webshit weekly

An annotated digest of the top "Hacker" "News" posts for the second week of December, 2016.

A Guide to the Breads of India
December 08, 2016 (comments)
Hackernews, suddenly the world's leading repository of bread expertise, is not certain what 'bread' actually is. This goes a long way toward explaining the software they produce.

Microsoft is bringing Windows 10, with desktop app support, to ARM chipsets
December 09, 2016 (comments)
Microsoft's mobile phone business continues to circle the drain, and an internet thinks that means Microsoft will soon rule the mobile phone industry. Hackernews is faced with an organization that clearly has no sense of focus, produces a product nobody wants, and continues to exist only because senior leadership doesn't even have an exit plan. Hackernews concludes this must be a startup and speculates on its future.

Intake – American's largest psychiatric chain
December 10, 2016 (comments)
An idiot tricks herself into the nuthouse. Buzzfeed writes an article saying that nuthouses need more oversight. Hackernews, a website for entrepreneurs, decides the problem is capitalism; presumably a Venezuelan nuthouse is preferable.

Neurogenesis linked to aerobic exercise
December 11, 2016 (comments)
The New York magazine prints an article that is equal parts mysticism and rodent studies. The author has a rich tradition of misinterpreting scientific studies. Hackernews is here to save us (they all have MDs in neurochemistry). Someone recommends exercising in a respirator to get smarter.

Spaced repetition
December 12, 2016 (comments)
A Hackernews is angry about forgetting things. Another is surprised about fish. Most of them spend more time developing programs and games to help them learn shit than they do learning shit.

Ask HN: Where is AI/ML actually adding value at your company?
December 13, 2016 (comments)
All the successes are basic statistical modeling. All the 'machine learning' approaches are hypothetical or Coming Real Soon Now.

A Backdoor in Skype for Mac OS X
December 14, 2016 (comments)
Skype gives a free hand to any plugin that calls itself a certain name. Hackernews decides it must be the NSA. A Hackernews with a Rust-related username doesn't think that an auth bypass built into the software constitutes a back door.