neolefty

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331.
by neolefty 8y ago
Isn't NASA prohibited from using any of its budget for explicit PR, to avoid anything remotely political? (Honestly as a news consumer it's not all that bad because it means I can trust any communications coming from NASA proper t
332.
by neolefty 8y ago
Having spent 5 years there, I have to say it's not a uniform hellscape, to say the least. There are millions of potential Chinese entrepreneurs, idealistic and talented, who deserve to have their efforts catalyzed. That's the way
333.
by neolefty 8y ago
BTW, that's a link to a discussion of the NYTimes article "Wanted at Chinese Startups: Attractive Women to Ease Coders’ Stress". Likewise, isn't Hollywood the place with Harvey Weinstein? Must be purely evil. No, China i
334.
by neolefty 8y ago
At least it's given us time and space to evolve consciousness on our own?
335.
by neolefty 8y ago
Tesla can continue just fine after Elon moves on.
336.
by neolefty 8y ago
I liked the balance in the article—that his eagerness to forge a new trail is both a strength and a weakness.
337.
by neolefty 8y ago
That's what's tough about public service. You have to cope with what is already there.
338.
by neolefty 8y ago
Incompetence here creates an un-level playing field where the unscrupulous and wealthy can game the system to their own benefit. As non-intuitive as it sounds, you really do want competence here.
339.
by neolefty 8y ago
World education is gradually improving! It's a combination of processes of human development and technological aids. Rather than look for a complete solution, I look for whether the situation is improving. Because it's true that m
340.
by neolefty 8y ago
There's a great song about that in the Lion King. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GibiNy4d4gc
341.
by neolefty 8y ago
Likely, the organisms that make it require other nutrients as well, that aren't found in plastic. So you can't just go drop a few on the Great Garbage Patch unless you also sprinkle fertilizer along with it.
342.
by neolefty 8y ago
The organisms would probably need micronutrients as well, such as iron or copper. Advantage: We can control their spread—target them at the Garbage Patches Disadvantage: More expensive to deploy, since you have to also sprinkle fertilizer f
343.
by neolefty 8y ago
Good point. Here's my try at it: IVF: Seems logically sound, since it is doing the same thing that happens in natural conception, just outside the body. But in vitro gametogenesis (IVG)—the technique the article talks about—could logic
344.
by neolefty 8y ago
Could it become cheaper in the future?
345.
by neolefty 8y ago
Can confirm both—they do, and many don't mind. My brother is a truck driver. Note also that it's harder to get to a bathroom from a truck on a highway than from a desk in an office. Edit: Does not excuse Amazon's labor behavi
346.
by neolefty 8y ago
Everywhere and nowhere. I thought they helped inspire the current round of affordable computers (chromebooks, phones, cheap laptops, pi, etc)?
347.
by neolefty 9y ago
The only immediate value is satellites for telecommunication. Next decade or two, maybe low-gravity vacations?
348.
by neolefty 9y ago
Another way to measure is replication costs. How hard would it be to create another SpaceX if it failed as a company? My guess: Under $10 billion, but it would take 5 years, even if you had many of the former SpaceX people. Facebook, on the
349.
by neolefty 9y ago
Crowded in LEO and the narrow ring of GEO, but elsewhere it's pretty open. An orbit that would be opened up by cheaper launch services is VLEO (very low earth orbit) where orbits decay in a year or two. There's virtually no debris
350.
by neolefty 9y ago
C++ is of course a Swiss Army Knife of a language. Important context is the Google C++ style guide: https://google.github.io/styleguide/cppguide.html
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by neolefty 9y ago
Common in early car and aircraft cultures as well. Always a tension between innovation and safety. I don't mean that as a cop-out. Rather that there's no single "right answer". We are choosing something on a spectrum of
352.
by neolefty 9y ago
People routinely ignore warnings. Did Mr. Huang normally ignore those warnings every day? If so, how are those warnings not just ass-covering by Tesla?
353.
by neolefty 9y ago
I'd advise spending some time in China before judging. It's probably not what you'd expect, if you're just going by US media depictions. Likewise someone in China judging life in the US!
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by neolefty 9y ago
I like it. Two factors in one! Even allows panic passwords.
355.
by neolefty 9y ago
Haha, I'm no physicist, so take anything I say with a grain of salt. Also, I don't think I can address everything you wrote, so apologies for picking and choosing. I'll say what I can: > the ability to collide ... is more
356.
by neolefty 9y ago
Good point. My only thought was—maybe they pivoted? The law doesn't really back up right-to-be-forgotten in the US. Cyber-bullying is a significant problem where I live, so I can believe there's a business opportunity (shudder at
357.
by neolefty 9y ago
Again, they mostly do. Same with human drivers. By the same logic, should nobody drive?
358.
by neolefty 9y ago
Here's a report from Google with some stats about what was requested and what was removed: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1H4MKNwf5MgeztG7OnJRnl3ym3gI...
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by neolefty 9y ago
Google says it is protecting people from still-predatory actors: > The claimants ... argue that since their crimes are decades old, they should be able to move on from their past. .... Google counters that the information is in the publi
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by neolefty 9y ago
The article argues that it wasn't so much censorship as poorly-implemented censorship. For example: > Internally, Costolo complained that the “abuse economics” were “backward.” It took just seconds to create an account to harass s

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