Hacker News: f00zz

New comment by f00zz in "BlockFi files for bankruptcy as FTX fallout spreads"

f00zz — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 16:27:20 +0000

> - https://bisq.network

The last time I looked into this it required a security deposit in BTC.

New comment by f00zz in "Show HN: Get conversational practice in over 20 languages by talking to an AI"

f00zz — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 12:12:16 +0000

What? This is a conversation partner that's available 24/7, this is the dream app for any language learner.

New comment by f00zz in "Engineering the Oberth Maneuver"

f00zz — Sat, 05 Mar 2022 14:16:32 +0000

Anyone else was reminded of Rendezvous with Rama?

New comment by f00zz in "Show HN: Three Magic Words"

f00zz — Tue, 08 Feb 2022 17:02:56 +0000

Great execution, love the juicy animations!

New comment by f00zz in "There are too many video games"

f00zz — Wed, 02 Feb 2022 23:09:59 +0000

Sounds like this guy needs a new hobby, maybe metalworking?

New comment by f00zz in "Tell HN: Twitter is growing increasingly unusable without an account"

f00zz — Fri, 28 Jan 2022 14:23:07 +0000

Same. It allowed me to create an account with just an e-mail address, but soon after the account was suspended for "unusual activity" and the only way to unlock it was with a phone number. At this point I gave up.

New comment by f00zz in "Prime Video Uses WebAssembly"

f00zz — Fri, 28 Jan 2022 10:47:39 +0000

Cool. Looks like a fancier version of Dear ImGui.

New comment by f00zz in "In Argentina, inflation is a way of life"

f00zz — Thu, 27 Jan 2022 21:08:47 +0000

Yes. Low corruption, low taxes (zero corporate tax for income received from outside the country), and you can even open bank accounts in foreign currencies.

New comment by f00zz in "In Argentina, inflation is a way of life"

f00zz — Thu, 27 Jan 2022 18:30:48 +0000

When I was in Argentina a few years ago there were money changers peddling dollars on every corner in downtown Buenos Aires, at a time this was illegal (Cristina was president).

New comment by f00zz in "Young people from Brazil's favelas set out to conquer digital world"

f00zz — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 20:54:23 +0000

This country should have never normalized favelas. Just 50 years ago, places like Singapore and Seoul used to have slums that looked a lot like Brazilian favelas. But they invested in public housing and now look like sci-fi cities from the 25th century, while we were singing "quem mora no morro vive pertinho do ceu".

New comment by f00zz in "Mechanical computing systems using only links and rotary joints"

f00zz — Mon, 03 Jan 2022 22:46:50 +0000

This is really cool, would love to see this sugar cube running Doom. But unless I'm missing something he doesn't say anything about how to go about building this thing?

New comment by f00zz in "You block ads in your browser, why not in your city?"

f00zz — Mon, 27 Dec 2021 16:02:08 +0000

> But it's not the sweeper service that will make the city beautiful

Sure, but you can't force by law those decrepit buildings along the Minhocao to renovate. At least with advertising income they would be able to afford a paint job.

> how does advertising relates to development?

Everyone hates advertising, but it's an important driver for competition. A new business has no chance of breaking into an existing market without advertising, for instance (though I guess the internet has made outdoor ads less important). Not to mention the direct jobs that were lost with Cidade Limpa.

New comment by f00zz in "You block ads in your browser, why not in your city?"

f00zz — Mon, 27 Dec 2021 11:27:39 +0000

The solution should be simple: allow billboard ads, but tax them based on surface area. Use the tax revenue to hire more street sweepers. This shouldn't be hard to implement, as the city is already quite effective at fining businesses that do not comply with Cidade Limpa. Want to turn a building facade into a giant LED billboard, Shenzhen style? Fine, just pay up. Everybody wins.

This kind of policy would make sense for a quaint old European town, but here we're talking about the largest city in a developing country. Generally as a developing country your first priority should be to, well, develop. The last thing you want to do is stifle economic activity.

New comment by f00zz in "You block ads in your browser, why not in your city?"

f00zz — Sun, 26 Dec 2021 12:29:33 +0000

Highly debatable whether the policy has achieved its goal of a "clean city". The city is uglier and dirtier than ever, especially downtown. A least billboards covered the decay (and were a source of income to buildings).

New comment by f00zz in "Ontario Court Declares the Ontario Math Proficiency Test Unconstitutional"

f00zz — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 17:14:16 +0000

Yeah, I think they're testing if someone will recognize that division by 0.19 is approximately equal to multiplication by 5 and ballpark the answer.

New comment by f00zz in "India defuses its population bomb: fertility falls to two children per woman"

f00zz — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 17:56:12 +0000

Many developing countries go through a phase when fertility/mortality rates start to decline, and for a while they'll get an economic boost while the working-age population grows at a faster rate than the non-working-age population. That's when East Asian countries laid the foundation for their economic growth.

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

New comment by f00zz in "India defuses its population bomb: fertility falls to two children per woman"

f00zz — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 16:58:51 +0000

Yes, happened to Brazil. When you've squandered your demographic dividend without escaping poverty it's basically game over.

New comment by f00zz in "India defuses its population bomb: fertility falls to two children per woman"

f00zz — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 16:54:27 +0000

Because being poor sucks?

New comment by f00zz in "$45k in AWS charges due to account being hacked to mine cryptocurrency"

f00zz — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 15:05:29 +0000

Worst part is that the cryptominer probably made $1.32...

New comment by f00zz in "Antikythera Mechanism: An ancient 'computer' that 'shouldn't exist' [video]"

f00zz — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 14:53:26 +0000

Yeah, I think we switched to coke during the Industrial Revolution not because it's a better fuel than charcoal, but because we were running out of trees.