Hacker News: bodono

New comment by bodono in "Marc Andreessen says he’s for new housing, but records tell a different story"

bodono — Fri, 05 Aug 2022 12:11:45 +0000

In my experience a lot of YIMBYs are actually NIMBY but YIYBYs - Not in my back yard, but yes in YOUR back yard. A classic example is so-called progressive Robert Reich who has many times opined about the lack of affordable housing, eg,

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/07/22/time-invest-af...

But strongly objected to a plan to build affordable housing in his own neighbourhood:

https://www.johnlocke.org/good-for-thee-not-for-me-robert-re...

New comment by bodono in "Twitter set to accept Musk's $43B offer – sources"

bodono — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 14:41:08 +0000

To me the best option would be to massively expand the blue tick / verified accounts to include anyone who can prove their real world identity (and tie their actual name to their accounts), but continue to allow anonymous accounts, and allow users to only view verified accounts and anonymous accounts they follow if they wish. This would cut off trolls, disinfo bots, and spam at the knees while still allowing people who want or need anonymity to have it.

New comment by bodono in "“Click to subscribe, call to cancel” is illegal, FTC says"

bodono — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 11:42:32 +0000

I wonder if this strategy could impact your credit rating though?

New comment by bodono in "U.S. declares more than 20 species extinct after exhaustive searches"

bodono — Sat, 02 Oct 2021 12:00:04 +0000

Even more tragic is that after the bird flew away the scientist played back the recording and the endling returned, thinking it another from its own species.

New comment by bodono in "G7: Rich nations back deal to tax multinationals"

bodono — Sat, 05 Jun 2021 13:33:15 +0000

Right, so the question is will those 'deductions' still be allowed or not? If so, then get ready for endless deductions from countries that want lower tax rates than 15%.

New comment by bodono in "G7: Rich nations back deal to tax multinationals"

bodono — Sat, 05 Jun 2021 13:30:21 +0000

The way the government creates incentives is by creating loopholes

https://smartasset.com/taxes/tax-loopholes

"The basic definition of a tax loophole is a provision in the tax code that allows taxpayers to reduce their tax liability."

And corporations readily exploit loopholes (or incentives if you prefer) to dramatically reduce their tax burden below 15%. See, eg, here:

https://itep.org/amazon-has-record-breaking-profits-in-2020-...

Amazon has enjoyed an effective tax rate of 4.7% over the last 10 years by using tax breaks, tax credits, and depreciation, that have nothing to do with offshoring cash.

New comment by bodono in "G7: Rich nations back deal to tax multinationals"

bodono — Sat, 05 Jun 2021 12:20:49 +0000

Yes I understand that, but I believe that many corporations today pay even lower than a 15% effective tax rate. I suppose you're saying that these loopholes will be closed up to that minimum?

New comment by bodono in "G7: Rich nations back deal to tax multinationals"

bodono — Sat, 05 Jun 2021 12:11:32 +0000

The US tax code is absolutely riddled with tax loopholes. Many of these loopholes were designed to act as an incentive, such as tax breaks for hiring former felons, building factories in certain locations, investing in R&D etc etc. Major corporations often pay far lower than the US corporate tax rate precisely because they respond to these tax incentives (and sometimes abuse them, but that's a different story). Does this deal mean that the US will close these loopholes? If so, then 'rich nations' have lost a major tool for creating desired outcomes. If not, then how can this deal prevent other countries just offering whatever loopholes they want that reduce the effective tax rate below the minimum?

New comment by bodono in "LOL just got kicked out of @ycombinator"

bodono — Fri, 04 Jun 2021 23:48:04 +0000

Can you post your original message to the forum here too? That way we can know for sure what was said precisely, otherwise it's just he-said / he-said.

Infinity dive: Simple but intense mouse-only game

bodono — Tue, 27 Apr 2021 14:48:04 +0000

Article URL: https://keepee.itch.io/infinity-dive

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26956634

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

Citizen Kane loses 100% “Fresh” rating after 80-year-old review added to RT

bodono — Tue, 27 Apr 2021 14:12:28 +0000

Article URL: https://boingboing.net/2021/04/27/citizen-kane-loses-100-fresh-rating-after-80-year-old-negative-review-added-to-rotten-tomatoes.html

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26956093

Points: 16

# Comments: 0

New comment by bodono in "The persecution of the Uyghurs is a crime against humanity"

bodono — Thu, 15 Oct 2020 10:52:34 +0000

This is the major humanitarian issue of our time. It's time to put aside profits and apply economic pressure to end this (and other crimes against tibetans, mongols etc). Does the enlightenment project in the West have any energy left?

New comment by bodono in "Loss of smell could be a 'highly reliable indicator' of Covid-19, research says"

bodono — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 18:16:22 +0000

For me it was at the end of very mild flu-like symptoms (general malaise, sleeping a lot etc.). It's possible I was still contagious when I lost my smell and taste so people should probably self-isolate if they experience the same. Though my guess from personal experience is that this is a lagging indicator and possibly anyone with this has already been infectious for a while.

New comment by bodono in "Loss of smell could be a 'highly reliable indicator' of Covid-19, research says"

bodono — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 18:13:08 +0000

Not sure, I don't recall trying spicy food. I had sensation in my tongue so any physical harm I would feel no problem, just no taste.

New comment by bodono in "Loss of smell could be a 'highly reliable indicator' of Covid-19, research says"

bodono — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 18:11:24 +0000

It took about a week to be back fully.

New comment by bodono in "Loss of smell could be a 'highly reliable indicator' of Covid-19, research says"

bodono — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 18:11:04 +0000

I ate a little less, mostly because the lack of taste made it less interesting. I felt fine otherwise and my smell was back in about 4-5 days.

New comment by bodono in "Loss of smell could be a 'highly reliable indicator' of Covid-19, research says"

bodono — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 17:33:54 +0000

I had a mild case of covid and the loss of smell and taste was unlike anything similar I've ever experienced. It's not like having a stuffed nose or just being less sensitive to smell. For me I could breathe just fine but could not smell or taste anything, literally zero. Even very strong smelling things did nothing for me, and food had zero taste. It's a very unusual experience and I think a dead giveaway that you had the virus (it appears near the end of an infection typically).

New comment by bodono in "Swift for TensorFlow – A system for deep learning and differentiable computing"

bodono — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 14:27:12 +0000

I know where you're coming from, but TF in my opinion was very user-hostile even on arrival. I can't tell you how much hair-pulling I did over tf.conds, tf.while_loops and the whole gather / scatter paradigm for simple indexing into arrays. I really think the people working on it wanted users to write TF code in a certain, particular way and made it really difficult to use it in other ways. Just thinking back on that time still raises my blood pressure! So far Jax is much better and I'm cautiously optimistic they have learned lessons from TF.

New comment by bodono in "Swift for TensorFlow – A system for deep learning and differentiable computing"

bodono — Sun, 20 Sep 2020 13:51:32 +0000

I'm not sure this is really going to take off, it seems that most people who are abandoning TF are moving to Jax or pytorch. My own experience with Jax is that it is much easier to use then TF, just an all round more pleasant experience. It would be interesting to try this, but at this point I'm not really willing to learn 'yet another deep learning framework' and the extreme anti-user problems that TF had make me loath to give it another shot, even with a presumably better frontend. Moreover, I think that python is just a better all-round ML/data science language at this point. Has anyone tried both Jax and this and would be willing to give us their thoughts on strengths and weaknesses of each?

New comment by bodono in "Wildlife in ‘catastrophic decline’ due to human destruction, scientists warn"

bodono — Sat, 12 Sep 2020 09:02:28 +0000

Google 'black market'.