DamnInteresting

I think I'll add a hint button that identifies one letter that isn't yet placed correctly, and it puts it in place (and doesn't allow it to be subsequently moved). Thanks!

Ah, I am on iOS, which doesn't seem to have this (or I've turned it off). I'll see if I can replicate it on a friend's phone. Thanks!

> Dropping one tile on another should swap their positions.

This seems to be a common sentiment, so I plan to implement it. Thanks!

> It shouldn't be possible to drop tiles on the grid outside of the word boundaries

I've heard mixed opinions on this one. About 2/3 of people who have commented on it say that they like that the tiles can be dropped in the outside space, so they can rearrange and sort. About 1/3 dislike it (among those who say anything about it). But it's not a very large sample size, so I'll need to seek further feedback.

Currently the vouch option doesn't appear until/unless a post moves from [flagged] to [dead].

Many years ago Val Kilmer and his mini entourage sat at a table adjacent to me at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. He was very gracious with the handful of passers-by who recognized him. At one point we made eye contact, and exchanged a friendly nod.

He was in some great films. What a legend.

Direct link to video for those who hit the Slate paywall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuFIs7OkzYY

Check out https://news.ycombinator.com/active

It's like an alternate HN front page that sorts based on activity, and unlike the default front page, it does not suppress submissions that have been flagged. At this moment I see these flagged-but-very-active submissions:

[flagged] Trump says he is not joking about third presidential term https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43525860

[flagged] It's the hottest car company. You can't buy one in America https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43523797

[flagged] [dead] Trump suggests Tesla vandals should face 20 years jail, be sent to El Salvador https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43520632

[flagged] ICE Revoking Students' Immigration Statuses Without Their or the Uni's Knowledge https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43528356

Particle Man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pG0QTzO-K0

Istanbul: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqJXxHi6RwQ

My professional resume looks a lot like yours. If you find yourself in the SLC area anytime soon, I have a 2012 15" MacBook Pro I can give you. It's older, but it's solid, it works great. The only exception is the battery, it doesn't hold a charge for very long any more, so it needs to be plugged in for prolonged work sessions. A new battery is only about $90 if you're inclined to replace it.[1]

Best of luck moving forward.

[1] https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Retina+Disp...

> I think that Cybertrucks could be the nail in the coffin for even the most MAGA brainwashed Elon fan, once they drive it

I have a friend who owns a Cybertruck, and he let me give it a try. There are many, many, many legitimate and damning criticisms of Cybertruck, Tesla, and Musk, but the Cybertruck driving experience (on pavement) is not one of them. It is crazy fast, and surprisingly nimble with its 4-wheel drive-by-wire steering. It is dangerous and stupid, but it isn't boring.

Speaking as a lifelong driving enthusiast, I would never buy one, but I'm glad I got to try one.

Yes, the proper term is 'Xcreted'.

It's worth remembering that canceling Prime is not the same as abandoning Amazon altogether. You still have the option to turn to Amazon for hard-to-find-elsewhere items, you just have to pay for shipping, or exceed the free-shipping threshold. As far as I can tell, Prime Video is the primary element that is difficult to separate.

I wonder how this molecule will compare with gold nanoparticles [1]. Headline: Gold outperforms common weight loss drugs – and leaves muscles alone

[1] https://newatlas.com/disease/obesity/gold-nanoparticles-obes...

I quite liked The Egg by Andy Weir (author of The Martian): https://www.galactanet.com/oneoff/theegg_mod.html

Edit: I guess it's not exactly sci-fi, but it's adjacent.

More details here: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/05/technology/digg-alexis-oh...

If you 'show yourself out', does that make you...an outie?

I made a stereogram a few years back that turned out to be unusually easy for people to view. Perhaps you'll have luck with it:

https://www.damninteresting.com/temp/damn-interesting-stereo...

The trick is to focus normally on the image, then move your focus to be a few inches behind your screen, as if you're looking through it at something behind.

A colleague of mine wrote about the bat-eating problem in 2006: https://www.damninteresting.com/the-hazards-of-eating-bats/

(Technically this is a self-link, but it wasn't written by me, and there are no ads or the like)

If you use https://news.ycombinator.com/active, [flagged] and [dead] threads are shown, so long as there is engagement. I wish that @dang would make this the HN front page in these harrowing and hectic times. It is currently too easy for important threads to be smothered.

> This is mostly personal preference

For sure! I basically went directly from manual transmission to EV, so I was already accustomed to using the drivetrain to slow the vehicle when not accelerating. For me, one-pedal EV driving feels like a natural progression from the manual lifestyle.

I own a Chevy Bolt EV, one of the less expensive EVs on the US market (after tax rebates, it was about $30k USD). I purchased it in May 2017, so I've had almost 8 years with this car.

I feel like a lot of these write ups overlook other advantages of EVs. Some of my favorite things about this car:

* It is very quiet, inside and out

* It is very torquey, moving instantly when I push the accelerator

* One-pedal driving is very pleasant

* Charging at home feels like an incredible luxury (which it is)

Occasionally I am required to drive my wife's Corolla, and despite being in good repair, it feels like driving an old jalopy; it vibrates constantly, it smells vaguely of exhaust, it moves forward on its own when I release the brakes, and it doesn't slow down much when I release the accelerator.

There is also the time factor. Stopping at the gas station costs time, oil changes cost time, etc. I had to refill the windshield washer fluid a few days ago, and the tires need to be rotated occasionally, but that's about it so far.

It is true that EVs depreciate quickly, but for someone like me, who intends to drive it until the wheels come off, that's of little concern. Also, due to the battery's thermal management, I have not observed any meaningful loss in average range yet (though I did receive the battery replacement recall a few years into my ownership, so the battery is only ~5 years old).

Your mileage may vary, as they say.

I write a lot about history, and as part of that work I occasionally file FOIA requests. There was one occasion where the FBI's response contained dozens of pages that were typewritten memos consisting of:

To: [recipient name]

From: [sender name]

Date: [date]

[Multiple paragraphs of redacted text]

...and that was basically it. It was funny, but frustrating (funstrating?).

Example: https://www.damninteresting.com/temp/memo.jpg

"Move fast and break things", where the "things" are laws, economies, lives, infrastructure...

> Elected officials trying to do what they told voters they would do is literally the textbook definition of monarchy.

I expect that you intended to say "textbook definition of democracy", but the Freudian slip is quite something.

The 'Grand Teton' mountain in Wyoming is just a French phrase meaning 'big boob'.[1] And 'McKinley' was just some politician who had never even laid eyes on his namesake lump of rock.

[1] https://www.davehansenwhitewater.com/how-the-tetons-got-thei...

It could be a backronym for Asshole Design.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backronym

Myself and a small group of curious souls have been sharing links here for years:

https://www.damninteresting.com/curated-links/

We mainly share articles on science, history, psychology, philosophy, true crime, interactives, and other such stuff. We avoid politics as much as feasible. I just checked, and we're coming up on 42,000 links in the catalog so far. Yowza.

When I was a lad, I spent some time in front of a mirror trying to teach myself to move my eyebrows independently, like Spock. I eventually succeeded, but in the process I also learned how to move my ears. One downside is that these ear muscles began to involuntarily try to help. For instance, if I am looking down while wearing glasses, my ears contract to grip the glasses so they don't fall off, and after a while these seldom used muscles ache from the effort.

> I developed gluten/lactose sensitivity during covid times

Same here, at least in regard to gluten. I was in my mid-forties, and I started experiencing painful bloating that often led to difficulty breathing, and after an hour or so of pain, vomiting. The involuntary 'protein spill' alleviated the pain of bloating, but I was left exhausted for the remainder of the day.

At first, these episodes occurred about once every 2 weeks, but they grew more and more common over a few months, until it was a nearly daily occurrence. I had become overweight (I'm still working on that), so my doctor concluded that I just needed to lose some body fat. It felt like there was something more serious more going on, but US health care.

Weeks later, I stumbled upon a science article describing how millions of people develop gluten sensitivity later in life. It described familiar symptoms and progression. As an experiment, I tried eliminating gluten from my diet (which is tricky, that stuff sneaks into surprising places), and I felt much better within a few days.

In the ~2 years since, I've had a few episodes, but I can almost always find a place where gluten snuck into my food (e.g., a taco place that added flour to its corn tortillas). On one occasion, I deliberately ate a bit of bread, and sure enough, 30 minutes later I was begging the porcelain gods for forgiveness.

I miss real bread, but for me, the blowback isn't worth it.

I've adopted the habit of always having an e-book on my phone, and when I crave a distraction, I read a few pages instead of opening reddit etc. It's been great.