Hacker News: profdevloper

New comment by profdevloper in "New US homeownership measure puts people first"

profdevloper — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 17:53:50 +0000

I think immigration from developing nations does raise the standard of living for the immigrant (e.g. India), but not for the host nation -- it's called "regression to the mean". As far as GDP goes, I always think of this:

> Two economists are walking in a forest when they Come across a pile of shit.

> The first economist says to the other "Ill pay you $100 to eat that pile of shit." The second economist takes the $100 and eats the pile of shit.

> They continue walking until they come across a second pile of shit. The second economist turns to the first and says "l pay you $100 to eat that pile of shit." The first economist takes the $100 and eats a pile of shit.

> Walking a little more, the first economist looks at the second and says, "You know, I gave you $100 to eat shit, then you gave me back the same $100 to eat shit. can't help but feel like we both just ate shit for nothing." "That's not true", responded the second economist. "We increased the GDP by $200!"

New comment by profdevloper in "New US homeownership measure puts people first"

profdevloper — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 17:47:42 +0000

If there is reduced demand for new housing due to increased inventory, there's less of a demand on construction for new housing. The expenses involved in new builds is both labor and building codes/restrictions - construction firms undercut Americans by hiring foreign labor that they can pay under the table.

I would much prefer Americans pay a premium for skilled American labor and choose to live in more modestly-sized homes.

New comment by profdevloper in "New US homeownership measure puts people first"

profdevloper — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 16:22:58 +0000

Why is immigration always absent from these discussions on HN? the US has absorbed millions of people through immigration (both legal and illegal) which puts pressure on housing supply which drives up prices since supply is relatively inelastic. Enforcement of immigration policy would increase housing supply without needing to build more capacity in the short term and would lower prices.

New comment by profdevloper in "Kaiser nurses say AI, surveillance are making their jobs and patient care worse"

profdevloper — Sat, 18 Jul 2026 00:32:04 +0000

Just think -- with the increased efficiency, they will have more time for Tik Tok dances.

New comment by profdevloper in "Quebec town recognizes trees as living beings with rights"

profdevloper — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 18:43:36 +0000

Nice -- now can they do fetuses?

New comment by profdevloper in "FPS.cob: A first person shooter in COBOL"

profdevloper — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 19:29:42 +0000

Wait until you find out about Sysco

New comment by profdevloper in "ICE denies having a protester database. A letter to Congress sheds more light"

profdevloper — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 15:35:11 +0000

One thing not debatable -- the guy is dead. Whatever he was doing there, hope it was worth it.

New comment by profdevloper in "ICE denies having a protester database. A letter to Congress sheds more light"

profdevloper — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 20:46:59 +0000

Actually seems like it was 2 weeks before the incident -- I stand corrected. Looks like he was in a shoving match with people (possible LEO) before he was tackled and the firearm discharged.

New comment by profdevloper in "ICE denies having a protester database. A letter to Congress sheds more light"

profdevloper — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 18:55:32 +0000

Guilty until proven innocent

New comment by profdevloper in "ICE denies having a protester database. A letter to Congress sheds more light"

profdevloper — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 18:54:56 +0000

Video footage of him attempting to smash taillights of LEO vehicles

New comment by profdevloper in "ICE denies having a protester database. A letter to Congress sheds more light"

profdevloper — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 18:29:19 +0000

No, they don't, but real life is messy and the good guy doesn't always win. When you intentionally put yourself in a chaotic situation, bad things can happen. It's unclear if deadly force was justified in either the Good or Pretti cases, but that's for the courts to decide -- they were certainly avoidable and needless tragedies.

New comment by profdevloper in "CEOs who think AI replaces their employees are just bad CEOs"

profdevloper — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 01:50:06 +0000

Sociopathy is a valuable skill in today's competitive marketplace.

New comment by profdevloper in "Why are so many young people getting cancer?"

profdevloper — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 05:31:59 +0000

Late 80's / early 90's was the war on fat, so companies introduced "low fat" versions of their products that replaced fat with sugar

New comment by profdevloper in "India's surprise baby bust"

profdevloper — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 18:35:06 +0000

Who's 'we' in this context? USA? China? Developing nations?

New comment by profdevloper in "The real cost of owning a home"

profdevloper — Tue, 26 May 2026 19:08:50 +0000

That's technically still true according to the tax laws here, but Trump raised the standard deduction during his first term in office so where I previously took an itemized deduction and claimed my mortgage interest from my taxable income, it's now more beneficial for my (basic) tax situation to claim the standard deduction. I appreciate the simplicity, but I'm no longer getting a tax benefit for home ownership.

New comment by profdevloper in "Why most product tours get skipped"

profdevloper — Wed, 06 May 2026 02:31:57 +0000

Sure it may be the engineers implementing product tours, but I don't think they're the ones pushing for them.

New comment by profdevloper in "Data center boom strains Texas homebuilders' need for electricians"

profdevloper — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 16:15:32 +0000

Sounds like he needs to be out of business

New comment by profdevloper in "How Much Caffeine in Coffee Cup?"

profdevloper — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 18:00:50 +0000

Never enough

New comment by profdevloper in "Edit store price tags using Flipper Zero"

profdevloper — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 22:11:46 +0000

Depends on the neighborhood

New comment by profdevloper in "Netflix Prices Went Up Again – I Bought a DVD Player Instead"

profdevloper — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 20:44:02 +0000

Using MakeMKV to digitize these skips these intro screens by default (< 120 seconds), so I don't see them.