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fiftyacorn

806 karma · joined January 26, 2016

https://www.javabullets.com
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fiftyacorn··on Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?
Great idea - a lot of the problems in the world are from social isolation, and people finding silos online

I think the 10% neuro-divergent is a positive as it being ND can be very isolating for people

Makes me think a focus around ND alone would be a great idea

fiftyacorn··on The risk of AI isn't making us lazy, but making "lazy" look productive
The biggest risk is companies - if they are saying "I dont need a team to do X" whether development, marketing, whatever. Then the barrier to entry has collapsed in industries so we can see other companies enter the market
fiftyacorn··on Spring Boot Done Right: Lessons from a 400-Module Codebase
Im comparing against node equivalent ORMs and find spring consistently better. Yeah ive got to read up on annotations - but when it comes to transactions its always worth revisiting them to check for changes
fiftyacorn··on Spring Boot Done Right: Lessons from a 400-Module Codebase
it saves a lot of reinventing the wheel
fiftyacorn··on Tell HN: Slow Down
It depends what your doing? Some finance systems ive worked on prioritise stability over release cycles so do things like not release fridays or last week of month unless impact can be guaranteed
fiftyacorn··on Anyone know how long it will take to re-start Qatar's helium plants?
They need to build a few smaller plants rather than one huge plant

Will this set back AI as chip costs increase?

fiftyacorn··on Palantir extends reach into British state as gets access to sensitive FCA data
Most AML courses Ive done have emphisized that the people behind high level money laundering can be too dangerous to take down

You even see this with suspicious deaths of lawyers and accountants in this area?

fiftyacorn··on Palantir extends reach into British state as gets access to sensitive FCA data
I think the power is knowing who is moving what and where
fiftyacorn··on France's aircraft carrier located in real time by Le Monde through fitness app
Yeah id be more impressed if he found a submarine using strava
fiftyacorn··on Ask HN: How are you protecting yourself from skill atrophy?
Im waiting for things to start breaking
fiftyacorn··on Chuck Norris has died
I grew up watching action films in the 80s and 90s. I always like Chuck Norris ones as they had a humour and ridiclousness about them

Films like Missing in Action ,or delta force where the motorbike fires a rocket were just great at the time

I get he had some funny views later in life - but the films were a laugh at the time

fiftyacorn··on How important was the Battle of Hastings?
The aristocracys were already interwed before the conquest. I mean williams wife was related by marriage to haralds wife, and this cementing of families continued. One impact you see is the saxon families ended up kore interwed to the scottish nobility, st margaret being an example
fiftyacorn··on Porn depicting sex between step-relatives set to be banned in the UK
And yet your not allowed to discuss the implications of marriage between cousins in case people become upset
fiftyacorn··on Why don't entrepreneurs talk about starting businesses publicly anymore?
It moved to indiehackers - mind you indiehackers is mostly marketers now
fiftyacorn··on Ask HN: What do you want people to build?
I want a spam filter extension for browser that work with social media and remove the bots, and tune what the algorithm is trying to send me

So if you are on reddit - the extension would remove accounts that are likely bots based on age of the account, and other criteria. Same for other social media

Ive had a look and there doesnt seem much in this area

fiftyacorn··on Ireland rolls out basic income scheme for artists
Id commented on reddit a few weeks back that this type of scheme sounds great - but ends up being taken up by middle/upper classes as a bit of pocket money, and doesnt widen the pool or access to arts

The UK has this with lottery funding for athletes - it started really positive - but is now a lottery funded gap year for private school kids

fiftyacorn··on A History of Haggis (2019)
Im Scottish and stopped eating haggis for a while due to the "it contains ..." - but then started liking and appreciating it again. Its a great food for mixing meat, oats and herbs, and the veggie versions are really good too

Most people who complain have no objection to the floor sweepings of fast food they are eating

fiftyacorn··on Ask HN: When has humanities/history knowledge helped you in tech?
This was a long time ago but I done german with my engineering degree, and was required to do a half course in some cultural aspect of german. Timetabling meant i often had to take what was left - so id end up doing history of art class, or german history

It worked out ok in the end as you see the differences between arts and sciences - science courses collaboration was about getting the right answer most of the time, while arts was about defending your opinion

So the long term benefit has been my communication skills improved and helped me

fiftyacorn··on Ask HN: How to make spamming us uncomfortable for LinkedIn and friends?
Ive been thinking about how much of a better place the world would be if we had social media spam filters on browsers

The filter could strip out ai garbage, bots and offensive content

fiftyacorn··on Ask HN: What are you working on? (January 2026)
Reminds me of a joke i heard yesterday

My wife said 'you look bored you should build a bird table'

'Now shes not speaking to me as she found out shes 5th on the list'

fiftyacorn··on Perfectly Replicating Coca Cola [video]
Is that tonic wine? Like buckfast?
fiftyacorn··on Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (December 2025)
HN should start a "what would you like to work on?" where people can post projects they want to start, and maybe where they are uncertain to start - then can get advice
fiftyacorn··on Dismal reality of modern day corporate IT
I dont agree with the definition of "dependency creator" - in my experience these people are happier sticking with one domain or platform and not chase the latest framework. They get the promotions as they have understand this domain

Examples Ive seen are mainframe devs, and I also see it with people supporting legacy systems

fiftyacorn··on Ask HN: Engineers working AI tools. Are you working more or less?
It will be interesting if it leads to a bloat of unnecessary features that customers dont really want
fiftyacorn··on Project Euler
i think its a decent environment to do the programs - ok restrictive to js but lets you focus on the problems
fiftyacorn··on Ask HN: What are some of your favorite documentaries?
"The World at War" with Lawrence Olivier narrating and interviews with people that lived thru the war on both sides
fiftyacorn··on Ask HN: What do you wish existed? (October 2025)
I want a browser extension that is effectively a spam filter for ai content on reddit or similar. Same to filter out spam reviews

Or an app that just retrieved the content for groups I'm in on Facebook not what some algorithm thinks i want

fiftyacorn··on Ask HN: Most effective way to reduce excessive digital media consumption?
The amount of AI bot drivel online is reducing my consumption tbh. What's the point in responding to some clickbait reddit post designed to polarise people, especially when you consider who owns the platforms
fiftyacorn··on Ask HN: What are you working on? (September 2025)
I love this tool - seeing what was originally on areas. Granted its mostly fields
fiftyacorn··on What is “good taste” in software engineering?
Id settle for "common sense" - seems to lack in a lot of codebases
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