Hacker News: Fantosism

New comment by Fantosism in "Judge approves $1.5B Anthropic settlement for pirated books used to train Claude"

Fantosism — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 04:18:08 +0000

Right but higher sale price homes aren't the ones that happen most frequently, which is why we have television shows around them. Completely agree with your last point, 1031 exchanges discounted even higher.

New comment by Fantosism in "Waymo's driverless cars crash less often than people"

Fantosism — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 20:15:10 +0000

Then it should be nationwide cab drivers, or better yet, cab drivers from every market that Waymo are located to be compared in the study.

New comment by Fantosism in "Waymo's driverless cars crash less often than people"

Fantosism — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 19:57:58 +0000

This study compared national averages of Waymo to hyper-localized NYC cab drivers. NYC, where the maximum speed limit on streets in 25mph, should rightfully be viewed as an outlier. “ During the period analyzed, New York City's for-hire fleet was involved in 16 crashes that resulted in serious injuries or fatalities, while Waymo recorded three nationwide “

New comment by Fantosism in "Judge approves $1.5B Anthropic settlement for pirated books used to train Claude"

Fantosism — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 17:46:12 +0000

This is why I keep using standard instead of law. Rates have always been negotiable by law but in practice they weren't. Oh well, not in this industry any longer so I'll just stay ignorant on this topic.

New comment by Fantosism in "Judge approves $1.5B Anthropic settlement for pirated books used to train Claude"

Fantosism — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 17:15:46 +0000

This entire topic is about Anthropic settling for 3k/book.

The parent claimed that the RIAA settled for $2-4 a song, which is true, and corroborated by your link. These were settled prior to legal action. They even had a website p2psettlement.com where you could pay before receiving legal notice.

The parent claimed that when RIAA actually sued, they sought statutory damages on a small subset of the infringed songs. Which is true. The two cases that went to trial involved 24 songs (Thomas-Rasset) and 30 songs (Tenenbaum), out of the thousands each defendant was accused of sharing. The statutory minimum was $750 per work, so a judgment on even a couple dozen songs exceeded the original settlement offer several times over.

The parent claimed that most parties got a lawyer, and would then negotiate with the RIAA. This is also true, most cases settled for under 10,000.

The two notable cases that went to trial were linked in my prior post. In one of them, the judge went so far as to urge Congress to lower the statutory minimum for individual, non-commercial infringers.

The last claim that RIAA tried to settle below the awarded damages is also true. Here is one instance of the two cases I linked: https://web.archive.org/web/20101201221839/http://news.cnet....

So I'm really not understanding what you're refuting. The EFF document you linked doesn't dispute any of these facts, it just critiques the scale and fairness. The parent described accurate mechanics, and the EFF thought it was abusive. These are both true at the same time and entirely different conversations.

New comment by Fantosism in "LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps"

Fantosism — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 17:42:13 +0000

Generally no, given that the expectation for commercial panels is to run 24/7.

New comment by Fantosism in "Judge approves $1.5B Anthropic settlement for pirated books used to train Claude"

Fantosism — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 17:37:49 +0000

I'm aware that prices for agents are not legislated by state governments, but prior to 2024, as a realtor that was a member of your state's association, you were standardized at a 6% rate. Because that's what your association standardized. That's partially what the suit was about. What percentage of real estate transactions are done with agents who aren't members of XAR?

New comment by Fantosism in "Judge approves $1.5B Anthropic settlement for pirated books used to train Claude"

Fantosism — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 05:05:36 +0000

It's pretty easy to validate that everything they're saying is accurate.

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/september-8/riaa...

> in practice the RIAA offered defendants the option of establishing a “Clean Slate” by destroying all of their illegally acquired files and paying a settlement of approximately $3 per illegal song.

The two notable cases were:

1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Records,_Inc._v._Thoma...

2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_Music_Entertainment_v...

New comment by Fantosism in "Judge approves $1.5B Anthropic settlement for pirated books used to train Claude"

Fantosism — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 04:55:16 +0000

I think this is the thing that bothers me most. Seeing that 2005 YC photo with Altman and Swartz and realizing where we're at now.

New comment by Fantosism in "Judge approves $1.5B Anthropic settlement for pirated books used to train Claude"

Fantosism — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 04:51:40 +0000

I might be misremembering, as I worked on the loan side, but wasn't the 6% standard set by the state's realtor association until 2024?

New comment by Fantosism in "LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps"

Fantosism — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 04:44:22 +0000

You buy a commercial panel used for advertising/signage that's 3x the price of the "Smart" consumer panels.

New comment by Fantosism in "Barefoot shoes are trendy after years of mockery. Do they work?"

Fantosism — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 03:50:36 +0000

My anecdata: I've been wearing barefoot shoes for the better part of a decade now. I switch between Vibram FiveFingers (the first "toe shoes") and Vivobarefoot. The five fingers combined with toe spreaders improved my toe splay after around 12 months. Fixing my toe splay had a big impact on my balance, which then in turn had a big impact on my core strength. Once I realized what core strength was, I was able to start correcting my APT from sitting in a chair all day. None of this was my original goal, just a pleasant side effect.

Another side effect is most of my socks are Injinji toe socks. Honestly might like these more than the shoes. Zero blisters even while backpacking. The big negative has been when I have to dress up. I have a couple of wide toe-box shoes but the good looking ones all seem to taper. I'm hoping maybe this "resurgence" can give us a few more companies making these and potentially a few new styles that I can wear to a wedding.

New comment by Fantosism in "Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?"

Fantosism — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 16:34:08 +0000

I think we're describing different halves of the same book.

I don't have a problem with generally understanding someone's needs. You ask what he wants, you say what you want, you both find a common middle ground.

But that's not what I'm worried about. He also teaches you things like give gifts to instill a sense of reciprocity. Use odd numbers so it appears as if you've put in research to arrive at this figure. "Bend reality" by moving around deadlines. Take advantage of cognitive biases like loss aversion.

Actual empathy is one thing, steering someone into thinking that your preferred outcome was their own idea is another. And that steering is precisely the manipulation I can't shake off. I'd be fine with the other person knowing I'm actually empathizing. But all those other techniques rely on the other person not noticing, which falls into my definition of manipulation.

New comment by Fantosism in "Has AI already killed self-help nonfiction books?"

Fantosism — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 05:15:12 +0000

I mean this with the purest intentions. I've read Never Split the Difference, Never Eat Alone, Getting More, How to Win Friends and Influence People, etc. How do you get it to feel like it's not manipulation? I get all of these books advertise not to lie, but at the end of the day, I'm reshaping my speech to achieve a certain goal, rather than to convey facts. The best line I've come up with is something like: am I serving the other person's actual interests, and would I be fine with them seeing exactly what I'm doing? Honest persuasion seems to survive that test; manipulation usually needs the other person not to notice. Curious how you draw this line? Keep in mind I don't have kids, so haven't really ventured into white lie territory being a necessity.

New comment by Fantosism in "Fecal transplants for autism deliver success in clinical trials (2019)"

Fantosism — Sat, 16 May 2026 18:35:36 +0000

There is a very popular wrestler who works for WWE who goes by the stage name Triple H. Triple H was part of a group called D Generation X, or DX for short. A clothesline is one of the most basic wrestling moves. This is not sport wrestling, but entertainment wrestling.

New comment by Fantosism in "Neopets.com changed my life (2019)"

Fantosism — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 01:40:54 +0000

This is exactly how I got my start. Neocodex was the forum where I learned how to program, and slicing up images in CS2 to show up on a Tripod site was how I learned web development.

New comment by Fantosism in "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (July 2025)"

Fantosism — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 15:22:03 +0000

Software Engineer seeking FTE

Location: San Diego Metro Area

Remote: Yes Willing to relocate: No

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/its-bryan-johnson

Resume: https://bryanmakes.software/assets/resume.pdf

Email: itsme [at] bryanmakes [dot] software

Technologies:

- Languages: TypeScript/JavaScript|Java|Python

- Agentic: Claude Code, Zed Editor, Ollama, Copilot

I was in sales for about a decade prior to switching to IC work. I have 6 years of professional IC experience, but I've been messing with computers even since I found out TI-Basic was a thing. Looking to transition from F1000 work to something closer to the product. I've worn many hats in the past and don't mind donning a few more. In the process of moving to San Diego and not looking to relocate at the moment.

New comment by Fantosism in "The State of Web Scraping 2022"

Fantosism — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 15:25:40 +0000

I know many people that follow limited/exclusive releases for things like Yeezy/Air Jordan sneakers as well as PS5's and graphics cards.

They pay $500/mo for access to a bot that will allow them to make these purchases.

Most of the community lives on discord.

New comment by Fantosism in "Without parental leave I might be dead"

Fantosism — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 22:34:20 +0000

Medicaid is for low-income earners.

The parent described the median-income earner.

In my state of Arizona, if you were grossing 36,000 a year with a family of 3 you would be about 20% over the threshold to qualify for medicaid.

New comment by Fantosism in "Without parental leave I might be dead"

Fantosism — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 20:03:20 +0000

On average in the US, 1 in 2 bankruptcies are due to medical debt. I think it's disingenuous to include the "biggest costs of life" and omit what is arguably the largest for an american citizen.

3000 gross is more like 2-25 net depending on the state. I haven't been in many industries where an employer is going to be covering healthcare costs for an $18/hr employee. So for a family of 3, that's another $1,000 a month for insurance.