beat

9 ms·

31.
by beat 7y ago
This makes me think of airports and terrorism. I remember standing in a crowd of 1000+ people trying to get through security theater at JFK, and thinking "Anyone could just walk a giant suitcase bomb into this crowd".
32.
by beat 7y ago
That's also the importance of consistent patterns. Bluegrass and bop music, both extremely high-speed improvisational forms, have a couple of key things in common. First, time signature... they are strictly 4/4, which makes "
33.
by beat 7y ago
You're talking about the product of standards committees there, not startups. Standards committees are sort of "We're doing this so no one company owns/controls this basic tech, so we can all build new and interoperable
34.
by beat 7y ago
There are also layers of pattern matching, particularly in creative work. Take for example bluegrass guitar improvisation, something I've been working at intensely lately. In order to play a single note, there are several pattern match
35.
by beat 7y ago
Right. Which is why government research is probably a better model for these world-changing basic technologies than Silicon Valley. Ugh, can you imagine how bad TCP/IP would have sucked if it had been developed by venture capital fundi
36.
by beat 7y ago
Basically, I have one provider, except for emergency care - a large local network. It's fine for me, because my family doctor and both the specialists I need regularly for chronic conditions are in that network. For my condition that r
37.
by beat 7y ago
Eh. I'm watching it pretty closely, and I don't hear them talking in detail about how difficult it is.
38.
by beat 7y ago
I went through a billing/process dispute with a provider last year after a change in their process led to a 30x increase in out-of-pocket costs for necessary treatment. It ended with them flatly lying to me that the changes were for my
39.
by beat 7y ago
I'm on a PPO right now, new to me this year, and it's great. I have a chronic condition that requires surgery about three times a year, so I'm used to just maxing out my costs. There are two levels of the surgery, and the hig
40.
by beat 7y ago
Yes! Perverse incentives are what is making it like this. And the incentives cross boundaries - relationships between providers, insurers, regulators, legislators, and consumers. There's no single guilty party that we can blame and fix
41.
by beat 7y ago
I prefer to look at per capita cost, especially when comparing with other nations. It's appalling that we pay twice as much as anyone else, and that almost everyone has better care than we do in terms of outcome.
42.
by beat 7y ago
This is where I think political leaders (Democrat or Republican) could do really well. It's not just making sure people are covered. It's the existential dread of dealing with opaque, unpredictable, and incomprehensible bureaucrac
43.
by beat 7y ago
Just as an aside, I'd like to give a hand to the HN community for all the great answers on this thread. Very enjoyable read!
44.
by beat 7y ago
Ugh. I've been using Linux since the .9 kernels/SLS distro days (1995 or so), and I've been producing albums for 13-14 years and recording longer than that, and I wouldn't even consider doing real music production in L
45.
by beat 7y ago
Complicated things are the product of a system of simple things. To do complex things well, you need to be able to do the simple things without consciously thinking about them. Expertise is what happens when a large mass of related things b
46.
by beat 7y ago
My middle school years were pretty miserable due to family drama stuff. I'm only in touch with two friends from that era (via FB). I contrast this to my kids, who went to a really great charter school from grades 7-12. Their core socia
47.
by beat 7y ago
Thanks for reminding me to reset my iPhone to black and white!
48.
by beat 7y ago
Something I say constantly, especially to others trying to make a decision to act, is "What's the worst thing that could possibly happen?" The thing is, you probably can't even imagine the worst thing that can possibly h
49.
by beat 7y ago
This sounds... expensive. Every time I read about miracle energy sources, I want to see the cost model. Cost is everything.
50.
by beat 7y ago
If you're using it for budget management, YNAB is much, much better than Mint.
51.
by beat 7y ago
That was rather easier a century ago, when most people were on foot or on horses.
52.
by beat 7y ago
Fixing old, broken process is an interesting intellectual challenge in itself.
53.
by beat 7y ago
"The physical config was accidentally overwritten and there are no backups". Welcome to legacy. So for a situation like this, there are several things that you need to think about. First and foremost... what is the impact when (n
54.
by beat 7y ago
That's a good idea! Passive boundaries are better than active boundaries, for sure.
55.
by beat 7y ago
Do you have any evidence for this? Can you point to any nuclear plant in the US (or anywhere else) that closed prematurely due to new regulations? I bet you can't. As for South Korea... I'll just quote Wikipedia here. "In 2
56.
by beat 7y ago
And how would you prevent this? The flip side of nuclear's stability at high loads over long term is that the economics are all built around running at high load. If they lose major customers to cheaper competition, they can no longer
57.
by beat 7y ago
Renewables are already far cheaper than coal. That's what's driving their growth. The biggest limit on renewable growth right now is available capital.
58.
by beat 7y ago
Renewables are definitely a factor at this point, and a growing one. Nuclear is not... new nuclear production is basically at a standstill, because it's far too expensive. Cost is what's killing coal, and it's killing traditi
59.
by beat 7y ago
I think we're already seeing about as rapid a change as available capital can support. Transition has a great deal of up-front cost, even if it's a money-saver in the long run.
60.
by beat 7y ago
Yes, it's incorrect. The long-term cost of nuclear is about the same as coal. That's why we're seeing nuclear plants closing years ahead of schedule, just like coal. Gas, onshore wind, and the latest solar all cost about half

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