Hacker News Reader

sysadm1non Ask HN: Why there is so much of everything on the internet?

The 1% of people that are not lurking are creators[0] that is. Wait until '1%' value increases and there will be even more information and data being pumped out every millionth of a microsecond.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1%25_rule

sysadm1non Ask HN: How to charge money for a side-project web app?

https://github.com/sponsors

https://liberapay.com/

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/

sysadm1non How US intelligence agencies hid their most shameful experiments

This makes me wonder. I have a few side projects which if they ever got in front of a real engineer, they would poke so many holes in it and make me look like an incompetent impostor. Yes, transparency and insight into codebases is good and all, and enjoys scrutiny, but it's those hidden side projects I love working on, because there's no accountability (apart from me being better than before), and I can do whatever I want, without 'managerial oversight'.

sysadm1non Fairphone 5 review: The most uncompromising repairable phone yet

Anyone using a FP as a daily driver?

sysadm1non Ask HN: Why Haven't We Solve Content Moderation Online?

> Controversial content breeds engagement

It also breeds censorship. I'm allowed to watch a 15-minute long video about Steve-O's experience with PCP, but can't post a picture of my cannabis nug that I just bought (Got an account warning for 15 days because of this). I also got suspended for 15 days for posting a meme I found on Facebook itself.

This is why I'm considering switching to Tumblr for stuff like this. Although Tumblr censored a bunch of NSFW recently, and that's a slippery slope. I'm certain they can ban other types of content just for being slightly controversial.

sysadm1non Twitter / X is losing daily active users. CEO Linda Yaccarino confirmed it

Twitter is unusable these days. They've done chaos engineering without even trying to. So many bugs, despite people saying it's 'stable' and 'working properly'. I'm not going to list the bugs out here, there's too many. And I'm prompted to prove I'm a human every 10 minutes because I'm apparently not acting like a human. So I star a lot of things and I'm a loudmouth. So what?

sysadm1non Drinking diet sodas daily during pregnancy linked to autism in male offspring

> what's most frustrating is that the people who profited most from these compounds never pay for the damage they cause

The people were naive. It's not like they had malicious intent. 'Don't hate lazy people - they did nothing'

sysadm1non You can't control your data in the cloud

`The cloud is just someone else's computer`

sysadm1non The dark side of tech culture

> If you personally prioritize autonomy and creative freedom, but you’re working for an employer that prioritizes conformity and predictability across the organization, you’re going to have a bad time

This is why a hobby/side hustle/side project can be useful for flexing creative urges that you don't have the luxury of carrying out in your job. Because work can be drudgery, and the system pays you well, so maybe have an outlet for creative work on the side (even if it doesn't make you money).

sysadm1non Tell HN: The Internet Is So Good Without CSS

I surf with a browser called Lynx from time to time. It shows the text-only version of a site. No CSS. No JS. No distractions.

sysadm1non Google Podcasts to shut down in 2024

https://killedbygoogle.com/

sysadm1non MDMA and the Quest for Connection in a Fractured World

> it's finding its way back to serious consideration after years of being pushed to the underground

It was used in a therapy-like way for all those (underground) years, not strictly for dancing/clubs/house parties. People had informal couples therapy, or trauma therapy where painful memories surfaced and they could be dealt with in a safe space free of inhibitions. Only now it's more formal and the doctors are involved.

sysadm1non Ask HN: What are your most common Google Search terms

https://trends.google.com/trends/

sysadm1non Ask HN: Why are HN comments so cynical?

I like the tech punditry on here. Most of it is top notch. The odd bad faith comment appears now and then, but they're typically down-voted and greyed out (yet I still end up reading them because they're sometimes funny).

In terms of sentiment analysis of a 10 year window, I have yet to see someone try and attempt that. It would be a good exercise and would be concrete proof that comments have devolved to a sort of Reddit-esque commenting style.

sysadm1non Ask HN: Why are Websites trash can we do better?

https://robinrendle.com/notes/why-are-websites-embarrassing/

sysadm1non The NSA Invented Bitcoin?

> What does the NSA get out of it?

A transparent ledger which is easy to audit, for the purpose of catching cybercriminals.

sysadm1non The NSA Invented Bitcoin?

I have an open mind about these claims. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. That said, Satoshi's IP leaked in a debug log[0] and it was a Californian IP[0]. (Make of that what you will).

[0] https://whoissatoshi.wordpress.com/2016/02/20/satoshi-in-cal...

sysadm1non Ask HN: Are .NET domains still good?

They're good for domain hacks. Like:

    kingoftheinter.net

sysadm1non Ask HN: How to get over my constant fear of inadequacy

> This is compounded when I see someone else's success on a similar project

Comparison is the thief of joy. Like for every time you compare and get jealous, you could have leveled up, for YOU personally. The only person you need to be in competition with is YOU.

sysadm1non Tell HN: Goodbye HTML Gmail

Damn. I loved the basic HTML feature in Gmail when logging in on a slow-as-shit 3G connection, or I was behind several proxies and latency was an issue. More enshittification by Google.

sysadm1non The NSA states its case for why key escrow encryption is good for you (1994)

"Trust us, we're the Good Guys"

sysadm1non Tell HN: Hacker News Does Not Support IPv6

> when you're already fully accessible on the IPv4 Internet

And behind several NATs which apparently is good because a single IPV4 address can belong to millions of people so you can 'blend in', as it were, if you enjoy privacy.

sysadm1non Ask HN: Is The Information going with more click bait?

What's click-baity about these?

    Can Ryan Petersen Fix Flexport?
    A Is for Adaptogens, B Is for Body Sculpting: A Trending-in-Silicon Valley Health Glossary
    The Trouble With Walter: In His Elon Musk Tome, the Writer Shows Us the Perils of Access Journalism
    Goldman Sachs Makes Adjustments to Fix Apple Savings Account Problems
    The People in Power at Tech Private Equity Juggernaut Thoma Bravo

sysadm1non Homebrew Website Club

I find most of these sites follow the brutalist web design trend[0]. Nothing wrong with that. In the end, if the site is user-friendly and does what its supposed to, and is otherwise easy to navigate and is readable, then why not?

So much of the web are these copycat 'zines' which are jam-packed with all sorts of bells and whistles and have a sidebar packed with ADs and the content is laced with affiliate links so they can 'monetize' their web presence.

I enjoy other people's little 'corner of the web' which isn't housed in a walled garden social media platform, like the bulk of content these days.

[0] https://designlab.com/blog/examples-brutalism-in-web-design/

sysadm1non Ask HN: What advice do you have for confused young people?

Follow your bliss. It may not be immediately apparent what this is, but if you look within your heart, it's a subtle message telling you what you need to work at.

sysadm1non Are you blocking OpenAI access to your website?

You can block OpenAI, but you should really be blocking all bots and bad actors who may be scraping your site, scanning for vulns, or the new kid in town: using your site as training data. Robots.txt is not enough, and whilst the major players (Google, Bing etc) honor robots.txt, it can be completely ignored by other actors.

sysadm1non Bitwarden login down due to Azure outage

1.) Redundancy. Can't get at my KeepassXC?, then I try Bitwarden. Can't get at my Bitwarden? Then I try KeepassXC. Can't get access to both? Then I'm screwed (but this is unlikely!).

2.) Browser extension. I like to be able to login easily to sites using their extension.

3.) LOCKSS (Lots of copies keeps stuff safe). Having a cloud-based mirror of my login entries stored in Bitwarden is marginally better than solely relying on KeepassXC.

4.) Logging into KeepassXC is sometimes more complicated than logging into Bitwarden. I have a long seven word passphrase for KeepassXC, and use a keyfile which I have to 'hunt down' in the filesystem each time I go to access KeepassXC (I have disabled the ability to store the last used database & keyfile for security reasons). With Bitwarden I just open the app and if it's unlocked, I get quick access to everything.

sysadm1non Bitwarden login down due to Azure outage

> What exactly is Bitwarden getting you

1.) Redundancy. Can't get at my KeepassXC?, then I try Bitwarden. Can't get at my Bitwarden? Then I try KeepassXC. Can't get access to both? Then I'm screwed (but this is unlikely).

2.) Browser extension. I like to be able to login easily to sites using their extension.

3.) LOCKSS (Lots of copies keeps stuff safe). Having a cloud-based mirror of my login entries stored in Bitwarden is marginally better than solely relying on KeepassXC.

sysadm1non Bitwarden login down due to Azure outage

I 'mirror' my Bitwarden login entries in a KeepassXC database, so I have an offline carbon copy incase Bitwarden's servers are wiped or not accessible, or for whatever reason, I can't access my Bitwarden vault. I would suggest everyone do the same. The only pain point is remembering to make a carbon copy of each entry you add to Bitwarden, in the KeepassXC database.

I also make copies of my KeepassXC database in several cloud storage services incase of a house eating event which destroys my hard-drives (unlikely but still a possibility). I really don't like the idea of being locked out of my digital life.

Terence Eden has a good article about this potential scenario;

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2022/06/ive-locked-myself-out-of-my...

For those wondering why I use Bitwarden as-well as KeepassXC:

1.) Redundancy. Can't get at my KeepassXC?, then I try Bitwarden. Can't get at my Bitwarden? Then I try KeepassXC. Can't get access to both? Then I'm screwed (but this is unlikely).

2.) Browser extension. I like to be able to login easily to sites using their extension.

3.) LOCKSS (Lots of copies keeps stuff safe). Having a cloud-based mirror of my login entries stored in Bitwarden is marginally better than solely relying on KeepassXC.

sysadm1non iPhone 15 USB-C port is 100% standard; MFi certification rumors wrong

How do I get USB3 'superspeed' data transfer though? I regularly shuttle multi-gigabyte files onto my iPhone's flash storage and that takes too much time. One of those sit-back-and-make-some-coffee moments in life that doesn't have to be that way. It would free up so much time if the transfers were near instant.