rdednl's comments

rdednl | 1 year ago | on: Meta Is Shuttering Workplace, Its Enterprise Version of Facebook

I really liked this product (used when working at Meta). What I found interesting is that it's very similar to Facebook, but it optimizes for the opposite values. While Facebook newsfeed seems to try to maximize your time scrolling, watching ads, clicking, useless notifications; Workplace was continuously suggesting changes to maximize productivity, such as "you have not interacted with this type of notifications, stop receiving them" or "this group doesn't seem interesting to you, unfollow group" or even "set a productivity block to stop receiving notifications".

Same company, probably same underlying codebase and structure, but opposite reward optimization for showing items in the news feed and maximize productivity/time spend on feed.

rdednl | 4 years ago | on: My diet of almost only red meat

"The first time I ate vegetables again I soon developed some kind of lethargy, but it was familiar, and had once been common. I realized that since I had stopped eating plants, I had not felt this at all. I thought it was just normal to eat dinner and not want to do anything for 1-2 hours? But when I only eat meat, I don’t get this. Eating plants, even just a bit, makes my stomach feel bloated— But I can eat 2lbs of steak in one sitting and feel great."

I consider myself vegetarian although not 100% strict and in the past 4/5 years I ate red meat when I wanted to try specific foods, or dishes and every single time I felt in the exact same way that the author felt when eating vegetables. When I eat red meat, I am tired, I don't sleep well, I can't exercise well and I can't concentrate. And all my (mostly) vegetarian friends feel the same way when eating red meat.

This to say that his single data point doesn't mean anything: most likely my body is not used to red meat anymore, in the same way that his is not used to vegetables anymore.

rdednl | 4 years ago | on: Why Don't Americans Use Bidets?

I am from Italy and I've never seen a house or a hotel there not having one. We have been used to use it since we are young and when speaking to other Italians abroad, the talk about "how can these people live without a bidet?" comes out a lot.

rdednl | 7 years ago | on: Why I’m done with Chrome

I read an interesting thread on Twitter by an engineer at Chrome. https://twitter.com/__apf__/status/1044109217903198210?s=21

rdednl | 7 years ago | on: Ask HN: Where can one learn about the history of the internet and the protocols?

An awesome book is Where wizards stay up late: the origins of the internet.

rdednl | 8 years ago | on: Mary Lee Berners-Lee has died

We italians have Olivetti.

rdednl | 8 years ago | on: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA

I don't know where I can find the answer to this question but I guess it's academic since I am a visiting research scholar here at UC Berkeley.

rdednl | 8 years ago | on: I’m Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA

Hi Peter, thanks for doing this.

I'm currently holding a J1 visa sponsored by University of California Berkeley ending in March. During several discussions for possible internships starting after the end of my J1 visa, I've been asked if I can enter an internship with my visa, through a renewal or whatever, or I need to get a new sponsorship and start the procedures again.

Thanks.