Hacker News: zaphod12

New comment by zaphod12 in "Confidential submission of draft S-1 to the SEC"

zaphod12 — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 13:49:06 +0000

Yeah that started a week ago....

New comment by zaphod12 in "New York to tax luxury second homes in NYC"

zaphod12 — Mon, 18 May 2026 20:10:35 +0000

NYS already has tax breaks for one's primary residence which varies by income and a tax on the sale of homes >$1Mil. Given how entrenched those are, I have trouble imagining a way in which this new tax is incongruous with existing rules.

New comment by zaphod12 in "Ensu – Ente’s Local LLM app"

zaphod12 — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 14:17:59 +0000

if it helps, I've used ente for a year and I really like it.

New comment by zaphod12 in "Google boss says AI investment boom has 'elements of irrationality'"

zaphod12 — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 16:44:43 +0000

your point isn't necessarily wrong, but using an NYPL overview of tenements which all pre-date WWII to exemplify anything about the 1960s in NYC is disingenuous.

New comment by zaphod12 in "Evaluating the impact of AI on the labor market: Current state of affairs"

zaphod12 — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 20:59:48 +0000

One spot I really find this surprising is call center - but maybe majority of those folks are outside of the US or were reassigned

New comment by zaphod12 in "The FTC puts off enforcing its 'click-to-cancel' rule"

zaphod12 — Mon, 12 May 2025 19:00:50 +0000

most credit cards allow you to create a temporary card number. Create one, set it to be the billing method, and then revoke it. crazy that we need to resort to that sort of thing, but it does work!

New comment by zaphod12 in "Dropbox announces 20% global workforce reduction"

zaphod12 — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 20:43:57 +0000

I think a lot of people misunderstand the statement 'I take responsibility.' They are not actually taking responsibility for the company's situation. They are owning the decision to make these layoffs.

New comment by zaphod12 in "Intel is trucking a 916k-pound 'Super Load' across Ohio to its new fab"

zaphod12 — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 15:21:16 +0000

semiconductor manufacturing is highly skilled - ie the folks over seas were already well paid. It was a lot more about approvals, permissions, etc, than wages with this manufacturing area. It shouldn't have a huge impact.

New comment by zaphod12 in "Deaf girl is cured in world first gene therapy trial"

zaphod12 — Thu, 09 May 2024 22:25:26 +0000

I can assure you that regeneron pays very well, including significant equity and has absolutely fantastic benefits. Software developers probably get more at door dash (it isn't bad by any means, but they aren't "the talent" at regeneron after all), but folks involved in the science and trials are doing very well.

New comment by zaphod12 in "Man who mass-extorted psychotherapy patients gets six years"

zaphod12 — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 16:55:49 +0000

Not looking to argue directly about the punishment, but I think it's quite clear that this individuals is ALREADY a hardened, bitter criminal with hacking skills and needs no assistance on that score.

New comment by zaphod12 in "The Internet Archive's last-ditch effort to save itself"

zaphod12 — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 18:26:22 +0000

I suspect this is likely a violation of agreements, but regardless it absolutely does not produce a readable ebook

New comment by zaphod12 in "Solar is beginning to sunset natural gas use in Texas"

zaphod12 — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 00:14:16 +0000

That's what is so frustrating about people who oppose renewables - it's super simple capitalism at work. Once prices came down enough, why would you want to have to PAY for the fuel your power plant uses?! Install it and let it go!

This is also what's killed coal so effectively - why would any company want to provide all of those good paying jobs when they just don't have to! (this pertains to NG and other fuels, too - they are just so much less human intensive to extract once the infrastructure is established)

New comment by zaphod12 in "Global cancer cases will jump 77% by 2050, WHO report estimates"

zaphod12 — Sat, 03 Feb 2024 20:48:45 +0000

Perhaps some, but only a small amount... current targets are hitting between 8.4-9.5 billion by 2050 (some estimates are we'd have already hit peak and be going down)! At about 8 billion today, we're talking between a 5% and an 18ish% increase. Either way much less than the increase in cancer diagnosis incidence.

New comment by zaphod12 in "Read the Chronicles of Narnia in Publication Order (2018)"

zaphod12 — Mon, 01 Jan 2024 03:32:19 +0000

First mention of Hornblower I've ever come across on this forum! Read the whole series as a kiddo/tween in chronological order (still remember how freaking disappointing Hornblower during the crisis was as someone who had no idea it was unfinished..). First few books took a while to get through and I figured I was too young but maybe they just weren't that enthralling!

New comment by zaphod12 in "Chamberlain blocks smart garage door opener from working with smart homes"

zaphod12 — Wed, 08 Nov 2023 14:48:48 +0000

bought a MyQ - tossed it in the trash after 2 months. Even 2 years ago it was clearly designed as a tie in for Amazon Key, which i do not want.

Bought a Tailwind - it's glorious. No batteries, tons of integrations, the bluetooth+android to open/close automatically is crazy solid (doesn't work with ios sadly, but you can buy a fob).

New comment by zaphod12 in "TikTok is changing the way books are recommended and sold"

zaphod12 — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 20:27:19 +0000

hmm, I know people brag about books they haven't actually read, but Book #3 of the Atlas Series is not out until January. (kidding, I assume it's a typo)

Not actually on Booktok myself, but if it's pushing people towards R.F. Kuang and Susanna Clark then it's a-ok by me - read the Poppy War series while you wait for The Atlas Complex.

New comment by zaphod12 in "12 years since Saab’s bankruptcy: Secret NEVS electric cars revealed"

zaphod12 — Fri, 26 May 2023 16:33:00 +0000

Devastatingly, mine is stuck and i cannot unstick it! Thankfully the 2005 9-3 has another cup holder, but i miss the pop out.

New comment by zaphod12 in "America will soon see a wave of bank mergers?"

zaphod12 — Tue, 02 May 2023 17:33:37 +0000

Where did you get these numbers? It's wrong and presents a misleading picture of a 10x implosion in 2008. There were never even close to 31k banks in the USA. It peaked at about 14k back in the '80s and has been going down ever since. It did drop precipitously after the 2008 crises, going from around 7K banks to today around 4500 banks, but this is a very far cry from 31k to 3k.

https://banks.data.fdic.gov/explore/historical?displayFields...

New comment by zaphod12 in "I wanted a beautiful computer and couldn't find one, so I made my own"

zaphod12 — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 20:48:33 +0000

Overall this is a cool project. Not personally my favorite aesthetic, but super cool work.

I take issue with his characterization of japanese vs. western homes, though. Western homes are typically expected to be renovated over and over and last many many decades. Though the most modern ones may not last you 100, ask any buyer and they'll say they expect it to appreciate in value, be renovated and resold to someone else with no clear end date.

Most homes in japan depreciate and are torn down in 20-30 years. Buyers want new homes. https://www.archdaily.com/980830/built-to-not-last-the-japan...

yeah it doesn't jibe with a lot of folk's expectations...

New comment by zaphod12 in "Ask HN: Has anyone started over outside of tech?"

zaphod12 — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 15:49:30 +0000

hold up...you can't just say 'FAA grounded me for life' without sharing something about that story! I've never heard of anything like it...

Going straight to helicopters without flying airplanes first is not a typical path.