HNHacker News
TopNewBestAskShowJobs

midiguy

163 karma · joined January 10, 2022

submissionscomments
midiguy··on Several injured in Boeing 787 nose-gear collapse in Frankfurt
So a plane which has withstood probably countless landings, had its nose gear collapse while sitting statically at a gate of all times and places? Weird.
midiguy··on Aspartame is not that bad? (2022)
It's not that everything has to be sweet, but rather that, for example, Coke really isn't Coke without sweetness and people just happen to enjoy Coke. And if you're going to enjoy a Coke, Coke Zero or Diet Coke is better for your health.

Of course there are other things like coffee that really are not defined by sweetness and can be perfectly enjoyed unsweetened.

midiguy··on Beyond has dropped “meat” from its name and expanded its high-protein drink line
I feel like I am exactly the target demographic. Love the taste of meat. Would eat it every day if there were no consequences. But I mostly cook vegetarian at home because my wife is veg and I do somewhat care about the impacts of factory farming ('ethical' meat being stupid expensive). For me Beyond burgers are a good way to scratch that itch a bit. I feel like there must be many more people like me because meat is both delicious and problematic but maybe that's my own bias.
midiguy··on Show HN: A real-time strategy game that AI agents can play
I am so glad we have automated away game playing so that I can just sit around and be a lifeless vegetable
midiguy··on Web dev is still fun if you want it to be
Tbh, I would be pretty frustrated developing any non-trivial frontend code without a type system. But I am interested to try dropping frameworks.
midiguy··on Was Sam Altman Right About the Job Market?
The techno optimism has morphed into VCs and tech founders lobbying Trumps governments to self-destruct the US government so they can lord over techno-feudal city states

The arrogance and narcissism of the Silicon Valley elite is going to result in horrible outcomes for just about everyone. These people do not know a single thing about responsible public administration, they can only see dollar signs.

midiguy··on How Spotify Killed Lo-Fi Hip Hop
The same thing is happening to jazz playlists. Spotify is cramming jazz playlists with bland interpretations of standards that they paid bottom dollar to desperate conservatory students for. As a long-term jazz fan, I know what I am looking for and it ain't that. But for someone new to jazz who doesn't know exactly what they are looking for, their attention is being diverted to this slop, and they may never discover any dimension of jazz music beyond it, which is kind of sad.
midiguy··on How Spotify Killed Lo-Fi Hip Hop
Lofi peaked long before the term lofi even came about
midiguy··on My Favorite Book on AI
Let's face it. Our world is currently filled with rogue states waging pointless wars, spying on their own citizens, launching cyberattacks, seeding disinformation outside their borders, etc. If they want to make it happen they will. It is a damn hard coordination problem.
midiguy··on Universe would die before monkey with keyboard writes Shakespeare, study finds
I'm picturing scientists in another universe clenching their butts as the monkey goes to type the last letter of Hamlet..... and misses 't' for 'r' and the whole observation hall erupts with loud groans
midiguy··on Next.js, TypeScript are instant turn offs
Pretty much every issue with Typescript is actually an issue with Javascript. Typescript is purely an improvement.
midiguy··on Legalizing sports gambling was a mistake
Most dopamine producing activities are in some way beneficial in moderation to outweigh the negatives (sex, eating, exercise, even many recreational drugs). I don't know whether pointlessly bleeding money away to some greasy corporation counts there. That said I don't like telling people how they should waste their money but it seems there needs to be some form of a plan for problem gambling.
midiguy··on Legalizing sports gambling was a mistake
Poker is the only casino game approaching fair where a highly skilled player can be profitable as they are taking money from other players and not the casino (casino just collects their rake on every hand). But that's why casinos hate offering many poker tables, it's just not as profitable.
midiguy··on Batteryless OP-1
And with the advent of Eurorack, not only do you need more instruments, but the instrument you do have is never finished either

At least lots of Eurorack builders are small passionate shops as opposed to big soulless corporations

midiguy··on Mark Zuckerberg unveils giant Roman sculpture of his wife – AP News
The difference is that Roman sculpture is revered for it's ingenuity and craftmanship at a time where that style of sculpture was being developed with the more limited resources they had back then, and it often depicted important motifs from religion, society, etc. Whereas this is just a copy of that with limited cultural relevance (no one is going to be talking about Priscilla Chan in 20 years, let alone a couple thousand).
midiguy··on We Should Stop Using JavaScript According to Douglas Crockford (2023)
The real culprit here is UI. Yes, there are many better languages and runtimes than JS without a doubt. But most of their UI libraries are just as terrible if not more terrible than HTML/CSS/JS. And that is because developing sensible but also flexible and easy-to-use patterns for user-reactivity and data-presentation is HARD.

So sure, start a clean new operating system with a clean language with a clean runtime. I don't look forward to using whatever mess of a UI toolkit that gets built on top of it.

midiguy··on Professional poker players know the optimal strategy but don't always use it
It used to be about playing people back when no one knew anything. Now that people study GTO, it's definitely more about the cards.
midiguy··on A brief interview with Awk creator Dr. Brian Kernighan (2022)
I agree it was an incredibly awkward interview
midiguy··on The flip-flop on whether alcohol is good for you (2023)
I'm one of those weird people for whom alcohol feels nice but also makes me incredibly sleepy to the point that I become way less social. Thus I will enjoy a beer at home but if I'm going out I will choose other substances (or abstinence).
midiguy··on The flip-flop on whether alcohol is good for you (2023)
Sure, it increases anxiety overall particularly when going through withdrawals or hangovers. But I have never heard of its usage directly triggering fully-fledged panic attacks as weed so commonly does.
midiguy··on ChatGPT-4o vs. Math
Not gonna lie, when I see that someone is banned on X, I assume credibility
midiguy··on Everything we can't describe in music
He definitely opened the door for timbral exploration on the guitar using electronics.
midiguy··on Everything we can't describe in music
The reason I hate heavy autotune in recent hip-hop is because it destroys all of the interesting timbre that could be there, and reduces it all the same annoying voice
midiguy··on Baruch Spinoza and the art of thinking in dangerous times
Interpretations of the Vedas vary widely. Name any 'eism' and you will find groups of Hindus adhering to it.
midiguy··on Baruch Spinoza and the art of thinking in dangerous times
It took Europe a pretty long time to produce a thinker who would restate the pantheistic ideas that the Upanishads described vividly before the birth of Christ. I wonder if Spinoza had any exposure to Hindu thought.
midiguy··on When America first dropped acid
Microdoses have no real effect on me at best, and put me totally on edge at worst. But I love a mild 1-2g trip. I personally think the optimal dose is a mild tripping dose (perhaps mid ~3.5g if you are experienced and are looking for that kind of experience).

But at the end of the day, everyone reacts different. I don't know if there is a point to characterizing what should be 'normal' dosage. They are basically completely different drugs with different uses at different doses.

midiguy··on How Modern SQL Databases Are Changing Web Development: Part 1
I kind of hate how this article did not once clearly explain what it meant by the nebulous term 'edge'.
midiguy··on Jazz Comping (2021)
I would agree that it is not a prerequisite to play popular music, and music theory will not necessarily make you a good player (theres so much more to it, including feeling as you say, as well as fine motor control).

> Improvisation is about feeling the music and interacting with it, it is not about finding the best scale and writing the notes on paper.

Knowing music theory is not about finding the best scale. It is about being able to talk and write about the building blocks that give rise to musical expressivity in a common language that is communicable to others. In other words, it is descriptive, not prescriptive.

> in fact it may hinder you ability to discover by yourself

As someone who has taken 6 semesters of music theory, and still stumbles upon things that surprise me musically, I would disagree. The difference is when I stumble upon a new sound, I can remember it not only by feeling and how it sounds but also by it's harmonic, rhythmic, melodic, structural characteristics. Which would allow me to use it in greater contexts.

midiguy··on Jazz Comping (2021)
Being able to transpose != understanding how transposition works.

I mean sure you can handpick scenarios where some musicians on certain instruments may be able to transpose without knowing any theory. But knowing a bit of theory would unlock the requisite knowledge to do it reliably on any instrument. There is really no reason not to learn some music theory is what I am getting it - it will only make you a more versatile musician.

midiguy··on Jazz Comping (2021)
> Any player who has musical practice but no knowledge of theory understands the notion of changing keys.

If they understand the notion of changing keys, then they don't have no knowledge of music theory. Transposition is basic theory, but music theory nonetheless. What do you reckon theory is? It starts with understanding how scales and chords are built.

Page 1 of 3Next →