Hacker News: justinpowers

New comment by justinpowers in "A suspiciously criminal portfolio website"

justinpowers — Sat, 11 Mar 2023 18:51:44 +0000

I often open the fridge to find it packed with vegetables, fruits, eggs and other healthy ingredients. I then close the fridge, about 2 minutes later, still empty-handed and still hungry, saying aloud to myself and to whoever will hear…

      ”There’s no food!”

So, I completely understand.

New comment by justinpowers in "Nvidia researchers setup an open source sensor network on Antartica"

justinpowers — Fri, 10 Mar 2023 16:10:56 +0000

“Feature” can mean “physical beauty” as well as simply “appearance” or “form”, though all such are considered obsolete usages.

New comment by justinpowers in "Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes"

justinpowers — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 00:32:30 +0000

This may just be a side-effect of the insurgence of new POS systems and customer-facing systems.

Many of the newer POS systems were first developed with the hospitality industry in mind. In those cases, tipping is on by default. These POS systems have since expanded into retail and convenience stores, leaving tipping on by default. The shop owners have little incentive to turn it off, or may not even know how to turn it off.

Additionally most older POS systems were not operated by the customer and so did not display set percentages. They relied upon manual input based on a signed receipt. So percentage norms were mostly word-of-mouth. Nowadays, with customer-facing POS systems, it’s easier to just provide a percentage button. And the owner or manager or even the lowly register attendant, can adjust as needed. And of course, higher defaults are better for all of them (within reason).

New comment by justinpowers in "Is tipping getting out of control? Many consumers say yes"

justinpowers — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 00:23:01 +0000

Most POS systems do not charge per transaction, neither by count nor dollar amount. It’s usually an upfront or flat monthly fee, based on number of terminals, level of service and feature set.

Credit Suisse sues blog in response to “harmful” articles and reader comments

justinpowers — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 23:31:02 +0000

Article URL: https://www.ft.com/content/a4d1d55a-cdfa-46d2-a86e-bbf4214bc4af

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34059380

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

New comment by justinpowers in "Ask HN: Alternatives to The Economist?"

justinpowers — Wed, 30 Nov 2022 18:55:09 +0000

I agree. But I optimistically believe that decline will soon experience a renaissance.

We’re gonna start declining again. We’re gonna decline so much. We’re gonna decline at every level. We’re gonna decline economically. We’re gonna decline with the economy. We’re gonna decline with military. We’re gonna decline with healthcare and for our veterans. We’re gonna decline with every single facet.

We’re gonna decline so much you may even get tired of declining. And you’ll say “Please! Please! It’s too much declining! We can’t take it anymore. Mr President, it’s too much!”

And he’ll say “No it isn’t. We have to keep declining. We have to decline MORE! We’re gonna decline MORE! We’re gonna decline so much! I love you America. You’re gonna be so happy!”

Ahh yes. Soon. Soon.

New comment by justinpowers in "Zebras of all stripes repel biting flies at close range"

justinpowers — Sat, 05 Nov 2022 21:25:52 +0000

Striped pie anyone?

New comment by justinpowers in "A genetic modification boosts grain yields, shortens the growth duration of rice"

justinpowers — Sun, 24 Jul 2022 03:25:54 +0000

It was a jo…oh never mind. Forgot where I was.

New comment by justinpowers in "A genetic modification boosts grain yields, shortens the growth duration of rice"

justinpowers — Sat, 23 Jul 2022 18:42:16 +0000

Well some ancient ape’s “clones” have already spread around and multiplied uncontrollably. Who’s to stay that this one’s won’t either?

New comment by justinpowers in "As TikTok grows, so does suspicion"

justinpowers — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 23:54:34 +0000

This whole thread is equivalent to two people on opposite sides of the Earth arguing about whether the sun will be rising or setting.

Just go buy some sunscreen already.

New comment by justinpowers in "New Arizona law makes it illegal to film within 8 feet of police"

justinpowers — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 17:27:54 +0000

“Sousveillance”, as a term, was new to me.

In case it’s new to anyone else:

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

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18493797

US water contains more ‘forever chemicals’ than EPA tests show

justinpowers — Wed, 06 Jul 2022 17:23:22 +0000

Article URL: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/06/us-drinking-water-pfas-toxic-forever-chemicals-epa-tests

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32004036

Points: 111

# Comments: 21

New comment by justinpowers in "Psilocybin microdosers demonstrate improvements in mood and mental health"

justinpowers — Sat, 02 Jul 2022 03:40:37 +0000

There are absolutely risks, but not to the degree that op's comment suggests.

If one is worried about a microdose, then one can choose to start with 1% of a microdose (or whatever minimal amount one can accurately measure) and then move up slowly.

Just like...exercise. Hence the forever present disclaimer: "Consult with your doctor before beginning this or any new exercise routine." One wouldn't start off with an ultramarathon when they could just walk around the block.

If, on the otherhand, you believe that _any_ amount is a risk, then at this stage it's up to you to provide that evidence. This isn't some new and mysterious chemical, it's been taken for millenia, intentionally or not.

The bigger issue is that people just assume that they don't need guidance or preparation. Or they ignore set and setting. Or they believes there's only one right dose or no such thing as a wrong dose. Or they simply don't know the dose because it's in whole mushroom form. And so they just take whatever they're told and then wait to see what happens.

These are where the risk comparison between exercise and psilocybin breaks down, because if you do make a mistake, you cannot abort the process as easily as you can with exercise. Once you've taken it, you're in for the ride.

But that's quite different from "it messes with your brain".

New comment by justinpowers in "Psilocybin microdosers demonstrate improvements in mood and mental health"

justinpowers — Sat, 02 Jul 2022 02:20:49 +0000

And thus exercise “messes” with your brain as well. For consistency, you should probably steer clear of that too.

New comment by justinpowers in "Human-specific gene increases primate neocortex in the fetal marmoset"

justinpowers — Tue, 28 Jun 2022 19:24:35 +0000

> Biofeedback research in the 60's and 70's seemed to show that you could learn to communicate with your own tissues down to individual cells.

Trying to find more on this. Do you have a link or a good search term to point me in the right direction? (Specifically regarding affecting individual cells; brain state biofeedback overwhelms the search results)

New comment by justinpowers in "Wild turtles age slowly, and some basically don’t age at all"

justinpowers — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 19:34:28 +0000

Resistance won’t be needed if you name it 'Ohm'.

New comment by justinpowers in "The most livable cities"

justinpowers — Sat, 25 Jun 2022 18:22:54 +0000

Most “walkability” scores either directly or indirectly account for crime. For instance, residents rate walkability and are specifically asked to consider crime and safety. Or, conversely, walkability is measured based on the number of actual walkers and the number of walk-accessible amenities in a given area.

High crime areas would naturally have fewer walkers and fewer amenities.

I can’t speak to Baltimore, but in Chicago, crime and scarcity of amenities go hand-in-hand. I can’t think of a single pedestrian-focused area that has both amenities and a significant crime problem (one must understand that Chicago crime is not nearly as prevalent or evenly dispersed as the media and non-Chicagoans enjoy imagining).

New comment by justinpowers in "Sex is going out of fashion?"

justinpowers — Tue, 21 Jun 2022 12:42:18 +0000

If you became that fly, you’d soon wish to be squashed rather than listen to adolescent chitchat.

New comment by justinpowers in "We regret to inform you that your choice of Deathday is no longer available"

justinpowers — Sat, 18 Jun 2022 18:47:49 +0000

Nah, you can’t subscribe to death. But…long, deep and recurring sleeps on the other hand…only to be jolted awake for another arduous day of boring existence until you pay the meter to be put back to sleep. Now that’s a profit stream

New comment by justinpowers in "The Nature of the Firm (1937)"

justinpowers — Fri, 13 May 2022 22:02:49 +0000

This is very interesting. Similar to a path I almost went down with some partners, but it fizzled due to too many unknowns and lack of energy to research them. Would you be willing to expound on your arrangement? Either here or privately. In particular…

What legal structure are you each using? sole proprietorships, llcs, s-corps? (Assuming you’re US based)

Are there any tax benefits/costs to this arrangement?

Has the government hassled you regarding the arrangement? (It sounds like it has, but…how exactly and how did you respond?)

Have counterparties hassled you or been scared off? Do they even “know” of the arrangement?

Are there significant legal/transaction costs between the three of you? If not, is that simply because you have strong trust in each other?