jblow

95 ms·

871.
by jblow 15y ago
Just because Apple did it doesn't mean it's good. Whoever made that UI design decision did not understand the way human silhouette recognition works. iOS icons are terrible. All the time on my iPhone I just find myself staring at the scre
872.
by jblow 15y ago
And then I guess the question is, if I avoid stuff like this, why am I posting on Hacker News? I guess the answer is that Hacker News used to be more in the vein of things I liked, but recently is too full of "be a man and launch your me-t
873.
by jblow 15y ago
You are making a lot of weird assumptions. I do have surroundings appropriate to me, and a circle of peers who have a value system I find interesting, etc, etc. What I am talking about is what I perceive to be the mindset of a great many y
874.
by jblow 15y ago
I think it actually is different now. When I was in college (1989-1993), people did CS stuff because they thought computers were cool and could do things that were kind of amazing. Some were more visionary than others, of course. There wa
875.
by jblow 15y ago
Agree 100%. Not much more to say about this.
876.
by jblow 15y ago
Unimpressed by this response. This is the same kind of thing said by everyone who makes bad products.
877.
by jblow 15y ago
I stopped reading early, when he's claiming pi is better for the area of a circle, because that revealed that the author hasn't really thought about this very much. If you look at the equations for the volumes of spheres in n dimensions (wi
878.
by jblow 16y ago
San Francisco, CA Thekla, Inc is hiring good video game programmers to work on unusual and very interesting games. See http://the-witness.net/news/?p=815
879.
by jblow 16y ago
Sadly the list is missing my favorite math book, "Linear Algebra Done Right" by Sheldon Axler. It's an absolute must if you are learning linear algebra and want a deep understanding of it. Rather than make you grind through mechanical oper
880.
by jblow 16y ago
Okay, but I never said anything about default, so I don't know what this has to do with anything! As you know, when the government prints more money, it dilutes the value of the existing money. So then, when you buy Treasurys and they get
881.
by jblow 16y ago
I actually do have a 401k (as well as an additional retirement fund), but I only have those things because I have surplus money sitting around. The problem with something like a 401k is that there is a heavy opportunity cost: you don't get
882.
by jblow 16y ago
Those are two very-selective samples. How much did the S&P return from 2000 to 2011? If you look at a chart of an index fund dating back to the 1970s, they certainly look like things that were following an upward trend, which got goos
883.
by jblow 16y ago
By the way, when buying TIPS (or any kind of Treasurys), you are basically saying "Yes, I like the fact that the USA is deep in debt and I want it to go more into debt rather than balancing its budget!" That is what Treasury bonds are -- t
884.
by jblow 16y ago
I go into more detail on this in my post below, but I think that this is actually not true any more, because the basic nature of the economy has changed. If you adjust for honest estimates of inflation, stocks have been down consistently f
885.
by jblow 16y ago
I am kind of shocked by the uniformity of answers here, so I will add a dissenting voice. In the current economic climate, it is pretty much a waste "investing" in anything until you have, say, an 8-figure sum in cash laying around doing no