Hacker News: ayakang31415

New comment by ayakang31415 in "Penn to reduce graduate admissions, rescind acceptances amid research cuts"

ayakang31415 — Sun, 23 Feb 2025 05:04:04 +0000

In the article, they did not specify if the funding cut is a result of re-structuring direct-indirect cost ratio (essentially no research cut but the administration cut only), or the fund granted to a fewer researchers. If they actually receive less money for the same current researches, there is no need to accept fewer students.

New comment by ayakang31415 in "NIH cuts indirect cost rates to 15% for new and existing grants"

ayakang31415 — Sat, 08 Feb 2025 03:46:15 +0000

This is huge cut (saving about 4 billion USD a year). I wonder how it is going to affect the quality of research outcomes. It might actually improve research if it reduces the amount of time researchers spend on administrative duties directly because there are less administrations.

New comment by ayakang31415 in "The young, inexperienced engineers aiding DOGE"

ayakang31415 — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 05:44:04 +0000

I see things done by DOGE are getting noticed. I vaguely remember that DOGE will be decommissioned around 2026 independence day I believe? I have no confidence in judging what the outcome might be at this point, so I will wait till the last day of DOGE.

New comment by ayakang31415 in "NIH hit with freezes on meetings, travel, communications, and hiring"

ayakang31415 — Thu, 23 Jan 2025 00:46:30 +0000

Because for some people, this is not a scientific peer-reviewed discussion, but rather typical conversation normal people have over dinner table with gut feelings and limited information. Just assume that "I believe", "in my opinion", "AFAIK" are implied for statements like above.

New comment by ayakang31415 in "Show HN: Physically accurate black hole simulation using your iPhone camera"

ayakang31415 — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 21:29:43 +0000

Here's Veritasium video on Gravitational Lensing effect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUyH3XhpLTo

New comment by ayakang31415 in "Show HN: Shimmer – ADHD-adapted body doubling"

ayakang31415 — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 07:23:04 +0000

Do you have a published peer-reviewed studies on your method?

New comment by ayakang31415 in "Show HN: Shimmer – ADHD-adapted body doubling"

ayakang31415 — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 00:09:22 +0000

Is it proven method? If so, insurance should cover it so you don't have to pay subscription fees out of your pocket. If not, don't bother. There are thousands of services like this, and I have not heard any one of them that worked for the vast majority of people with ADHD.

New comment by ayakang31415 in "Chemistry Nobel: Computational protein design and protein structure prediction"

ayakang31415 — Wed, 09 Oct 2024 20:22:41 +0000

Science is just a methodology to test hypothesis. It does not matter how you get the result as long as the result is empirically scrutinized.

New comment by ayakang31415 in "Linux from Scratch"

ayakang31415 — Sat, 05 Oct 2024 19:03:37 +0000

The first thing that pops out on Google search of NixOS is "Declarative builds and deployments." What exactly is NixOS different from other distros, such as Ubuntu?

New comment by ayakang31415 in "California bans legacy admissions at private universities"

ayakang31415 — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 20:46:27 +0000

This might be due to my lack of comprehension, but your argument seems less focused and sometimes veers into broader concerns about government interference and semantic or technical arguments, making it somewhat less compelling in the specific context of legacy admissions and funding oversight for me. I don't think I can gain some new insights from further discussion, but if I ask this one last time (you do not have to answer), what is your stance on legacy admission ( I don't think you expressed your opinions on this ) with regards to government funding the students who attend schools with such admission policy? I can only assume your position, and for that let me quote my previous comments: "To me, you are advocating (tell me if I am mistaken) that university can have any admission policy (including unfair policy) they want (free from government oversight) even if federal money is provided to them (indirectly of course) as a result of such admission policy. I disagree with this. If you're advocating to grant total freedom to university with regards to admission policy and get rid of federal support for all schools, then I am in agreement with you."

BTW Pell grants have restrictions on school as well (many vocational institutions do not adhere to such restrictions, so they are not qualified to accept Pell grant money). The below are examples of such requirements:

Accreditation - Schools must be accredited by a recognized accrediting agency.

Compliance with Federal Guidelines - Schools must comply with federal regulations concerning how they manage and disburse student aid, including ensuring that funds are used properly and that students maintain satisfactory academic progress.

Non-discrimination - Schools must adhere to federal anti-discrimination laws <= this might be further strengthened to incorporate legacy admission as well.

Reporting Requirements - Schools must regularly report data to the Department of Education about their students, including Pell Grant recipients, and meet financial responsibility standards.

Misuse of Funds - Schools found to be misusing federal funds or engaging in fraudulent practices can lose eligibility to participate in federal student aid programs.

If a school does not adhere to such requirements, students cannot even find the school on FAFSA application to select. I remember one instance where school was delisted from FAFSA application (University of Phoenix I believe because they did not comply with federal regulations).

New comment by ayakang31415 in "California bans legacy admissions at private universities"

ayakang31415 — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 01:50:01 +0000

Pell grants are given to the students, but in order to become a student you first have to be accepted to a University. If no universities accepted you because of unfair admission policy, effectively the universities transferred the money from you to someone who got in unfairly (maybe you can argue that there is going to be at least one university that will accept you, but that is a different story). I am just simply advocating fair admission policy that is in agreement with the spirit of the citizens who are effectively providing such funds. Tuition money, a huge part of it, comes from the government (I reject the semantic argument that university gets student money, not the government money if the money was not directly given to them, such as "Pell grants are not given to universities"), and we have a say in how it should be given. We can definitely contest the legacy admission or even affirmative action if the university accepts government money one way or the other. Pell grants ( tell me if I am wrong ) already has other restrictions on how it could be spent and whom it should be given to. We can definitely add one more restriction (i.e., give it to students who got in fairly).

To me, you are advocating (tell me if I am mistaken) that university can have any admission policy (including unfair policy) they want (free from requests of the government) even if federal money is provided to them (indirectly of course) as a result of such admission policy. I disagree with this. If you're advocating to grant total freedom to university with regards to admission policy and get rid of federal support for all schools, then I am in agreement with you.

New comment by ayakang31415 in "California bans legacy admissions at private universities"

ayakang31415 — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 21:47:22 +0000

I am not sure where the line lies. If you fund a program that is not run by the government, say 100 billion dollars, should the government not "manipulate" how the program runs? I believe there should be some sort of accountability. To my knowledge the government spends over 7 billion dollars on Pell grants, and if the government has little to no say in whom it should be awarded to, it makes no sense to me. If the University decides to accept less qualified students through legacy admission and give the money to them, it should be challenged I believe.

add: come to think of it, I guess private university can just not accept financial aids from the government and keep their own admission policy if they have enough money to subsidize students who need financial aids. Whether you like it or not, federal money comes with (or should come with) strings attached (or manipulation in your words)

New comment by ayakang31415 in "California bans legacy admissions at private universities"

ayakang31415 — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 21:40:46 +0000

On average I guess alumni contribute more through donation than they receive through the financial aids. I don't know the numbers on this topic, so please pardon my ignorance.

New comment by ayakang31415 in "California bans legacy admissions at private universities"

ayakang31415 — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 06:37:06 +0000

I don't think it is fair to accept Alumni as a sole recipient of lots of tax money for unfair admission.

New comment by ayakang31415 in "California bans legacy admissions at private universities"

ayakang31415 — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 03:39:48 +0000

I would very much like to get rid of federal funding for schools, and allow private student loan with the possibility of purging the borrowed money through bankruptcy procedures. I am not sure if such proposal is realistic.

New comment by ayakang31415 in "California bans legacy admissions at private universities"

ayakang31415 — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 00:00:36 +0000

The word "manipulate" is dysphemism for "audit" in my opinion. As I commented below, I don't care how the money is spent as long as it is THEIR money. The federal funding is tax payer's money, and it should be spent according to the will of the people in this country. If the tax money was spent to favor your family members because you are an alumni, I am sure other people would have problems with it.

New comment by ayakang31415 in "California bans legacy admissions at private universities"

ayakang31415 — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 21:23:00 +0000

I don't care how the money is spent as long as it is their money. But the federal funding is not; it is tax payer's money. Tax money should be allocated based on decision made by the congress, which is the will of the people in the country. but to me it looks like the tax money the private universities get is spent on their terms, not the citizen.

New comment by ayakang31415 in "California bans legacy admissions at private universities"

ayakang31415 — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 20:32:27 +0000

The problem with this approach is that the private universities still get benefits of federal funding through student aids and research grants. If no federal money was used for the undergraduate students, I would have no problem with this. Private university can do whatever they want with their admission as long as no public money is spent on the admission process and the admitted students.

New comment by ayakang31415 in "OpenAI to become for-profit company"

ayakang31415 — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 22:27:11 +0000

About a year ago (I believe), Sam Altman touted his mission to promote safe AI with claims that he has no equity in OpenAI and was never interested in getting any. Look where we are now, well played Sam.

New comment by ayakang31415 in "Amazon tells employees to return to office five days a week"

ayakang31415 — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 03:04:09 +0000

Is this move possibly motivated by what Elon did at Twitter?