maxaf

10 ms·

91.
by maxaf 7y ago
You’re thinking of median, not average, but your question stands.
92.
by maxaf 7y ago
WeBork
93.
by maxaf 7y ago
There’s always Uber.
94.
by maxaf 7y ago
You can keep a kid away from exploitative media without cutting off internet access. My daughter (11) has full and unrestricted access to the internet except social media services and streaming video. Problem solved.
95.
by maxaf 7y ago
Programming is the single thing I'm capable of that has allowed me to provide an upper middle class lifestyle for my family. I will keep doing it for as long as it serves the function. I don't require any other motivation.
96.
by maxaf 7y ago
Simply shutting down the business isn’t the only possible outcome, nor the most desirable. The mere fact that Uber’s current business model is unethical doesn’t imply that it’s also incorrigible. Hire drivers as employees, pay Uber manageme
97.
by maxaf 7y ago
This is a question of ethics, not domicile. Any company founded on the premise of an unethical and harmful business model that externalizes all of its costs deserves to be put down the same way.
98.
by maxaf 7y ago
I’ve used many different keyboards. I can’t say I’m a keyboard connoisseur, but I’ve probably used every possible combination of “keys” arranged on a “board”. My takeaway from all this is that the switches matter a lot less than how keys ar
99.
by maxaf 7y ago
There is nothing to be in the loop of, as far as social networks go. This is all low-value, low-effort information we’re talking about.
100.
by maxaf 7y ago
Your implicit assumption seems to be that Google and its ilk hire the absolute best engineers. This is simply not true, for one very simple reason. There is no proven method for sorting a pile of candidates such that the absolute best engin
101.
by maxaf 7y ago
How did you arrive at "quitting civilization" after starting at "living on a self-sustaining farm"? Does the Internet experience 100% packet drop around manure or in the presence of a critical mass of agricultural specia
102.
by maxaf 7y ago
Human history is littered with holy wars. Unfortunately we're also really good at bulldozing away the resulting wreckage, which ironically feeds back into history's tendency to repeat itself.
103.
by maxaf 7y ago
There's a huge difference between taxes (an aspect of societal behavior encoded in law) and personal lifestyle choices. We (supposedly, allegedly) exist in a political system that allows for some participation by citizens. One could ch
104.
by maxaf 7y ago
Most of this political fervor is simple grandstanding. If these people really, truly cared about the issues they advocate, they'd have abandoned their cushy jobs at Google and gone on to make a real difference. I fully agree that the A
105.
by maxaf 7y ago
Not every place where groups of people participate in shared activities must become a forum for political battles.
106.
by maxaf 7y ago
For me the main perk of remote work is that the status of pants is by design entirely unknowable. In practice, this also covers data points such as status or style of shirt, whether I’ve showered that day, where on the planet I happen to be
107.
by maxaf 7y ago
Subconscious bias is the most insidious form thereof. This is why I'm a huge fan of stripping resumes of all but the most pertinent hard facts. Technical skills, projects worked on, publications are all relevant. Hobbies, family status
108.
by maxaf 7y ago
You seem to be defending the perpetuation of bias: hiring based on properties of a person that are orthogonal to technical skill. Bias comes in many shapes and sizes. For example, hiring only white people would be a form of bias. Likewise,
109.
by maxaf 7y ago
I work remotely 95% of the time, so no, there isn't any use in going to an office. But the office-vs-remote axis is a red herring IMHO. Communication happens via a variety of mediums, and remote workers aren't reclusive hermits wh
110.
by maxaf 7y ago
I don’t care about my colleagues’ interests. I treat them decently and with respect when we’re working together, but at the close of business we go our separate ways and pursue our interests any way we see fit. Likewise, I don’t expect my c
111.
by maxaf 7y ago
> What do you think people do in college? Party non-stop? Yes, that's exactly what they do.
112.
by maxaf 7y ago
The poor sap and you don't pay the same amount. Fuel taxes, which are levied as a percentage of what you spend on fuel, will be different for you and the poor sap who drives less. The more you drive, the more you pay in fuel tax, which
113.
by maxaf 7y ago
I’m not denying that using a lot of bandwidth is a valid thing to do. My point is that heavy users must pay more than casual users.
114.
by maxaf 7y ago
There’s no such thing as unlimited anything. If you use more, you pay more. If you find this notion ridiculous, imagine for a moment that a company offered unlimited gasoline for your car, or if your rental property advertised an unlimited
115.
by maxaf 7y ago
I don't particularly disagree with anything you had to say, but the tone of your post makes me wonder if you and similarly passionate individuals are actually ready to make money meet mouth. Have you stopped eating beef? Do you use onl
116.
by maxaf 7y ago
I called out “Brooklyn car services” specifically because I still see such operations around town. I’m assuming they survive because there’s a group of users who are beyond the reach of new technology. I’m sure there are taxi services that
117.
by maxaf 7y ago
This is handled the same way 24/7 availability is handled. The company employs some multiple of the employees it needs to handle regular demand during the day. Some of these employees happen to like working at night. Others like workin
118.
by maxaf 7y ago
I'm not sure if someplace like Lancaster, PA (totally random example; it's a city I enjoy visiting) even needs a service like Uber. There is nothing in the value prop that demands that it be scaled up, down & out to fit everyw
119.
by maxaf 7y ago
The operative word in my blurb was "modest". Screw the shareholders; or rather, screw the public shareholders. I don't want their money because it comes with strings attached: demands that the business operate in an unethical
120.
by maxaf 7y ago
Perhaps, and there are plenty of those around. You're a fellow New Yorker, so you can readily conjure up the image: crummy Lincoln Town Car, leather seats that reek of stale tobacco, driver who talks on the phone while operating the ve

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