Hacker News Reader

gabaixon Spain orders blocks on Archive.today and its mirrors

France has blocked Polymarket since the World Cup in June.

This was requested by the state gaming license authority, which sanction the betting business in France. Most of the business benefits the “Federation française des jeux”, the state gaming company.

Officially this was done out of concern for the safety of the French citizens.

gabaixon Chopping up books when they're physically too big

Note that voluntarism can equally help or hurt.

When it fits, it may bring high achievement and self realization.

When misplaced, it may bring suffering and disillusionment.

One has to develop a grasp at when to use it.

gabaixon The UK's war on anonymity has come to America

You will be prosecuted in some cases in France. This is a law named “insult to a representative of public authority”

If you shout insults at Macron, you will be prosecuted. If you display insults about Macron, you will be prosecuted.

https://www.rue89strasbourg.com/insulte-macron-selestat-mani...

https://www.ouest-france.fr/societe/justice/un-homme-de-77-a...

gabaixon French firefighters face 'pyrocumulonimbus' for first time

I grew up there. I used to bike along stretches of firebreaks between plots. These firebreaks are nowhere nearly enough. Trees are young, pine needles spread everywhere, and ground is sandy.

The forest is a giant tinderbox.

gabaixon Third Drone Shot Down in Three Days in Romanian Territory

It is also not possible as there is censorship in some cases. The European Union has blocked rt.com.

gabaixon Mathematicians issue warning as AI rapidly gains ground

Constant recreation may be the ultimate purpose of humanity.

gabaixon How to talk to anyone and why you should

Learn the social cues. People won’t say when they are busy. They might not ask you questions back, or keep doing what they do.

gabaixon Apple to soon take up to 30% cut from all Patreon creators in iOS app

They are not allowing other marketplaces, or creators themselves, to run apps on Apple devices directly.

gabaixon Palantir has no place in UK public services

Karp is a philosopher by training that has fallen into ideological blindness. He claims that he is on the right side of history. Democracies need Palantir badly.

He preaches his views to his employees. No one in his flock seems to wonder what would happen if their tools were to be used against democracy.

gabaixon Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

Liquidation preferences may have multiples. A 3x liquidation preference would have erased most gains for anyone who didn’t raise in the last round, employees and founders included.

gabaixon AI Destroys Institutions

True. I myself try to read articles without looking up the authors.

It is hard though. When someone makes an extraordinary claim I feel the urge to look them up. It is a shortcut to some legitimacy to that claim.

gabaixon OpenAI are quietly adopting skills, now available in ChatGPT and Codex CLI

Nagel's point is that he could not know what it was like to be a bat.

gabaixon What OpenAI did when ChatGPT users lost touch with reality

It takes fresh minds not to think about the collective impact of their actions.

gabaixon Scientists may have found a way to eliminate chromosome linked to Down syndrome

What policies post World War II have had eugenic effects on the population?

gabaixon Marines being mobilized in response to LA protests

The issues are two-fold

1- the territorial split between gendarmerie/police within the French territory

2- the fact the gendarmes for police work report to the Ministry of Defense.

If one had to design the police system from crash, they would likely merge police and gendarmes for police work.

gabaixon Marines being mobilized in response to LA protests

I have always found confusing the existence of the gendarmes. They are indeed a vestigial force of the XIXth century, and should be transformed into a regular police force.

gabaixon GitHub Copilot Coding Agent

What if Tim was the coding agent?

gabaixon Key principles on in-game virtual currencies in the EU

Cannot come soon enough. Companies like Voodoo Games have made a killing scamming gullible people with no oversight.

gabaixon Boycott IETF 127

> Some have been tortured.

Is there any evidence of this?

gabaixon The Origins of Wokeness

Depending on the number of applicants and job posts, it may be hard to prove that the person in company A discriminates.

gabaixon Ending our third party fact-checking program and moving to Community Notes model

Ironically the post is affected by Hacker News flame-war detection system.

gabaixon U.S. math scores drop on major international test

This is a good analysis.

About #2 (disincentivize charter education): parents created charter schools because they disagreed on the choices that was made for them in public education. It is very hard to fight this, as 1- they see a huge difference in test results 2- they want to give their children the best chances in life.

gabaixon House panel concludes that Covid-19 pandemic came from a lab leak

Are you referring to the "Joint WHO-China Study"?

https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/who-convened-global-...

gabaixon Secret 3D scans in the French Supreme Court

This is an apt description of how things are, sadly. And it all starts at the crib when parents teach their children blind obedience.

gabaixon Nobel Peace Prize for 2024 awarded to Nihon Hidankyo

The Hiroshima museum, while advocating for a nuclear free world, has an interesting take on why the US dropped the bomb on them.

According to them, the US dropped the bomb because they wanted to show their strengths against the Soviets. It makes little to no mention of the bloody battles in the Pacific.

gabaixon Matt Mullenweg cries foul and threatens me with legal action

He has maintained iron clad control over Automattic, WordPress, and WordPress.org. How? By insisting on securing the proxy votes from investors. Investors — what on earth were you thinking?

There is something to say about corporate governance. When a CEO can actively harm the company without risking being fired, the role of the board has failed.

This will help the case of VCs to get board seats.

gabaixon Arrest of Pavel Durov, Telegram CEO, charges of terrorism, fraud, child porn

I found this article that explains that the arrest warrant was only to be activated if Pavel was on the French territory.

(French) https://www.sudouest.fr/economie/reseaux-sociaux/le-patron-d...

It could have been a warrant that was not communicated to Durov himself. This would have helped to catch him by surprise.

gabaixon The Coffee Machine Hiring Test

These tests are often done by people with a high image of the charge. Despite all the research showing futility, they are used in startups time and time again. They do go away with experience.

gabaixon EU Council to Vote on Chat Scanning Proposal on Thursday

Not debating the merits of this case.

There are many regulations that slightly inconvenience the many, to address the problems of a few. Individually these cases are benign. As a group they compound complexity.

Each new reform should be evaluated on both its benefits and the burden that it brings.

gabaixon Uganda's surveillance state is built on national ID cards

As citizen in France, we also had an old democracy. Under Nazi Germany occupation it took no time for the ruling party to oppress ennemies of the state. Jews were hunted down using the National n database of names and addresses.

I do view technology as a double edged sword for the freedom of the people.