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robotnixon

141 karma · joined April 28, 2012

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robotnixon··on The United States withdraws from UNESCO
It's misleading. Obama tried to maintain funding UNESCO:

"In 2011, the United States stopped funding Unesco because of what was then a forgotten, 15-year-old amendment mandating a complete cutoff of American financing to any United Nations agency that accepts Palestine as a full member. Various efforts by President Barack Obama to overturn the legal restriction narrowly failed in Congress, and the United States lost its vote at the organization after two years of nonpayment, in 2013."

https://web.archive.org/web/20220503183152/https://www.nytim...

robotnixon··on Garfield Minus Garfield
That sounds like Realfield

https://www.reddit.com/r/comics/comments/7zfbr3/realfield/

robotnixon··on Photo calorie app Cal AI was built by two teenagers
That just sounds like the difference between a salad with and without dressing on it. Maybe not so weird.
robotnixon··on On Mr. Beast and being alone in a circle for 100 days
The show "Alone" is pretty much a starving contest. In recent years contestants have started packing on weight prior to filming so they can rely more on fat stores when their food supply dwindles. Typically one or two contestants a season get pulled for medical reasons due to excessive weight loss.
robotnixon··on Amazon to acquire maker of Roomba vacuum for roughly $1.7B
They sort of have something that kind of does that. https://www.amazon.com/Dash-Smart-Shelf/dp/B07RV6X8LZ
robotnixon··on Airbnb will up its penalty for hosts who cancel last-minute from $100 to $1k
Or just prohibit the host from offering it to new guest when they cancel. If I rent a place for a week and they cancel on me the day before, don't allow another rental through Airnbnb for that week.
robotnixon··on The Oakland homeless problem is beyond belief
What cities with relocation programs in that article are in the rust belt?
robotnixon··on First Human Case of Rabies in Illinois Since 1954
There was a This American Life episode with a story about a woman attacked by a rabid raccoon. She called a few local health departments but since it was the weekend they were all closed so she left voicemails. She then went to the ER and was told that she had 10-14 days to get vaccinated.

Luckily one of the health departments called back and let her know she actually needed to get a rabies vaccination within 72 hours of the attack, which means she needed it today.

She was referred to her county's health department who informed her that they wanted to test the raccoon for rabies first and the closest lab was 2 hours away. After pleading with them they referred her to a hospital in another county, who refused to give it to her because she was from a different county. After pleading with them they finally gave her the shot, but in the wrong place.

She then had to fight with eight separate doctors to give her the 5 follow-up shots.

robotnixon··on California aims to ban recycling symbols on things that aren’t recyclable
Whoever is picking up your recycling will have info on what can and cannot be recycled. If you're concerned I'd reach out to them and they should be able to give you a list of recyclable items. For me they only accept plastics with a number in the symbol except numbers 3 and 6, no plastic bags, and items must be thoroughly cleaned.

It's also regional, so friends of mine a few cities away have a totally different list of what they can recycle because its based on the capabilities of the facility it ends up at.

robotnixon··on Apple’s $100M settlement agreement changes a key App Store rule for devs
I believe both of those comments are referencing the latest App Store guidelines which have not yet been updated with the proposed changes. According to the court filing it seems possible that you would be able to contact users with information used during the signup flow, and doesn't seem to indicate a restriction of targeting individual users:

"Apple has agreed to revise its App Store Guidelines to permit developers of all app categories to communicate with consenting customers outside their app, including via email and other communication services, about purchasing methods other than in-app purchase. See Berman Decl., Ex. A at § 5.1.3. Under the App’s Store existing Guidelines, developers may not use contact information (emails, phone numbers, etc.) obtained within an app to contact their user base outside the app. As a practical matter, this prevents developers from alerting their customers to alternative payment options. The proposed Settlement lifts this restriction, and it does so for all app categories."

robotnixon··on iOS 14.5 delivers Unlock iPhone with Apple Watch, new privacy controls, and more
Android has had this feature for years and it still requires an initial unlock of the device to remain unlocked at the location you've picked. So when I get home I still have to manually unlock my phone once to keep it unlocked. As an extra safety measure the phone locks itself again after 4 hours.
robotnixon··on Sabine Schmitz, Queen of the Nürburgring, Has Died at 51
It was after the Clarkson/Hammond/May era, but she was a host for a few years on the show
robotnixon··on Lets talk about changelogs (how I loathe 'bugfixes and performance improvements)
I'm pretty sure that's what Fortnite did right before they got kicked out of the App Store.

Before my company implemented IAP in a few of our apps we did the same thing, but decided the risk was too great. Getting rejected is one thing, but getting your account terminated is obviously a much bigger deal.

robotnixon··on Ask HN: What can replace my iPod for podcast listening?
I'm seeing a "Buy Now" button in the upper right but it just leads to this screen:

https://www.fiio.com/wheretobuy

Amazon has them too:

https://www.amazon.com/FiiO-M9-Resolution-Lossless-Bluetooth...

robotnixon··on WordPressiOS Locked by App Store
My company had our apps flagged because our links to support documentation included our logo, which took you to our homepage, where you could presumably find contact information for our sales department and contact us to purchase. At the time we didn't even have the ability purchase online as our app was only a portal to the enterprise product we were selling which had custom pricing. We ended up removing the support link and just prompted them to email support.
robotnixon··on Woodworking for Engineers
I've used pre-stain conditioner when applying a dark oil-based stain to pine. It does seem to help even out the finish with soft woods. It is pretty useless on harder woods though, and since I don't typically use pine or stain I have maybe used it once or twice.
robotnixon··on Walmart says it will discontinue Jet
"Snapper is the sort of high-quality nameplate, like Levi Strauss, that Wal-Mart hopes can ultimately make it more Target-like. He suggested that Snapper find a lower-cost contract manufacturer. He suggested producing a separate, lesser-quality line with the Snapper nameplate just for Wal-Mart. Just like Levi did."

https://www.fastcompany.com/54763/man-who-said-no-wal-mart

robotnixon··on Walmart says it will discontinue Jet
They floated the idea a few years ago. Doesn't look like it panned out.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-retail-walmart-delivery/e...

robotnixon··on The Weirdly Enduring Appeal of Weird Al Yankovic
Sounds like he just asked if it was going to be about food:

"I told [Kurt] I want to do a parody of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit,' and his first thing was: 'Is it going to be about food?' and I said, 'no, it's going to be about how no one can understand your lyrics.'"

Cobain thought the concept was funny and signed off on it."

https://www.howardstern.com/show/2016/5/17/weird-al-mandator...

robotnixon··on The Seven-Year Auto Loan (2019)
It's even worse in the Detroit area. Pretty much every domestic automaker (and Nissan, I think) show payment amounts with employee discounts.
robotnixon··on Student Loans a Lot Like the Subprime Mortgage Debacle, Watchdog Says
For a lot of the programs through the public school system you need to enroll as a junior in high school. So if you don't choose that career by the ripe old age of 16 or 17 then public school isn't an option. A high school senior who decides to go into cosmetology only has the option of paying for school or finding a two-year unpaid apprenticeship.
robotnixon··on Student Loans a Lot Like the Subprime Mortgage Debacle, Watchdog Says
They do. In my state you can do a 2 year apprenticeship in cosmetology, but they can be hard to come by. You need to find a stylist willing to not only train you in practical aspects but follow your bookwork and write/grade tests. It's a two-year unpaid commitment. My wife owns a salon and has taken on a couple apprentices. It is a considerable amount of work. Alternatively a beauty school program can be done in a year, then after a six month internship you can get your license. The apprenticeship is the better option but being able to complete your training in a shorter amount of time with a lower barrier to entry is probably appealing.
robotnixon··on Her Amazon Purchases Are Real, the Reviews Are Fake
>Repackaging and returning can sometimes be a pain, so I’ll be reluctant to gamble sometimes. However, I’ve been more lazily repacking items and it hasn’t been an issue.

Recently they added a return option where you can drop off items at Kohls or a UPS store without repacking them. The store scans a QR code from an email and they handle packing and shipping the item back. Amazon then sends them off in bulk to a processing warehouse. According to my UPS store, most returns aren't even resold on Amazon. They just auction off lots blindly like a storage unit sale.

robotnixon··on Sir Rod Stewart reveals his epic model railway city
I enjoy these too. A few off the top of my head:

James Hetfield of Metallica is a well-known beekeeper

Tony Bennett is an avid painter

Bryan Adams is an excellent photographer

Paul Newman is in the Sports Car Club of America Hall of Fame and had an extensive auto racing career

Geena Davis nearly made it to the Olympic archery team

Steve Martin is an excellent banjo player and has won a couple Grammys for it

robotnixon··on Eating Jell-O with Chopsticks
They make drinking water hoses for RVs. Could probably just buy one of those. Something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Camco-25ft-TastePURE-Drinking-Water/d...

robotnixon··on Apple Lays Off 200 Employees from Autonomous Car Unit
They invited regular people for rides in these fully self-driving vehicles.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-waymo-selfdriving-focus/w...

robotnixon··on Apple Lays Off 200 Employees from Autonomous Car Unit
Waymo have been operating on public roads since 2017.

https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/7/16615290/waymo-self-drivi...

robotnixon··on Father Time
My favorite David Sedaris story is how he picked up so much litter in his city the local council named a garbage truck after him and apparently had no idea he was famous until after they published an article about it.

https://kottke.org/14/10/three-cheers-for-pig-pen-sedaris

robotnixon··on Netflix’s biggest competition isn’t sleep, it’s YouTube
I'd recommend adding Ishitani Furniture to your woodworking list. Very relaxing and the he makes gorgeous stuff.
robotnixon··on But Rich People Live Here, So We Can't Be Going Broke
The "brand new car" thing isn't a great example either. You can lease a new car for under $100/month which likely has lower insurance costs, is safer, and no maintenance fees other than gas (which you'll also need less of since its probably a more efficient vehicle).

An older car could end up needing several thousands of dollars in repair costs at any time, and maybe more than once. I drive an older car because I could swing a new engine or transmission if it came up. For a lot of people that means they no longer have a car.

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