Hacker News Reader

djkivion Ask HN: Are a lot of books just useless?

As a recovering reader, I'm partial to Albert Einstein:

“Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.”

https://hac.bard.edu/amor-mundi/albert-einsteins-thoughts-on...

djkivion The Perk-Cession Is Under Way at Some Companies

I guess when they're all doing it, where else are the elves going to go?

https://steveblank.com/2009/12/21/the-elves-leave-middle-ear...

djkivion DuckDuckGo Dabbles with AI Search

Maybe instead of a new Ask Jeeves, we need an Ask George?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn_PSJsl0LQ

djkivion FBI chief says TikTok 'screams' of US national security concerns

Or: "No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health"

https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/04-01-2023-no-level-of-....

djkivion Meta plans thousands more layoffs as soon as this week

https://minimsft.blogspot.com/

djkivion Google Search Is Dying (2022)

Don't forget Maxwell Hill.

djkivion Ask HN: Science fiction movies that are appropriate for 12 year olds?

Wall-E

Children of Men

Planet of the Apes

djkivion Honestly, It's Probably the Phones

Re (2), that's technically true, but the New York, LA, and other metro areas have far more than 5 million people.

djkivion The End of the English Major

I expect English majors might be nonplussed by this thread.

djkivion The End of the English Major

For all intensive purposes, "begs the question" is acceptable these days.

djkivion Most data work seems fundamentally worthless

Is it possible for us as people to model our own behaviour so we can influence ourselves in a positive way?

djkivion Lab leak most likely origin of Covid-19 pandemic, U.S. agency now says

Well, when all 17 intelligence agencies agree on something, you know they must be right then.

djkivion Lab leak most likely origin of Covid-19 pandemic, U.S. agency now says

Huh. I thought that theory was debunked a long time ago.

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/washington-post-corrects...

djkivion Meta just gave thousands of employees poor performance reviews

How does losing $100 billion sound?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-27/mark-zuck...

djkivion Fear of opiates is causing patients to needlessly suffer severe pain

It is a bit ridiculous. Come to Canada and there are as many cannabis stores as liquor stores now.

djkivion The Political Bias of ChatGPT – Extended Analysis

Over the last 40 years, a Republican has been president for 22 years, while a Democrat has been president for 18 years. Pretty even.

djkivion I don't like making the best things

Is the pottery story actually true? It seems it may have been modified from a similar story about photography:

https://kottke.org/20/12/the-credibility-is-in-the-details

Another similar story revolves around graduates from Yale/Harvard that set goals vs. those that didn't. Again, that story is not true either:

https://ask.library.yale.edu/faq/175224

djkivion Half of Americans now believe that news organizations deliberately mislead them

Did CIA Director William Casey really say, "We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false"?

https://www.quora.com/Did-CIA-Director-William-Casey-really-...

djkivion Half of Americans now believe that news organizations deliberately mislead them

For some reason they don't seem to go after Biden to the same degree.

djkivion The US Air Force may have shot down an amateur radio pico balloon over Canada

Trump definitely did talk about COVID in front of the camera, but maybe he shouldn't have?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfLZOkn0chc

djkivion Swiss to vote on preventing cashless society, pressure group says

Why does it need to be a percentage? Isn't processing a $1.00 payment the same as processing a $1000 payment?

djkivion I Thought I Was Saving Trans Kids. Now I’m Blowing the Whistle

The movie Dog Day Afternoon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_Day_Afternoon) from 1975 was based on a 1972 bank robbery where the motive was to pay for a sex reassignment surgery.

djkivion To ease the housing crunch, more places end single-family zoning

What is the average home? Is it a detached single family house, half a duplex, apartment, trailer in a trailer park?

djkivion Twitter's top advertisers have left

Maybe Elon doesn't want to sell sugar water but rather change the world?

djkivion No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health

Here is WebMD with an article about how beer may have potential health benefits:

https://www.webmd.com/diet/beer-good-for-you

djkivion Gitlab to lay off 7% of staff

> The only way you can safely pull off layoffs is if you ensure that anything you do in the company requires the experience of a boot camp. That means that everyone is fungible and you can easily swap them.

This is an interesting way to think of the Leetcode style interview. If you don't require any particular experience and you have built your company's systems in a way that any "competent" developer can join and be effective, layoffs may not be such a big problem.

djkivion Mandatory DEI statements are becoming the norm in academic hiring

Not in industry?

Once neglected, DEI initiatives now present at all Fortune 100 companies: https://www.hrdive.com/news/2022-fortune-companies-dei/62765...

djkivion AI Generated Seinfeld banned on Twitch for transphobic jokes

In that case, instead of Seinfeld, AI should make a show about something.

djkivion Ask HN: Do you think Jesus was real?

Why not tie them together? :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asimov%27s_Guide_to_the_Bible

djkivion Ask HN: Recruiters have stopped contacting me? What could have happened?

I've noticed that making a small edit to my LinkedIn seems to activate recruiters looking at my profile and sending me messages.