Hacker News Reader

falsestpropheton It’s Tough Being Over 40 in Silicon Valley

In many European countries it is expected to include a photo with a CV.

falsestpropheton Want to end mass incarceration? Stop blindly reelecting your local prosecutor

"One of the most baffling aspects of the US criminal justice system is that incarceration rates continued to rise even after crime began dropping in the 1990s. If crime was dropping, it stands to reason that there should have been fewer criminals to lock up."

That isn't necessarily correct. Crime rates and prosecution aren't directly coupled. It could be that we are simply incarcerating a larger proportion of criminals.

Chicago, for example, had a murder clearance rate of 26% in 2015 compared to the national average of 64%. There is clearly an opportunity (a need in my opinion) to incarcerate more murderers especially in Chicago even though the murder rate has been decreasing in recent years.

falsestpropheton Tricks to Monetize Your Side Projects

In the spirit of forthrightness, wouldn't it be consistent to call yourself the owner or proprietor rather than "our Chief Executive Officer"?

falsestpropheton Almost 80% of Private Day Traders Lose Money

His scale also works in his favor for some transactions like municipal bond insurance or paying cash to acquire Fortune 100 companies.

falsestpropheton An American Doctor Experiences the NHS Again

> "NHS was excellent growing up. OHIP/Ontario Health Care was excellent. The US is contrived and awful."

contrived. having an unnatural or false appearance or quality

What?

falsestpropheton Was There a Problem with the Rio Pool?

Not having a terror attack is a pretty low bar.

falsestpropheton Soylent Bar Has Arrived

This is interesting. Why would a source of complete amino acids be totally ineffective?

falsestpropheton How the Arab World Came Apart

legal: 1) of, based on, or concerned with the law; 2) appointed or required by the law. [1]

Military force was authorized by Public Law 107-243 AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF MILITARY FORCE AGAINST IRAQ RESOLUTION OF 2002 [2].

[1] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/legal [2] https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-107publ243/html/PLAW-107p...

falsestpropheton The Despair of Poor White Americans

"Also, if you don't understand what people mean when they say "Black Lives Matter" you are really lacking empathy and saying "All lives matter" is missing the point so hard, that yes, it borders on racism."

That is a meaningless statement. One could just as easily reverse it:

Also, if you don't understand what people mean when they say "All Lives Matter" you are really lacking empathy and saying "Black lives matter" is missing the point so hard, that yes, it borders on racism.

falsestpropheton Judge Orders Yahoo to Explain How It Recovered ‘Deleted’ Emails in Drugs Case

This wasn't a personal attack and I don't follow how how it could be interpreted is a personal attack. It didn't in any suggest jacquesm's wife was engaged in adultery. It was a statement that jacquesm comment to codemogul was irrelevant.

The conversation unfolded as follows:

codemogul: "I caught my x-wife in an affair as she was using this same method the communicate with her lover."

jacquesm: "Funny, I've run the mail server of our family for quite a while and it would never enter my head to read someone else's email."

Here codemogul uncovered adultery by reading his x-wife's email hosted on a third-party server. Jacquesm then states that he runs a server for his family and would never consider reading their email on his server.

I commented "It's really touching that you trust your wife to be smart enough to not use the mail server you run for adultery." which is an observation that jacquesm response to codemogul was irrelevant because he could only uncover adultery like codemogul if his wife was not smart enough to use a service hosted by her husband.

That the fact jacquesm had access to the server made it unlikely that if there were to be untrustworthy activity (and I did not suggest there was) that it would take place on the server.

I don't think jacquesm would interpret that as a personal attack. It would be interesting to ask him.

"Normally I would let you know that personal attacks are not allowed on HN, that this is a bannable offense, and ask you not to do it again. But in your case we already did that."

This is not a personal attack. That also was not a personal attack. Neither were mean or mean-spirited.

attack: "to criticize or oppose fiercely and publicly"

personal: "of or concerning one's private life, relationships, and emotions rather than matters connected with one's public or professional career."

No one was criticized or opposed personally in either case.

falsestpropheton Q&A: Bill Gates on investments in energy technologies

The cost of corn stover (leaves and stalk) is $40-$80 including transportation it's about $100 per ton [1].

So, that's $90 trillion at US biomass production prices (assuming that much biomass was available) or 1.2x world annual gross world product [2].

Still $90 trillion seems like a lot.

[1] https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/EC/RE-3-W.pdf [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_world_product

falsestpropheton Issa bill would kill a big H-1B loophole

The proposal is to raise the minimum salary for H1B visas from $60,000 to $100,000 for employers with over 15% H1B staff.

There is an obvious loophole here. Large employers of Americans like IBM (or Walmart or UPS or Aramark or even Taco Bell) [1] could hire H1Bs at the lower rate of $60,000 and rent them to third parties like Infosys and Tata do today.

For context Walmart employs 2.1 million people [1]. 15% of that is 350,000. There are approximately 650,000 H1Bs working in in the United States [2]. So, Walmart alone could employ about half of H1Bs at the lower rate of $60,000.

I expect this law would have little to no effect on the total number of H1B workers employed below $100,000.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_employers_in_t... [2] http://cis.org/estimating-h1b-population-2-11

falsestpropheton Why it's time to accept the fact that Brexit may never actually happen

>Democracy is not a right, it's a responsibility.

In the United Kingdom parliament is dissolved every five years or sooner and elections are called to elect a new parliament.

Representative democracy is manifestly a right of the British people.

falsestpropheton The Strange Politics of Peter Thiel, Trump’s Most Unlikely Supporter

Why do you think he doesn't understand the consequences of his ideas?

falsestpropheton The Strange Politics of Peter Thiel, Trump’s Most Unlikely Supporter

  10% of the California workforce is undocumented
  5% of the national workforce is undocumented

falsestpropheton The Strange Politics of Peter Thiel, Trump’s Most Unlikely Supporter

Thiel has opposed mass [1] immigration to the United States which should not be mistaken with opposition to all immigration.

For context, only 15% of new lawful permanent residents in 2014 were selected for education or skill (the employment-preference category).

[1] like (but not limited to) anyone who likes strolling over the border or overstaying visas

falsestpropheton Turkey's president says all he wants is same powers as Hitler

This is the only comment. So no he hasn't commented a lot.

falsestpropheton Irish Economy grew by 26.3% in 2015

Thanks for the Wikipedia source.

Here is the law:

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1997/si/277/made/en/print

Checks by air and sea are authorized and implemented. The UK Border Force also performs spot inspections.

falsestpropheton Irish Economy grew by 26.3% in 2015

Though some saying having to use a passport to travel within your own country defeats the purpose of the country.

There are some border controls between Ireland including Northern Ireland and the UK now. If you look out of place, you should be prepared to be challenged.

falsestpropheton As Japan's population shrinks, bears and boars roam among schools and shrines

77.1% white including white hispanics (speaking Spanish doesn't make you not white!) Source: same link as parent

falsestpropheton The Epic Collapse of Deutsche Bank

From the top 20 banks by assets [1]:

  4 HSBC 
  7 BNP Paribas
  10 Crédit Agricole 
  11 Deutsche Bank
  12 Barclays
  19 Societe Generale
  20 Royal Bank of Scotland

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_banks

falsestpropheton Brexit Is a Lehman Moment for European Banks

Future earnings are a multiple of current earnings. Any valuation in a multiple of current earnings... they're all numbers.

falsestpropheton Bayesian Analysis of Racial Bias in Police Shootings in the United States

Have you tried pulling a knife on an armed officer in Europe? I've lived in Europe and I would not feel safe doing that.

falsestpropheton Bayesian Analysis of Racial Bias in Police Shootings in the United States

Police uniforms are navy, not black.

falsestpropheton Bayesian Analysis of Racial Bias in Police Shootings in the United States

In what country would it be good advice to move aggressively towards a police officer with his weapon drawn?

falsestpropheton African American Vernacular English Is Not Standard English with Mistakes (1999) [pdf]

How do you distinguish between being a "superbly" educated Spanish speaker and speaking a little Italian and Portuguese?

falsestpropheton Learn React.js in a weekend

I mean does an application being React Native change your opinion on using Redux or Relay?

falsestpropheton Learn React.js in a weekend

What stacks would you recommend for starting a React Native application of low complexity (like single man operation) and low-to-moderate complexity (like a several man seed-funded company)?

falsestpropheton Tesla Makes Offer to Acquire SolarCity

Yes they do. Solar Bonds are unsecured Solar City debt.

falsestpropheton Five startups from Norway

Job security has value. If you want to buy the ability to fire people at will, you'll have to pay for it.