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thetopher

273 karma · joined November 10, 2014

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thetopher··on Unicorn Jelly
I just resized my browser window, so the bottom of the window is above the GIF, but below the NEXT button.
thetopher··on Intel doesn't know how to be a foundry," Tim Cook reportedly told TSMC's CEO
Sounds like they were following some advice from “The Innovator’s Dilemma” by separating the business groups.
thetopher··on Forage conservation is a neglected nitrous oxide source
Is not just the meat industry. Dairy cows eat silage too.

Everything I know about silage I learned from watching 10th Generation Dairyman on YouTube. As somebody who loves learning about the tedious details of other people’s professions, I highly recommend this channel.

https://youtube.com/@10thgenerationdairyman61

thetopher··on We're building a statue of Aaron Swartz
This looks like a scam. They’re asking for $5k - 20k individual donations for a statue that (according to the supposed sculptor’s website) will only cost $6,000.

https://www.monumentallabs.co/commissions

Why are they asking for so much money?

Also, the website claims that donations are tax-deductible, but there’s no mention of a registered non-profit organization.

No transparency. So many questions.

thetopher··on Reclaim the Stack
“Our basic philosophy when it comes to security is that we can trust our developers and that we can trust the private network within the cluster.”

This is not my area of expertise. Does it add a significant amount of complexity to configure this kind of system in a way that doesn’t require trusting the network? Where are the pain points?

thetopher··on SBF asks for 5-year prison sentence, calls 100-year recommendation "grotesque"
I wonder if he realizes that his behavior (substantiated by compelling evidence) was “grotesque”.
thetopher··on Supreme Court rejects appeal by Elon Musk's X on disclosing federal surveillance
I wonder what would happen if they published a list of all their users who are not currently under surveillance, or gave them a nice little icon. I feel like somebody tried this before, but my Google searches are coming up empty.
thetopher··on If You're Not Paranoid, You're Crazy (2015)
Directly below the paragraph about Alcoholics Anonymous was an advertisement for Absolut Vodka. Hmmmm.
thetopher··on Salad the Silent Killer (1988) [pdf]
Article by Jeffrey Steingarten. He’s a wonderful food writer with two books that I highly recommend to anybody who has ever been called a foodie.
thetopher··on Engineering Intensity
Great point. It’s never occurred to me until now, but Amdahl’s Law has great application here.

I never want to be the “weak link” in the chain, but overworking myself to deliver my piece in a large project usually has negligible impact, if any. Usually it just ends up providing buffer for other teams that end up using more time.

thetopher··on Can the stock market go to zero?
I don’t know if these are good examples. Money and electricity both have inherent liabilities that don’t seem to translate to stock. At the end of the day, cash has to be transported and stored somewhere. Negative interest rates can be used to effectively pay somebody else to store your cash. A similar situation has happened with oil prices going negative.

Negative electric rates could be used to increase load on a grid that would otherwise be generating too much electricity.

Is there any kind of liability that comes with owning stock in a company? I don’t see any motivation to ever pay for somebody to take ownership of your stock.

thetopher··on Cormac McCarthy has died
Here are two lectures about Blood Meridian from a Yale literature course.

https://youtu.be/FgyZ4ia25gg

https://youtu.be/7ZFmf4T5L3o

thetopher··on Traffic cop sues city for get-out-of-jail-free cards for NYPD friends and family
One approach to solving this problem would be a mass distribution of fake courtesy cards. I wonder if the NYPD has an effective way of verifying that a person has a real card that they received from a real cop.
thetopher··on Jeff Bezos announces $3.4B NASA contract to land astronauts on lunar surface
In case anybody is looking for the link for discussion:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36002808

thetopher··on Giving kids no autonomy at all has become a parenting norm
(2021)
thetopher··on Airbnb nightly rates shot up 36% in 3 years
Same here.

Filtering by price is a frustrating experience when the service and cleaning fees aren’t factored into the prices I’m looking at. It’s more work than it needs to be to compare prices in areas with lots of listings.

thetopher··on Ask HN: Laid off folks, are you getting hired?
This isn’t true in California, and I don’t think it’s generally true in other states either.

A fired employee is still eligible for unemployment as long as they were not fired because of specific misconduct. Poor performance does not constitute misconduct. Misconduct must be “willful and wanton.” (Regularly missing work or being late, stealing, fighting with coworkers, etc.)

The CA guidelines are long, but contain some useful examples and guiding principles: https://edd.ca.gov/en/uibdg/Misconduct_MC_5/

thetopher··on Anarchist Cookbook (1971) [pdf]
In high school, I had a friend that printed out a copy and put all the pages into a binder. Another friend and I had borrowed the binder, and flipped through it one day to pass the time during health class. The following day, our teacher came over and crouched at our desks to talk to us. She said that she has found a piece of paper with instructions on how to make a bomb, and she has given the paper to the principal. She told us that we weren’t in any trouble, but that we were never to bring anything like that to school ever again.

I also remember another friend writing an essay for English class, and then reading it aloud in class, recounting his experience building and detonating a “pipe bomb” in his backyard using gunpowder and a mayonnaise jar.

Different times. (This was 1996-1997)

thetopher··on NY Sabotages Right to Repair Bill [video]
I just can’t watch Rossmann’s videos anymore. He’s a smart guy with important things to say, but it’s hard to take him seriously. His videos are 90% hyperbole, cynicism, and snide remarks. It’s too much to put up with to figure out what he’s really trying to say. I have to wonder if this style appeals to his audience, or if he’d be more effective without it.
thetopher··on Backyard Ballistics
I recently found this book in a used bookstore. I wish I had owned a copy when I was a kid. I’m thinking about giving one to my nephew, but I’m not sure what his parents would think.
thetopher··on Making Silicon from Sand
(2005)
thetopher··on Ask HN: What news subscription is worth it?
I will never subscribe to the NYT again. Unsubscribing was an infuriating process.

I love The Economist, and their podcasts. I've never had to unsubscribe because I just pre-pay for 1-year subscription offers that I find on Slickdeals.

thetopher··on My transition from Windows to Linux in an anti-customer age
As an old Slashdot reader, I came looking for a comment like this. Thanks for not disappointing.
thetopher··on Royal Society cautions against censorship of scientific misinformation online
I’ve read State of Fear, and I agree that Crichton isn’t a great source for scientific facts.

But this quote isn’t really a criticism of science. It’s a criticism of journalism.

I think most people here on HN agree with his premise regarding the quality of science journalism. I’m not so sure about his conclusion that all journalism should be treated with the same suspicion.

thetopher··on SUSE targets pre-summer IPO
Just to add another tale from the past:

Sometime in the late 90s I ordered a Red Hat CD from cheapbytes.com (CD burners weren't common yet). I didn't have a credit card yet, but I did have a checking account, so I paid for the order by mailing in a check.

thetopher··on DDD Is Overrated
I was thinking of the debugger too. I was also surprised to see it described as “overrated” since it’s ratings have never been that good.
thetopher··on Swiss companies must pay share of rent for employees working from home
As a non-remote employee, I had to find housing near my office. Now, as a remote employee, my only real requirements are a power source and internet connection. Sure, I have to live somewhere, but that need isn’t a result of my employment. It seems that non-remote employees have more specific and expensive housing requirements and costs.
thetopher··on Things that are illegal to build in most American cities now
There still needs to be a solution that exists somewhere between "fantastic" and homelessness. Creating more options allows people to choose the best solution for their own situation.
thetopher··on The Great Cannon has been deployed again
All kinds of bad things are happening in the world. This thread is discussing a bad thing being done by the Chinese government. That doesn't suggest that other bad things are any better or worse.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism

thetopher··on We are on the cusp of a disruption in food and agricultural production
This is where I stopped reading. How can somebody claim to be on the cusp of disrupting a market when they evidently don't understand the consumer? Nutritional equivalence will not bankrupt the cattle industry.
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