MereInterest

7 ms·

1.
by MereInterest 16d ago
It's an awful problem, and a pretty big gotcha for the ecosystem. For example, I worked on a tool that used `tool_name/random.py` for analysis of RNG usage. However, any command run within that directory would shadow the builtin
2.
by MereInterest 25d ago
My guess is that is because a TUI can’t give focus to the existing instance. When a GUI application realizes that an instance is already running, it can ask the windowing manager to unhide and focus the running instance. For a TUI to do th
3.
by MereInterest 3mo ago
And even worse when the full-disk encryption requires you to unlock the computer after every reboot. It's just enough that the entire installation needs to be attended, and prevents you from doing anything else in the meantime. Meanwh
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by MereInterest 4mo ago
Based on this comment’s [0] comparison of historical aerial photographs, the houses were there first. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48254291
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by MereInterest 4mo ago
The problem with feature tests is that you then rely on the test code being correct. A typo in the feature test can erroneously be interpreted as lack of that feature. One step of the 2024 supply-chain attack on xz utils was to disable a s
6.
by MereInterest 4mo ago
> I thought the unsafety couldn't "spread" like that in Rust. The goal of a library is to provide the encapsulation such that the unsafety doesn't spread. If undefined behavior occurs, the fault lies with whoever wrot
7.
by MereInterest 4mo ago
The trick is that you make it something that humans want to do. Using [0] as an example, the interactive elements move, with context-dependent environment interactions. [0] https://www.cs.unm.edu/~dlchao/papers/p1
8.
by MereInterest 5mo ago
At least cargo places everything in a .cargo directory, so it doesn’t display by default. Go will instead write to $HOME/go, without even the decency to use a hidden directory, unless you first define the GOPATH environment variable.
9.
by MereInterest 6mo ago
> I think one of Markdown‘s biggest sins is how it handles line breaks. Single line breaks being discarded in the output guarantees that your nicely formatted text will look worse when rendered. My experience has been the complete opposi
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by MereInterest 6mo ago
I run into this issue when building against different environments, each with a 1. A library depends on a system package. To test against the different versions of the system package, the library is compiled within a container. 2. To minim
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by MereInterest 6mo ago
I looked into it at one point, as I was disgusted by the unskippable advertisements when paying for an ad-free tier on one of the myriad streaming platforms. Apparently, they distinguish between "advertisements" for a product or
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by MereInterest 6mo ago
I particularly love how they will periodically choose to only use the selected Bluetooth device for audio output, and will instead switch back to the builtin microphone. The builtin microphone may be in my pocket or across the room, and so
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by MereInterest 6mo ago
> Emacs is not primarily a TUI program (although it does have a TUI with the -nw). The TUI version of emacs lacks visual customizability and introduces unnecessary overhead (terminal!). Use the GUI. Can you elaborate on this? I tend to
14.
by MereInterest 7mo ago
> Making these extra stops causes the bus to 'miss' the light cycle at almost every stop. This would be a much bigger change, but it's also possible for the lights to give priority to buses. When a bus approaches a light,
15.
by MereInterest 7mo ago
> Oh man. The infinite loops of impossible verification by large companies that should know better are massive pain peeve of mine. I got hit by this from google. 1. Gmail added requirement for 2FA on my primary email address. Since I ha
16.
by MereInterest 7mo ago
> There are always weird systems with old drivers (looking at Ubuntu 22 LTS) While I agree with your general point, RHEL stands out way, way more to me. Ubuntu 22.04 and RHEL 9 were both released in 2022. Where Ubuntu 22.04 has general
17.
by MereInterest 8mo ago
Google will lock you out of an account even if you remember your password. This happened to me, when Google decided to use the recovery email address for 2FA, locking me out of my primary account. And the exact same change was made to my
18.
by MereInterest 8mo ago
I'll admit that I've done that type of bugfix in the past. Though, usually it's because the bug is caused by an underlying design flaw, and the 10-line fix would have only papered over a single instance of the bug, and would
19.
by MereInterest 8mo ago
Last time I needed to install Windows 11, avoiding making a Microsoft account required (1) opening a command line to run `oobe/bypassnro`, and (2) skipping past the wifi config screen. While these are quick steps, neither of those are
20.
by MereInterest 9mo ago
In Rust, this can almost be expressed as `arg: &'static str` to accept a reference to a string whose lifetime never ends. I say “almost” because this allows both string literals and references to static (but dynamically generated)
21.
by MereInterest 9mo ago
There’s a difference between the owner having telemetry on their own car, and the manufacturer having telemetry on the cars they’ve sold. One is taking care of your assets, and the other is spying on customers.
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by MereInterest 9mo ago
> Why are you assuming that a human would be more efficient and better for the environment than an electrically powered robot? Because bicycles use 5x less energy per mile than electric scooters, which would be a reasonable analogue for
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by MereInterest 10mo ago
This was something that I paid close attention to when designing a QR code to be hand-carved into a set of coasters. To minimize the amount of detail carving required, I wanted to use the smallest QR code at 21x21 (version 1) tiles. With a
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by MereInterest 11mo ago
Full-disk encryption, as useful as it is, also makes this a royal pain. Updates can't be performed unattended, because each restart done during the updates requires providing the password before continuing.
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by MereInterest 11mo ago
And actively ignoring state law in others, then violating cease-and-desist orders when told to remove the cameras. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45382434 (discussion from 2025-09-26)
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by MereInterest 11mo ago
Even their so-called conservative assumption is also insufficient. > if a machine word's integer value, when considered as a pointer, falls within a GCed block of memory, then that block itself is considered reachable (and is transi
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by MereInterest 1y ago
Not an official list, but there’s a few I’m aware of, each interesting in a different way. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Norton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Dexter https:/&#
28.
by MereInterest 1y ago
> Do you want to delete this? This action is IRREVERSIBLE Every so often, I’ll check this github issue[0] from 2017, which requests that the various prune commands for docker (e.g. “docker image prune”) have a dry-run flag to display wha
29.
by MereInterest 1y ago
It’s NewSpeak. The concept is often misapplied to refer to the use of new words for new/nuanced concepts, but that isn’t accurate to how it is described in 1984. Instead, NewSpeak is a stripping away of words and phrases, such that on
30.
by MereInterest 1y ago
So, if I'm understanding your argument correctly, failure to stop a bad actor from taking a hostile action absolves the bad actor of all responsibility for that hostile action? Because that seems to be what you're saying.

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