A realistic static site will have multiple css, a logo, potential images in the headers/footers/sides, links to the other top read articles with icons, pictures

A realistic static site will have multiple css, a logo, potential images in the headers/footers/sides, links to the other top read articles with icons, pictures/schemas/drawing/photos in the content. That sets any stupid article at a 500kB bar. I have no doubt that a HN engineer can publish a single .txt file and force gzip-9 compression, however that's not an acceptable blog by any standard.