Hacker News: a8da6b0c91d

New comment by a8da6b0c91d in "The Fats You Don’t Need to Fear, and the Carbs That You Do"

a8da6b0c91d — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 14:36:15 +0000

> Did cavemen make bread?

Yes.

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/humans-feas...

New comment by a8da6b0c91d in "The Fats You Don’t Need to Fear, and the Carbs That You Do"

a8da6b0c91d — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 14:23:46 +0000

> leaving excess sugar that will be converted into fat

De-novo lipogenisis from sugar in practice does not happen humans. If you do something goofy like keep dietary fat under 5 grams and eat hundreds of grams of carbohydrate some monounsaturated fats can be synthesized, but it's fair to say that it basically doesn't happen.

Any fat on your body came directly from fats you ate. Sugar and carbohydrate only matter with regard to weight loss to the extent they displace fat metabolism.

New comment by a8da6b0c91d in "The Caffeinated Lives of Bees"

a8da6b0c91d — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 03:14:46 +0000

The report had a weird take that the caffeine must be tricking the bees, to their detriment. More likely is that the bees recognize that caffeine is good and healthy. The body of research on caffeine's vitamin like health benefits is enormous. It's simply not to be consider a vice or something to avoid.

New comment by a8da6b0c91d in "Former Stanford dean explains why helicopter parenting is ruining a generation"

a8da6b0c91d — Sat, 17 Oct 2015 15:14:35 +0000

The college admissions system has encouraged the arms race mentality. The SAT has been repeatedly reworked such that test prep works better. I really doubt involvement in the summer activities they apparently value indicates anything about qualification other than parental resources and involvement.

New comment by a8da6b0c91d in "Be Suspicious of Online Movie Ratings"

a8da6b0c91d — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 14:34:49 +0000

What Ebert did for the most part was accurately say whether or not the masses would find a film enjoyable. He was very good at his job.

A film critic should aspire to do more. He should be critical and hopeful educate the audience on some level. Ebert's reviews were more like restaurant reviews.

New comment by a8da6b0c91d in "Be Suspicious of Online Movie Ratings"

a8da6b0c91d — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 03:42:42 +0000

Ebert was an idiot and an idiot's reviewer.

New comment by a8da6b0c91d in "Be Suspicious of Online Movie Ratings"

a8da6b0c91d — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 03:20:09 +0000

The only way Rotten Tomatoes is useful is if you look only at the negative ratings. All kinds of horrible schlock that has mass appeal gets "certified fresh." But isolating negative reviews: If idiots dislike it then it's probably good; If the negative reviews sound cogent then it's probably bad.

New comment by a8da6b0c91d in "Be Suspicious of Online Movie Ratings"

a8da6b0c91d — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 03:13:37 +0000

The think to do is find a few reviewers who resonate with you and keep tabs on them. I mostly just see what Armond White tells me to see.

New comment by a8da6b0c91d in "After 8 years and $128M raised, the clock is ticking for men's retailer Bonobos"

a8da6b0c91d — Wed, 14 Oct 2015 16:43:22 +0000

The pants are cut for squishy office drones. It's for guys carrying an extra 12 pounds who still want a modern tapered cut. The quality is pretty much standard disposable American clothing, that is to say a pair of pants will be visibly disintegrating after about ten washes.

New comment by a8da6b0c91d in "Cannabis Access and Academic Performance"

a8da6b0c91d — Sun, 11 Oct 2015 17:47:28 +0000

You got a small fine. At no point were you at any risk of facing incarceration. You were also probably doing something stupid and very annoying like stinking up the floor in a dormitory. This illustrates how the drug laws in practice work.

New comment by a8da6b0c91d in "Cannabis Access and Academic Performance"

a8da6b0c91d — Sun, 11 Oct 2015 17:31:42 +0000

You don't get it. Those people get hit with narcotics charges because the cops and D.A. know exactly who they are and the long list of other crimes they've committed.

People who simply use or sell some marijuana and that's the extent of their "illegal" activity, they don't wind up in prison. Doesn't happen.

New comment by a8da6b0c91d in "Cannabis Access and Academic Performance"

a8da6b0c91d — Sun, 11 Oct 2015 15:42:04 +0000

Every time I ever got high on weed I felt lingering effects for about three days. I've never experienced this with anything else. It always seemed to me that people who smoke weed a couple times a week or more often might be slightly under the influence almost continuously and not even realize it.

New comment by a8da6b0c91d in "Cannabis Access and Academic Performance"

a8da6b0c91d — Sun, 11 Oct 2015 15:32:20 +0000

That simply doesn't happen in America. Cannabis is de facto legal throughout the USA. I repeat: marijuana is in practice legal in America, and all these people talking about drug charges ruining lives don't know what they're talking about.

The only way you get serious charges or any jail time at all for marijuana in America is when you've been arrested for serious crimes, but a District Attorney goes with "possession" for the plea deal. It's just easier that way.

New comment by a8da6b0c91d in "There is no such thing as a city that has run out of room"

a8da6b0c91d — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 23:36:51 +0000

    Instead the DINKS (Dual Income No Kids) are running 
    minorities out of their neighborhoods by bidding up the 
    price of the land.

Uhh, that's pretty much the plan. The landowners in places like SF and DC want to watch their holdings achieve lower Manhattan valuations. The history of NYC through the 90s proved the way you do that is demographic transformation.

New comment by a8da6b0c91d in "There is no such thing as a city that has run out of room"

a8da6b0c91d — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 23:10:47 +0000

I would say Indian humans are different from Occidental humans. Large cities in the West have generally been population sinks over the centuries. People move to NYC or London and don't have two kids. This isn't a new pattern. For whatever reason this doesn't happen as much in some other cultures.

New comment by a8da6b0c91d in "Larry Wall Unveils Perl 6.0.0"

a8da6b0c91d — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 15:45:24 +0000

To be fair Japanese writing is insane and they know it. It's far too difficult.

New comment by a8da6b0c91d in "How Two Guys Lost God and Found $40M"

a8da6b0c91d — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 15:17:45 +0000

Prohibition on charging interest makes perfect sense in a zero growth economy. Economic growth was effectively zero per capita for almost all of human history before the industrial revolution. Wealth amassed from charging interest in a zero growth economy represents transfer of wealth, not capital formation.

Likewise, sabbath keeping rules make perfect sense in such an economy. No, you can't work a lot of extra hours more than we're all willing to work and amass extra wealth for yourself. The net result of that is you taking a bigger piece of the economic pie. The longer work really doesn't grow the pie, which was essentially limited by the agricultural productivity of the land.

New comment by a8da6b0c91d in "How Two Guys Lost God and Found $40M"

a8da6b0c91d — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 15:07:46 +0000

The lenders of yore would drag you into a legal status of debt peonage, a form of slavery, if you couldn't make payments. The old loan sharks would break thumbs and legs.

As long as it's very easy to declare bankruptcy and walk away from debt I don't get too worked up about it. Look at the irish pub owner discussed in the story. The business was going to go bankrupt anyway, he took a gamble with a loan that might have floated him through, but it turned out not to. The loan wasn't really the problem.

The student loan originators are way more immoral than these guys, because student loans can not be discharged in bankruptcy.

New comment by a8da6b0c91d in "Gerrymandering and a cure for it – the shortest splitline algorithm"

a8da6b0c91d — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 01:22:50 +0000

Doesn't gerrymandering mostly carve out a lot of districts for black congressmen who otherwise wouldn't have districts? I think that's kinda what it boils down to in America. There are conservative areas adjacent to and mixed with majority black areas and they want different representation.

New comment by a8da6b0c91d in "The real anti-Facebook is good old email"

a8da6b0c91d — Sat, 26 Sep 2015 18:38:57 +0000

One expert discovered this new neat social hack: hanging out in person.

Kidding aside, I prophesize that the next really big, impactful American political movement will not have a web page or twitter/facebook account or forums. The internet as a useful tool for outsiders is over.