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untangle

613 karma · joined May 23, 2011

[ my public key: https://keybase.io/bravozulu; my proof: https://keybase.io/bravozulu/sigs/exid1pKokiokFVNfE40Vv9j7UB3VFxQYEHPl0i93qDI ]
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untangle··on Show HN: I built a modern Goodreads alternative
Nice. I would love to import the metadata from my Calibre Library. Calibre is great, but it is ancient and its evolution is glacial.
untangle··on Hi Google, please stop pooping the bed: a desperate plea from the indie web
Same. Try the "books on the Battle of Midway" query on Perplexity. The results are great and include the book mentioned in the article (authored by the Naval Aviator).
untangle··on Cancellation of Naval Academy Lecture by Ruth Ben-Ghiat Threatens Inst. Autonomy
I graduated from "Annapolis" (AKA USNA, "The Boat School") in the 70's. My second career was in high-tech here in Silicon Valley.

Let me state the "quiet part" of the Naval Academy's mission out loud: It aspires to train the Services' future admirals and generals. It is not a vocational school, nor is it really a college. It's something else.

It strikes me that the relationship between flag-rank officers and their civilian (political) leaders is fair game.

Having said that, the selection of this speaker is edgy. But it's the timing of the event that I think puts it in the bad-judgement-or-worse category. We used to call this "poor headwork."

My recommendation would have been to postpone the event until next year, and then reexamine the issue more closely. And to do all of the above quietly.

untangle··on Ask HN: What macOS apps/programs do you use daily and recommend?
POPclip deserves its own entry. It adds an action menu popup to any selected text. I find it indispensable. (I'm told that IOS has similar features.)

https://www.popclip.app/

untangle··on OpenAI's Lies and Half-Truths
And Paypal stretched banking laws. And Youtube was built on the back of countless music and TV videos under copyright. And Airbnb played/plays free & loose with hoteling laws. And Uber with taxi rules. The list is long, and the excesses are large. Move fast and break things. Become too big to fail. This is nothing new. It is core to technological advancement and capitalist enablement.
untangle··on The "End of Programming" will look a lot like programming (2023)
"End of Programming" will look like a Mag-7 interview: [program design] + [leetcode].
untangle··on Tesla’s EV Market Share Is Dropping Fast
The chart in this article tells a more balanced tale.

The size of the US EV pie doubled and Tesla's growth didn't. But while Tesla's share is not yet in freefall, the trend is quite alarming. The group growing share is fractionated.

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1134120_tesla-is-losing...

untangle··on The Ruling That Threatens the Future of Libraries
> taxing copyrights and patents

It's an interesting point. I believe (chatGPT4 agrees) that taxes on IP occur via licensing deals, on transactions, and/or through registration fees. But not through anything resembling a RP wealth tax. There are probably some corner cases though.

untangle··on AI-generated comic artwork loses US Copyright protection
The USPTO grants human artists an early victory in their struggle with AI generation. I personally don't think that this ruling will withstand the AI tidal wave that's coming. But, for now, some shelter from the storm.
untangle··on The FBI now recommends using an ad blocker when searching the web
This is interesting but it's old news. Both the linked article and the "FBI PSA" are dated late December of 2022.
untangle··on Does Google need a new CEO?
To be fair, Microsoft's "AI BING" demo wasn't exactly flawless either. But the popular press didn't seem to notice.

https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/14/microsoft_ai_bing_err...

https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/14/23599007/microsoft-bing-a...

untangle··on Show HN: Data Painter – A Different Way to Interact with Your Data
Interesting product. I first encountered this "data painter" paradigm in the 80's in a product called DataDesk. That software was created by Cornell professor Paul Velleman. Paul was a student of John Tukey and credits his influence on the product.

https://datadescription.com/

untangle··on Show HN: Unclutter – Reader mode, but better
I use this category of tool all the time, and I've tried at least a dozen of them.

Based on about an hour of usage, Unclutter is my favorite -- nudging out my current tool-of-choice (Tranquility!). Great job.

I would obviously like for you to continue development. Having said that, I have no great monetization advice. Nor do I even have any burning desire for new features. While I would expect to make progress on the latter, the money thing will be tough.

Some thoughts on money: Since I'm a power user of this type of software, I might pay $10/yr or so for Unclutter. But I have been told that such a low price do not a business model make. I think that your tool is squeezed between the "it's a vitamin" and "lots of good free options exist" pincers. As a sidenote, social features don't appeal to me.

Whatever you decide, I wish you luck. I'm on Firefox/Mac BTW.

untangle··on We are sorry to inform you that you are in a cult
Perhaps I'm stating the obvious, but "...sorry to inform you..." is just one post of many on the blog.

Those seeking more context should check out the home page and some of the other posts. Two items emerge quickly: the blogger left Utah several years ago and is now probably an atheist.

But the writing is great -- haunting and mysterious. Nice find.

untangle··on Ask HN: How to find a small town to relocate for remote work?
> Pine Bluff, Arkansas

You know this now, but most crime databases have Pine Bluff as one of the most crime-riddles metros in the country. It rates a "1" on a scale of 100, with 100 being best (safest). Bummer.

https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ar/pine-bluff/crime

untangle··on Bitcoin drops below $20k, Ether cracks $1k – what this means
> there's nothing left to do besides the production migration.

And this is considered easy/low-risk?

It seems like the most frightening part, although perhaps less frightening as the crash continues.

untangle··on IPFS Support in Brave
Brave made $36M USD from an ICO in the middle of that hype. [0] BAT was a part of that "story." It's just a fish hook. That ICO is what's funding everything.

[0] https://medium.com/faast/brave-ico-review-600-in-6-days-b51d...

edit: added citation

untangle··on DARPA AlphaDogfight Finals: AI agents compete to face a human F-16 pilot
I'm a former Marine F/A-18 pilot. I'll take your questions in reverse order.

(3) IDK what their vision model is in the simulation, but you are correct – keeping sight is vital in dogfighting. The F-16 is formidably tiny. It's practically invisible nose-on. (2) Air Combat Maneuvering ("ACM" or "dogfighting") training typically begins each engagement a mile or so abeam. I'd say that more than 95% of my 1v1 exercises began this way. So no radar lock, visual only. (1) See previous answer: the engagements begin with no radar lock and the turning characteristics of modern fighters rapidly compress the fight "inside a phone book." So there's a constant tradeoff of energy and geometry. Events often occur inside the missile-arming ranges. Radar and/or IR locks are fleeting.

Most radar/missile training is done in 2v2 (or sometimes mvn) engagements. These are usually commenced head-on, with "fight's on" signal given at the first pass.

One can argue about how representative or realistic any of this training is. But it does make you a better aviator. And fighter pilots love it.

Also, my experience is from decades ago. Take it FWIW.

untangle··on Two Years to Make $10 in Software Revenue
You use the term "ATS" above the fold (in the headline!) with no explanation as to what it is. I found this confusing and wondered why I would even want such a thing.
untangle··on Reddit shuts down subreddits including r/The_Donald and r/ChapoTrapHouse
> "...I wish that we...could have more federated and decentralized platforms"

We did. They were called newsgroups and forums. Reddit is just 1000+ forums stuck together to build audience and make money.

untangle··on The Navy Electricity and Electronics Training Series (1998)
They are available directly: http://www.compatt.com/Tutorials/NEETS/NEETS.html
untangle··on Ask HN: What are some good resources to learn how electricity works?
Many folks have successfully used the US Navy training modules for electrical systems: http://www.compatt.com/Tutorials/NEETS/NEETS.html
untangle··on Mark Cuban says bailed out companies should never be allowed to buy back stocks
I agree with Mark Cuban on this. Easy decision and implementation.

1. Taking this money is optional but if you take it you accept the following terms. 2. You will not buy back stock for a period of 12 (?) months after the transaction. 3. For the four quarters following this transaction, you will not reduce your workforce by greater than 5%. 4. Etc.

There has to be a quid pro quo. It's not free.

untangle··on The Brave browser is brilliant, but probably not for the reasons you think
The article should be entitled "Brave Executive Team is Brilliant."

Brilliant in two ways: (1) they are an ad company that has fairly successfully wrapped itself in a Klingon Cloaking Sheild made up of "open source" and "pro-privacy" atoms; and (2) they did an ICO at a perfect time (peak of hype with BC soaring) and ease of implementation (Etherium). It was so good (bad) that it brought a tear to my eye.

Getting back to the article, I felt that the grade school "Daddy-O" interludes were unnecessary and distracting but I otherwise really liked it. And the illustrations were boss!

In fact, I liked it so much that I wanted to buy the author a coffee. So I clicked the link and...I was taken to some startup payment service that made it a chore to pay $3, so I bailed. I thought that was ironic as that payment site reminded me of Brave. Intermediating a common transaction with useless clutter and therefore foiling it.

So the Brave exec team and founders made a nice chunk of change and have perpetrated a ruse. But, luckily for users, they balanced Karma by producing a mighty-fine browser. Its capabilities rank it among the best.

untangle··on How to Kill a Startup Idea with Google Keyword Planner and AdWords: A Case Study
There is no mention of Yelp or Craigslist as a means to find local help? And the analyst spent a week on this? Waste of time. Nothing here.
untangle··on Apple AirPods: iPhone accessory or the next big thing?
Airpod sales benefit from one key feature: a big replacement market. They break and get lost...a lot.
untangle··on Fascia encases tissues and organs and may have widespread effects (2019)
> I think that “it works but we don’t know why” is appealing to a small slice of well-educated people who are comfortable with complexity and the limits of knowledge, but otherwise off-putting.

Really? So a limited number of intellectual elite are the only people capable of accepting faith-based arguments?

> It’s all pretty tricky human psychology though.

Indeed.

untangle··on Understanding What It's Like to Program in Forth (2008)
> Customers want holes.

So what? The customers of Forth are computer programmers, not carpenters.

And I, for one, go to Home Depot to buy drill bits (not holes).

If I wanted to buy holes, I'd hire a handyman.

untangle··on The Real Class War
> The real class war is between the 0.1 percent and (at most) the 10 percent—or, more precisely, between elites primarily dependent on capital gains and those primarily dependent on profes­sional labor.

There is a sharp contrast here, but I don't think it'll be the basis for a war – figuratively or otherwise. But this divide deserves more illumination.

untangle··on Apple TV, Apple TV, Apple TV, and Apple TV+
It's quite decent. B+
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