HNHacker News
TopNewBestAskShowJobs

chungleong

202 karma · joined August 6, 2018

submissionscomments
chungleong··on Show HN: Pb2zig – Pixel Bender to Zig Translator
IIRC, it was discontinued around the time Adobe switched to a subscription model. Allowing end users to add new functionalities to their programs just didn't make business sense.
chungleong··on SVB collapse: Peter Thiel’s role scrutinized as spark of bank run
Blaming one man for the rottened culture of an entire industry. The people who made the decision to withdraw money from SVB are supposed to be sophisticated. They're certainly well compensated. Yet they acted like bunch of illiterate peasants. The whole episode really demonstrated the disappearance of critical thinking from the American tech industry. This primitive monkey-see monkey-do mindset has come to dominate just about every aspect of it.
chungleong··on Show HN: Chrome extension for adding footnotes to print-outs of web articles
Conradish is a tool designed for teachers of foreign languages. It lets you quickly take a online news article and add definitions of words with the help of Google Translate. A good way to help students build vocabulary, I think. The extension can be used in other educational situations too, where a teacher might want to add notes and perhaps questions to an article about a current event.
chungleong··on Show HN: Module for conditionally skipping Mocha tests
Something I created for my own use because many of my unit tests rely on external resources. I would get rate-limited all the time when I use watch. Or they would fail because I forget to provide an access token through an env variable. A clean way to bypass certain test would be helpful, I thought. Hope this is useful to other devs. Comments definitely welcomed.
chungleong··on Ask HN: What's the cheapest way to receive bank SMS oversea?
I've tried Skype already. It doesn't work. 75 bucks down the drain.
chungleong··on Why Arabic Is Terrific (2011)
Sort of off topic. I still remember this project we inherited from DLI ages ago. Folks there were having difficulty with storing UTF-8 strings in JavaScript. Whenever a character gets truncated (due to db length limit), Netscape would complain and die. Someone apparently discovered that you wouldn't get the error if the broken UTF-8 text was in a JavaScript comment. So every text string in the program was a function that parses its own source code for a comment. It was a hilarious hack.
chungleong··on Newspapers don’t need a special law to help compete with Google and Facebook
Because people value the convenience of Google's integrated services. Market fragmentation is unnatural in the software world. Generally, the winner takes all in a given category. If we break up Google, one part of it will end up vanquishing the other parts.
chungleong··on Newspapers don’t need a special law to help compete with Google and Facebook
As it's often said, the mission of journalists is to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." Making people feel uncomfortable is of course a lousy way of staying competitive.
chungleong··on Newspapers don’t need a special law to help compete with Google and Facebook
Given that Google and Facebook are natural monopolies, what newspapers are demanding seem fair to me. The law just levels the play field. The alternative--breaking up these Internet giants--isn't in the public's interest and probably won't work.
chungleong··on Hong Kong Police Fire Tear Gas, Rubber Bullets at Protesters
I don't know how you can export "mainlanders are locusts" to the rest of China.
chungleong··on Lyft Takes over Ford GoBike
I think ideology plays a larger role than profit. Many people in the American financial world are Randian extremists. They like various "sharing" services because they operate outside regulatory frameworks.
chungleong··on ‘I believed I didn't have the right kind of brain for science’
Her father is a television screenwriter. From what I've heard, test prep services in Hollywood can work miracles.
chungleong··on Traffic-busting $100B Bay Area tax plan taking shape
One key benefit that self-driving brings is the eliminating the need for curb-side parking. Your car can drop you off and go park itself in a hole somewhere. That opens up space for many more bike lanes where light motorized vehicles like Segways can also operate.

A lot of positive development can occur with the right regulations. That's what governments should focus on. As we've seen though with the fiasco that's the taxi market in US cities, public officials aren't too keen on doing their job proper.

chungleong··on Xiaomi explains more about how its under-screen camera works
A software fix seems more realistic. The latest smartphones packed enough AI circuitry to be able to infer how an image should look if you were staring into the camera.
chungleong··on What is a coder's worst nightmare?
A manager who engages in circular reasoning is a nightmare that never ends.
chungleong··on Nasa to Open International Space Station to Tourists
I remember being angry when Congress cancelled fundings for Superconducting Super Collider but kept those for Space Station Freedom. From a scientific discovery standpoint, the decision was utterly unjustifiable. I'm willing to accept the contention that space exploration is more than science--it's the fulfillment of Man's aspiration. But if the existence of the space station becomes an impediment to space exploration itself then what exactly is the point?
chungleong··on People with Greater Intellectual Humility Have Superior General Knowledge
Intelligence can't transform the unknown unknowns into known unknowns. Awareness of one's own ignorance has to be taught.
chungleong··on People with Greater Intellectual Humility Have Superior General Knowledge
Makes sense. Well educated people have educational credentials that protect their self-esteem. They can afford to be intellectually humble. Admitting to mistakes or ignorance doesn't hurt as much.
chungleong··on Michelin Rolls Out an Airless Tire That Will Be “Puncture-Proof”
Should such tires be available to the general public? Many locations rely on tire shredders for perimeter security. These measure will become useless. As will spike strips used by law enforcement. How will police be able to stop fugitive vehicles equipped with puncture-proof tires? Some sort of remotely activated kill-switch will have to be mandated.
chungleong··on Why do airlines still mislay 25M bags a year?
That's what I had in mind. I figure on average half the passengers on any given flight are returning home. People living in the same area tend to have the same retail choices. The number of variations among this group probably isn't in the hundreds.
chungleong··on Why do airlines still mislay 25M bags a year?
Which might be close to the theoretical limit. The probability of two suitcases on a given flight having the same appearance must be close to 99%.
chungleong··on Flying-V: Flying long distances energy-efficiently
What if we place lift-fans in these undesirable areas? One in the center of the V and two out in the wings. Basically, instead of banking the aerodynamic savings we spend it on hauling dead-weight associated with VTOL operation. That could kind of make sense.
chungleong··on If Seeing the World Helps Ruin It, Should We Stay Home?
Have you considered an insanity defense? Just tell yourself the thought of traveling to an exotic location temporarily reduces your mental capability to that of a six year old. If you cannot comprehend the consequence of your action then you're not guilty. Actus reus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea.
chungleong··on US demands social media details from visa applicants
Western countries generally only invoke extraterrestrial jurisdiction in matters concerning basic human rights. Laws criminalizing sex with minors oversea are arguably domestic implementation of international law. Sexual slavery is not a choice that sovereign states can make.
chungleong··on Ask HN: I need ideas to impress fifth graders with technology
I did this back in my college days. I wrote to AMD and they were kind enough to send me two cases of defective wafers plus a used bunny suit. That the students could hold the discs in their hands definitely made an impression.

Another big attraction was the liquid nitrogen we brought for our superconducting maglev demo. That no one cared too much about. Kids just wanted to see what they could destroy through low temperature.

chungleong··on US demands social media details from visa applicants
I don't think judicial courts accept challenges to rulings by administrative judges as a matter of course.
chungleong··on US demands social media details from visa applicants
From a legal standpoint that's problematic since the government would be imposing a punishment on acts committed outside its jurisdiction--possibly ex post facto as well.
chungleong··on California is cracking down on the gig economy
You know who else was called a savior? The guy who annexed Czechoslovakia. Bad things happen when people value expediency uber alles.
chungleong··on California is cracking down on the gig economy
A service like BlaBlaCar (in Europe) is what can legitimately be called ride-sharing. Uber is fleet of pirate taxis.
chungleong··on Almost half of US families can't afford basics like rent and food
Few things are to the selfish and self-absorbed.
Page 1 of 6Next →