Hacker News Reader

BrandonMarcon A mysterious company’s Covid-19 papers in top medical journals may be unraveling

... and the W.H.O. based their decision making on this ...

What exactly is surgisphere? Hackers that paid for illicit data feeds? A total fabrication? Chinese misinformation? Nothing makes any sense.

BrandonMarcon Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

You'd probably be better off with a snowmobile there, too

BrandonMarcon Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

... I see your cargo cult, and I raise you Elon Musk and Tesla with gargantic touch screens in their cars. Aesthetically neat; realistically trouble.

BrandonMarcon Honda bucks industry trend by removing touchscreen controls

... until something goes wrong. Then a touch screen is the last thing you want. An airliner moving uncontrollably is no time to try touching just the right spot of the screen, and avoid touching the wrong spot.

BrandonMarcon Army Corps of Engineers to Build Temporary Hospitals in NY

Why didn't we start a month ago? 6 weeks ago?

BrandonMarcon What we can learn from the 1918 flu pandemic

Oh? That might explain the girl in Iran. Athlete in her 20s, died of covid-19.

BrandonMarcon Stripe refunds: fees from the original charge are not returned

What is meant by "free" revenue? I'm wondering how the one leads to the other.

Does this mean, lower processing fee/less need to increase processing fees?

BrandonMarcon Facebook reverses on paid influencers after Bloomberg memes

Who could trust the FEC to fairly adjudicate? Whoever is in power, or whoever placed the officials, the other side will happily claim foul play.

BrandonMarcon Facebook reverses on paid influencers after Bloomberg memes

mistakes != agenda

BrandonMarcon Facebook reverses on paid influencers after Bloomberg memes

... and that's merely a recent example.

BrandonMarcon Engineered bat virus stirs debate over risky research (2015)

It's also worth pointing out, all of the Great Powers are involved in bio-weapons research. Even the USA. Classified of course. Very dangerous, but able to provide tempting powers to politicians and military leaders.

Not that I support this ... But neither can I close my eyes and hope it's not happening.

BrandonMarcon [dead]

Thanks. Resubmitted. Dang - you wanna delete this one?

BrandonMarcon Engineered bat virus stirs debate over risky research (2015)

An experiment that created a hybrid version of a bat coronavirus — one related to the virus that causes SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) — has triggered renewed debate over whether engineering lab variants of viruses with possible pandemic potential is worth the risks.

... and bear in mind, while the world has 55 BSL-4 labs, China has one ... and it's in Wuhan. Too many coincidences.

My ardent hope is that the hubris-laden excitement over CRISPR is diminished, especially in Wall Street and Sand Hill Road.

BrandonMarcon A Decade of Urban Transformation, Seen from Above

Not if Elon Musk and Bill Gates have their way. Electric cars, using power provided by thorium reactors ... two massive game-changers for everybody.

BrandonMarcon A Decade of Urban Transformation, Seen from Above

Is that including ocean?

BrandonMarcon America's Missile That Uses Sword Blades Instead of Explosives Has Struck Again

Agreed. While I believe the article points out the gruesomeness, it also carefully notes how much less collateral damage is likely.

I came away from the article a bit sickened by the concept, yes, but also proud we have a weapon whose purpose is to avoid accidental civilian deaths. And I have to admit, as gory as this weapon sounds, it's no worse than explosives.

I don't like war. I figure no one in their right mind should. I do acknowledge there's a time for it, and even a time for assassination (i.e. al Qaeda and similar).

I pray our leaders are able to make the right decisions regarding when these things are needed, and I'm nervous that some of our leaders don't fit that bill (moreso, that a future crop of leaders might abuse these powers to terrible ends).

BrandonMarcon Flint’s Children Suffer in Class After Years of Drinking the Lead-Poisoned Water

Flint leadership deserves a lot of blame.

I read a story (can't find it) about a contractor who intended to do a high quality job taking care of the lead pipes ... but the city of Flint instead gave it to a different contractor, who charged more, did a crappier job (leaving many problems unfixed), used obsolete tech, and took longer.

But, the chosen contractor was politically connected, so ...

BrandonMarcon Flint’s Children Suffer in Class After Years of Drinking the Lead-Poisoned Water

OR ...

The comments encourage critical thinking about the claims made by the post.

BrandonMarcon New bill ensures Jailtime for CEOs that lie

Yeah, that's a bill that will never see passage.

BrandonMarcon Fallout from Blizzard Hong Kong Incident

I'm not so sure. I think Trump's hot air about suggesting companies leave China is something.

BrandonMarcon Fallout from Blizzard Hong Kong Incident

Precisely. Don't want to be involved in international politics? Fine - don't involve yourself in international commerce, either.

BrandonMarcon Fallout from Blizzard Hong Kong Incident

Indeed. The "decoupling" phenomenon has their attention.

BrandonMarcon Fallout from Blizzard Hong Kong Incident

Ditto South Park. By telling people they cannot watch South Park, they have guaranteed everyone will want to watch that episode.

That's the lesson Dolores Umbridge inadvertently taught us in Harry Potter # 5.

BrandonMarcon Scientists Identify How Many Trees to Plant and Where to Stop Climate Crisis

Yep. The same reason they ignore Gen-4 nuclear, and sucking carbon out of the air. Politicians frankly don't want to solve global warming; they want more money and power. They want to pass laws telling the masses what they can and can't do (see how after the GND was published, AOC was spotted with a friend eating cheeseburgers), and they want an excuse to raise taxes on anybody they can get away with taxing more.

But if you actually have something that will reduce emissions? Well that's a threat to their plan to get more money and power.

BrandonMarcon How to Survive a Lightning Strike (2014)

Needs a better title:

How to survive the aftermath of a lightning strike

BrandonMarcon The boring technology behind a one-person Internet company (2018)

Indeed. He mentions halfway down his previous employer is a billion-dollar startup, and why what works there won't work for his micro startup. And yet ... I'm sure a lot of what he learned there is being applied here.

BrandonMarcon Greta Thunberg has done her science homework

Yes, she did that. Her entourage of assistants weren't on the boat. They flew back and forth, several times. Therefore the whole endeavor had an undeniable net-positive carbon footprint.

BrandonMarcon Greta Thunberg has done her science homework

> Nobody is advocating for everybody stopping flying tomorrow.

You should read the Green New Deal. Not tomorrow, no, but one goal is to make flying infinitesimally rare.

BrandonMarcon The Internet Relies on People Working for Free

Yes, the OpenSSL dustup led to this amusing article: The Internet Is Being Protected By Two Guys Named Steve [1] ... the more serious point being, at the time, massive pieces of the internet owed their security to two unpaid/underpaid developers on two different continents.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7657571

BrandonMarcon Greta Thunberg has done her science homework

People hate hypocrisy. Greta may be innocent, but her helpers buy far, far more plane tickets than us - her target audience.

Scratch most environmentalist attention-seekers, and you'll find hypocrisy. Look at Prince Harry.