iguy

73 ms·

751.
by iguy 8y ago
Many well-intended regulations push against the creation of small apartments. Changing the plan to have two 300 sq.ft. units instead of one 600 sq. would cost nothing in building material, but both those flats need two exits (for good fire
752.
by iguy 8y ago
So that's a yes?
753.
by iguy 8y ago
I think it's helpful sometimes to think of the minimum wage not as a prescribed payment, but as a ban on employment below some level. We've decided that it's better to be unemployed than to be paid less than X. That's OK
754.
by iguy 8y ago
Thanks. I agree that those for whom "go to college early" is a solution must be a small minority, although they do exist. But I do wonder for how many more "do something meaningful" might be a solution. Guys perfectly qu
755.
by iguy 8y ago
You really believe this? That the only difference between the old Penn station and the new one is that we aren't quite nostalgic enough about the new one yet? It's already older than the other one ever was. Some eras built grand p
756.
by iguy 8y ago
Anyone know the origin of this, BTW? I can't tell whether this economist obit. is saying that Felix Dennis invented it: https://www.economist.com/obituary/2014/07/03/felix-dennis
757.
by iguy 8y ago
Indeed. But there's necessarily some judgement in these things, and it's very very hard to judge the 60's concrete blocks as superior to the best works of 1906.
758.
by iguy 8y ago
But lots of buildings find new owners, new uses. Was the building that specialised for sewing-machines? It seems a crying shame to have lost so many of the highlights of an era.
759.
by iguy 8y ago
Heh, my anecdote is famous already :) Indeed, it's pretty hard to tell. Both seem entirely plausible and I just have no way to guess how such buyers think.
760.
by iguy 8y ago
Do you have any estimate of how many buyers actually want to sail around / host parties, and for how many it's some kind of tax evasion / money laundering scheme? I don't know any details but always wonder about this...
761.
by iguy 8y ago
This all is true. I also wonder how much of the yacht business is really about money laundering or tax-evasion. Like the art collecting world. If your company buys the boat in one country, reflags it to Panama, sells it in Monaco the next t
762.
by iguy 8y ago
I can't find the source, but I read somewhere that the average length of ownership of yachts over 60ft is only 9 months. Or something, maybe it's 100ft & 18 months. But astonishingly short. Which points to these not being well
763.
by iguy 8y ago
Her the description of the problems is vivid, detailed, and sadly not unfamiliar. This is largely separate from her suggestions as to what might solve the problem, or at least reduce it. It's not obviously correct, but I wouldn't
764.
by iguy 8y ago
> What I mean by race relations is directly related to how the teacher did not know why it is not OK for her, as a white women, to use a particular word. No, I think she understood perfectly well the usual taboo. And snapped and used the
765.
by iguy 8y ago
> no matter the degree of success, a marvelous report with shiny graphs was sent to our backers stating how great we did This seems like the core problem: every organisation's incentives are to look good to those paying, and if you&
766.
by iguy 8y ago
Many thanks, that's great info which I could not have found.
767.
by iguy 8y ago
But there is no such "observation of lack of conflict in hunter-gatherer bands". At least if you use sensible units, like the proportion of deaths which are due to deliberate violence, on which such bands tend to score way above m
768.
by iguy 8y ago
That's great, I didn't know this existed in Germany. How do the contracts work, e.g. what happens if you are declared bankrupt at 25, or leave the country (or the EU)? Can you say more about how the payments are calculated? And do
769.
by iguy 8y ago
But some very useful degrees are expensive, like medical school. I'd make it explicitly tied to what you earn (in the contract not the bankruptcy court).
770.
by iguy 8y ago
I think this was not so uncommon, although often phrased differently -- in many places conscription was obligatory, but could be deferred while in university... and after graduating you'd be useful enough not to spend 2 years digging d
771.
by iguy 8y ago
Make non-dischargeable loans more like an investment for the bank, in which they get back something tied to your income, when you earn it. And let them offer what they will according to school/major/SAT score/etc. Then indeed
772.
by iguy 8y ago
That sounds like a nasty surprise. Could have bought your dad a few weeks' unpaid leave (in Monaco!) if you'd known. I didn't know (but am not that surprised, sadly) that they re-calculated every year.
773.
by iguy 8y ago
There are lots of details, but I would vote that it should be fairly simple, and connected to few facts beyond your IRS income. There should be no incentive to rent a bigger house, or move to an expensive city, beyond the usual salary/
774.
by iguy 8y ago
Here's a half-way measure to give the lenders better incentives, without risking making bankruptcy on your 22nd birthday a rite of passage: Make non-dischargeable student loans only repayable at all when your taxable income is above $5
775.
by iguy 8y ago
Exactly. The goal isn't just to minimise the number of errors, it's to minimise the estimated number of errors among the most conspiracy-prone 10% of your fellow citizens. The validity of the vote is something which resides in the
776.
by iguy 8y ago
Agree that sounds like the leading factor. There is a line of thinking that the trade war comes at a convenient time PR-wise for the Chinese got. It gives them a scapegoat for domestic economic issues, which they are only too happy to talk
777.
by iguy 8y ago
OK, so breaking 2FA & emptying your account, rather than taking a loan. Would the world with this system (and its inevitable leaks) be worse? What I mean is that replacing a system where e.g. knowing someone's mother's maiden
778.
by iguy 8y ago
Is "identity theft" a thing in Kenya? I mean the US meaning is tied up with easy credit, someone else borrows money in your name, and the lender asks few questions until too late for them. I had the impression that places like Ken
779.
by iguy 8y ago
Yup! Sweatshop (n.) Factory located in a country whose peasant farmers are so poor that I'd rather not think about them, and serving an export market.
780.
by iguy 8y ago
According to Wikipedia, "The German V-weapons (V-1 and V-2) cost the equivalent of around USD $40 billion (2015 dollars), which was 50 percent more than the Manhattan Project". That was super high-tech, blue-sky research, which in

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