Hacker News: andomar

New comment by andomar in "Stack Overflow’s forum is dead but the company’s still kicking"

andomar — Tue, 26 May 2026 18:52:22 +0000

A firm is sold when its owners believe they will get the best price. The selling itself is more of a symptom than a cause.

New comment by andomar in "Stack Overflow’s forum is dead but the company’s still kicking"

andomar — Tue, 26 May 2026 18:50:45 +0000

Yeah, as I understand it, they wanted to optimize for Google search. This meant having "canonical" answers. This killed the site in the long term. In the short term, it worked wonderfully, and the founders made a (well deserved) killing.

New comment by andomar in "Total monthly number of StackOverflow questions over time"

andomar — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 15:10:00 +0000

Garbage was never moderated on StackOverflow, it was always ignored.

Moderation was used by the insiders to keep new people out.

New comment by andomar in "Total monthly number of StackOverflow questions over time"

andomar — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 15:03:43 +0000

StackOverflow was a pub where programmers had fun while learning programming. The product of that fun was valuable.

Instead of cultivating the pub, the owners demanded that the visitors be safe, boring and obedient witers of value. This killed the pub and with it the business.

The most visible aspect was the duplicate close. Duplicate closes scare away fresh patrons, blocking precisely the path that old timers took when they joined. And duplicates allow anyone with a grudge to take revenge. After all, there are no new questions, and you will always find a duplicate if you want to.

To create a new Stack Overlflow, create a pub where programmers enjoy drinking a virtual beer, and the value will appear by itself.

New comment by andomar in "Why Does the U.S. Always Run a Trade Deficit?"

andomar — Tue, 20 May 2025 12:22:47 +0000

Sales of software to a foreign entity count as export.

New comment by andomar in "Google’s copying of the Java SE API was fair use [pdf]"

andomar — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 19:54:56 +0000

Agreed. In another part the dissent says: "The Copyright Act protects code that operates “in a computer in order to bring about a certain result” both “directly” (implementing code) and “indirectly” (declaring code)."

But a program that only declares functions never brings about a result.

Declaring code is just the recipe for how to invoke implementing code.

New comment by andomar in "Google’s copying of the Java SE API was fair use [pdf]"

andomar — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 19:48:56 +0000

"Following the letter of the law" means ignoring Congressional intent. It allows the judge to choose one of the many possible readings of a statute.

So in effect, "following the letter of the law" enlarges a judge's discretion. The opposite of what you would expect.

New comment by andomar in "“User Engagement” Is Code for “Addiction”"

andomar — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 21:06:42 +0000

> The lottery is about giving up something of little value ($1 or $2) for some entertainment and the chance at a truly life-changing situation

Wish that were true. Organizers usually take 90% of the money. Just a tiny percentage is paid out.

Like Voltaire said: "Lotteries are a tax on stupidity"

New comment by andomar in "Parler’s de-platforming shows the exceptional power of cloud providers"

andomar — Mon, 18 Jan 2021 16:17:49 +0000

If you were refused by Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Cloudflare, what alternatives are there?

New comment by andomar in "Testosterone levels show steady decrease among young US men"

andomar — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 08:30:39 +0000

> Not exactly easy to stay in shape when this country tries to pump us all full of corn syrup

That's it I think. Advertising has become much more effective over the past 40 years. Humans can simply not resist.

There should be advertising for healthy eating, to steer people to healthy food.

New comment by andomar in "How the New Yorker Fell into the “Weird Japan” Trap"

andomar — Tue, 22 Dec 2020 10:13:26 +0000

When I visited Japan over 10 years ago much of what I thought strange has since become normal. The exaggerated fear of criminals, even though Japan is very safe. Very low interest rates and lots of public debt. In the wealthier parts of Japan newspapers featured articles on flu, with maps and graphs charting its activity. Many people wore masks and if I coughed in public people would take a wide path around me and look at me as if I were a barbarian. Exactly like it is in Europe now.

In terms of having an old population Japan was more than 10 years ahead of Europe. So it makes sense Japan was the future Europe.

New comment by andomar in "Show HN: After 10 years my side project has hit $8k/mo in revenue"

andomar — Wed, 16 Dec 2020 08:01:15 +0000

I've been using unique emails since 2000. It's been fun, for example when I got marketing e-mails for Viagra on the mail I use for my bank. At the time, I was surprised a bank would sell your e-mail!

Right now Apple ID includes this very concept. They give each site a unique email instead of your actual Apple e-mail.

Seems to me there's good value in bringing this to many people. Good luck!

New comment by andomar in "U.S. Hits Record Daily Death Toll, with Worse Likely to Come"

andomar — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 16:13:28 +0000

The few epidemiologists that have spoken out against the measures have been ordered to stop talking publicly. Studies have been accompanied by lengthy apologies for the facts they found. See for example https://www.wnd.com/2020/11/major-peer-reviewed-study-finds-...

I don't know a lot about viruses, but I know groupthink when I see it. Suppressing competing opinions is the opposite of science.

New comment by andomar in "U.S. Hits Record Daily Death Toll, with Worse Likely to Come"

andomar — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 10:15:17 +0000

Which epidemiologists are you referring too? It seems even Scientific American can't get information from them.

"One epidemiologist told us the environment was “too toxic” to talk to us, even anonymously."

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-covid-science...

New comment by andomar in "U.S. Hits Record Daily Death Toll, with Worse Likely to Come"

andomar — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 16:24:38 +0000

In a normal year 3,000,000 people die in the US. The numbers are higher because of covid-19, but not by a lot. You can check the CDC graph for excess deaths: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm

Nobody would have predicted the current response based on that graph. It fits a trend where people become less and less willing to accept physical risks.

Why can't we discuss this without calling one another "purposefully blind"?

New comment by andomar in "U.S. Hits Record Daily Death Toll, with Worse Likely to Come"

andomar — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 16:04:42 +0000

Well most people do use cloth masks. That's good too! The existing professional masks should go to healthcare workers.

New comment by andomar in "U.S. Hits Record Daily Death Toll, with Worse Likely to Come"

andomar — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 16:03:04 +0000

New to me, but did you read their response? It says "The study found that cloth mask wearers had higher rates of infection than even the standard practice control group of health workers" but they say that health care workers should follow guidance.

New comment by andomar in "U.S. Hits Record Daily Death Toll, with Worse Likely to Come"

andomar — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 15:49:59 +0000

All research I can find shows that masks are largely ineffective, i.e. 100,000 people have to wear a mask to prevent 1 infection. Some research suggests masks make things worse by creating a moist cloud in front of your mouth. For example https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/4/e006577

Where can I find research that confirms masks work?

New comment by andomar in "Digital Money Across Borders: Macro-Financial Implications"

andomar — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 12:44:06 +0000

If Central Banks were to get into Bitcoin, they would make early investors in Bitcoin very rich. Like 1 person would own 25% of all the world's wealth.

That wouldn't be proper Central Banking :)

New comment by andomar in "Einstein's missed opportunity to rid us of 'spooky actions at a distance'"

andomar — Tue, 13 Oct 2020 08:34:42 +0000

If they change color in sync then that is a known property of both marbles. Say you have a marble that is blue if the number of seconds is even and red otherwise. Knowing the color of one marble is enough to know the color of the other marble without information travelling between the marbles?