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smnscu

1,175 karma · joined May 13, 2016

coder, entrepreneur, interviewer (yes it's a thing now)

hit me up at google's email service, same username

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smnscu··on $20k bounty was claimed
I feel like people complaining about Prettier being "heavily opinionated" are missing the point. Perhaps I'm biased by my decade of using Go, but not having to worry about superfluous stylistic choices is a welcome reduction in cognitive load. (Up to a point I guess, e.g. I'd never put up with K&R-style newline opening brackets).
smnscu··on Steven Spielberg Predicts 'Implosion' of Film Industry (2013)
Alan Wake 2
smnscu··on Ask HN: Where to find open-source house plans?
Is this the kind of open-source house plan you're looking for?

- https://www.wikihouse.cc/

- https://www.openbuildinginstitute.org/

- https://www.openstructures.net/

I don't think anybody's compiled them in an "open-source house plans DB", but it's a pretty neat idea.

smnscu··on Baldur's Gate 3 has been released
Most people will play it as a standalone game and it's absolutely fine to do so. However, if you want to catch up on the lore, there are handy recap videos such as:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWvXRM3xGlo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__GI7CrYnj8

smnscu··on Baldur's Gate 3 has been released
That's probably because the early access version was compatible with macOS (and natively supported Apple Silicon), but macOS support hasn't been released yet for the full game. It is indeed an unfortunate side effect, but I don't think it's Steam's fault (either Larian's decision to not support the EA macOS version at the same time, or a limitation of Steam of only having one version "published").

I actually asked Larian about this today:

> There isn't a release date yet for the Mac version, but keep an eye out for future community updates!

smnscu··on How to pass a first-round interview
I concur with the other comments here that this is almost useless. It could be useful if you're interested in companies dumb enough to care about most of the stuff this article focuses on. I've conducted over 3,000 interviews, most of them via Karat (https://karat.com/), and I can say that, as a software engineer at least, you can safely ignore this kind of advice.
smnscu··on Asus Zenfone 10
The folks at LTT had a look at it and it seems... OK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdaksFoD8_0
smnscu··on Classic components could be replaced by rubber in next-gen loudspeakers
I verified that the textspam was indeed correct, and I thought it would be an interesting factoid for HN, as 99.9% of people are only familiar with dynamic driver.

> Repeat after me: chatgpt is not deterministic

Brilliant insight, and definitely a better addition to the thread than somebody trying to add details that presumably only an audiophile would know.

smnscu··on Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.
Only writing this because I didn't find anyone else referencing it, but I'd also check for some sort of a deficiency. It turns out that I was severely vitamin D deficient, as soon as I started taking it daily all my long-term health problems (including mental fog and memory issues) pretty much disappeared.
smnscu··on Vanuatu has been knocked offline for over a month
I was just reading about that and it significantly soured my enthusiasm :(

https://old.reddit.com/r/YesTheory/comments/yhsmfq/latest_ye...

smnscu··on Vanuatu has been knocked offline for over a month
I'm fascinated by these tiny, extremely remote populated places. Just this week I randomly found out about Pitcairn Islands, and looking at their blog it seems like Starlink has just become available there [0] (also recommend this video that's absolutely fascinating, to me at least [1]). I can't find much online about whether Vanuatu has Starlink access no, but there seems to be at least one group advocating for it [2] -- the article sounds pretty optimistic about it, but I didn't manage to find a follow-up (not that I looked too hard).

0: https://www.visitpitcairn.pn/the-pitkern-blog/one-of-the-mos...

1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2Dw-PuNZSE

2: https://www.dailypost.vu/news/spacex-starlink-satellites-to-...

smnscu··on Ask HN: Hunting for a Framework
Haha, it's funny that I wasn't the only one who had the same idea. Here's the answer I got:

> One framework that meets your requirements is NestJS. NestJS is a full-stack web development framework for Node.js that is built on top of TypeScript. It provides a central definition of data schemas, automatic generation of REST endpoints, and support for GraphQL. NestJS also includes built-in support for authorization and authentication, and it provides a reactive programming model that simplifies the process of managing data and communication between the client and the server. NestJS is open-source and is designed to be easy to use and extend. It allows you to define your data models on the server and have them automatically synchronized with the client, so that you don't have to write manual HTTP calls or manage websocket connections. NestJS may be a good fit for your needs because it provides many of the features that you are looking for in a full-stack framework.

smnscu··on Apple Execs on iMessage for Android (2013)
Absolutely. As a continental European, I am always discussing with my fellow Europeans such matters; like when Hans bought a new Mercedes-Benz automobile. Silly man, doesn't he know a Dacia does the same thing for less? We all had a hearty chuckle about it.
smnscu··on Ask HN: Is there a VSCode extension that implements Notion-like features?
That looks fantastic, thanks! I think it's exactly what I was looking for.
smnscu··on macOS keeps a huge wallpapers cache
That vscode cache saved my ass at least once, when I deleted uncommitted changes accidentally.
smnscu··on Can I use a system call?
100%, and also how TIL about the Swedish Rhapsody

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUQUD3IMbb4&t=85s -- link at the bottom of the file

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_Rhapsody_(numbers_stat...

smnscu··on On Device Learning
> What is the human reward function?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs

Also, I don't know the right keywords to look for it, but it sounds like OP's (fascinating) question should have been tackled in scientific literature. e.g. found this in 10 seconds https://arxiv.org/abs/2103.04289

smnscu··on Ask HN: What HN post made you money?
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22504592

Made about $600, put it toward a treadmill that I then sold because it sucked.

smnscu··on Myths about construction
Here's one website I found that ships to the UK: https://www.bookdepository.com/Engineering-Plain-Sight-Grady...
smnscu··on Show HN: I made a web game using emojis and no JS framework
I think it's obviously inspired by that. Too bad you can't click the board directly like in the original (which was apparently made 11 years ago).
smnscu··on Assimilate: A Flood-It game for Mac OS 9, released in 2021
Thank you for the link, fun game! Took me a while to win, but this is what immediately made my strategy work:

From http://retirementexperiment.blogspot.com/2009/03/flood-it-ga...:

> The approach I use is to play for penetration. I aim for the opposite corner. Rarely the obstacles have too much repetition. I would allow for this by requiring a wedge shape having a favorable ratio of base size to length.

Bonus, a paper on flood-it: https://arxiv.org/abs/1001.4420

smnscu··on €2.6M spent for a book at auction, believed they would own the IP
Yeah it's a bit of a shame that the parent comment spoiled the plot. I definitely enjoyed SOMA's admittedly simplistic take on the teletransportation paradox; however, for me the atmosphere was much more impactful, especially given the story. I think they executed the "last survivor on Earth" trope really well, and it was tough to get through because of that.
smnscu··on Colors in movies and TV: What happened to them?
Enjoy :) https://www.redlettermedia.com/best-of-the-worst
smnscu··on A curated list of warez and piracy links
Someone's recommended AzireVPN to me as a WireGuard-friendly VPN a few years ago and I've been using it without any issues since. I wouldn't use any of the big guys tbh, not going to contribute to the millions they spend on advertising. Here's a random review https://www.vpnmentor.com/reviews/azirevpn/
smnscu··on Microsoft forked MIT licensed repo and changed the copyright [fixed]
Feels like the reverse Streisand effect at play here; a high-profile minor fuckup that helps popularize a positive thing. This was fun to meme on, but I'm glad Microsoft appears to be on an upward slant ethically. It also makes me more comfortable being a Microsoft customer.
smnscu··on Elizabeth Holmes' Daily Schedule
I know HN is not the place for this, but those guys are so painfully underappreciated. I love so many of their videos, do yourself a favour and watch a few, such as the microservices one: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgBVkKoOAr3ajSdFFLp13_A
smnscu··on 2021 Tesla Model Y review: Nearly great, critically flawed
I live in the UK and recently went EV-only (miss our Q7, perfect family car, etc). It's not the range I'm worried about, but the infinite flakiness of the various chargers I tried -- I'm not exaggerating when I say that about 50% of the time I fail to get the damn car to charge due to either the charger being offline or random glitches (could also be due to my fairly new Q4 e-tron). I am considering a Manchester-Isle of Skye road trip, and I'm not yet sure we'll actually go through with it.

TL;DR less range anxiety, more "getting stranded because of unreliable chargers" anxiety

PS: I should add, having 3 small-ish children is definitely the major factor here, were I alone I couldn't care less that I had to wait a few hours for trickle charging, might as well get some work done

PPS: speaking of glitches, the Q4 e-tron lane keep assist is incredibly panicky and has constant mini freakouts whenever something strange happens to the road (e.g. lanes splitting on the motorway, passing parked cars on narrow roads, etc.) -- thankfully it's just annoying (slight jerk and vibration of the steering wheel) and not actually dangerous

smnscu··on Facebook employees are now more willing to leave, tech recruiters say
I don't represent Karat but please reach out to me (same gmail as my username), I would love to hear what your thoughts are on a better process.
smnscu··on Facebook employees are now more willing to leave, tech recruiters say
I've been doing Karat interviews for about three years and it's been incredible for my mental health. The work is extremely flexible and there is nothing to worry about when you're not working (I dread deadlines and I'm neurotic enough to never manage a good WLB at a regular SWE gig). The compensation is also pretty good. Apply on their website if interested (https://karat.com/) or hit me up at my username at google's mail service if you want a referral (though you shouldn't need one to get in the door, we're hiring pretty aggressively). Hope this helps.
smnscu··on Hexing the Technical Interview (2017)
Huh, TIL, thanks! https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2808646/why-are-the-firs...
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