Hacker News Reader

OrwellianChildon Boom announces successful flight of XB-1 demonstrator aircraft

Pure speculation on my part, but on a first flight when you're shaking out the fundamentals, it's safer to not retract landing gear in case there is a catastrophic failure in, say, your hydraulic system.

OrwellianChildon Boom announces successful flight of XB-1 demonstrator aircraft

One dynamic that may be at play: Designing a new engine is a gamble. For a company who already makes money with existing designs, there may be little upside on a small-volume new product. This is likely the reason the "Big 3" passed on designing an engine they don't have an off-the-shelf option for.

Boom would probably be the primary beneficiary of such an engine existing, so it isn't all that surprising that they will have to fund the development. The second supersonic airframe that can use their engine would be the one to turn that R&D profitable for Boom (and ease the introduction of more supersonic airframe options).

OrwellianChildon Fewer people are buying electric cars in the US

HN title is wrong. From the article: "Sure, sales of EVs keep going up — a record 300,000 cars sold in the US in the third quarter of 2023 were electric..."

Discussion is about a more slowly growing market - not one in decline. YoY sales are up like 40%. This is FUD.

OrwellianChildon 40% of US electricity is now emissions-free

"Natural Gas" is 97% methane, so it's probably most direct to just refer to it by it's primary component...

OrwellianChildon The housing shortage is larger than you think

Rent control only fights against upward pressure for existing renters... When you describe rents continually going up, it's due to more people competing for limited rental units. Cities can and do see rent declines (they first show up as "first month free" etc. before landlords bite the bullet and reduce rate). Seattle has seen temporary competition for rents in some neighborhoods as new construction started in 2019/2020 comes online. It won't last since we've seen such a decline in new construction starts, but the mechanism is sound.

OrwellianChildon Who profits most from America's baffling health-care system?

Worth getting a bit specific about terminology here... The article states that _insurance_ profits are capped, but that PBMs and other stages of care are not. That's why they're all vertically integrating - so they can steer margin to the un-regulated entities. Can't help but feel like this is a simple anti-trust issue just like you'd see in other industries. If they were truly separate companies with robust competition, we could see a lot more efficiency and less rent seeking.

OrwellianChildon Weight-loss drugs seem like another bit of sci-fi becoming fact

I mean that the reason you'd need semaglutide is that you can't keep to a diet. If you could keep to keto IF, you wouldn't need the drug in the first place. It's not option A or option B. It's "if A fails, fall back to B".

OrwellianChildon Weight-loss drugs seem like another bit of sci-fi becoming fact

Not trying to single you out as this has been brought up in multiple comments in-thread, but I think this is apples-to-oranges. Diets work when followed. The problem is that the vast majority of people struggle to adhere to them. This drug aids in reducing the urge to eat, which reduces/eliminates the need for scrutiny over intake. It's "diet autopilot", which is why it's so powerful.

OrwellianChildon Weight-loss drugs seem like another bit of sci-fi becoming fact

3rd hand anecdote, but a friend who used Ozempic spoke to the psychological impact of seeing the cravings for food vanish that went beyond just the timeframe of the dose. A drug that effectively shuts off the compulsion helps demonstrate the disconnect between the desire and the need for food. She specifically called out that experiencing the absence of craving helped with willpower after the Ozempic dose was withdrawn.

OrwellianChildon Weight-loss drugs seem like another bit of sci-fi becoming fact

It's hugely encouraging that we're starting to see frontline medical practice step out of the frame of mind that this is a "willpower" issue. If GLP-1 analogs work against both food compulsions and alcohol/drug compulsions [1], this re-contextualizes metabolic disorders as another form of addiction.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10097922/

OrwellianChildon Weight-loss drugs seem like another bit of sci-fi becoming fact

GLP-1 receptor agonists are game-changing for weight loss, but there is even broader applicability emerging for _addictions of all kinds_. [1] This is super hopeful both because of the applicability to alcoholism, etc, but also because of how this demonstrates the function of food addiction as a driving factor for weight issues.

[1] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/ebiom/article/PIIS2352-39...

OrwellianChildon Cancel Zoning If we want to fix the housing-affordability crisis zoning must go

California likely has more stringent seismic regulations as well, while much of Texas is sitting on bedrock. Matt Risinger (TX builder with a YouTube channel) decries homes sheathed in nothing more than cardboard, so other building code items may also be more lax in Texas.

OrwellianChildon Cancel Zoning If we want to fix the housing-affordability crisis zoning must go

Is this a housing issue?

OrwellianChildon Cancel Zoning If we want to fix the housing-affordability crisis zoning must go

I sympathize with the desire for a utopian government-run housing arrangement like this, but I think it discards the practical for the ideal...

With less restrictive zoning, more properties and building projects become financially feasible with the banks, builders, and contractors we already have. It costs the government zero money and happens automatically with the stroke of a pen.

It's much more difficult to re-engineer our entire mode of government, taxation, and housing provision than simply removing a few legal restrictions.

OrwellianChildon Comcast complains to FCC that listing all of its monthly fees is too hard

If they can charge it, they can show it. Any concerns/issues with municipal fees, taxes, etc. is a completely tangential issue.

Just as easily, Comcast could choose to simplify pricing... T-Mobile charges "tax-inclusive" rates that give you a nice round number net of taxes/fees. These are free choices and can be leveraged as a competitive advantage should the companies choose.

OrwellianChildon The concurrence of three climatic events

I didn't hate it, even though it played out more like a REAMDE type thriller than some of his earlier stuff (Anathem, Baroque, etc). I liked Seveneves, though.

OrwellianChildon The concurrence of three climatic events

In which idlewords basically cites the plot of "Termination Shock" by Neal Stephenson... :-)

OrwellianChildon The Internet’s Richest Fitness Resource Is a Site from 1999

I did not know this - thank you!

OrwellianChildon Georgia nuclear plant begins splitting atoms

Really excellent context - thank you for sharing all this detail and citation!

OrwellianChildon Georgia nuclear plant begins splitting atoms

We're assuming cost-plus contract terms, then, I assume? :-)

OrwellianChildon Georgia nuclear plant begins splitting atoms

As much as I'd love more nuclear power on the grid, this project cost over double its initial bid and is actually raising rates for GA utility customers... I can't tell from the story whether "nuclear is hard" or if "contractors are idiots" here. Reactor was supposed to open in 2016 - it's very hard to cheer for a 7-year delay and a 140% cost overrun.

OrwellianChildon Cory Doctorow wants you to know what computers can and can’t do

Earnest question: Is your opinion that writing books and selling them is a bad form of advocacy? Is there a better one that doesn't require independent wealth?

I'm pretty familiar with Doctorow's body of work, and he writes freely for magazines, comes on podcasts, speaks at Defcon, and generally lives in service of the ideas that are articulated in his books. Part of advocacy requires messaging the same ideas over and over in different ways, since each person will be converted by a slightly different equation of messaging and delivery. I'm not sure I can agree with the nihilistic cynicism that rejects all text that has profit potential.

OrwellianChildon Microsoft Is Forcing Me to Buy MacBooks

Main takeaway here is: Unplug laptop from power before closing the lid. This (theoretically, per the video) will make the Windows sleep mode operate correctly without vampire drain from network usage.

OrwellianChildon BloomTech, previously Lambda School, cuts half of staff

What do you think you learned at the company thru the early project and junior work that you didn't get from Lambda?

OrwellianChildon KeePassXC: Beware of unofficial Microsoft Store listing

Can I ask what sync solution you were using that caused problems? About to implement a KeePassXC/Syncthing setup and would love to know if I should expect issues...

OrwellianChildon Encrypted app Signal just hired one of Big Tech’s sharpest critics

This served as a nice reminder to me to throw a donation their way (with my corporate match), though it is kinda silly that the only way to do so in-app is thru Google/Apple Pay (that's a Google/Apple problem, not a Signal problem).

It does raise questions for me about Signal's long-term financial model, though. They provide an enormously valuable global service, but the largest chunk of funding I've heard about is a $50M loan* from Acton... Given the bandwidth and overhead they must chew thru, I'm not clear on how sustainable it actually is...

* WP called it a loan. Signal Foundation calls it an investment.

OrwellianChildon Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

Agreed on the challenges with subjectivity and I probably should have clarified - I like their full-length testimonials. Never did figure out how their star rating and badges worked...

OrwellianChildon Contra Wirecutter on the IKEA air purifier

Just going to throw out https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/ as a solid option for the climbing, hiking, and outdoor sport equipment they review. Most reviews involve real-world subjective testing, which is really what you need when you're trying to figure out whether a jacket is warm or a rain shell keeps you dry, etc.