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runamuck

560 karma · joined July 14, 2017

Read my tech blog at https://john.soban.ski
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runamuck··on The lost civic life of movie rental stores
I recommend a group fitness class gym. This brings me much joy and I lost 60 pounds. A positive 3rd space.
runamuck··on Why Sony can't bring back its classic Walkman models
I have an Astel & Kern SE-100. Amazing build and sound.
runamuck··on OverpAId – Fire your CEO. Hire the future
I worked for five companies in two years about a decade ago (Pre retail Gen-AI). All of them had the exact same mission slide deck. Same goals, same priorities, same strategy.
runamuck··on Moist Towelette Museum
I heard Collectors Universe/ PSA will launch "Moist Towlette Grading" in the next quarter.
runamuck··on CD sales growth outpaced vinyl in the first half of 2026
I did a FLAC rip of my CD's and now play them on my Astel and Kern MP3 player. It sounds AMAZING, and I don't have a huge binder of CDs cluttering up my office.
runamuck··on Sony deletes more movies from the accounts of people who ‘bought’ them
Is there any way to buy long (decades) lasting physical media?
runamuck··on Goes-19 weather satellite enters Safe Hold mode
I used to work for NOAA. I think the scientists would flip out over this. Did you share it?
runamuck··on The 'absolute magic' of Morse code that still connects people globally
This site makes me cackle with joy because of my failed attempts. Kind of like "QWOP."
runamuck··on How to Survive 3 Years in North Korea as a Foreigner
"North Korea’s border with South Korea is a disputed border as both countries claim the entirety of the Korean Peninsula." - I did not know South Korea felt this way!
runamuck··on Patagonia Vests Are "Out" with AI Crowd
I will say I endorse Rick Owens. Amazing aesthetic.
runamuck··on Open Source Low Tech
I printed this out for the looming Zombie apocalypse.
runamuck··on Linux for the Sega MegaDrive
If this inspires anyone to bust out an MD/ Genesis emu, I recommend "Subterrainia." I found it too hard in my youth, but I see now it has a near perfect learning curve. The more you play, the better you get. The controls seem impossible at first, but then you SLOWLY get comfortable with it. (Kind of like learning how to Rollerblade at age 50).
runamuck··on The last Romans are still around
"Where are the Romans now?" "You're looking at them." - Tony Soprano
runamuck··on The early hiring funnel is now breaking on both ends
I asked Candidates (who claimed to work at site) to describe the parking at their office, Garage or Flat? Some of them couldn't answer that question. If they did answer, I would ask the name and purpose of the organization (accounting, HR, tech etc.) they supported and screened some more that way. I got some people who mentioned an Acronym (the project they supported "for years") and asked them to define it, and they couldn't. A lot of fraud in the candidate pool.
runamuck··on Why I email complete strangers
I get dozens of cold emails and LI messages from sales/ recruiting a week. Only about one per year writes "I read your blog and liked your point about xyz." I always take that call. My LI (and HN) profile opens with my blog, so if they did 5 seconds of research they would find it.
runamuck··on LLMs are eroding my software engineering career and I don't know what to do
I have a historic house with a hand carved/ uniquely shaped door. The jamb rotted and we paid a woodworker $4k to create a replacement. The door itself would easily cost $25k to replace. So, move to a major historic area with hand carved doors and you could make some decent money.
runamuck··on Inside FAISS: Billion-Scale Similarity Search
Phenomenal interactive website. Thank you.
runamuck··on Visa invests in Replit to power agentic payments for developers
Good for digital content/ app developers. If they add logistics and shipping services, they could threaten Shopify.
runamuck··on We are constantly broadcasting emotional data
Related, if someone looks like they will get violent with you, ask them "Who won the game last night?" and slug them while their brain pauses to process and answer the question.
runamuck··on I am retiring from tech to live offline
I love my current job, but also part of me thinks a Garbage Man would provide a cool experience. (I'm ok with the stinkiness). I just think about careening through the city at the crack of dawn, exploring every nook of my city. That or group fitness instructor.
runamuck··on The $500K AI Film That "Premiered at Cannes" Was Not in the Official Festival
Instead of chasing a "serious" AI movie, we need a comedy movie that parodies the worst of AI slop, just takes it to ludicrous extremes. That could actually entertain me.
runamuck··on The Art of Money Getting
Force yourself to try a lot of things. Look for meetups in different topics you can do in your free time (I hope you have some). Try HAM radio (you can get a career in COMMs), public speaking (executive leadership), group fitness (become a trainer), maker scene (robotics) etc. (Also give me some ideas!)
runamuck··on 'AI washing': firms are scrambling to rebrand themselves as tech-focused
I learned about that song from "Office Space!"
runamuck··on Ask HN: How to be alone?
100% group fitness classes. Orange Theory. I joined boxing, and lost 50+ pounds. Plus I met super nice people, and might have learned a little technique too. If you're single, I've been to two gyms (first one close) and both had majority 20-35 year old women (who could knock me out in seconds).
runamuck··on "Clothing-as-a-Service" startup charged with $300M fraud (2025)
"This included alleged representations that CaaStle earned $66.3 million on revenue of $439.9 million in 2023, when it actually lost $81 million on revenue of $15.7 million." - Seriously, why would someone attempt to pull this? This lie seems really easy to catch. I don't get it?
runamuck··on Father claims Google's AI product fuelled son's delusional spiral
> The lawsuit also alleges that Gemini, which exchanged romantic texts with Jonathan Gavalas, drove him to stage an armed mission that he came to believe could bring the chatbot into the real world.

Maybe "The Terminator" got it wrong. Autonomous robots might not wipe out humanity. Instead AI could use actual human disciples for nefarious purposes.

runamuck··on Show HN: Pianoterm – Run shell commands from your Piano. A Linux CLI tool
So I can run shell from a Miracle Piano connected to a NES running Linux?
runamuck··on Thirty years on, Pokémon is still a monster hit
I try to (relive my youth and) buy my kids action figures and they could care less. Injection molded plastic hunks can't compete with the dopamine hit of Roblox or Dogman books.
runamuck··on Nano Banana 2: Google's latest AI image generation model
I saw an item for sale on Ali Express's video and I thought "Wow, they hired some really attractive actors to pitch their little gadget." 30 seconds in, I realized they used GenAI. Not because it looked AI, but because the production values looked too high and professional for the item. I would get in on this if you sell anything online.
runamuck··on What not to write on your security clearance form (1988)
"the most frequently occurring letters in typical English text are e-t-a-o-n-r-i." But "Wheel of Fortune" told me to guess R-N-S-T-L-E!
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