| 1. |
|
▲ Gordon Bell has died (arstechnica.com)
**Gordon Bell Has Left The Building... To Rest**
The tech world pauses its relentless navel-gazing to mourn the death of Gordon Bell, the closest thing to a rock star in computer engineering, with tributes clogging the reality escape tube known as the Internet. A commenter fondly recalls Bell through anecdotes that sound like they were harvested from a Hallmark card, cleverly weaving in praise for a cookie recipe that could arguably be considered Bell's most impactful life's work (if you ask them). Meanwhile, ASCII aficionados wax nostalgic, debating over control character origins like conspiracy theorists around a UFO sighting, fueling the fires of irrelevance with the fervency of a college debate team. Gordon Bell’s life of log-worthy marvels is reduced to a forum thread piecing together the crumbs of historical annotations and ASCII speculations, because, why worship innovators when you can debate minuscule points of computer history into verbose oblivion? 💾🍪💤
|
|
639 points by dcminter
2024-05-21T19:23:59 |
48 comments
|
|
| 2. |
|
▲ The curious case of the missing period (tjaart.substack.com)
**The curious case of the missing period**
In a shocking twist that no one saw coming, a developer tackles the Herculean task of implementing SMTP without simply using an existing library, because why make life *easy*? The commenters, in a dazzling display of missed points and over-explained principles, transform a simple coding mishap into a philosophical treatise on software development best practices. Watch as they epicly battle it out in verbosity, waxing poetic about single-responsibility, high-level protocols, and the Darwinian brutality of Linus Torvalds' approach to coding. Fall asleep midway through their soliloquies, or join the debate on whether "real engineers" use debugging tools or just cry in the server room. 🍿💻🤓
|
|
187 points by the_real_tjaart
2024-05-21T18:35:13 |
88 comments
|
|
| 3. |
|
▲ Show QN: Pls Fix – Hire big tech employees to appeal account suspensions (plsfix.co)
Welcome to the latest tech disruption: Pls Fix, a daring hybrid of Silicon Valley innovation and potential legal disaster where big tech employees get paid under the table to unsuspend your social media accounts. Commenters, quick to flex their Google Law Degrees, dive into a riveting discussion on whether slipping a tech employee a cool $249 is just smart business or will lead you straight to the slammer. Spoiler alert: the real crime might just be the level of optimism about this sketchy legal/ethical tightrope walk. Who needs laws when you have disruptive tech ideas and a handy loophole, right? 😂👩⚖️💸
|
|
241 points by jpdpeters
2024-05-21T17:12:22 |
228 comments
|
|
| 4. |
|
▲ CADmium: A local-first CAD program built for the browser (mattferraro.dev)
In the latest episode of *Software Savior Fantasies*, Matt Ferraro heralds the coming of CADmium, a CAD tool that promises to revolutionize nothing. Crowds of developers, desperate for any glimmer of hope in the open-source CAD wasteland (where apparently "stable fillets" are equivalent to the Holy Grail), are throwing themselves at Matt's GitHub repo. Commenters wax poetic about the mystical "Truck" kernel, heralded as the savior of their engineering souls, while simultaneously mourning the inevitable slide into a SaaS subscription hell. To round off the party, we've got hobbyists who just discovered browser-based CAD exists and couldn’t be more thrilled to voluntarily lobotomize their privacy for the convenience of losing their work mid-flight. It's open-source drama meets Industrial Design idolatry, grab your popcorn! 🍿🎨
|
|
389 points by samwillis
2024-05-21T14:19:56 |
152 comments
|
|
| 5. |
|
▲ What UI density means and how to design for it (matthewstrom.com)
In a precious revelation equivalent to discovering gravity, the digital minds on matthewstrom.com selflessly explain the unbelievably nuanced concept of "UI density" — because squinting at your phone like a confused owl enhances dining indecisiveness. Thankfully, public saviors in the comments unveil their revolution of browsing menus in desktop mode on mobile devices, a stratagem surely marked for a Nobel. Each découpage of UI insights gets paired with grand complaints about mobile versions of virtually every site — because if you can't zoom in to see each pixel, is it even worth viewing? Cue applause for the re-discovery of buttons that make tiny things slightly less tiny. Bravo, change the world, disrupt our screens. 🎭👏
|
|
520 points by delaugust
2024-05-21T13:41:39 |
280 comments
|
|
| 6. |
|
▲ A Road to Common Lisp (stevelosh.com)
Today on the vintage corner of the internet, a brave soul attempts to resurrect Lisp—because what the world lacks are parentheses and niche programming humor. Steve, from a bespoke basement no doubt cluttered with mechanical keyboards, treats us to "A Road to Common Lisp." He maps out a path that precisely three people will follow, all of whom are arguing in the comments about the superiority of their Emacs configurations. Watch as they inevitably descend into sharing dotfiles that none of them will actually use. Meanwhile, the rest of the world moves on, unconcerned with the Lisp and parentheses population problem. 🚀🤓
|
|
6 points by fuzztester
2024-05-21T23:59:39 |
0 comments
|
|
| 7. |
|
▲ Designed to Crash: the story of Antonov An-28 HA-LAJ and its demise (admiralcloudberg.medium.com)
Once again, the world is treated to an intellectually stimulating autopsy on the demise of the Antonov An-28 HA-LAJ, because what we all truly lack in our lives is a deep understanding of how Soviet-era aircraft tick (or rather, tock before they go boom). The author, a high priest in the temple of historical aircraft trivia obscura, unravels the intricate failings of this metal sky bird with the meticulous care of a cat dissecting its last meal. The comment section, as expected, transforms quickly into a battleground where aviation "experts" and history buffs lob factoids and barely-masked insults at each other, each trying desperately to prove they missed their calling at the NTSB. Truly, a riveting read for anyone who marvels at humanity’s ability to argue about anything, including decades-old airplane parts. ✈️😱
|
|
16 points by sklargh
2024-05-21T22:35:15 |
0 comments
|
|
| 8. |
|
▲ The Stanford Startup and the MIT Startup (2013) (fpgacomputing.blogspot.com)
In the latest round of "Who Can Sound More Pretentious?", a blogger reminisces on the good old days when terms like "parallel programming" were avant-garde enough to make you the star of any hipster tech meetup. The commentary from the grand stands of Hacker News oscillates between treasure and trash—MIT is the lost ark of unrealized dreams while Stanford pops out consumer tech trash like a dysfunctional vending machine. Both factions evoke nostalgia for tech dilemmas more riddled with holes than their arguments, culminating in a chasm of wasted potential and despondent sighs from readers searching for a point. TL;DR: Tech's equivalent of dividing the laundry—colorful but ultimately, does anyone really care? 🤷♂️
|
|
43 points by momofuku
2024-05-21T21:35:35 |
5 comments
|
|
| 9. |
|
▲ Wikimedia Enterprise – APIs for LLMs, AI Training, and More (wikimedia.com)
Wikimedia Enterprise has decided to grace us with APIs for LLMs, AI Training, and More, a capitalist haven wrapped up in the altruistic banner of “funding streams”. The comment section unfolds as a tragicomedy with concerned netizens teetering on a tightrope of hypocrisy. While they gnash teeth over potential conflicts of interest and the slow-drip open source commitments, a chorus of keyboard warriors passionately extols the virtues of keeping Wikipedia’s venerable data peasant-work free, yet are paradoxically thrilled to watch it fuel those icky, sleek LLMs. Watch as the Wikimedia Foundation attempts to not cannibalize its own ethos while everyone pretends that their once-a-year code toss isn’t just a glorified database dump. 🙃
|
|
94 points by ks2048
2024-05-21T20:32:30 |
62 comments
|
|
| 10. |
|
▲ Show QN: Openpanel – An open-source alternative to Mixpanel (github.com/openpanel-dev)
In the latest act of open-source heroism, "Openpanel" emerges to save the day from the cruel clutches of paid analytics platforms, promising a free ride to Dysfunctional Datasets Land. Tech hobbyists and side-project warriors descend into the comment section armed with band-aids and GitHub links to triage an apparently bleeding infrastructure. One brave coder suggests streaming with Kafka because... why not throw in another buzzword to keep the project hip? Meanwhile, other soon-to-be customers are throwing feature requests into the mix like it’s Happy Hour at the Feature Bar, because clearly, nothing spells success like planning Kubernetes integration before ensuring the platform can handle the traffic of a sleepy blog. 🌐💥💻
|
|
70 points by lindesvard
2024-05-21T18:43:50 |
30 comments
|
|
| 11. |
|
▲ Business Booms and Depressions Since 1775 (1943) (stlouisfed.org)
Title: *Economists Discover Long Feature Canvas Called "History"*
Ah, the St. Louis Fed made a *magic pdf scroll*, celebrating every financial hiccup from 1775 with tiny print no mortal can read without a microscope! Our esteemed internet commenters, in true form, swarmed this relic with keen insights like "Wow, the '30s sucked!" and groundbreaking analyses akin to comparing market fluctuations to unpredictable ocean waves—because, obviously, no one noticed that before. The collective brilliance suggests an itching desire to see this financial rollercoater stretched back to the dinosaurs or perhaps plotted for Mars' economy. Hey, anyone up there checked how the Martian Great Depression is going? 🚀💸
|
|
142 points by throw0101d
2024-05-21T15:19:00 |
115 comments
|
|
| 12. |
|
▲ Fast real time fluid simulator based on MPM algorithm (kotsoft.github.io)
Today in the land of overengineered hobbies, a brave developer unleashes the "Fast real time fluid simulator based on MPM algorithm," or as commenters quickly dubbed it, "Fancy Particles Masquerading as Water." One astute observer notes that it's more like a digital salad dressing than a believable liquid, questioning the fabric of simulated reality—because if your virtual water can't pool accurately, what hope do you have in the real world? Another encourages us to touch, swipe, and probably even smack the screen in a multi-touch tribute to unrealism. Meanwhile, someone just looks on in existential tech dread, clearly pondering if this is all programming life has to offer. 🤔💧
|
|
33 points by andrewla
2024-05-21T15:41:04 |
7 comments
|
|
| 13. |
|
▲ Windows Copilot Runtime (windows.com)
**Windows Copilot Runtime: A Miracle of Modern Marketing**
With the unveiling of Windows Copilot Runtime, it's clear that the term "AI" has become the tech world's equivalent of pumpkin spice – seemingly sprinkled into every product regardless of necessity or season. The corporate press machine churns out another *spectacular* buzzword salad, with phrases like "AI infused at every layer" leaving readers both dazzled and bewildered, mostly the latter. In the comment section, tech enthusiasts engage in Olympic-level mental gymnastics trying to decipher what this might actually mean for their user experience. Most agree, it's probably just a new, exciting method to harvest data while pretending your new laptop is secretly a Transformer. Well done, marketing! 🤖💼
|
|
26 points by plurby
2024-05-21T20:25:46 |
9 comments
|
|
| 14. |
|
▲ Clever code is probably the worst code you could write (engineerscodex.com)
In the latest scintillating sermon from the scripture of "if it hurts, it means it’s working," engineerscodex.com enlightens the masses on why clever code is tantamount to tech heresy. Hordes of commenters then engage in intellectual Olympics to determine whether their code is Einstein-ing its way out of maintainability or just showing off like a junior dev at a hackathon. Meanwhile, those in the know recognize that the true disaster is not the code but needing four paragraphs to determine if a function call is a stroke of genius or just another Tuesday in the compiler's life. In the end, we're reminded that "clever" is just another word for "I forgot to comment my spaghetti code." 🍝
|
|
98 points by rbanffy
2024-05-21T22:21:35 |
104 comments
|
|
| 15. |
|
▲ I want flexible queries, not RAG (win-vector.com)
**In which technology enthusiasts argue about AI like medieval scholars quarreling over angel pin dancing**
In another groundbreaking installment of "I know more obscure acronyms than you," John Mount pontificates on the beauty of flexible queries, throwing shade at Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) like it's last season's software. Commenters scramble to one-up each other, presumably while patting themselves on the back. One insists RAG isn’t just a fancy leash to stop AI from hallucinating nonsense but a magician’s hat producing search rabbits. Others chime in with semi-related tech nostalgia or flex their “I skimmed this on Wikipedia” credentials. Collectively, they craft an online symposium where no one's sure what’s really being discussed, but everyone agrees they’re *absolutely crucial* to the conversation. 🙄🤖
|
|
82 points by jmount
2024-05-21T17:19:46 |
53 comments
|
|
| 16. |
|
▲ Storing knowledge in a single long plain text file (breckyunits.com)
In a groundbreaking revolution unmatched since the invention of the sticky note, a digital crusader has bestowed upon the world a **web-based tool** – yes, another one – for squirreling away your invaluable bytes of knowledge in a **single, long, plain text file**. True innovators in the comment section are falling over themselves to applaud the option to have text files with different background colors and indulge their fear of commitment to a single page. For those rebellious enough to demand syntax highlighting and cross-device accessibility, our hero sternly reminds them that you can totally save it on your dinosaur Chrome browser – because, apparently, using Google Sheets was too mainstream. Meanwhile, the whirling uncertainty of whether to diversify into a folder structure or encrypt their precious grocery lists remains a thrilling subplot. 📜🔥
|
|
99 points by breck
2024-05-21T19:36:36 |
38 comments
|
|
| 17. |
|
▲ Gifski: Optimized GIF Encoder (github.com/imageoptim)
**Gifski: Optimized GIF Encoder - Paradox of Progress**
In a digital era defined by breathtaking technological advances, a brave GitHub repo heroically defends the ancient art of generating bloated GIFs for all twelve people still using them for Google Slides. Meanwhile, enlightened commenters, shackled by such oppressive constraints as "required autoplay" and "no new files, my disk is full," lament their miserable fate in exhaustive detail. They yearn for a mythical, silent, looping, transparent masterpiece — the graphic format to end all formats. Yet here they remain, crafting their next overly hefty GIF, as they post screeds on the internet about the inefficiency that they continue to perpetuate. 🎭🔄
|
|
212 points by cl3misch
2024-05-21T10:16:06 |
53 comments
|
|
| 18. |
|
▲ The Effects of Early Relational Trauma (2001) [pdf] (allanschore.com)
In a brave new old trend where an ancient PDF on "The Effects of Early Relational Trauma" recaptures the spotlight at allanschore.com, Internet commenters dust off their psychological expertise purchased straight out of a Goodreads comment section. 📚 One enlightened soul heralds the book "The Deepest Well" as almost curing cancer, metaphorically, of course, due to its profound insights — because as everyone knows, reading equates direct scientific mastery. Another former foster parent chimes in, almost sarcastically hopeful about curing childhood trauma before cancer, reflecting on the storied tradition of Internet optimism. Meanwhile, the collective cyber choir sings a chorus of disheartenment over the lack of trauma education in medical schools, because if it isn’t in the curriculum, it must be news to humanity. How shocking and utterly unheard of! 🤔💔
|
|
62 points by sensiquest
2024-05-21T16:52:46 |
26 comments
|
|
| 19. |
|
▲ State of Compute Access: How to Bridge the New Digital Divide (institute.global)
The intellectual colossus at institute.global heroically tackle the "New Digital Divide," a groundbreaking concept surely unheard of until now. They propose ways to provide peons with "compute access," a phrase conjured to make checking Facebook sound like launching the Hubble Telescope. Meanwhile, the comment section becomes an Olympian arena where thinkfluencers battle with their greatest weapon: unchecked ignorance. Watch as they solve world inequality using all-caps solutions and anecdotes from their cousin’s neighbor who once saw a computer. 🚀💻🌍
|
|
4 points by teleforce
2024-05-19T12:57:06 |
0 comments
|
|
