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wizardforhire

1,559 karma · joined April 7, 2016

Long time listener, first time caller.

I'm an open book.

AMA

#onelove

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wizardforhire··on Owners mourn spoiled food after firmware update bricks Samsung smart fridges
I’ve taken to sharing this clip [1] with anybody expressing the kind consumer behavior you outline… once they’re done laughing I simply say “now replace wa’er with [insert item of debate]” if they’re still arguing with me I share this clip [2]…

Maybe cruel, but I haven't found a better way to get someone to realize the error of their ways… because logic has obviously failed them.

[1] https://youtu.be/GceNsojnMf0 [2] https://youtu.be/-fC2oke5MFg

wizardforhire··on I said no and Apple said yes
Yeah linux is awesome! … But for me personally after spelunking distros… getting past the immense learning curve… again and again and again… settling , tweaking with stability, getting past foundational philosophical approaches, tweaking some more… and some more and some more… Finally getting somewhere and then… only then after starting to get to a place where i’m feeling some semblance of holy shit this is gonna work!?! Only to sit down and discover that Copy/Paste is this fucking dramatic cluster fuck… that yeah I could go through and I’m sure people have work arounds and it could arguably be solvable… or maybe I just need to get over my muscle memory yeah i’m the problem… Or… I can just build a hackintosh… and would you look at that, even a janky hack that came together in literally two hours just fucking works…and I didnt have to spend six month of my life for it, and omg I can copy and paste across every application with the same key binding that I never had to tweak…

So yeah, I love linux but fucking shit if it aint ridiculous on some pretty fundamental issues that (looking at my watch) were solved forty years ago!

wizardforhire··on All grown-ups were once children, but only few of them remember it
Adults have piñatas… theyre called starups
wizardforhire··on What will our economic future look like?
And I think the apprehension can be summed with “good luck with that”
wizardforhire··on Show HN: GET Together – A social network where you don't need POST to Post
Manually post without curl by editing this link below

https: //gettogether.dev/post?name=name&text=

wizardforhire··on An Alien Mind
Lol thousands?!?! Try roughly 250 and even then Hume only opened the door for us…
wizardforhire··on An Alien Mind
Game mechanics and evolutionary biology would like to have a word with you.
wizardforhire··on How the Disaster of "Forever Chemicals" Was Kept Secret
Well we all know now that the greatest crime is owning zines
wizardforhire··on I co-founded Burning Man. The festival has lost its soul
The history of burning man is well documented and predates the playa…

The head of the original man is still preserved by one of the original co-founders and I have personally seen it and touched it.

https://presidio.gov/explore/blog/then-now-burning-man-at-ba...

wizardforhire··on But yak shaving is fun
Maybe the most beautiful examples of the joy and importance of yak shaving that I’ve ever come across is inheritance machining on youtube. [1]

But truthfully part of the process of creating in general is yak shaving… as is so often said “trust the process”.

Arguably, the entire concept of tech debt is owed to the lack of yak shaving.

[1] https://youtube.com/@InheritanceMachining

wizardforhire··on Banned Book Library in a Wi-Fi Smart Light Bulb
Why stop there? While meshtastic would require additional hardware, tor entry exit nodes would not. Nor would other mesh protocols… also as for hosting ideas… the text files? Def cad and related models… skies the limit with space the only limiting factor.
wizardforhire··on Your ePub Is fine
Vocally public yes… but they wanted to see what the diy scene created, how the power users were using the device and letting them develop the ideas and implement… they would open up and co-opt… boss tools is your drag down for all your settings case in point. This has been openly admitted to in interviews after the fact.
wizardforhire··on FarOutCompany
The reasons are varied… groups implode or become cults… people move on often times when kids get involved for all the reasons other have stated already… but also things get co-opted way faster now given less time for groups and movements to gestate and coalesce… but theres still groups like this and there probably will be in perpetuity…

they either implode or get so successful that they assimilate and morph… The early US was rife with utopian societies whose stories are legion, onieda and the mormons to name two contrasting early examples. More modern and infamous inline with the time period of this post is drop city… they got too successful as they were a stop on the way out to sf but they went onto do great things.

wizardforhire··on Pirates, a naval warfare game inspired by Sid Meier's Pirates
Is there an unskipable minigame thats crucial to winning that majorly objectifies women and is beyond obnoxious with terrible animations and sound effects?

Because if not, I’d love to check this out… but never again in my life will I subject myself to that mini-game!

wizardforhire··on Mercedes‑Benz starts large‑scale production of electric axial flux motor
This is gonna be wild in a few years when these things are parted out the way tesla motors have been… Everything about these is crazy!

If you’re not caught up https://youtu.be/m507ryWhc6c?si=Hq3dfjXYxEIlYzeo

wizardforhire··on Sagrada Família Lego set
And/Or halfway through have to change the design
wizardforhire··on They’re made out of weights
In fallout it would turn out to be a human brain kept artificially alive… or if were going with canon a hapless fellow who falls into fev and morphs with a computer…

Not too rule your addition outright in future installments.

wizardforhire··on Ask Hn: Is Hacker News the Real Backrooms??
Endlessly Beige, product of the internet, people and concepts you’ll almost never interact with, the looming threat of some cosmic karma, ai monsters, rehashed copies of copies of ideas and postings, no escape…
wizardforhire··on Thornton Wilder's Last Play Vanished into Thin Air. Or Did It?
Well… finally… Now man is poised for one of the greatest moments in time.
wizardforhire··on Scientists say they've reversed brain aging in mice with a nasal spray
Was looking for the “in mice” in this article and found none… anybody got a link to the paper please
wizardforhire··on California moves to exempt Linux from its age-verification law after backlash
Thats crazy talk, how are we gonna build a database of computers tied to physical identification of users by which we can monitor, control, and monetize… you’re saying parents should be responsible for their children? How is the state going to be able to exert more control if it doesn’t have ubiquitous surveillance of it’s population!? /s
wizardforhire··on A fundamental principle of aeronautical engineering has been overturned
This article and thread has got some major Tai’s Model vibes [1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai%27s_model

wizardforhire··on At least 25 Flock cameras have been destroyed in five states since April 2025
Jeffrey S. Sovern, 41, of Suffolk, Virginia, didn’t hide what he did. He set up a GoFundMe for his legal defense. He linked to deflock.org, an anti-surveillance activist site. He wrote a statement: “I appreciate everyone’s right to privacy, enshrined in the fourth amendment.” And: “I appreciate a quiet life and am not looking forward to this process, but I will take the silver lining that this can be a catalyst in a bigger movement to roll-back intrusive surveillance.”

This is what patriotism really looks like.

wizardforhire··on US Government releases first batch of UAP documents and videos
As wild as this is, its very true… idk about till November as I think their playbook repeats too often. Regardless, I have friends that run mobile studio vans for on-air guests whose major client is fox news… they get schedules two weeks in advance of guests. Locations… scheduling, production, logistics all takes time and planning obviously… the studios and powers at be absolutely have already thought in advance what stories they’ll be pushing! Not to say random last minute events don’t happen constantly throwing a wrench in things… but regardless the over arching narratives and news cycle are already mostly planned out.
wizardforhire··on LinkedIn scans for 6,278 extensions and encrypts the results into every request
Not if you organize it as a non-profit with stated purpose that explicitly address exactly that… and is run as a public service for the public good.
wizardforhire··on What can we gain by losing infinity?
Normally amps only go up to ten… but this one goes to eleven. …it’s one louder ain’t it!?!
wizardforhire··on Amateur armed with ChatGPT solves an Erdős problem
WTF!?
wizardforhire··on The Beauty of Bonsai Styles
When I was a kid we had a bonsai book… I used to look through it for hours…

Cut to the future and I not only can find that book again [1] but the author has a beautiful and hilarious youtube channel [2] Worth the watch if only for the lulz

[1] https://a.co/d/06DuHIQs

[2] https://youtube.com/@HeronsBonsaiUK/featured

wizardforhire··on NIST scientists create 'any wavelength' lasers
Just read the article and didn't see anything about building an actual laser… what details the article has (and its scant) its seems they took a fluorescing layer and sandwiched with a color wheel and added the additional wiring and control circuitry… (Obviously more nuanced and interesting physics but still…) cool and practical, but not a diode and definitely not a laser… I could be wrong and would love to be!

… now, if that setup could be drawn out into a fiber laser as cladding with a wide spectrum neural amplifying core (if such a material exists) that could maybe be something idk

wizardforhire··on Scientists discover “cleaner ants” that groom giant ants in Arizona desert
Lol!

Because there hasn’t been enough time and the ecological niche is non existent… ?

However… upon further inspection, one could argue that the micro biome is full of beneficial micro organisms that have evolved to fill this niche…

[1] Staphylococcus epidermidis

This is one of the most abundant and beneficial bacteria on human skin. It produces antimicrobial peptides and metabolites that inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria.

[2] Cutibacterium acnes

Despite its association with acne, this bacterium actually plays an important role in skin health by producing propionic acid, which helps maintain skin pH and prevents overgrowth of harmful organisms.

[3] Corynebacterium species

Various corynebacteria colonize the skin and produce lipases and other enzymes that help break down sebum (skin oils) and maintain healthy skin conditions.

[4] Malassezia species

These yeasts are abundant on skin and help regulate the skin microbiome, though they can sometimes cause issues in excess.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staphylococcus_epidermidis

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutibacterium_acnes

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corynebacterium

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malassezia

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