Hacker News Reader

southeasternon Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump

The fact that there even is a discussion about whether what he's saying really is sedition is enough. They're a private company, that just opens them up to way too much liability. It's not their responsibility to be a platform for all sides, for better or for worse

southeasternon Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump

The classic example is Charles Manson; he didn't kill anyone but he made it happen. Trump's case is certainly a little more abstract because he's smart enough to use ambiguous language.. But it really doesn't strain the imagination to understand how the principle is similar

southeasternon Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump

But this wasn't a rally. This was literally them storming the halls of Congress to take back their country from what they believe are corrupt communist deep state agents. Why do they believe that? Because their leader Trump has been amplifying this type of conspiratorial misinformation on Twitter for the past 4 years

southeasternon Brexit stops Brooks England sales of ‘Made in Britain’ saddles to UK shoppers

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25635115

Here's a HN thread about this

southeasternon Depression? Bacteria in Your Gut May Have Caused It – Or Made You Healthier

Easy prebiotics(fibers) because they feed good gut bacteria. If you feel like you need more, you can add on probiotics(bacteria supplements, but that's are still a very new field)

southeasternon Stanford apologizes after vaccine allocation leaves out medical residents

Which makes them more likely to have low level symptoms while simultaneously spreading it further. This policy just doesn't make sense.

southeasternon Nearly 8M Americans have fallen into poverty since summer

Seriously, OP's argument makes no sense. It's just distracting from the issue of the federal government's failures. This constant distraction is part of why the government is able to fail so badly without any consequences.

southeasternon Nearly 8M Americans have fallen into poverty since summer

People still go out. Enough to spread infection. But not enough to maintain the economy.

southeasternon Nearly 8M Americans have fallen into poverty since summer

And sickness, long term side effects, in addition to the threat to vulnerable loved ones. They have to keep talking about dangerous it is, because people keep insisting it isn't. It's not about just you, it's about the community-wide effect. But to be clear 30 year olds have been killed by covid 19 and people of all ages report long term after effects like shortness of breath, tiredness, and pain. And some people just can't afford to take the time off-- even a week of missed work can result in not making rent. It's happening as we speak-- homelessness is skyrocketing. These are real effects of the virus, it changes peoples lives

southeasternon Mark Zuckerberg condemned for giving $75M to a San Francisco hospital

Hospitals are hurting right now. They cant do elective surgeries which is what their profit is made. Without that they're financials black holes. Zuckerberg is coming in at a dire time with his request of 50 years of naming rights. Does he owe the hospital anything? No, just like no one owes those sick and dying patients anything. But it's not unfair to point out the thorn on this 'rose'.

southeasternon Mark Zuckerberg condemned for giving $75M to a San Francisco hospital

You can take donations from people you consider unethical, and still lament that that's what you have to do to keep a hospital open. In fact I think it's better than just taking money shamelessly, even if it is a necessary evil in our current economy. Hospitals are going broke with elective surgeries all cancelled-- now's not the time for principals. Principals can't treat covid-19.

southeasternon U.S. Treasury breached by hackers backed by foreign government – sources

All nations do. It's become very normal. On the surface relations are nice and respectful. But we even spy on our allies behind closed doors. Take the case of Germany, that became public knowledge because of wikileaks. We had Angela Merkel's office wiretapped, among other things[1]. After it became known, they hardly responded past some internal investigations. I think their Senate switched to storing documents offline too. But at this point it isn't something inexcusable. And you can be sure Germany does too[2]. Knowledge is power.

1- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-usa-spying-idUSKC...

2- https://m.dw.com/en/how-the-uss-cia-and-germanys-bnd-spied-o...

southeasternon The fraying of the U.S. global currency reserve system

There at other manufacturing centers than China. I don't know why people keep it repeating this line. Where do you think China gets their things made? It SE Asian countries. And they're making in roads to Africa. That's what we should be doing. We have a president talking about shhole countries-- destroying international relations is gonna do a lot more damage in a war. We should be building diverse business relationships with competing economies.

southeasternon The fraying of the U.S. global currency reserve system

Basically amounted to corporate handouts, with the way the money was mispent. I don't think the issue is that the labor class is getting too big a share, cases like this should make it clear that inequality that's at the root of these problems

southeasternon The fraying of the U.S. global currency reserve system

I don't know why more people aren't saying this. Is it really a majority opinion on this site that a race to the bottom is a good, or even tenable idea?

southeasternon The fraying of the U.S. global currency reserve system

>keep forcing the rest of the world to pay for the US standard of living while they themselves live beneath their means, but that is the actual problem now so how much longer can it last

Our entire society is built on this, though. Silicon Valley wouldn't exist if electronics couldn't be produced for comparatively cheaper overseas. You bring up an interesting moral point, but if you're serious about that there's a lot of reckoning society will have to deal with. It's not just going to affect minimum wage lol. It'll affect wages across the board. You're really talking about totally reforming the economy

southeasternon The fraying of the U.S. global currency reserve system

>You either let free people work for what ever wage they can achieve or we risk becoming slaves ourselves.

Minimum wage already isn't really a living wage in much of the country. Rolling back regulations is jumping headfirst into slavery, whereas.. I'm very critical of China but don't see the connection between their expanding industry and slavery. Businesses are diversifying their supply chain in the face of this pandemic.

southeasternon Elon Musk Decries ‘M.B.A.-ization’ of America

Exactly. This is the way business is done on account of investor demands

southeasternon The YouTube ban is un-American, wrong, and will backfire

>Because, you know, they're "private companies" or something.

Wait so are you for them being able to do whatever they want, where you can be banned from their service? Or do you want them under the arm of the government where they could be regulated? I think you're just mad at the culture. Trump isn't gonna fix that

southeasternon The YouTube ban is un-American, wrong, and will backfire

Eh when your consider things like this; https://www.fox7austin.com/news/texas-gop-chair-suggests-law...

>Texas GOP chair says 'law-abiding states' should 'form a union' after SCOTUS rejects election suit

I feel there may be a real point to that. Is he being a bit emotional with his post? Sure. Should that be enough to write off a possible threat to democracy? No. I mean if that alienates you, I expect what the TX GOP chair did will REALLY make you passionate

southeasternon The YouTube ban is un-American, wrong, and will backfire

Take qanon. I don't it naturally spreads as virulently as drugs. But when you add Facebook into the mix, people are able to disseminate this information instantly to people who just don't understand how to vet sources. The comparison to drugs just doesn't work.

southeasternon Coca-Cola named world’s worst plastic polluter for third straight year

I'm not convinced this will work. Clearly it hasn't yet. Some people just can't be trusted to be responsible. Rather than teach people to be responsible with plastic, the most responsible thing might be to just put less out these. But I see where you're coming from. I think that can work in certain areas, maybe the more well to do ones

southeasternon Coca-Cola named world’s worst plastic polluter for third straight year

Many plastics are known endocrine disruptors. They mimic estrogen and their exact effects on the human body are unknown. But because of the nature of plastics, the don't decompose but just break down into smaller and smaller pieces. They find microplastics everywhere they look. In the Mariana Trench and on Mt Everest[1], and in 90% of table salt tested[2]. One recent study says the average person consumes about a credit card sized amount of microplastics every year[3]. While we're not certain it's dangerous, there are a lot of reasons to be very concerned

Edit: And just To make it clear, in my mind the danger is just about certain. I'm speaking conservatively with my claims, but I really believe this is a large concern. Especially for developing kids and teens.

1- https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/microplastics-pol...

2- https://www.google.com/amp/s/api.nationalgeographic.com/dist.... (Amp to get around reading limit;)

3-https://qz.com/1644802/you-eat-5-grams-of-plastic-per-week/

southeasternon Coca-Cola named world’s worst plastic polluter for third straight year

Because they are the biggest offenders, for three years running. Rather than trying to target the abstract 'beverage industry' as a whole, it's much more pragmatic to just look at the biggest players. Besides, they tend to set trends so there's a little bit of top-down influence as well in being the industry leader.

southeasternon Uber wants drivers and delivery workers to get priority access to vaccine

If the idea is to vaccinate the most vulnerable first, it may be a good idea to specifically target older frontline workers. Group immunity is still far away, but we can keep cases from being as severe.

southeasternon Coca-Cola named world’s worst plastic polluter for third straight year

They use plastic bottles instead of alternatives. I'm not saying consumers don't have responsibility, but it starts with coca cola ordering/producing these bottles to package their product.

southeasternon Coca-Cola named world’s worst plastic polluter for third straight year

I think it's pretty well accepted at this point that this is an unsustainable trend. I'm not sure why glass isn't used more as an alternative, I'd assume cost and convenience. But it might be more expensive for us not to make the switch in the long run

southeasternon FTC Sues Facebook for Illegal Monopolization

>I agree and find the attempt at a breakup a bit frustrating. This is an action that could have profoundly disruptive effect and it's not really clear what the positives or negatives would be.

This organization itself is disruptive. As interesting as it is to discuss the potential costs and benefits, there's been a very real cost to society for these issues. It makes no sense to wait for further damage reports if that's at the cost of further damage. It's simple cost vs benefits really. Also I thought disruption was a good thing..?

Downvoted so I'll just add one more thing; this isn't a conversation that is new. I'm coming to this with that context. Do I want them to fail? No. The desired outcome is that they will self regulate. But if not, there should be competition. Monopolies naturally have negative side effects, that's why we try to avoid them.

southeasternon Elon Musk moves to Texas

Seeking diverse environments is racist? Dang someone needs to tell Facebook