HNHacker News
TopNewBestAskShowJobs

tailspin2019

4,637 karma · joined May 29, 2019

Technologist, Mediocre Electronic Musician, Software Developer from the UK
submissionscomments
tailspin2019··on European Alternatives
Agree, I’ve been impressed with Scaleway so far during some early experiments. Including a quick support response to a query I had.
tailspin2019··on Eight European countries face 10% tariff for opposing US control of Greenland
> “throw caution to the wind”

Would you say the US government is acting with “caution” regarding a country (not their country) of 57,000 “stressed-out” people who don’t want to be acquired?

tailspin2019··on Trump to impose tariffs on European nations over Greenland
As a Brit, I agree!
tailspin2019··on Eight European countries face 10% tariff for opposing US control of Greenland
Being from the UK - one of the privileged few to be tariffed - I couldn’t give a fuck about this.

The thing that makes me viscerally angry in my soul though is reading about Greenlanders who are now stocking up on food and/or making plans to leave their country if the worst case happens.

What the actual fuck. I can’t believe this is the reality we’re living in.

So, tariff away. As someone else said, it’s a badge of honour at this point.

tailspin2019··on Aaron Swartz died 13 years ago today
Thanks for posting this
tailspin2019··on Exercise can be nearly as effective as therapy for depression
What a bizarre response.
tailspin2019··on Claude Code sessions should be encrypted
I don’t disagree but the proposal to encrypt this data locally vs talking about this data being stored remotely on Anthropic’s servers (exposed to risks of hacks or legal disclosure) seems to be missing the much bigger privacy concern.

Also from the quoted tweet:

> “The trick is to forget that it’s called Claude Code and instead think of it as Claude Local or Claude Agent. It’s essentially a super-intelligent AI running locally”

WTF? Do they think that Claude Code is a locally running LLM?

tailspin2019··on Stop Doom Scrolling, Start Doom Coding: Build via the terminal from your phone
From that page:

> The opencode serve command runs a headless HTTP server that exposes an OpenAPI endpoint…

Unless I missed it, there’s no mention of a web UI?

tailspin2019··on US attack on Venezuela raises fears of future Greenland takeover
I’d love to know exactly which clearly stated threats towards other sovereign nations we should take seriously, because it isn’t at all clear.
tailspin2019··on US attack on Venezuela raises fears of future Greenland takeover
> Will be interesting to see if Europe could actually replace things quickly

“Quickly” is unlikely, but it has already started.

tailspin2019··on I changed my personality in six weeks
Would you be willing to expand on what you mean by “change the environment”?
tailspin2019··on Go Gray, Not Cray: Why You Should Grayscale Your Phone
I just installed Foqos[0] (iOS, free) for this exact purpose. Excellent app. You can require scanning an NFC tag or QR code to disable app/web blocking.

I plan to put an NFC tag in my car, so that (while I’m home or working at my desk) I have to physically go outside if I really want to unlock my blocked apps before the end of the preset schedule. Meaning…. in reality…. I’m not likely to.

[0] https://www.foqos.app

tailspin2019··on Tell HN: Merry Christmas
I remember this awesome guy’s posts but didn’t know he’d passed.

Thank you for posting this.

tailspin2019··on Skydiver suspended below aircraft after accidental reserve chute deployment
Skydiver landed safely with only minor injuries.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjCOd-JQ2ts

Full ATSB report: https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2...

tailspin2019··on No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me
I don’t think you get the same level of access though? I tried an O’Reilly subscription directly then went the ACM route and remember being disappointed that it was a more limited subscription.
tailspin2019··on Alan.app – Add a Border to macOS Active Window
Maybe derived from “a line”?
tailspin2019··on After my dad died, we found the love letters
I think they may have replied to the wrong comment
tailspin2019··on Are you stuck in movie logic?
FWIW I don’t get the “AI slop” spidey-sense when reading this, despite the liberal use of em dashes. I thought it was well written and makes some interesting points.
tailspin2019··on How cops can get your private online data
Needs the “How” adding back to the beginning of the title
tailspin2019··on The dangerous intimacy of social location sharing
[flagged]
tailspin2019··on One of these four red flags is seen before 99.6% of heart attacks
I don’t understand how correlation/causation errors are mitigated here…

Surely more than 99.6% of people “inhaled air” before a heart attack too.

I’m sure there must be more to it but the way this is reported doesn’t make sense at all.

Would have been useful to mention what % of people had one or more of these “red flags” and didn’t have a heart attack.

tailspin2019··on Show HN: Autism Simulator
“Get up out of that wheelchair and stop being lazy! You’re an adult!”
tailspin2019··on UK Petition: Do not introduce Digital ID cards
I’m a bit surprised that this of all things has received over 2m signatures already and yet we (the UK) have been passing far more dangerous legislation recently where the general public didn’t seem to care.

I wonder if it’s because “ID cards” is an issue that has been around for some time and is perhaps more easily understood than other erosions of privacy and freedoms that are a more subtle.

tailspin2019··on Ask HN: How Do I Get over My Existential Crisis?
There’s some good advice from others but I mainly just wanted to wish you luck! Keep positive (easy to say, I know).

Do you have a personal website or blog? Do you have thoughts, ideas, problems you’ve solved, or mini hobby projects to talk about? It may not directly lead to an instant job but I think showing the world more about you and what you enjoy doing (and are good at) beyond the normal CV format might be a good start? It’s at least a productive thing to spend your time on while you’re trying to work out your next move.

tailspin2019··on Xcode Is the Worst Piece of Professional Software I Have Ever Used
As daily user of Jetbrains’ software (and someone who agrees with TFA about xcode) I don’t want Apple anywhere near them
tailspin2019··on Proxmox delivers datacenter manager beta for more viable VMware contender
I really appreciate the Proxmox project. It’s been awesome for my Home Lab.

I used to prefer the VMWare UI but having now moved 100% to Proxmox and got used to its slightly different way of doing things, I find it extremely pleasant to use.

tailspin2019··on A teen was suicidal. ChatGPT was the friend he confided in
I think the obvious risk with ChatGPT etc, is that despite all the talk about “safety”, these chatbots are fundamentally designed to act and communicate in a very “close to human” fashion, almost going to extraordinarily great lengths to do so (eg all the emotive TTS voices, the pandering, the “I’m so happy to hear that” etc) and human nature means that it is very very easy to just get drawn in and switch off the part of your brain that knows you’re not actually talking to a human.

Even I find this to be the case sometimes, as a developer using AI daily for years now. “Regular” non-technical users have literally no frame of reference by which to compare, judge or understand this technology… apart from drawing on their experience dealing with other humans.

Most people don’t yet have the necessary understanding or tools to know where the sharp edges are, or a good enough understanding of how the behaviour of these models (and their failure modes) can deviate wildly and abruptly from that of a human - in very unpredictable ways.

Many (most) users will also not understand that everything they say is influencing the responses coming back to them - allowing people to talk their way down certain avenues with the AI chatbot “playing along”. You can be completely guiding the direction of the discussion and influencing the replies you’re getting without knowing it.

You have to try to remember that you’re effectively talking to a very intelligent psychopath who has become extremely good at pretending to be your friend and who will say anything to keep up that pretence.

I’m not sure what the solution is, but it really annoys me when ChatGPT or Claude “pretends” to have emotions or says “Great idea!” based on nothing. I think that crap needs to be tuned out - at least for now - because it’s irresponsibly deceptive and sets the wrong expectations for non-technical users who do not (and cannot) possibly understand the boundaries and parameters of this technology. (Since even we as an industry don’t yet either).

I think “directly and deceptively pretending to act like a human” should have been part of the focus on safety and fine tuning, and instead of that, it seems they’ve doubled down on the opposite.

It’s like selling a real, loaded, gun but with the end of the barrel painted red to make it look like a toy.

That red bit sets expectations on how much damage this thing can do to me. The AI chatbot pretending to have emotions and care about me as a person is like that red paint. It directly signals the complete opposite information that the user actually needs. It tells them they’re safe when really, they’re holding a loaded fucking gun.

tailspin2019··on Monodraw
I love Monodraw, been using it for years. Keep up the good work!

Was going to politely ask for full dark mode but just noticed from your blog that it seems to be on the way?

tailspin2019··on Malicious versions of Nx and some supporting plugins were published
I think you’re right. I don’t like the idea of a “building code” for software, but I do agree that as an industry we are doing quite badly here and if regulation is what is needed to stop so many terrible, terrible practices, then yeah… maybe that’s what’s needed.
tailspin2019··on Wikipedia loses challenge against Online Safety Act
> It has also been suggested that one of the largest beneficiaries of this law, an age verification company called Yoti, also has financial ties to Carnegie UK.

Do you have any sources for this?

Page 1 of 34Next →