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hgomersall

2,629 karma · joined December 17, 2021

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hgomersall··on Show HN: Waymark – A workflow engine that compiles jobs instead of replaying
Is it conceptually like the tower[1] library? That's a rust lib for composing services and meta services.

[1] https://docs.rs/tower/latest/tower/

hgomersall··on Show HN: Waymark – A workflow engine that compiles jobs instead of replaying
I completely understand that it might be because I've never suffered the pain associated with the thing you're purporting to solve, but I really don't understand what Waymark does.

I find this really common on HN - someone posts a project that addresses a problem and all the intro and docs assume you understand the problem and couch the discussion in somewhat domain specific language.

It might be interesting to me. It might even be relevant to me and I don't know it yet. The problem is I need to work really hard to get to the point of understanding that.

This is an appeal to authors of such posts: please give a motivation that provides the necessary background to understand the problem, and ideally do so in a way that a technical but non specialist reader can understand.

hgomersall··on The 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement is no longer viable
There are loads of uses for improved software in clean energy. You don't necessarily need to move away.
hgomersall··on What shall I teach my son?
Have you tried lighting a fire without matches? It's deeply satisfying.
hgomersall··on Ask HN: How to deal with shipping AI-written code you don't understand?
So how do you test that gnarly function that outputs a long series of states that interact with each other based on order in non obvious ways? Like, say, a compiler?
hgomersall··on The United Kingdom generates less electricity per person than in the 1970s
Industrial output now is much higher in real terms than in the 70s.
hgomersall··on Singapore govt dating app uses Gale-Shapley stable marriage algorithm
Was my point really that hard to follow? I'm not saying "intelligence" in the strict psychological definition of the word. I mean, perhaps, the thing they claim was the independent variable was in fact a proxy for something else I hypothecated as "intelligence", by which I really meant some as yet undefined thing that on average leads to higher incomes, which could be intelligence in the colloquial sense, because that sort of has that trait and is pretty influential in attractiveness.
hgomersall··on Singapore govt dating app uses Gale-Shapley stable marriage algorithm
Or income is a proxy for, say, intelligence.
hgomersall··on The Bayeux Tapestry: Woven by the Victors
Then got their heads chopped off. Arguably the failure of the British monarchs to become absolute monarchs was what saved them from the same fate (Charles I notwithstanding, him being the vent).
hgomersall··on Italian parliament votes for return to nuclear energy
I think we're talking at cross purposes. There's a clear equilibrium state which is both higher temperature and notably bad whilst completely balanced from an energy perspective. Climate change is not bad because the temperature is increasing, its bad because it has increased and is going to increase more. The fact we still have baked in warming is additional bad.
hgomersall··on Italian parliament votes for return to nuclear energy
The energy received is always the same as the energy radiated, its just the temperature increases to maintain that balance.
hgomersall··on The American Religion of Self-Storage Facilities
I appreciate the sentiment, but is the gunk on the car not the gunk that would have washed down the drains in the first place? Clearly there are plenty of nasty cleaning agents, but one supposes that safe ones might be used (I actually spent a while considering exactly this, and it's possible but not super easy getting an environmentally friendly car cleaner). I guess the issue is it's hard to tell from mere drive-by observation what cleaner is being used.
hgomersall··on Suspected sabotage causes major Netherlands rail disruption
Right, but you absolutely need the suspicion. If it's too deniable, it rather loses efficacy. It seems in this situation it could be any number of actors, which rather dilutes any intended message.
hgomersall··on Suspected sabotage causes major Netherlands rail disruption
Why would you want to keep it deniable? What's the point in this sort of sabotage if nobody knows you did it?
hgomersall··on Hot coffee could cause oesophageal cancer
Here's another paper from 2010 which i remember appearing. I guess this is just more evidence: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2773211/
hgomersall··on What do Visa and Mastercard do? An intro to card networks
No, the alternatives are any number of other solutions that are not given a look-in to the very lucrative duopoly. The network effects are prohibitive for upstarts.
hgomersall··on Teen reading slumps to worst this century due to surge in screen time
It's also a story, and quite an enjoyable and well written one at that. My 8 year old son enjoyed being read it.
hgomersall··on How the Tobacco Industry Drove the Rise of Ultra-Processed Foods (2025)
TBF, the original post used the precise phrasing "plant based meat replacement", which IMO covers this like tofu as well as impossible burgers.
hgomersall··on How the Tobacco Industry Drove the Rise of Ultra-Processed Foods (2025)
No, none of pasta, noodles or home made sausages are UPFs by the Nova classification.
hgomersall··on How the Tobacco Industry Drove the Rise of Ultra-Processed Foods (2025)
This is kind of the point. We simply don't have a sufficiently good understanding of food and nutrition to be able to say "smoosh these nutrients ands other food derivatives together and you get a healthy food".

UPFs is exactly the smooshing, and is generally done to maintain palatability whilst saving money, not even in an attempt to make a healthy food. Sure, Huel has a different goal, but I'm not sure the end result is any different. Just because it's not hyper palatable, it doesn't mean it's healthy.

hgomersall··on How the Tobacco Industry Drove the Rise of Ultra-Processed Foods (2025)
Tofu is often used as a meat replacement and is Nova classification 3 at most.
hgomersall··on How the Tobacco Industry Drove the Rise of Ultra-Processed Foods (2025)
The Nova classification is generally how people interpret this stuff. Generally speaking ultra processing isn't something you do in your own kitchen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_classification
hgomersall··on Where did all the public bathrooms go?
Yes, develop an economy that is not run for rent seekers. Provide a job guarantee so everyone can work at a wage floor. Build housing stock that is actually affordable and desirable for anyone on a normal wage. Make sure healthcare is affordable and available universally. Provide schools that are good regardless of where you live or what you can afford. Those things would be a start.
hgomersall··on Where did all the public bathrooms go?
Even benefits etc are too late. The money should be spent on providing hope for people. It's 45 years of neoliberalism that we are reaping.
hgomersall··on Meta's blockbuster trial draws parallels to big tobacco
That's the point. Most financial investment is really putting money into something higher risk to get a (hopefully) higher return. Most "investing conservatively" is just being a bit more wary as to what risks are acceptable.
hgomersall··on Meta's blockbuster trial draws parallels to big tobacco
Sure, so should we, as society, reward it further by also providing more free money?
hgomersall··on Meta's blockbuster trial draws parallels to big tobacco
Fair point re seeking the best return given the same risk profile.

Allow me to refine my point: It's gambling when you seek to increase your risk profile in the hope of gaining higher returns, without actually doing anything else other than "invest" the money.

hgomersall··on Meta's blockbuster trial draws parallels to big tobacco
Why should having money ever give you a return on that? I ask that question in the context of moral philosophy, not a capitalist society. Surely there are better ways to determine how an individual should live that doesn't typically amount to emerging from a lucky orifice?
hgomersall··on Meta's blockbuster trial draws parallels to big tobacco
Why don't you think they are gambling?
hgomersall··on Meta's blockbuster trial draws parallels to big tobacco
The point is largely around expectation. Sure, the base case of putting money in a bank is very safe, but the interest on that is not. Factor in inflation and its pretty easy to get negative returns on bank deposits.

If you fiddle with "investments" with the intent of making money without doing anything else, that's gambling.

Sticking money in the bank with the hope that it's still there next time you come back to it is not really gambling. You're just doing the default thing.

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