Hacker News Reader

acheronon Ask HN: What are you reading?

I’ve read most of GGK’s books but never got to that one.

acheronon The Beatles have permeated research papers across academic disciplines

Here’s another clue for you all.

acheronon Neal Stephenson responds with wit and humor (2004)

Ah, a classic. This was Slashdot’s high point.

Note: (2004)

acheronon There is no epidemic of loneliness, but there is an epidemic of scurvy

Sorry, next time maybe he’ll make it into a TikTok for you.

acheronon How do traffic signals work? (2019)

> M y cynical ass would not be surprised at all if oil/gas companies were lobbying against ASCT because idling cars are buying more fuel

This is a bizarre conspiracy theory that you just invented. Stop making up things to get angry about.

acheronon College Is Coming Apart After Successive, Overlapping Crises

The “next generation” gets trained by adjuncts and grad students. “Top scientists, engineers, and thinkers” are too busy with grant proposals to be bothered with teaching.

acheronon People who know the most often sound the least certain

Reminder that the “Dunning-Kruger effect” is not real. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49160437

acheronon Ask A Monk – A digital wilderness for thoughts with no immediate answer

zot

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Oracle

acheronon I Don't Like LLMs

I mean I got into it because I loved it as a kid in the 80s and 90s. And I still loved it in college. Turning it into a job quickly crushed any love I had though.

acheronon I'm not addicted to the internet or my smartphone. I'm addicted to information

Can we add “I think it sounds like AI writing” to the list of off topic tangential annoyances? Clicking into an HN thread and having the top comment being about em dashes or something is obnoxious.

acheronon IKEA made a mod for Skyrim [video]

> It's still bad when mega-corporations attack small guy.

No, actually, we decide things based on the law, not based on which side you like more.

acheronon Houthis 'take control' of key island in global shipping route

“political” has a meaning, and it’s not “everything”.

Words mean things.

acheronon iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max

99% of people put their iPhone in a case that covers up the color. This is not something anybody actually thinks.

Sometimes I tell my teenage daughter “stop inventing things to be mad about”. Good advice for HN commenters, too.

acheronon GLP-1s are being linked to fewer serious infections, including TB

Wow, bet they never thought of that. If only the researchers had thought to ask HN first.

acheronon Humanity has built the records of FATE by accident

The Red Sox/Blue Jays game recently when the “fourth out” rule came into play probably could have used an LLM explanation.

acheronon You probably own this 7-Eleven (and that's why it looks so sad)

Well over 50% of the US population has investments. https://news.gallup.com/poll/266807/percentage-americans-own...

acheronon Debian votes to allow "responsible use of generative AI"

Gatekeeping is good, actually. Not keeping your gate is how your town gets overrun by Mongols.

acheronon “It works better in the app”

> Android

I mean if you use Google products it can be assumed you don’t care about privacy anyway.

acheronon Nitter and XCancel receive cease and desist notices

Then they are wrong.

acheronon Belgian car salesman becomes prince after DNA test proves royal parentage

Oh, I saw this one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Ralph

acheronon Ask HN: Is this the worst time to be human?

Not to mention shrimp!

acheronon At-home test for infected ticks could improve Lyme Disease diagnosis

Great. Let's get working on preventing/curing alpha-gal allergy though.

Or actually let's just eradicate all ticks.

acheronon Where did the old web go? We followed 657,607 links to find out

Seriously. 2009 is several years after everyone was already saying “web 2.0”! That is nowhere near the “old web”.

acheronon OpenAI launches ChatGPT desktop app for Linux

I have it open in a browser tab, and I have the codex cli. What are the features/advantages this has over the old way?

acheronon Ray Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains" is set today (2026-08-04)

Flagged as a dupe. This was already posted earlier today.

acheronon Half-Life ported to Mac OS 9

We at Hacker News do not have a sense of humor that we’re aware of.

acheronon German Peasants' War

Yeah, and it looks like the OP is just using it to post religious flamebait comments. If I wanted Reddit I’d be over there.

acheronon Which streaming service was that on again?

As far as "third party service shouldn't be necessary", is it that different from getting the TV Guide in the 80s or 90s to find out when a show was going to be on TV?

acheronon The Voice of Google

Indeed. And “We don’t care, we don’t have to” is a good summary of Google as well.

acheronon Sealed tomb filled with paintings and inscriptions discovered in Egypt

It’s not actually a rule that every HN thread has to start out with negative bullshit. You can just think it’s cool they found a new tomb!