Empact

36 ms·

301.
by Empact 16y ago
Would you support a ban on couchsurfing? Maybe you'd be deterred by our right to peaceably assemble. Is paying for access really so different? Edit: as noted below, the implied question is: what "legimate health concerns" exist for short-te
302.
by Empact 16y ago
For perspective: the risks from riding a motorcycle are almost certainly greater than that of renting an apt short term. Should we ban motorcycles?
303.
by Empact 16y ago
Not "except." The jobs of the wealth destroyers don't count as wealth creation.
304.
by Empact 16y ago
No offense, but could we leave the tangential joke and meme-reference comments to reddit?
305.
by Empact 16y ago
The question is not whether basic research[1] is good or will it happen[2], the question is, what sort of activity is being crowded out by government money? You don't even have to go to the government to see the question-ability of the hand
306.
by Empact 16y ago
Wall street is one of the largest recipients of government support, via cheap money from the Federal Reserve, bailouts, &c, and is in fact another example of the exact same crowding effect: government money draws bright minds away from
307.
by Empact 16y ago
> the decision to do things for the public good comes ultimately from the "will of the people" This is a nice theory, but who is voting on such minor issues, when you have wars, economic turmoil &c.? Absent voter pressure, isn't th
308.
by Empact 16y ago
This reminds me of two other well-established area where government spending was assumed to the be the only way, but is/was preventing progress. Namely, those are aid to Africa, and NASA. In both cases, public monies realigned the efforts
309.
by Empact 16y ago
Funding & national media attention for my political accountability startup. http://votereports.org/ (next 6 months) Partner with a certain local government agency to make a major user-facing improvement. (next 2 years) Start a school
310.
by Empact 16y ago
Actually, I do think you're on to something, in part because the change itself would change the nature of law. Automatic sun-setting and expiration, for instance, would winnow down the legal code in a matter of time. As a system, it certai
311.
by Empact 16y ago
In the analogy, you yourself can tell whether you've arrived in Paris, France or Paris, Texas. In politics, you do need someone else to continue to identify whether the bills up for consideration are positive or negative from your perspect
312.
by Empact 16y ago
Is a system in which a large number of citizens must be intimately aware of the intricacies of a huge and complex set of legal code a well-factored system? Isn't that a bit like the passengers of an airplane instructing the pilot on how to
313.
by Empact 16y ago
Re. Decentralization, you say: It creates the illusion that power doesn't exist, when it's only been hidden, making it harder to fight. So, a thought experiment is in order, consider the following scenarios, re. restaurants: * there only is
314.
by Empact 16y ago
Historically, as with feudal society, hasn't the government itself been a major source of elite abusers? And today, see the military industrial complex, corporatism, or the prison industrial complex (e.g. California prison guard unions). In
315.
by Empact 16y ago
Aren't you conflating ethics with politics? It seems having a personal notion of social responsibility is quite distinct from wanting that notion imposed on all people by the state.
316.
by Empact 16y ago
I certainly see myself in this description. I started working on http://votereports.org/ because I wanted to perform the basic civic duty of voting, which is expected of every adult in the country, without the superhuman requirement of s
317.
by Empact 16y ago
Could really use a section on rebase, which is a key differentiating feature, and just as essential as merge IMO. But then I can sympathize that it might be a difficult thing to explain without illustration.
318.
by Empact 16y ago
The vast majority of social research doesn't establish causation either. It's an extremely difficult task for large, complex, disorganized systems (e.g. social systems, economies).
319.
by Empact 16y ago
Were you driving yourself? When I was at MSFT I used to take the 545 back and forth, and did a fair amount of reading, coding and movie watching in that bus. Not that I wouldn't appreciate work within walking distance, but transit made it
320.
by Empact 16y ago
The HealthCare Blue Book tells an interesting story: * $16,435 for traditional gall bladder removal, somewhat below the estimate http://healthcarebluebook.com/page_Results.aspx?id=75&da... * $6,934 for the modern minimally invasive e
321.
by Empact 16y ago
Taking the subway isn't socialist - the subway is just run by a vaguely socialist institution. The question is what sort of institutions create better results (e.g. better subways): is it competitive, accountable ones, or monolithic, monop
322.
by Empact 16y ago
Yeah, seems he isn't around people who know git. E.g.: Me: Why? I already added them before, why do I need to add them again? They: You just do, OK? The answer isn't "You just do," neither is it complicated. You need to re-add
323.
by Empact 16y ago
> It gives people an incentive to sit on their currency and hoard it away instead of investing it in productive ventures. Kind of like the incentive people have when evaluating electronics, which are under consistent, massive deflation
324.
by Empact 16y ago
The author seems to neglect the legitimate practical problems of Adobe gaining market power on the iPhone platform. If Adobe creates a translation layer from flash to cocoa, and developers use it en masse, then an issue within the translati
325.
by Empact 17y ago
Renovations may well be occurring, but residential housing is scarce, and housing density is low at least in part on account of zoning limitations on building height. San Francisco is unwilling to build up. The high housing costs are a sig
326.
by Empact 17y ago
Coming from New York, I can tell you that San Francisco's expensive real estate has almost nothing to do with it being "too crowded."
327.
by Empact 17y ago
> Empirically, what seems to kill cities is crime, or the death of some industry they depend on. That second cause is interesting. What if, instead of dying, the industry were to just leave? San Francisco's benefits are built on netwo
328.
by Empact 17y ago
This is a how a once-venerable tech city loses its significance. Suffocated by incompetent governments and an unwillingness to build, talent is forced to move elsewhere and ultimately shifts the center of gravity toward their chosen destina
329.
by Empact 17y ago
Is it really much comfort to say: well, at least we're not rounding them up into death camps? I don't find people do much discriminating between different groups of Nazis. The infantry perpetuated violence and death just as much as the dea
330.
by Empact 17y ago
One response to this is to plan your own changes in experience: given that you'll enjoy but then adapt quickly to improvements, you can increase your enjoyment over time by alternating between simple and indulgent lifestyles, with simplicit

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