Hacker News Reader

JohnJamesRamboon Engineered ‘Superplant’ Cleans Indoor Air Like 30 Regular Plants

I wonder if anyone remembers an old experiment they did with houseplants and removing VOCs. They did the experiment right and had one plant have all leaves removed and it removed as much or more as the plant. The source of VOC removal? The potting soil and the life within. That's my memory of it.

JohnJamesRamboon Lawsuit against Meta invokes modern portfolio theory to protect shareholders

>The complaint alleges that the Meta directors failed to consider that shareholders with diversified portfolios may be subject to net losses from Meta’s pursuit of a business model that maximizes advertising revenue without regard to the harms it inflicts on the rest of their portfolios.

This is one of the craziest stances/lawsuits I’ve ever read. Boglehead thought has taken over so much that the shareholders are referring to a nebulous diversified portfolio as something that somehow must be protected by law. That’s too far out there.

JohnJamesRamboon From Google to Twitter

I cancelled my Tesla due to the Paul Pelosi tweet. It was the last straw. Was supposed to be picking the car up tomorrow after waiting seven months. It makes me sad because I love the car, we sold our 2021 to buy a 2023, but I just can’t stand to be associated with Elon or support him/send him money. I don’t think I’m alone in feeling like this. He represents to me some of the absolute worst things about the world I see and the exact opposite of how I want the world to be headed.

JohnJamesRamboon Many companies aren’t prepared to replace underperforming CEOs

60 hours of golf is a lot.

JohnJamesRamboon Low Energy Chest Fridge

>A modern-era Energy Star-rated fridge, by comparison, might only use 350 kWh annually. At the same $.10 per kWh price, that's around $.10 a day, $2.9 per month and $35 per year

I admire efficiency a lot but I don’t think digging around in a chest freezer is worth saving $31.50 a year. Others may feel differently.

JohnJamesRamboon Crypto trading firm Alameda Research might be insolvent

If you are anticipating human greed evaporating, then yes, crypto will go to zero. My experiences so far in life have shown that to not be likely.

People holding stocks may never see ATH either, it’s the risk we take for the mental construct we believe in.

History says they probably will, as long as they hold a diverse portfolio.

Unfortunately crypto has become just a leveraged bet on the stock market and has lost much of its uncorrelated asset status. If the stock market recovers, crypto recovers even harder. Ethereum price is like a higher leverage TQQQ if you check the charts. I liked it better when it was uncorrelated.

JohnJamesRamboon Robinhood cuts losses after transaction revenue drops

What a novel and original argument.

Actually Bitcoin and Ethereum have a known supply and limited inflation (Ethereum is actually deflationary now) so best suited to not go to zero. The USD on the other hand…

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M2SL

https://ultrasound.money/

JohnJamesRamboon Bank of England expects UK to fall into longest ever recession

Did they punch themselves in the face or was it Cambridge Analytica type meddling from groups with a vested interest in Brexit happening stomping them in the face with a boot?

From my brief reading about the matter it seems that the same villains showed up over there for that manipulation campaign.

JohnJamesRamboon Cree releases LEDs designed for horticulture

Oh I see. I thought you meant they wouldn’t sell when moved to natural lighting because the plants were less healthy or looked weird.

JohnJamesRamboon Stripe laying off around 14% of workforce

Money was cheap to borrow and get from investors and now it isn’t.

JohnJamesRamboon Today’s inflation is not a repeat of the 1970s

https://www.bridgewater.com/its-mostly-a-demand-shock-not-a-...

I've always found this insightful.

JohnJamesRamboon Apple now valued at more than Amazon, Alphabet and Meta combined

How did you know it was canola?

JohnJamesRamboon Cree releases LEDs designed for horticulture

Haha why don’t they sell?

JohnJamesRamboon Seeking the productive life: Some details of my personal infrastructure (2019)

If you showed this to an advanced alien civilization I think they might consider his life one of enforced torture, if they themselves aren’t already living it.

The Clockwork Orange eyes held open forced to watch screens device comes to mind.

JohnJamesRamboon An AI generated, never-ending discussion between Werner Herzog and Slavoj ŽIžek

Which movies? The only one I didn’t like was the one about the internet, Lo and Behold. I feel like maybe he was just from too many eras ago to understand how full of shit all the people he was interviewing were. All the rest of his movies always make me understand the world and humans on a deeper level than I did before. Happy People, Into the Inferno, Grizzly Man, the one about the cave paintings, the one about the South Pole.

JohnJamesRamboon T-Mobile will start charging a $35 fee on all new activations and upgrades

I love my Mint. There have been no downsides for me. $15 a month. Got my whole extended family and friends on it. Everyone loves it.

JohnJamesRamboon Scientists Increasingly Can’t Explain How AI Works

Are you sure you are speaking as clearly in the evening? I don’t understand how voice command recognition could fluctuate based on AI and time of day.

JohnJamesRamboon The first minute of every phone call is torture now

Yes I thought it was going to be about the true hell that is calling any company now. Phone menus for at least a minute and then connected to someone with long Covid and/or new hire that has no idea what they are doing or forgot how. Then transferred to another and another and another. Covid annihilated customer service.

JohnJamesRamboon Commission proposes to accelerate the rollout of instant payments in euro

I’m curious, what cars are you buying for $200k? Do you mean USD?

JohnJamesRamboon Playstation VR2

How does it compare to the Quest 2?

JohnJamesRamboon Associations between alcohol consumption and gray and white matter volumes

What would happen if you disabled 1% of your cpu? People might say what’s a loss of 1% but I’m reminded of data from sports science where 1% more performance is an absolutely astounding amount that separates world class from the pack. I don’t want to be in the mind pack!

JohnJamesRamboon Playstation VR2

I don’t know anything about VR, can someone tell me how this compares to the Meta Advertisement Torture Device (MATD) that costs $1500?

JohnJamesRamboon Rise of generative AI will be comparable to the rise of CGI in the early 90s

Makes sense, rise of CGI in the 90s killed movies I like.

JohnJamesRamboon Associations between alcohol consumption and gray and white matter volumes

The old mantra of people only use X% of their brain has been found to be hogwash. We use all of our brain, so I’d be very worried about a poison that even takes 1%.

> The notion that a person uses only 10 percent of their brain is a myth. fMRI scans show that even simple activities require almost all of the brain to be active.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321060#takeaway

JohnJamesRamboon An unwilling illustrator found herself turned into an AI model

Lol, well I’ve got the old dumb one that you just push a button on to clean. His boundaries are set by my little fence pod things that run on D batteries which I have to push the button on too.

JohnJamesRamboon As last module docks, China completes its space station

>For a SpaceX Falcon 9, the rocket used to access the ISS, the cost is just $2,720 per kilogram.

https://theconversation.com/how-spacex-lowered-costs-and-red...

JohnJamesRamboon As last module docks, China completes its space station

Unfortunately it’s about $2,720 per 2.2 lbs in even the best case scenario.

JohnJamesRamboon An unwilling illustrator found herself turned into an AI model

My Roomba is one of the few pieces of technology I own with no downsides to my life. I often think of it as an example of technology done right.

JohnJamesRamboon An unwilling illustrator found herself turned into an AI model

>Excuse me when I make an apple pie from scratch.

You’ll have to invent the universe first.