benchly

I've experienced the same and have always been of the mind that voting systems on aggregate sites are anti-discussion and promote brigading. When people see a highly upvoted or downvoted comment, the tendency seems to be to follow the actions of those before you. Things quickly turn into an echo-chamber, although Reddit is admittedly more prone to that than HN, since it's divided into topic-specific subreddits.

Still, I'd be fine if the voting system were eliminated and threads were managed chronologically, keeping flagging for obvious rule violations, of course.

This is all, of course, tangential to the post at hand, but that's part of the beauty of it, in my opinion. Start on one topic, end up on something different.

As an aside, this is not the first time I've seen a discussion (mine and your comments) about racism downvoted on HN. It makes me question the crowd I'm attempting to mingle with, here.

I get that the site is primarily concerned interesting tech-related things, but if anyone thinks that we can just avoid politics, social and economic issues that tend to surround those things once in awhile, they're delusional.

I should have specified that I worked LP in the early 2000's but I doubt much has changed, since bigotry and racism do not seem to ever go away, especially when it's woven into the fabric of an institution.

Lasted a mere 6 months at that job before I decided I could no longer turn a blind eye, since by then it had become clear to me that the problem was not isolated to just a few LP associates.

I will be trying this later this week and can report back, if you like.

That this popped up on HN is fortunate, and oddly specific to my needs. I'm in a position where I have to support some legacy .NET software for the manufacturers we service and prefer working in Linux when and if possible, so this IDE seems targeted to me. Looking forward to giving it a shot and seeing if it replaces VSCodium in my routine.

Appreciate the story, but what's the hangup about naming these companies?

It's not really a secret that retail LP generally abuses their role across the board and allows prejudace to run rampant in its ranks, giving that it is almost entirely comprised of people from backgrounds that lack any higher education and recieved a few months training at best to do what they do. Heck, step in any active American mall and you will encounter mostly white men who didn't quite have the chutzpa for the police academy, but still carry the guilty-til-proven-otherwise attitude.

Source: I was LP briefly for TJX companies and left due to the rampant and accepted bigotry I encountered with them. In their case, it was that I was repeatedly told to target black women if I wanted to meet quota each month, since their own numbers said most apprehensions were black women and not one person in the LP heirarchy knew what confirmation bias or survivor bias was. Also, yes, they have quotas. I was put on their equivalent of a PIP the second month I was there for not meeting mine. We can rest assured that Kroger, Walmart, etc, use lots of the same tactics and quiet codes.

That's instructions. Basically, try again, but send a zero byte character with netcat.

We were taught in grade school that the vowels were "A, E, I, O, U....and sometimes Y" without any real explanation. I count that as our first lesson about the convoluted complexities of the English language.

Nevermind layouts, what about size? I'm already terrible at typing on a touchscreen and trying to do so with a distractingly colorful and animated keyboard that is half the size of my native mobile keyboard makes for a not-very-fun game.

I remember the same. As I approach 50, I do notice that I feel much more tired and mentally foggy when I fail to remember my daily water bottles. I've had to develop specific routines that help me remember to fill/drink my water bottle which goes pretty much everywhere with me. For being such a necessity, it sure is an oddly hard thing to remember to do.

I think adults tell kid-me to drink more water was a way of trying to get me to just develop a habit with it, since they understood the seemingly paradoxical struggle of keeping hydrated at their age.

Yep, thanks for the correction

Nice article! I had rediscovered teletext for myself a few years ago, only vaguely remembering it existed (or something similar) in select cities in the US when I was a kid, but it was not something I paid much attention to. Getting interested, I began to wonder if you can set up your own teletext service.

Naturally, you can: https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/create-your-own-teletext-se...

For those like me who weren't familiar with the service or lived in a country that really didn't have it, there's this informative site: https://teletextarchaeologist.org/

Edit: Sorry all, it looks like teletextarcheologist.org went dormant, so the archive no longer seems to be working.

It's like Rumshpringa for TODO apps. Everyone wants to rebel from the old norms and go do something different, only to end up returning to the reliability, clarity and comfort of a good pen and pocket notebook.

Big fan of the Rite-In-Rain notebooks, myself, and Fisher Space Pen's Cap-o-matic.

I forgot to mention that I tried Kale but as soon as it started sprouting, the local chipmunks dug it all up, but left the carrots and potatoes alone. I'll have to build a cage next season.

Definitely add your other suggestions to the list. We are in Michigan, US, so harvest is soon, then Winter, so plenty of time to plan and prep as we learn more about container gardening.

My wife and I did the same with two planters outside my apartment, first time trying our hand at container gardening. We are about 10ish days from harvest and exited to see what happened. If the amount and health of the leaves are any indication, we should pull a meal or two's worth out of it for what amounted to very little effort and care. Fingers crossed!

We tried carrots, but they came out very stunted, even accounting that they were a smaller variety. The container we used was likely too shallow.

Does anyone have other vegetable suggestions for us apartment-dwelling container growers to try? We have a few different size containers available ranging from about (in inches) 12x12x36 to 24x24x24 and space for more.

Something low-resource demand (like my blog) would probably be okay, save for a few large pics on some pages. Most people who run in the smolweb circles also like vintage computing, so creating webspaces using only HTML & CSS is common practice, which should do fine over a 56k connection.

Do they still offer the floppies with the free hours? I need a new set of drink coasters.

What about C? Is there something to be said for the proximity of the language to the machine language?

Maybe that sounds like a dumb question because I am a beginner at coding, so I apologize, but it's something I've recently gotten into via an interest in microcontrollers. A low(er)-level language like C seems to be pretty universally sound, running on just about anything, and seems to have not changed much in a long, long time. But when I was dabbling in both Python and Ruby (on Rails) and .NET framework, I noticed what you mean, as I scooped up some old projects on github thinking I'd add to them and realize that it would be a chore to get them updated.

How do you define 'intelligent' and 'evolution?' I think we might differ on what those words mean, which would make this conversation difficult, so let's clarify where each of us is coming from.

My understanding (which may be slightly misguided because this is definitely not my field) is that Intelligence is the ability to use information for reasoning, decision making and achieving understanding. This ability, as a directed action, only applies to creatures with consciousness.

Regarding evolution, my understanding is closer to a process that is more akin to a passive filter, with no guidance to speak of unless we want to stretch the limits of the concept of guidance to encompass survival, which is the genetic materials of those who survive the environment getting passed on, which would also implies that sometimes garbage/noise stays in the gene pool. While information (genetic material) is being passed on, it is not being selected through reasoning or consideration, but more of a mechanical process (although there's an argument to be had that we, humans, might be changing that game).

How would you define those words? Happy to consider understanding different than my own, since I do find it interesting.

> If Ozempic is so great, how come our bodies don't just...

While I agree with your sentiment, your argument here assumes the human body always makes intelligent decisions for itself. My obstructive sleep apnea would like a word. After it's done choking me awake, of course.

The body is a marvelous machine, but it is far from a perfect or intelligent design. We are lucky to have what we have, but expect operating mistakes.

I appreciate all your insight!

I suppose my next question to yourself and anyone else who listens and says "this is AI slop" would be thus; if it was presented on Spotify or some other platform and not advertised as AI generated, would you still be able to tell the difference? Would your target audience?

This is where it gets fuzzy, for me. Lets say I make an album with 10 tracks of low-fi hiphop and want to sell it for $15USD with a liberal license that allows for use in commercial product. Let's also say that Bob uses GenAI to make a low-fi hiphop album that sells for $8USD assuming the same license. Which do you think the solo unpaid game dev who needs vibe music for her new cozy urban farming game is going to go for?

It's not just about consumers being able to tell the difference between GenAI product and human product, which they have proven pretty terrible at when we look at code, visual art and writing. The HN crowd is perhaps more adept at it, but as much as I enjoy this site, the HN crowd represents a tiny fraction of the available market despite what certain egos around here may think.

That is what takes the wind out of my sails; not that the GenAI can easily produce electronic music that sounds like mine, but that it can do it on a speed and scale that renders me not competitive.

To clarify, I never intended to make it my full time job. I like electronic music, saw a lot of artists on Bandcamp selling albums and doing music for games and figured hey, I think I can do that and maybe supplement my primary income a wee bit...you know, because here in the US, rather than fixing the predatory economy, we just push everyone into turning every hobby into a side-hustle. To your point about why I am engaging in a hobby where motivation is so easily lost, well...I will need to chew on that a bit. I am the type of person who enjoys trying different things to learn what I like and what I don't before investing in it more. I also wonder if there's a difference in the fact that I make electronic music with, well, electronics (into a bit of circuit bending, as well), versus someone who plays a guitar or oboe, which takes significantly more dedication and practice than what I enjoy doing.

Was I relying on making money off music? Nah. I am not even remotely close to that level, yet. But would it have been nice to put up a few albums to sell on platforms like Bandcamp? Sure! But the advent of GenAI makes me wonder if my limited free time would be best spent on other hobbies that stand a better chance of both satisfying my desire to create and putting a few extra bucks for lunch in my pocket once in awhile.

Still makes me want to give up. I just started learning keyboard and playing with synthesizers in the last 6 months or so with the intention of making game music and it's tough to not feel like I'm wasting my time. Game devs will go with what they can afford and who can blame them? The output is not perfect, but if the GenAI can do this now, what will it sound like a year from now? Two? Really takes the wind out of the sails of us newbies.

Interesting, since the past two manufacturers I have worked for in the last 16 years both have Sage as their primary ERP...BUT that directly resulted in them needing a bunch of other software strapped to the side of it to get things done, which sounds exactly like the problem Carbon was made to solve.

I had even taken it upon myself to develop a (very rudimentary, but functional) piece of software to manage the Service Department of my current employer, since RMAs/Repairs were still being handled with paper and email when I arrived a few years ago, Sage apparently lacking a suitable module as well as the looming shadow of "that's the way we've always done it" thinking.

Carbon looks like it would trim a lot of the thorns my current employer gets hung up on, but it would take some serious convincing to migrate over given the entrenchment of old and comfortable habits, inefficient though they may be.

Anyway, thanks for the response, I know you folks are busy.

Good questions. I'd like to add some, if you don't mind.

How does it stack up against Sage?

Expanding on "what is the deployment situation," how long should it be expected to take for full conversion to the Carbon platform from the described situation of discordant software that has been entrenched in a particular business's practice for decades?

Rather that taking yet another opportunity to dump on Mozilla (it's easy, I know), I think a better question would be who is the alternative out there doing the work that Fakespot tried to do? Is this telling us that the task is too large for any current solutions to handle?

Just relying on consumer judgement has certainly proven to be inadequate in combating fake reviews, and without incentive, we're not going to get many legitimate reviews.

A few things!

1. After hearing Cell by Pannotia, I became obsessed with trying my hand at making a bit of electronic music. I have an Arturia Keystep 32, a Korg NTS-1 and a Korg SQD-1 to mess around with, but I'd really love to learn how to capture the sound on the Pannotia's album since it speaks to me on a visceral level (album link for the curious: https://pannotia.bandcamp.com/album/cell)

2. Turning some old telephones into fun "audio guestbooks", have some additional features lined up that I am going to add (just waiting on parts to arrive), trying to improve a bit on the ones shown in this excellent video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI6ielrP1SE

3. Managed to get a blog post up recently. My work is not exactly what I would call "HN worthy" but if you need a laugh or some decent toilet reading, it probably qualifies (my blog: https://futz.tech/)

I love these threads. So many people working on so many different and interesting things. Renews my hope for the future, a bit.

I'm of a like mind when it comes to travel; I specifically target the lesser-known spaces so I do not have to fight the types of crowds a hotspot like The Louvre would attract. The previous commenter was probably worried about sounding snotty because doing this gives the impression that we think the hotspots are sort of dumbed down and over-hyped in order to have mass appeal, especially to American tourists, which is admittedly true at least part of the time. Even with all the amazing works in the Louvre, the crowd would still prevent me from enjoying it, milling about like guided cattle the way people do when cruise ships make port.

Other similar travelers we have talked to have given me the (possibly false) impression that there is also an underlying current of preservation in how we travel. Let the masses go to the Louvre or see what Venice wants them to see, etc...it keeps the other areas pure in a way that augments the experience for the savvy traveler that is trying to gain a better understanding of the place itself as opposed to just sightseeing. Tourism tends to cheapen the experience overall, leaving one with a few photographs of expensive memories and a t-shirt. I just don't find that appealing.

Perhaps now I sound snotty, but that is how I feel.

Also a good point. I'm old enough to remember when a gathering for the purposes of networking was really about collecting business cards. It seems like they end up in the trash more than ever, these days (which makes it tough for me to show people what I do since I'm anti-social media and wear many hats, but that's another blog post).

In all honesty, though, I'm the type of person who would actually show up to knit. Networking tends to be an annoyance, to me, but I also forgive it since I understand that it can be important and lead to some great opportunities. When I meet people, I usually don't ask about what they do for work. That will come out in the natural course of conversation if the person enjoys what they do. If not, then I'd rather talk about something else anyway. Typically, I like to start with people's hobbies and interests. In my experience, you get a deeper connection that way.

Perhaps doing away with the "networking" mindset is the key? We have to find a way to make the focus on the experience, as opposed to forced meetings/relationship, which work mixers tend to feel like.

Using a real example from my own life, I went to a basket weaving class once. It was fun, but not something I wanted to pursue as a regular hobby. However, while there, I met the spouse of a practicing blacksmith and found out there is a network of "folk craft" people in my state doing really interesting things in terms of keeping the old traditional methods alive but incorporating modern materials. That saw me attending some blacksmithing classes and forging a few of my own knives.

It was all about the experience I was having with the people around me, through which relationships and talk of our careers naturally developed, leaving me to want to continue to keep in touch them.

Maybe it's just part of the reflexes I've developed in recent years as an American, but there is never going to be a day where I hand my phone off to anyone for any reason. Not because I am addicted to it, but because there is simply too much PII and sensitive content to protect on it.

Why not just trust people to keep their phone in their pocket when out at a social gathering that was formed for the expressed purpose of disconnecting? Wouldn't that also help the person break the habit of checking their phone frequently while also knowing it is still there?

A few years ago, I realized my screentime was getting out of control. Being a person who has a history of substance abuse (and recovery), I recognize addiction when I see it. So, I took some measure to minimize my use.

1. Remove all non-essential apps. Games, news apps, social media...basically anything that was not helping me get something done. I ended up left with email (work) any my banking or payment apps, while all the "fun" apps got installed on my tablet that stays at home.

2. Use a minimalist app launcher overlay. It's actually crazy how the removal of graphical icons helps, turning everything in lists of words, making you have to think about why you just unlocked your phone and find the specific app instead of something like "oh, there's Discord, I might as well check that while I have my phone open. These launchers also tend to have built-in blockers for notifications.

It seems like these were two simple things, but they were not. Especially at first. For about the first month, I found myself pulling my phone out for no reason, since the trigger that was making me do it (boredom, anxiety, FOMO) was still there, but I learned to cope with them and eventually they faded.

I would not have accomplished that by handing my phone off to other people, which actually makes me more paranoid about what's going given modern privacy concerns. In the US, we even campaign against handing your phone over to law enforcement since the implicit trust has been broken one too many times. Do Europeans share this anxiety?

You need to expound on why as your replies are not only unacceptable but remarkably useless.

Try dialogue.

Or worse, destabilize society to the point of catastrophic collapse like the Accelerationists depicted in Mountainhead, though that film was pulling punches.