Hacker News Reader

alistairSHon Google has acquired the data of failed US airline Spirit

I'm sitting here chuckling because you felt the need to post this.

Your points are valid. And there probably are plenty of Americans who needed the correction. But still.

alistairSHon Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

Instantaneous 1g might feel like a lot, but a relatively "soft" ramp to 1g would surely mitigate that complaint? I mean, we'd all be buckled into seats. And some sports cars can hit 1g with a good "drag race" start - and yes, that's definitely not something I'd do with granny in the seat, only pointing out it's not a crazy amount of acceleration if a factory-spec Mustang can do it.

alistairSHon Mexico crackdown on coastal development

Where does "the system was cooked up by assholes a long time ago and far far away to the benefit of incumbent interests and the local enforcers will do literally anything so long as they can maintain plausible deniability and their paychecks" fall on this scale?

I think that's almost a universal truth, the must/should/will is all just shades of gray.

alistairSHon Universal health coverage could save $1T and 114k lives a year: study

Hospitals have an operating margin of 2-5%

How does this work when many/most US hospitals operate as non-profits? Quick search shows the for-profits have operating margins nearly triple your figures. And the non-profits are beholden to the community to provide some level of "freebies" to maintain their status, right? IE, they're aren't really all operating on razor thin margins.

alistairSHon Mexico crackdown on coastal development

Should - I know it's the right thing to do, but nobody else follows the law, and doing so would put me at a competitive disadvantage.

Have to - I know it's the right thing to do, and if I don't, there's a good chance I'll get caught and fined heavily enough that it's not worth the risk.

Need to - rules are to be followed, and the alternative is massive fines and/or jail, plus disobeying might make me a social pariah.

Will - there is no alternative. (but I'm not sure that's actually true for Asia writ large).

alistairSHon The American sports plutocracy

There have been plenty of bench clearing brawls in baseball for any number of silly reasons. It's no more moral a sport than any other.

alistairSHon Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

True, but you'd need, at minimum, a well-trained crew to operate. The catapult settings vary by take-off weight. Who manages that? Does each airline run their own crew (contract) as they do other ground services? Or does the airport run it?

The airframes would have be heavier, beefed up to take that load. FWIW, the Navy version of the F-35 weighs ~5000lbs more than the AF version's 29000 dry weight (granted, that's also additional folding wing changes). It also costs about 20% more per unit.

Anyways, it's all certainly possible. Just impractical without a real need.

But catapult launch ballistic passenger gliders would be pretty cool.

alistairSHon Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

Specific to the electric plane, you remove some of the battery weight, as that energy would then come from the catapult.

But, as a general thing? I don't see it happening. There's a TON of complexity in a catapult system.

Plus, the amount of spilled champagne in first class is going to ruin a lot of suits and blouses. Can't have that. ;)

alistairSHon Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

IIRC, the fastest and heaviest plane with a ballistic parachute system is the Cirrus jet, which is both lighter and slower than a typical commercial twin-engine turbo-prop (looked at the King Air and the Dash 8 to cover small corporate and larger commercial workhorse).

Not saying a parachute couldn't be designed to work, but there isn't an existing option today.

alistairSHon Heart aerospace completes first flight of largest electric aircraft

A quick search of Osprey Class A mishaps puts it slightly ahead (better off) than Blackhawk or Super Stallion.

But a way worse record when compared to the fixed-wing C-130.

Both comparisons are per 100k flight hours.

Some of that risk can possibly be mitigated with a rotating engine, but fixed wing, similar to the Bell Valor. Possibly, because AFAIK, the Valor is the only plane like this and it's just a PoC.

alistairSHon Show HN: iPhone app takes simultaneous images from 2 lenses, fuses into 1 photo

By that logic, I should be paying Audi and Mazda a subscription for finding utility in the cars that sit in my driveway.

And Nike for the shoes on my feet.

alistairSHon The US tried to stop cartel money-laundering; devastated mom-and-pop businesses

"They might associate with the undocumented, therefore shouldn't be allowed to do normal things" was completely reductive.

Looking at El Paso, since it was the first city mentioned in the article, the entire city is about 25% immigrants (>200,000 people). And of that, more that 75% is here legally. So, 150,000 give or take, that according to your first comment, shouldn't be allowed to do business because there are illegals nearby?

alistairSHon England set to be one of the first countries to eliminate hepatitis C

Gotcha, clearly I know just enough about the UK government to prove how little I know about the UK government. :)

I'm British by birth (well, UAE, but they don't do jus soli), but been in the US since kindergarten and naturalized since college.

alistairSHon The US tried to stop cartel money-laundering; devastated mom-and-pop businesses

The GOP has used immigration as a drum to beat since I became politically aware back in the Bill Clinton days. They've had numerous chances since then to fix immigration in one way or another, but they have not done so. They make a lot of noise. They build a few miles of fence. But, mostly they keep the system the same. Because they NEED that drum to beat.

Not remotely the same thing as Ukraine's army being stuck in a war they cannot win. Or whatever other not-quite-apt comparisons you want to make.

alistairSHon The US tried to stop cartel money-laundering; devastated mom-and-pop businesses

But they're not supposed to be here in the first place?

Like any other system, the purpose is what the system actually does. Especially a system that's been around for decades.

We let them in, so they can work our fields and process our meat and whatever else. We shouldn't be surprised they want to buy cars, own business, and do other completely normal things.

alistairSHon U of Michigan drops first-semester grades to ‘curb mental health crisis’

Maybe. Maybe not. In my case, that first semester of near-failing grades was the kick in the pants I needed to start exerting myself. I entered college assuming it was just as easy as high school. It wasn't. Not even close. And a semester of pass/fail wouldn't have taught me that lesson because I did pass, just barely.

alistairSHon U of Michigan drops first-semester grades to ‘curb mental health crisis’

Personally, I don't blame her if she checks out for a few weeks. Or a semester.

Nor would I, but I'd also accept that she did so and failed a few classes.

Just like I did in the 90s. Although in my case it wasn't burn-out, but system shock at actually having to try to get good grades (Fairfax County PS then UVA).

Did that bombed first semester probably eliminate med school or an elite graduate program? Sure. But I probably wasn't cut out for either anyway. And it was a kick in the pants and got me to pay attention and work.

alistairSHon England set to be one of the first countries to eliminate hepatitis C

What? Perth isn't considered part of the mainland? How is that possible? My family is from Perthshire (Blairgowrie) and I've visited a bunch. It's definitely part of the island!!!

I can understand Lewis and Harris or the Shetlands (they're separate islands without bridge links), but Perth doesn't make much sense. And I would have assumed Skye was considered "mainland" as well, at least now that there's a bridge.

alistairSHon The US tried to stop cartel money-laundering; devastated mom-and-pop businesses

I think the parent post was sarcasm.

Capital One closed hundreds of Trump's accounts in 2021. Trump is suing them, claiming it's a political debanking. CapOne fighting back because they feel their AML team was correct to close those accounts.

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/capital-one-says-it...

alistairSHon England set to be one of the first countries to eliminate hepatitis C

Yes, that's what I said - each is named "NHS [country]" (National Health Service [England | Scotland | etc]).

alistairSHon England set to be one of the first countries to eliminate hepatitis C

LOL, no that's simply not true.

The borders between Scotland, England, and Wales are effectively like state borders in the US. Unless you see a street sign, you wouldn't know you crossed it.

NI is physically on a different island, so requires a boat or plane ride.

And all of the UK (ignoring the territories and ex-colonies) is on islands. And require a valid passport, passing through customs/immigration checks, and either a plane, boat, or train ride.

alistairSHon England set to be one of the first countries to eliminate hepatitis C

Interesting that it's just England (and not Scotland, Wales, or NI). I realize they all have independent NHSs, but still would assume a program like this would rolled out across all the constituent countries.

alistairSHon France to ban unsolicited telemarketing calls

100% agree. When I said scam above, I meant the obviously illegal fraudulent scams (like the "We're MS, and see you have a virus, please give us your CC info and let us remote into your desktop" stuff).

Because I'm on the DNC list in the US, I don't get many/any legal telemarketing calls.

The political stuff is really annoying because very little of it is directly from the campaigns themselves. It's all push polls and PACs and whatnot.

alistairSHon Letter to Governor Abbott on responsible AI infrastructure in Texas

It's isn't unzoned. It's zoned commercial. In VA, data centers are considered commercial, so allowed to be built by-right in existing commercial zones. Loudoun Co just updated their local zoning to override this and require re-zoning/approvals. (at least this is my understanding of the situation).

So, you buy a house, and think a small office park or strip mall might get built next door. Instead, it's a 6 story block that looks like the Borg, belches exhaust from on-site generators, and buzzes constantly making you think you have tinnitus or something.

alistairSHon France to ban unsolicited telemarketing calls

From what I can tell, many/most of my “telemarketing” calls are really scams.

And the rest are political calls, which are exempt. This the most annoying, come election time, I get 5-6 texts or calls per day asking for money or votes.

alistairSHon Letter to Governor Abbott on responsible AI infrastructure in Texas

Visit Loudoun County VA and get back to me.

Virginia mostly used by-right zoning, which treated data centers like just another office block. The result is linked below. Those cranes in the back of photo 2 are building yet another data center. Loudoun recently changed the zoning laws to end by-right development of data centers, but it's a bit too little, too late. Yes, some of those homes predate the data centers. Yes, not all of them - the county has allowed this mixed development for 20+ years now.

1 - https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyIm...

2 - https://oxfordamerican.org/media/pages/oa-now/how-data-cente...

alistairSHon Why Can't You Pack a Bag? (2024)

That's true, but doesn't really negate the principle... the set of layers is just different. If you're heading to that high elevation where it's mostly cold, you probably don't need to bring shorts on the off chance it's 85F one afternoon - you just wear your lightest pants that day.

The other things I've found is it's pretty darn easy to wash a few items in the sink while traveling. A 14 day trips doesn't require 14 pairs of socks - 4-5 is plenty, just wash them. Etc. Most people massively overpack. I'm always amazed at the number of people lugging around full size rollers at the train station.

alistairSHon Tax cuts for the wealthy only benefit the rich (2023)

Yes, tobacco companies knew the health risks at least back tot he 70s, if not the 50s or 60s.

And in the late 70s, they launched Operation Berkshire as a bulwark against negative press and government regulation.

They have literally been found guilty of conspiring to suppress the health risks.

alistairSHon Tax cuts for the wealthy only benefit the rich (2023)

They're literally argue the opposite in the paper... when taxes are lowered, executives demand higher compensation, at the expense of their employees.

alistairSHon Tax cuts for the wealthy only benefit the rich (2023)

You'd think so but not even a decade ago Kansas tried it again and it failed and the GOP continues to cut taxes for the wealthy and people keep electing them.

Most of the nation (and world) never took any economics. This stuff is all magic or religion or whatever to them. Ronnie Raygun is as good as a saint to much of the US.