Hacker News Reader

instagibon KFC, Nando's, and others ditch chicken welfare pledge

4.3kilos for the Hubbard variety at 56 days is pretty high. I wonder the percent make it to 56 days or they collect early.

Most I saw in US were running 3.4kilos avg at 51 days. If they make it to 53 days they usually have heart failure due to fast growth. Lots of breeding issues.

instagibon Thinking hard burns almost no calories but destroys your next workout

https://vo2maxpro.com/blog/does-caffeine-improve-vo2-max

They list a study and more info on that page. Probably why almost all pre-workouts include caffeine. Some push for 300mg per serving.

Yohimbe gives some weird heart effects also.

instagibon Ask HN: LLMs helping you read papers and books

400 pages at 400 words per page is 160,000 words. X1.33 tokens ≈212,800 tokens

Most models local or cloud have issues with very long contexts even if they “support” 1M context window.

I’ve tried local models and around 30K context, it starts making up or summarizing content to store it in memory and will not fully reproduce the input.

You could try re-training a local model on a book or implementation of RAG.

I don’t know how latest local models would handle 200k context window but RAG may help keep the memory context clean.

instagibon Under the current DTC model, investors do not directly own their securities

The links all take you back to Fox News instead of links which detail the content. Excluding probably the book the author is selling I didn’t click.

It all comes down to: Margin.

If the market fails, they will give you a margin call. If you don’t have a margin account, your broker didn’t make one for you, then you’re safe.

instagibon States reliant on Colorado River fail to meet latest deadline to find consensus

Heard many complain that ski/snowboard season this year was a bust.

“Normally, snow cover this time of year spans 460,000 square miles — about the size of California, Utah, Idaho and Montana. But, this year it is only California-sized, about 155,000 square miles”

instagibon Show HN: Off Grid – Run AI text, image gen, vision offline on your phone

Wonder if you can use GitHub actions to build iOS.

I found a guide for virtual box macOS which failed on intel then another for hyper-V but haven’t tried that one yet.

instagibon A review of M Disc archival capability with long term testing results (2016)

I have a script that creates a hash based on all files in a directory - photos 2004. Then save the hash separately to a text file.

I have 3 copies so I can check the archive version, active storage volume, and local version to see if any lost integrity in the transfer process.

I’m curious how it would compare against my old CDs and DVDs that were previous backups. My work does something similar for tape drive data.

instagibon Rivian R2: Electric Mid-Size SUV

That was the cyber truck. 4 motor replacements iirc.

instagibon Americans want heat pumps – but high electricity prices may get in the way

I had an install of a heat pump slightly oversized for the work trailer used. Every day it was below 30-40F 0C-4C, the pre-heater would kick on. A heat strip inside the heat pump.

It would take 30min to an hour to get heat out of the heat pump. We had to get portable heaters to supplement the heat generated and while the pre-heater was running.

Then in summer it could not handle cooling so we needed an additional loud window AC.

instagibon Europe's $24T Breakup with Visa and Mastercard Has Begun

Then the vendors pay 2-4% of credit transactions to the payment processor or shift the cost to consumers.

It’s about the cost of another employee in salary per year for restaurants.

While many other countries employ pay by QR code which is free.

instagibon Bitchat – decentralized peer-to-peer messaging

dupes and disallowing new comments are at odds for discussion unless the goal is to have someone re-review the topic then write a new article for submission.

instagibon Irish man with valid US work permit held in ICE detention for five months

He overstayed the 90 day fiancé visa. Got married eventually. That should have triggered a 5-10 year bar from re-entering the US.

He could have applied for legal status immediately and it is usually waived if you pass the interview process.

Instead, 20 years later he applied for a green card to get a temporary work permit which is usually granted eligible while applying for permanent residency. So he had no work permit or valid status for 20 years.

5 months in detention seems like a long time. They offered to deport him but he refused and supposedly DHS forged his signatures.

It’s a messy case but he could have avoided the detention if he willingly asked to be deported immediately then fight for immigration status from where he has citizenship.

instagibon The first sodium-ion battery EV is a winter range monster

Had a thermometer read 170F 76C inside my black on black vehicle with windows cracked.

Decided to keep my battery devices in a cooler with cool and frozen water bottles to drink when I return. Phone, camera batteries, and a portable vehicle starter.

instagibon Americans want heat pumps – but high electricity prices may get in the way

Number of times me or my family lost power in various states: a lot.

Number of times we lost water: 3.

Number of times we lost natural gas? Zero.

instagibon Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month

Credit card verification not an option.

Facial video estimates or submit an id card.

Option 3: if we analyze all of your data we have and see you are not going to bed at 8pm for middle school, you get adult status.

instagibon The first sodium-ion battery EV is a winter range monster

“As always, we’ll have to wait for independent testing for real-world results.”

interested in hot desert weather performance which often gets lost in the averages.

instagibon Don't rent the cloud, own instead

Flooding due to burst frozen pipe, false sprinkler trigger, or many others.

Something very similar happened at work. Water valve monitoring wasn’t up yet. Fire didn’t respond because reasons. Huge amount of water flooded over a 3 day weekend. Total loss.

instagibon Mobile carriers can get your GPS location

What you need iPhone Air, iPhone 16e, or iPad Pro (M5) Wi-Fi + Cellular iOS 26.3 or later

A supported carrier: Germany: Telekom United Kingdom: EE, BT United States: Boost Mobile Thailand: AIS, True

Turn limit precise location on or off

Open Settings, then tap Cellular.

Tap Cellular Data Options.

If you have more than one phone number under SIMs, tap one of your lines.

Scroll down to Limit Precise Location.

Turn the setting on or off. You might be prompted to restart your device.

instagibon US has investigated claims WhatsApp chats aren't private

2) enough metadata can reveal a person's life, habits, and location which removes the need to analyze the actual bulky content of communications.

can analyze receivers data or receivers contact trees data which is easier to access.

The number of free or paid data sources is daunting.

instagibon Our approach to advertising

“Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise subscriptions will not include ads.“ Yet.

The free and $8 new “Go” tier will include ads.

instagibon Ford F-150 Lightning outsold the Cybertruck and was then canceled for poor sales

Maybe they can sell them at the announced prices instead of the inflated ones. Used is selling around $40k with 20-40,000 miles.

New started at 40k, went to 60k for sale, pre-order fulfillment fell off a cliff so it sunk to 56k, and settled around 50k.

2022: 15,617 sold

2023: 24,165

2024: 33,510

2025: “Around 27,300 units sold in the U.S”

$4k-$6k per battery module replacement. Full pack $25k-$50k.

instagibon How have prices changed in a year? NPR checked 114 items at Walmart

The physical size of charmin changed during the pandemic.

Good to track this yearly since some standard metrics are useless versus the shrinkflation, reduction in quality ingredients, and other manipulation we’ll learn about sooner or later.

Many ice creams are now dairy desserts due to not having enough ingredients to make the cut. Same with milk chocolates and now declared chocolate candy due to not using enough real cocoa.

instagibon US will ban Wall Street investors from buying single-family homes

So, REITs? There is so much money there I expect some immediate pushback or a built in loophole.

Can’t buy a single home but an entire community is okay.

instagibon Bill to Eliminate H-1B Visa Program Introduced in Congress

This is how controversial things get introduced. People who are not going for re-election, retiring, or were recently instated will be forgotten versus the party as a whole.

Look at the shutdown vote and other consequential votes where they need to reach across party lines.

It does get conversations going though and could be re-introduced again soon.

She or others can get some good deals from their party to push bills, votes, or speeches in exchange for donations or speaking venues.

instagibon Swiss Authorities Say Sparklers Probably Caused NYE's Fire, Killing 40 people

One thing I’ve noticed overseas is construction rules, fire rules, etc are different in each country or town. Requirements are vastly different and they may never re-inspect.

How much smoke does it take to fill and trigger an alarm if you have semi-exposed wood beams?

Many places don’t have or require expensive fire suppression sprinklers.

Some no smoke detectors or carbon monoxide sensors.

How far are you from the fire exit stairs?

Do you need to fight a fire with an emergency hose to get there?

Do they have a fire station nearby? Staffed? Buildings burn very fast.

Does the truck go up to your hotel’s 6th or higher floors?

instagibon Trump Administration Approved a Big Lithium Mine. Official's Husband Profited

“Lithium America’s stock jumped roughly 30 percent on Oct. 3 when the Trump administration announced the government was taking a 5 percent share in both the mine and the company developing it. “

instagibon Grey Market Peptides: Not for Human Consumption

Here’s a good warning the “researchers” may not value much.

“Grey market products lack cold-chain guarantees, undergo unknown storage conditions, and arrive with certificates of analysis from labs users cannot verify, (…) One Belgian market study found grey market peptides containing 10-90% less active ingredient than claimed, plus microbial contamination, heavy metals, and cross-contamination with other substances”

instagibon Not for human consumption

Maybe worth its own post since this one got flagged. It’s well written albeit scary.

[one day, she accidentally doubled her dose. “My hair started falling out after a month because I was malnourished,” Ms. Bowman said. “It made my heart rate go up 10 beats per minute at night.” Still, she plans to keep going.]

instagibon MH370 vanished in 2014.New search aims to find answers families desperately want

Including all medical issues. Anything that could hinder your performance could lead to a removal of medical clearance and that’s it for flying.

Many pilots I speak with use overseas doctors to continue flying.

instagibon MH370 vanished in 2014.New search aims to find answers families desperately want

Shortly after this there was a news article about a capacity or request for proposal (RFP) to allow remote takeover of aircraft controls locking out the pilot.

I tried to find it again but it fell off the internet.