Hacker News Reader

Thanks. Just bought that book (qua parent, not teacher)

sjcsjcon Keyless Cars and Their Carbon Monoxide Toll

Perhaps I'm being oversensitive, but this seems a vile comment.

sjcsjcon New law: Kansas cops can't have sex during traffic stops

Not if the police claimed it was consensual (see the article)

sjcsjcon My company signed up for a $1000/year subscription-based water cooler

Aha, thanks. Even though that would be IMOO, you switched the context for me. If the P had been omitted it would have been obvious to me. Perhaps it's just a typo.

sjcsjcon My company signed up for a $1000/year subscription-based water cooler

No doubt I'll feel silly for asking but what is IMOP? Google didn't provide any sensible answer.

sjcsjcon What's in those mysterious cabinets?

Native Brit here. Never come across the word flatware before. It appears to be a US term. Or maybe I'm just ignorant.

1. utensils, as knives, forks, and spoons, used at the table for serving and eating food. 2. dishes or containers for the table that are more or less flat, as plates and saucers (source: the internet)

sjcsjcon Study calculates effect on lifespan of healthy habits

Josh Mitteldorf's nascent project using the Horvath Clock might be of interest to some people here.

https://joshmitteldorf.scienceblog.com/2018/04/08/the-mother...

sjcsjcon Chart of the Milky Way Includes More Than 1B Stars

"... contains a representative sample of 1 percent of the Milky Way’s orbs ..."

sjcsjcon Shortest bit sequence that's never been sent over the Internet (2017)

Or maybe this https://czep.net/weblog/52cards.html

sjcsjcon Why Do Cracking Knuckles Make That Noise? You Might Need a Calculator

The jury is still out ;-)

sjcsjcon Dear Mark Zuckerberg (2012)

My guess is that this is absolutely spot on.

sjcsjcon Peter Thiel’s Warning to the Valley

Wow, good point. OK, I've pondered this for a few minutes now so as not to respond without thinking. I genuinely do find it amazing that intelligent people believe Trump is president because of the Russians, which I think is what the original poster was saying, although I might be missing something subtle.

sjcsjcon Peter Thiel’s Warning to the Valley

"the man that Russia snuck in to the White House"

I find it astonishing that intelligent people actually believe this.

sjcsjcon Why Toys?

and its not it's.

sjcsjcon How Will I Measure My Life?

How can you have a) all the free time in the world and b) a job you hate?

sjcsjcon A researcher’s new take on stem cells

"Stem cells are the Gary Oldman of cell types."

Great analogy. I recall watching a film a few years ago with Gary Oldman in it, and not realising until the credits that it was him. Can't remember which one, unfortunately, probably because of my lack of stem cells.

EDIT: Might have been True Romance.

sjcsjcon Graham's Number Is Too Big to Tell How Big It Is

"But Graham's number is different. I can't tell you how many digits it has. I also can't tell you how many digits its number of digits has, or how many digits the number of digits of its number of digits has. They're all too big."

sjcsjcon Understanding Extreme Numbers

Thanks. Obviously I didn't read the Wikipedia entry properly. I must say I'm surprised. I had no idea that these terms were still equivocal.

sjcsjcon Understanding Extreme Numbers

Aside from my mother, who died 18 years ago, I know no-one else who uses billion meaning 10^12 (long scale, as you point out). I grew up, and still live, in the UK.

I'd be very interested to know if anyone here uses long scale, or knows anyone who does. Is it still in common usage anywhere?

sjcsjcon Paul Bocuse, Celebrated French Chef, Dies at 91

Fair enough. Thanks for clarifying.

sjcsjcon Paul Bocuse, Celebrated French Chef, Dies at 91

What a strange reply. Assuming it's in good faith, what makes you think his reply was trolling?

sjcsjcon Ambitious New Anti-Aging Trial in Humans

What we need is a ... a middle-aged billionaire angel investor who is thinking clearly about his own destiny a decade or two down the road.

I gather HN harbours some of them.

sjcsjcon U.S. tests nuclear power system to sustain astronauts on Mars

"maybe people working on nuclear power need to change the name"

Renaming things with bad public images is a popular trick.

Windscale > Sellafield

Blackwater > Xe Services > Academi

Philip Morris > Altria

sjcsjcon Bitcoin and Ethereum tumble after renewed fears of regulatory crackdown

I once saw this headline on the screen on the trading floor of a bank I was working at. "Copper prices fall on fears copper prices too high".

sjcsjcon Why do I do this to myself? Bob's first predictions for 2018 – I, Cringely

Brilliant. I played that as a kid and I remember wondering why on earth those two people were on the box cover.

sjcsjcon Social Media: Making Us Dumber?

surely, "Social Media Are Making Us Dumber"

[tongue firmly in cheek]

sjcsjcon The ABC conjecture has still not been proved

Satire, not a misquote, I think.

sjcsjcon Bitcoin Cash deals frozen as insider trading is probed

I can't pay my taxes in USD

sjcsjcon Nuclear Test Films Declassified and Uploaded

Thanks - sorry, I should have just put the full names.

sjcsjcon Nuclear Test Films Declassified and Uploaded

Born in the late 60s, so teenager in the 80s in the UK. I recall that exact same fear of every passing aeroplane. In our case the cultural equivalents of OTB and DS were Threads and The Day After, and the Protect and Survive announcements that Frankie Goes To Hollywood sampled in Two Tribes.

I find it interesting that the terror of the global thermonuclear war seems to have disappeared from the popular psyche, even though exactly the same weapons are still there ready.