Hacker News: bariumbitmap

New comment by bariumbitmap in "Book prizes don't work how you think"

bariumbitmap — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 23:34:36 +0000

With comments like these I genuinely can't tell if it's a joke or not.

New comment by bariumbitmap in "The Radiation Exposure Lie"

bariumbitmap — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 22:35:44 +0000

This article makes some good points but is missing a lot of the larger context. It doesn't use this phrase, but the topic it discusses is called the linear no-threshold (LNT) model:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_no-threshold_model

The relevant sub-field of physics that studies the effects of radiation is called health physics:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_physics

Whether and how to replace the LNT model is one of the most controversial topics in health physics. The most basic modification to the model is to assign a threshold, but for that we need better research to establish a threshold for various circumstances. In the US, the Department of Energy started a research program to study low doses of radiation in 1999:

https://www.science.org/content/article/us-lawmakers-looking...

This was cancelled in 2016 and later revived in 2021:

https://www.aip.org/fyi/2021/academies-panel-consider-future...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK552793/

https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/26434/chapter/3

The US agency that regulates radioactive emissions, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), still uses the LNT. The NRC is a conservative agency (in the sense of being averse to change) and they are required by law to regulate for protection of the public. They won't change regulations if there is no consensus on what to replace LNT with. They were petitioned to change it in 2015 and rejected the petition in 2021:

https://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/62/11/17N

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/08/17/2021-17...

A majority of adults in the US now favor nuclear power, so there is some basis for cautious optimism of continued research and potential regulatory changes in this area:

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/10/16/support-f...

https://pubs.naruc.org/pub/B78A069C-1866-DAAC-99FB-DF480282D...

Thundermail June 2026 Update

bariumbitmap — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 02:59:06 +0000

Article URL: https://blog.thunderbird.net/2026/06/thundermail-june-2026-update-what-we-learned-after-the-first-few-waves-of-invites/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48681860

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

New comment by bariumbitmap in "Why Does Everyone Hate AI?"

bariumbitmap — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 13:33:03 +0000

The test of a technology is how it's actually used in society. What it theoretically could do in the abstract is immaterial.

For example, BitTorrent is a great peer-to-peer file-sharing protocol. In principle you could use this for legitimate media distribution, and in fact Rainberry Inc. (a.k.a BitTorrent Inc.) tried to do this for decades and succeeded in some one-off partnerships with legit broadcasters:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/apr/02/sharing-d...

In practice BitTorrent as a protocol is still mainly used for pirated video files, the same as it was 20 years ago. Meanwhile BitTorrent the company was bought by a cryptocurrency startup in 2018 and laid off most of its employees in 2023.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainberry,_Inc.>

Edit: fix link and clarify

Help: Archiving a Source

bariumbitmap — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 13:32:38 +0000

Article URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Archiving_a_source

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48570328

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

Oura and Counsel Health Partner to Provide AI-Enabled Care Within the Oura App

bariumbitmap — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 17:46:13 +0000

Article URL: https://ouraring.com/blog/counsel-integration-oura-app/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48544693

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

New comment by bariumbitmap in "Oura pushes deeper into healthcare services as part of new ring launch"

bariumbitmap — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 17:34:13 +0000

Full article text for those who can't see it:

Alongside the debut of Oura's smaller Ring 5, the wearables company on Thursday unveiled its plans to help users integrate health records and translate their ring's findings into medical care.

Oura has been building on its healthcare business for a little more than a year, hiring a chief medical officer and partnering with healthcare companies like Maven Clinic and most recently Resmed. Thursday's announcements build on that work by incorporating AI-powered doctor's visits through a partnership with Counsel Health and the ability to input health records.

The push further into healthcare comes at a critical time for the company: Valued at $11 billion, Oura said on May 21 that it had confidentially filed to go public.

"What we imagine here is a new way of thinking about health and being not only proactive, but reducing that barrier for members for everyday care," Maziar Brumand, Oura's VP of Product, told Endpoints News.

For a subscription fee (the price of which has not yet been determined), Oura users can go through the Oura app to Counsel Health, a startup that offers medical AI services as well as visits with doctors. That way, an Oura user picking up on a change to their blood pressure (one of two new measurements Oura is launching Thursday) could speak directly with a physician and get care. It's one of the first times a wearables company has integrated care directly into its platform.

"There is just this huge consumer desire to tie these metrics to real clinical things," Counsel medical chief Rishi Khakhkhar said. "I think it was inevitable that these two worlds would eventually merge," he added.

Khakhkhar said that there are three reasons why it's now possible for wearables to link with clinical care. For one, the hardware is getting better and closer to the biometrics clinicians use in their medical practices. AI is also making it easier to integrate wearable data directly into Counsel's electronic medical record and analyze the volume of data wearables can amass between visits. And there's more comfort with asynchronous care that can be done via messages rather than a video call.

The partnership with Oura is also one of the first public partnerships for GV- and Andreessen Horowitz-backed Counsel, which works in partnership with other healthcare organizations like health plans and health systems to supply medical AI and virtual care via physicians.

As part of the Ring 5 launch, which has a starting price of $399, Oura also set up a way for users to input their medical records. Done in collaboration with healthcare data company Flexpa and drawing on the TEFCA framework that allows individuals access to their health information, Oura users can have their medical records pulled for them, rather than manually inputting the information themselves.