Hacker News: desert_rue

New comment by desert_rue in "I was interviewed by an AI bot for a job"

desert_rue — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 20:53:43 +0000

Don’t interview the 950. If you want to see if there are any diamonds in the rough, put it in your ‘no thanks’ email that if the want to make another case as to why you all should talk, then they should reply to that email or email you directly, or something.

New comment by desert_rue in "A One-Minute ADHD Test"

desert_rue — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 08:59:10 +0000

It’s different in the US- it is worse.

New comment by desert_rue in "NTSB report: Decryption of images from the Titan submersible camera [pdf] (2024)"

desert_rue — Sun, 23 Nov 2025 12:41:47 +0000

Maybe it is policy. If you have three experts in the field and you redact the details for two of the interviews taken, you can’t work it out that Bob was one of the two. Granted, they borked the redaction here.

New comment by desert_rue in "40% of young U.S. women want to leave the country: Gallup poll"

desert_rue — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 02:07:03 +0000

We already have a fertility crisis. Women leaving the country will only make it worse.

New comment by desert_rue in "Is the decline of reading making politics dumber?"

desert_rue — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 00:49:55 +0000

There are a lot of people who voted for Trump who are older and now actively worse off. It’s not just the young who are disillusioned.

New comment by desert_rue in "Ozempic shows anti-aging effects in trial"

desert_rue — Wed, 06 Aug 2025 21:13:17 +0000

It has more to do with the American food supply than anything else. The obesity rate skyrocketed as we started to consume food-like substances instead of food.

Strip out all the signals that let the body know it has enough, and it is easier to overeat.

New comment by desert_rue in "Rate, Price Drops Won't Substantially Improve Affordability"

desert_rue — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 16:38:14 +0000

Don’t forget the population decline

New comment by desert_rue in "Has Xbox Considered Laying One Person Off Instead of Thousands?"

desert_rue — Fri, 04 Jul 2025 05:51:25 +0000

Often leadership doesn’t speak to the lowly plebs, or if they do, they don’t see the problem the same way.

I’ve worked at a company where customer service costs were higher than the contribution margin. The solution from leadership was to turn off the phones. If they can’t call in, then no one needs to be paid to answer calls.

I asked the VP how customers who need help now (appointments were involved) could get help? Well they could email in and wait for a response.

Shockingly, customer lifetime value dropped like a rock. So their solution was to lock every new customer into a hidden subscription plan that had a cancellation fee of 2-4x of one appointment. Then they had to walk that back when they had too many chargebacks.

The company was later bought out. Only people in the earliest of rounds made money from their equity. The CEO went on to be the CEO of the acquiring company.

The people deciding on the decision were will insulated from dealing with the consequences of that decision.

New comment by desert_rue in "Airlines are charging solo passengers higher fares than groups"

desert_rue — Thu, 29 May 2025 20:12:18 +0000

Cruises are selling a set space rather than a service or trip per person. The extra incremental cost is minimal for the second person.

Also the more people on the ship means more chances of selling high margin add ons like drink packages, excursions and so on.

New comment by desert_rue in "Spaced repetition systems have gotten better"

desert_rue — Mon, 19 May 2025 22:49:57 +0000

I’m pretty sure the others are suggesting that you don’t generate the word list through coding but when you encounter words you don’t know. What helps us remember is context (“I saw that in the Doctor Who episode where the big bad is-“) where a word list doesn’t give that context.

Yes, you can crank through and memorize things without context. It is more painful and less effective overall.

New comment by desert_rue in "A $20k American-made electric pickup with no paint, no stereo, no screen"

desert_rue — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 20:20:15 +0000

“It is why all the small trucks were axed to begin with.”

No, it is because emissions regulations. A small truck can’t be built on our emissions policies, not that there isn’t a market for one.

New comment by desert_rue in "The lost boys: how a generation of young men fell behind women on pay"

desert_rue — Sun, 02 Mar 2025 19:30:49 +0000

Or maybe discourse has an inertia and it takes time to change the conversation.

New comment by desert_rue in "The Job Market Is Frozen"

desert_rue — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 10:28:05 +0000

I’m sure some of that is delaying: by having such high standards, they don’t have to go through the risk of actually hiring someone.

New comment by desert_rue in "Is Ketamine Neurotoxic?"

desert_rue — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 21:22:21 +0000

There are startups.

New comment by desert_rue in "Is Ketamine Neurotoxic?"

desert_rue — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 21:13:54 +0000

The Sacklers gave docs the wrong guidance on how habit forming it is. A doctor is busy and needs to be able to trust the experts- those who make the drug.

New comment by desert_rue in "Lines of code that will beat A/B testing every time (2012)"

desert_rue — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 23:49:57 +0000

Are you saying that it may do something like improve click-the-button conversion but lead to less sales overall?

New comment by desert_rue in "US newspapers are deleting old crime stories, offering subjects a 'clean slate'"

desert_rue — Sun, 05 Jan 2025 09:05:15 +0000

I have lived in an area of the US where a high portion of the population regularly attends church. I do not attend church. I noticed that when people found out about my lack of religion early in our acquaintance I was judged harshly for not being a believer. If they got to know me first, then they were okay with me by the time the subject of religion came up. Was I a bad person for hiding my lack of faith?

The US has such a patchwork of reporting systems around crimes and convictions, and there are several workarounds to avoid having bad things surfacing. So there are likely already people around you who have secrets but are living decent lives now. We all have those things about ourselves we don’t discuss and this is the social lubricant that keeps our relationships going.

New comment by desert_rue in "In Defense of Y'All"

desert_rue — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 20:34:03 +0000

I believe the Georgian version is different. “Y’all” is singular while “all y’all” is plural.

New comment by desert_rue in "Jury finds Cognizant discriminated against US workers"

desert_rue — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 09:29:55 +0000

Citation on the non Indian workers doing less work?

Also the workers on a visa make can be deported if they lose their job. That makes them dependent on their employer to stay in the US. That makes the visa holders less likely to ask for wages at the going rate or to vote with their feet to go to another company that would treat and pay them better. How is that not discrimination?

New comment by desert_rue in "Tesla is looking to hire a team to remotely control its 'self-driving' robotaxis"

desert_rue — Sat, 30 Nov 2024 13:59:22 +0000

I believe the sticking point is that they are only now doing this industry standard practice- years after selling cars with FSD