Hacker News Reader

the_economiston Nuclear Energy's AI Boom Blew a Fuse–Here's What Could Happen Next

New power plants are likely at least a decade away. The current AI boom will have to be powered by natural gas or by reactivating old nuclear plants. Perhaps this will incentivize companies like Google, Apple, and Amazon to promote natural gas as the comparatively clean and extremely cheap (amazing) power source that it is.

the_economiston Positive association between altitude and suicide in U.S. counties

High altitude is also associated with longevity, reduced heart disease, and more efficient mitochondria.

the_economiston After 50 years of the war on drugs, 'what good is it doing for us?'

Counterpoint: The war on drugs has been progressively ramped down since the late 90s. NYTimes wrote a long story about how during the feds quit using tactics such as convicted drug dealers to flip on their bosses, etc. We aren't putting as many drug dealers in jail and we aren't putting many drug users in jail. What you get is an epic rise in opioid deaths over the past 30 years and chaos on the streets of our cities.

Given what LA/SF/Portland streets look like with this eased-back war on drugs, it is possible the war was doing a lot.

the_economiston U.S. Housing Market Is Nearly 4M Homes Short of Buyer Demand

According to the U.S. census the US is building houses at the fastest pace since 2006. About 1.74 million housing units per year.

https://eyeonhousing.org/2021/04/housing-starts-spring-forwa...

the_economiston If you miss an Apple Card payment, Apple disables all your Apple accounts

Did you happen to do a chargeback in the past month?

I'm aware of a situation where a user wanted to cancel an account with an app they had subscribed to via the app store. To do so they did a charge back on their credit card. Because he bought via the app store he ended up charging back Apple.

Apple then blocked his icloud.

the_economiston Ask HN: Who is hiring? (March 2021)

BuildZoom is hiring sales, ops, PMs, and engineers: https://jobs.lever.co/buildzoom

Work remotely or out of our offices in San Francisco and Scottsdale.

We are making it easier to build and remodel houses by bringing the construction industry online. We also offer remote project management services.

the_economiston Supermicro Hack: China Exploited a US Tech Supplier over Years [2021 follow-up]

I was wondering the same thing.

the_economiston Robinhood denies claims that it sold GameStop shares out from under its traders

"survive the large downturn in users the platform will experience after their actions this week"

Haven't they been number one in the app store all week: https://www.appannie.com/en/apps/ios/top/

the_economiston Ask HN: Who is hiring? (January 2021)

BuildZoom is hiring in Scottsdale for ops, sales, and construction engineers.

We are hiring in SF, Scottsdale, and remote for engineering positions. We will sponsor visas

https://jobs.lever.co/buildzoom

the_economiston Elon Musk moves to Texas

Building sky scrapers is way more expensive than building single family homes on empty grassland, where the land is also cheaper. Of course the city should build up, but building out is the real way every US city has kept housing affordable (look at the study I linked above)

the_economiston DoorDash from Application to IPO

Where do you live? Here in Scottsdale, Doordash delights me with their great service. Things are tougher for their drivers in San Francisco and other dense cities where they can't easily park, then have to deal with a confusing array of call boxes to enter the buildings.

the_economiston DoorDash from Application to IPO

I was extremely excited about ghost kitchens and have had been disappointed by similar experiences with them all providing low quality food. I'm still optimistic that the supply will shape itself over time and eventually a market for high quality food ghost kitchens will emerge.

the_economiston Elon Musk moves to Texas

This is not completely true, as the cost to build high rise condos is extremely high and the land is very expensive. Every place in the USA that has kept housing affordable has done so with sprawl, which California's government doesn't allow.

You can see a detailed study of it here: https://www.buildzoom.com/blog/cities-expansion-slowing

the_economiston Why did renewables become so cheap so fast?

There's still the problem of what to do between 4pm and 8 am on a day without wind, which means we won't be able to shut down too many power plants until cheap energy storage exists.

the_economiston Study: Cheap gas, not renewables, caused nuclear woes (2018)

Renewables don't provide constant power without city-scale energy storage, which doesn't exist (yet) at any reasonable price point. Solar for example won't provide power after sunset or on cloudy days.

Because you can't rely on renewables to provide power throughout every day/year, you need to have natural gas/coal/nuclear available. Those have very high fixed costs (other than natural gas), but very low marginal costs, so once you have built them it is cheaper to just use them than to build additional renewable power infrastructure.

the_economiston Air pollution is worse than we thought

Running any air filter (cheap, expensive, etc) lowers the PM2.5 count in my home (adjacent to a busy 4-lane road in San Francisco) from ~40 to near zero. This is the tool I use to measure PM count: https://www.iqair.com/us/air-quality-monitors/airvisual-pro

https://twitter.com/typesfaster/status/1116732197031956480?c...

the_economiston Ask HN: Who is hiring? (August 2020)

BuildZoom is hiring engineers, growth/marketing, and sales in Scottsdale, San Francisco, and remotely.

We are a construction marketplace that helps people build and remodel. We are generally focused on large projects; those that require a building permit.

BuildZoom is a managed marketplace in that we have construction engineers with home building/commercial construction experience on staff who help property owners with finding contractors, identifying the scope of the project, material selection, bid negotiation, bid leveling (making sure each bid says the same thing and includes the entire scope of the project).

Our data business (we collect the complete building permit history of the largest 1500 municipalities in the country) helps us identify the best (and worst) general contractors and builders.

We've grown 75-100% each of the last three years..

the_economiston How Google Meet's noise cancellation works

150ms * 2 in many cases, as both parties use a bluetooth headset. Wifi adds another 5-50ms * 2 plus some packet drops.

the_economiston The state of the restaurant industry

What city?

the_economiston China's slowdown deepens; industrial output growth falls to 17.5-year low

GDP growth rate is reported after subtracting inflation, but the GDP number itself does not subtract inflation.

If you have a GDP of $1 trillion, 2% inflation and 3% GDP growth, you'll have a GDP of $1.05 trillion after 1 year.

the_economiston The poor can’t afford to follow public health advice

To me, this indicates that obesity is a function of something other than self-control and determination.

the_economiston The poor can’t afford to follow public health advice

Everyone can afford to fast, which is one of the best health levers we have access to.

the_economiston Huawei reassesses goal to be world’s bestselling smartphone vendor

It's now illegal for all the major players to sell them microprocessors. Can't build a smartphone without one.

"The United States last week blocked Huawei from buying goods made from 25% or more of U.S.-originated technologies or materials"

the_economiston Homeless Population Jumps by Thousands Across the San Francisco Bay Area

San Francisco gives homeless people $520/month in cash. Unclear whether other Bay Area cities do the same. This is quite the incentive for homeless from around the state to move here, though. Whether or not it causes people to move here, it certainly funds much of the drug-fueled insanity we see on the streets.

This program gives out around $25 mil/year: https://www.sfhsa.org/services/jobs-money/county-adult-assis...

Most of the money is given out in the Tenderloin: https://www.sfhsa.org/file/7161/download?token=ywGXXXRl

More info: https://www.sfhsa.org/about/reports-publications/human-servi...

the_economiston Do transportation network companies decrease or increase congestion?

Empty taxis drive around looking for a fare. Empty ubers park and wait.

the_economiston Inflammation might be the root of preventable disease

I haven't had a full panel of biomarkers tested since the fast. I will post here when I do.

The only obvious changes have been 1. Smoother, younger looking skin with fewer blemishes 2. I look ripped

the_economiston Inflammation might be the root of preventable disease

https://chriskresser.com/when-your-normal-blood-sugar-isnt-n...

In this study, people with FBG levels above 95 had more than 3x the risk of developing future diabetes than people with FBG levels below 90: https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(08)00231-3/fulltex...

This study showed progressively increasing risk of heart disease in men with FBG levels above 85 mg/dL, as compared to those with FBG levels of 81 mg/dL or lower: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16207847

the_economiston Jack Dorsey Is Gwyneth Paltrow for Silicon Valley

Himalayan salt contains iron, calcium, iron, and magnesium.

Lemons contain vitamin C, potassium, fiber, etc.

If you are fasting, it may be a good idea to get those electrolytes. Even if not, this seems like a healthy drink; certainly better what I people see drinking at my office.

People might not want to macro dose iodine, so that rules out table salt.

Most importantly: it tastes good!

the_economiston Inflammation might be the root of preventable disease

I did a 5-day fast last month. Water only, 120 hours.

In the 30 days since I completed the fast, my fasting blood glucose has dropped from ~80-90 down to 65-75.

I'm concerned about the accuracy of my Freestyle Libre, but it was previously consistent with professional labs.

Anyway, a long term fast like the one I did may help improve your insulin resistance; it seems it did for me.