Hacker News: kdamica

New comment by kdamica in "92 percent of US adults are not going to the doctor – too expensive"

kdamica — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 20:29:43 +0000

Given that 20% of Americans have a net worth above $1M, all of the stats in this article seem way too high.

For example, it says that 85% of Americans have medical debt. I probably owe a copay or two that gets lost in the mail and I eventually pay. Do I count in that 85%?

New comment by kdamica in "China sentences official to death for taking $325M in bribes"

kdamica — Tue, 07 Jul 2026 19:04:57 +0000

Doesn't hold a candle to the scale of Heshen's crimes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heshen

New comment by kdamica in "Phantasy Star IV – 1993 Developer Interviews"

kdamica — Wed, 27 May 2026 06:19:16 +0000

My favorite thing about 3 is that the soundtrack has tracks based on the number of characters in your party. Gain a character? Suddenly the music is richer. Lose someone? The music sounds more lonely.

Truly underrated game.

New comment by kdamica in "We haven't seen the worst of what gambling and prediction markets will do"

kdamica — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 21:08:48 +0000

I agree that this is bad but the libertarian in me says "the market will resolve this because who in their right mind would be a counterparty to these bets knowing that there is so much insider trading?". But then again, many people are not in their right mind.

New comment by kdamica in "EQT eyes potential $6B sale of Linux pioneer SUSE, sources say"

kdamica — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 05:29:05 +0000

What does ‘enterprise Linux’ actually mean? Not asking snarkily; I’m curious what the main differences are between this and other Linux distros. Is it mostly about getting good tech support?

New comment by kdamica in "We saved $500k per year by rolling our own "S3""

kdamica — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 05:09:56 +0000

We've used an offline Infant Optics baby camera for three kids and have never wished for any of the smart features that online cameras offer. You really just want to know whether they are asleep and when they are crying. I just don't see a good use case for recording all that video for most kids. (I'm sure there are special needs situations where it is helpful)

New comment by kdamica in "Nobody’s buying homes, nobody’s switching jobs, America’s mobility is stalling"

kdamica — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 03:34:13 +0000

I know that 3% interest rates are never coming back and that’s exactly why I’ll probably never move again.

New comment by kdamica in "The case for having roommates even when you can afford to live alone"

kdamica — Sat, 02 Aug 2025 15:37:05 +0000

Especially in high cost areas like NY or SF, it’s completely normal for adults, even highly successful ones, to have roommates. I personally know plenty of men who had roommates up until they moved in with the person they would end up marrying.

New comment by kdamica in "Australia widens teen social media ban to YouTube, scraps exemption"

kdamica — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 09:16:52 +0000

Have you tried creating a YouTube Kids profile? What you’re describing sounds like what they already have. It is not the default but there is a setting that allows you to create a list of allowed channels. The setting is called “Approved Content Only”.

FDA Authorizes Juul E-Cigarettes

kdamica — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 14:59:11 +0000

Article URL: https://www.wsj.com/business/fda-authorizes-juul-e-cigarettes-6ad37963

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44594140

Points: 26

# Comments: 94

New comment by kdamica in "Vera C. Rubin Observatory first images"

kdamica — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 21:17:35 +0000

My God, it's full of stars

New comment by kdamica in "P-Hacking in Startups"

kdamica — Sun, 22 Jun 2025 03:50:47 +0000

Hard disagree with this. Unlike medical experiments, the cost of being wrong startup experiments is very low: you thought there was a small effect and there was none. It’s usually just a matter of pushing one variant vs another and moving on.

There are certainly scenarios where more rigor is appropriate, but usually those come from trying to figure out why you’re seeing a certain effect and how that should affect your overall company strategy.

My advice for startups is to run lots of experiments, do bad statistics, and know that you’re going to have some false positives so that you don’t take every result as gospel.

New comment by kdamica in "4-7-8 Breathing"

kdamica — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 21:19:08 +0000

You can definitely pass out but that's why you don't do it standing up or driving. And of course if you're doing ice baths there are plenty of ways to screw that up.

But overall if you're laying down doing wim hof breathing, I'd say no.

And of course individuals might have circumstances or conditions that do make it dangerous. They always tell you not to do it if you're pregnant, for example.

New comment by kdamica in "4-7-8 Breathing"

kdamica — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 21:17:17 +0000

The most outlandish thing I can remember was about chewing hard gum to fix your teeth, which seems kind of crazy but could be true. I don't remember breathing being posited as a cure to everything, and I also remember plenty of discussion of various studies. It seems quite believable to me that improper breathing causes all sorts of problems. It's possible I'm too credulous, or that you're too incredulous. Who's to say.

New comment by kdamica in "4-7-8 Breathing"

kdamica — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 17:59:18 +0000

I also do not find breathwork relaxing, and it's not always meant to be. The Wim Hof method in particular will definitely amp you up and cause some strange feelings. But if you are really having a bad time with it and want to continue, just find some interval that works for you. There is no one right answer for how to do this.

On a personal note, I realized through breathwork that I was taking deep breaths incorrectly for most of my life. Maybe it's my anatomy, but when I take a deep, fast breath, my nostrils constrict and limit the airflow. It was a real breakthrough for me when I learned to focus on my diaphram while flaring my nostrils. The breaths I can take are so much more satisfying.

New comment by kdamica in "4-7-8 Breathing"

kdamica — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 17:22:52 +0000

There are lots of different ways to do this. The important thing for anyone wanting to get started is just to get started and not get hung up on which one you're doing. Box breathing, Wim Hof method, etc, are all great and any breathwork is better than none.

For an intro to the topic, James Nestor's Breath is excellent.

New comment by kdamica in "Consider Knitting"

kdamica — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 16:56:52 +0000

This is much less complex but I'm a 40 year old guy who recently took up sock darning. I'm not very good at it yet but the repairs are good enough and it's nice not to throw out otherwise good socks.

Create a React and Flask Project in 2025

kdamica — Sat, 31 May 2025 21:28:33 +0000

Article URL: https://blog.miguelgrinberg.com/post/create-a-react-flask-project-in-2025

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44147029

Points: 6

# Comments: 0

New comment by kdamica in "Social media platforms: what's wrong, and what's next"

kdamica — Thu, 22 May 2025 16:58:40 +0000

The biggest issue is that most people don't want social media. They want TV

New comment by kdamica in "Thoughts on thinking"

kdamica — Fri, 16 May 2025 19:35:51 +0000

Wow, one day after this post: https://blog.ayjay.org/two-quotations-on-the-brief-dream-of-...