Hacker News: genericid

New comment by genericid in "You cant delete your netflix account. Doesnt this violate GDPR?"

genericid — Wed, 22 Aug 2018 01:42:51 +0000

Netflix specifically targets EU users (e.g. by advertising in the EU and billing in Euros). HN does not.

New comment by genericid in "What to Do After Finding Hot Connectors on Overhead Power Lines (2017) [video]"

genericid — Wed, 22 Aug 2018 01:36:16 +0000

That sounds like deadly accidents should be happening every week.

New comment by genericid in "PowerShell Remoting"

genericid — Wed, 22 Aug 2018 01:34:42 +0000

Then what's the point of using HTTPS? Heating the room?

New comment by genericid in "Commons Clause"

genericid — Wed, 22 Aug 2018 01:30:32 +0000

If something is not free, it is not open source. The difference between free software and open source is one of ideology and philosophy. In practice, they're the same.

New comment by genericid in "Twenty-two states ask appeals court to bring back net neutrality"

genericid — Wed, 22 Aug 2018 01:23:30 +0000

How about "it's the fallback system working for the people"?

New comment by genericid in "Idempotence: What is it and why should I care?"

genericid — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 12:18:58 +0000

This is basically client-side validation.

New comment by genericid in "Google updated its site to admit it still tracks you with Location History off"

genericid — Sat, 18 Aug 2018 09:28:18 +0000

> Please don't post unsubstantive comments to HN.

Sorry for that.

> More importantly, please stop using HN primarily for political battle. That's destructive of the intellectual curiosity this site exists for, and we ban accounts that do it.

Unless you assume that writing something political always means engaging in a battle, I don't think I'm doing that.

New comment by genericid in "The easiest way to keep your web apps accessible: Just use text"

genericid — Fri, 17 Aug 2018 09:20:55 +0000

Try right-clicking the back button. Or complain to your browser maker -- they're responsible for its behaviour.

New comment by genericid in "Companies Shouldn’t Be Accountable Only to Shareholders"

genericid — Thu, 16 Aug 2018 15:51:32 +0000

What kind of answer do you expect? "No I do not mean what I say, I'm just a markov chain."?

New comment by genericid in "Companies Shouldn’t Be Accountable Only to Shareholders"

genericid — Thu, 16 Aug 2018 15:50:24 +0000

Democracy is not a system, it's a principle. The principle that the people rules. Today's representative democracies apply that principle very imperfectly.

The rulers don't have to be particularily benevolent to promote the people's interests if their interests and the people's interests are the same.

New comment by genericid in "Companies Shouldn’t Be Accountable Only to Shareholders"

genericid — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 16:48:51 +0000

Are you implying that the Soviet Union was, well, the Soviet Union because of too much democracy?

New comment by genericid in "Companies Shouldn’t Be Accountable Only to Shareholders"

genericid — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 16:46:03 +0000

Democracy is not a solution looking for a problem, it's a basic right.

New comment by genericid in "Companies Shouldn’t Be Accountable Only to Shareholders"

genericid — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 16:45:02 +0000

Nothing is a guarantee of competency. It's not a problem with monarchies, it's a problem with anything involving humans.

New comment by genericid in "Companies Shouldn’t Be Accountable Only to Shareholders"

genericid — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 16:43:56 +0000

> The fact, right or wrong, is that the barrier of entry for menial labour does not command a high salary.

This is merely a description of the current state of affairs. It is not relevant in a debate about the desired state of affairs.

New comment by genericid in "Companies Shouldn’t Be Accountable Only to Shareholders"

genericid — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 16:34:04 +0000

So you support a dictatorship as long as it permits emigration? Not that monarchies actually had anything to do with that, serfdom was abolished in most places long before them.

New comment by genericid in "Companies Shouldn’t Be Accountable Only to Shareholders"

genericid — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 16:32:34 +0000

Democracies elect idiots "who wreck it all" all the time. That is not the problem with monarchies. The problem with monarchies is that a monarch will promote the interests of the monarch, the nobility will promote the interests of the nobility. Only a democracy will promote the interests of everybody. That is true whether we talk about a state or a company.

> In case of a failing business, an employee is free to vote with his feet at any moment, moreover if he is valuable specialist in a competitive market.

A non-democratic economy works for certain people under certain circumstances. That is simply not enough.

Equating democratic elections, the act of freely chosing how you run your society, to what amounts to fleeing a sinking ship is beyond ridiculous. So is calling the US a command economy.

New comment by genericid in "Companies Shouldn’t Be Accountable Only to Shareholders"

genericid — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 16:21:08 +0000

Post-tax income is an irrelevant metric because higher taxes are compensated by the services they pay for. Our level of defense spending is not insignificant, yours is offensive. We don't need to outspend the rest of the world, we just need to convince Russia that invading the EU is not worth it.

New comment by genericid in "Companies Shouldn’t Be Accountable Only to Shareholders"

genericid — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 16:02:32 +0000

I meant that Marx did not advocate codetermination, as in, leaving most control to the capitalists.

New comment by genericid in "Companies Shouldn’t Be Accountable Only to Shareholders"

genericid — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 16:00:38 +0000

A life of comfort is very much an ideal we should aspire to. There will always be people who have the intrinsic motivation to accomplish grander things. People don't accomplish great things because they are forced to.

New comment by genericid in "Companies Shouldn’t Be Accountable Only to Shareholders"

genericid — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 15:46:21 +0000

I don't think Germans are happier than Americans because we take more opiates. Your claim that productivity (or, for that matter anything else) is more important than happiness is plain absurd. I prefer a good life over one that ends with me jumping off a bridge I built.