Hacker News Reader

n20bennon Why does a fire truck cost $2m

Pre-sales tax + tag, or post?

n20bennon New dating safety app 'Tea' spills some controversy

> "Truth is an absolute defense for a defamation claim; you can’t just sue someone because your feelings are hurt."

As an aside, this hasn't always been the case in the US [1], and in some countries (e.g. Sweden) defamation suits can absolutely cover truthful statements that damage reputation.

[1] - https://www.journaloffreespeechlaw.org/helmreich.pdf

n20bennon The contraction in entry-level tech hiring appears to have reversed

I find this data counter-intuitive. I've always heard anecdotally that the market for new grads was really good in the 2017-2021 window, yet this seems to show the opposite? Unless I'm misunderstanding the data and it's the slope that matters here.

Either that, or else the people pushing the idea that the market was really good were those in the top 5% of grads that were getting offers north of 150-200k...

n20bennon NIH limits scientists to six applications per year

The same is happening in the Computer Security academic research realm. All of the four top conferences (USENIX Security, ACM CCS, IEEE S&P, and NDSS) have instituted a submission cap--you can't have your name on more than 6 papers being submitted in a given cycle. This has all happened within the last year, likely due to the same GenAI abuse that puts undue burden on PC reviewers.

n20bennon The Minecraft game score unexpectedly became big business for its composer

Aside: if you enjoy the Minecraft music albums, you should definitely check out C418's new album for Wanderstop that was released earlier this year. It has a lot of the same feeling to it, and I personally like it even more than the Minecraft albums now.

Tracks like Wanderstop Part 2, Earl Grey Part 2, Cinnamon Part 3, and The Forest are good places to start--it's three and a half hours long, so there's a lot to comb through.

n20bennon Why I stopped angel investing after 15 years, and what I'm doing instead

I believe that's the sentiment the "Shark Tank" or "Dragon's Den" series are trying to hint at.

n20bennon 'Unparalleled' snake antivenom made from man bitten 200 times

Obligatory reference to The Princess Bride's "Iocane Powder" scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s0UURBihH8&t=1

n20bennon Why Is the Kiwi's Egg So Big?

Feels like the animal kingdom opposite of the panda--adults weigh upwards of 300 pounds, but baby panda birth weights are just under 1/3 of a pound.

n20bennon Ask HN: Should I stop pursuing a future career in software engineering?

A CS undergrad degree is still good value, as long as the university you're attending gives good foundation/theory courses and doesn't put you six figures in debt. The sandbox program (did I guess right?) will give you a first taste of what building a business of your own would look like, though you may consider getting a business minor if you're strongly interested in that direction.