Hacker News: oatmeal1

New comment by oatmeal1 in "Minnesota becomes first state to ban prediction markets"

oatmeal1 — Tue, 19 May 2026 23:30:45 +0000

If Congress intended for the CFTC to regulate sports betting, it would have had that language in the act that originated the agency. It's telling that only recently the CFTC has discovered such authority. No previous leadership of the CFTC read the act to mean what the current leadership thinks it means.

New comment by oatmeal1 in "AISLE Discovers 38 CVEs in OpenEMR Healthcare Software"

oatmeal1 — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 16:56:31 +0000

Or voting machines.

New comment by oatmeal1 in "Meta tells staff it will cut 10% of jobs"

oatmeal1 — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 20:34:42 +0000

America is rich, but that money is spent on new problems we invented for ourselves. We subsidize farmers growing unhealthy foods, then subsidize buying those unhealthy foods through food stamps. Then we subsidize healthcare to address the consequences of extra obesity.

Single-use zoning makes it illegal to build the places people want to go within walking distance of where they live, so we spend trillions over decades building car infrastructure to allow people to commute. Of course the consequences of commuting by car is more pollution and less exercise, again causing health issues.

New comment by oatmeal1 in "New study compares growing corn for energy to solar production"

oatmeal1 — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 20:29:26 +0000

If food security were a motivating factor in policy, we would be diversifying away from corn, because drought and aquifer depletion are threatening the ability to continue to grow it.

New comment by oatmeal1 in "California has more money than projected after admin miscalculated state budget"

oatmeal1 — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 01:11:19 +0000

> Why would better tools be expected to do enable teachers to do that for more students at a time?

Khan Academy showed that one great teacher distributed to millions does that pretty well. It doesn't make sense for every teacher in the country (the worst and the best) to create their own syllabus and teach the same thing over and over again.

New comment by oatmeal1 in "California has more money than projected after admin miscalculated state budget"

oatmeal1 — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 22:26:30 +0000

The education system seems one of the only places where vastly improving technology over the past 30 years has not translated to cost savings or improved outcomes.

New comment by oatmeal1 in "The insider trading suspicions looming over Trump's presidency"

oatmeal1 — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 02:55:52 +0000

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing"

New comment by oatmeal1 in "The insider trading suspicions looming over Trump's presidency"

oatmeal1 — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 02:52:57 +0000

Has not happened after other catastrophic administrations. Each party likes the power when they get hold of it.

New comment by oatmeal1 in "Molotov cocktail is hurled at home of Sam Altman"

oatmeal1 — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 21:56:01 +0000

People are okay with violence when democratic means (if first past the post even counts) do not solve their problems.

New comment by oatmeal1 in "Gender Equality and Work"

oatmeal1 — Sun, 05 Apr 2026 18:46:29 +0000

The difference in level of concern between the gender pay gap and the gender death gap at work is stark.

New comment by oatmeal1 in "OpenClaw is a security nightmare dressed up as a daydream"

oatmeal1 — Sun, 22 Mar 2026 21:51:52 +0000

> It will never forget to remind you of something.

Software isn't as faultless as you suggest. The default alarm app on my phone occasionally fails to go off (not an issue with Silent Mode or DND).

> The only people busy enough to warrant an actual human doing that stuff are executives.

Life is short. It is absolutely worthwhile to spend as little time doing trivial work if possible, and avoid decision fatigue on unimportant decisions. We are nowhere close to the usefulness of a secretary in our devices.

New comment by oatmeal1 in "The Los Angeles Aqueduct Is Wild"

oatmeal1 — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 22:49:45 +0000

The grand projects the US has embarked on have been completed using unethical means and without regard for real environmental consequences.

New comment by oatmeal1 in "The United States and Israel have launched a major attack on Iran"

oatmeal1 — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 17:35:18 +0000

40 years is an interesting cutoff of where to start history. Did Iran show any aggression to the USA before the Coup d'etat organized by the CIA and MI6?

New comment by oatmeal1 in "Anthropic drops flagship safety pledge"

oatmeal1 — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 17:18:14 +0000

90% of the people cancer kills are over 50. Old people who start believing everything they see on Facebook, but continue voting, with even greater confidence in their opinions. Old people who voted in Trump. Curing cancer would be just about the worst thing AI could do.

New comment by oatmeal1 in "Bus stop balancing is fast, cheap, and effective"

oatmeal1 — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 21:27:46 +0000

Marginal improvements do matter, because any improvement in usage you get from slightly improved service gets more people invested in making the bigger, more important changes done.

New comment by oatmeal1 in "I want to wash my car. The car wash is 50 meters away. Should I walk or drive?"

oatmeal1 — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 17:27:29 +0000

If the model assumed the car to be cleaned was already at the car wash, it should identify the reason to walk is that if you drive, the extra car you take to get to the car wash will now be stuck there requiring redundant walking.

New comment by oatmeal1 in "EU bans the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear"

oatmeal1 — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 19:02:35 +0000

It's a great idea, but this seems incredibly hard to enforce. Shipments sometimes go missing, products can be damaged "unintentionally", etc. I hope they can achieve what they intend.

New comment by oatmeal1 in "The TSA's New $45 Fee to Fly Without ID Is Illegal"

oatmeal1 — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 02:58:03 +0000

Let's be honest, that just puts you on the extra scrutiny list going forward

New comment by oatmeal1 in "MRI scans show exercise can make the brain look younger"

oatmeal1 — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 00:39:51 +0000

Exercise doesn't suck, land use policies generally just don't prioritize good places for the fun kinds of exercise.

New comment by oatmeal1 in "California is free of drought for the first time in 25 years"

oatmeal1 — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 00:48:01 +0000

The problem isn't storage capacity. It's wasteful consumption growing water-intensive crops in the desert.