Hacker News Reader

valbacaon Most UI applications are broken real-time applications

> when I realized that most mainstream desktop UI applications were fundamentally broken.

Oh boy

> File system IO functions belong to a class of functions called blocking functions.

Hasn’t non-blocking IO been a major feature for about a decade now??

valbacaon Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

much appreciated!

valbacaon Show HN: Mana Pool – Market for Magic Cards

Yes, I glossed over the core set 2x problem

The community did pick up Netrunner: https://nullsignal.games/

valbacaon Show HN: Mana Pool – Market for Magic Cards

Consider Card Kingdom, they (used to) do exactly this: https://www.cardkingdom.com/purchasing/sell_collection

EDIT: added the (used to)

Consider joining a local MtG group on facebook (yes, I know). There are often a few people willing to buy collections. Get a couple or three to come and take a look and give you an offer.

valbacaon Show HN: Mana Pool – Market for Magic Cards

Still worth a G: https://www.mtgstocks.com/prints/11943-library-of-alexandria

valbacaon Show HN: Mana Pool – Market for Magic Cards

> but collectibles will keep growing forever.

YIKES. That's certainly one way to look at a market: unbridled optimism that it will never shrink!

valbacaon Show HN: Mana Pool – Market for Magic Cards

> What I don't like too much is that the minter is a private company that profits from this artificial scarcity.

You might prefer FFG (Fantasy Flight Games) Living Card model. Effectively, each new set that comes out, you can buy a full play-set (it was 3x for Netrunner).

Unfortunately, it's just hard to compete with the gambli---er--addicti---er-- BOSTER PACK model of MtG.

(I've played MtG for 24 years, very much invested and sad that it's a LITERAL investment, see https://www.mtgstocks.com)

valbacaon Boys and Men in the United States Are Struggling. The Left Should Talk About It

Exceptionally well-put. Thank you

valbacaon Boys and Men in the United States Are Struggling. The Left Should Talk About It

Using the "culture wars" to 1) sell books and 2) hide the real problem: which is class warfare.

Billionares sucking the life out of our planet and people and are happy that we're squabbling over how "the left treats men" instead of looking up to ones that are causing a global mental health crisis

valbacaon Boys and Men in the United States Are Struggling. The Left Should Talk About It

> it's healthcare.

And healthcare is NEVER politicized.

valbacaon Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

But I guess that would make the timing part be obvious and kind of ruin the "fun" of the story. Though I fully agree, the difference between "front of store" and "back of store" icecream couldn't be that much and also doesn't make much sense.

Or I could imagine something like a Sonic drive-through, where you often pull up in to a slot and turn off your car, but only until your order gets brought to you by a bellhop:

- works when I order a burger (burger takes a few minutes to cook)

- doesn't work when I order a hot dog (those are hot and ready to go)

or something like, works when I order a chili dog (because they have to heat up the chili)

valbacaon Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

got a link to the whitepaper? or name?

valbacaon Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

Sounds like an area with strong EM interference. Maybe a stop-light with those underground sensors? or under a high-power line? or near a power transfer station? or high-power radio antennae?

Could be giving just enough weird EM interference to bump the sensor from "enough fluid" to "low"

(I know I sound like Scully from x-files but could just be?)

valbacaon Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

Remember how old speakers would let you know if you were about to get a cellphone call. It was like digital precognition haha

valbacaon Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

Had a similar effect with garage door sensors and TVs which use infrared. During sunset, the sun would line up juust right to blank out the sensors

valbacaon Google hid evidence by training workers to avoid words monopolists use, DOJ says

Every FAANG does this.

Trainings on avoiding words like "Dominate" or "Global market" and such.

valbacaon The Top Programming Languages 2023

AI is in a hype-cycle. Spring boot isn't

valbacaon I can tolerate anything except the outgroup (2014)

The gun owner example isn't a great one. one of the first rules of gun ownership is to never tell anyone. It's a valuable and deadly asset which gains value from people NOT knowing that you have it.

valbacaon Ask HN: What's your favourite hobby and how did it start?

They can. My friend got his whole deck proxied online for about $50

Problem is that it’s worthless to anyone but him.

The cards are expensive but they also hold some relative value (can be resold) and only real cards are legal in tournaments.

That said, for casual games, proxies are growing in popularity and I always say they’re a moral imperative. Only problem is some people use proxies that use non-standard art or borders, which can really hamper the game (or in one case, be incredibly cringe and awful to play against).

valbacaon Ask HN: What's your favourite hobby and how did it start?

Magic the Gathering. Got a box of Starter 1999 at my local game store (LGS) as I was growing out of playing Pokémon.

I’ve been paying off and on ever since; usually ON when I have money (summer I worked in college and once again when I graduated and started making Engineer money)

I often joke that it’s like Golfing for Tech. I’ve met so many lifelong friends through the hobby. I’ve taught people how to play on first dates (and yes, they continued to date me haha). It’s been a hobby that has helped me establish new friends when I’ve moved cities. I’ve even played semi-competitively in Modern and Legacy, which is just a fun conversation starter.

Nowadays I play Cube and Commander weekly and I buy the yearly Commander decks and play them with my friends that like to play occasionally but leave the Hobby to me.

valbacaon When your classmates threaten you with felony charges

> threatening to do a legal act is largely legal. it's not illegal to threaten reporting to the authorities, for instance.

It absolutely can be illegal, in the case of extortion. If you say "do this or I turn you in" that's extortion.

valbacaon When your classmates threaten you with felony charges

If it's a threat, then that's literally blackmail.

It's only legal to use the legal action, period. Once you pull in a THREAT, it becomes blackmail/extortion.

valbacaon Let Go (2011)

Obi-wan’s spirit says “Let go” in the iconic “Use the Force” scene.

https://www.starwars.com/video/use-the-force-luke

valbacaon Ask HN: What is the most exciting thing you have learnt this year till now?

Comparison is the thief of joy.

You absolutely hit an achievement. Congratulations!

valbacaon My frugal indie dev startup stack (2022)

Agreed. Nearly every item is actually “per month (for the next 12ish months)”

valbacaon Fantastic Learning Resources

In computer science, an invariant is a logical assertion that is always held to be true during a certain phase of execution of a computer program. For example, a loop invariant is a condition that is true at the beginning and the end of every iteration of a loop.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invariant_(mathematics)#Invari...

valbacaon (next Rich)

(inc hammock-time) ; Congratulations!

valbacaon Why is c the symbol for the speed of light? (1997)

Light is how we “see”

valbacaon Ask HN: Who are you”, “Who is this” texts

https://www.wired.com/story/imessage-interactionless-hacks-g...

That’s why

valbacaon Azorius 0.1

Cue the Pinkertons