beat

38 ms·

361.
by beat 7y ago
On the plus side, the recent Democratic debates have delved into the subject in impressive detail, with candidates grilling each other over differences, as well as the moderators. It's a remarkably nuanced discussion within the party.
362.
by beat 7y ago
It's not just insurance companies that are a problem, and that's a common but annoying oversimplification. Other countries (such as Japan, Germany, and Switzerland) integrate private insurers without the massive cost overruns of t
363.
by beat 7y ago
Yep. And it's a hard, hard problem. Buying land or right-of-way in high-value, dense urban environments is considerably more expensive then buying it in unused wilderness. And dealing with each municipality's politics along the wa
364.
by beat 7y ago
Land: Basically free. Labor: Basically slavery. Regulation (safety and environment): Basically none.
365.
by beat 7y ago
If your code doesn't kinda suck, you're putting too much effort into the code and not enough effort into the problem. It's weird, but important to learn.
366.
by beat 7y ago
Premature optimization is as much a problem today as it was in 1974. When you build a framework to support a feature you decide to never implement, that's premature optimization. I'm not concerned with optimizing code, generally.
367.
by beat 7y ago
Personally, I find it slightly weird that I've been in the industry longer than some of my co-workers have been alive.
368.
by beat 7y ago
It's not just quality, it's capability. As I'm fond of saying, I may cost twice as much as an entry level engineer, but I can do things that two entry level engineers can't do.
369.
by beat 7y ago
As an aside, that's also how we lose weight! When we burn away fat, we breathe it out.
370.
by beat 7y ago
Most of the middle east is underdeveloped today. There's been some progress (sometimes huge progress, such as Iran), but it may be a generation or more before they really catch up.
371.
by beat 7y ago
Is that really relevant, though? The point is, Iran can close the Strait anytime it wants. It can easily kill tankers, and there is approximately nothing we can do about it. Carriers don't change that, any more than a tank changes a ho
372.
by beat 7y ago
That was exactly my thought as well. Their causality chain looks completely backwards to me.
373.
by beat 7y ago
Yes, and this begs the question... what kind of scenarios are we arming for? In a modern world of sophisticated international commerce, disrupting commerce seems much more "war" than clash of military forces. Consider what I think
374.
by beat 7y ago
This story does suggest the logical response to the climate change Chicken Littles who say we will no longer be able to grow crops. Sure we can, just different crops. Then again, apocalyptic belief systems generally have little to do with e
375.
by beat 7y ago
Is a dog conscious? Dogs sense and categorize; dogs feel emotions; dogs form conclusions about their reality; dogs sleep and die just like we do. What do you mean by "consciousness", if it includes humans but excludes dogs? And if
376.
by beat 7y ago
Just because you don't like the reality the consciousness is subjective rather than objective does not make consciousness objective. Many people much smarter than you and I have been exploring this problem since forever, with both anci
377.
by beat 7y ago
Distrust of authority does not change the fact that power informs our perceptions. Imagine trying to have a conversation in a loud room. You struggle to hear the person you're conversing with. The loudness of the room informs your perc
378.
by beat 7y ago
That's a good idea. I want something so I can just buy cheap Hi-Tec-C pens by the box, and use them in an actual nice body.
379.
by beat 7y ago
I'm mostly using a Super5 fountain pen, about on par with a Lamy Safari, with Monteverde blue-black ink. Totally agree on the writing experience... a fountain pen just feels so much better than any ball-type or felt-type pen. So my EDC
380.
by beat 7y ago
One nice thing about refills is that it gets you into a much nicer class of pen body - it's amazing how much difference a nice texture and better weight and balance can make. Of course, then you need to be careful to not lose them! I h
381.
by beat 7y ago
I sometimes use Micron art pens, and the Sharpie pens aren't too bad either. But I'm a fountain pen user 90% of the time, so I'm spoiled.
382.
by beat 7y ago
It kind of boggles me that a real analysis of the problems with naming conventions in manual process got massively downvoted. But no one ever got rich counting on the analytical sophistication of HN. I'm not saying the original approac
383.
by beat 7y ago
In a truly minimal system, there isn't even a prompt. A code comment is about as minimal as I know how to get. That's just a placeholder to remember to automate a step. When automating a complex manual process, the first thing I d
384.
by beat 7y ago
I'd go farther... you can have steps that literally "do nothing". They can be comments, or simple echo statements. They're placeholders to remember to write the code for that step later. This is particularly important
385.
by beat 7y ago
I'd exempt Knuth from that, as he's practically a monk in his loner ways, but I also think of him as "genius", rather than "10x".
386.
by beat 7y ago
Makes me think of something I wrote a while back... https://hackernoon.com/10x-rockstar-ninja-wizard-vampires-f5... "Ninjas are nameless, faceless mercenaries. The ninja’s job is to create mayhem for the highest bidder
387.
by beat 7y ago
Yep. My father was a landscaper, and I built a number of railroad tie retaining walls, so I get the load problems. It shouldn't be a problem, as the area already has a good gap.
388.
by beat 7y ago
I'm hoping to build one of these next year, along the 2' slope in my front yard that's annoying to mow and won't grow grass the same as the rest of the yard. It'd be cheaper and easier to do with manufactured blocks
389.
by beat 7y ago
I'm rejecting the question. I consider it an irrelevant distraction to the actual point, which is that GMO has not been necessary to feed a quadrupling of the population in a century, so it won't be necessary to feed a 25% increas
390.
by beat 7y ago
Actually, no. I know people who are too poor for a car. I've been people too poor for a car. Kiss an extra two hours of your day goodbye just to get to and from work (assuming you have a job). Going to the doctor is a nightmare (assu

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