Hacker News Reader

HarryHirschon Tomato nostalgia as I relive my Croatian island childhood

Because market forces, of course, and they look like this: https://newsroom.nmsu.edu/news/nmsu-developing-perfect-green...

A chile pepper optimized for mechanical harvest, because right now the fruit needs to be cut from the stem, but if you can shake it off you can spare yourself the farmworker.

HarryHirschon A Pattern of Lavish Spending at a Leading L.g.b.t.q. Nonprofit

A friend, a Spanish as he likes to call himself because his family was here when it was still the Viceroyalty of New Spain, is suing a former employer for discrimination. He likes to complain about the "white people who fly in like Superman".

Back then, we had gay bookstores that would provide the infrastructure for organizing. Now we have members of the Establishment that swoop in and fly off with cash that they don't even need.

HarryHirschon The sinister, shocking rise of dog attacks on postal workers

My concern is that the overterritorial Chihuahua comes busting out of a door while I am walking my 100-pound Labrador and then gets a hold of his leg. He has a peaceful demeanor, but there are limits. Or the unsocialized creature gets a hold of my ankle while walking to the park without dog.

There's nothing good that can come out of this. The likely outcome is a dead small dog and a vet/physician bill. I'm not risking a hand injury over someone else's animal, hand injuries can be disabling.

HarryHirschon The sinister, shocking rise of dog attacks on postal workers

Once can see how situations with pocketbook dogs can escalate - the aggressive creature has a go at someone's dog who then sees the need to defend himself or latches onto a pedestrian's ankle. No one wants that.

And when you express concern at the irresponsible owner it's you who is the bad guy. Not the neglectful owner, because in America intent counts. You could have restrained your anger, but look at the poor little dog, it doesn't know what it is doing. (No, it doesn't, it never learned and it never occurred to anyone around it that it should learn.)

Everyone immediately perceives that large dogs require constant attention and handling skills, but the less immediate but very real dangers from small dogs are downplayed.

HarryHirschon The sinister, shocking rise of dog attacks on postal workers

The fact that the German Shepherd and the Rottweiler are not on that list tells that dog bites are an owner problem. On the other side of the spectrum are excessively territorial Chihuahas and toy poodles, and there are far too many members of the public failing to control their rats-on-strings.

HarryHirschon More Than 100 Silicon Valley Investors Pledge to Support Kamala Harris

John Herzfeld's "Millions behind Hitler" come to mind: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/265672

The point is of course that industry will give freely to the winner in return for favourable treatment, party donations are not ideological, they are bribes. It's well accepted amongst historians that German industrialists supported Hitler because he was the front-runner and anti-communist, not because of his... other... views.

HarryHirschon Got Ghosted names and shames companies that stop communicating

xkcd had something about heatmaps: https://xkcd.com/1138/

HarryHirschon US economic growth increased last quarter to a healthy 2.8% annual rate

Just start building already, 6.8 % for the 30-year fixed is well within historical precedent. High housing prices are a result of asset inflation for a product priced at the margin. Only way around that is to increase supply.

(Also consider this: there is nothing more unproductive than real estate - the stupid capital must be forced out of the mattress and into productive ventures.)

HarryHirschon Chinese-born chemist cleared of last conviction under US’s espionage probe

This should not be downvoted. My undergraduate advisor had a vicious hatred for Margaret Thatcher and the 1981 cuts that caused him to seek employment abroad.

HarryHirschon CrowdStrike fixes start at "reboot up to 15 times", gets more complex from there

Why, whY, WHY...are these things connected to the internet?!

It's so that the support engineer at the manufacturer can log in to troubleshoot. And then company IT support sprinkles a layer of antivirus on top. That's how we got here.

HarryHirschon Trump says foreigners who graduate from US colleges should get green cards

The taught masters degrees already serve that role - you can get on OPT with a masters degree. Consider yourself blessed if you do not know what OPT is. Expect more of this if the proposal goes through.

Also the insult: anyone with a degree from Windy Flats Community College in Wyoming is in, and anyone from Imperial College, RWTH, ETHZ, any of the Grandes Ecoles &c pp is out. It just plainly does not make sense, any way you look at it.

HarryHirschon Boeing sent two astronauts into space, now it needs to get them home

Airbus are doing quite well, with the European governments being majority shareholders.

HarryHirschon IRS makes Direct File a permanent option to file federal tax returns

It's not - anyone with nonstandard deductions or a 1099 form (read: gig workers) was not eligible and the data shows it. 141,000 households from states with 150 millions total population, what a rousing success! In the upcoming years the week-kneed government is going to work with more states and gradually expand the complexity of returns. It's not useful at the moment, and looking over the press release won't be for a few more years.

And then there's the state return, which is not free. The federal government gets a few brownie points, but the tax preparation industry still gets its pound of flesh. It's really unimpressive, it's politics that no one is better off with.

HarryHirschon Microsoft AI spying scandal: time to rethink privacy standards

There's a wrinkle to that - here's a vidio from the Indian trading standards authority to detect adulterated salt: https://youtu.be/x3CWvI_AWkU

That's the government actually doing its job for once, but you can't check at home for data safeguarding.

HarryHirschon Harrassment of scientists is surging – institutions aren't sure how to help

You clearly never had a stalker. Someone sending a stalker or ten to your doorstep is worse.

HarryHirschon Harrassment of scientists is surging – institutions aren't sure how to help

You know, if someone attacks your livelihood they are attacking your life, you won't last long, especially in a country with no social safety net, like the US. I am stringent here, having dealt with an awful boss.

HarryHirschon Facebook will soon use your photos, posts and other info to train its AI

Exactly. So Facebook is not violating the Privacy Act and your comment is irrelevant.

That is the problem right there.

HarryHirschon On Self-driving, Waymo is playing chess while Tesla plays checkers

That's the other issue: the already low baseline. Pedestrian fatalities in the US are unacceptably high already, and let's not talk about the standards of driving instruction and road safety enforcement.

HarryHirschon On Self-driving, Waymo is playing chess while Tesla plays checkers

Pedestrians and motorcyclists are supposed to play chicken, one supposes. The self-driving problem requires general intelligence and a theory of mind, both unsolved problems.

HarryHirschon I'm a Former Surgeon General and I Couldn't Believe My $10k Medical Bill

Don a puppy mask, self-identify as a dog and go to the vet.

HarryHirschon I'm a Former Surgeon General and I Couldn't Believe My $10k Medical Bill

Meanwhile, it's entirely possible to be out of 3000 dollars after an animal bite with a regular insurance plan. Nothing more than an x-ray and a couple stitches, and the out-of-pocket cost was 3000 dollars. One wonders where the premium goes.

HarryHirschon I couldn't escape poison oak, so I started eating it

That's the exact opposite to what happens with DCC in chemical labs. DCC reacts with amino groups in proteins, same as urushiol in poison {oak,ivy,sumac} and is a notorious sensitizer. It happens to some graduate students that they are unable to work in a lab any longer.

HarryHirschon Things I won't work with: the higher states of bromine (2019)

Let's be clear: all over the world people handle bromine safely by taking the proper precautions. The boiling point is low enough to squirt the material out of the pipette you picked it up with. Consequently, you exercise some patience and delicacy, wear gloves that are thick enough and operate in a fume hood.

If you can't do that you should be doing something else with your life. This isn't computing where nothing worse is at stake than money, usually.

HarryHirschon Things I won't work with: the higher states of bromine (2019)

That is a strong indictment of US teacher training. (One assumes that's the US, because teachers are remarkbly untrained over there.) Everyone knows you deactivate bromine and chlorine with thiosulfate or sulfite and only then chuck it down the drain.

HarryHirschon Things I won't work with: the higher states of bromine (2019)

PSA: try the Chemical Force Youtube channel. It is run by a crazy fellow who demonstrates all sorts of esoteric and highly exothermic inorganic chemistry.

HarryHirschon Flood of Fake Science Forces Multiple Journal Closures

Oh, the West is no better, at certain institutions tenure means n number of papers, no questions asked where.

We have to assume by default that any paper out of China since circa 1990 is fraudulent until proven otherwise

What's that xenophobic language? You are not a scientist, are you? In science you learn pretty quickly who you can trust, and there's excellent work coming out of China these days.

HarryHirschon Flood of Fake Science Forces Multiple Journal Closures

Let's not forget that there's a market for all the junk, and it's not the scientists. There's a close parallel with AI slop - it's not aimed at people but at advertisers, the goal is SEO. Same with fake papers and pay-to-publish journals. That stuff is aimed at administrators, because faculty nowadays need publications for promotion, and the admin has no idea about quality but can count.

HarryHirschon Supreme Court: There's No 'Time Limit' on Copyright Infringement Claims

The doctrine of adverse possession is well-established, at some point there has to be certainty about who owns what. Look at East Germany after reunification if you don't believe, the fights over real estate seriously delayed rebuilding.

But for copyright adverse possession doesn't apply - it's understandable why the music industry would have the Court say so.

HarryHirschon Supreme Court: There's No 'Time Limit' on Copyright Infringement Claims

No time limit for copyright claims but very strict limits for anything to do with labour rights - and they still keep telling us it's a country of laws.