Hacker News: sk2020

New comment by sk2020 in "High schoolers are training to drive 18-wheelers amid shortage of truck drivers"

sk2020 — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 12:25:11 +0000

Most rental agencies won’t let anyone under 25 rent a vehicle. I can’t imagine trying to insure an 18 year old for a $100,000+ truck and it’s cargo.

New comment by sk2020 in "I get abuse and threats online – why can't it be stopped?"

sk2020 — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 17:27:58 +0000

Facebook causes terrorism, murder, and rape? What evidence was the basis of that conclusion?

I’m guessing the solution is a global network of unaccountable mandarins to institute a global Clockwork Orange style brainwashing campaign targeting people with the audacity of having bad opinions? In the populations where this has been implemented, say North Korea, China, Cambodia, Russia and friends, were the populations worse or better for the experience?

New comment by sk2020 in "Code CAD – Use code to create CAD models"

sk2020 — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 17:10:11 +0000

Programmatically generating geometry is very cool, but I don’t know of anyone doing real work with it. OpenSCAD is probably the best power-hobbyist software I know of for this purpose. AutoDesk seems to be trying this approach with DyanamoBIM, which I’m excited to experiment with (I just don’t get visual programming though).

Personally, I would never consider a web-based software for professional use. An opaque profit model makes me think you’re looting my intellectual property to resell, mining crypto with obfuscated JS or WASM, or you’re snatching up market share to get bought by Google who will just kill the service and leave me hanging.

There’s a lot of room for better software in AEC but CAD is pretty robust and very affordable at this point.

New comment by sk2020 in "The booming business of knitting together the world’s electricity grids"

sk2020 — Sun, 17 Oct 2021 15:00:25 +0000

If there are disputes about consumption and production across national boundaries, who resolves that? Different parts of the world don’t even have similar objectives within the energy market. I also think an unaccountable international power utility that can control if I survive the winter or not is a terrible idea.

New comment by sk2020 in "Covid super-immunity: one of the pandemic’s great puzzles"

sk2020 — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 11:55:36 +0000

For 20-30-somethings that probably read a pop-dev news aggregator? Probably not. Or are most of us in our 80s? There is also substantial variation in reported IFR between political jurisdictions per the CDC (1-9% I think). Seroprevalence based IFR estimates tend to be consistent across national boundaries (and is a much lower number), but I wouldn’t make so bold as to tell you to believe research studies over political appointees at the CDC.

New comment by sk2020 in "Covid super-immunity: one of the pandemic’s great puzzles"

sk2020 — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 02:26:17 +0000

I don’t think there are many wheel guns that would give you 249,999/250,000 odds of survival. The number of people killed or injured by mRNA treatments is also not zero.

New comment by sk2020 in "Covid super-immunity: one of the pandemic’s great puzzles"

sk2020 — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 02:20:53 +0000

Are populations with large majorities of people who’ve received 2-3 injections seeing total or near eradication of coronavirus? I’m not aware of any examples.

New comment by sk2020 in "Covid super-immunity: one of the pandemic’s great puzzles"

sk2020 — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 02:15:42 +0000

I think the hope is to market pharmaceutical products to people who do not currently see a benefit to them given their naturally acquired antibodies. Large quantities of product is expiring soon, and market share must be expanded as quickly as possible to avoid that cost.

New comment by sk2020 in "Climate Clock"

sk2020 — Wed, 13 Oct 2021 19:47:33 +0000

I’ll invest in some black and white Nikes. Will punch be served?

New comment by sk2020 in "The Venus Project"

sk2020 — Wed, 13 Oct 2021 19:37:23 +0000

You’re thinking about Peter the Great. The Czar. Also, if you think you can get credible reports from Pravda, about a country with Potemkin villages of all things, then I don’t think you’re looking very critically at that information.

New comment by sk2020 in "Don't give up on having kids because of climate change"

sk2020 — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 18:45:16 +0000

60 million people die of some cause every year. What is your threshold for global despotism to be an acceptable response?

New comment by sk2020 in "Covid lesson: trust the public with hard truths"

sk2020 — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 18:28:06 +0000

"How can we put a meter on it?"

-JP Morgan (he/him)

New comment by sk2020 in "Covid lesson: trust the public with hard truths"

sk2020 — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 18:13:44 +0000

There is a data indicating masks are not effect source control for respiratory illnesses.

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/5/19-0994_article

I think the single study that supported cloth face coverings of no particular standard of performance was a mechanistic study that depends on the belief that respiratory illness spread is a direct function of the distance water droplets of an arbitrary threshold size travel from a simulated sneeze. Which, of course, is so obviously true it needs no supporting evidence.

New comment by sk2020 in "2,050-year-old Roman tomb offers insights on ancient concrete resilience"

sk2020 — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 13:29:14 +0000

It seems like someone makes a “novel” discovery about Roman concrete every few months. I’m curious what the real reason for that is.

New comment by sk2020 in "2,050-year-old Roman tomb offers insights on ancient concrete resilience"

sk2020 — Tue, 12 Oct 2021 13:12:36 +0000

Regulation is going to be particular to your municipal or county government. Unless you’re in a major city, the permits desk will probably be approachable and will take the time to explain what you can and can’t do. They will probably entertain a variance unless you seem like you’re really out of your depth. They may be able to tell you about other bale construction in your area.

New comment by sk2020 in "Don't give up on having kids because of climate change"

sk2020 — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 13:19:29 +0000

> Nuclear bomb shelters were an irrational response to unjustified fears stoked by the media.

We need to have a talk about COVID-19…

New comment by sk2020 in "Coal Prices Rising Exponentially"

sk2020 — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 13:15:09 +0000

Well 20% of US uranium production capacity was sold for charitable donations to the benefit of a certain former Secretary of State. I’m not sure how much has been plundered during more recent administrations, but I wouldn’t count on anybody with real authority to do the right thing. Time to join team Visigoth.

New comment by sk2020 in "The American Bumblebee Has Vanished from Eight States"

sk2020 — Sun, 10 Oct 2021 22:51:51 +0000

Only about 16% of Maine has active agricultural operations. Or if you want to take out the guesswork, buy some downtown blight in some city, demolish it, vegetate the site and donate it to the municipal parks and recreation department.

New comment by sk2020 in "The American Bumblebee Has Vanished from Eight States"

sk2020 — Sun, 10 Oct 2021 14:10:43 +0000

Or maybe buy land, plant some clovers and stick some bee hives on it.

The pervasive attitude of dealing with problems real or imagined with “who can the state punish?” rather than “what can I do to can I fix this?” is disturbing.

New comment by sk2020 in "The American Bumblebee Has Vanished from Eight States"

sk2020 — Sun, 10 Oct 2021 14:06:45 +0000

Urbanites in their concrete jungles inflicting punishment on farmers for having destroyed bee habitat is so absurd on its face that it’s completely plausible.