thinkingtoilet (u/thinkingtoilet)

thinkingtoilet commented on Waymo granted permit to begin testing in New York City cnbc.com/2025/08/22/waymo... · Posted by u/achristmascarl

gibolt · 2 days ago

The real issue is all the current bad drivers. A requirement to start re-testing normal people in addition to the elderly would be a large benefit to society.

thinkingtoilet · 2 days ago

Everyone agrees to this, the problem is there needs to be a way for this to be done efficiently so it's not another regressive tax on poor people's time and money.

thinkingtoilet commented on What is going on right now? catskull.net/what-the-hel... · Posted by u/todsacerdoti

grey-area · 2 days ago

The heart of the article is this conclusion, which I think is correct from first-hand experience with these tools and teams trying to use them:

So what good are these tools? Do they have any value whatsoever?

Objectively, it would seem the answer is no.

thinkingtoilet · 2 days ago

The main benefit I've gotten from AI that I see no one talking about is it dramatically lessens the mental energy required to work on a side project after a long day of work. I code during the day, it's hard to find motivation to code at night. It's a lot easier to say "do this", have the AI generate shitty code, then say, "you duplicated X function, you over complicated Y, you have a bug at Z" then have it fix it. On a good day I get stuff done quicker, on an average day I don't think I do. However, I am getting more done because the it takes a huge chunk out of the mental load for me and requires significantly less motivation to get something done on my side project. I think that is worth it to me. That said, I am just about to ban my junior engineers from using it at work because I think it is detrimental to their growth.

thinkingtoilet commented on Margin debt surges to record high advisorperspectives.com/d... · Posted by u/pera

mamonster · 3 days ago

At IB you can get margin interest rates of like 6% I think? SP500 total return is like 9.5% already this year, 25 and 26% in 2024/2023. You get paid to borrow like crazy. Exactly why Dave Ramsey is the worst financial youtuber of the 10s: When rates are close to 0, you only need a 1% return to pay the carry. You should be borrowing like crazy.

thinkingtoilet · 3 days ago

>You should be borrowing like crazy.

Right up until the moment you shouldn't. And for utlra-wealthy people, corporations, and VC firms they can weather that storm. You can't.

thinkingtoilet commented on Privately-Owned Rail Cars amtrak.com/privately-owne... · Posted by u/jasoncartwright

bitmasher9 · 3 days ago

For me the whole point of flying is fast travel. Private even more so, because it operates on your schedule.

A Amtrak train is slower than driving.

thinkingtoilet · 3 days ago

It depends. I take the Amtrack from Albany to Chicago once a year or so because I hate flying. It's maybe an hour or two slower than driving and that's with a lot of time built in to the schedule for delays. The last time I took it We left Albany 45 minutes late and still made it on time to Chicago. Yes, delays happen, just like in traffic or at the air port, but I find the focus on delays when Amtrak comes up extremely over-stated. Perhaps it's just the routes I'm on.

thinkingtoilet commented on Privately-Owned Rail Cars amtrak.com/privately-owne... · Posted by u/jasoncartwright

nimbius · 3 days ago

China has more than 550 cities with high speed rail lines spanning over 40,000km. each with first class, toilets, and meal services.

Or...you can buy an entire rail car, hitch it to the haggard burro that is Amtrak and chug along at pony express speeds across the United States of nothingness until freight rail causes you to have to stop for 3 hours at a time as you do not have right of way.

Enjoy Batesland Nebraska at 20mph slower than the interstates posted speed limit.

who at Amtrak thought this was worth even mentioning?

thinkingtoilet · 3 days ago

If I was extremely wealthy I would ride around in my private rail car over flying 100% of the time.

thinkingtoilet commented on Porn censorship is going to destroy the internet mashable.com/article/age-... · Posted by u/Teever

rescripting · 5 days ago

Fair points, but the main difference with the state of 'modern' porn is that its accessible to young men during puberty (and earlier), via the internet.

Finding a Playboy magazine in the bushes wont radicalize a 13 year old, but watching BDSM or CNC at an age where you're beginning to form your sexual ideologies can't be healthy.

thinkingtoilet · 5 days ago

I must be old, I don't even know what CNC is!

I completely agree that the intensity of porn that can be accessed at a young age is deeply concerning. I have two sons. If I found a playboy in their room at age 13 we would have a discussion but I wouldn't really care. However, if I walked in on them watching extremely hard core pornography I would be pretty concerned.

thinkingtoilet commented on Newsmax agrees to pay $67M in defamation case over bogus 2020 election claims apnews.com/article/domini... · Posted by u/throw0101a

Ancapistani · 5 days ago

That is clearly protected speech. For it to be anything else requires a state-sponsored arbiter of truth, which is such an anti-pattern that Orwell featured it as a central theme in Nineteen Eighty-Four.

As for libel/slander laws - truth is an affirmative defense. If your "proof" is factual -- even if it's insufficient to prove your claim -- then go for it.

> it feels like American's fundamentally don't understand how our right to free speech works and what it is for.

I agree 100%.

thinkingtoilet · 5 days ago

Obviously my point was based on what if I'm saying is a lie.

thinkingtoilet commented on Porn censorship is going to destroy the internet mashable.com/article/age-... · Posted by u/Teever

rescripting · 5 days ago

A lot of pornography is misogynistic. Not all, but a lot. It depicts women as objects to be used, it normalizes sexual violence and degradation, and it focuses mainly on male pleasure. You watch enough of it and you start to internalize these attitudes.

thinkingtoilet · 5 days ago

No arguments from me on porn being misogynistic and aimed at men. However, it's not like men weren't creeps before porn was invented (saying this as a man). Look at history and there's endless examples of old men marrying 13 year olds, of sexual assault and harassment, etc... Perhaps I am wrong, but I don't see modern porn doing much in making that any better or worse. In fact, as porn has proliferated over the last 50 years, we have made progress in the things that people say porn degrades. Obviously correlation does not equal causation but it's worth thinking about.

thinkingtoilet commented on Porn censorship is going to destroy the internet mashable.com/article/age-... · Posted by u/Teever

jabedude · 5 days ago

The steel man is that the vast increase in production and availability of porn has never been higher and has created a generation of porn addicts who have unhealthy ideas about sex and the opposite sex. These unhealthy ideas often manifest as anti-social behaviors which lead to loneliness and depression.

thinkingtoilet · 5 days ago

I'm not saying unfettered access to an insane amount of porn is healthy, but how does it lead to anti-social behavior. No one is chatting up a person in a cafe then trying to have unprotected anal sex right there in the cafe. I could see it creating unrealistic expectations for men and women, but what's the connection to anti-social behavior?

thinkingtoilet commented on Newsmax agrees to pay $67M in defamation case over bogus 2020 election claims apnews.com/article/domini... · Posted by u/throw0101a

FridayoLeary · 5 days ago

Wouldn't that damage the right to free speech? Regulating what the media is and isn't allowed to say is a very slippery slope and it is open to abuse. If the government was responsible for this task what would prevent Trump and the republicans from hijacking it? It might be frustrating but free speech is one of the cornerstones of democracy and we are much better off with it then without it.

> And that wasn't even the problem, it's that their lies created damages for another corporation

That's the first time i've ever seen anyone on HN sympathize with a billion dollar company:)

But that is exactly what the article was about! Dominion was libelled by Newsmax, so they was able to claim damages from them in a court of law. The law didn't allow them to get away with it. The First Amendment is working as inteneded. Some damage to society is tolerated to protect a much bigger and longer term benefit.

thinkingtoilet · 5 days ago

Lets say you have a competing business to mine. Am I allowed to go on TV and say "DO NOT USE FridayoLeary's BUSINESS! He is a known pedophile and I have proof!" I'll put up billboards in our home town and contact any vendors and clients you have and let them know this. Is that ok with you?

Things like libel and slander are not damaging to free speech. I don't know how it happened but it feels like American's fundamentally don't understand how our right to free speech works and what it is for.