News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

xkde

Re:America’s bald eagle population continues to soar on Wednesday March 24, 2021 @03:54PM (#26572127)
Last I checked, Minnesota had the largest population in the lower 48. I personally see them all the time.
Re:I tried to report scientific misconduct. How did it go? on Wednesday January 27, 2021 @08:16AM (#25927841)
I think people have to get more serious about separating science as a procedure from scientism (that is, philosophical issues that are often discussed in tandem). When one uses the phrase, “science denier”, it often means, “you don’t agree with my philosophy/metaphysics/economic policy” rather than “you deny these particular facts”, which causes people to be rightly concerned. I’m not optimistic that this is going to change anytime soon, but this, I think, accounts for many of the issues in current discourse.
Re:George Orwell is out of copyright. What happens now? on Friday January 01, 2021 @10:22AM (#25603842)
It’s been done: https://youtu.be/2b-CMtKhTl0

Though I suppose we’re not above remakes.

Re:We need legal controls on web advertising on Monday December 14, 2020 @11:00AM (#25419022)
> They stalk you, collect data and build a profile

Again, not generally a problem when using paid services.

Re:We need legal controls on web advertising on Monday December 14, 2020 @10:35AM (#25418702)
Dumping chemicals in shared rivers/air vs placing ads in a privately owned space that users have the option of visiting. Not comparable.

The fact that more people use Gmail than Protonmail / others is a testament to their willingness to trade their eyeballs on ads for a service they don't have to spend their monetary resources on.

It's also worth asking - what makes you so confident about an absence of malfeasance from the largest, unbreakable corporate entity (ie. the government)?

Re:We need legal controls on web advertising on Monday December 14, 2020 @09:42AM (#25418075)
Leaded gasoline and the Internet are hardly comparable. But go ahead and make straw man arguments.
Re:We need legal controls on web advertising on Monday December 14, 2020 @07:57AM (#25416921)
Conversely, we could try not fiddling with it: https://youtu.be/6txA3pI0xJI

And playing minesweeper.

Re:The demise of the second-hand bookshop on Sunday August 23, 2020 @07:41PM (#24256251)
...we’re talking about public libraries.
You would hope not, but given the number of stories these days that are just, “hey look at this Tweet!”, I don’t think we can expect that much.

https://youtu.be/mpHiDsnqOSA

We’re going to see a lot of those plot elements in the near future.
Re:Unbricking a $2k bike with a $10 Raspberry Pi on Saturday August 01, 2020 @04:41PM (#24023728)
Somebody has no sense of humor...
Re:It’s Time to Abolish Single-Family Zoning on Friday July 03, 2020 @09:45AM (#23723957)
> I’m surprised that free market enthusiasts don’t see zoning laws as a limitation of freedom

We do.

Re:YouTube actively deletes anti CCP comments on Wednesday May 27, 2020 @12:48PM (#23326051)
It isn’t funny when your opinions get categorized as hate speech and it’s your ox getting gored.
Re:Millions of credit-card customers can’t pay their bills on Saturday April 25, 2020 @03:05PM (#22980453)
@subhobroto Today is when you learn that facts and reality are not popular on HN.
Re:What is energy, actually? (2011) on Friday November 29, 2019 @08:42AM (#21664281)
It’s real, but it doesn’t always take the form of dollars (probably the most popular misconception). Warren Buffet is a billionaire, but most of that wealth is locked up in businesses that are producing products. If he really wanted all of that cash, he’d have to find a buyer or liquidate those businesses (probably at a loss).
Re:Apple’s Great GPL Purge (2012) on Wednesday November 27, 2019 @08:11PM (#21653851)
True, but it’s perfectly reasonable for Apple to come to the conclusion that, “we just don’t want to deal with the risk” and move on. If they’re not using either GPLed or proprietary stuff, the problem goes away.
Re:Brave launches 1.0 on Wednesday November 13, 2019 @06:06PM (#21530759)
Except the adjective in this case is sufficient as a noun on its own. Unless you want to bring capitalism in for ulterior motives.
Re:Brave launches 1.0 on Wednesday November 13, 2019 @03:52PM (#21529420)
I’m having a hard time trying to decide if people are trying to dirty capitalism with “surveillance” or surveillance with capitalism. Seems like the latter has become a dirty word over night for no apparent reason.
Re:Being a good guy boss left me £1.2m in debt on Thursday November 07, 2019 @03:42PM (#21477049)
Not arguing about the US being about to learn this the hard way. But when we get to that point, neither a pension nor a 401k will be able to save anyone.
Re:Being a good guy boss left me £1.2m in debt on Thursday November 07, 2019 @02:52PM (#21476669)
Because pensions aren’t portable. They lock you into a particular organization. 401k, stocks, savings accounts, etc, do not. Pensions (in the private sector, public ones are another ball of wax entirely) do not protect you against inflation. You have no control over what they’re invested in (which in some cases, is the pension manager’s retirement). There are much better options available.
Re:Being a good guy boss left me £1.2m in debt on Thursday November 07, 2019 @02:36PM (#21476524)
4. Personal saving / investing. 5. Lean on family (super common, even in several non-American societies today)

It’s disingenuous to assert that the alternative to no pension is blood in the streets.

Re:Being a good guy boss left me £1.2m in debt on Thursday November 07, 2019 @02:33PM (#21476505)
As a general rule, the returns are better in 401k, yes. This assumes that it’s invested in something with good growth potential (U.S. stock index funds, etc) and not money market funds or something highly speculative, of course.
Re:Being a good guy boss left me £1.2m in debt on Thursday November 07, 2019 @02:24PM (#21476414)
The same thing as the thousands of years prior to pensions?
Re:Googlers Are Protesting Company’s Deals with Big Oil on Tuesday November 05, 2019 @09:12AM (#21452450)
I haven’t seen this kind of activism since the 20th Century Motor Corporation.
Telling how this very reasonable, “maybe things aren’t completely black and white” comment got downvoted.
Re:Lots of Job Hunting, but No Job, Despite Low Unemployment on Thursday October 31, 2019 @05:52PM (#21414095)
> Except the 10th guy has more stuff than the other 9 combined.

By that logic, you should be made to give everything you have to the people of Congo. Since when is morality determined by the size of one’s wallet?

Re:Lots of Job Hunting, but No Job, Despite Low Unemployment on Thursday October 31, 2019 @05:50PM (#21414080)
And the only reason for that is you haven’t taken enough of my money?
Re:Lots of Job Hunting, but No Job, Despite Low Unemployment on Thursday October 31, 2019 @03:39PM (#21412778)
What would you call 9 people in a group of ten voting to take away the tenth guy’s stuff because they wanted to? I call it what it is - stealing. Greed. Envy. Interestingly, it will probably lead to more equality; it just won’t be what you’re expecting and I don’t think you’ll like the result. At this point though, the people probably deserve to get what they want and get it good and hard.
Re:Lots of Job Hunting, but No Job, Despite Low Unemployment on Thursday October 31, 2019 @03:32PM (#21412704)
No, the alternative is adaptation.
Re:Lots of Job Hunting, but No Job, Despite Low Unemployment on Thursday October 31, 2019 @02:15PM (#21411874)
So, in order: 1. Stealing from Peter to pay Paul 2. Good idea. Make it happen. 3. Also stealing, but if it were to replace the system we have now (which won’t happen) it would at least be more efficient.

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