Hacker News Reader

ourguileon Some people can't see mental images

I have seen it and unfortunately, I'm a 5. I quite literally cannot picture an apple in any form. I understand what I'm supposed to be picturing but when I try there's nothing that appears. It's fascinating to me too, since I typically have quite vivid dreams and I've been able to lucid dream on a number of occasions.

Now, I've chatted with friends, and my one friend is close to a 2, or maybe a 1 from how he described it (being able to visualize the apple and rotate it 3-dimensionally).

ourguileon Some people can't see mental images

I've seen some sections discussing memory, but not necessarily internal monologue.

ourguileon Some people can't see mental images

https://archive.ph/iMdvd

I have aphantasia and it always astounds me when I see an article like this, or hear a friend talking about it (about not having it) and realize that their experience of the world is so fundamentally different than my own.

ourguileon Pentagon orders states' national guards to form 'quick reaction forces'

Yes, I definitely agree with you!

I also think it's asking for trouble (between ICE, CBP and/or National Guard) especially considering how reckless these other agencies have been (I'm thinking of a recent raid where agents were rappelling from helicopters) and the administration now reassigning ICE leadership to intensify ongoing campaigns.

ourguileon Pentagon orders states' national guards to form 'quick reaction forces'

I know you're being sarcastic, but I believe there's a legitimate argument in demonstrating that the administration is contributing to circumstances that would lead to this exact response.

I can envision these exact same sentiments coming from the national guard, ICE, CBP, etc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings#Guardsmen...

ourguileon Rivian's TM-B electric bike

Very interesting, really liking the swappable components in the quad. I'm a big cyclist but have been looking for something new to take around for commuting that isn't a scooter.

Great to see more manufacturers getting in on micromobility options.

ourguileon State of AI Report 2025

I agree there is some implicit bias in this reporting, particularly because Nathan is colleagues (or at the very least previous colleagues) with Ian Hogarth, who is currently the chair of the UK AI Safety Institute, recently renamed to the "AI Security Institute".

So, I would have to take reporting on safety with a grain of salt. That said, I do think there are a lot of other interesting insights throughout the presentation.

ourguileon Tor browser removing various Firefox AI features

Very good news, this would have raised a major red flag for me if I went to use their browser and saw any AI integrations.

ourguileon The Prairie Farmers Preserving the Most Threatened Ecosystem – Forever

This is fascinating, they're linked to the Arbutus Foundation (founded by David Byrne) which reported almost $850k in revenue in 2023. Seems like quite a few of big donors are involved. Some of their other affiliates also have major donors (such as the Solutions Journalism Network). https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/831...

ourguileon [dead]

IMO there's a massive difference between genuine curiosity and discussion over topics which have an outsized impact on domestic and global politics and actual polemics and 'ideological battle'.

FWIW I am not disagreeing, I do genuinely believe this is why people flag posts.

ourguileon Why are so many pedestrians killed by cars in the US?

I'm convinced this is a big cause as well. Reduced visibility greatly exacerbates this (as a driver looking for visibility while in the turning lane) trying to see if walkers or cars are coming over the very high hoods of other vehicles. Multiple lanes, signs and etc. all vying for attention all cause a drain on focus which wouldn't exist if the turn was outlawed in the first place.

I'll also say, it's not only pedestrians affected by this, anecdotally just this morning a car turned right on red directly into my path, while the driver was making eye contact with me as I was turning left through a green arrow.

ourguileon Guy running a Google rival from his laundry room

I greatly prefer Kagi https://help.kagi.com/kagi/company/ but it's very nice to see more competition in this space in general.

ourguileon Microsoft is officially sending employees back to the office

Anecdotally, I'm at a larger multinational corporation and our site has been mandating a new RTO policy and have not been granting exceptions based solely on seniority. In my personal opinion I believe it's mostly a soft layoff, so they can approve exceptions on a case-by-case basis.

ourguileon US AI Action Plan

Interesting that you mention it, because the NYT just released their ethicist commentary from today and the question was "how do I tell my rich friends to stop talking about fleeing the country": https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/magazine/rich-friends-fle...

ourguileon They Paid $3,500 for Apple's Vision Pro. A Year Later, It Still Hurts

I'm honestly surprised by this. I still use my AVP about once a week or more, it's my preferred method for watching shows, movies and YouTube. I would be interested to hear what others are using for 3rd party straps and I also wish there were more apps and more environments. But I'm very happy with what there is so far.

ourguileon Ask HN: How do you store the knowledge gained in a day?

I use Obsidian for kanban (with urgent tasks) and for drafting longer writing, while using Remnote for tracking most other general information. Both work really well for me, for different purposes. I use Obsidian more as a visual information processing medium.

I will say, it's really helpful to open up excalidraw through Obsidian and create a quick flow chart or drawing with my team.

ourguileon The great displacement is already well underway?

There are also quite a number of medical device and pharmaceutical companies on the east coast (based in upstate NY here), along with defense industry contractors. So, there are some more options.

ourguileon NYC New Subway Map

Yes, that's what it is, just in case NYT locks the article behind a paywall.

ourguileon NYC New Subway Map

Link to article: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/nyregion/nyc-new-subway-m...

ourguileon Kash Patel Wants to Work from Home for FBI

That's also typically referred to as a kakistocracy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakistocracy

ourguileon Apple Scraps Work on Mac-Connected Augmented Reality Glasses

I love my Vision Pro, but I do feel like it's quite heavy and delicate for every day, general use. Also, one thing that I have to keep in mind when using it is that the room needs to stay very well lit. Something I don't need to even think about with my phone, laptop etc.

ourguileon Society for Technical Communication to permanently close its doors

Earlier in my life I attended a number of their chapter meetings, and I know someone who is currently on their board. Fairly shocked to hear that they're closing. Definitely does not feel like a growing field, but still incredibly valuable.

ourguileon Introducing ChatGPT Gov

I believe the main issue in regard to LLMs is that there is a real chance of the prevalence and ease of use of LLMs to erode critical thinking skills. Regardless of boilerplate warnings to "check the validity of answers" coming from the LLM, plenty of people in society outside of this tech savvy audience wouldn't even know where to begin. There was a recent Big Think article on this: https://bigthink.com/thinking/artificial-intelligence-critic....

To be fair, I do think there are plenty of uses for LLMs, but with adoption skyrocketing there really are no guardrails against misuse.

ourguileon I ditched the algorithm for RSS

I use inoreader - https://www.inoreader.com/ as a feed aggregator and I absolutely love it. I use it every day to highlight, tag and search for information. I'd recommend it to anyone.

ourguileon Microsoft won't support Office apps on Windows 10 after October 14th

Made the move over to mac and Linux a few years back and haven't regretted it one bit.

ourguileon Spinal cord injuries from mountain biking exceed hockey, other high-risk sports

I do a lot of road cycling, but this is essentially why I refuse to participate in mountain biking (in my area). I've heard so many horror stories from friends of mine who ride and it sounds like accidents are only a matter of time. Even if someone rides as safe as they can, you can't account for others on the trails or the conditions 100% of the time.

ourguileon Palantir and Anduril join forces with tech groups to bid for Pentagon contracts

I feel like this was always going to happen. Regardless of the hand wringing over bringing AI and robotics into warfare I never felt any headway was made and on the flipside far too much money to be had.

ourguileon Report finds 'shocking and dispiriting' fall in children reading for pleasure

For me personally, once I find a great book that hooks me, it immediately rekindles a love of reading for pleasure. Wondering if generational divide plays into this, because I also grew up watching Reading Rainbow and going to book fairs. Reading for fun was highly incentivized.

I agree that the hardest part is finding a book that catches and holds someone's attention. I think booktok starts to meet this need, having personal recommendations is huge and a lot of what I choose to read now comes down to recommendations (goodreads, StoryGraph, etc.).