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honzzz

1,407 karma · joined July 22, 2012

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honzzz··on Productivity Is About Attention Management
Could you please clarify this for me? I assume that I did not understand the concept of ego depletion before but how is this related to the banal observation of real-life things... like when I do not have the willpower to follow my exercise routine after a really hard day at work or feel unable to focus when I am tired... this would not be "ego depletion" or "cognitive fatigue"? To be honest, those things seemed so obvious and "common knowledge" to me that I did not understand why even invent special terms - what am I missing?
honzzz··on Facebook to ban white nationalist content
> By deplatforming these people and driving them further underground and paranoid, we limit their ability to attract people through social media, for fear of exposure.

Do you have any evidence to support that statement? Would you expand on why you think so? I would estimate that by driving them more underground, you make them seem more cool in the eyes of angry teenagers. You also make them more radical because underground their opinions are not exposed to contradicting views. In my opinion, we should do exactly the opposite - we should give them platform to speak and oppose them. Isn't that what open society is about?

honzzz··on Four Wikipedias to ‘Black Out’ over EU Copyright Directive
Coincidentally, I am also from a 10 million country surrounded by mountains... and I feel the need to say a few words.

What sovereignty are you talking about? The one we had before WW2, right before we were occupied by Germans? Or after WW2, that brief moment before we were controlled and later even occupied by Russians? That sovereignty is an illusion, especially in today's interconnected world. We can either be small and be controlled by the big ones or be a small part of a big one. Is EU perfect? Certainly not. We can talk about reforms. But despite all shortcomings, I would still say that being part of the EU is the best era of our history.

And saying that people had more say over our country during the communist regime than we have today... that contradicts my experience and this is the sentiment I would like to express in the strongest possible terms.

And I would not be so sure about what "most people here would rather..." - if I might share my position on this: I voted yes to join the EU in order to get roughly what I got and I would not change my vote.

Just my $0.02 - article 13 is not about what Germans and French want, it is about what powerful lobbies want - being outside of EU would not save us from something like that despite what majority of the country wants - the fact is that we were not overruled; check the stances of our representatives (https://saveyourinternet.eu/cz) - unless there is some other mountains-surrounded country I do not know about, most of our MEPs voted for the article 13.

honzzz··on Four Wikipedias to ‘Black Out’ over EU Copyright Directive
I believe that people should be responsible for what they do, not for what other people do. That is the key difference between the traditional media and platforms - traditional newspapers are under your control, written by your employees, you are able to read all the articles before you publish them etc. A platform is something you create for other people to use it. If we accept that platforms should be responsible for what their users do, where do we draw the line? If I slander you over the phone, should phone company be responsible for it? Using your argument, they made money on that slanderous call so they should be, is that right?
honzzz··on Four Wikipedias to ‘Black Out’ over EU Copyright Directive
Consider the difference "making content providers liable for the content they publish" vs "making platforms liable for the content others publish".
honzzz··on Four Wikipedias to ‘Black Out’ over EU Copyright Directive
We can predict some things with a reasonable amount of certainty. For example, if companies have one high-risk high-cost option (relying on sophisticated solutions able to distinguish edge cases like fair use) and low-risk low-cost option (blocking everything that is suspicious), we can expect them to chose the later.
honzzz··on I Ditched My Phone and Unbroke My Brain
How do you separate the enriching part from the addictive part? To me the problem is that my laptop and my phone are magical doors that lead to both smart people at HN and some niche subreddits/blogs that really make me think, change my opinion, make my life more interesting... and right next to it there are social media bubbles, overwhelming stream of news and insight porn that I can read/watch for hours anxious that if I don't, I will miss out on something important... but somehow it's almost never the case.

I can distinguish how those two types of content make me feel - the first makes me feel fulfilled and inspired, the second tired and depressed. The problem is that the feeling only comes after I absorb the content and does not help me navigate towards the enriching and avoid the addictive - I start riding the enriching wave, I just need to look up some term or get distracted by something seemingly relevant... and suddenly I am sucked into the vortex of youtube-recommended videos and when I am finally able to free myself four hours later, I feel exhausted, sad and guilty that I wasted so much time.

honzzz··on Dr. Rhonda Patrick on DHA in Phospholipid Form and the Prevention of Alzheimers
Do I understand this correctly that if I consume a lot of Omega 6 (I love olive oil and nuts and consume large quantities of both) I might actually harm myself? Do I make Alzheimer disease more likely by Omega 6 rich diet?

EDIT: I confused Omega 3 <> Omega 6, corrected.

honzzz··on Dr. Rhonda Patrick on DHA in Phospholipid Form and the Prevention of Alzheimers
Let me add two interviews with Tim Ferriss:

Dr. Rhonda Patrick on Life Extension, Performance, and Much More https://tim.blog/2014/06/10/the-tim-ferriss-show-rhonda-patr...

Exploring Smart Drugs, Fasting, and Fat Loss https://tim.blog/2017/05/04/smart-drugs-fasting-and-fat-loss...

honzzz··on Is it creepy when brands pester you on social media?
Thank you! I am glad to know that I am not the only one who feels like that. Maybe I am not a weird and ungrateful person just because it seriously creeps me out when companies like Revolut wish me happy birthday?
honzzz··on Better Language Models and Their Implications
This is exactly the line of thinking that this article inspired in me... AI scouring the internet, figuring out what makes us tick and generating perfectly persuasive stories to convince us to to... what? I kept thinking about the story "Sort by controversial" by Scott Alexander: https://slatestarcodex.com/2018/10/30/sort-by-controversial/
honzzz··on Ask HN: How can I make the most out of high school?
I also hated high school with passion. I loved it at the university though. That is also where I found the little circle of my closest friends - after 20 years we are still close. I am not sure there is any lesson to be learned for the original poster except maybe... do not over-think it. Things change quickly at that age and a year from now your life might be pleasantly different without doing anything special to achieve that (not that I am advising against mixing it up a little if you feel like it).
honzzz··on Slack closes account of an Iranian user living in Canada
> "will have no obligation to maintain or provide any Customer Data..."

I have to admit that this case (and some others I read in recent days, e.g. MailChimp account deleted: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18715866 ) made me aware that the terms of some popular services can be much worse than I would expect. I should really start reading those terms. Thank you for helping me reduce my naivety.

honzzz··on Why Torture Doesn't Work: The Neuroscience of Interrogation
I believe this scenario is misleading because it does ignore the negative consequences of allowing torture. The way you describe it there seem to be two possible scenarios - 1. forbid torturing the terrorist and let innocent people die or 2. torture the terrorist and save innocent people. I believe this is not what happens in real life. The real decision is either 1. authorities are never allowed to torture anyone and some innocent people whose deaths could be prevented die and 2. authorities are allowed to torture terrorist suspects and they will abuse this power to achieve what they want by torturing people they know are innocent and claiming they were suspects. As someone who grew up in a totalitarian country I am inclined to believe that real 2 does more harm to society than real 1.
honzzz··on How to Rebuild an Attention Span (2013)
It's also interesting to listen to the episode of The Tim Ferriss Show [1] where T. F. and Adam Gazzaley talk about this topic - how to enhance cognitive functions via games etc.

[1] http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/06/22/adam-gazzaley/

honzzz··on Spotify's new privacy policy angers users
I am especially bothered by the part about "contact phone numbers" - I am OK with people giving up their privacy but I want to be protected against someone who has my phone number giving it to them. If Spotify or anyone else want my phone number, they should have my consent, not just consent of someone who happens to have my phone number.
honzzz··on TauCharts: Data-focused JavaScript charting library
Great, I see that you already fixed it, thank you - I can add "provider solving problems quickly" to my personal list of reasons to use the app.
honzzz··on TauCharts: Data-focused JavaScript charting library
At the http://taucharts.com it says "Free open source D3.js-based library" but in the tutorial at http://api.taucharts.com/tutorials/5min.html it says "free for non-commercial use". At GitHub it is sporting Apache License, Version 2.0 which - if I am not mistaken - allows commercial use. Could you please clear that up for me? Am I allowed to use it in commercial products (like a website made for one of my clients) or not? Thanks.
honzzz··on TauCharts: Data-focused JavaScript charting library
My first impression could not be better - it seems to be simple to use and it looks good. BTW, when you click on the Facebook button at the bottom of the page, the sharing box is under that disqus box - you might want to fiddle with z-index or something.
honzzz··on YC Fellowship
How did it turn out? As far as I can tell, the last time you published something about it was the blogpost[1] from 9th February 2013 where you said that 5 MVPs were greenlighted. Did any of them gain any significant traction?

[1] http://hnproposition.blogspot.cz/2013/02/first-5-mvps-green-...

honzzz··on Estonia e-residency application now online
They certainly could, but they don't - there is neither Czechoslovakia nor the Czech Republic in the 'country of birth' selector. However, Czechoslovakia is incorrectly present in both 'citizenship' and 'contact information/country' selectors.
honzzz··on Estonia e-residency application now online
Czechoslovakia in the list of countries? It dissolved into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993. Please fix it.
honzzz··on Why Young Men Go to War
This reminded me of the article "The Jihad Cult: Why Young Germans Are Answering Call to Holy War" [1] - after reading it, I got the impression that at least some young men became jihadists because they are basically narcissistic losers whose attempts to be cool via normal and non-destructive means (like becaming famous rapper or kickboxer) failed so they convinced themselves that joining ISIS is the cool thing - they perceive it like courageously fighting with their 'brothers' to enforce God's will... or something like that, they perceive this concept as cool and some of them desperately want back home when they get to Syria and see the grim reality of real ISIS. The whole article is worth reading.

[1] http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/why-young-germany-...

honzzz··on The Mental Universe (2005) [pdf]
The article seems interesting but I am afraid I do not understand quantum physics well enough to understand it fully - could someone more knowledgeable please try to explain it like I am five? How would quantum mechanical perception of the world for common people look like?
honzzz··on Germanwings plane crash: Co-pilot 'wanted to destroy plane'
Did you just assume 100% reliable HW+SW...

Why would you think that the parent assumes 100% reliable SW? Having SW more reliable than humans would be enough reason to replace humans with it. This does not seem impossible to me.

honzzz··on EU VAT rules make EU startups uncompetitive in a global market
Honestly, I am not sure about anything related to this law. I am also not UK-based so I don't know haw exactly is the EU directive implemented in UK.

I live in the Czech Republic and here you can become so called "person identified for VAT" which (if I understand correctly - IANAL) enables you to use mini one stop shop for selling over the border while internally (selling inside the country) you remain in non-VAT regime.

Our law is based on the same EU directive as yours so I suggest you check whether your law also offers something like that.

It is still more complicated than it should be (I think the whole concept of VAT is bad) but I hope it is not as bad as registering in all EU countries.

I will also consider 3rd party services like http://www.taxamo.com - I am not related to them, I am just sharing that because you might find it useful.

honzzz··on EU VAT rules make EU startups uncompetitive in a global market
But you will be WAT-registered entity as soon as you register in a first country. I still think the law is badly written but I think it does not require registering in all 28 EU countries.
honzzz··on EU’s New VAT Rules Could Create a Mess for Startups
I was using the simplification "EU laws" as a set of laws of the member states (as a citizen of one of those states I know there are no EU laws per se) and what I was asking was how could anyone who has nothing to do with any of the EU states be forced to comply with any of their laws? Why would anyone outside care about them any more than they care about sharia laws enforced in some countries?
honzzz··on EU’s New VAT Rules Could Create a Mess for Startups
Maybe I am missing something but how could you be subject to collecting taxes for a country that you have nothing to do with? AFAIK, EU laws apply to EU entities. If you are not EU citizen and do not own any EU-registered company, how could they have jurisdiction over you?
honzzz··on Google’s New Bookmarking Service, Previously Called Stars, Has Gone Live
I used to use Google Notebook and Google Reader. I saved many notes and tagged many articles. Google suddenly discontinued both. I am not going to invest any effort into learning/using any Google service without some assurance that it is going to be supported at least 5 years.
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