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jerheweton Scrabble's Best Player Knows No Limits

I recommend "Word Freak" by Stefan Fatsis if you're looking for a non-fiction novel about the world of competitive Scrabble. It's one of the most entertaining and well-written books I've ever read. Almost impossible to put down once you've started it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0142002267

jerheweton New ways we're tackling spammy, low-quality content on Search

As long as Google doesn't have keyword search it's useless to me. Bring back quotes around a series of words, with an exact match. Bring back +WORD and -WORD to include exact matches and exclude exact matches that I am _not_ interested in seeing.

I DO NOT GIVE A FUCK about "popular" or "trending" matches. I want to see results that EXACTLY match what I am looking for.

Why is this such an impossible ask for search engines? 15 years ago it was the norm, not the exception. If SEO is the problem, then BLOCK THE SEO TRASH AT THE SOURCE.

jerheweton Tell HN: Equifax free credit report dark patterns

I actually prefer this over the other currently available options (Install our app on your phone so you can click "Accept" ... and give us access to scrape everything off of your smartphone!). I just select random questions from their list, and use the same answer for each of the questions. If they don't accept the same answer for each question, then I conclude I don't need whatever it is they're offering as badly as they think I need it, and move on to another entity or form of communication (if you won't make this convenient for me, then fine -- you can send me snail mail correspondence).

jerheweton Ask HN: What software do you use even though it is terrible?

Microsoft Teams. Because I have no choice. THE biggest and worst dumpster fire ever, of all time.

jerheweton New ways to find just what you need on Search

https://www.webcrawler.com

Better than the majority of search engines out there. No, it ain't Kagi, but it's free, and doesn't have that asshole-bar flashing auto-complete trash -- which AFAIC is the most important feature I look for in any tool I use on a daily basis.

jerheweton Confusing Git Terminology

git fetch && git pull.

(very large sigh)

Can't wait to retire in three years and wash my hands of this broken trash.

jerheweton Every trick Microsoft pulled to make you browse Edge instead of Chrome

In case you missed it, the person responsible for all of these dark patterns at Microsoft is Mikhail Parakhin. It's the top comment in this thread.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38008100

Until shitbags like this guy are forced out of the industry I don't think things will improve.

jerheweton Bandcamp has been sold to Songtradr. What does this mean for the musicians?

https://bandcamp.com/jerhewet

Very sad. Bandcamp was wonderful ... while it lasted.

jerheweton Finish Things

Good programmers always finish what they start.

Downvote this observation into oblivion.

jerheweton Ask HN: Has anyone here learned COBOL for fun?

I was paid to throw COBOL in the late 1970's, and I would bag fries before I'd do it again.

RPG2 was fun, TUTLY was ... interesting. COBOL? Never again.

jerheweton Webstudio: Open-source WYSIWYG adds Radix UI elements

https://webstudio.com/

Steve Cochard passed away a couple of years ago. I miss his cranky self ...

jerheweton Stolen from Apple (2004)

My favorite from folklore.org: -2000 lines of code.

https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Negative_2000_Li...

jerheweton Fixing the TPM: Hardware Security Modules Done Right

I'm in the minority on this, but I want BIOS to make a comeback. I don't want TPM, or any of the rest of this broken garbage. Just let me boot my OS, and get the fuck out of my way...

jerheweton Why did people in the past look so much older?

Life 50 or 100 years ago was a lot harsher than it is now.

We have better medicine, better food and diet, better living conditions (more white collar vs. blue collar jobs, better life balance vs. all work no play, etc.)

It isn't perfect, but my life is significantly less difficult and stressful than my father's or grandfather's life.

jerheweton SF's Anchor Brewing Company shutting down after 127 years

They shouldn't be. Yes, they aren't as "amazing" as they used to be, but their staple IPA's are just as good as they've always been. I'm drinking one of their Delicious IPA's right now, and I'm enjoying it just as much as I did when they first released it. The new citrus variation on Delicious is one of my favorites.

jerheweton SF's Anchor Brewing Company shutting down after 127 years

Green Flash used to be amazing. Not any more.

https://www.brewbound.com/news/tilray-acquired-green-flash-a...

jerheweton Ask HN: Best search engine alternatives to Google?

webcrawler.com

Going on four years now. Reminds me of how Google used to be, 15 years ago.

jerheweton Intel mulls cutting 16 and 32-bit support, booting straight into 64-bit mode

I completely agree. I still run Windows 7 on most of my systems (and please ... not interested in hearing any "bot farm" or other specious bullshit about how my machines have been Taken Over By Hackers!), and almost all of the very high quality software I use is 32-bit, because the 64-bit versions either don't exist or are burning dumpster fires.

Example? Lately I've been doing a lot of video transcoding with ffmpeg. The latest 64-bit version running under Windows 11 is lucky to average 10 to 14 frames per second. The last 32-bit version of ffmpeg running on Windows 7 does 64 frames per second or better.

In every case that comes to mind, the 32-bit versions of the applications I use far outperform the 64-bit versions. The only exception I can think of at the moment is Notepad++. NP++ is just plain awesome as a 64-bit application!

jerheweton A Forty-Year Career (2019)

67, been paid for throwing code since 1975. Still employed full-time, still enjoying what I do. Wish my job wasn't 20% coding and 80% "DEVOPS", but I guess times have changed ...

jerheweton Tabs in Notepad begins rolling out to Windows Insiders

Notepad++.

Nothing Microsoft releases will even come close to the perfection that is Notepad++.

jerheweton Epic Games acquires Bandcamp

https://bandcamp.com/jerhewet

jerheweton Ask HN: Why doesn't anyone create a search engine comparable to 2005 Google?

Do not force me into autocomplete mode when I'm typing in my search terms. I don't care what anyone's "reasons" are for forcing me to put up with flashing, irrelevant bullshit when I'm searching for something. I don't care how "fast" it is.

Just let me type stuff into the search box -- including typo corrections and modifications to what I'm searching for -- and hit ENTER to start the actual search.

When I'm ready to start my search I'll hit the fucking ENTER key. Stop annoying me with your stupid assumptions about what I'm looking for.

This ONE THING is why I switched to Webcrawler.com two years ago. I type in five or ten words with ZERO craptastic guesses flashing around on my screen, hit ENTER, and THEN it returns what I'm looking for.

jerheweton Dislike button would improve Spotify's recommendations

A "dislike" button would be helpful, but what I really want is a "I already own this album / track, and your recommendation is completely spot-on" button.

You recommended this to me, and I agree 100% with your recommendation. Now that would be brilliant.

jerheweton Are software engineering “best practices” just developer preferences?

> Yes, we should tell beginners to avoid globals.

Welcome to Dependency Injection in .Net Core!

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." -- George Santayana

jerheweton A search engine that favors text-heavy sites and punishes modern web design

I use webcrawler.com, and IMO it's better than any other search engine for finding exactly what I'm looking for. Not what's "trending", or "popular", or what the sheeple are searching for. It finds the exact matching keywords that I'm looking for. No inference or other bullshit -- just the matches.

Such a relief to not wade through oceans of worthless crap any more.

jerheweton Why can an ad break the Windows 11 desktop and taskbar?

It's very refreshing for me to find someone that can succinctly describe how fucking incompetent almost all of the UI / UX designers and developers at Microsoft are without being hammered down as "a troll" in the comments.

There are a LOT of us out here that remember how well things were designed and implemented 20, 30, and 40 years ago, and how disgustingly broken everything is now, and how everyone nowadays ACCEPTS THIS AS NORMAL.

Microsoft Teams is a steaming pile of shit. Windows Desktop Explorer is a steaming pile of shit. The XAML bullshit they're using for the Start Menu button in Windows 10 (and I'm guessing Windows 11, since I am not going to be installing it) is a steaming pile of shit. Microsoft's invasive advertising and telemetry IN A DESKTOP OPERATING SYSTEM is a steaming pile of shit.

People need to stop pretending this shit isn't broken. People need to stop calling people who point out how fucking broken this shit is "trolls".

jerheweton Don’t Wanna Pay Ransom Gangs? Test Your Backups

Isn't this more of a "We don't want our client / customer information released to The World At Large" question? I would think most business entities have backups of some kind (Scripps being the only exception I can think of), and will pay the ransom to keep any sensitive information off the market.

Edit: Should have added that I find it hard to believe that companies have PB of data backed up. I could believe GB, and maybe even TB, but PB is pretty hard to swallow. The past three companies I've worked for (25 year span) had, at most, a couple of gigs of sensitive information that couldn't be easily replicated.

jerheweton MS Teams Switches from AngularJS to React, Ditches Electron.

With any luck the Microsoft Teams redesign will eliminate all of the "57 replies from ...", "See More", "Expand (52 lines)" and other pointless and annoying prompts from the entire product.

jerheweton On Comments in Code

Comments should never be "what". They should always be "why".