Hacker News Reader

twilightfogon Will We Ever Know What Dark Matter Is?

Another promising theory is that dark matter isn't even necessary, we only assume its present due to its gravitation effect, and that can be explained by other phenomenon.

Gravity decreases in proportion to distance squared between objects, but its not observed beyond a certain distance. To compensate, that space was assumed to be filled with dark matter. This theory suggests that gravity switches from a inverse-square law to a different set of rules after a certain distance.

https://www.quantamagazine.org/20161129-verlinde-gravity-dar...

twilightfogon California man fights DUI charge for driving under influence of caffeine

Abrams insisted the case was "never about caffeine," and she insisted that Schwab had to have been under the influence of another drug that didn’t show up in the test. Not all drugs do under standard rounds of testing.

To paraphrase: we didn't find anything to justify the charges, but we're still going to tell everyone that he is guilty.

twilightfogon UK surveillance bill includes powers to limit end-to-end encryption

Subject to strong controls and safeguards to address the increasing technical sophistication of those who would seek to do us harm.

Ofcourse we all know the strong controls and safeguards there will be:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/06/letters-lack...

twilightfogon Ethereum hard fork successful with mining majority

Exactly... and if you reverse the roles, the hypocrisy just becomes more clear, to quote Emin Gün Sirer:

"Had the attacker lost money by mistake, I am sure the devs would have had no difficulty appropriating his funds and saying "this is what happens in the brave new world of programmatic money flows."

http://hackingdistributed.com/2016/06/17/thoughts-on-the-dao...

twilightfogon Inside an L.A. OxyContin ring that pushed more than 1M pills

Statements like that immediately make me suspect the integrity of the article. Instead of reporting the actual figures of Oxycontin related overdoses, they bundle it with ALL overdoses over a year (which obviously would be a large enough number). Why didn't they mention the % of overdoses directly related to Oxy ? My assumption is that it would be significantly smaller number which didn't serve the article's purpose. Personally, I don't think its the Pharma's job to track if the pills are illegally prescribed. Just like its not an ISP's job to track if the internet is getting used for illegal downloads. They are absolutely right to assert that they "at all times complied with the law." and any conduct "did not interfere with legitimate patients getting medication". Moral arguments apart, they are simply not in the business of reporting their patients to law enforcement, nor they ever should.

twilightfogon Luck of the English: A new history shatters myths about an extraordinary nation

Another link on how British engineered the Bengal Famine Genocide in India: http://yourstory.com/2014/08/bengal-famine-genocide/

Winston Churchill casually diverted the supplies of medical aid and food that was being dispatched to the starving victims to the already well supplied soldiers of Europe. When entreated upon he said, "Famine or no famine, Indians will breed like rabbits." The Delhi Government sent a telegram painting to him a picture of the horrible devastation and the number of people who had died. His only response was, "Then why hasn’t Gandhi died yet?"

twilightfogon Ask HN: What is wrong with Reserve Bank of India?

an established business with 3 years+ track record OR $3 million or more in transactions.

I assume that's how PayPal got it, they certainly qualify for the $3 million criteria.

If they lower the bar, they will have to do it for everyone, and a lot of unscrupulous businesses will try to place recurring chargebacks. What's wrong with billing the client every payment cycle, or let them pay on longer durations, like quarterly? Refund extra money if someone discontinues earlier. Plenty of options, until 3 years of a financial history, then apply for a RBI clearance.

Credit card fraud is very common across the world, maybe the guidelines can be more clear and the clearance process made simpler, however I don't see why a startup should be allowed to place recurring charges on cards unless they have been a trustworthy business for a while.

twilightfogon Ask HN: What is wrong with Reserve Bank of India?

After a search, I see that companies need to obtain the necessary clearances from RBI (Indian or international) to charge recurring payments on credit cards. These are only granted to businesses with established track records. So, yes, a SaaS startup might not qualify for it. But as a consumer, I'm actually happy with this RBI policy.

twilightfogon Ask HN: What is wrong with Reserve Bank of India?

> Not one Indian payment processor (I've talked to a many) gives you the option to create recurring subscriptions.

Not true, Paypal allows you to create recurring subscriptions in India, I already have two subscriptions which PayPal charges to my CC every month automatically. So, I'm questioning the premise of this post, PayPal certainly follows RBI regulations now, and if other payment processors are not doing it, it must be a business decision on their part, and maybe they will do it going forward. Can you provide any references of RBI policies prohibiting recurring subscriptions ?

twilightfogon App Store Pricing: Worth Less than a Cup of Coffee

Nothing like another example of a todo list app to illustrate the downward spiral of app store pricing. Creativity can still get a high price in app store. Find a niche, and develop a great app, and customer will pay. Case in point: Cubasis https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cubasis/id583976519

twilightfogon E-commerce Fraud Facts

Fraud "facts" like that applied in a blanket fashion would frequently flag international customers, 3 of the 5 rules listed apply to me.

twilightfogon Why BuzzFeed Should Pay My Invoice For Copyright Infringement

As you mention in your article, copyright infringement is not theft. You have a legitimate claim against BuzzFeed, but don't start using the terminology of MPAA/RIAA , unless you want to be hated as much as they are.

twilightfogon Don't Fly During Ramadan

Just wanted to let you know that as a fellow Indian, I find your experiences extremely traumatic. However, you did the right thing to raise awareness about the issue. I've written strongly worded mails to JetBlue (CEO and their CS Director). Commercial airlines cannot continue being dicks and ignore tons of complaints without affecting their profitability. I'm sure a personal apology from them will be forthcoming (with perhaps a refund for the extra payment).

twilightfogon Don't Fly During Ramadan

Some other options to directly contact JetBlue:

Justin Thompson Director Customer Support Justin.thompson@jetblue.com (801) 449- 2732

David Barger Chief executive officer (718) 286-7900 david.barger@jetblue.com

twilightfogon The first physical Facebook fan counter for local businesses

I agree that the $450 price tag is too steep. At a stretch, I think that anything more than $100 is not attractive, even if its a novelty item. Why don't you raise the money for mass scale production on Kickstarter. IMO its better to sell 10 K for $100 than a few hundred at $450.

twilightfogon Alexander The Great's Battle at the River Jhelum

I think an even better information could be that he would not reach the end of the world. If he couldn't even get this beforehand, then I think missing the Indian monsoon is a small oversight indeed.