Hacker News: diogenescynic

New comment by diogenescynic in "Does Reddit have an astroturfing problem? What the data suggests"

diogenescynic — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 05:06:38 +0000

It absolutely does. I used to be a hardcore reddit user but once you start frequenting a few subreddits closely and you start to notice that a few mods basically control the entire platform and that those same mods usually have alt accounts that they allow to dominate the subreddits they control. I have a feeling most of the mods are taking deals to pay for favorable coverage etc. I was once banned for saying I didn't like a Marvel movie in /r/movies. THEN any of the truly hot button political issues like GMOs, glyphosate, COVID, Israel/Gaza... you'd see these 24/7 permanently online users replying to literally hundreds of comments per day with massive detailed rebuttals. You start to see how certain narratives are maintained and protected and essentially operationalized into 24/7 content factories. Now, that I see that and am aware it's hard for me to enjoy Reddit. Now I just see it as a massive psyop.

New comment by diogenescynic in "California farmers are struggling to sell grapes as demand for wine drops"

diogenescynic — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 04:33:53 +0000

People are increasingly broke and have less leisure time to spend it drinking. I stopped drinking during the pandemic and have had maybe one drink a year since. Once you stop, you really don't miss it.

New comment by diogenescynic in "'We hacked the FBI:' Hackers say they have data on all FBI employees"

diogenescynic — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 15:07:35 +0000

I hope they release which FBI agent required them to start allowing sex with animals to no longer be a disqualifying factor of hiring.

New comment by diogenescynic in "The American Religion of Self-Storage Facilities"

diogenescynic — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 21:02:54 +0000

Great business model but terrible thing to actually use. If you have so much junk you need a storage unit, you probably need to declutter. Most people have too much junk.

On the other hand, new homes are not being built and this may be a way to compensate for so many people still acquiring the same level of junk but not owning enough homes or space to store it all. Previous generations wouldn’t have had as much of an issue when real estate was much cheaper.

New comment by diogenescynic in "Nike exits the S&P 100 after 18 years and a $200B market-cap wipeout"

diogenescynic — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 01:42:20 +0000

Sounds almost exactly like what Disney did to Marvel and Star Wars... taking a male dominated brand and trying to make it more appealing to women and thereby tanking their flagship brands.

New comment by diogenescynic in "Nike exits the S&P 100 after 18 years and a $200B market-cap wipeout"

diogenescynic — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 02:11:12 +0000

They deserve it for listening to McKinsey and the consultant class and getting involved in politics. Stop lecturing me about politics when I just want a product that has nothing to do with politics (i.e. Colin Kaepernick and Dylan Mulvaney)--even when it was clear the public was against them.

I don't want ANY corporation telling me how to think or feel. Just put the stuff in the bag and don't lecture me.

New comment by diogenescynic in "Why is Google still serving dodgy ads?"

diogenescynic — Sun, 13 Sep 2026 21:51:36 +0000

I previously noted that the top search result for Claude Code was linking to a spyware website. It's crazy how this stuff is not monitored at all.

New comment by diogenescynic in "Mexican student creates an acoustic fire extinguisher to put out fire in seconds"

diogenescynic — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 05:32:14 +0000

This is something from science fiction or a comic book. Super cool!

New comment by diogenescynic in "iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max"

diogenescynic — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 23:20:21 +0000

I just want a MacBook with a cellular modem. Why is this not sold?

New comment by diogenescynic in "iPhone Duo"

diogenescynic — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 22:30:47 +0000

100% agree. The market for this will be miniscule. Look at how small the market for the iPad mini is. This will be even worse because it's 3x the price and has to be carried as a main device. How many people are wearing pants that can even physically fit this? This device is almost certainly too big to be comfortable in your front pocket. And if you are wearing something like athletic pants it's going to be so heavy it will pull your pants down... It's just impractical.

New comment by diogenescynic in "iPhone Duo"

diogenescynic — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 22:24:26 +0000

I'm curious how large the market for this will be. I am a big guy and the Pro Max models are already huge in my pocket. How many people are really going to want a phone that is this big and bulky in their pockets? Will we see a rise in cargo pants?

New comment by diogenescynic in "San Francisco institution 'heartbroken and furious' after erasure of public art"

diogenescynic — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 19:25:07 +0000

The property is owned by Makras Real Estate a notorious slumlord who has been convicted of fraud. They don't respect their tenants, they're surely not going to respect public art.

New comment by diogenescynic in "Stripe said to abandon $50B pursuit of PayPal"

diogenescynic — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 05:25:36 +0000

PayPal is dying and not that slowly. It's being replaced by Stripe, Adyen, Checkout.com, Apple Pay, Google Pay... etc. margins continue to decrease with no real moat to rising competition. Eventually it will just be Venmo and Braintree left and PayPal will be a company like Western Union that people used to need, but now is mostly used by scammers... They completely squandered their spin off from eBay and acquired terrible companies along the way that didn't pan out really even one time. I wouldn't pay $25B for them. You're buying a depreciating asset.

New comment by diogenescynic in "Where did all the public bathrooms go?"

diogenescynic — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 13:57:33 +0000

Yes, they existed, but definitively not in the same potency (i.e. fentanyl) or volume and were more expensive and harder to get. Not every public toilet in the 80s/90s was completely taken over by deranged homeless drug addicts like it is now. The problem is much more difficult. It's not the same at all.

When I was a kid growing up in the 80s/90s, you rarely saw homeless camps like they are now where they openly use drugs. You never saw public restrooms that were completely disgusting. Fast food bathrooms were clean back then.. now they are horrible. Things are not the same... The worst bathrooms back then were at the public parks where they were covered in pee and not cleaned well, but weren't destroyed by drug usage like they are now. I don't remember seeing piles of needles (or even one needle) like you do now.

New comment by diogenescynic in "Where did all the public bathrooms go?"

diogenescynic — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 23:54:45 +0000

The toilets you cleaned in 1996 were no where near as disgusting/dangerous as what the public toilets look like now from fentanyl zombies and meth heads. I doubt you had to worry about pricking yourself on a recently used needle ever. Those people simply didn't exist on this level back then and there were more options. Please stop with the 'I hiked uphill both ways' routine... life is worse now than in 1996 in almost every way. We shouldn't be expected to ignore it and just put up with it. People should stop making excuses for it and address the root of the problem.

New comment by diogenescynic in "Where did all the public bathrooms go?"

diogenescynic — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 23:52:12 +0000

It's because 50% of voters are choosing to decriminalize laws and make everything into the oppression olympics. California legislature just proposed allowing 'crimes of necessity' this week. We can't have nice things now because crimes are not enforced/prosecuted and there are no consequences. We're moving from a high trust to low trust society in rapid time.

New comment by diogenescynic in "Where did all the public bathrooms go?"

diogenescynic — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 23:49:52 +0000

The same people complaining about this are the ones who supported decriminalizing drug possession and use in public and public camping then they wonder gee why did all the local businesses go out of business and make their bathrooms private? It's because laws are no longer enforced and having a public bathroom makes you attract the worst of the worst of society--proof go check out any Starbucks or McDonalds bathroom in any major city.

New comment by diogenescynic in "How Europe is killing makers and micro-entrepreneurs"

diogenescynic — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 20:44:20 +0000

Same thing applies to California except at the most elite levels. Yes you can get your tech start up funded, but try opening a car wash... the taxes and regulations are overly burdensome for small businesses.

New comment by diogenescynic in "Micron announces $10B research hub in Boise"

diogenescynic — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 20:32:38 +0000

Idaho home prices are about to hit critical levels.

New comment by diogenescynic in "'Ghost job' ads are getting so bad that lawmakers want to ban them"

diogenescynic — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:22:30 +0000

They shouldn't accept newspaper job ads anymore. It's a total scam when they use those because no one is applying for jobs from the wanted section of a local newspaper in 2026. They left too many obvious loopholes these companies take advantage of.