alfredallan1

6 ms·

1.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
Even in software, the primary “advantage” of youth seems to be able to work much longer hours. But from my own experience, I wonder how much of those long hours are truly productive. At least in my own case, i often observe that the quality
2.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
Here’s a link to a pdf I just made from the browser (so no table of contents in the sidebar or other fanciness): https://www.filedropper.com/foundertoceomattsbookforstartups... PS: the link doesn’t work without cookies or i
3.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
That’s one of the most valid ideas I’ve heard - define private data as personal property. When one looks deeper into laws like GDPR and this one, at the heart of it lies the fact that a company cannot do as it pleases with an individual’s d
4.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
That somehow seems like a tenuous argument, especially when talking about tech companies, when one looks at examples like Satya Nadella (MS) and Sundar Pichai (Google) who’re both Asian - and 1st generation at that. In the case of FMCG type
5.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
I thought it was German Shepherd Dog - highly focussed canines.
6.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
They will now that the US has taken the lead.
7.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
My analogy was based on means, not ends. GS split investment banking ops from consumer banking. Similarly something could separate the consumer data business from the telco/infrastructure business. But sure, GDPR works just as well; ev
8.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
Thanks for raising that point. I skipped a lot of detail and nuance since I really didn’t want to write an essay. It is true that trade deficits are calculated on full value, not the “value-added”. Even with this distinction the argument st
9.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
You’re right that everyone suffers. The question in a “war” is who can handle the most losses/suffering before routing. The evidence seems to suggest that the Chinese market is already tanking, with the US barely having taken a first f
10.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
There ought to be some sort of regulation preventing this sort of thing - like the Glass-Steagall Act in banking that mandated separation of investment banking and commercial banking operations.
11.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
Nor any Asian country whose natives are perceived in the West as being meek/humble or whatever else. It is just that most immigrants (in the last 3-4 decades) to the US happen to be a self selected group meeting certain stringent crite
12.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
You’re conflating two different things - 1) justification and 2) explanation, and with that misinterpreting the gist of my post. Just because it has a valid explanation doesn’t mean it is just, nor that it should continue. I was trying to g
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by alfredallan1 8y ago
Oh yeah… I concur. That holds true even though the former be lesser in magnitude.
14.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
You’re starting to touch the issue, but IMO, not quite. Allow me to present a somewhat controversial approach. Considering the US only: at the risk of extreme and borderline stereotypical generalizations - if one looks at the history of imm
15.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
The opinion of one HN’er is that it is definitively a gray area. So whether or not you’re sued for it depends on if someone resourceful has a reason to sue you (e.g. LinkedIn vs HiQ); in most other cases, I don’t think anybody really cares.
16.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
Curious question: what makes/made more money?
17.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
Not immediately, no. 10 years back, Duracell seemed a very strong brand. All it is going to take for LVMH, etc. to start getting replaced is a new generation of online shoppers seeing Amazon house brands right next to these and subconsciou
18.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
I think you might have nailed one of the more fundamental problems in US healthcare.
19.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
Carry a pack of your favorite poison at all times. With practice, you can calibrate the amount you need to consume to acheive a desired iq level. Anytime you feel you’re getting smarter, take a dose of the magic potion. Of course, you’ll ne
20.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
Oh no, I never said or meant that current bad practices are justified based on past precedents. Just that blaming the incumbent while ignoring identical practices by the predecessor seems borderline biased reporting by the media. Not that t
21.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
It is indeed true that selfish motives take precedence - in the minds/deliberations of those that stand to profit. But isn’t a govt formed of the elected representatives, who are in office just to represent the interests of the commons
22.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
Yes, this is both generally relevant, but specifically OT. Hope the mods split it off. There is indeed a performative aspect to a broad discussion, but it offers the advantage of raising broad based issues that just might not occur to an
23.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
Yes, it is happening now. The point is that it was also happening under Obama (I don’t know the scale of it though), so it is unfair to blame just the Donald for it, while Barry gets a free pass. At least Trump did reverse his stance on spl
24.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
I’m less liberal than many, but I’m curious how the conservative movement feels issues like climate change and clean oceans and clean air, or even net neutrality ought to be dealt with, if not by govt regulation. Or is the line of thinking
25.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
This seems, at a high level, similar to the various mental arithmetic tricks/pnemonics from India, commonly known as “Vedic Mathematics”. e.g. https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-of-the-best-Vedic-math-t...
26.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
Indeed, one wonders what sort of due diligence the investors conducted.. I suspect (since convoluted shell structures are not (at all) uncommon in practice) it could have been that they weren’t actually aware of the full potential ramificat
27.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
You’re right that they’re not impossible to recycle or decompose. I asked about the economics of getting that done..There’s already a huge problem now that the Chinese are no longer buying trash to recycle cheaply. If the cost of recycling
28.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
I’d like to add something to what I wrote earlier: how is it any more “moral” to be working for any company whose primary revenue source is based on sneaking up ads on unsuspecting people and tracking all manner of personal data without per
29.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
At the risk of skipping a lot of (extremely entertaining - a highly recommended read about the innards of corporate shell structures amd shareholder rights) detail, the story boils down to 1) the common observation that laws are only as use
30.
by alfredallan1 8y ago
Easy: not everyone finds those businesses “immoral”. Many find it blends very nicely with their own personal libertarian attitudes. This blending is made even smoother by the nice paychecks these industries offer. e.g. algorithm engineers,

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