Man, Saturday was pretty interesting on Hacker News. I saw a few things that caught my eye. Check this out:

ASCII Characters Aren't Pixels

Dude, there was this super cool post about ASCII characters not being pixels. It's like, how do you even make those blocky text characters look like actual images? The article goes deep, but basically, it's not just about filling squares. Someone in the comments mentioned how they map characters to their shapes to get really close images in a terminal, which is pretty neat. Also, there was a funny tangent where people started talking about AI summaries versus credible websites, which is always a hot topic!

Apple Icons in Reverse

Oh, and get this, someone posted a thing about Apple icons in reverse. Like, if you look at their icon evolution backwards, it seems like designers are getting better, going from super simple to more detailed. The comments had a good debate, with some folks saying old logos weren't always clear either, and others joking about Apple's "squircle jail" for all icons. It’s a fun visual trick!

The Recurring Dream of Replacing Developers

Then there's the usual "are developers going to be replaced?" talk. This article was about how it's a recurring dream, especially with AI now. The comments were buzzing, with people saying "we've heard this before" but also others arguing that this time might be different because AI can actually "just do the usual" stuff that programming languages usually don't support directly. Always a lively discussion on that one.

US Electricity Demand Surged, Solar Stepped Up

Good news on the energy front! Apparently, US electricity demand shot up in 2025, but get this – solar handled over 60% of that increase! That's pretty wild. Some comments were saying that increased energy use isn't necessarily bad because it often means more societal wealth, which makes sense. But yeah, also tons of talk about how hard it is to find good solar installers still, even with all that growth.

Map To Poster

Okay, here's a fun one: someone made a Map To Poster tool. You punch in a city, and it turns its roads into this cool, minimalist art poster. Super cool for gifts or just decorating your place. A commenter even shared a Dockerfile to run it easily, and another mentioned a similar project called city-roads that lets you try it online. Might have to give that a shot!

Microsoft Patch Woes

You know how Microsoft patches always cause chaos? Well, there was a story about PCs refusing to shut down after a Microsoft patch. Classic, right? A lot of people in the comments were just like, "Yep, that's why I switched to Linux ages ago!" Sounds about right.

Raising Money F'd Me Up

Lastly, a really honest post titled Raising money fucked me up. It's about how intense and mentally draining the whole startup fundraising process can be. People were sharing their own experiences and advice in the comments, like how sometimes slow growth is actually better than rapid growth because it gives you time to fix things properly, instead of just plugging holes.

Anyway, that's the quick rundown! Talk soon!