<rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><channel><title>Hacker News: BlandDuck</title><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=BlandDuck</link><description>Hacker News RSS</description><docs>https://hnrss.org/</docs><generator>hnrss v2.1.1</generator><lastBuildDate>Sat, 18 Apr 2026 02:03:16 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://hnrss.org/user?id=BlandDuck" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"></atom:link><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by BlandDuck in "The game theory of how algorithms can drive up prices"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>> I always found this statement to be rather wishful. Individual lowering of prices makes sense if and only if your competitor is capable of saturating the market. Otherwise, demand elasticity becomes very relevant. Sure, your competitor may take the larger share of the market, but then you can compensate with higher per item profit.<p>You should check the distinction between Bertrand and Cournot competition. Bertrand competition is price competition where the competitor can saturate the market, as you mention. Cournot competition, on the other hand, captures your intuition of competition on quantities rather than prices.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 23 Oct 2025 17:54:15 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45684761</link><dc:creator>BlandDuck</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45684761</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45684761</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by BlandDuck in "Charting Form Ds to roughly see the state of venture capital “fund” raising"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>It is a concern that this could simply reflect changing naming conventions for private funds. There is nothing that requires a fund to use the "Fund I" convention.<p>Would it be possible to confirm the trend using Form ADV instead of Form D filings?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 28 Aug 2025 17:49:26 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45054959</link><dc:creator>BlandDuck</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45054959</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45054959</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by BlandDuck in "It is worth it to buy the fast CPU"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Scaling cuts both ways. You may also be underestimating the aggregate benefits of slight improvements added up across hundreds or thousands of employees.<p>For a single person, slight improvements added up over regular, e.g., daily or weekly, intervals compound to enormous benefits over time.<p>XKCD: <a href="https://xkcd.com/1205/" rel="nofollow">https://xkcd.com/1205/</a></p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 24 Aug 2025 15:02:12 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45004738</link><dc:creator>BlandDuck</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45004738</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45004738</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by BlandDuck in "Is economics education fit for the 21st century?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Standard theories of production clearly distinguish between fixed and variable costs. Moreover, it is well understood that this distinction depends on the time horizon, with more costs being variable for longer horizons.<p>Moreover, concepts like economics of scale (with low marginal costs of producing an additional unit, as you state as an example) are well understood for certain products in certain circumstances.<p>The distinction between and relevance of average and marginal costs is taught in undergraduate classes.<p>Whether or not you can draw a nice diagram of supply and demand is pretty irrelevant for professional economists and our understanding of markets, their dynamics, and equilibria.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 06 Aug 2025 20:48:40 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44817668</link><dc:creator>BlandDuck</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44817668</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44817668</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by BlandDuck in "Introduction to Computer Music"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I judge technical explanations of audio gear by their description of balanced signals. A common error is to focus on the positive and negative signals having opposite polarity, which is entirely irrelevant for canceling out interference (it may improve headroom, but what is actually important for eliminating common mode noise is to have identical impedance with respect to ground).<p>I would say this text fails this test, which gives me pause. The description is:  "The two conductors carry the same signal, but with reverse polarity (meaning that one conductor carries a signal that is the mirror image of the other). If external noise and interference enters the cable, it will probably affect both conductors equally."</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 31 Jul 2025 20:10:06 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44749603</link><dc:creator>BlandDuck</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44749603</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44749603</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by BlandDuck in "See how a dollar would have grown over the past 94 years [pdf]"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Exactly, if it had been obvious at the time that "the market" would deliver a better return, for certain, then nobody would have bought bonds at those prices.<p>Then bond prices would have declined (and their expected returns or interest rate would have increased) until, in equilibrium, the anticipation was that the stocks and bonds would deliver comparable expected risk-adjusted returns.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 06 Jun 2025 18:02:33 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44203426</link><dc:creator>BlandDuck</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44203426</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44203426</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by BlandDuck in "See how a dollar would have grown over the past 94 years [pdf]"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>In finance there is an ongoing discussion of whether the small-cap premium still exists. For technical discussions, look for the terms "SMB size factor".</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 06 Jun 2025 17:35:25 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44203198</link><dc:creator>BlandDuck</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44203198</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44203198</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by BlandDuck in "Universe expected to decay in 10⁷⁸ years, much sooner than previously thought"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>"Estimate of the remaining time before universe decays expected to be revised 10^76 times before its finally over"<p>(conservatively assuming the estimate will be revised about once every hundred years as we learn more).</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 12 May 2025 20:40:52 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43967233</link><dc:creator>BlandDuck</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43967233</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43967233</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by BlandDuck in "Why I stopped angel investing after 15 years (and what I'm doing instead)"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Too many investors, too few seats</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 03 May 2025 15:18:52 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43879633</link><dc:creator>BlandDuck</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43879633</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43879633</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by BlandDuck in "Rams is a documentary portrait of Dieter Rams (2018)"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>You may want to look up the words "rams" (plural of "ram") and "humor" in an english dictionary.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 02 May 2025 19:45:33 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43873929</link><dc:creator>BlandDuck</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43873929</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43873929</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by BlandDuck in "Eurorack Knob Idea"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Totally. Also, an attenuator is easier and cheaper to implement, because it just requires normalizing V+ into the jack plug. An offset requires an adder.<p>My preference is: attenuator < offset < attenuator + offset. I see no benefit of having to remove the knob to get to the jack as proposed in the article.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 25 Apr 2025 17:11:04 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43796120</link><dc:creator>BlandDuck</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43796120</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43796120</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by BlandDuck in "Public domain technical books published before 1964"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I love old, well-written technical books, like these. There is something about the language, directness, innocence (for lack of a better term) and careful arguments that I find incredibly satisfying. They are not afraid to go technical and deep, when needed. They have humor and feel personal.<p>Somehow, I rarely find this in modern technical books, but it is hard for me to figure out why. Maybe something is lost in the "pedagogy" of many modern textbooks.<p>I'll read such books about pretty much any topic just for pleasure. An all-time favorite is "Stick and Rudder" by Wolfgang Langewiesche, although a very different topic, obviously.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 05 Apr 2025 10:45:54 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43592375</link><dc:creator>BlandDuck</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43592375</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43592375</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by BlandDuck in "A decade later, a decade lost (2024)"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I agree entirely. I have two wonderful daughters, and stories like this hit hard.<p>There is a fiction short-story called CHICXULUB By T. Coraghessan Boyle. It is one of the hardest hitting stories I have read as a parent. Still brings tears to my eyes. Recommended.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 15 Feb 2025 16:27:46 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43059745</link><dc:creator>BlandDuck</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43059745</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43059745</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by BlandDuck in "'The Licensing Racket’ Review: There's a Board for That"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Interesting ideas. I respectfully disagree with all of them.<p>Do you have any evidence to back them up, or are you yourself "just [...] making things up that sound good" ?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 08 Feb 2025 14:18:54 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42983099</link><dc:creator>BlandDuck</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42983099</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42983099</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by BlandDuck in "Bayesian Epistemology (2022)"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I agree entirely. As a professional scientist who routinely uses Bayesian methods to solve complex computational and statistical problems, with actual real world applications, I cannot stress enough how irrelevant such philosophical musings about the foundations of Bayesian Statistics are for getting actual science work done.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 03 Feb 2025 13:44:24 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42918144</link><dc:creator>BlandDuck</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42918144</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42918144</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by BlandDuck in "The only photo of the Concorde flying at supersonic speed"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Look at the bright side, at least flights today are still as fast as 60 years ago.<p>For trains, you would be hard pressed to find a route that is not significantly slower today than 60 years ago.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 26 Jan 2025 23:28:55 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42835431</link><dc:creator>BlandDuck</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42835431</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42835431</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by BlandDuck in "It's time to make computing personal again"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>But corporate computing is also suffering from the deteriorating user experience.<p>I have access to large amounts of harware and software through my employer. And while Microsoft Office is unavoidable, I hate it everytime I open Word or Excel (daily), even if it is on my company machine.<p>The privacy concerns are arguable even more concerning on a company machine. I wish there was a feasible alternative.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 20 Jan 2025 02:47:33 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42764472</link><dc:creator>BlandDuck</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42764472</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42764472</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by BlandDuck in "They don't make them like that any more: the Yamaha DX7 keyboard"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I know there is a bunch of new DX7 implementations on more modern hardware, i.e., the Raspberry Pi.<p>When implemented on modern hardware, wouldn't it be possible to run the algorithm at a higher CPU processing speed, to reduce the aliasing at the higher notes, and avoid the need for keyboard scaling and thus preserve the timbre of the higher pitched notes?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 05 Dec 2024 21:27:36 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42332962</link><dc:creator>BlandDuck</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42332962</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42332962</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by BlandDuck in "Institutional memory and reverse smuggling (2011)"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>It is great that the URL for this website is:<p><a href="https://landley.net/history/mirror/institutional_memory.html" rel="nofollow">https://landley.net/history/mirror/institutional_memory.html</a><p>In other words, it is in the "history/mirror/" sub-directory, being preserved for future corporate archeologists.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 29 Nov 2024 15:38:01 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42274552</link><dc:creator>BlandDuck</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42274552</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42274552</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by BlandDuck in "The rectangular cows of Art UK (2018)"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>How does this posting coincide with the posting of this YouTube video. Coincidence? I think not!<p><a href="https://m.youtube.com/shorts/8s2_wjUTT-M" rel="nofollow">https://m.youtube.com/shorts/8s2_wjUTT-M</a></p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 21 Nov 2024 19:08:51 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42207538</link><dc:creator>BlandDuck</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42207538</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42207538</guid></item></channel></rss>