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jb775

@dang I'd urge you not to ban/shadow-ban my account considering I openly represent a political minority here at HN during a very turbulent time politically in the world where people are often afraid to speak up. Banning people like me would just increase the echo-chamber that already exists at HN. If my opinions were as strong in the other political direction, I'd probably be getting praised left and right.

While I agree some of my comments as of late would be considered "breaking guidelines", most of my comments are conversation provoking, and often include sources.

And FYI in this particular situation, it's pretty frustrating to see people not only make numerical claims without providing sources, but then confidently respond to being called out with an anecdotal "well my 1 doctor friend told me...." response. Only for them to be provided further false-confidence by you swooping in with the ban-hammer based on some arbitrary "site guideline".

> Do nothing?

Yes. If the currently available options intended to fix a particular problem don't actually fix the problem while at the same time make the offending business more powerful while making the little guy less powerful...then yes, doing nothing is clearly a better option in the short term.

In other words, crypto miners are investing in lobbyists.
Re:Algorithmic bias bounty challenge on Wednesday August 04, 2021 @06:41PM (#28067402)
No, you are delusional. This is called sexism, but you can't admit what's right in front of your face.
Re:NYC to mandate proof of vaccination for many indoor settings on Wednesday August 04, 2021 @06:21PM (#28067195)
Your covid numbers are 100x skewed and essentially fake.
Re:S.F. is considering downtown 'congestion pricing' on Saturday July 31, 2021 @02:21AM (#28015784)
No, you didn't.
Re:Algorithmic bias bounty challenge on Saturday July 31, 2021 @12:47AM (#28015381)
Are you considering the modifier here to be the word "male"?

If so, your statement is simply absurd. That's like saying the term "female cheaters" equally insinuates men and women as the cheating-gender being discussed.

Re:Algorithmic bias bounty challenge on Saturday July 31, 2021 @12:29AM (#28015305)
#1 Sounds like you are complaining.

#2 You missed the point. Twitter is trying to tweak their algorithm not to fix the actual problem, but to reduce the Twitter-perceived downside of not aligning with in-vogue leftist politics (i.e. in this instance: "despise anything to do with white-males but scream racism/sexism as it suits them").

The parent comment is essentially saying this whole bounty exists because Twitter is afraid of the social-politics associated with being considered a "male-gaze" facilitator (while mentioning they're already aware that the known technical cause has nothing to do with that, but it's essentially too hard to explain to the general public).

So mentioning you get eyefucked in the bread aisle by more men than lesbians not only misses the point, it shows how quick you are to position yourself as a victim (whether you intended to or not) as it suits you...only to admit you enjoy the eyefucks. Making ppl like you happy is the actual goal of this.

Re:Algorithmic bias bounty challenge on Friday July 30, 2021 @05:10PM (#28012411)
Seem insanely low considering it's really just a for-profit business asking the general public to figure out a very difficult problem they aren't able to figure out on their own.
Probably because mentally bronze is 1 place away from not being a medalist while silver is 1 place away from being best in the world.
Re:S.F. is considering downtown 'congestion pricing' on Monday July 26, 2021 @01:02PM (#27961920)
Because not all business costs go up by the same relative amount and not all of them are able to easily pass the costs onto customers.
Re:S.F. is considering downtown 'congestion pricing' on Monday July 26, 2021 @10:52AM (#27960104)
Except the ones that do go out of business and aren't talked about.
Re:S.F. is considering downtown 'congestion pricing' on Monday July 26, 2021 @10:50AM (#27960081)
> There would be a base fee of $6.50 to enter the congestion pricing zone with eligible discounts based on income level. If you make more than $100,000 a year, you’d pay the full amount. Commuters who make less than $46,000 would not pay a fee.

This is how the upper classes gentrify the middle classes. They know most <$46k people already can't afford cars in a major city, so this isn't geared towards them at all. Simply slap a forced tax that's meaningless to the rich, and all of a sudden they get to drive around in a traffic-free city.

I'm aware guaranteed income isn't the same thing as collecting unemployment, but the fact there's major employee shortages (at restaurants, etc) the moment the lower classes are given some money (via Covid bailout money adding to unemployment benefits) certainly doesn't bode well for the basic-income argument.
The private cartel would never give up that power. So common sense tells you that if they ever appear to willingly give up that power (by use of the media propaganda, etc), there's a major catch to the whole thing.
Re:Pelosi and a lifetime of trading on Wednesday July 21, 2021 @02:02PM (#27909754)
Elected & appointed govt workers and their immediate families shouldn't be permitted to buy/sell any stock while in office or 5 years following.

And they shouldn't be allowed to take jobs/money (including "speaking fees", a.k.a. bribes) from publicly owned corporations for 15 years after leaving public office.

Re:Pelosi and a lifetime of trading on Wednesday July 21, 2021 @02:00PM (#27909726)
> her husband, Paul, is a longtime investor/VC...but the trades don’t actually look suspicious

I would argue this is an even bigger red flag. Professional traders are much more aware of subtle cause & effects within the markets.

i.e. Not-yet public info about reducing tariffs on imported wheat would lower raw-material cost for bread companies, then would lower the cost for McDonald's hamburger buns, then McDonalds makes more profit this quarter...and Pelosi's husband buys a bunch of options on McDonalds, then dumps the options immediately after the info goes public.

So insider information that seems innocuous to the average person could be used and abused like crazy by professionals like Pelosi's husband.

Re:The Colorado River is shrinking on Wednesday July 21, 2021 @01:34PM (#27909363)
This reminds me of how the glaciers were supposed to be gone by 2020[1].

[1] https://lidblog.com/national-park-service-glaciers/

Re:Blue Origin first human flight on Tuesday July 20, 2021 @01:30PM (#27896637)
Bezos mentioned there's a pocket of air that forms a cushion underneath just before it hits, slowing it to 1 mph at impact. The older woman said she didn't even feel it.
The people buying are millennials (currently the largest generation) that are settling down in their location of choice.

I predicted this would have happened slowly over the next 15 years, but covid and inner-city violence triggered a flight to the suburbs....hence increases in real estate.

The fact that you and everyone else claim we're in a peak bubble is evidence to me that we're not in a peak bubble.
I'd suggest we protect freedom of speech similar to how we protect civil rights.

Before civil rights, "private businesses" used the same exact excuse as big tech while refusing customers based on race.

In the current setup, big tech thrives risk-free via governmental protections separating them from their customers (or what their customers post on the platform). The underlying concept of social media has become a public utility, and should be protected as such. Once big tech began altering visibility of posts based on politics (in any way/shape/form), they crossed the Rubicon.

Is anyone else sick of all this forced "connected cloud" crap?

My wife just got a new Windows laptop and the amount of dark patterns they use to push people towards the Windows cloud is insane. I haven't used Windows in years, but it's glaringly clear that the entire modern Windows OS is designed around recurring monetization of users. Nowadays, Windows machines are essentially one big trojan horse waiting to either be hacked or tapped into by 3-letter agencies.

Private my ass. I understand the terminology, but they are part of the defacto public domain, and are a publicly owned company. They built their company utilizing the resources and technological prowess of the United States, then piss in its face to cater to woke leftist silicon valley politics (which doesn't represent 90%+ of America).

If that MIT study about the end of the world turns out to be true, THIS type of woke bullshit will be the cause. And when society falls, I have a feeling who's gonna be gunned after first.

But you're taking the already discovered "magic bullets" for granted...and are essentially acting like the next one is impossible even though they happen on a semi-regular basis. Science is simply an on-going collection of realizations where the latest realization is considered the end-all-be-all...until it isn't.

The reason they are considered "magic bullets" is because they involve game-changing shifts in technology that couldn't easily be conceived beforehand. Just look at the traveling salesman problem for a sample as to how a handful of input options could output a massive amount of output combinations. Every so often, one of those output combinations turns into a game-changer...then we have people spewing a new version of the rhetoric stated here.

I'd put my money on the game-changer.

Re:Teaching other teachers how to teach CS better on Monday July 12, 2021 @11:01AM (#27810966)
The simple solution to learning CS is to just start building something.

The process of getting stuck and figuring out how to get un-stuck is where the learning actually happens.

Re:Sundar Pichai warns of threats to internet freedom on Monday July 12, 2021 @10:52AM (#27810872)
...says the guy who happily agrees to direct and indirect mass censorship based around in-vogue leftist Silicon Valley politics.
Re:“One Day Longer and Those 13 Boys Would Be Dead” on Sunday July 11, 2021 @03:21AM (#27799032)
It wasn't just bruised ego, the guy brought legal charges against Musk claiming libel.

How is hiring a 3rd party to investigate the underlying libel not a good initial response? Especially if he could easily afford it.

Re:“One Day Longer and Those 13 Boys Would Be Dead” on Sunday July 11, 2021 @03:13AM (#27798998)
I find it interesting that you position this guy as a "hero" with supporting arguments being that he brought failed legal action against someone else for calling him a name on twitter, while implying the reason he lost was because the hero chose to hire a crazy lawyer. Then say he's clearly a hero since the lawyer he chose has opinions about things you don't personally agree with, as if that has any relevance whatsoever to the legal case here.

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