digitaltinfoil

I built the tracking_number ruby gem back in 2010, which was born out of a failed package tracking site I was building. Since then the project has evolved into shared json specs that the Ruby gem and its ports (TypeScript, Python, Java, Go, and Rust) all consume to detect, validate, and decode tracking numbers. trackingnumber.fyi is the frontend to the current dataset at https://github.com/jkeen/tracking_number_data

Most tracking numbers have more going on within them than you think. They usually end in a check digit, and some encode extra information within the number like destination zip code, shipment class, and the shipper's account number. Others just increment a number with a fixed prefix and no check digit (boooorrrrrring)

Here's an example breakdown of a USPS number https://trackingnumber.fyi/420112139261290983497923666238

I had to tell it never to say "hand-wavey" ever again to me. But I agree, I hate the way LLMs phrase sentences.

NFT development is still going strong! They've almost found a real use for them /s

jk jk they're still nonsense, aren't you glad HN isn't flooded with NFT and blockchain noise anymore?

this is the way

To tack on to this, a thing my partner taught me: a shortcut to calling someone stupid is calling something they love stupid.

Trying to understand why they like that thing is a more connective and productive path. Maybe at the end of it you end up more informed and still don’t like the thing, but for me often times it turned a knee jerk “that thing is dumb” into a thing I love with people who also love that thing. What a great life hack.

I still think about how great Castle Quest for the BBC was. That game was killer

What a dream!! This is something I have wanted for a long time, and can't wait to set this up

Protests let people at home who are feeling alone in their frustration that there are many more people who feel like them. I also felt like you did until someone framed it that way for me.

A protest isn’t supposed to be a singular event, it’s a series of events that crescendos into a movement—and it’s the crescendo that scares the people in power.

Wow I love this so much, and nice to see Gina’s name again!

Gina and Lifehacker were an early catalyst into my own web programming career arc, and that was such a moment in time.