Hacker News Reader

lbsnake7on Amazon Snags Older HBO Shows For Web Streaming

This is basically a marketing move: HBO gets to keep their new programs so customers have to have HBO to see GOT and so forth (HBO gives up its back catalog but I doubt their old shows bring in new subscribers so that isn't a huge loss), Amazon justifies their Amazon Prime price increase and also gets people to buy Fire TV (Amazon Prime is probably not coming to any other device like Chromecast). I would say it's a huge win for Amazon and a so-so win for HBO, so likely Amazon is paying a hefty price to HBO for this ad campaign.

lbsnake7on Search on after Malaysia Airlines flight vanishes

They were talking to a retired pilot on the news and they asked him how it was possible that no distress call was made from the plane. The pilot said that pilots are trained to keep the plane in the air, if something starts to go wrong they start troubleshooting and focus all their energy on fixing the problem. If they then have time to send out a call, they do, but their main priority is to try and keep the plane in the air.

So it's possible that if the problem they experienced was complicated or happened too quickly, they never got a chance to send out a distress signal.

lbsnake7on How to meditate

I've been trying to find a no bullshit guide to meditation for a long time now but I can't. None of this energy, chakra bullshit. Just a proper guide to relaxing your body and calming your mind through breathing exercises, positive thoughts and maybe some external stimuli (like music). But almost every guide I read has to do with how the stars channel their energy through your heart to make you feel one with nature.

lbsnake7on Comcast vs. the Cord Cutters

I got a deal from Comcast for 50mpbs down (their blast package) and the lowest cable with HBO. If I were to get just the internet, it would be the same price. In fact the deal I got lasts a year while just the internet lasts only 6 months and then goes to full price. It made more sense to just get the TV as well since getting local channels is kind of useful for news and weather.

lbsnake7on 7373170279850

https://www.dpmms.cam.ac.uk/~vrn20/Waring_longer.html

Here is a good beginners explanation for people that don't quite understand what's going on (like me).

lbsnake7on Hacks that improved my life

The coffee one wouldn't really work at Dunkin' Donuts. The steps of making coffee there is: Get the cup size the customer asked for, add cream/milk, add sugar, and then pour the coffee to the top. If you're going to do the whole 'a medium but in a large cup', the person behind the counter is just going to guess when he should stop and depending on the person, you might get more or less. Also if you keep asking them to make it like that, you'll eventually piss everyone off and end up getting a lot less.

If you want to get more for your buck at Dunkin' Donuts, go when they are about to close and ask for donuts and bagels. Most likely, if the people working are even remotely nice, you'll get a ton more than you ordered. The donuts and bagels get thrown away and most decent humans feel bad and try to give away as many as they can.

lbsnake7on [dead]

If you go to the shady side of the internet, the one with lots of ads that autoplay, you might see the Gangnam Style video as one of them. I guess they buy the ads as part of their marketing for the song, but I'm not really sure how that works. I've seen other popular songs being auto-played as well. I guess being in the top viewed is important enough that you spend money on it.