Hacker News Reader

standevenon Canada to ban foreigners from buying homes

I agree that scarcity is the main issue, but how do you address it in a city like Vancouver? There’s no more land and downtown is dense. Make artificial islands? Deforest the mountainsides and build on 40 degree slopes? Replace local farms with subdivisions?

standevenon I wasted $40k on a fantastic startup idea (2020)

Find a technical co-founder, join some other accelerator, and develop the MVP. Not many investors will drop $500k into an idea.

standevenon US Federal Reserve raises interest rates for first time since 2018

How do you define full employment? The unemployment rate in the USA is currently 3.8%.

standevenon Trudeau Invokes Emergencies Act

There have been multiple arrests for hate crimes[1], and 11 people were arrested in an Alberta blockade due to their cache of firearms and willingness to use it against the RCMP.[2] The blockades may be costing the Canadian economy $1 billion every day [3]. If these protest are peaceful and about mandates, they should be protesting at provincial legislative buildings.

1- https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/hate-crimes-ottawa-protest

2- https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/coutts-protest-blocka...

3- https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/anarchism-convoy-column-don...

standevenon Trudeau Invokes Emergencies Act

For what it's worth, the parties to the right (Conservatives and PPC) only received 38.7% of the vote combined.

standevenon City Generator

Cool project. The cities feel very old-world, it would be neat to have more modern grid-style layouts too.

standevenon Building a modern home in the woods

Pemberton is quite rainy, so forest fires aren't a huge concern. Once you get to the other side of the Coastal mountains (the interior), fire is a much bigger concern.

standevenon When cigarette companies used doctors to push smoking (2018)

It’s fine to question magazine articles that contain lines like “4 out of 5 doctors recommend…”.

It’s fine to question individual doctors.

It’s fine to question corporate-sponsored think tanks.

Is it fine to question a scientific consensus on effective ways to fight a global pandemic?

standevenon Defrag Like It's 1993

You can cast videos from the weird part of YouTube to the TVs.

standevenon There is currently no way to drive between Vancouver and the rest of Canada

There are many smaller communities that are cut off due to floods and mudslides too. For example, I live in Chilliwack, about 90km East of Vancouver, and we’re completely cut off from anywhere else - the three highways entering the city are all closed. All rail lines are damaged or flooded.

Hope, a bit further to the East, is another community that is completely cut off. It’s full of stranded travellers right now.

Once people realized we were cut off, the hoarding mentality took hold; most gas stations are out of gas and grocery stores are emptying. Hopefully the supply chain bounces back quickly.

standevenon This word does not exist

This definition mentions a boner.

  jerrybob
  a hard game chicken of the American game turkey, related to boner and eaten raw.       
  "I'll give the jerrybob another shot"

standevenon World food prices hit 10-year peak – FAO

I don't believe new or used vehicle purchases qualify for hedonic adjustments.

https://www.bls.gov/cpi/quality-adjustment/home.htm

standevenon Stadia’s VP and head of product leaves Google

http://stadiacountdown.com/

That countdown is starting to feel optimistic...

standevenon SEC Charges 1inMM Capital, LLC with Operating a $690M Ponzi Scheme

If you don't mind me asking, who are the other games in town?

standevenon America’s bald eagle population continues to soar

Not sure which town the parent was referring to, but we have this in Chilliwack, BC.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/incredible-sight-thousands-o...

standevenon Clerihew

Aiden n zero

Became a virtual an hero

By reminding the mods

To ban clerihew clods

standevenon Vancouver seaplane company to resume test flights with electric plane

From the article: "...Harbour Air is in the "sweet spot" in the industry as its flights are short, meaning battery technology as it stands today makes the project viable."

While batteries may not be viable for longer commercial flights, these short hops make sense.

standevenon Ask HN: What's your quarantine side project?

Designed a sanitary foot pull and launched a web store - https://www.pedipull.com

Normally I manage a team and write software for the oil and gas industry but oil isn't doing so great these days. We used some mechanical engineering resources design it, laser cut it and prototyped it in the office bathroom, determined freedom to operate after a review of existing patents, and launched the webstore on Shopify with a colleague. This all happened in about two days!

standevenon Anonymous shell companies buying American real estate

They can defer their taxes at a low interest rate.

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/taxes/property-taxes/annu...

standevenon Navy’s flawed technology set the USS John McCain up for disaster

Yet gun related deaths in the US are still MUCH higher than other countries[1].

22,938 (76%) are by suicide which can't be prevented by gun laws.

I beg to differ. Gun laws that reduce the number of firearms in homes, and/or reduce the number of guns sold to those with mental health issues, would almost certainly reduce suicide rates. A gun is a dangerously quick, easy, and effective method that sits in the closets of many Americans.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-r...

standevenon Mysterious “hair ice” is formed by fungus (2015)

In a previous career I was a surveyor who spent lots of time in the forests of British Columbia. One day I encountered hair ice but didn't realize what it was; I thought it was just awesome looking ice. So I licked it. Immediately I realized from the taste and texture that it was not ice but some sort of weird forest growth and I gagged. There were no side effects but it tasted awful!

standevenon What it's like buying a $128k side project

Do your due diligence with financial statements. Any business will file taxes and any corporation will additionally have income statements, balance sheets, etc.

standevenon China Has Released True Color HD Photos of the Moon

The retroreflectors were placed by manned lunar landings.

standevenon Critical Reasoning for Beginners

I strongly believe that if everyone were to take an introductory philosophy course such as this, the world would be a much better place. It seems most arguments that people make, on both sides of any issue, are fallacious and hide the really important points that should be discussed instead.

standevenon A Test for School Reform in Newark

Nowhere did I recommend following the Finnish model. Rather, I provided a counter-example to the parent comment, which implied that the problem was due to a public system monopoly.

standevenon A Test for School Reform in Newark

Applying corporate logic to education is a mistake. In Finland there are no private schools, and the education system is ranked among the highest in the world.

Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/12/what-ame...

standevenon A group of 3,000 citizens is making better forecasts than CIA analysts

Predictions are all about discerning signals from noise, and some people seem to be naturally better at discernment. I'm sure it can be learned as well (to a degree), but I'm not at all surprised that some people are exceptionally better than others.

standevenon Show HN: Add forms to your static site – no iFrames required

That's how my very first website worked, which let users vote for Coke or Pepsi. I would get emails during the week and then update the count on the site manually. Horribly inefficient, but as a kid I thought it was pretty great.

standevenon Roast Your Coffee In Two Stages – Now With OpenCV Tricks

If you were to blend the entire steak together, would you notice?

standevenon Poll: Do you donate to charity?

I donate 10% of my after tax income, not for religious reasons. I've done this at every stage of my life, no matter how "poor" I may feel compared to those around me. The nice thing about donating a percentage is that it's never more than anyone can afford (unless you're doing something wrong).