Hacker News Reader

exhilarationon A Sun-like star orbiting a black hole

We report discovery of a bright, nearby (G = 13.8; d = 480pc) Sun-like star orbiting a dark object.

Can anyone explain these two units - G and pc. I'm assuming d is distance? I've googled it but can't figure them out.

exhilarationon Leaked documents: Ugandan government expects explosion in Ebola cases

The headline is scary but #1 Ebola isn't airborne and #2 it's super deadly which means it kills before it really has a chance to spread widely.

exhilarationon New Zealand plunges into recessionary spiral

I've read comments on Hacker News that adjustable rate mortgages are the rule rather than the exception in many countries (outside of the U.S.). Here's a comment saying that Canada ONLY does ARMs https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15185052 and another comment saying that they're very common in some European countries: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30339845. I'm guessing this is how it is in New Zealand.

exhilarationon Swarm – Low cost, global satellite connectivity for IoT

So 50 messages for testing and calibration before they charge you? I wish all wireless providers were this nice.

exhilarationon T-Mobile will start charging a $35 fee on all new activations and upgrades

I switched from Sprint to T-Mobile in late 2019, about 10 months before the merger, in anticipation of prices going up post-merger. T-Mo matched the discounts Sprint was giving me (since they were still competing) so I'm paying $212.42/mo for 6 lines, or $35.40 per line per month, including all taxes. This for the unlimited everything "Magenta Plus" plan. They also cover $13 of my Netflix subscription so I'm really paying close to an even $200/mo. I haven't taken advantage of the free Apple TV+ but I did get free WiFi on my Delta flight last week - another nice bonus.

exhilarationon Why are so many babies born around 8:00 AM? (2017)

Fixed, I appreciate it!

exhilarationon Why are so many babies born around 8:00 AM? (2017)

The answer is scheduled C-sections and if you haven't read it, Atul Gawande's 2006 New Yorker article on why they've become so common is good read: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/10/09/the-score

After watching The Business of Being Born, Gawande's article was really helpful in understanding why things are done the way they are.

exhilarationon Electric scooter ban increased congestion by 10% in Atlanta

they're amazing and, frankly, I hope they never go away

You might want to preemptively contact your city councilmember and share your thoughts with them. Or go one step further and attend one of the meetings to speak on mic about it. Remember that they're far more likely to hear from people who complain, and it takes just a single council session to ban them.

exhilarationon The Restaurant Industry’s Worst Idea: QR Code Menus

My Pixel 3A does, interesting to see the difference

exhilarationon What’s wrong with medieval pigs in videogames

They don't stay in forests hence "feral pigs are widely considered to be the most destructive invasive species in the United States": https://nyti.ms/3TLKZRy

Check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeGyVrcS9eo

exhilarationon Colleges that ditched admission tests find it harder to fairly choose students

I'm not sure where you're getting this impression, just read the Wikipedia page for SFFA https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Students_for_Fair_Admissions

Asians are a pretty big and diverse group but I would say there's pretty strong support the lawsuits that will soon dismantle affirmative action.

exhilarationon Blink-182 tickets are so expensive because Ticketmaster is a monopoly

That's actually pretty expensive! This site https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ says $15 in 1969 is equivalent to $121 today.

exhilarationon Blink-182 tickets are so expensive because Ticketmaster is a monopoly

Good point! The percentage of the ticket price that the artists are getting is - conveniently - never revealed so fans are left to assume that it's evil Ticketmaster gouging them. I see a comment above yours https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33290468 that suggests the artists usually get 85% of the profits, and of course we have no way to know.

exhilarationon A global house-price slump is coming?

Is that the town-assessed value? This [1] shows 2.708% so on $1.2M that would be $32k in taxes, I think something is special about your situation?

https://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxation/pdf/lpt/gtr/2021ta...

exhilarationon Why our Smart Video Doorbell will not be able to support HomeKit Secure Video

I'm curious about your setup. I've got a Nest doorbell camera and would love to stop sending my video to Google. Do you get notified when there's someone outside your door? Or a notification that someone rang your bell? What app do you use on your phone? What about intercom functionality, is there a way to replicate that?

exhilarationon NASA’s Webb takes star-filled portrait of Pillars of Creation

Or if you're on the East Coast, come to Pennsylvania! https://www.darksky.org/our-work/conservation/idsp/parks/che...

exhilarationon It’s time to repeal the Jones Act

But then they couldn't get away with abusing their workers and paying them peanuts: https://www.businessinsider.com/why-cruise-ship-workers-take...

exhilarationon Retired U.S. generals, admirals take top jobs with Saudi crown prince

Aren't there literally American military bases in Saudi Arabia? https://militarybases.com/overseas/saudi-arabia/ How much more allied can you get?

exhilarationon Researchers find ‘significant rates’ of sinking ground in Houston suburbs

Pretty much all of the HOAs that are de facto zoning boards of the Houston area would most definitely prevent you from doing anything like that. HOA by-laws are where you'll find the real zoning regulations over there.

exhilarationon Never pay for online dating (2010)

I kind of love this idea, take the skills of 18F https://18f.gsa.gov/ and put them into making the ultimate dating site! An awesome application of data science. Let's take it further -- Government-funded matchmakers! They can hire all the Korean and Indian aunties that are already doing this for free.

exhilarationon Russians hit the office and R&D center of Samsung in Kyiv

I'm assuming he didn't move there from New York but another part of Ukraine. Kiev is relatively safe compared to parts closer to the front lines.

exhilarationon The reality of celebratory gunfire

I was going to say, where do you even find blanks and I bet they're more expensive than normal ammo but no, you can easily order them online like this random example: https://greencountryammo.com/9mm-BLANK-Ammunition-DAG-100-ro... and they're only 2/3rds the cost of target ammunition.

exhilarationon Lessons from a Professional Password Cracker

If companies want us to stop incrementing a number (guilty!) or writing our passwords on post-its stuck on our monitors, they should stop requiring us to change our passwords every freaking month. I think it was only in 2021 that NIST suggested the password change frequency should be yearly.

exhilarationon Users reporting artifacts appearing in old images stored in Google Photos

Unfortunately it looks like it's subject to the same limitation of the Google Photos API: Photo download compresses the photos even if you ask for the original file https://gilesknap.github.io/gphotos-sync/main/explanations/g...

I've been putting off a Google photos back up for years, and this was my excuse - waiting for this issue to be resolved. But I'm being a fool, 60% compression is better than losing everything.

exhilarationon Users reporting artifacts appearing in old images stored in Google Photos

Do you know if gphotos-sync downloads the photos in their original quality/version?

exhilarationon Why Craigslist still looks the same after 25 years

Did Zillow charge for this service? You mentioned "vetting" - does that include background and credit checks?

exhilarationon Stripe has decided to nuke my entire business

Great solution, I wouldn't have thought of this. Did you ever get complaints about the charge description looking different month to month, or did both processors pass the same description to the customer's credit card?

exhilarationon Mortgage Rates Jump Above 6%, Putting Pressure on Housing Market

because the existing mortgage was transferable

I've never heard of transferable mortgages! I'm guessing they've been phased out due to changing regulations?

exhilarationon Twitter trackers jeopardize military aircraft?

Thank you! I tried! :)

exhilarationon Twitter trackers jeopardize military aircraft?

The article mentions that. [1]

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Please don't comment on whether someone read an article. "Did you even read the article? It mentions that" can be shortened to "The article mentions that."