simpaticoder (u/simpaticoder)

simpaticoder commented on Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (December 2025) · Posted by u/david927

mikewarot · 2 days ago

Fringe physics: Trying to understand WTF the A field is in electrodynamics, and how I can measure it for a price I can afford. Specifically, I want to communicate through a wall of rock or sea water at VHF frequencies, with high bandwidth. I just upgraded my subscription with ChatGPT to try to grok all of the physics involved. It decided that since this could be used to covertly exfiltrate data, it wasn't something that could be discussed. ;(

Recently a friend acquired a Collins KW-1 transmitter, serial number 1. I helped him get it working again after a long period of disuse by it's previous owner. You wouldn't believe how often it turns out that wires and bolts don't actually conduct electricity.

simpaticoder · 2 days ago

Maybe I can help with one or two conceptual things. In classic E&M a field describes the potential (or force, if you prefer) a test charge would experience at that point. Note that the general case is impossible to visualize, as you're associating 6 numbers (3 for E 3 for B) with every point in space, so we normally think of simple setups and slice them up. Accelerated charges make waves in the field which are WAY more complex than people think. The way you model matter is dependent on the frequency of light. For visible light you normally think of it (especially metal) as a crystalline lattice of some characteristic length, electrons that can jump discrete energy levels, with molecules forming some sort of dipole that has more degrees-of-freedom (wobbling, twisting). I don't know about VHF, but the wavelengths are huge, like kms, and therefore way too low energy to cause electron shell jumps, so you'll probably model matter according to some very general characteristic like permittivity and conductivity. For seawater (which is a good conductor) subs use ELF, which is 100s of kms in air and can only communicate at bits/s. It's a fascinating topic, and very niche. Good luck!

simpaticoder commented on So What Should We Call This – A Grue Jay? cns.utexas.edu/news/resea... · Posted by u/surprisetalk

onraglanroad · 4 days ago

More like: "HN Commenter Shocked To Discover Climate Change Changes Lots Of Things"

That's not snappy enough for the Onion really.

simpaticoder · 4 days ago

If you tend not to believe something, give greater weight to evidence that it's true. If you tend to believe it, give less weight and actively seek for other explanations. This is how we defeat the confirmation bias in ourselves and have better arguments.

For example, believe climate change is quite real but have a poor intuition for its scale and timeline, which is why I am extra skeptical about the claim that these specific habitat changes are caused by climate change, and wonder what other factors may come into play. (I have the same reaction to climate events - if sloppy thinkers claim heat waves are evidence for climate change, then equally sloppy thinkers on the other side can claim cold snaps are evidence against. Both are wrong, and waste our time.)

Authors should speculate about alternative causal chains even if they eventually discard them. This builds trust. Unfortunately this good behavior is associated with climate change denialism, and so those who admit its reality simply don't offer an alternative even when the complexity of the situation is extremely high. The result, ironically, is just more badvocacy on both sides, more noise in the infospace, which ultimately means the "do nothing" side wins.

simpaticoder commented on Migrating Dillo from GitHub dillo-browser.org/news/mi... · Posted by u/todsacerdoti

oooyay · 17 days ago

Collaboration and specifically collaboration with non git nerds. That's primarily what made GitHub win the VCS wars back in the day. The pull request model appealed to anyone who didn't want to learn crafting and emailing patches.

simpaticoder · 17 days ago

Yes, it's the PRs, and there is a misunderstanding I think because the OP and the GP's use-cases are quite different. Self-hosting your own repository on a remote server (and perhaps sharing it with 1 or 2 collaborators) is simple but quite different than running a public open source project that solicits contributions.

simpaticoder commented on Physicists drive antihydrogen breakthrough at CERN phys.org/news/2025-11-phy... · Posted by u/naves

idiotsecant · 19 days ago

Yes, it's a little mind boggling because the typical human context is this rocky ball of what is ultimately a very uncommon distribution of heavy elements. It's a strange feeling to know that almost everything is utterly unlike the everyday human experience. If you turn down the uhm acksshuwlly a few notches I think parent post's point is quite obvious.

simpaticoder · 19 days ago

The uniqueness of our state is quite interesting, arguably profound. Sol exists in the so-called "Local Bubble" which is about 1/100 of the average density of the galaxy, probably caused by multiple supernova. It's possible, if not likely, that this has helped reduce impact events such that life has only reset ~6 times rather than hundreds, and probably contributed to the relative abundance of heavy elements in our solar system.

Earth's biosphere is profoundly 'lucky' on several very disparate time-scales. And then there's the size of the moon...

simpaticoder commented on How to stay sane in a world that rewards insanity joanwestenberg.com/p/how-... · Posted by u/enbywithunix

jkmcf · a month ago

They were called Sophists in Ancient Greece and were despised by Socrates because their arguments were based, not on truth or facts, but whatever rhetoric would convince the audience.

simpaticoder · a month ago

Yes, and the antithesis of rhetoric is reason.

The quality I value in myself (and others when I find it) is a bias to doubt evidence of things I already believe, and to accept proof of things I do not believe. The bias isn't strong (that way lies madness!), but it makes your mental model of the world stronger. It's also a much better filter than "intelligent", "polite" or "articulate", which are all orthogonal to the kind of rational, open skepticism I advocate. The big downside is that such qualities are subtle and hard to judge. Tribal affiliation is, for all its faults, easy to measure.

Another point of optimism: being a persecuted (or neglected) minority can have some positive effects, if you can find your people.

simpaticoder commented on Ask HN: How would you set up a child’s first Linux computer? · Posted by u/evolve2k

simpaticoder · a month ago

The big question for me is how to give a child an experience that builds an accurate mental model of what a computer is and what software is. This was easier back in the day (like, Apple IIe times) when you ran one program at a time and if you didn't interact with it, it sat there, inert. (Yes I realize there is always some steady-state physical process going on, e.g. the pulsing of the clock-crystal, refreshing DRAM, etc. But I'm talking about software.) There is something beautiful and....solid about running a single process running in immediate mode on a simple CPU.

Contrast this with a modern experience. There are hundreds of inscrutable processes running, constantly talking to the network, to disk, doing who-knows-what. What does "software" mean on a modern machine? Software runs the gamut from a command line one-shot tool, to an invisible daemon, to a desktop app with a window, or multiple windows, to something hosted in a browser, to something hosted by something hosted in a browser. How can you build a clear mental model amidst so much noise, clutter and (both UI and runtime) heterogeneity?

In the same why "phylogeny recapitulates ontogeny" I'd argue the correct computer for a kid is a single process box with either hard-coded programs or a floppy-like experience (e.g. SD card "floppies). Given all of this, the perfect kids computer system is an HDMI TV dongle that runs an Apple IIe emulator, Logo, and a handful of retro games, and an SD card slot for other programs (prepped by the parent). No wifi or internet, bluetooth for connecting a keyboard, and no mouse.

simpaticoder commented on Meta projected 10% of 2024 revenue came from scams sherwood.news/tech/meta-p... · Posted by u/donohoe

vladms · a month ago

Wonder how it would sound if we would use the same paragraph about "deregulation".

> Deregulation always seems simple, but there are inevitable unintended consequences. Sadly, those who see deregulation as the only or best tool to shape behavior are quick to suggest yet more deregulation to fix those unintended consequences ...

Which sounds more reasonable: "Deregulation always seems simple" or "Regulation always seems simple" ? Will let the reader decide, because in the end it is a subjective choice.

I personally don't think there is one optimum that we can reach. At certain points in time and for certain subjects deregulation should be applied at other points in time regulation should be applied. I don't see any point in talking "generally", this depends on topic, country, priorities, etc.

simpaticoder · a month ago

>I personally don't think there is one optimum that we can reach.

I agree with this, and the containing paragraph. Everything is trade-offs. It may very well be that Facebook is under-regulated (and it probably is the case). I suppose I'm thinking of ways to use the situation to fix the much bigger and arguably worse problem with the justice system in general. Non-rich people (I don't say "poor" because I include middle-class as well) are totally boxed out of the justice system in the USA. A pox of scammers is just one of the side-effects of the ossification and decay of the system. I'd like to solve a big chunk of problems all at once, including this one.

simpaticoder commented on Meta projected 10% of 2024 revenue came from scams sherwood.news/tech/meta-p... · Posted by u/donohoe

scott_w · a month ago

> "Scam" is fundamentally subjective, just as "harm" is.

From the article:

> Meta projected 10% of 2024 revenue came from scams and banned goods, Reuters reports

I think we can agree that there's no "subjective" situation when a product is banned.

> The ad networks are themselves the natural allies of such a reform

The article (and the person you're replying to) point out that a significant portion of Meta's revenue comes from such scams. I'm really struggling to see how they're "natural allies" and not "antagonists" here. You're going to have to show me some research that backs up your claim because it flies in the face of the available information.

simpaticoder · a month ago

>I'm really struggling to see how they're "natural allies"

Ah, sorry. Perhaps I should have spelled it out. Meta desperately wants to avoid being regulated. One way they can avoid it is to help make the out-of-band justice system (much) more efficient such that they avoid messy moderation policies and don't need to be regulated anymore. Victims would be happier too, especially if they get remunerated for their pain, time, and trouble. The message to scammers everywhere (not just on Meta) becomes clear: go ahead and try it, you will get caught and put out of business, and likely sent to jail. Eventually the scammers will realize it's not worth it.

The unintended side-effect, sadly, is that legitimate business will be attacked as scams by profit-seeking or malicious individual malefactors.

In any event, I think reforming the US justice system is way overdue; it is far too expensive and time-consuming for most matters, and that means we live in a place with de facto lack of courts. And I don't like that.

simpaticoder commented on Meta projected 10% of 2024 revenue came from scams sherwood.news/tech/meta-p... · Posted by u/donohoe

zoeysmithe · a month ago

Scams are absolutely not subjective and capitalism fails at every level without regulation like this. Your comment is very libertarian housecat coded.

Also 'just go to court' is such a naive take. As someone who has been in litigation before I can tell you those $350/hr billings add up quick. How many consumers can afford a 5 or even 6 digit legal bill for being scammed for a few hundred or thousands dollars on a FB ad? Of those who can, how many would see this pricetag as worth it? Sorry but small claims court isn't going to do discovery for you for some company hidden behind who knows how many storefronts and foreign proxies. You're going to have to do real litigation. Its absurd to expect every working class person to sue all scammers constantly. Instead ad providers should be policing their own ad networks and the working class should be using the government to implement proper regulations to protect ourselves.

simpaticoder · a month ago

People's first instinct is to attack the thing they don't like directly. The second instinct should be to consider the system in which those things arise, and what the incentives are for everyone involved. If you have a roomful of loud children, you could apply draconian rules on silence; or, if you notice there is no sound-deadening and so the children are unwittingly participating in a positive feedback loop to be heard above the din, you can add material. My goal is not a libertarian one, its a minimalism one. Streamlining the court system has many other benefits besides this one; the excessive cost and time required to use the court is used systematically by malefactors at every level of society. From patent trolls to absurd rates of criminal prosecutions that are never heard by a jury, it's an enormous problem in our society.

Regulation always seems simple, but there are inevitable unintended consequences. Sadly, those who see regulation as the only or best tool to shape behavior are quick to suggest yet more regulation to fix those unintended consequences, either unaware of the positive feedback loop or certain there exists some set of regulation that will finally, perfectly fix the system. I find this way of thinking naive; it is almost always better to make adjustments to the system to shape behavior that way. And in this case, the obvious way to do that is to fix the courts, and make justice affordable again.

simpaticoder commented on Meta projected 10% of 2024 revenue came from scams sherwood.news/tech/meta-p... · Posted by u/donohoe

macNchz · a month ago

Alongside a password manager and keeping things up to date, using an ad blocker is truly a foundational security practice these days. The big advertising players simply have all of the wrong incentives to control this problem. They could massively reduce the volume of scams advertised on their networks, but it’d be worse for them on two fronts: they’d have to pay for more moderation, and they’d lose billions in revenue in the process. Shoulder surfing while a non-savvy user browses Facebook or YouTube without an ad blocker and engages with obviously fraudulent ads is painful.

simpaticoder · a month ago

*>They could massively reduce the volume of scams advertised on their networks

I'm not entirely sure that's true. It's equivalent to asking a platform to moderate all "harmful content" off the site. "Scam" is fundamentally subjective, just as "harm" is.

The real solution is to reform the justice system such that a citizen feeling they've been defrauded has a quick and easy process to get satisfaction for themselves and other similarly harmed people. We need a streamlined, totally online court that excels at gathering and interpreting data, and a decision in days not years. The ad networks are themselves the natural allies of such a reform, but such a change can and should start small as a pilot program at the state level. If successful, it removes the considerable legal-cost moat protecting scammers, and so it no longer makes sense to even attempt such a business, and the world becomes a slightly better place.