Hacker News: akramachamarei

New comment by akramachamarei in "Cuba says it has run out of fuel, blames U.S. embargo"

akramachamarei — Thu, 14 May 2026 23:07:29 +0000

I think the Iranian school bombing was pretty clearly a mistake, given its proximity to an IRGC base, and (IIRC) the previous usage of that plot of land for military purposes, suggesting an issue of outdated target intelligence. That compounds with the lack of a plausible motive, and numerous demotives for hitting it deliberately. Which is not to present the action as significantly less blameworthy; it's a heinous negligence. Gotta have dirty bits in your cache, so to speak.

New comment by akramachamarei in "Cuba says it has run out of fuel, blames U.S. embargo"

akramachamarei — Thu, 14 May 2026 19:36:09 +0000

On the contrary, this statement about force and boarding has been repeated and also countered numerous times. For one, I've yet to see the "forced" claim elaborated. Leveraging retaliatory tariffs is not an act of force--that is the only "force" action I've seen mentioned so far. Furthermore, the boarding and seizing has been credibly described as a police action to enforce false flag laws, i.e. maritime impersonation.

New comment by akramachamarei in "Cuba says it has run out of fuel, blames U.S. embargo"

akramachamarei — Thu, 14 May 2026 19:24:38 +0000

We should really be thinking of the situation in terms of individuals instead of nations. Whatever capitulation we're talking about, there's no reason to assume that the Cuban governments shares the same opinions as Cubans. The actions and interests of the government and Cubans are separate, and incur separate blameworthiness.

New comment by akramachamarei in "Cuba says it has run out of fuel, blames U.S. embargo"

akramachamarei — Thu, 14 May 2026 19:06:52 +0000

What is the motive to harm Cubans?

New comment by akramachamarei in "Cuba says it has run out of fuel, blames U.S. embargo"

akramachamarei — Thu, 14 May 2026 18:59:38 +0000

I'm trying to figure out your reason for saying this. You seem to be an adept mind reader so please forgive my mental torpidity, but are you saying that Cuba does not do bad by it's citizens? Or that they do, but are justified? And where exactly does "imperialism" come into the equation?

New comment by akramachamarei in "Cuba says it has run out of fuel, blames U.S. embargo"

akramachamarei — Thu, 14 May 2026 18:50:42 +0000

Serious posts are generally preferred on HackerNews, but jokes can be okay if they're funny.

New comment by akramachamarei in "Cuba says it has run out of fuel, blames U.S. embargo"

akramachamarei — Thu, 14 May 2026 18:49:24 +0000

I would further note that, if one is looking for something to dislike about the embargoes, being a blockade isn't necessary. In particular, (classical) liberals should be disturbed by countries forcing private shippers to participate in "their" country's embargo. E.g., would the US attempt to stop and American company from trading with Cuba?

New comment by akramachamarei in "Avoiding and reducing microplastic false positives from dry glove contact"

akramachamarei — Thu, 14 May 2026 13:09:21 +0000

Picking noses presumably isn't a unique problem to bare hand prep, unless the ungloved finger is somehow a more tempting scoop?

New comment by akramachamarei in "I moved my digital stack to Europe"

akramachamarei — Wed, 13 May 2026 20:35:02 +0000

Google has not disabled sideloading on Android. It will become a little more complicated, but still very easy.

New comment by akramachamarei in "Kickstarter is forced to ban adult content by payment processors"

akramachamarei — Wed, 13 May 2026 19:48:14 +0000

> false notions of freedom

Like freedom from want and freedom from fear, Mr. Roosevelt?

New comment by akramachamarei in "Nonprofit hospitals spend billions on consultants with no clear effect"

akramachamarei — Fri, 08 May 2026 15:09:57 +0000

You don't foresee perverse incentives for the state being the buyer of healthcare? Namely, they aren't the patient, so the incentives have already been divorced is remote, plus they have an incentive to divert funds to consultants, regulators, and lobbyists that the actual consumer doesn't care about. There's some saying about how no one spends someone else's money as wisely as one's own.

New comment by akramachamarei in "Nonprofit hospitals spend billions on consultants with no clear effect"

akramachamarei — Fri, 08 May 2026 15:06:24 +0000

> we will take as much as you can afford

This is only true where medical service providers have no competition. In fact, the state often facilitates this lack of competition.

New comment by akramachamarei in "Nonprofit hospitals spend billions on consultants with no clear effect"

akramachamarei — Fri, 08 May 2026 15:01:34 +0000

What do you mean by the state is the customer? As in they act as a buyer of healthcare for taxpayers? Why would we expect that to be better?

New comment by akramachamarei in "I want to live like Costco people"

akramachamarei — Thu, 07 May 2026 16:43:35 +0000

Of course, one can overgeneralize the correlations between consumption preferences and personality (character is vague and worth practically undefined) but it seems absurd to claim they are entirely uncorrelated. Take the Big Five traits: conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness to experience, extroversion. Each has numerous obvious implications for consumer preferences. Do you mean something else by "personality" or perhaps "growing up"?

New comment by akramachamarei in "Egg Intake and the Incidence of Alzheimer's Disease in Adventist Health Study-2"

akramachamarei — Wed, 06 May 2026 19:35:28 +0000

Wow, ad hominem reasoning as a principal for info consumption. I ought to shake your hand. In all seriousness, I can appreciate the time-economic value to your policy, but wouldn't regard it is as an epistemic device.

New comment by akramachamarei in "It's official: Utah is the U.S. state closest to banning VPNs"

akramachamarei — Tue, 05 May 2026 17:27:17 +0000

IIUC Citizens United basically defended the freedom of people to donate anonymously to political campaigns. Do I have that wrong, or could you explain what liberties trampled by C.U. outweigh those it maintained?

New comment by akramachamarei in "U.S. Debt Tops 100% of GDP"

akramachamarei — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 20:29:18 +0000

Your point is well taken, but I think @eggprices was affirming the descriptive validity or truth of MMT by saying:

> [...] if you believe the economy follows MMT (which it does).

New comment by akramachamarei in "U.S. Debt Tops 100% of GDP"

akramachamarei — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 16:54:05 +0000

Printing more money also devalues all the previously issued dollars, such as in savings accounts and your paycheck. So it's kind of equivalent to a flat tax.

New comment by akramachamarei in "U.S. Debt Tops 100% of GDP"

akramachamarei — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 16:02:25 +0000

Almost no economists agree with MMT¹. How do you square that with believing it's descriptive?

1: https://www.businessinsider.com/economist-survey-alexandria-...

New comment by akramachamarei in "Maryland becomes first state to ban surveillance pricing in grocery stores"

akramachamarei — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 19:58:50 +0000

This arms race accelerates quickly. The question becomes stopping someone observing from a distance. It would have to be very tight to go unnoticed, and it seems likely to me that when detected it would quickly become a costly PR SNAFU, in addition to the cost of all the tech you need to deploy. I'd guess that grocers have little disposable capital anyway, given how low profits tend to be.