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murrayb

255 karma · joined November 24, 2008

Project Manager, Poet, tinkerer.
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murrayb··on Nova Launcher added Facebook and Google Ads tracking
I just switched to Lawnchair thanks for the recommendation. Seems to do everything I wanted from Nova anyway.
murrayb··on Show HN: A word of the day that doesn't suck
Vagility is a great word- it has a good sound and rhythm and the added bonus of sounding like it is probably something rude. Might be limited opportunities to work it into a conversation but I am willing to wait Thank you.
murrayb··on AI Angst
I think he is talking education as in school/college/university rather than learning?

I too am finding AI incredibly useful for learning, I use it for high level overviews and to help guide me to resources (online formats and books) deeper dives. Claude has so far proven to be an excellent learning partner, no doubt other models are similarly good.

murrayb··on Librarians are dangerous
Felt sure that this thread would reference Terry Pratchett, he was a man who understood the danger of librarians.
murrayb··on California is torn between clashing Anglo traditions?
Further to your point the Scots and Irish aren't even Anglo-Saxon. You could make the argument for calling them Anglo-Celtic now but not so much at the time of the settlement of the US.
murrayb··on Britain buys semiconductor factory for defence purposes
Same in Australia. But my Dad was a Scotsman so I had it well emphasised
murrayb··on Rediscovering Turbo Pascal
Also the first real programming language I learned, on an early version of DOS (3.?). I wrote a utility to encode data which was burnt to Eeproms for VHF radio's (fixed base units) I don't remember the details but it was cool to write a tool to solve a problem. Fun times.
murrayb··on Microsoft announces purchase of 315k tonnes of CO2 removal
Trees are good. Everything I have read suggests soil (hummus) is better. Requires change to farming practices though which is traditionally difficult to do and has rich lobby groups arrayed against it.
murrayb··on Study shows glyphosate impairs learning in bumblebees
> In the right conditions it has a half life of a few days and will be completely inert in a couple of weeks.

As far as I can tell this is not accurate- glyphosate breaks down to AMPA which is not inert.

murrayb··on Evernote has laid off most of its US staff and will move operations to Europe
Joplin has served me well as an Evernote replacement. If by integration with the browser you mean snipping content then I think it meets your requirements.
murrayb··on Using solar farms to generate fresh desert soil crust
They are on YouTube. Thoroughly recommended. Some swearing.
murrayb··on Ask HN: Has anyone started over outside of tech?
See my other reply re training, employers here in WA generally want a Cert III minimum. There are jobs available but the pay is pretty poor. There are plenty of industries paying better for equally physical work (albeit not in a garden environment) and not requiring certification.
murrayb··on Ask HN: Has anyone started over outside of tech?
I did a 6 months Cert III in horticulture, a Permaculture Design Certificate and read and watched as much as I could. Every day is a school day and I am still learning. Not sure about where you are but here in Western Australia the paid jobs in horticulture are very low paying (my 2 day forklift licence is worth more in the work place) but one of those jobs could be worth considering for the learning opportunity - I have been working part time in a nursery whilst I build up clients for my own garden maintenance business.
murrayb··on Ask HN: Has anyone started over outside of tech?
Retrained last year as a horticulturalist after 30+ years in IT and communications. I am fitter and healthier than I have been in decades. Pay rates in the industry are low but I am building up my own business and enjoying the lifestyle benefits. Thoroughly recommend it.
murrayb··on Ask HN: Best books read in 2022?
My favourite three- - Heartwood by Rowan Reid - Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer - The Call Of The Reed Warbler by Charles Massy
murrayb··on Is bin-opening in cockatoos leading to an innovation arms race with humans?
Former multiple cat owner here, every cat I have owned hunted successfully with multiple bells on their collars. My neighbours cat has bells and hunts in my yard. Bells don't work or don't work reliably enough.
murrayb··on Ask HN: How do you and your spouse handle big income differences?
I used to make ~2x my spouse. Now she makes ~2x me (her increased a bit and by choice mine decreased a lot). We have always treated it as "our" money not mine or hers. Scott Pape in Barefoot Investor says couples should use joint accounts we haven't done that but it may be the solution for you, I would recommend that you both read the book before making changes.

And for what it's worth, be grateful she is doing well. it is awesome and she deserves your admiration & appreciation for her achievements.

murrayb··on Tell HN: Google Cloud suspended our production projects at 1am on Saturday
I understand the cost and complexity of doing so but I think that production loads should be engineered across two or more service providers. That way any incident on a given provider is recoverable without that providers cooperation and you can mitigate against Oracle style lock-in.
murrayb··on Ask HN: Is there a spiritual successor to del.icio.us?
I went from delicious to Evernote for the same benefits. Now on Joplin.
murrayb··on Ask HN: Which book are you reading, since when?
Teaming with Microbes by Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis. Since last week. Good read I recommend it even if you are not into gardening understanding life in the soi is important.
murrayb··on The PocketReform is a made-in-Berlin Linux handheld
I had a HP200LX back in the day, it was a great little machine and I taught myself rudimentary C primarily on it and have often yearned for a modern replacement.
murrayb··on Cloudflare had a partial outage
Explains why the online training course I was part way through stopped working! Amusing that the quickest diagnosis came from skimming the headlines here :)
murrayb··on I can't let go of “The Dunning-Kruger Effect is Autocorrelation”
Nah I meant opposite. Just incompetent and unaware, there should be a name for it ;-)
murrayb··on I can't let go of “The Dunning-Kruger Effect is Autocorrelation”
Doh corollary doesn't mean what I thought. I learned something thank you. I meant the opposite.
murrayb··on I can't let go of “The Dunning-Kruger Effect is Autocorrelation”
The corollary of Dunning Kruger is that everyone is equally capable and equally capable of assessing their performance. This nicely suits the current social rhetoric but does not match observed reality.

Edit-see below I meant opposite not corollary.

murrayb··on I have no capslock and I must scream
I just disable it, I don't touch type particularly well and hitting it by accident never gives me what I want!
murrayb··on Microsoft YARP
It's a reverse proxy so it's "pray", not exactly confidence inspiring! :-)
murrayb··on Ask HN: How did you move on from past experiences?
* Seek professional help.

* Build a daily routine of constructive activities (exercise, journal, meditate, cook etc)

* Focus on creating a future you would like.

* Find things to be grateful for every day.

* Don't indulge in your negative thoughts; notice them, acknowledge them, keep going.

Good luck with it, you got this.

murrayb··on Amateur archaeologist in Switzerland unearths 2k-year-old Roman dagger
Agreed it looks way more "chopppy" than "stabby" to me.
murrayb··on Show HN: Obsidian for Mobile – Plain-text knowledge base on the go
I tried both and went with Joplin - it was a while ago and I can't remember exactly why, sorry. Import from EverNote would have been a factor (Obsidian may have this too?) as well as being FOSS. I use my notes as a personal knowledge base more than note taking so I have a lot of clipped web pages and linked notes so it could be that Joplin just suits my use case better. Obsidian didn't leave me with strong negative feelings just didn't fit what I wanted to do. Hope this helps.
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