Hacker News: souprock

New comment by souprock in "Miami Building Collapse Could Profoundly Change Engineering"

souprock — Thu, 01 Jul 2021 04:59:21 +0000

It doesn't help much to over engineer. Suppose we design the buildings to last 200 years. After 200 years, they start collapsing at the same rate as the rate of construction. If we built a new one every day, then after 200 years we'd have a new collapse every day.

New comment by souprock in "We can’t beat the climate crisis without rethinking land use"

souprock — Fri, 25 Jun 2021 08:08:39 +0000

This is way off target: "the kinds of neighborhoods that permanently reduce total driving"

People change jobs without changing where they live. It won't matter what kind of neighborhood a person lives in if the person still commutes a long distance.

Transaction costs are high. For a dense city, moving to a different apartment means losing rent control. Elsewhere, the process of selling and buying a house will eat up about 10% the value of the house. Switching kids to different school districts is often unacceptable.

The typical modern two-income household makes this far worse. Moving close to one employer just means moving away from the other employer. Cutting one person's commute just lengthens the other person's commute. Why bother?

New comment by souprock in "Ask HN: How do you watch over your kids digital gadgets? (Parental Control)"

souprock — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 07:59:01 +0000

My situation is far worse. The instructor assigns video that is on YouTube, but the kid would rather watch a different video. The assigned video is boring. It's more fun to watch a normal popular video.

So blocking YouTube won't work, yet most of YouTube needs to be blocked.

New comment by souprock in "Ask HN: How do you watch over your kids digital gadgets? (Parental Control)"

souprock — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 07:54:58 +0000

So it blocks "Malware and Adult Content", but that has never caused trouble in my family. What about the online games that distract from schoolwork, chores, and sleep? YouTube is full of stupid videos. You can even find games on Khan Academy!

New comment by souprock in "Fewer young men are in the labor force, more are living at home"

souprock — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 00:02:23 +0000

It seems like you're not really starting adult life, and you're running out of years to do so. I started my 30's with 3 kids already, and ended my 30's with 9 kids. I bought a house. That house is my responsibility, without even an HOA. I don't have to ask mom for anything. I don't need parental permission. I got to pick the car I wanted to buy. If I feel like painting the house cyan or parking my car on the lawn, I can do so.

New comment by souprock in "Fewer young men are in the labor force, more are living at home"

souprock — Sun, 13 Jun 2021 23:42:24 +0000

I'm trying to stomp out my son's video game addiction right now. The trouble is that online classes require a web browser, and there are lots of web games.

New comment by souprock in "Photographer captures 'odd but exciting' crow behaviour known as anting"

souprock — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 00:38:33 +0000

I knew a real dentist named Rex Pain. Rex means King. He was the king of pain.

New comment by souprock in "Immediate skin-to-skin contact with unstable newborns improves survival chances"

souprock — Sat, 05 Jun 2021 20:05:41 +0000

The error here: it's not problems arising from capitalism

You complained that "only so many are built in any given geographic area", and I pointed out that this is for a very non-capitalist reason. Regulation prohibits opening new hospitals.

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

New comment by souprock in "In Praise of the Disassembler"

souprock — Sat, 05 Jun 2021 19:50:59 +0000

I have those tools, and I rarely bother with the C they can generate. Plain disassembly isn't so great either. Usually IDA's graph view is the most productive. (it looks like a flow chart made from chunks of assembly code) I really wish Ghidra had a usable graph view; the graph view in Ghidra is just awful.

I know somebody else who sticks to the plain assembly listing view. People have their preferences.

New comment by souprock in "The declining U.S. birthrate has implications beyond Social Security"

souprock — Thu, 03 Jun 2021 19:56:20 +0000

Places that provide childcare seem to have fewer children. There is a reasonable mechanism of action: without that childcare, families with children quickly give up on having two incomes, and thus the extra children are less of a burden. Once you entirely give up on a career, the problem of career impact for an additional child is gone.

It's not as expensive as you think. I'm no 1%er, yet I have a dozen kids. Dual enrollment provides a nearly-free AA degree, knocking 2 years of a BS degree and eliminating all the general education requirements. With a spacing of 2 years from kid to kid, it's usually only one kid in college at a time. That assumes no scholarships.

New comment by souprock in "When six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months (2020)"

souprock — Thu, 03 Jun 2021 19:39:34 +0000

You can find your own meaning, but you should be honest about the fact that it is your own meaning.

English teachers are demanding "correct" interpretation that has nothing to do with what the author intended. It's bullshit, and they need to admit that. It's also squeezing very important topics out of the schedule, such as the teaching of proper grammar and other things needed for non-literary writing in a professional career.

New comment by souprock in "Bring back the station wagon"

souprock — Thu, 03 Jun 2021 05:31:04 +0000

As a kid I rode around in a bigger station wagon, the Mercury Montego, which was 223.1 in (5,667 mm).

Now I drive a Ford E350 that is 236.7 in (6,012 mm). It's 3.45 feet longer than your Outback. I think it's the smallest car that will hold my family. It looks like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ford_E-Series_wagon.jpg

New comment by souprock in "Bring back the station wagon"

souprock — Thu, 03 Jun 2021 05:09:18 +0000

I bought a $40k Ascent with 8 seats. It's decent.

I'm not a fan of the driver assist nonsense. That stuff is dangerous. It actually yanks on the steering wheel, but of course it has no clue about the real world (no strong AI here) and obviously impedes safe control of the vehicle. Fortunately there is a way to turn that nonsense off. It probably still phones home with photos, GPS, and more.

It does have decent performance, particularly on slippery surfaces. To beat the Ascent you'd probably have to pay more or give up that 8th seat.

New comment by souprock in "When six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months (2020)"

souprock — Thu, 03 Jun 2021 03:37:39 +0000

We now have proof that it really is "going far beyond the author's intention". Texas licensed a poem for a standardized test. The poem's author was still alive, and was unable to "correctly" answer test questions about the meaning of the poem.

So yes, the English teachers really are spouting nonsense, and we have proof.

New comment by souprock in "Amazon backs marijuana legalization, drops weed testing for some jobs"

souprock — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 05:53:51 +0000

It varies. I've seen software engineering with a security clearance that didn't require a drug test. Of course, all the friends of your friends were going to be interviewed in person, and they'd be asked about your behavior regarding drugs and more.

New comment by souprock in "Avoid buying in HOA neighborhoods (2014)"

souprock — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 02:23:00 +0000

The way to beat your fence restriction is to make a fence-like installation of solar panels. There are laws to stop HOAs from blocking solar panels. This is also a great trick to get past zoning restrictions on fence height. It's not a fence, it's solar.

New comment by souprock in "Avoid buying in HOA neighborhoods (2014)"

souprock — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 02:12:29 +0000

You can't do that kind of thing with a will. If we ban that for wills, it seems equally proper to ban it for pieces of property.

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

New comment by souprock in "Can Electronics made of COTS components work at cryogenic temperatures? (2020)"

souprock — Mon, 31 May 2021 06:13:25 +0000

25C is something you set your thermostat to at home. Well, it would be 77F, which is the same.

(note: Florida Man Sets Thermostat)

New comment by souprock in "Abolish High School (2015)"

souprock — Sun, 30 May 2021 06:43:48 +0000

It really is high school 2.0, as you can tell by the classes offered. There are classes that are below what is traditional for high school, but college credit is given. You can get college credit for the very first introductory algebra class. That's honors 7th grade, or regular 9th grade. About the same applies for English composition and science.

It's not just older people who wish to avoid being in classes with immature young people. The mature young people are also trying to get away from the awfulness.

New comment by souprock in "Abolish High School (2015)"

souprock — Sun, 30 May 2021 04:04:21 +0000

I sent two of my kids to community college at 13. The only immaturity problem was that one of the two was a slacker about getting assignments done, but older people at the school also had that issue often enough. The other kid now has a 4.0 GPA on 48 credits, and you'd have never guessed she wasn't an adult.