HNHacker News
TopNewBestAskShowJobs

Ergo19

56 karma · joined November 1, 2021

submissionscomments
Ergo19··on Lessons learned from 15 years of SumatraPDF, an open source Windows app (2021)
Do like everybody else does and wrap it in a web-browser.
Ergo19··on Social media is a cause, not a correlate, of mental illness in teen girls
Yes, the rate of cultural adaptation is challenged by the rate of technological progress. I feel like we haven't even settled the basic question of smartphone etiquette.
Ergo19··on US debt: Federal interest payments could soon exceed military spending
Cancelling bonds owed to the Fed would be literally money printing. When the Fed owns bonds, they can be sold on the open market, or allowed to mature, both of which are a form of quantitative tightening.
Ergo19··on US debt: Federal interest payments could soon exceed military spending
The fed is not a part of the US Government financially. When the fed receives cash, it is destroyed. It does not go back into treasury coffers.
Ergo19··on US debt: Federal interest payments could soon exceed military spending
Our current debt:GDP ratio is ~ 125% these days, so I don't think there's any danger of being unable to pay during this generation.
Ergo19··on Former Coinbase PM charged in cryptocurrency insider trading tipping scheme
As it turns out, a distributed immutable ledger is quite useful for investigators.
Ergo19··on Britain to start approval process for Rolls-Royce mini nuclear reactor
Sodium-cooled reactors do not have much of a track record, and what there is fairly negative.

https://harpers.org/archive/2022/01/spent-fuel-the-risky-res...

Ergo19··on NASA says Webb’s excess fuel likely to extend its lifetime expectations
I experienced this with the collapse of the twin towers on 9/11. I was horrified by the human cost, but so, so interested in what I was seeing. I had often wondered what the collapse of a super-tall would be like, and there it was, on TV.
Ergo19··on More Americans are saying they’re ‘vaxxed and done’
The interventions deployed against COVID had indeed stopped a notable disease - influenza. It is noteworthy that these interventions were designed to fight the flu, apparently because that was the public health playbook at hand. But I agree it is remarkable how interventions which could crush the flu don't seem to bother any number of common cold viruses much at all.
Ergo19··on I quit caffeine
When I quit, I tapered down at the rate of 5oz a week and never experienced headaches.
Ergo19··on Russia sends troops to Kazakhstan to put down deadly uprising
Eleven years ago, Saudi Arabia sent troops into Bahrain to help quell Arab Spring protests there:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2011/3/15/saudi-soldiers-sent...

Ergo19··on No Way to Grow Up
While the whole world has experienced this pandemic, there is an incredible variety of pandemic experiences out there. Within the United States there are so many variables between states, counties, cities, school districts, and families. A common feature of COVID debate I have noticed is that it often seems like people are not even talking about the same thing.

I live in a state that has had a fairly restrictive approach to COVID - my kids were in remote learning for about a year and we had two periods which could arguably be called "shut downs." But our fortunate circumstances made it so that I do not feel like it was particularly difficult for our children. As a result I have not reacted very strongly to local authorities continuing very cautious policies regarding masks and cohorting in schools. I was initially perplexed by the very strong reactions against the same among my peers, but am coming to understand that, like what this article points out, it has been very difficult for other children.

Ergo19··on No Way to Grow Up
Were you a subscriber and you cancelled your subscription? Or are you simply withholding future subscriptions?
Ergo19··on No Way to Grow Up
Are there places in the US which have had schools partially shut down for two years? I have not heard of anywhere being remote for more than 1 year.
Ergo19··on A deleted subplot from “The Matrix” contradicts its sequels
In my youth it was generally accepted that "George Lucas wrote an entire 9 film series." I don't know how this rumor spread or came to be so widely believed.
Ergo19··on A deleted subplot from “The Matrix” contradicts its sequels
There's no issue with that, but it wouldn't exactly be tight storytelling.
Ergo19··on Twitter’s founder admits that shutting down the API was “worst thing we did”
New? No. There's actually a solid decade of practice by now.