Hacker News Reader

samdoidgeon Google announces workshops to tackle the spread of hate speech and fake news

I'm more worried about this than letting anyone publish anything, and letting people decide for themselves.

samdoidgeon Status – A Mobile Ethereum OS

Bitcoin is doing very well for those wanted an uncensored decentralised currency. If you want to make many transactions for small amounts at a time, you want to use something else.

I think of it like physical gold, but with more utility - you don't use it for day to day transactions, but as a store of value it is very good.

samdoidgeon Introduction to Microsoft To-Do

I switched to Trello from Wunderlist a long time ago - The syncing was much faster, and the usability is brilliant. Creating new lists to work use a new system (currently 4 quadrant matrix) makes it very flexible.

samdoidgeon Google plans ad-blocking feature in Chrome browser

> They can not block certain companies keep their ads unblocked.

Any technical reason why they couldn't?

samdoidgeon UK Prime Minister Theresa May announces intention to hold general election

Ok, so when you were telling me 'that's not what oversampling means', you meant 'I disagree with what you are saying'. I would be more inclined to debate if you approached the disagreement in a more open fashion.

Your partisan paragraphs further make me think I will be wasting my time here, so let's just say we have different views on the polls :).

samdoidgeon UK Prime Minister Theresa May announces intention to hold general election

Can you elaborate on what doesn't make sense?

samdoidgeon UK Prime Minister Theresa May announces intention to hold general election

I'm aware of what oversampling means. I was listing the 'hidden vote' and oversampling as a reason.

samdoidgeon UK Prime Minister Theresa May announces intention to hold general election

As someone who made money betting on a Trump victory - certain topics / polls. Calling Brexit / Trump voters racist leads to a certain % of the population not disclosing their vote, oversampling of Democrats was another issue in the US polls.

samdoidgeon UK Prime Minister Theresa May announces intention to hold general election

Smart timing from May - this will be devastating for Corbyn.

Current polling: CON 43, LAB 25 [1]

Conservatives won the 2015 Election polling at 34% [2].

[1] https://ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/archives/9828

[2] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/UK_opini...

samdoidgeon Why Twitter Is Failing to Grow

Displaying metrics has been a great move, but I'm not sure it can counter the negative impact of recent censorship / banning of accounts.

1. Keep metrics.

2. Make as a platform for free speech, except when breaking laws.

3. Open up API / limits.

samdoidgeon Removing Home Internet Is the Most Productive Thing I've Done

Similar for my phone. I have vibration turned off for all apps, and most limited to just 'badges' for me to check when I want. I feel more relax; it's a better way to live.

samdoidgeon Show HN: The 8 hour diet web app

You can do it again :)

samdoidgeon UK to follow US flight ban on laptops

Far from economic suicide. Based on the trade deficit [1], I doubt the EU can survive giving the UK a punitive trade deal. This is a great opportunity for the UK [2].

[1] https://fullfact.org/media/uploads/Trade%20deficit%20and%20s...

[2] https://econsnapshot.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/gdp-us-eu17...

samdoidgeon Expanding Fact Checking at Google

What would a fact checker say about Iraq & WMDs prior to the US invasion?

samdoidgeon 'Check Your Backups Work' Day

> So in other words, out of 5 backup/replication techniques deployed, none are working reliably or set up in the first place.

samdoidgeon Customers are getting caught up as banks de-risk due to money laundering laws

This is why I believe Bitcoin can succeed.

samdoidgeon Is Europe Disintegrating?

Based on the following graph[1], yes. If the UK has voted to leave the with an EU favourability rating of 44, Greece at 27 and France at 38 will not be far behind.

[1](http://www.pewglobal.org/2016/06/07/euroskepticism-beyond-br...)

samdoidgeon Material Components Preview

Trust Google to have such an uninspiring design.

samdoidgeon We Won’t See Hard AR Anytime Soon (2012)

What relevance does this quote have? OP did not say anything is impossible, just that it is not there yet.

samdoidgeon Why you should consider moving your VPS from DigitalOcean to Linode

He mentions benchmarks but provides no statistics. The pageview times could be heavily influenced by few users, say the author repeatedly accessing his own site. There is nothing concrete enough here to make me consider moving.

samdoidgeon Amazon drivers “work illegal hours”

I understand your point, but I do not think the resource would become so valuable if only one company controlled this resource.

> Although Standard had 90 percent of American refining capacity in 1880, by 1911 that had shrunk to between 60 and 65 percent, due to the expansion in capacity by competitors [1]

Standard Oil did become hugely rich and powerful. It did reach massive marketshare as a result of cutting prices, but I wouldn't call it a natural monopoly. I see a monopoly as having no competitors.

[1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Oil#cite_note-47)

samdoidgeon Amazon drivers “work illegal hours”

Natural monopolies to do not exist in a free market without government intervention - I'd be happy to see a counter example.

samdoidgeon Nootropics

I didn't see 'exercise' listed here - this is probably the most important for me.

samdoidgeon Show HN: GitHub's Fixed Header for better accessibility

Does this help the disabled? If not, it's 'user experience', not accessibility.

> Accessibility refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people who experience disabilities.

samdoidgeon Rolls-Royce’s single-crystal turbine blade casting foundry

Your argument re: Off Calabria vs Sicily left an ambiguous zone. Showing Riace Marina is much more convincing - I now agree :)

samdoidgeon Rolls-Royce’s single-crystal turbine blade casting foundry

Unnecessary nitpick. The sea is between Calabria and Sicily.

samdoidgeon Changes in Lego Toys Show Disturbing Trend, Say Researchers

AFOL = Adult Fan Of Lego. I'm sure most users on this site will not know this, me included..

samdoidgeon The rational exuberance of 5G

Typically the speed of light in copper/fibre is about 2/3rds of lights speed in a vacuum

Does light travel through copper?

samdoidgeon Reality Check: Have Leave campaigners changed their minds?

The UK has a trade deficit with the EU. They will be hurting themselves, in a federation which contains some struggling economies as it is.

samdoidgeon Could the Scottish Parliament Stop the UK from Leaving the EU?

Stubbornly following the result of a majority vote is majoritarianism, not democracy.

Nonsense. In the case of an A/B referendum, following the majority vote is democracy.