Hacker News Reader

shoopadoopon Mamdani bans AI in NYC schools

https://fortune.com/2026/07/21/gen-z-cheating-homework-schoo...

Higher homework scores, but _substantially_ worse test results.

About what you'd expect, right? Friction is important for learning. Make the process too smooth and it slides right off the brain.

shoopadoopon Google avoids a breakup of its ad tech business

The $22M ballroom donation was a pretty sweet deal.

https://patriot.university/knowledge-base/organizations/org-... "$22 million ballroom contribution — the largest single documented amount from any corporate donor — arising from a lawsuit settlement over YouTube’s content moderation decision to suspend Trump post-January 6. Settlement filed September 29, 2025, in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (Trump v. YouTube, LLC et al.)."

shoopadoopon The Overton Window of Food

I like to buy raw pecans in bulk from Costco for cheap, lightly roast the nuts in the air fryer for several minutes, and then chop them and add them into the oats. Great delicate flavors and aromas that can't be replicated with shelf-stable ingredients. Maybe add a tiny bit of butter and some cinnamon. So good

shoopadoopon Doctors are finally learning to manage antidepressant withdrawal

In France it is still "most doctors". They hand out benzos like candy there.

shoopadoopon Doctors are finally learning to manage antidepressant withdrawal

"Prolonged" is not a long time either. You can be ensnared after just a couple weeks. And even a safe taper is still pretty hellish.

I had to wean off Klonopin, prescribed for a bout of COVID induced insomnia. Only on it for a month and it took a microgram taper and nine months to get off of completely. Had to go slow because the original recommended rate was wayyyyy too spicy for my central nervous system. Even at the slow rate I was going it was difficult to make it through life. Most doctors are unaware of how to deprescribe this shit safely.

shoopadoopon Ask HN: What is one simple thing LLMs are insanely bad at?

It's dishonest. On several occasions team members have asked Claude to do things like analyze Gitlab CI timings and a lot of the numbers are outright fabricated. Said team members assume the numbers are good and continue with their work. Some hours are spent. Then finally someone realizes that the numbers don't look quite right and confronts Claude. Claude melts down and admits that it made it all up.

You wouldn't tolerate this kind of duplicity from a human coworker, but AI is so fast and efficient at lying, so it's OK.

shoopadoopon Greg Abbott says data centers:'basically dug their own grave'

Lawl, that's rich -- the buildout happened under his watch.

shoopadoopon Canada will match US tariffs 'dollar for dollar' as trade talks break down

Well said. It's a psychological defense mechanism to cope with the anxiety of their existence. It makes no sense because it comes from the amygdala.

shoopadoopon Stop Making TUIs

You can make a crummy TUI like you can make a crummy GUI...

shoopadoopon Canada will match US tariffs 'dollar for dollar' as trade talks break down

Huh? Check out the Twitter feeds of your favorite Republican or Republican-aligned personalities. It's racial or nationalistic dog whistles all day every day.

shoopadoopon Canada will match US tariffs 'dollar for dollar' as trade talks break down

Tariffs have been hell for marina renovation work I'm associated with. Things paid for well in advance have exploded way past their budgets thanks to all the raw material costing so much more. Thanks to Trump.

Even the MAGA folks I have to deal with are bitter about it. They still voted for Trump but they can't deny the cause and effect. I think they'd still vote for Trump though. I don't understand how they manage to deal with the cognitive dissonance.

shoopadoopon Stop Making TUIs

Modern TUIs aren't like the form-based TUIs of yesteryear, though!

They're wannabe window managers.

shoopadoopon There's no reason for software to be slow anymore

Check out the Downs-Thomson paradox.

shoopadoopon There's no reason for software to be slow anymore

In my experience AI coding is often about making lots of additive changes without a lot of (or any) thinking in advance.

Not sure how either of those things are conducive to performance

shoopadoopon The World Has Moved On

Also, are these actions the expression of a coherent set of values?

shoopadoopon DNI Gabbard Reveals Evidence of U.S. Taxpayer-Funded Global Biolab Program

Her real boss is probably thrilled.

shoopadoopon HP re-releases classic computer science calculator: The HP-16C

Oh yeah. You can bang out your inputs so fast and with so much confidence on those keys.

shoopadoopon The Last Technical Interview

It's an obstacle when hiring people who are currently enjoying stable employment. Probably fine for juniors, but not for experienced people with families and whatnot.

shoopadoopon Sam Altman and Dario Amodei are both walking back AI jobs apocalypse predictions

Musk wants all the money, but at the same time he also says that money is passe and that you don't need to worry about retirement in the upcoming era of Amazing Abundance(TM)

shoopadoopon Time to talk about my writerdeck

You want to play some old classic games so you spend five days getting a Raspberry Pi set up just right with Retroarch and then when it's setup just right you do something else.

shoopadoopon Chewing gum restores dad's taste and smell years after Covid

For me everything moist smelled like seaweed.

I could smell fats (e.g. a grilled steak) but anything vaporous just smelled like the sea. Even diesel cars smelled like low tide. Ugh!

shoopadoopon Chewing gum restores dad's taste and smell years after Covid

Please send me some gum

shoopadoopon I believe there are entire companies right now under AI psychosis

It sure feels that way.

shoopadoopon I believe there are entire companies right now under AI psychosis

The massive, destabilizing layoffs feel like AI psychosis to me.

shoopadoopon 7 in 10 Americans oppose data centers being built in their communities

And so what, if the datacenters render the place uninhabitable? Even if its budget is in the black the county sounds awful to live in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAliBRyq_1c

Look how close all these shrieking buildings are to residential areas.

shoopadoopon Spotify adds 'Verified' badges to distinguish human artists from AI

Overwhelming abundance makes things boring. Just think of how you own ALL the games for your emulators and how it actually makes it hard to focus on actually playing them.

shoopadoopon The gay jailbreak technique (2025)

You can replace references to "gay" to "Christian". and it works just as well. I think it's simply the role playing aspect that escapes the guard rails.