thangalin (u/thangalin)

thangalin commented on Programming Patterns: The Story of the Jacquard Loom (2019) scienceandindustrymuseum.... · Posted by u/andsoitis

thangalin · 3 days ago

The history of how we go from a loom ca. 1725 to 80x25 terminals ca. 2026 is fascinating. It's been written up many times, here's my take:

https://dave.autonoma.ca/blog/2019/06/06/web-of-knowledge/

thangalin commented on Mermaid ASCII: Render Mermaid diagrams in your terminal github.com/lukilabs/beaut... · Posted by u/mellosouls

idoubtit · 10 days ago

Comparing MermaidJS with Kroki is a bit like comparing PDF.js to Adobe Acrobat. I don't think either is better than the other, they're just for different use-cases.

With MermaidJS, converting a diagram inside a web page requires adding a handful of lines to a HTML page. The execution is fast and local.

Kroki is a web-service. To use it in a web page means adding a dependency to an external provider (a free service exists, but asks for fundings). An alternative is self-hosting by running a Kroki container.

A few years ago, I added Mermaid diagrams to a project in a few minutes of work. Had we needed a much more complex tool, maybe I would have gone with Kroki, but not by myself; it would have required a change in the deploying process of the project.

thangalin · 10 days ago

> An alternative is self-hosting by running a Kroki container.

Exactly, which is why KeenWrite has a "Diagram server" setting:

https://i.ibb.co/LXxm33cb/diagram-server.png

> they're just for different use-cases

Sure. A software system could support one plain text diagram format, or support a multitude without tons more effort, architecturally speaking.

thangalin commented on Mermaid ASCII: Render Mermaid diagrams in your terminal github.com/lukilabs/beaut... · Posted by u/mellosouls

thangalin · 10 days ago

While Mermaid gets the limelight, Kroki[1] offers: BlockDiag, BPMN, Bytefield, SeqDiag, ActDiag, NwDiag, PacketDiag, RackDiag, C4 with PlantUML, D2, DBML, Ditaa, Erd, Excalidraw, GraphViz, Nomnoml, Pikchr, PlantUML, Structurizr, Svgbob, Symbolator, TikZ, Vega, Vega-Lite, WaveDrom, WireViz, and Mermaid.

My Markdown editor, KeenWrite[2], integrates Kroki as a service. This means whenever a new text-based diagram format is offered by Kroki, it is available to KeenWrite, dynamically. The tutorial[3] shows how it works. (Aside, variables within diagrams are also possible, shown at the end.)

Note that Mermaid diagrams cannot be rendered by most libraries[4] due to its inclusion of <foreignObject>, which is browser-dependent.

[1]: https://kroki.io/

[2]: https://keenwrite.com/

[3]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIp8spwykZY

[4]: https://github.com/orgs/mermaid-js/discussions/7085

thangalin commented on ICE using Palantir tool that feeds on Medicaid data eff.org/deeplinks/2026/01... · Posted by u/JKCalhoun

simonw · 14 days ago

Any time I see people say "I don't see why I should care about my privacy, I've got nothing to hide" I think about how badly things can go if the wrong people end up in positions of power.

The classic example here is what happens when someone is being stalked by an abusive ex-partner who works in law enforcement and has access to those databases.

This ICE stuff is that scaled up to a multi-billion dollar federal agency with, apparently, no accountability for following the law at all.

thangalin · 14 days ago

> I've got nothing to hide.

Some retorts for people swayed by that argument:

"Can we put a camera in your bathroom?"

"Let's send your mom all your text messages."

"Ain't nothin' in my pockets, but I'd rather you didn't check."

"Shall we live-stream your next doctor's appointment?"

"May I watch you enter your PIN at the ATM?"

"How about you post your credit card number on reddit?"

"Care to read your high-school diary on open mic night?"

thangalin commented on House vote keeps federal "kill switch" vehicle mandate reclaimthenet.org/house-v... · Posted by u/mikece

alistairSH · 16 days ago

Beg to differ, they're viable for basically all local use cases...

Groceries? Yep. School? Yep. Commuting? Yep. Etc.

They aren't viable for hauling multi-ton loads, or covering long distances, that's about it.

thangalin · 16 days ago

> that's about it.

Avid cyclist here.

* Extreme Weather: Severe heat, heavy snow, or torrential rain can make biking unsafe or impractical without specialized gear and high physical endurance.

* Accessibility & Mobility Issues: Individuals with certain physical disabilities or chronic health conditions may find traditional cycling impossible. (This also affects an aging population.)

* Time Constraints: For those with "trip-chaining" needs (e.g., daycare drop-off → work → grocery store → gym), the extra time required for cycling can be prohibitive.

* Infrastructure: Older adults are more sensitive to "heavy traffic" and "lack of safe places." Seniors don't stop cycling because they can't do it, but because they don't feel safe in traffic. (Good argument for upgrading roadways.)

* Care-giving: When parents become dependent on their children, often the children need to shuttle their parents around. A parent with dementia who escaped into the neighbourhood can be rapidly collected and ushered home in a car, not so much a bike.

* Theft & Vandalism: I've never had a car stolen. Two locked bikes, on the other hand...

thangalin commented on Show HN: Pdfwithlove – PDF tools that run 100% locally (no uploads, no back end) pdfwithlove.netlify.app... · Posted by u/pratik227

thangalin · 20 days ago

For my hard sci-fi novel, I wanted people to give me feedback by annotating the PDF directly. Since I didn't know what local PDF editors they had available, I decided to vibe-code a web-based PDF annotation editor using PDF.js. (Yes, malicious users could have a field day by guessing the URLs.) It's pretty rough:

https://repo.autonoma.ca/?action=repo&repo=notanexus.git&vie...

Basically, you drop a PDF onto your own web server. The web server serves up PDFs via PDF.js on the client. When the user highlights text to annotate it, the date, time, and text of all annotations in the document are pushed back to the server. As the author, when I reload the same PDF URL, I can add, review, modify, navigate through, or summarize the annotations just like a reader. Here's a screenshot with a funny comment one of my beta readers made:

https://i.ibb.co/5gZMJ0qc/annotations.png

Beta readers wanted, see profile for contact!

thangalin commented on An Elizabethan mansion's secrets for staying warm bbc.com/future/article/20... · Posted by u/Tachyooon

thangalin · 22 days ago

> Scandinavian cabins, despite lacking modern insulation, maintain warmth in sub-zero temperatures. This video explores centuries-old building techniques, comparing their performance against modern homes. Discover the surprising physics principles behind their resilience and energy efficiency.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVqwiMtoDhk

thangalin commented on How Markdown took over the world anildash.com/2026/01/09/h... · Posted by u/zdw

Johnny_Bonk · a month ago

I'm fairly new to all this, but my understanding is that Markdown is great for a few reasons:

It's just plain text, so no vendor lock-in and you can ripgrep/fzf/grep through it Lives happily in git repos with proper diffs LLMs speak it natively - they output Markdown, they understand Markdown input Way easier for agents to parse than PDFs (which are binary, layout-focused, tables turn to mush) Can do tables (at least in GFM), headers, code blocks, links - all structure preserved

What it can't do (as far as I understand): complex layouts, precise typography, embedded binary content, anything that needs pixel-perfect rendering. Am I missing anything? What are the other limitations I should know about?

thangalin · a month ago

> What it can't do (as far as I understand): complex layouts, precise typography, embedded binary content, anything that needs pixel-perfect rendering.

Please see:

* https://impacts.to/downloads/lowres/impacts.pdf

* https://keenwrite.com/docs/user-manual.pdf

* https://keenwrite.com/blog/2025/09/08/feature-matrix/pdf/jek...

* https://keenwrite.com/blog/2025/09/08/feature-matrix/pdf/sof...

Those are Markdown documents typeset using ConTeXt. Except for Jekyll & Hide, I wrote them all.

thangalin commented on How Markdown took over the world anildash.com/2026/01/09/h... · Posted by u/zdw

janwillemb · a month ago

The writeup does not mention Jeff Atwood (Stackoverflow founder) trying to convince Gruber to standardize markdown. Atwood approached him publicly in a series of blog posts, but Gruber kept silent, and if I remember correctly finally declined stating that he didn't want to spend time jumping through other persons' hoops. Although it sucks that markdown is not standardized, I still see this as an inspiring example of a person just doing what he wants to do.

thangalin · a month ago

> Although it sucks that markdown is not standardized

Does CommonMark count?

https://spec.commonmark.org/