Hacker News Reader

kbutleron Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

The article was published in 2016, and the authors extrapolated from 7 data points (!) over about 7 years of progress in the world record. This is obviously insufficient to project 30 years into the future.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27446911/#&gid=article-figur...

That record progressed

  2008 18.58
  2015 15.71

2.87 seconds over 7 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenichi_Ito_(athlete)

If we check in on more recent progress since then, we find the current record is 15.66 set in 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20241222175947/https://www.guinn...

Another 7 years, for an improvement of 0.05 seconds, or about 850 years of linear improvement to reach Bolt's 9.58 seconds.

Anyone wanting to bet on beating Bolt by 2048?

kbutleron Eastern Baltic cod grow much smaller than they did due to overfishing

...less fit for their environment excluding human fishing pressure.

kbutleron Eastern Baltic cod grow much smaller than they did due to overfishing

...haven't /INTENTIONALLY/ discriminated by size...

The article says smaller fish could more easily escape the nets. Though it doesn't cite studies documenting that, it does seem reasonable.

kbutleron Where in the world are babies at the lowest risk of dying?

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/infant_mortality_r...

I wonder how the consistent gestational period adjustments would affect the statistics for the various states.

kbutleron Show HN: BetterFriend – a CRM just to be a better friend

Like eating a vegetables and proteins is just more of the same fats and sugars?

I live a long distance from my parents and siblings - technology helps me retain some closeness with them that would not otherwise be possible.

I live close to my children. Technology could be a barrier to closeness with them.

kbutleron Dilbert creator Scott Adams says he will die soon from same cancer as Joe Biden

Thanks!

Any bets which link stays valid longer?

I also like this related comic: https://dilbert-viewer.herokuapp.com/1995-07-12 https://web.archive.org/web/20150309041557/http://dilbert.co...

kbutleron Dilbert creator Scott Adams says he will die soon from same cancer as Joe Biden

Hardware happiness - I've enjoyed checking in to these specs every few years...

35" monitor 20 megs of ram 1.2 gigabytes of hard disk space

https://web.archive.org/web/20150205042406/https://dilbert.c...

kbutleron The first year of free-threaded Python

Please consolidate with existing post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44003445

kbutleron An Alabama landline that keeps ringing

This is a good theory and may have been an actual motivation to shut it down.

kbutleron When flat rate movers won't answer your calls

We last moved on a very short notice after 20+ years. Got rid of lots of stuff, but ended up moving a bunch we didn't have time to sort through.

Got to get back to sorting & discarding - or maybe, if it's still in the box, I don't really need it?

kbutleron When flat rate movers won't answer your calls

The moving company also failed to provide contracted and paid for services, as acknowledged* by a company representative. The poster is thus owed a refund from the company in addition to the insurance payment, which covered damages.

* "Their representive apologized and acknowledged that a crew of two was insufficient"..."they charged me a good deal of money for services they failed to deliver"

kbutleron Ask HN: Do you still use search engines?

Define ad infinitum

What you don't get with pay TV

  Originally for cable, but then you got ads with cable. 
  Then for streaming, but then you got ads with streaming. 
  Physical DVDs? Ads. 
  Paid Roku device? Ads. 
  Paid windows installation? Ads.

Available eyeballs will be sold.

kbutleron Ask HN: Do you still use search engines?

I'd rather have a list of links with text ads I can ignore...

kbutleron John Cage recital set to last 639 years recently witnessed a chord change

In a live orchestra performance, the conductor raises his hands. The audience quiets in anticipation.

He gives an up tick indicating the beginning of the music, then the downbeat of the start of the first measure.

No sound is heard.

The conductor continues to mark time. The silence is deep...profound.

The conductor continues to mark the time of the passing measures.

The audience listens.

At some point, positive sound breaks the silence - suddenly, loudly destroying the stillness! Or possibly very nearly silently - at the uncertain threshold of perception, the audible music begins...

kbutleron 'Naive' science fan faces jail for plutonium import

> Lidden ordered the [plutonium] from a US-based science website and they were delivered to his parents' home.

Anybody have the URL?

https://www.luciteria.com/element-cubes/plutonium-for-sale?s...

says "sold out"

https://web.archive.org/web/20200904082652/https://www.lucit... says they had one of the Russian smoke detector sources for $5,000 in 2020.

https://the-collectable-periodic-table2.mybigcommerce.com/pl... has it listed (well, "wish listed") for $500.

kbutleron All clothing is handmade (2022)

Yes, I've never considered worker skill (much less race) to be a factor in the low quality of mass-market items.

The mass production process and target price point seem much more relevant.

That said, mass production processes are also tailored (ahem) to allow specialization - it's doubtful that one person takes the garment from fabric bolts to completed garment as could happen in a bespoke, individual tailor context (though I'm sure custom garments are generally produced by teams of workers as well!)

So individual workers are likely to be very highly skilled in their individual specialty step and equipment, but may not have the range of production and design skill of a master craftsman.

kbutleron Monster Cables picked the wrong guy to threaten (2008)

Besides interference and lying about specs, cables can be designed for durability or not.

I buy cheap cables from China. They generally work-to-spec out of the...plastic bag, but may not handle frequent plug/unplug cycles or any sort of rough treatment.

kbutleron A DOGE staffer appears to be posting DOGE work on his public GitHub

Yes, if you only count "federal government employees" https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CES9091000001

But this neglects the millions of contractors and other positions that are also funded by government spending, which is harder to measure, and does change more over time.

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-true-size-of-governme... (2020, but the article doesn't clarify if the 5m includes short-term census workers)

kbutleron A DOGE staffer appears to be posting DOGE work on his public GitHub

The problem with a persistent bureaucracy is that it selects for bureaucrats in favor of perpetuating and expanding the bureaucracy.

So a political appointee who wants to expand government finds willing allies.

An appointee who wants to reduce government finds opposition.

The association of individual political parties with those positions is more variable.

kbutleron macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

You can generally permanently delete with one action - but be sure you want to!

GUI: select item(s) and Option-Command-Delete

Command-line: rm -rf folder-or-file-path (or srm to securely remove)

kbutleron macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

I autohide the dock when I get a new mac, and usually manage to forget it exists.

Command-Tab to switch apps, Command-Space to open apps.

Why would I want the Dock?

kbutleron Every line is a potential bug (2009)

Thinking too small.

Every line is potentially /many/ bugs.

kbutleron List of DRM-Free Bookshops

Can scan the archive.today capture:

https://archive.ph/zPBbZ

kbutleron If you ever stacked cups in gym class, blame my dad

Best to put it surname first:

  Fox, Kit

kbutleron Oracle justified its JavaScript trademark with Node.js–now it wants that ignored

"schlep"

kbutleron Oracle justified its JavaScript trademark with Node.js–now it wants that ignored

Netscape wanted to call their new language "JavaScript" to piggy-back off the popularity of Java. Sun Microsystems owned Java(tm), and allowed Netscape to use the name while retaining the trademark. Netscape was purchased by AOL and then terminated. Oracle purchased Sun and all things Java, including the JavaScript trademark. Sun and Oracle have never done anything significant in the JavaScript world, but retain the trademark because of the Java name.

Since literally no one associates JavaScript with Oracle, unless aware of the name history and company acquisition history, it isn't a valid identifier of the source of "JavaScript", and should be canceled or transferred to an organization like EcmaScript International.

kbutleron Hoppscotch: Open source alternative to Postman / Insomnia

Also Bruno https://github.com/usebruno/bruno

I believe both Bruno and Hoppscotch are "open core" with expensive paid plans for additional/enterprise functionality, and they limit community-contributed functionality in the open source versions to avoid competing with the commercial versions.

kbutleron Combining 15s interval whole-sky-camera photos to form a 4y spanning keogram

I was surprised there wasn't more of a line of red from sunrise/sunset.

It's probably because the composition algorithm takes a central line through each image (a line through the zenith), so it captures relatively few horizon-adjacent pixels that would highlight the reds of sunrise/sunset.

kbutleron Why Canada Should Join the EU

Tired: Wired

Expired: Wired subscription

kbutleron Why Canada Should Join the EU

I hear this, but it seems a shallow take.

You'd generally have to have the urban areas be one state, and everything else another. But those areas still have large numbers of people aligned with the other party, so those people will be even more disenfranchised.

And if a county "flips" parties in one election, do you then move it between state lines?

Just seems really unworkable.