When reading on the web, I usually hit ctrl-A (highlight all) to change the contrast of a website's text. Not usually a problem.
On this website, on Chrome, doing this causes it to immediately unhighlight everything, and then eternally highlight-unhighlight-highlight-unhighlight at random intervals. I've never seen quite such bizarre behavior. Works on FF though.
I'm not sure why you are getting downvoted. I can reproduce this behaviour in Chrome. I don't have the best eyes and occasionally use the same trick to increase legibility.
The myriad subtle ways in which designers of "rich websites" break accessibility can be quite frustrating. And most of it is completely unnecessary - the article would still be an amzing read if it were a classic article with standard scroll behavior.
Comments about website formatting are a pestilence, and off-topic for HN. Because the topic of web design is both subjective and very accessible, even to people who have barely skimmed the article, they tend to spawn large, distracting subthreads --- sometimes those subthreads even end up at the tops of threads.
Petitioning site owners to change their design via HN threads almost never works, but (ironically) is virtually guaranteed to degrade the HN thread itself. So, just don't.
On this website, on Chrome, doing this causes it to immediately unhighlight everything, and then eternally highlight-unhighlight-highlight-unhighlight at random intervals. I've never seen quite such bizarre behavior. Works on FF though.