mikeash

90 ms·

961.
by mikeash 7y ago
It’s definitely better than it could be. It’s just a stark contrast with the way it is in music.
962.
by mikeash 7y ago
It’s annoying as a user to juggle subscriptions. If I want to watch something, I have to figure out where it’s available, sign up if I don’t currently have a subscription, worry about forgetting services and having a bunch of monthly paymen
963.
by mikeash 7y ago
These doomsday scenarios have happened before. There are mechanisms that quickly bring things back to normal. Unfortunately, “quickly” is on a geological scale. An 8°C temperature raise for 100,000 years would be rather problematic for huma
964.
by mikeash 7y ago
Don’t get me wrong, Starlink will be a substantial increase in the number of satellites. But if you don’t notice them now, it probably won’t be overwhelming after.
965.
by mikeash 7y ago
There are well over a thousand operational satellites in low earth orbit currently, plus I don’t know how many dead ones. Have you noticed those? They’re only visible for about an hour after sunset, since the satellite itself still has to b
966.
by mikeash 7y ago
You’ll be able to see them as individual dots any time they’re illuminated by the sun when they fly over at night (like any other satellite), but they won’t be bunched together like this.
967.
by mikeash 7y ago
Except that an order of magnitude more gold is mined[0] than used in electronics[1]. [0] https://www.gold.org/about-gold/gold-supply/gold-mining/how-... [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics
968.
by mikeash 7y ago
I’d much rather go back to randomly targeted “punch the monkey” ads. Far better than the current crop of ads which are usually one of fraudulent, malware, or borderline pornographic. Was I supposed to respond “oh no, current ads are so much
969.
by mikeash 7y ago
Where does that $50 billion figure come from? I found a NASA report from last year that says $11.9 billion. That’s an average of somewhat less than $2 billion/year so far. In contrast, the Saturn V took about five years from start to f
970.
by mikeash 7y ago
Why is the exhaust velocity constant? I would naively expect the engine to impart roughy equal energy into each atom, so that lighter atoms would be faster. But I know little of the specifics of ion engines.
971.
by mikeash 7y ago
It would be very difficult to build a new Saturn V just because any product of any complexity is inherently embedded in the economic ecosystem it came from. If the plans specify a #5 Widget and nobody has made a #5 Widget in the past 30 yea
972.
by mikeash 7y ago
It looks at average deficits, which is silly. If X blows up the deficit and then Y gradually shrinks it, Y has a higher average even though Y reduced the problem and X caused it all. And of course this is not a hypothetical at all. Bush and
973.
by mikeash 7y ago
Democrats generally want to raise taxes to match spending. Democrats are “tax and spend,” Republicans are just “spend.”
974.
by mikeash 7y ago
Remember this the next time someone tries to tell you that oil companies are just giving customers what they demand and that the companies themselves aren’t at fault.
975.
by mikeash 7y ago
Losing a family member definitely qualifies as harm.
976.
by mikeash 7y ago
Washington County was formed in 1801, two years after George died.
977.
by mikeash 7y ago
I don’t see that as implying he came up with the idea. They’re just referencing a recent use of it with a catchy name.
978.
by mikeash 7y ago
Upward mobility there is defined as movement between different income quintiles. Higher taxes affect everyone so would merely adjust the boundaries of those quintiles.
979.
by mikeash 7y ago
It depends a lot on the topic. For example, their reporting of Supreme Court decisions is generally factual and straightforward with decent analysis. But there are definitely a lot of stories like you describe. I often get bored with it and
980.
by mikeash 7y ago
Next time they should just refuse to take in the international fugitive and let him be arrested on the spot. Then nobody will say they have pure contempt for human rights.
981.
by mikeash 7y ago
The drivers are offered a certain rate. They refuse, implicitly asking for a higher rate. This repeats until the drivers get a rate they can accept, or they give up and go home. On the other side, passengers are offered a certain rate. They
982.
by mikeash 7y ago
Taxi prices are regulated because negotiation was too difficult in the pre-smartphone era and taxi drivers would take advantage of information asymmetry to screw people. None of that applies here. The negotiation is happening between the dr
983.
by mikeash 7y ago
They’re not in any way committed. Imagine waking up to a taxi and offering $10 to go somewhere, and they tell you no thanks but they’ll do it for $15. These drivers are just negotiating the price. The platform tries to block negotiation but
984.
by mikeash 7y ago
When these services first introduced surge pricing, they told us that it was a good thing because it encourages more drivers to get on the road and take care of demand. It’s working exactly as designed.
985.
by mikeash 7y ago
Typical tech industry nonsense. People stuck in a job because they need the health insurance? People saddled with massive debt because you’ll have a hard time getting hired to manage a McDonald’s without a college degree? Rent increases eat
986.
by mikeash 7y ago
Indeed. And as the rate grows higher, there’s ever more incentive to defect from the scheme. This should be a case study taught in Economics 101, it’s so pure and clear!
987.
by mikeash 7y ago
I don’t think it even necessarily needs to be a large majority. It just needs to be enough such that the remaining drivers aren’t sufficient to meet demand. Depending on circumstances, that could require anywhere from one driver to all of t
988.
by mikeash 7y ago
How is it fraud?
989.
by mikeash 7y ago
I think that’s the airport pickup fee that gets added on top of the standard time/mileage fare.
990.
by mikeash 7y ago
The taxis are still available if you’d rather use them.

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