HNHacker News
TopNewBestAskShowJobs

smdyc1

291 karma · joined August 24, 2018

Developer
submissionscomments
smdyc1··on CBP Directive 3340-049B: Border Search of Electronic Devices
Yes, it's a basic function of any customs and quarantine organisation. Australian Border Force don't care if you have memes mocking our PM or DJT. Inspection of electronic devices only happens when there's evidence of a crime.
smdyc1··on CBP Directive 3340-049B: Border Search of Electronic Devices
We have? My international relatives have never been searched to that degree, if at all.

That said, the whole thing is overreach in any democratic society.

smdyc1··on Meta buried 'causal' evidence of social media harm, US court filings allege
Only because you confabulate your personal power with what they really care about.
smdyc1··on Meta buried 'causal' evidence of social media harm, US court filings allege
Amazon are not resolving your issue in minutes because you have power over them. They do it because it is efficient and profitible for them to keep customers happy. Your actual influence over a trillion dollar company is tiny compaired to your influence as a voter. One customer taking there business elsewhere does not affect Amazon in any meaningful way. One vote is counted directly. The gap is between how it feels and how the power actually works. This of course assumes you live in a democratic country.
smdyc1··on Air Traffic Control
I also read there was some difficulty in target designation as the pilots had different maps, so the grid coordinates were off.
smdyc1··on Air Traffic Control
I read in A Bridge Too Far, the Hawker Typhoons that attacked German positions at the start of the Operation (called in by the Forward Air Comtroller), flew under the opening barrage and one Typhoon disintegrated as it was hit by a shell. I've often wondered if there was any system in place to prevent that sort of thing.
smdyc1··on The Secret History of the War in Ukraine
That was more a choice by individual aircrew than higher command or bureaucracy.
smdyc1··on US Ends Support For Ukrainian F-16s
Playing right into Putin's hands.
smdyc1··on Toddlers Shoot Three People Every Month in Texas
Toddlers don't kill people. People kill people.
smdyc1··on How I ship projects at big tech companies
It's also like this in small companies, like the one I work for, and I think rightfully so. One of the mobile app projects I was involved in got bogged down for months due to the lead engineer's need to refine and polish the perfect UX and architecture which kept breaking features we'd already completed. This cost us a lot of money and the product didn't look or function to an end user that much different. Management had enough and pulled the guy off the project because it just wasn't getting shipped and what he was doing didn't align to their goals. After he left i was able to tie up the loose ends and ship it live within two weeks. The only way i was able to do that is I knew every component of that system, our deployment infrastructure, our support staff, the real goals of our management team, etc.
smdyc1··on US probes Tesla's Full Self-Driving software after fatal crash
Not to mention that when you can't see, you slow down? Does the self-driving system do that sufficiently in low visibility? Clearly not if it hit a pedestrian with enough force to kill them.

The article mentions that Tesla's only use cameras in their system and Musk believes they are enough, because humans only use their eyes. Well firstly, don't you want self-driving systems to be better than humans? Secondly, humans don't just respond to visual cues as a computer would. We also hear and respond to feelings, like the sudden surge of anxiety or fear as our visibility is suddenly reduced at high speed.

smdyc1··on LinkedIn does not use European users' data for training its AI
Exactly what i was thinking.
smdyc1··on Mass tourism protesters squirt water at Barcelona tourists
I'd shift the blame somewhat on the owners of the Airbnb properties and Airbnb itself rather than the tourists. They're the ones getting rich at the expense of the locals.
smdyc1··on A bunch of programming advice I'd give to myself 15 years ago
Yes, I tend on the side of only tweaking things when I realise I'm repetitively using the same context menus. That's the only point I learn the keyboard shortcuts, or map one, these days. I really haven't had to learn too many shortcuts. The best ones are multi-cursor editing like you've mentioned.
smdyc1··on Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free
Much beloved? Maybe in your circle, certainly nobody i know considered him beloved. I mean, the guy admitted to a room full of journalists he was happy to burn a bunch of Afghan informants. The guy is a narcissistic wanker who put lives at risk.
smdyc1··on World War I dangers in France's red zones
I totally recommend this, especially if you haven't heard Dan's podcasts before. One of his best, next to Death Throes of The Republic (if you want a fascinating depiction of pre-Empire Roman history)
smdyc1··on Problem with selling developer tools is that devs have no purchasing authority
It's triple the cost of a single user license for the same thing. Beancounters don't like that.
smdyc1··on Problem with selling developer tools is that devs have no purchasing authority
If there was a way to get a company licence, I'd have bought it for our dev team.
smdyc1··on What made Earth a giant snowball 700M years ago? Scientists have an answer
Then can I ask the owner of whatever device we're running on, to add one or two zeros to my bank balance?
smdyc1··on How the codpiece flopped
I can imagine a season of Curb Your Enthusiasm with Larry David spending the season trying to bring the codpiece back into fashion, after another embarrassing pants tent episode like in the very first season! Would be an awesome signoff for his final season.
smdyc1··on Carl Weathers has died
Man that sucks. Rest in peace. I loved his character in The Mandalorian.
smdyc1··on How to deal with receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Big Tech
We (and our new clients) constantly get frivolous cease and desist notices from a particularly butthurt competitor whenever they lose one of their customers to us. They have a habit of shutting off customer access to their systems and ignoring any requests from customers (who are still paying their bills) for their data.
smdyc1··on How a software glitch at the UK Post Office ruined lives
I'm not saying i expect that at all. I'm saying they should have some knowledge about what they are managing than just being a people person. Wouldn't you hate your direct manager having no clue what a code review is? What scrum is? How features are estimated? How estimates can be widely inaccurate? What tech debt is and why it should not be swept under the rug?
smdyc1··on Enthusiasts struggle to keep model railway industry on track
Likewise. I've even given up table top games like Flames of War for lack of space to place a 4ft x 6ft game board. No chance to fit a static model railroad. My dad fit one in our townhouse growing up by building it around his and mum's bed. She hated the thing. Every few months it would encroach further.
smdyc1··on How a software glitch at the UK Post Office ruined lives
And of course, the public servants and the politicians involved largely got off scot free. In the Australian Robodebt case as well as the British Post Office, the key people involved should be facing criminal proceedings to deter this sort of thing!
smdyc1··on How a software glitch at the UK Post Office ruined lives
If managers are hired only because they're experts at managing humans, then they're inadequate for the role of managing a dev team. These guys are not just managing people, they're managing processes that they have to know something about to manage effectively.
smdyc1··on Japan ANA Boeing 737-800 flight turns back due to cockpit window crack
Window cracking isn't uncommon. Cockpit windows are typically made of layers of acrylic glass sandwiched together, with heating elements in the middle. They are exposed to incredible forces, the forward airflow on the outside, positive pressure from the inside, cold on the outside and warmer on the inside, then there's the internal temp when the anti icing elements are on. And despite all of this, they're so strong that a crack can be discovered on one side and the aircraft can still be safely landed.
smdyc1··on US regulator considers stripping Boeing's right to self-inspect planes
This makes me think about the Roman Republic. Yes, it failed in the end, but the idea of having two Consuls is appealing to check each others ambition. As an aside, Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast has a multiparter called Death Throes of the Republic which is highly entertaining.

Edit: can you imagine what it would be like though if the US had a dual presidential system and Trump and Obama were both in power at the same time? Somehow I think it would be more dysfunctional.

smdyc1··on The journey of the Roman gladius and other swords
Thanks for the link. Amazing penetrative power. More importantly, I had no idea how difficult it would be to pull a pilum out.
smdyc1··on Fired comedian ordered to get day job back after jokes ruled 'simply funny'
The fact that you have to spend time trying to get yourself designated such whilst you are probably looking for a job, struggling to pay your rent or mortgage, and dealing with other stressors is ridiculous.
Page 1 of 3Next →