C3%9Fes_%C3%9F

Maß capitalized (used to be) MASS.

Funnily enough, Mass means one liter beer (think Oktoberfest).

b2ccb2on Tell HN: Want a better HN? Visit /newest

I really like https://news.ycombinator.com/best?h=24 with the GET parameter for hours.

b2ccb2on New layouts with CSS Subgrid

I'd use <table>. It literally is a table. And for mobile just do a media query to turn it into a flexbox.

b2ccb2on Why I (Still) Love Linux ?

  The RAID 5 and RAID 6 modes of Btrfs are fatally flawed, and should not be used for "anything but testing with throw-away data."

From the ArchWiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Btrfs#Multi-device_file_sys...

b2ccb2on Dark Mode Sucks

filter: invert(1);

Or, my dark mode for HN:

@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) { html { background-color: #000; } body, td[bgcolor="#ff6600"] { filter: invert(1); } }

b2ccb2on Cloudflare Global Network experiencing issues

Here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28478379 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27452276

b2ccb2on Grok 4.1

Here you go, from the same page you posted, gun ownership correlated to gun homicides in all developed countries:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-r...

b2ccb2on Building a Simple Search Engine That Works

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yandex#Legal_issues_in_Ukraine
  https://www.zois-berlin.de/en/publications/zois-spotlight/the-sad-fate-of-yandex-from-independent-tech-startup-to-kremlin-propaganda-tool

b2ccb2on Itiner-e: the Google Maps of Roman Roads

Relevant paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-025-06140-z (Itiner-e: A high-resolution dataset of roads of the Roman Empire)

b2ccb2on Itiner-e: the Google Maps of Roman Roads

Relevant paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-025-06140-z (Itiner-e: A high-resolution dataset of roads of the Roman Empire)

b2ccb2on The grim truth behind the Pied Piper (2020)

TIL that the term Baader-Meinhof phenomenon is based upon this nugget:

> The name "Baader–Meinhof phenomenon" was coined in 1994 by Terry Mullen in a letter to the St. Paul Pioneer Press.[1] The letter describes how, after mentioning the name of the German militant group Baader–Meinhof once, he kept noticing it.

Thanks!

b2ccb2on The grim truth behind the Pied Piper (2020)

The historical precursor of a mosh pit.

b2ccb2on The grim truth behind the Pied Piper (2020)

Not sure, the costume reminds me of a jester. If I'd take a jab at it, here is the original transcription from Brüder Grimm:

"Im Jahr 1284 ließ sich zu Hameln ein wunderlicher Mann sehen. Er hatte einen Rock von vielfarbigem, bunten Tuch an, weshalben er Bundting soll geheißen haben, und gab sich für einen Rattenfänger aus…"[0][1]

"In the year 1284, a strange man appeared in Hameln. He had a skirt, made from differently colored fabrics, which is why his name was 'bundle(?)', pretending to be a rat catcher…"

[0] https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Seite:Deutsche_Sagen_(Grimm)_... [1] https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Seite:Deutsche_Sagen_(Grimm)_...

b2ccb2on The grim truth behind the Pied Piper (2020)

Hah, macabre and word play. I see you my German brethren.

He is referring to the Baader-Meinhof-Komplex book, that pretty much documents the RAF https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army_Faction

b2ccb2on The grim truth behind the Pied Piper (2020)

Oh, and my favorite theory:

"Eine andere, weniger stark vertretene Theorie besagt, dass die Hamelner Kinder einem heidnischen Sektenführer aufgesessen sein könnten, der diese zu einem religiösen Ritus in die Wälder bei Coppenbrügge geführt hat, wo sie heidnische Tänze aufführten. Dabei habe es einen Bergrutsch oder Erdfall gegeben, wodurch die meisten umgekommen seien. Noch heute lässt sich dort eine große Kuhle finden, die durch ein solches Ereignis entstanden sein könnte." > https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rattenf%C3%A4nger_von_Hameln#H...

I'll roughly translate it:

"Another, less thought after theory says, the children of Hameln got seduced by a pagan cult leader. He lead the children to the forest of Coppenbrügge for a religious ritual, where they performed pagan dances. This caused an landslide, causing most of them to die. There is, to this day, still a large pit, that could have been caused by such an event."

Edit: Expanded translation

b2ccb2on The grim truth behind the Pied Piper (2020)

Here is a picture on Wikipedia. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rattenf%C3%A4nger_von_Hameln#/...

I grew up around Hameln and can confirm, that is how he is depicted.

Also a depiction of him from 1592: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rattenf%C3%A4nger_von_Hameln#/...

So it is part of the fable.

b2ccb2on The grim truth behind the Pied Piper (2020)

"Hameln" is in northern Germany, don't know where the I comes from in the English transliteration.

There are many theories, one of them is the Children's Crusade[0], diseases, pagan sects, but yes, the leading one is the "Ostsiedlung".

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Crusade [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostsiedlung

b2ccb2on Mr TIFF

His obituary is lovely: https://www.mountainviewtacoma.com/obituaries/stephen-carlse...

b2ccb2on You did no fact checking, and I must scream

What's even worse: Some of the responses to the authors AI generated responses read like prompts. Case in point:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45610341 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45611835 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45610450

The last one hits hard:

  Can you provide the numbers for Manhattan, or SF centre?

I am distraught at how AI is conditioning us with its sycophancy.