Hacker News Reader

thehoffon The US Government Is Now a Shareholder in 26 Companies

I'd be curious as to how much the executives at these firms earn (whether it be through salary or equity or whatever else).

thehoffon Crypto firms have spent $189M so far on 2026 US election, report says

Yeah I guess poor wording on my part. It does matter. My point was even if its a lot less than other industries that doesn't negate what's happening here.

thehoffon Crypto firms have spent $189M so far on 2026 US election, report says

It almost doesn't matter? If it was less than other industries doesn't make it okay. I like any/all callouts of industries and their political "donations". Its all so ridiculous.

thehoffon Supreme Court upholds broad conception of birthright citizenship

Genuine question.

Isn't this statement aimed at citizenship tourism or whatever its called?

I used to live in a state where some new friends had told us about places that facilitated pregnant women's trips to the US solely for the purpose of staying and giving birth in the US so the child could become citizens. They then head home. I have no idea how prevalent this is.

thehoffon America's Large Homebuilders Shift the Cost of Shoddy Construction to Buyers

Sure maybe they weren't perfect in the past but were they this expensive (compared to income)? In the Cy videos I can't believe how much some of the homes cost and the things he finds wrong.

thehoffon Why isn't the U.S. better at soccer?

I do agree its expensive but so many point to just the cost being the big issue.

How is it (on an international stage) our US women's national team is consistently good? The teams/clubs in our region charge the same for boys/girls. Related, I know the two biggest clubs by us do offer some financial aid (50% to 100% off).

Then there are clubs that don't charge as much. From our kid's team its the end of the season and we have 4 families leaving to another club that is easily 8x cheaper. So those types of teams/clubs do exist. Not to mention school teams don't charge to play.

thehoffon Why isn't the U.S. better at soccer?

What about baseball travel teams? Our kid plays travel soccer and it is expensive no doubt but our baseball parent friends pay more. I don't hear anyone complaining that baseball is pay to play.

Also, from what I hear hockey is also extremely expensive. I've heard that you can't leave a sporting goods store without spending at least $1,000 on gear alone for a season. I've yet to hear anyone complain that hockey is pay to play.

I think the other commenter has it right, most kids just gravitate towards American Football, Baseball, or Basketball.

And in the state I live in, of probably the top five soccer teams, one is a private school, the rest are public.

Edit: I don't know if other sports are like this but so many soccer parents are just extremely unrealistic/toxic. So many think they have the next superstar, questioning the coach on their child's play time, whey their kids didn't get placed on higher leveled teams, questioning why a coach is running practices certain ways.

thehoffon US healthcare still stupidly expensive, with pathetic outcomes, study finds

My family has moved around quite a bit from small to large cities. I have never been able to make a same or next day appointment. Sick or not. Where I'm at now (NOT a major city) it was over 6 months to get the next appointment. For our child we had to call around to 4 pediatric practices before we found one open to new patients. And even then it was still over 4 months before they had an opening. Urgent care is an option but there is still a wait and from my experience they are kind of a joke as to what they provide.

thehoffon Data center drains 30M gals of water — until residents complained of pressure

Updated.

thehoffon What British people mean when they say 'sorry'

I’m in the US and definitely have heard these in similar situations.

Another I don’t think was listed is a way to blunt an aggressive statement just in case there may be a misunderstanding.

“WTF did you just say to me?”

Might be “Sorry, but WTF did you just say to me?” would imply some anger that could lead to a fight but hey, sorry maybe I misheard you?

Which could funny enough lead to more sorries “oh, sorry I thought you said something else”.

thehoffon Is Health Insurance Even Worth It Anymore?

I’ve never had anything that available (outside of urgent care which imo is not very good). None of this had an immediate need.

MRI a few years ago had a month and a half wait (not urgent but recommended).

Pediatrician? At least 3 months and thats IF they take new patients.

Allergist, 6 month waiting list.

My last PCP I had to book out 2 months in advance (the practice I wanted to go to was booked 6 months out).

We are also suburbs of a big city.

thehoffon Is Health Insurance Even Worth It Anymore?

For my family, annual screenings are around a $40 copay (no other bills after). I think I paid that for some age related screenings.

thehoffon Is Health Insurance Even Worth It Anymore?

I just took a look at our annual medical contributions and employer's part.

We pay just over 10k for health insurance through our (different) companies. Our different employers cover almost 28k. So around 38k for insurance. This doesn't even include dental or vision which is separate.

It just seems so crazy how much we pay and still have deductibles. I understand we have small copays and get items covered like age-related screenings but this just feels excessive.

thehoffon Microsoft in court for allegedly misleading Australians over 365 subscriptions

Thanks, just did this on our family plan.

thehoffon I Wasn't Worried About the Fed. Now I Am

"If" being a keyword here.

thehoffon DuckDuckGo now lets you hide AI-generated images in search results

I’ve noticed Etsy has a lot of AI art showing up (prints, mugs, etc).

thehoffon Private sector lost 33k jobs, badly missing expectations of 100k increase

The linked article is talking about ADP.

"To be sure, the ADP report has a spotty track record on predicting the subsequent government jobs report, which investors tend to weigh more heavily."

The BLS does do several measures.

https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/civilian-une...

Their (BLS) news release also provides more detail.

thehoffon A New Headache for Honest Students: Proving They Didn't Use A.I

Not sure if others did this but when I did group projects (25ish years ago) we did the project and submitted or presented as a group. But at the end we also submitted to the professor (anonymously) “grades and comments” for others on our team.

thehoffon Designing Cities for Families

Is this /s? I didn't read anything about a crime or kids with criminal intent, just a dad being told that the park was for <5 year olds to play in (which is ridiculous but a different issue).

thehoffon Study finds that budget cuts to public R&D would significantly hurt the economy

I'm in this space. Where I work we've already lost 10% of our staff with senior management looking for an additional 15% in budget cuts (anything else we can cut).

So this sector may be "ignored" so to speak (though I'm not even sure what that means). I also have a number of friends at agencies and government contractors that all think they will "feel" these possibly large federal budget cuts. They are all on edge, especially with eyes towards the end of summer and early fall.

thehoffon Port of Los Angeles says shipping volume will plummet 35% next week

I didn't mean we should keep importing to keep people busy. I'm sure that whatever was coming through those ports was ordered by a large number of companies/individuals.

Sure, if we were in a downturn it would slow but not come to a standstill.

From this article "Even during the COVID nonsense, the supply chain did not experience THIS kind of sudden shut down."

thehoffon Port of Los Angeles says shipping volume will plummet 35% next week

I hate to be so cynical these days....but if this is true, that would mean a lot of dockworkers/longshoreman are out of jobs or not working right? Truck drivers, and who knows what other jobs are just not doing anything at this point?

thehoffon Port of Los Angeles says shipping volume will plummet 35% next week

FTA: Maybe not empty but less choice and alternatives not necessarily what you're looking for.

“I don’t see a complete emptiness on store shelves or online when we’re buying. But if you’re out looking for a blue shirt, you might find 11 purple ones and one blue in a size that’s not yours. So we’ll start seeing less choice on those shelves simply because we’re not getting the variety of goods coming in here based on the additional costs in place. And for that one blue shirt that’s still left, you’ll see a price hike,” Seroka said.

thehoffon Generative AI is not replacing jobs or hurting wages at all, say economists

Same, after a little back and forth it became obvious I was not talking to a real person.

thehoffon Ambient music on iOS 18.4 and the return to the Apple's Music app

I don’t have Apple Music installed, tried this and it works fine for me.

thehoffon US Forest Service firings decimate: entire generation of talent and passion lost

From the USDA-----

The Office of Tribal Relations (OTR) serves as a single point of contact for Tribal issues and works to ensure that relevant programs and policies are efficient, easy to understand, accessible, and developed in consultation with the American Indians and Alaska Native constituents they impact.

From Forest Service-----

Tribal Relations Specialists play a critical role in the government-to-government trust responsibility that is crucial to the health and sustainability of many of our nation’s most treasured landscapes. They serve as the point of contact for American Indian Tribes; work with Tribal Councils, Tribal Leaders, and officials of other agencies; and serve as partnership coordinators for programs involving collaboration and consultation with American Indian Tribes.

thehoffon Recording reveals new details on controversial DOGE employee Edward Coristine

https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/07/asia/us-afghanistan-spending-...

I know that one is older but it was a quick 1 minute google search. I’m sure you can search for others if you’re really interested in checking.

thehoffon White House budget proposal could shatter the National Science Foundation

I agree that this may be a misunderstanding.

Federal grant proposals require budgets that outline how you intend to spend those dollars along with text describing those line items. Some of this can be extremely detailed. These agencies have a lot of restrictions so yes, other sources are required in many cases.

Then as you spend those funds many of these grants will require monthly or quarterly (or even more frequent) text and budget updates.

thehoffon FBI turns over details of 5000 employees who worked on January 6 cases

https://apnews.com/article/trump-loyalty-white-house-maga-ve...

thehoffon United Health CEO Decries "Aggressive" Media Coverage in Leaked Recording

I could be wrong but the first article I looked up on profits says United Healthcare Group made 22B, in profit in 2023. B, as in billion. Profit, not revenue. I’m not sure if they have any incentives to reduce that even if they could/should.