Hacker News Reader

Ajay-pon Device stopped working because your medical prescription has expired

In the same way there is Rule 34, I think there applies a similar rule for capitalism: At least it's not a pacemaker, yet, but I'm sure someone is working on it.

Ajay-pon Device stopped working because your medical prescription has expired

A medical device should not require a subscription

Ajay-pon A disgruntled federal employee's 1980s desk calendar (2018)

I am struggling to believe all of this. It feels like a calendar that was used but then someone later filed it in with all of this artwork, and commentary after the fact. Recording events that already happened. If this was a desk calendar, someone would have noticed, and noticed the content.

If it's true, it's a glimpse into the past and thinking of someone in a very important position during a very difficult time in the world.

But I can't quell this nagging doubt

Ajay-pon Harvard will require test scores for admission again

I think this is the right step forward, again, but we should work very hard to make the tests as unbiased as they can be. They are not perfect but they are a reliable measurement, especially as the creators have gotten better at removing hidden biases.

Ajay-pon San Francisco-to-L.A. overnight train inches closer to reality

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/cant-argue-with-that-technica...

Ajay-pon French company ramps up production to meet demand for its military drone radar

Wait, this is a surprise that China steals technology??

Ajay-pon It’s getting hard to use and recommend Firefox

I begrudgingly use Firefox because I am trying to avoid Google's tracking, etc.

Ajay-pon How Dating Sites Automate Racism

Maybe not a crime, but you've got to pay attention. Scotland is inching that.

https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-42652947

Ajay-pon French company ramps up production to meet demand for its military drone radar

Well, I mean, China has probably already stolen it. Given the nature of espionage it's highly likely the U.S. has the details and can build it on their own.

Ajay-pon How Dating Sites Automate Racism

Because it then creates a victim class which can use that "victim" status to for change and gain power for their position. That is the way America works now.

Ajay-pon How Dating Sites Automate Racism

In some places, rejecting that person because they are trans could be considered a hate crime. Just because someone will not date me because I am Southeast Asian, or I won't date them because they are not the gender I prefer, does not make anyone racist or transphobic. It's a personal preference.

Ajay-pon How Dating Sites Automate Racism

That is what I got out of the article, too. Attraction for most people is truly innate, it is not something they can really control. If someone prefers to only date within their race, culture, whatever, that should be fine. That is their personal choice; after all you don't have to date them if you don't like their preferences.

This article just seems like more race-baiting and trying to identify a problem, and a victim class, where there really isn't one.

Ajay-pon Poor Predictors: Job Interviews Are Useless and Unfair

"Interview is okay if it's done correctly"

IMHO and experience, it is rarely, if ever, done correctly. Most of the interview process now is a popularity contest, including how attractive you are, whether or not the team likes you, if you're physically fit, and a bread basket of other criteria that has very little to do with the actual job. And if you have a disability, it can be a dehumanizing and discriminatory process. It reminds me of orchestra selection, and how separating judgement of personal traits of a person (age, race, gender, etc.) from the "interview" process led to more diverse people selected for the orchestra.

Would it be better to move the interview process away from the team and the managers involved, and instead have a separate department do all of the interviewing and hiring? I think that could cut down on the popularity poisoning, but maybe also give people who have a disability but otherwise excellent skill set, a chance.

https://jamesboldin.com/2011/07/27/malcolm-gladwells-blink-p...

Ajay-pon What you think about landfill and recycling is probably wrong

Almost all municipal recycling goes to the landfill, ever since foreign countries stopped accepting American recyclables.

This article is quite a bit of "out of sight, out of mind" short shortsightedness.

Ajay-pon What makes housing so expensive?

The cost of housing comes from a variety of sources. In most cases, for both new construction and existing housing, the largest line item is the cost of constructing the home itself. For new construction this is on average 80% of the cost of a home (including hard and soft costs), while for existing construction it's still in the neighborhood of 60-70%.

It’s only in dense urban areas that the cost of land begins to dominate the cost of new housing, driven by regulatory and zoning restrictions that limit how much housing can be built in a given area. Another way of looking at it is that in the areas that we need housing the most, zoning and regulatory factors are responsible for the lion’s share of housing costs.

Ajay-pon Anti-crime humps in medieval Venice

Some of them might provide a nice place to sit and rest.

Ajay-pon We need a permanent solution for universal broadband access

Let me guess: As soon as AT&T started selling, Comcast suddenly started offering their own fiber?

Ajay-pon We need a permanent solution for universal broadband access

Perhaps greater funding for libraries to have the fastest internet in an area, and to provide greater resources such as computers, and education for how to use them.

Ajay-pon Apple cuts 600 jobs after dropping self-driving car plans

It's noteworthy because it's Apple, and it's self driving cars. If this has been 600 employees let go from something else it may not have gotten so much attention. But this is Apple, the world's largest company and it's about its mythical car project.

Ajay-pon How Would You Turn This Dial to Make the Freezer Colder?

I grew up with those! I always called them small flush or big flush.

Ajay-pon How Would You Turn This Dial to Make the Freezer Colder?

I have only had the freezers in the apartments that I rent, and it is an escalating number. The question is not "how cold" does the dial make it, but the amount of cold we are asking the compressor etc. to make.

For example, if you notice on older cars there is a dial for the air conditioning. On that dial there is a gradually increasing line of thickness (in blue in my mother's 2010 Camry). Increasing makes the car colder, or rather it makes the compressor deliver more cold air into the vehicle.

So .. why is this dial on this freezer like that? Because I think at one time in history we viewed air conditioning as a manufactured force. Increasing the number is to increase the intensity of that mechanical force.

Ajay-pon Physically healthy 28-year-old woman schedules euthanasia due to depression

All these hinge on a human being having no way out of mistreatment.

Hope is what you may be referring to here. If a person in mistreatment could let go of hope and accept the now as the way it always will be, they would be freed to end their life and have that dignity of self determination. I have read somewhere that kidnappers will give their victims false hope of being released because it makes the victim less willing to fight back.

Ajay-pon Physically healthy 28-year-old woman schedules euthanasia due to depression

This one I struggle with. I believe in the right of self determination but I cannot help but ask the question "Have you tried..?" ..because mental can be cured for some. For others it is unassailable. The most natural course is to encourage someone with a mental condition to try these other things first, but I would not ask the same of someone with a physical condition, but with the brain we know very little.

It is a struggle between providing support for a person who has chosen to end their life, and not standing in their way should they ultimately choose to go forward.

Ajay-pon Dear San Francisco – Please return my property in accordance with Victims Rights

+1 for this, for the value of the jacket and the court costs.

Ajay-pon Amazon ditches 'just walk out' checkouts at its grocery stores

I recently finished a book called "The Secret Life of Groceries" by Benjamin Lorr. Amazing book. I learned that grocery and supermarket stores of the past, seemed to have worked very hard to give the best customer experience possible. Today it feels that customer experience has been replaced by cost cutting.

Self checkout has been rife with problems, internally and socially, but supermarkets keep pushing them. I can only conclude it is cost cutting.

Ajay-pon Would you use a government-issued ID to prove your identity online?

If you do not have an ID, can you not cast a provisional ballot, then return later with further identification?

Ajay-pon Apple Says iPhone 6 Plus Now 'Obsolete' and iPad Mini 4 Now 'Vintage'

Same. I have an iPad 2 mounted in my bathroom plugged in to a timer so it doesn't just charge all day. I use it for calendar and check on my fledgling stock portfolio. That's all it is good for. Time to jailbreak it I suppose, but wish I could install Ubuntu.

Ajay-pon Apple Says iPhone 6 Plus Now 'Obsolete' and iPad Mini 4 Now 'Vintage'

According to Apple. How about releasing those "obsolete" iPads so Linux distros can be created for them so they won't just go in the landfill? Extend their lives beyond Apple.

Ajay-pon There were no ancient computers and it's fine

Related, a machinist rebuilt the Antikythera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML4tw_UzqZE

Ajay-pon How the Atlantic Went from Broke to Profitable in Three Years

Have not the wealthy always owned large parts of the media?

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/09/business/media/the-return...