Hey buddy,

Just caught up on Hacker News from yesterday, Sunday, September 21st, 2025. Man, some interesting stuff popped up. Thought I'd give you the quick rundown.

They Thought They Were Free (1955)

First up, there was this old article, "They Thought They Were Free". It's about how people slowly accept bad stuff in society. Super heavy, but always relevant. What was wild in the comments was someone saying that even low-ranking Nazis often *did* have choices, not just follow orders, which kinda changes how you think about it. And another person in China saw parallels to their Cultural Revolution, but noted the trauma felt different there, like everyone was a shared victim. Then someone randomly brought up how Germany's "falling apart" rail network is still luxurious compared to some places, which was a weird but insightful flex on the article's point.

Meta exposé author faces $50k fine

Then, big tech drama! This story about a Meta exposé author facing a massive $50k fine *per breach* of a non-disparagement agreement. Can you imagine? It's basically trying to bankrupt her just for talking. People in the comments were debating what even counts as a whistleblower, and how financially devastating something like COBRA medical insurance can be on top of all that legal stuff. Makes you think twice about signing those agreements!

AI was supposed to help juniors, but makes seniors stronger?

Another hot one was about AI and developers. The title sums it up: AI was supposed to boost juniors, but it seems to be making seniors even better. The comments pretty much agreed. Folks were saying juniors are still juniors, and that LLMs sometimes "over-engineer" things because their training data is full of overly complex open-source projects. One person even said they just hate trying to code with LLMs, preferring to just type their own thoughts. Totally get that.

Amazon to end commingling

Big news for anyone selling or buying on Amazon: Amazon is finally ending its "commingling" program. That's where they mix up identical products from different sellers in their warehouses. It was a nightmare because counterfeit stuff would get mixed in, and customers would get fakes even from legit sellers. The comments highlighted how easy it was for scammers to replicate QR codes, and how Amazon often doesn't even check returns, so bad stuff just gets recirculated. People were saying it's almost impossible to fight Amazon if you're a small brand.

Tiny JSON parsing library in C99

For the nerds, there was this cool little project called Sj.h, a JSON parsing library written in like 150 lines of C99. Super minimal! People were sharing their own tiny parsing libraries and discussing the pros and cons of using JSON vs. custom binary protocols for data. And then, hilariously, someone mentioned that saying "free as in free beer" is like a "successful incantation to summon the Stallman acolytes." Classic tech humor.

LaLiga's Anti-Piracy Crackdown

And finally, this wild story out of Spain: LaLiga's anti-piracy efforts are causing widespread internet disruptions across the country. Seriously, football trying to shut down illegal streams is messing up regular internet for everyone! Comments were talking about how crazy expensive it is to subscribe to all the different services to watch your favorite team legally. And people don't even realize it's LaLiga doing it – they just think their internet is being patchy during games. Kinda dystopian, right?

Anyway, that's the gist! Catch you later!