Hacker News: benjohnson

New comment by benjohnson in "Vaccination Should Be Compulsory"

benjohnson — Fri, 06 Aug 2021 01:19:34 +0000

Only if they have a breakthrough infection - and that is very rare.

New comment by benjohnson in "Tesla Model S garage fire follows pattern prompting warnings"

benjohnson — Wed, 04 Aug 2021 21:19:55 +0000

That is low for an off-road vehicle where civilisation could be quite far away. My Suzuki and Chevy off-road vehicles are calibrated the same. My Buick thinks low is 24 miles of range.

New comment by benjohnson in "Woman sues L.A. after being struck by car on a street where tents block sidewalk"

benjohnson — Wed, 04 Aug 2021 21:17:24 +0000

No - on a local level, people of goodwill from both parties can do meaningful good for all our citizens.

This doesn't have to be a R vs D issue.

New comment by benjohnson in "U.S. Sees Ongoing Spike in Gun, Ammo Sales: 'I've Never Seen Anything Like It'"

benjohnson — Sun, 01 Aug 2021 16:30:02 +0000

Locally, I live in a very diverse area, and the typical customer has skewed much less 'good-old-boy' in the last two years.

The 'good-old-boys' are generally very happy with this and love to see new people of all backgrounds take the first steps toward citizen ownership of firearms. While there may be other disagreements on a political level, those barriers seem to be forgotten when people of good will help each-other out.

New comment by benjohnson in "Colorado web designer who refused to make same-sex wedding websites loses appeal"

benjohnson — Fri, 30 Jul 2021 01:04:47 +0000

That's an interesting point - if indeed Facebook is providing a service, then using that logic they can't discriminate on providing that service for a protected class engaging in speech if they provide the same service to the public.

If we are going to be consistent on what a service is, and what speech is allowed on a service, this could get really interesting.

New comment by benjohnson in "Large cars kill US pedestrians, don't make drivers safer"

benjohnson — Tue, 27 Jul 2021 17:47:49 +0000

The federal fuel economy standards have a weird calculation that incentives vehicles with a large footprint. It's the ratio of footprint to MPG that's important to the feds.

New comment by benjohnson in "[dead]"

benjohnson — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 03:51:17 +0000

I'm very pro covid-19 vaccine - it probably saved my life.

I am however uncomfortable with the idea that the state can compell an individual with incentives or the implied threat of travel curtailment to accept any medication.

Especially when those of us who do not want to get Covid-19 can get the vaccine and leave the others to their choice.

While the "slippery slope" is a logical fallacy, it's also an observation that often rings true.

New comment by benjohnson in "Texans can carry handguns without a license or training starting Sept. 1"

benjohnson — Sun, 18 Jul 2021 14:35:48 +0000

My view as an American:

I trust my sketchy neighbor with a gun much more than I trust the government with a gun.

New comment by benjohnson in "Texans can carry handguns without a license or training starting Sept. 1"

benjohnson — Sun, 18 Jul 2021 14:33:12 +0000

Perhaps it's the same trend. Citizens having control over arms is a classical liberal idea.

New comment by benjohnson in "Why I’m Leaving Mumford and Sons"

benjohnson — Sun, 04 Jul 2021 19:10:55 +0000

For me, there's a difference between boycotting a powerful corporation by not buying their products or services and starting an angry Twitter mob to badger someone so much that they quit a large aspect of their life to protect their friends and family.

Neither tactic is exclusive to the left or right certainly.

New comment by benjohnson in "Modular Homes for Under $50k"

benjohnson — Wed, 30 Jun 2021 04:33:16 +0000

There's an economic problem with well made smaller homes - they have all the detail of a larger home without the square footage. Hence the cost per square foot is much larger than you would expect.

New comment by benjohnson in "Walmart unveils low-price analog insulin amid rising diabetes drug costs"

benjohnson — Tue, 29 Jun 2021 16:12:25 +0000

It's good business to keep your customers alive.

New comment by benjohnson in "How to Work Hard"

benjohnson — Tue, 29 Jun 2021 14:19:22 +0000

For me, I stopped watching TV twenty years ago - but then transfered my neurotic novelty seeking behavior to the internet. But because I quit once, it made it easier to reign in my mindless internet consumption. And then stop any mindless book consumption. Then mindless video-games.

So for my - "No TV" is a easy way to express "I'm trying to maintain a ballance between living a vigorous life and consuming meaningful media"

New comment by benjohnson in "Unemployment declining faster in states that are cutting off $300 benefits"

benjohnson — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 19:51:28 +0000

Keeping me and my family from a horrible death is good enough motivation for me to keep working.

And that's ok. When I work, I also provide value for others and they give me valuable things in return - like money for food.

New comment by benjohnson in "Types of propaganda, propaganda techniques, and propaganda strategies (2017)"

benjohnson — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 20:00:12 +0000

Yes. Private school do have 'propaganda' - but that's perfectly ok if it aligns with the parent's wishes. As the parents, we have the right to chose how our children are raised.

New comment by benjohnson in "[dead]"

benjohnson — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 19:10:38 +0000

Agreed. Whistle-blowers are a needed if we want to be able to correct the course of our society.

New comment by benjohnson in "My experiments with sprouting legumes"

benjohnson — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 19:44:34 +0000

If the weird offspring are really bitter, stop eating them!

You probably won’t die but you’ll be quite miserable. Apparently, once a gourd starts not breeding true, it can revert to a form with way too much bitterness - we humans have trouble with the chemical and get quite sick.

https://www.anses.fr/en/content/beware-inedible-gourds

New comment by benjohnson in "HBO Max accidentally sent an integration email test to users"

benjohnson — Fri, 18 Jun 2021 02:18:18 +0000

That's....not your fault.

There should have been a label on the computer near the keyboard jack written by the people who knew about the problem.

If you didnt make a label afterwards yourself, the next keyboard-based outage would be your fault :)

New comment by benjohnson in "Most hospitals aren't complying with price transparency rule"

benjohnson — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 15:31:53 +0000

I'm glad it worked!

As I understand it, marking your check "paid in full" combined with the cover letter is what potentially worked for you. Simply writing "paid in full" on the check generally isn't sufficient.

More info form real attorneys (unlike me)

https://www.lawyers.com/legal-info/consumer-protection/banki...

New comment by benjohnson in "A Former Dean of Students Rethinks Sexual Assault Response"

benjohnson — Sun, 13 Jun 2021 18:31:56 +0000

You may not be interested in the culture wars, but the culture wars are interested in you.

-Lean Trotsky (paraphrased)