Hacker News Reader

eigenon “My scooter was stolen. Unknown to the thief, I hid two AirTags inside it.”

What to do if you find an AirTag or get an alert that an AirTag is with you

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212227

To disable the AirTag and stop sharing your location, tap Instructions to Disable AirTag and follow the onscreen steps.

eigenon Wildfire restored a Yosemite watershed

> That wouldn't be the case if fires were 20-25% smaller and less frequent.

until the small fire grows out of control [1]. Then it should have been put out earlier [2][3].

[1] https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/23/us/california-tamarack-fire-b...

[2] https://mcclintock.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rep-mcc...

[3] https://twitter.com/Wheeler4Nevada/status/141831383122321817...

eigenon A bad grade that changed the U.S. constitution (2017)

> he always held that there is a process for changing the Constitution.

during the time Scalia was on the US Supreme Court (1986-2016), there was 1 amendment to the US constitution (27th) that was took 202 years for approvals. since I don't think he could be considered naive, it is almost certain he was disingenuous.

eigenon Clusterboard A64 Insidious Reset Problem: Solved

from the article,

>There was an OD4 diode, but it is deleted from the schematics.

this is why providing schematics alone is not sufficient. PinePhone only provides schematics and not board layout and it is entirely possible that they are only loosely related. an imperfect analogy would be providing source but only running a binary compiled by someone else. you can see what they intended to do, but not necessarily what they did.

eigenon Toyota is quietly pushing Congress to slow the shift to electric vehicles

> Has there ever been an example of that failing in history? I'm not sure you can find any historical situation that's close enough to this one to make a good analogy, especially because hydrogen isn't even a good fuel to start with.

I'd think Iridium satellite phone is a great example of this. Motorola spent $5B to setup a constellation of satellites to sell $3k phones. It failed. turns out spending a ton of money to create a market is a huge gamble and the market can move in unexpected ways.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium_satellite_constellatio...

eigenon Why does NBC make it so difficult to watch the Olympics?

> Actually, I'm surprised the Olympics themselves don't have a direct subscription for streaming the entire event where people can sign up and stream it.

NBC tried something similar 30 years ago. It was a financial failure.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympics_Triplecast

eigenon Empty storefronts are killing neighbourhoods

it seems that somehow $0 is not less than say 5% discount on rent. perhaps unrented is counted a NULL for these calculations.

eigenon Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

> Well then 00-10 was the platinum age. Few behemoths, lots of smaller companies, less focus on marketing and money, fewer idiots online, a focus on hosting your own stuff from 0.

Eternal September was 1993. maybe this golden age of the internet where everyone was civil and educated and almost nothing was subject to censorship didn't really exist.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September

eigenon Amazon tells bosses to conceal when employees are on performance management plan

doesnt Amazon cap base salary around $180k and only 5% of RSUs vest the first year? my understanding is that, barring a massive RSU package, you cant get to $500k in the first year.

eigenon The cost of the “new way to message on instagram” (2020)

the first amendment to the US Constitution says:

> Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

can you explain how this should apply to "large corporations with massive network effects." would the other sections of the first amendment apply to private corps such that they couldn't deny medical coverage based on the corporation’s religious views?

eigenon The economics of dollar stores

the CARS program ran for 1 month in 2009. so it didnt affect 2009 and later model years. it appears to have increased new car sales in 2009 so it should positively affect the used car market in later years as those new cars moved to the used car market.

please explain how the used car market is "slowly recovering" 11 years later.

eigenon The Miami condo collapse is a reminder of America's artificial land problem

this is true, if you take standard samples and test them. but the Hard Rock New Orleans may have bogus inspections and testing.

>Tweeter reported three other on-site inspections in July, August and October, but the GPS records show her vehicle stopping at the Hard Rock on just one of those dates.

the Hard Rock New Orleans could have been insufficient supports changed after the city approved plans [2].

>The last set of plans approved by the city were dated June 2018. Those called for the sturdier 16-gauge metal decking. Those plans were revised to go with the thinner, lighter 22-gauge decking in February 2019, shortly after the emails between the construction team and New Millennium. The city confirmed it never received those revisions.

[1] https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/investigations/city-was-c...

[2] https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/investigations/david-hamm...

eigenon Peter Thiel turned a Roth IRA into a $5B tax-free piggy bank

seems like corporate tax transparency would be a good first step.

> Congress already has access to tax returns for the purpose of writing tax legislation.

while that is the law that Congress can request/subpoena returns under §6103(f) of Title 26 [1], if it can just be ignored then Congress doesnt really have access.

[1] https://irc.bloombergtax.com/public/uscode/doc/irc/section_6...

eigenon Will Apple Mail threaten the newsletter boom?

from your link, "Apple doesn’t detail its current ad revenue, and analyst Samik Chatterjee seems to imply that the number could only be reached by including some form of advertising within or around Apple TV+" and "Apple’s most recent earnings report revealed that it earned $12.51B from Services in calendar Q3/fiscal Q4, though there is no breakdown on how much of this comes from ad revenue."

so it seems that the current revenue is a guess and the projection is a guess.

eigenon Google removes its head of diversity after 2007 blog post surfaces

Can you provide a source for best selling? I dont see it on the NYT Fiction or NonFiction list in 2016.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times_Fiction_Bes...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times_Nonfiction_...

eigenon Peloton to invest $400M to build its first U.S. manufacturing facility in Ohio

Things like Abattoirs, Textiles, and Paper Making are all considered light industry. If you've ever driven by one of these you may understand industrial pollution.

eigenon Tim Cook’s Fortnite trial testimony was unexpectedly revealing

does the FDA not get a fee to review and approve drugs? is it not the exclusive arbiter of approved drugs in the US?

ignoring the for-profit corp vs govt regulatory body statutory difference, there isn't much different in operation.

eigenon One man’s fight for the right to repair broken MacBooks

yet Prius catalytic convertors are apparently a big market, so much so that it is a regularly stolen item. so someone is buying these parts to install when a car is serviced.

[1] https://www.inquirer.com/business/toyota-prius-catalytic-con...

[2] https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/thieves-target-toyota-p...!

[3] https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/feb/01/catalytic-conv...

> The thieves make about £300 to £500 from every converter stolen, fenced through scrap metal dealers, with car manufacturers warning that a gap in the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 enables dodgy dealers to buy them without checks required on where they came from.

eigenon Microsoft and Apple wage war on gadget right-to-repair laws

does serializing parts affect the stolen goods market? I.E. if parts are serialized, presumably they can be made to not be usable in repairs.

eigenon The level of Mac malware is not acceptable, says Apple exec at Epic trial

step 5: Register an app developer account in Partner Center.

eigenon Apple-Epic judge asks why offering iOS users a choice is bad

> A lot of products you buy (especially ones that are huge recurring purchases, like lots of baby stuff) include coupons that direct you to the website to buy more via direct subscription.

is there a 15/30% fee for physical goods such as DoorDash, Amazon, etc? thought it was just for digital goods, subscriptions, etc.

eigenon Tesla Autopilot system was on during fatal California crash, more safety concern

as expected this tracks the number of cars sold.

2020 fatal crashes:

    #1 – Ford        21,262 

    #2 – Chevrolet   20,435   

    #3 – Toyota      12,918 

    #4 – Honda       10,969  

    #5 – Dodge        7,983

    #6 – Nissan       7,956 

    #7 – GMC          4,533

    #8 – Jeep         4,138

    #9 – Hyundai      3,766   

    #10 – Kia         2,834

    ...

    #41 – Tesla          62

2019 sales [1]:

    #1 – General Motors                2,886,904

    #2 – Ford Motor Co                 2,406,188

    #3 – Toyota Motors                 2,383,304

    #4 – FCA US (Fiat, Chrysler, etc)  2,203,663

    #5 – American Honda                1,608,170

    #6 – Nissan-Mitsubishi             1,466,727

    #7 – Hyundai-Kia                   1,325,342

    ...

    #13 - Tesla                          192,250

also, the crashes is all model years so it favors less US market time.

[1] https://carsalesbase.com/us-car-sales-analysis-2019-brands/

eigenon Colonial Pipeline Paid Hackers Nearly $5M in Ransom

continuing the unfortunate trend of the public spending to protect private profit.

eigenon I mailed an AirTag and tracked its progress

Looks like Airtag [1] is 31.9⌀x8 (6,393.8 mm3). the Tile Mate with removable battery is 35x35x6.2 (7,595 mm3) and Tile Sticker is 27⌀x7.3 (4,179.6 mm3). do you stick it to your keyring or use the larger Mate with hole on the keyring?

[1] https://support.apple.com/kb/SP840?viewlocale=en_US&locale=e...

[2] https://www.thetileapp.com/en-us/store/tiles/mate

eigenon Restaurant menu tricks (2020)

ranges from $350 for the dining room, $450 for outdoor dining room, to $500 for a private dining room.

https://www.exploretock.com/tfl/

eigenon California is not in drought

4 hour version.

https://youtu.be/PR2BSGQt2DU

eigenon California is not in drought

to be fair, its only "to conduct any development activity or remove one or more protected trees, where such development activity or removal is not associated with a discretionary project, shall make application to the Planning Division for a Minor Tree Permit". so county approval needed if you are building a house or if you want to remove protected tree species (mostly oak, heritage, and riparian). so if you want to cut down that grey pine that drops all its needles every year, no permit needed.

eigenon California is not in drought

> Although legally the state is obligated to approve all compliant THPs, practically speaking they can find flaws in the THPs, drag their feet on approval, and you may need to take the state to court.

this is for large-scale harvesting. I'm seeing <2 months from public comment close to THP approval, usually 2 weeks [1]. how long do you think is reasonable?

individual lot tree removal is a pretty straightforward form [2]. provide reason, site plan, maybe arborist report, etc.

[1] https://caltreesplans.resources.ca.gov/Caltrees/Report/ShowR...

[2] https://www.placer.ca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/40240/Tree-Per...

eigenon California is not in drought

> The technology to prevent wildfires is controlled burns. ... A combination of anti-controlled burn mentality, building expensive homes in forested areas, and an antipathy to "greedy loggers" has turned California into a tinderbox waiting to go off.

Agricultural and Prescribed Burn Notices are currently approved in the vast majority of the state [1]. and you can see from the historical data [2] that only Aug - Oct have significant restrictions.

[1] https://ssl.arb.ca.gov/pfirs/cb3/cb3.php?id=16

[2] https://www.arb.ca.gov/smp/histor/histor.htm