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santaclause33

137 karma · joined August 4, 2015

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santaclause33··on The Prophylactic Extraction of Third Molars: A Public Health Hazard
Dentists are often crooks.

When I was younger, my parents had to change insurance plans, so I got a new dentist. In the first visit, he takes a quick look at my mouth (with no tools, mind you) and confidently says I had 8 cavities that need drilling ASAP.

My previous dentist mentioned no such thing, so my mom took me back to him for a second opinion. He used tools to check, then told us the other dentist was full of shit and that this was surprisingly common.

The new dentist would have drilled 8 healthy teeth out of greed.

santaclause33··on Harper Lee has died
Instead of saying, "It's too complicated to explain", why don't you give it a shot?
santaclause33··on Harper Lee has died
Your other examples are obvious. This one is not.
santaclause33··on On Marrying the Wrong Person
Three notes I would add:

1) In response to the "know yourself" bullet: I met my now wife at 15 - we learned a lot about ourselves between then and when we married at age 22. But we were pretty much committed to marrying by age 18, even though we learned a lot after. You can learn with another person.

2) Life pro tip on understanding other people (this is a quick reinforcement of a bunch of points in the article): if someone is behaving irrationally, 99% of the time its because they are subconciously insecure about something.

3) The odds of first marriage are better than 50/50. That statistic is for total marriages, but people who divorce once on average divorce multiple times. Success rate of first marriage is something like 65%. Also, that success rate goes higher if you're high income, like most of HN.

santaclause33··on Study Shows Student Loan Borrower Igorance
All of these questions except interest and repayment terms are not indicative if anything.
santaclause33··on Ask HN: Is it normal to have enemies?
I certainly have a person or two I would prefer to be erased from existence. People who have hurt the people I love, etc.
santaclause33··on Facebook Climbs to 1.59B Users, Beats Q4 Estimates with $5.8B Revenue
As someone who spends a lot on Google and Facebook ads - this guy got it right.
santaclause33··on LendUp (YC W12) Scores $150M for a Credit Card That Won’t Screw You Over
Short term loans have artificially high APR.
santaclause33··on How to Choose the Right Coding Bootcamp
But SAT scores correlate to income regardless of schooling.
santaclause33··on Here’s $100. Can you win $800M at Powerball?
I am in the hole 250k
santaclause33··on Neal Stephenson: Why I Am a Sociomediapath (2015)
HN and Reddit are dopamine hit factories.
santaclause33··on How Completely Messed Up Practices Become Normal
My experience is more with the OPs. Leave the line, lose your spot.
santaclause33··on Your Brain on Poverty: Why Poor People Seem to Make Bad Decisions (2013)
His anecdote works with biweekly paychecks, and many city apartments in the US do not allow a washer and dryer.
santaclause33··on Earnest, Fueled by Growth in Student Loans, Raises $275M
None of that seems like a big difference compared to what the leader in that space, SoFi, is doing.
santaclause33··on The Advertising Bubble
So - you actually saw ads saying, "come work in a big city and make more money?". I've never heard of this.
santaclause33··on Led Astray: Online Lead Generation and Payday Loans
Pretty accurate from my experience.
santaclause33··on Why does Hacker News look awful on mobile?
I like it on mobile.
santaclause33··on Who Makes Below Minimum Wage on Mechanical Turk?
Welfare in the US (ssi in his case, since he has a disability) is a pathetically small amount, and a headache to get.
santaclause33··on How NYC's subway buskers are faring
When I busked, donations always came from 40+ year olds anyway, very rarely from young men in professional clothes.
santaclause33··on How NYC's subway buskers are faring
Anecdote: For the summer between high school and college, I made am average of $17 per hour busking on the subway (an average of 24 hours a week)
santaclause33··on I'm Obsessed with San Francisco's Bunk-Bed Craigslist Ads
2 bedrooms in Astoria are 2000+
santaclause33··on Ask HN: How many hours do you work?
3 hours actually working, 5 more in the office, 3 hours a day commuting.
santaclause33··on Ask HN: What aspects of life are you deferring until you're successful and rich?
Doing nothing! Trying to become skilled enough that I only have to work a few hours a week in the future.