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topherhunt87

9 karma · joined January 4, 2021

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topherhunt87··on Tardigrades walk like insects 500k times their size
Help me out here:

> the size of tardigrades (which are only about 0.02 inches long)

> the creature's movement resembles that of insects 500,000 times their size

0.02 inches x 500,000 = 10,000 inches or 833 feet. Where does one find insects 800+ feet long? Or rather, how does one stay the heck away from them?

topherhunt87··on Intuit sabotages the Child Tax Credit
Stupid question: Why would Intuit sabotage the CTC? What do they get out of all that effort?

I can understand the massive profit interest in blocking simplifications to the tax system: if people have an easier time filing their taxes, they might not need to pay Turbotax for the privilege. But what's the profit interest in blocking the IRS from sending poor-people-who-dont-file-taxes-anyway free money?

topherhunt87··on Ask HN: Why aren't one-time sign in links more popular for authentication?
Tried this recently on a small SaaS app; users complained nonstop about the inconvenience of having to switch to their email client. One key thing I overlooked is that the service is often used in academic presentation situations, where you're trying to log into the service on a 10-year-old lectern computer where you aren't logged into your email account. I reverted to the generic UN/PW approach and the complaints disappeared; passwords aren't perfect, but at least they're compatible with sticky notes. Plus, users prefer the familiar.

I won't try the one-time-link approach again unless the app's specific use case makes passwords extra painful.