Hacker News Reader

alistairSHon Florida's HOAs and condo associations are making the housing crisis worse

In a perfect world, sure. That's not reality in most of the US. The county absolutely does NOT provide trash service in my area. And we (via the HOA) absolutely own the roads within the subdivision.

Dumb AF? Yes, no argument. Reality? Sad but true.

alistairSHon Florida's HOAs and condo associations are making the housing crisis worse

My HOA owns all the common area in the neighborhood, including the streets and parking spaces. So, all that upkeep (paint, seal, re-pave, snow removal, etc) gets paid out of a HOA dues. They also pay for landscaping of common areas, neighborhood lighting, and a few other things. The also organize trash collection (without which we'd have to buy individually and have a constant stream of trash trucks rolling through). And they have to carry insurance to cover that common property.

Who else is going to fix the roads? The county and state aren't going to, they don't own it. We seal the asphalt every 5-8 years and repave every 15-20 (I've only lived her 10 years, so those are very rough guesses).

alistairSHon Tesla 'Cannot Guarantee' Roadster Reservation Holders Will Ever Get a Car

So, this new promise negates the original 3-year delivery timeline promised in 2017? That timeline, taken alongside Musk's recent "we're no longer a car company" statements is... well, you do you, I guess, but I'm not in the business having handing piles of cash to a billionaire.

alistairSHon Tesla 'Cannot Guarantee' Roadster Reservation Holders Will Ever Get a Car

$250k USD invested today is ~$400k to ~$600k in 2036.

And that $50k deposit made 9 years ago? That could have been nearly $300k in 2036.

"A fool and his money..."

I don't have any particular problem with a modest (a few 10s of thousands) deposit on a ~3 year timeline that's reasonably confident. But six figures on a 100% speculative consumer good (ie not even remotely an investment)? Oof, no thanks.

alistairSHon Tesla Unveils 'Flying' Roadster with SpaceX Thrusters [video]

This "roadster" isn't in the market either, with or without the rockets. Or a folding roof.

alistairSHon New Withings Users Must Pay $99/Year for Apple Health Syncing

But there’s no need for the API at all. Scale to phone over BT then to Apple Health on the device. It’s the API that should be the add-on.

alistairSHon New Withings Users Must Pay $99/Year for Apple Health Syncing

Seriously? That’s awful by design. I figured it was BT from scale to phone app.

alistairSHon New Withings Users Must Pay $99/Year for Apple Health Syncing

Assuming the Withings app is on the same phone as the HealthKit account, there's no "cloud" involved. This is 100% grift. I hope nobody buys these.

alistairSHon AdFection: Targeted ads turned into a pipeline for zero-click mercenary spyware

Is a general contractor who subs out the electrical also blame free when the house burns down?

alistairSHon Do dentists know what they're doing?

But that's more a matter of pricing. Not the basic parameters of the job.

Building a wall of known size takes X bricks, Y windows, etc. Contractor 1 might have more markup or estimate different hours to complete the job vs contractor 2 but the parameters of the job are relatively fixed.

The dentist is seeing the same mouth (wall) and telling you there is vastly different numbers of cavities (bricks/windows). And not off by a small margin, but orders of magnitude.

alistairSHon How Amazon pushes up prices all across the Internet

Fair enough. I didn't need a human - Anker sent recall notices (via Amazon sales records, I guess) and all I had to do was send photos of serial numbers on the bricks and pick from a list of replacements of similar capacity. So, their customer support was better than average, no question.

alistairSHon How Amazon pushes up prices all across the Internet

Japan, Korea, and others.

The "problem" with China is they have a massive economy built on building to a price, no matter how low the price may be. They're perfectly capable of creating high-end electronics like iPhones and disposable crap that sells for pennies on Amazon or Ali.

There doesn't seem to be the same cohesive brand-building/reputation-buidling effort that we saw with Japanese and Korean companies in the 80s-00s+. Granted, Amazon/Ali didn't exist, and the market for "$1 junk" wasn't the same. No easy answers (if it's even a thing that needs solved).

alistairSHon Amazon pushes up prices across the Internet

They might not be a revolving door brand, but I've had 2 different models of charging brick from them get recalled for spontaneous combustion in the past 3 years. So, despite their branding efforts, their QC still isn't great from my perspective.

alistairSHon Amazon pushes up prices across the Internet

I'm a long time cyclist, got the name from friends on an old web forum that somehow manages to stay alive.

This particularly brand (BTLOS) will come up on searches similar to "good Chinese carbon wheel brands" with reviews on FB, Reddit, etc.

And the cycling industry has had Chinese brands making inroads for a decade or more. So, Winspace, BTLOS, and a few others have come to be known entities (some do sell through AliExpress, some direct from their own site). And there's a niche group of product testers on YT or similar that review these things.

I assume there are analogous items in other hobbies, but I can't speak to any specific examples/brands.

alistairSHon How Amazon pushes up prices all across the Internet

The problem for me is (and this holds across AliExpress as well), if I search for something, I get presented 30 different versions of the same thing, almost all from an unknown brand out of China, all with near-perfect reviews. I don't know if they're all the same thing, just relabeled; some are cheap copies of one original good version (and which one was is the good original); or something else. And if I end up with a cheap knockoff, how to resolve the issue - endless phone calls with a call-center in China and multiple rounds of trans-Pacific shipping? No thanks.

None of that is a knock against Chinese goods. I bought a set of Chinese carbon bicycle wheels last year and they're great. But, I went straight to the source and didn't take chances with AliExpress or Amazon.

alistairSHon CFTC Staff Were Told to Retract Analysis of Suspicious Oil Trades

And Susan Collins will furrow her brow.

alistairSHon CFTC Staff Were Told to Retract Analysis of Suspicious Oil Trades

I hope you're correct, but suspect you'll be disappointed.

Even if the House and Senate flip, majorities will be slim enough to prevent anything major. Certainly unlikely we get any impeachment trials in the Senate, though I'd love to see Hegseth get tossed out.

alistairSHon Apple HomeView

Bummer that this can't double as a security camera itself. Would have been neat to hang one on the wall near each exterior door as a control panel + camera.

alistairSHon Solar panels that plug into your wall

Wait, people in the UK actually follow those instructions?

In the US, even with a warning, you'd get regular home fires as people hooked one of these panels into every available outlet just because they can. I wish I were joking.

alistairSHon Solar panels that plug into your wall

Italy has the "Do not store your cat under the seat" warning. They do NOT put it on Italian-market scooters and they definitely DO put them on US-market scooters.

https://members.modernvespa.net/brian_herwick_-_coolass/uplo...

alistairSHon Solar panels that plug into your wall

$200 is about the going rate to get somebody to show up in the US as well (DC-metro, specifically). Maybe not for a generic handyman (though that's increasingly true as well), but somebody with a license and training (electrician, plumber).

alistairSHon How to Build Wealth as a Career Person

Maybe you can get to 50 million with a reasonable management career.

LOLWUT.

First, 2-5 million net worth is plenty to retire in the middle class and probably leave some wealth for your kids (or donate to a charity, whatever). And it's very achievable by an average white-collar professional. Easier yet if you're half of a couple. For most, it critical to save some early and regularly, but also increase the savings as you move into high-earning later career years.

But the jump from that to tens-of-millions is a literal order of magnitude more money and a figurative order of magnitude harder to achieve. You don't get there from any salary-based savings, even if you save well and get lucky on timing market swings over a 20-30 year career. It just doesn't happen for most professionals, even in management. Hell, I'd guess most C-suite don't get there either.

Even after years of browsing this forum, I'm still baffled by the financial bubble many y'all exist within.

alistairSHon How to Build Wealth as a Career Person

This forum has completely skewed sense of income and wealth. Not surprising given the origins.

I took the article’s “building wealth” more to mean “get to very comfy retirement and maybe pass a bit to family” not “find a 7 figure salary and save more then I can ever spend”

alistairSHon NYC's "Click to Cancel" rule is now in effect

Any time I've had a similar subscription, you retain access for the full period.

The messaging has usually been something like: "Annual subscription cancelled at the end of current period. Access ends on 12/31/2026" (even if today is 6/1/2026)

That's why the "cancellation fee" comment is weird to me - there's no need to message that way, since "pay the rest of the committed period" seems to be a common (and at least to me, very understandable) way to handle this.

Even with monthly services, I don't think I've ever had an immediate loss of access - it's there until the end of the billing cycle. As it should be, IMO. The only exception would be if I force-deleted my account as well as that's a very explicit "I'm done-done" signal to the service provider.

alistairSHon NYC's "Click to Cancel" rule is now in effect

So it's not really a cancellation fee, but is that how they message it?

If I see: "Annual Subscription - $120/year, billed $10/month" I assume I'm paying $120 even if I cancel after 6 months.

But, if I cancel after 6 months, and the message to me is "$60 cancellation fee", I'm very confused - I thought I was paying the remaining $60 I owe them...? The amount may be the same but it's confusing nonetheless.

alistairSHon Lobbying is corruption

I meant truly local, so state down to town.

And yes, phone is sort of a black hole. If they note your satisfaction/lack thereof, you’ll be lucky. But you can schedule a live meeting (as I said I a sibling, for congress that’s going to be with a staffer unless you’re bringing a group and can convince them it’ll be worth their time).

Anyways, my point in all my posts in this discussion is we need to agree on definitions, because lobbying literally is making your case to the representative. The whole campaign fundraiser/PAC thing we have in the US is just legalized bribery. IMO.

alistairSHon Lobbying is corruption

That’s not even remotely what I said, but you do you.

alistairSHon Lobbying is corruption

Yes, it's practically possible. But, there's a lot of gotchas there... probably need to schedule at home during a recess, not during sessions. Probably need to declare a specific topic, not just a chit-chat. Likelihood goes up if you bring a group of constituents with you so the Congressman can get more input in that block of time (which is now looking suspiciously like the "lobbyists" you decry).

That said, for single-person "I want to tell you about thing X", a staffer probably works just fine. That's why they're there.

For a local politician, who likely has much more impact on your day to day, this is all far easier. They're generally less busy, less travel, and more approachable. And, they're the ones setting real estate taxes, school policy, and other things that make places truly livable (or not).

alistairSHon Lobbying is corruption

What does lobbied 50 million dollars even mean?

If you mean they donated 50 million in dark money to a PAC, then we're agreed - that's bribery and should be included in anti-bribery laws. SCOTUS fucked up egregiously when they allowed unlimited dark money to flow into campaigns.

alistairSHon Lobbying is corruption

No, that's bribery.

The problem is our (USA) definition of bribery is too permissive. We allow lobbyists to bribe politicians through massive fundraising dinners and donations to preferred causes (see Trump's current relationship with TechBro billionaires and Russian oligarchs).