Hacker News Reader

Me as well.

Know what "plays for sure"?

VLC.

"This guy" is prolific author Cory Doctorow. I suspect he's been made quite a few promises regarding DRM and distribution.

I'm inclined to think he has some domain knowledge in this subject.

noonespecialon Pension funds may be wrecked in a future recession

That's not true globally. Even Japan is starting to look at their border gates and go "hmmmmm".

noonespecialon Being Born Rich Still Leads to Success More Than Working Hard in School (2017)

Socialism seems to act like a societal micronutrient. A deficiency leads to the possibility of wide range of social sicknesses whereas overdosing on it (communism) is acutely (one generation) fatal.

Like everything else, moderation and balance.

noonespecialon Banned from Google Ads for Using Apple Card

Google's classic canned response of "We've confirmed we're right, we will not tell you why and this is the last reply you'll receive" is one of the most infuriating things I can imagine.

Its also almost certainly completely fake as they're done nothing of the sort. I'd be shocked if it wasn't as automatic as an away message.

noonespecialon Measles: Four European nations lose eradication status

Just a reminder that Measles also has negative side effects, and refusing a vaccination may force it on someone else less able to withstand those effects.

noonespecialon Building a Raspberry Pi 3B+ full keyboard handheld

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

noonespecialon Rich Families Are Legally Separating from Their Kids to Pay Less for College

You forgot step 2 where they graciously negotiate it down to everything you're ever going to earn.

noonespecialon China’s CCTV network took just 7 minutes to capture BBC reporter (2017)

Ah yes, but at this point I'm quite sure it will be used in service of "bad laws" and little else.

Its true that thanks to profit motive, someone will build it.

Its just not going to be me.

noonespecialon No More Cheap Shipping for Chinese Sellers

Not to pry, but how can you do that?

The cheapest way I can find to send any package to an address even across the street is $2.66.

Do you just stick a stamp on it and mail it like a letter?

Will you still be able to get your ESP's cheap enough after the shipping change?

noonespecialon Cruise-line companies are building private Caribbean play zones

Or could you use that power to pay them more even though you didn't have to?

noonespecialon Pronunciations for hexadecimal numbers (1968)

Stay F0 out there...

noonespecialon The Next Recession Will Be About Sovereign Debt

It's like Woody trying to explain to Buzz that he's not a real space ranger... forever.

noonespecialon Things I Learnt from a Senior Software Engineer

I was already forgetting things I learnt. They either became so internalized that my mind tricked me into believing I always knew them, or they slipped my mind.

The best time to write a tutorial is as you learn a thing yourself. You learn it better for doing it and others benefit from it more because it automatically comes from a beginners perspective.

noonespecialon Singapore Says Musk's Electric Cars Are About 'Lifestyle,' Not Climate

Still we must be vigilant that our solutions don't accidentally (or intentionally!) factor down to "there's too many humans, lets starve out some of those poors".

noonespecialon Amazon has proven unable or unwilling to effectively police third-party sellers

Read the seller's feedback.

noonespecialon Practice does not always make perfect, finds study of violinists

If the volume bothers you, you can work mostly in moles...

noonespecialon Time to Get Serious about Tick-Borne Diseases

Indeed, so much so that if you have both a cat and a dog, you should not use the standard topical flea treatment on your dog (which contains permethrin) as enough may transfer to your cat to cause serious issues.

noonespecialon Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music

The "path of Ishkur" for most people is to arrive at the site, marvel at the artistic layout and amount of info presented, then immediately drill down to one's favorite genre to find... that Ishkur roasts it like an old episode of SNL, mildly offending the casual visitor who feels their taste has been somehow called out.

Later on one discovers that Ishkur roasts all of the genres in similar fashion and that this is part of the appeal. It is in the trashing of each style that Ishkur reveals what makes that type of music unique.

noonespecialon Time to Get Serious about Tick-Borne Diseases

Permethrin is vastly more effective than deet. It lasts for weeks, even across washes and kills basically any insect that touches the sprayed areas. Its so harmless to mammals(1) that ranchers spray it directly on cattle.

It is extremely toxic to marine life and indiscriminately kills insects including beneficial pollinating insects. Use with care.

(1) With some important exceptions, thanks to rileyphone for the reminder.

noonespecialon We Have Ruined Childhood

Child Protective Services is the thing I've most feared as a parent. Getting caught up in that system is about the worst thing that can happen to a child.

noonespecialon Across the Universe, a star exploded so violently that it annihilated itself

We're actually getting a bit more than we'd like. If we could get the sun to turn it down a smidge for a few hundred years while we get the gas mix in our atmosphere right it would be most helpful.

noonespecialon Netflix’s biggest bingers get hit with higher internet costs

These corporations work very hard at regulatory capture and lobbying to keep the "pseudo" firmly in place and the capitalism to a minimum.

The ironic part is that local governments usually end up repairing the distortions in the market and externalized costs caused by these monopolies via social programs. The whole thing ends up more socialist with an added layer of inefficiency and graft than just working out a socialist solution up front.

noonespecialon Fewer Than Half of Google Searches Now Result in a Click

There are plenty of types searches where I'm now viscerally afraid to click on the results lest it result in a clusterbomb of pages I can't close without multiple dialog boxes shooting out all over. Ublock helps but muscle memory is long.

noonespecialon Why is modern web development so complicated?

Is it bad that the more spent on the audit and the larger the company the less I trust the results?

noonespecialon The Hydrocarbon Era’s Spectacular End

All that is insignificant compared to the heat output of a certain nearby star.

The star's output is so significant that even the tiniest change in how that energy is absorbed and retained has large effects on the little planet.

So we find ourselves where we are.

noonespecialon Show HN: I trained a deep learning model to build sites for me

I'm honestly kind of surprised nothing like this has found its way into Sketch itself yet.

Looks cool so far.

noonespecialon All the best engineering advice I stole from non-technical people

The managers could walk over and ask them.

If you create a system to measure butt-time in a seat coding, you're going to get lots and lots of butts in seats coding. This may not necessarily result in a product.

noonespecialon All the best engineering advice I stole from non-technical people

they have innate understanding that being observed working is more valuable than the results of their work.

I've seen coders who knew this by heart forget this less than 5 years after entering management and become champions of forcing everybody into the office for 8:30 stand-ups and time tracking systems that enforce minute by minute "project accountability".

I don't know exactly how this happens, all I know is its like a damn force of nature. The only thing I've ever seen kill morale and tank projects faster is random periodic layoffs.

noonespecialon Mosquitoes Changed Everything

That stuff works unreasonably well. Mosquitos so much as landing on surfaces treated with it weeks prior die within minutes, yet its so safe for mammals, farmers spray it directly onto cattle.

The terrible downside is that it is ridiculously toxic to marine life. Use with care and forethought.