Hacker News Reader

mgamacheon Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan was early epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic

Labeling something as 'conspiracy ranting' is convenient low-brow tactic to dismiss a supported point of view without consideration. This is also a pattern on HN.

mgamacheon Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan was early epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic

They cite no data in the paper to support their claims. Outside of the paper there is additional data / reasons to suspect the lab as the source.

mgamacheon Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan was early epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic

Sorry this is an unscientific conclusion. The lab leak is more plausible based on the animals required and known and proposed research at that facility. It's simply another polemic. Without information / data from the lab you cannot claim one is more probable.

mgamacheon University Profs' Criticism Led to Retraction of Math Paper on Gender (2018)

Methodology is part of fraud and maybe ethics. It's also required in the future for meta analysis. It might be that published papers disagree on the topic. If there are problems with methodology you can't really use the data as it's noise (at best).

mgamacheon University Profs' Criticism Led to Retraction of Math Paper on Gender (2018)

Retracting a paper should only be done in select situations, like fraud, plagiarism or violating ethical guidelines. Was any of that present? If you retract papers that were just 'wrong' you would be retracting at least 50% of the work published in a lot of fields. Furthermore you would leave a blind spot in the research, other researchers might try and pursue those retracted ideas not realizing they are dead ends.

mgamacheon Design lessons from guitar pedals

I agree, it can be a boon to creativity, but it’s precisely because the UI is bad (limited).

mgamacheon Design lessons from guitar pedals

Guitar pedals have shit ui. They may be bullet proof, but try and recreate an exact sound using a series of pedals now switch that sound for the next song now switch mid song for the bridge. Each time you would spend at least a minute. Sure you can kick on an overdrive or delay or maybe tap dance to a few sounds, but really this setup sucks, one reason digital modelers that don’t sound as good are popular.

mgamacheon How bad could the next recession be?

Crypto is microscopic vs the larger markets. More of a canary and coal mine.

mgamacheon SEC rejects Grayscale Bitcoin ETF application [pdf]

Well they are suing

[Will Argue SEC Violated Administrative Procedure Act and Securities Exchange Act of 1934]

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/06/30/247173...

mgamacheon On the dangers of cryptocurrencies and the uselessness of blockchain

when you try to convert it back into real money Right, currently cash under $10K USD is loophole in the surveillance system and it will be closed in the future. If goods and services become denominated in BTC that will be "real money".

mgamacheon On the dangers of cryptocurrencies and the uselessness of blockchain

Is it?

Try and move more than $10K in cash and see how far you get.

It's not yet pervasive, but there are many retail places that don't even accept cash. Once CBDCs are in place there will be a massive incentive for the US to further restrict cash. CBDCs are the ultimate control over a state currency. They'll provide all kinds of legit rationale, but totalitarian control is along for the ride.

mgamacheon Tell HN: Coinbase now requires physical address of recipient in crypto transfers

Of course this is only for the Netherlands...

https://help.coinbase.com/en/coinbase/trading-and-funding/se...

mgamacheon Tell HN: Coinbase now requires physical address of recipient in crypto transfers

Cash's days are numbered. It won't be a thing in 15 years.

mgamacheon Tell HN: Coinbase now requires physical address of recipient in crypto transfers

Cash is close to being outlawed. Once CBDCs are a thing cash will be phased out. They'll claim paper is too expensive or helps criminals or terrorists or whatever.

mgamacheon On the dangers of cryptocurrencies and the uselessness of blockchain

Cash is being phased out (censored) and can't be sent via the internet.

mgamacheon All Ponzi schemes topple eventually

Here's the punchline -- Robert Reich thinks something is a Ponzi. Can't keep a straight face.

mgamacheon All Ponzi schemes topple eventually

Then you should invest and reap the 4 year reward, what's the problem?

mgamacheon All Ponzi schemes topple eventually

but most (not all) Goldbugs are crypto sceptics

mgamacheon Bitcoin’s nosedive through the $20k mark is a Minsky Moment for crypto

Yes, that's why the term 'Diamond Hands' is used by the hard core.

mgamacheon Bitcoin’s nosedive through the $20k mark is a Minsky Moment for crypto

HODLers are not defined by an external source. They are self-defined. It's like saying 'Catholics are leaving the Church'. And you say: 'Well if they leave the church they aren't Catholics". That doesn't make sense. The phase 'leaving the church' still has meaning and we know what it means.

mgamacheon Bitcoin’s nosedive through the $20k mark is a Minsky Moment for crypto

We'll see, but the HODLers are not selling (AFAIK). A lot of this latest deep pullback was driven by over-leverage and margin calls on BTC backed DeFi (like Celsius). The margin calls on staking tokens in particular are a new factor adding to volatility.

https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2022/06/14/staked-ether-bec...

https://cryptoslate.com/blockfi-liquidates-major-counterpart...

mgamacheon Is social audio already dead?

Dead? No. But it's not the wildly popular service that people thought it would be. Clubhouse is mostly a dumpster fire. Someone might figure out the right way to do it, but right now it's a clunky mess of toxic rooms with the occasional substantive conversation.

mgamacheon High tuition costs mostly stem from the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act 1993

The 20% rape is a fiction. Patriarchy in university is a fiction based on the number of females graduating (even in science). Organizing protests is not a part university's mission.

mgamacheon High tuition costs mostly stem from the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act 1993

Is this meant as parody? I can't tell sometimes.

mgamacheon Ask HN: Why is there no enterprise grade open-source zoom alternative?

Right, if you want to self-host you can run something like Wowza (paid product, but it's a complete solution)

https://www.wowza.com/

mgamacheon Ask HN: Why is there no enterprise grade open-source zoom alternative?

note: you can't really have 1000 people on a call. It's just a live streaming event at that point. You can use standard live streaming techniques for doing this. Yes, it will have 10-20 second latency (or more), but in large calls, most people don't interact with the speaker.

mgamacheon Ask HN: Why is there no enterprise grade open-source zoom alternative?

One of the things that makes Zoom (and for-profit streaming) better is noise cancelation. Zoom has spent a lot of money perfecting video calling without requiring headsets. This is not easy. A second reason is they use some proprietary stream control and compression. It's based on standards and you could copy it, but you would have to license h264 to make this work in open source. Open source requires other people to pay this license (typically it's part of a browser using WebRTC).

mgamacheon The Bitcoin Investment Thesis Is Broken

What would be an inflation hedge that isn't an asset that just goes up in value greater than inflation?

FTA: "An inflation hedge is an investment that is considered to protect the decreased purchasing power of a currency that results from the loss of its value due to rising prices either macro-economically or due to inflation. It typically involves investing in an asset that is expected to maintain or increase its value over a specified period of time. Alternatively, the hedge could involve taking a higher position in assets, which may decrease in value less rapidly than the value of the currency."

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/inflation-hedge.asp

mgamacheon The Bitcoin Investment Thesis Is Broken

What a waste of time:

*Not An Inflation Hedge* (it's appreciating much faster than inflation over its life)

*Bitcoin Actually Created Inflation* (What? the FED pumped money from thin air and it's Bitcoins' fault)

*Unresponsive To Higher Costs* (There's more to cost then cost of goods -- you know, like there's a market involved)

*Lack of Transaction Demand* (why transact an asset that's volatile, but apricating so quickly?)

*Failed Security Promises* (not sure WTF he is talking about)

*Stable Coins Shouldn’t Be Volatile* (so BTC is now responsible for Stable Coin prices?)

mgamacheon Much of the rise in autism is likely a statistical mirage

Over half of the article is a polemic preamble against various theories, that usually means they don’t have a good case (not sure in this instance). Diagnostic substitution and increased diagnosis probably account for some of the increase. Even if 60 percent of the increase is not real, there still is a very large real effect that remains unexplained.