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closetkantian

193 karma · joined March 8, 2022

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closetkantian··on Ask HN: Where else do you spend time on the internet other than HN?
Aldaily.com, metafilter.com, economist.com, some subreddits, nytimes.com, lrb.co.uk, and my own websites
closetkantian··on Launch HN: Bloomy (YC S26) – AI-powered mastery learning for K-12
Both. I do classroom teaching as well as SAT / ACT verbal tutoring.
closetkantian··on Launch HN: Bloomy (YC S26) – AI-powered mastery learning for K-12
Okay, thanks for the extended response. I suppose I would have to look at more questions, but I'm really surprised by what you chose to include on the front page, where you'd presumably want to highlight your best work. That passage strikes me as very obviously AI generated.
closetkantian··on Launch HN: Bloomy (YC S26) – AI-powered mastery learning for K-12
So, professional educator here, with fifteen years of high school teaching experience. If the sample passages and questions on the front page accurately reflect what's inside this, I would not let my kids go anywhere near it.

You've chosen to use the most generic AI-generated prose, when you could have licensed or hired writers to craft thoughtful, rich passages. I doubt you've consulted any serious standardized test item writers in the construction of what is essentially a standardized test item-based curriculum. This is the pedagogical equivalent of a Lunchable--mass produced, wrapped in plastic, and basically nutrition-free.

closetkantian··on Show HN: Turn native language audio into flashcards and shadowing practice
Interesting. Building something similar myself. Very interesting to see what people are cooking up for language learning using the latest tools.
closetkantian··on Japan is gripped by mass allergies. A 1950s project is to blame
I first read about this in The Emptiness of Japanese Affluence by Gavin McCormick. Really good read.
closetkantian··on Show HN: I Built Paul Graham's Intellectual Captcha Idea
Frankly, I think if you're going to do something like this you're going to need to use well constructed critical reasoning items from graduate level exams like the GRE and LSAT.
closetkantian··on Tell HN: Chrome says "suspicious download" when trying to download yt-dlp
I find the "unverified download" thing in Chrome so annoying, too. Remember when computers used to treat us like adults? I miss those days.
closetkantian··on Show HN: Remotely use my guitar tuner
I love it
closetkantian··on Ask HN: How to approach new people in 2026?
Source? I've seen studies that suggest the opposite.
closetkantian··on OpenCiv3: Open-source, cross-platform reimagining of Civilization III
Really wish someone would do this for Alpha Centauri, my favorite game of all time
closetkantian··on Show HN: Search complex flight itineraries with natural language
I like the concept, but it doesn't work for me. I just see a red circle with a line through it when I hover over the text boxes.
closetkantian··on Show HN: Wikipedia as a doomscrollable social media feed
I like the concept, but I'm not going to be reading Simple English Wikipedia.
closetkantian··on Scott Adams has died
It seems that you're not very familiar with what actually happened. The phrase "It's okay to be white" had become associated with white supremacists, And black people's responses to the pole had nothing to do with their opinions of white people as a whole. You, as well as Scott Adams, decided to misinterpret it. Scott Adams took things a step further and decided that he wanted nothing to do with black people on the simple basis of this poll, which is absolutely wild.
closetkantian··on Show HN: Learning a Language Using Only Words You Know
This is genius! I love it.
closetkantian··on Egyptian Hieroglyphs: Lesson 1
If you're studying Chinese, maybe you realized that Chinese writing works in a very similar way.
closetkantian··on Ask HN: What are young technically minded people reading?
I'd recommend Careless People, if you haven't read it.
closetkantian··on SanDisk launches dongle-like Extreme Fit USB-C flash drive with up to 1 TB
I had one of these break within a few days of purchase. It's a no for me.
closetkantian··on Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (Nov 2025)
I just released my SAT Writing textbook: https://www.amazon.com/Matthews-Guide-Digital-SAT-Writing/dp...

It took me two and a half years to finish. Now I've got to market it.

closetkantian··on Show HN: FocusStream – Focused, distraction-free YouTube for learners
Very well said. There really should be a public option. Large scale PBS for the internet.
closetkantian··on Raspberry Pi Synthesizers – How the Pi is transforming synths
Recently I've been thinking about deconstructing a ThinkPad and putting the internals inside a MIDI controller. We're at the stage where VSTs/DAWs easily sound better than any synthesizer with internal sounds. But, it's a huge pain to carry a laptop and a sound card to a gig. When will someone address this?
closetkantian··on Unofficial Windows 11 requirements bypass tool allows disabling all AI features
Can I run this on my laptop?
closetkantian··on Manim: Animation engine for explanatory math videos
I'd love to see this for English grammar
closetkantian··on A ChatGPT Pro subscription costs 38.6 months of income in low-income countries
Well it was founded as a non-profit
closetkantian··on Face it: you're a crazy person
I think one thing that this article misses out on is that people are more and more likely to have many careers over a lifetime. In my case, I was a teacher, then a technical writer, then a teacher again. And now I'm shifting into curriculum development. The skills built in my different careers all have complemented each other, and I don't feel as if any of them are my one and only "dream job."
closetkantian··on Face it: you're a crazy person
My first thought when I read this, and it may very well be misinformed, was that she is probably using a team of ghostwriters. Many novelists at that level are. Your name just becomes a brand at a certain point.
closetkantian··on Bypassing Google's big anti-adblock update
Would it be possible to create a web browser where different tabs are running other browsers? Like I could have chrome in one tab and Firefox in another? Almost like a VM?
closetkantian··on Show HN: Open source alternative to Perplexity Comet
This looks like a great project.

What are the system requirements? And shouldn't they be listed on your website?

closetkantian··on Show HN: Jukebox – Free, Open Source Group Playlist with Fair Queueing
Great job!
closetkantian··on Why are there no good dinosaur films?
There are no good dinosaur films because films are basically about people. Jurassic Park works because it allows for the conceit of people and dinosaurs coexisting.
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