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catacombs

2,830 karma · joined August 11, 2016

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catacombs··on Ask HN: Is Lisp still used as a programming language?
It will certainly help you learn Emacs Lisp, which is a dialect of Lisp.
catacombs··on Ask HN: Minimalistic YouTube Websites?
youtube-dl => mpv.

No ads, and the files live on your machine.

catacombs··on Ask HN: Is Lisp still used as a programming language?
If you haven't learned Emacs, I suggest you do. It uses a dialect of Lisp -- Emacs Lisp -- that powers the program. Emacs Lisp can be used to extend the editor to your heart's content.

It's a win-win: You use a wonderful piece of software that can extended with a version of LISP that you can use immediately.

catacombs··on Ask HN: JavaScript library for chart like GitHub commit history?
This can be accomplished with D3.js[1] to bind data to HTML elements -- a div block, in your case -- and color them based on value.

D3 is a big library, so you'll likely only need these modules:

    d3-selection
    d3-scale
[1]: https://d3js.org/
catacombs··on GPT-3 Creative Fiction
Thorough is the better word.
catacombs··on Ask HN: How to Store Passwords in 2020?
1Password, which works everywhere and I get for free through work.

If I didn't want to pay, I'd switch to Bitwarden.

catacombs··on Zuckerberg: advertisers will be back to Facebook 'soon enough'
> At the end of the day, users haven’t abandoned FB and that’s what advertisers care about.

This goes, especially, to older people who couldn't care less and just want an easy platform to post political memes and gossip about the weird guys who come around the neighborhood in big trucks and snatch everyone's garbage from the curb.

catacombs··on Zuckerberg: advertisers will be back to Facebook 'soon enough'
The book is terrible. Mark Manson is terrible. Yes, by all means people should read, but not this. There is plenty of good literature, especially fiction, that doles out the same advice but in more tactful manner, rather than the writings of a guy's lifetime of good fortune.
catacombs··on Zuckerberg: advertisers will be back to Facebook 'soon enough'
> I wish Facebook could motivate and inform people to attend local government meetings.

B...but that doesn't help with profits? Why bother?

catacombs··on Zuckerberg: advertisers will be back to Facebook 'soon enough'
> What would happen if advertisers pulled out and Facebook fell on hard times?

This is very unlikely, as Facebook has more money than it knows what to do with and will easily weather this storm.

Don't get me wrong, I'm the last person to defend the company, but this is the reality: Companies who say they are boycotting Facebook are only doing it as a PR stunt. Give a few months, and you'll see their ads back on your News Feed.

catacombs··on Ask HN: What are the less known HN-like forums?
Reddit is neither "less known" nor a good place to find a new general community, unless you have a niche interest.
catacombs··on Ask HN: What are the less known HN-like forums?
> With the rise of cancel culture and remotely offensive language being censored where can one go to find a community more tolerant of opposing views?

If you're itching to call someone the N or F word or want to brood about the sudden rise of feminism in America, may I suggest finding a pen pal and communicating that way?

catacombs··on Ask HN: What does HN look like to you?
Six white dudes sitting around a conference table.

There's David M., the self-taught front-end developer who's hoping to land at a FAANG-like company but doesn't have enough React experience (yet) to apply for "the big dogs." He finished top of his class at a coding bootcamp and plans to skip paying the school for his tuition because "I could've done all this online, for free." He uses Sublime Text 2.

Then there's David L., who is often mistaken for David M. because he works as a back-end engineer at the same company as David M. He wears nearly the same clothes as David M. and works out at the same Orange Theory Fitness as David M. He's used to correcting people who've mistaken him and understands that's how friendships are kept. He does take pride in his single distinguishing feature: He's figured out to use nano for everything, from email to streaming videos to maintaining 3,500 servers in six states, as well as watching all of Modern Love in one sitting without crying. That's something the "other" David can't take away from him. He uses Nano, if you didn't catch that earlier.

Then there's Louis, a hermit computer science student at a state school -- "going out of state somewhere like Stanford or MIT, which I definitely had the grades for and don't need to do that "Missing Semester of Computer Science" bullshit, isn't in the cards right now" -- who bounces between his online classes, Discord, /g/, and slashDot, often shit-posting on all of them and never remembering if he called NarutoPrimalFear434 a "mother fucking muff sniffer" on his "Algo" class' forum or Reddit. He doesn't play video games but likes the idea of someone building him one so he can make money off the microtransactions -- "It'd be like Fornite but without being a pussy about it" -- and voted for Donald Trump on a dare. He uses Emacs.

Then there's Stan, the oldest of the group. A skilled UNIX (and Plan 9 on the weekend) programmer, he's often referred to as a "gray beard" in his field. He doesn't like that very much, mostly to due to a lifelong feeling of self-consciousness about his hair, and keeps his beard jet black. He's seen the dot-com bubble burst more than once, prefers to write everything, including emails, in C89 -- "If Romero and Carmack can write DOOM in C89, then it's possible to do anything with it." -- and wears graphic joke T-shirts his loving wife, Marissa, picks up for him at Spencer's. He uses Vi because the "M in Vim is for morons, and I prefer the Ugandan kid use a fucking bulldozer than a dumbass drill."

Then there's David S., an _associate_ partner at a prestigious VC firm in Austin -- "It's not the Bay Area, but I'm working on it" -- where he's worked since dropping out of business school at University of Texas ("Such a class move," he once said with chuckle). He hopes to one day run his own firm -- or least make partner-- so he can have the satisfaction of saying, "You know what's cooler than a million dollars?" and someone _finally_ giving him the right answer: "Shove it up your ass." He enjoys a good argument and often cites his "college education" and "status" as a "partner" at a "pretty nice VC firm in the South." Though, most people laugh it off because they've seen Halt and Catch Fire and know David is no Joe McMillan or John Bosworth. He uses Notepad++.

Finally, there's Michael, a pro-Earth, non-GMO, Vegan-Lite(TM) cyberpunkish manager for a small startup working on becoming the next Lyft -- "Uber is too problematic at the moment" -- for making recyclable computer components for poor children in the South -- "shipping them to Africa would be too expensive!" Side note: David offered to be an angel investment, but Michael, an atheist, misinterpreted the offer and told David to "shove it up your ass." Michael has dreads, wears toe shoes -- "I have it on good authority that Thom Browne's new line will include suits, skirts and these toe shoes" -- and primarily writes in CoffeeScript because "it's more ergonomic for my wrists." There's rumor at Michael's office that he'd been fired for attempting to cancel himself "just to know how these other people feel" and is somehow on the still on the paywall. He uses Atom.

All of them are in the conference room, a dimly light room with glass windows for that "open office" feeling. A small window looks out onto a nondescript parking lot. The location is easy to find but the guys in the room insist it's their sanctuary. The men sit around the round wooden table, a circular masterpiece of fine mahogany that has with stands its share or split soda, alcohol and blood. The men all sit on Herman Miller Aeron chairs.

"Its my secret spot, David said, where I can really tell people what I'm thinking without fear of repercussion. You think I'm one of these idiots who comes in here using my full name? Yeah. Right."

A large TV screen sits at the front of the table. It's always on, powered by unknown power source hidden beneath the building. Every couple of minutes a headline for a story, a product announcement, a question, flashes on the screen -- black text on beige -- and the men discuss it, either for a few minutes or days at a time.

Some lead to universal agreement -- "Yes, putting your left leg into your pants first is the definitive way to understanding bicameralism," Michael opined once about an article in The Verge. This a rare occurrence.

However, most of the time, the men argue.

"Elon Musk would make the perfect wedding cake for my friend's Quinceañera," Stan once said, to the collective sigh in the room.

"Well, actually," Louis chimed in, "that might be a bit problematic because, and hear me out, Elon isn't a real person. He's the creation of a collective group of people in Silicon Valley with a lot -- and I'm talking _a lot_ -- of money in the Tesla company and need a public figure -- "Elon," in this case -- who can take the heat for anything controversial the company does and deflect most of the attention to his Twitter spats and his girlfriend, Shine."

"I think you meant Grimes, Stan said.

"How did a nitwit you like know that?" David said.

If a conversation is particularly heated, with the sound of yelling, fist flying and crying permeating through the building, the kerfuffle might attract the attention of Mr. Porter, a petite, bald man who maintains the building. He'd knock once, twice, three times before coming in and politely reminding everyone to stay cool and be respectful.

The warnings often goes ignored unless Ignacio, Mr. Poter's cousin, who co-runs building from Argentina, happens to be in town and tells the group to "shut the fuck up before I throw you out."

And so the arguments go. Day in and night out. Some characters have come and gone -- "Remember the guy who did the online quiz show? What a crock!" -- but the six remain.

Will the building ever shut down? Probably. Where will they go? Where can they debate their opinions on niche topics while the rest of the world burns?

Sure, there might be a replacement building, but it can't replace _this_ one.

Maybe the back alley. "Too much anime on the walls for my linking," David said.

Or maybe the plaza. It's public and plenty of people -- "or robots, though you can't be sure," Michael said -- conversing in public.

"Too many damn birds," Stan said. "We won't hear a damn thing, and there will be shit everywhere. Also, when did all the Russian and Chinese people suddenly show up, speaking, on purpose, with really, really bad English accents?"

Leaving hadn't crossed Louis' mind, but he jumps at an idea.

"Maybe we can take this online," he said. The other five eye him suspiciously. Then, they get excited. They look at each other like a pack of hungry mice, flashes of orange streaking across their face from a passing car outside.

"We can call it... Net News," Stan said. "We're always talking about the net...and the news."

"No, boomer," Michael said.

"You're the same fucking age as me," Stan retorts.

"What about... Hacker News?"

The room falls silent. The excitement builds. David can feel himself sweating, while David holds him close.

"I'm not a hacker," David said.

"Me neither," Michael said. "Though, I do consider myself quite the 'lifehacker' if you know what I mean."

"Let's do it," Louis said. "Now I never have to leave my apartment. I don't have to see you all anymore. This has been a waste of time.

catacombs··on Show HN: Coding Career Handbook
Tech Lead is walking meme who rarely offers good advice, most of which should be taken with a grain of salt. His life is currently a mess: He's divorced and has been recently been accused of doxxing YouTubers and other people who criticize his work.
catacombs··on Ask HN: How to hide HN karma/scores from my user account?
You can hide karma by using Stylus, or other stylesheet extensions. Just target the element and it's gone.

Another user's suggestion on blocking elements with UBlock Origin also works.

catacombs··on Ask HN: What’s its like to work in Defense as Software Engineer?
You're paid very well, but there is a lot of pressure to create software that is as close to bullet proof as humanly possible. You also can't talk about most of your work because your employer likely works for the government.

> how can you get into this industry

My guess is, due to the nature of the work -- mission critical -- the industry heavily relies on C/C++, with some FORTRAN through into the mix. So, if you're not familiar with C/C++, start studying.

If you're still in college, consider looking for internships at defense contractors. Be prepared to move to D.C., as that's where many companies are located.

catacombs··on Dwarf Fortress Creator Explains Its Complexity and Origins [video]
> He's hinted that he could release the sources if the Steam/Itch sales make enough money that he could stop worrying about the stability of his income in the long term.

The saddest part of Tarn's decision to put the game on Steam is to make enough money to pay off medical bills for his brother.

catacombs··on I Am Deleting the Blog
I have not missed the point.

The story is about the blog, yes, but a portion deals with the _person_ or _people_ behind it. And that's important.

catacombs··on I Am Deleting the Blog
> Thus I ask: what better proof could one have that scott@slatestarcodex.com is Scott Alexander, author of slatestarcodex?

From an editor's point of view, that's not enough, assuming the reporter has not done any form of reporting through interviews, public records and other methods.

catacombs··on I Am Deleting the Blog
> So what? The story isn't about who Scott Alexander is. The story is about the blog.

It's about the blog and its author. It's like writing about a controversial book without any mention of the author. That's not possible.

catacombs··on I Am Deleting the Blog
> Just because Trump is saying something does not mean it is false - a large part of how he gained such a following is from tapping into a lot of real frustrations that people have.

Contrary: A majority of his statements have been proven false.

catacombs··on I Am Deleting the Blog
> In such a case, it is standard journalist ethics in The Netherlands to not disclose the name.

That's in The Netherlands, a country with different laws and regulations for the press.

This case is specific to the United States, with its own rules and protections.

catacombs··on I Am Deleting the Blog
> Yes, and I find it a bit weird that the newspapers won't collaborate and do sth about this -- I wonder how much money they're missing out on.

Way easier said than done.

catacombs··on I Am Deleting the Blog
> Let's say I publicly claim to be Scott Alexander. The owner of slatestarcodex with the email address scott@slatestarcodex.com also claims to be scott alexander? Doesn't the latter claim carry far more weight?

It's just an email address. It could be Scott or it could be someone else. Yes, common sense would say it's Scott, but the reporter would have to still prove it's him. If you claim to be Scott, too, that will also need to be checked out.

Many people will take that information and run, but if you're writing for a national outlet, where accurate reporting is everything, your editor will say, "Yes, that might be Scott, but how do you know? What proof can you provide? If we get called out for a fact error, can you refute that claim?

catacombs··on I Am Deleting the Blog
> Ehhh, I don't think this accurately represents the situation with "on the record" or "off the record"

I am not tying SSC's situation with the general theme of on- and off-the-record.

I will say your explanation of the difference is spot on.

catacombs··on I Am Deleting the Blog
If you value your privacy, don't speak to reporters and take every protection to protect your identity. This thinking goes from the basement dweller to the billionaire.

However, if your information is revealed, don't be shocked when someone approaches you with that information because you didn't cover your tracks.

catacombs··on I Am Deleting the Blog
What do you mean 10 could be? Ten copies of SSC? That wouldn't work.

EDIT: Thanks for the clarification, zepto. I see your point now.

catacombs··on I Am Deleting the Blog
> If a journalist interviewed a popular camgirl who introduced herself as (say) LustyClaraXXX, and then "did research" to compare pictures, and revealed her legal name an occupation (say, a schoolteacher), would you consider it ethical?

It really depends on the context of the story, with additional nuances that a competent editor must consider:

Is this camgirl the central figure of this story?

What are her reasons for not revealing her real name?

You say she is a school teacher. What kind of teacher? Is she a well-known professor? Is she someone who teaches kindergarten?

Does she make more money from camming than being a teacher? That in itself could be another story about the system.

And on and on and on.

catacombs··on I Am Deleting the Blog
> I don’t see any reporting on the dangers of talking to reporters.

There are plenty of resources on how to handle talking with a reporter.

One thing I would suggest learning the difference between going on- and off-the-record and speaking on background.

> Where is the NYT piece on what happens to people after they have been linked to something in the news?

Here's a free one: Harvey Weinstein's victims. Despite them coming out about his abusive behaviors, his attorneys and henchman are going after them.

catacombs··on I Am Deleting the Blog
Which is possible through the use of other sources. But it depends on the situation. A pseudonym is appropriate for victims of sex crimes and exploitation.
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