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ptenk

56 karma · joined October 20, 2016

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ptenk··on US to ban transactions with ByteDance and WeChat in 45 days
You obviously have never used TikTok. Possibly the most ridiculous comment on HN.
ptenk··on 'Did I miss anything?': A man emerges from a 75-day silent retreat
Yep. Those were precious resting days and I took full advantage of them. Perhaps the lesson was death is nothing to be feared if life is 24/7 intensive meditation retreats.
ptenk··on 'Did I miss anything?': A man emerges from a 75-day silent retreat
Yes, it’s a night and day difference between who I was before as a layman and now. Hard to even say the same human being.
ptenk··on 'Did I miss anything?': A man emerges from a 75-day silent retreat
Sorry, I don’t really check HN. Breakthroughs in terms of understanding Dharma, the unending compassion for all sentient beings, and the overcoming of my own previous delusions and desires. They don’t last beyond the retreat - my takeaway is the most important thing in dharma practice is constant effort. (Sudden Enlightenment, Gradual Cultivation). There were so many instances where I thought I had something, only to have it slip away.
ptenk··on 'Did I miss anything?': A man emerges from a 75-day silent retreat
Sorry for not responding earlier, I rarely check hacker news.

We did Seon meditation (Korea) which is a form of Koan practice (Hwadu).

I’ve had a permanent change in perspective and have a “base” that I return to whenever my spiritual practice seem to fade away. I don’t hold onto any particular insights because any realization I’ve had in the past are purely conceptual now.

ptenk··on 'Did I miss anything?': A man emerges from a 75-day silent retreat
During my years as a Buddhist monk, we regularly did two 90 day silent retreats(Summer/winter) and two 45 days (fall/spring) a year. It’s mostly a survival type period where you slog through the days, until you have a week or so of a breakthrough, with hyper awareness and enlightenment-like insights. They all pass and it’s back to surviving the rest of the retreat.
ptenk··on New coronavirus can spread between humans, but started in a wildlife market
I’ve read virology reports that the virus originated most likely from bats but through an intermediary source — as to which animal, that’s unknown.

Another thing I’ve been pondering is since bats have been the source of deadly, infectious diseases in humans for so long, that’s where the historical myth of vampires and the living dead come from.

ptenk··on Apocalyptic Claims About Climate Change Are Wrong
But China is weaning itself off fossil fuels?

China has over 400,000 electric buses (99% of the world) and the longest high speed rail in the planet. High-speed rails carry twice as many passengers each month as the country’s airlines.

4.2% of new car purchases in China were electric vehicles in 2018. China has 250 million electric motorcycles/scooters (99% of the world's). These numbers are growing rapidly every year.

China is also the world's largest producer of photovoltaic power not to mention the world's leading installer of solar panels. Their literal stated goal for 2050 is to reach 1,300 GW of solar capacity, which is enormous. That would make it the source with the largest installed capacity in China.

China has a lot of problems, but fossil fuel addiction is not one of them.

ptenk··on China's growing threat to academic freedom
What’s missing from this article is that Nobu Iwatani previously worked for defense and foreign ministries in Japan. He is no “civilian”.
ptenk··on Welcome to China. You Probably Can't Buy Anything, Though
America’s been responsible for the death of 500,000 innocent Iraqi civilians since the start of the war not to mention countless Afghan and other middle eastern citizens. We currently hold tens of thousands of border crossers in detention camps where they are held in squalid conditions. Most of us still live here.
ptenk··on Fair, the SoftBank-backed car startup, lays off 40% of staff, sacks CFO
It’s possible, but it’s important to note Kyle Bass has been short China for a very long time and has been spreading FUD (true or not) since 2008.
ptenk··on Kenya will start teaching Chinese to elementary school students from 2020
You should ask him about the World Bank and IMF debt traps to developing countries that have stricken those nations in poverty for decades. The Chinese are building critical infrastructure in many of these African countries, where there was none and immensely increasing ease of business and trade. Africa's going to be the next economic boom despite the West having done all they can to suppress African growth.
ptenk··on Spain will soon overtake Japan in life expectancy rankings
Brushing off TCM as pseudoscience is quite ignorant. There are plenty of legitimate TCM research and verified treatments that have improved the lives of many in the world.
ptenk··on China’s Mass Internment Camps Have No Clear End in Sight
The sinophobia in these comments always makes me uncomfortable because it’s usually underlied with overall anti-Asian sentiment. It reminds me that I don’t belong in America, we still live in a white world.
ptenk··on Ask HN: What is the most unethical thing you've done as a programmer?
Thank you for sharing. This is why I never sign up for any fintech services. The amount of data I hand over is never worth the "benefits" they provide.
ptenk··on Why you can’t cash out pt 3: Bitcoin is not a Ponzi! It just works like one
In the same vein, would you say precious metals are also a Ponzi scheme?
ptenk··on Pineapple Fund: Donating $86M of Bitcoins to Charity
Pretty misinformed and seemingly bitter, especially for a self proclaimed yogi.

It is liquid capital - and its value is $86mm since you could liquidate this at any moment without moving the order book.

ptenk··on Millions Are Hounded for Debt They Don’t Owe. One Victim Fought Back
Blockchain P2P lending would solve this particular issue very well, since its all recorded on a public ledger.
ptenk··on IO name servers down
Thankfully built-in parking AdBlock on newer browsers is forcing domain speculators to start dropping their less valuable names, as parking pages are no longer producing any revenue. I see most tech companies coming back to .COM once their given domain is available / priced cheaply as speculators are forced to sell.
ptenk··on Cent.Co: Upvote with Ethereum
I think it's cool, despite Hacker News' general bearish outlook on cryptocurrencies. +1 for not issuing your own tokens via ICO and using ETH instead.
ptenk··on Ask HN: Buy Bitcoin right now – y/n?
I'd wait for the dip below $4,000, but in terms of TA (Elliot Waves) as well as Fib levels, we are most likely headed towards $5,000.
ptenk··on Ask HN: Buy Bitcoin right now – y/n?
People have been calling Bitcoin tulips since 2011. It's still funny now as it was then too.
ptenk··on I’ve Had a Cyberstalker Since I Was 12 (2016)
Mentally disturbed could mean sociopathic, which is likely the case here.
ptenk··on BTC-e and its founder charged in 21-count indictment over hack of Mt. Gox
Don't know if this is recently, but as a US citizen, I've wired funds from an American bank successfully to BTC-e back in 2013.
ptenk··on BTC-e and its founder charged in 21-count indictment over hack of Mt. Gox
BTC-E didn't specifically bar US customer from trading there, so the indictment is on the grounds that their services were offered to US citizens, therefore liable to US Law.
ptenk··on Blockchain at Berkeley
Sounds to me like an easy way to pump the price of LTC by using their university's name and creating hype.
ptenk··on Blockchain at Berkeley
I'm pessimistic. Bitcoin's main use case is purchasing drugs, gambling, laundering and ransomware payments. Remittances and micropayment are a far distant second. Monero's main use case is even better money laundering than Bitcoin.

SIA and Storj's first users, if ever adopted, will be criminals, aka Pedophiles looking to store and share CP without fear of getting caught. I'm going to guess no one uploading anything legitimate is going to use Sia and Storj over AWS, Dropbox and Box.

ptenk··on Reddit Is Raising Funds at a Valuation of $1.7B
They should do an ICO. I would buy their tokens.
ptenk··on How to Get into VR
Completely agree. CSGO any day. If they port it to VR, then I'll be sold
ptenk··on Coinbase adds support for Litecoin
This rise is driven by Coinbase alone. The premium there was like 30-40% to other exchanges at one point.
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