Hacker News: bagacrap

New comment by bagacrap in "The Los Angeles Aqueduct Is Wild"

bagacrap — Sat, 21 Mar 2026 13:10:33 +0000

The graphical aids in practical engineering videos are quite well done, especially when he creates scale models in the garage. You are missing out if you only read it, if you can afford to spend the time watching.

New comment by bagacrap in "A Japanese glossary of chopsticks faux pas (2022)"

bagacrap — Sat, 21 Mar 2026 13:06:06 +0000

Does it bother anyone else when people use their teeth to scrape food off a metal utensil (rather than lips, or teeth to food)? I wish English had a specific word for that affront.

New comment by bagacrap in "A Japanese glossary of chopsticks faux pas (2022)"

bagacrap — Sat, 21 Mar 2026 13:00:06 +0000

Kinda sad for me to know this because one of my favorite things about chopsticks is their precision. I can pick exactly the piece of food I feel like eating in the next moment. This makes it sound like I'm not supposed to be picky.

New comment by bagacrap in "Nasdaq's Shame"

bagacrap — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 13:23:04 +0000

I don't know how that's a response to what I wrote. I'm not saying that an ETF is more tax efficient, although it is more tax efficient than a mutual fund. If you are worried about the tax drag of dividends then there are ETFs that seek to track spx, but without receiving dividends, by selling and rebuying around ex div dates. They're not established enough to trust with a lot of money, imo, but maybe it will become more normal one day.

New comment by bagacrap in "Nasdaq's Shame"

bagacrap — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 13:12:47 +0000

And if you went with that maximalist definition of an index, then the word would have no useful meaning. If the inclusion criteria is completely arbitrary and capricious (i.e. whatever cathie woods decides she likes that week), then it's still a fund, it's just not an index fund.

QQQ is both arbitrary (the stock exchange has nothing to do with business operations) and capricious (they are changing the rules on a whim to serve Elon's interests, and because the arbitrary inclusion criteria somewhat forces them to).

New comment by bagacrap in "Ask HN: What is it like being in a CS major program these days?"

bagacrap — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 12:46:28 +0000

Computer science is embarrassed by the computer.

New comment by bagacrap in "Stop Sloppypasta"

bagacrap — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 15:09:53 +0000

I have witnessed people arguing with their own lawyers by pasting LLM generated output. That said, lawyers do love to argue so maybe it's fun for them.

New comment by bagacrap in "Stop Sloppypasta"

bagacrap — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 15:07:59 +0000

If you honestly think that the em dashes are the problem, I'm sure you could tell chat to scrub those for you.

New comment by bagacrap in "Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile story"

bagacrap — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 15:02:50 +0000

Also that journalists are paid for their work, often by someone with political interests, so they are already subject to pressure to modify their reporting. Hopefully not usually threats of violence though!

New comment by bagacrap in "Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile story"

bagacrap — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 14:55:40 +0000

Commodities futures markets have an actual purpose, which is to make business inputs (or outputs) more predictable. Like if I know I need ten tons of corn next year, it's safer to buy futures now than to wait and see how the price of corn fluctuates over that time, potentially sabotaging my business operation. (Of making corn chips.)

New comment by bagacrap in "Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile story"

bagacrap — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 14:52:09 +0000

Wall Street is doing price discovery which benefits index investors. They're also lending (e.g. private credit) which benefits economic activity.

Robin Hood options trading is just lighting money on fire under the guise of "investing", which insidiously somehow seems more responsible than gambling on roulette.

New comment by bagacrap in "Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile story"

bagacrap — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 14:48:38 +0000

Technically you can't bet on the demise of a person, at least in the US, as participants recently discovered when the previous supreme leader of Iran was killed and their "leadership change" bet did not pay out.

New comment by bagacrap in "Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile story"

bagacrap — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 14:47:23 +0000

Or y'know, ban this betting activity to begin with.

New comment by bagacrap in "Polymarket gamblers threaten to kill me over Iran missile story"

bagacrap — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 14:45:30 +0000

Who needs a bribe when they can participate in the market directly?

New comment by bagacrap in "Nasdaq's Shame"

bagacrap — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 14:31:55 +0000

Thank you for proving my points.

New comment by bagacrap in "Nasdaq's Shame"

bagacrap — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 14:28:48 +0000

And I'm sure there will be an inverse SpaceX ETF too. This still crosses the Rubicon from "investor" to "trader".

New comment by bagacrap in "Nasdaq's Shame"

bagacrap — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 14:27:26 +0000

Index investing is a great choice for a long term investor who cares about simplicity, which should be the vast majority of them. Actually the best thing about holding individual stocks is probably the increased opportunities for TLH, but the nightmare of holding and managing hundreds of securities in your account is very seldom worth what you save on fees or deferred taxes.

New comment by bagacrap in "Nasdaq's Shame"

bagacrap — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 14:23:31 +0000

SPY is somewhat concentrated in mag7 (or the other 93 stocks in QQQ), but only a small percent of mag 7 are owned via QQQ, which has 400B aum. (Mag 7 is 19T.)

The bottom line is all this fuckery is a tiny blip for most investors. It's far more concerning to me the societal harm that will come from further enriching Elon.

New comment by bagacrap in "Nasdaq's Shame"

bagacrap — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 14:17:08 +0000

Then what does "index" even mean? Is Cathy Woods an index?

New comment by bagacrap in "Stop Sloppypasta"

bagacrap — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 14:15:03 +0000

Context dependent I suppose. But usually they just abandon their argument. (I have never seen this tactic used when the argument had any merit to begin with, nor by someone senior to me.)