neolefty

37 ms·

451.
by neolefty 9y ago
By analogy, there's a lot more to a Model T than an internal combustion engine.
452.
by neolefty 9y ago
Yep. Even as an avowed extrovert, I have switched my default ringtone to silent.
453.
by neolefty 9y ago
I think it may be some Stockholm Syndrome -- people have worked very hard to get around the GIL, and they've come to expect its limitations and respect those solutions. But I've never heard of someone asking for a GIL to be added
454.
by neolefty 9y ago
Certainly not worth it for one person to tackle the GIL, but a million people running into it a few times in 5 years, and I think it's economical.
455.
by neolefty 9y ago
On a 3D6?
456.
by neolefty 9y ago
> What’s more, where GM’s production led to eight jobs in its supply chain for every one person it employed directly, the ripple effects of the Big Five’s businesses, with the exception of Apple, are much smaller. Would Amazon's rip
457.
by neolefty 9y ago
They've had many notable failures, from the first 3 attempts to launch a Falcon 1, to two different Falcon 9 failures -- including destruction of payload -- with major consequences and delays that resulted: https://en.wikipe
458.
by neolefty 9y ago
Energy intensity (watts per dollar of economic activity) is leveling off and decreasing in developed economies such as the US, China, and Europe, and I think also South America. I don't know about India and Africa. But the days of expo
459.
by neolefty 9y ago
This is a discussion that I've encountered a lot lately -- it seems to boil down to: Is civilization different from nature? Is it doomed to be destructive, or can it create something new and better? Many people I've met lately a
460.
by neolefty 9y ago
Is that related to death during childbirth?
461.
by neolefty 9y ago
Whether or not you personally like Dropbox, they are an example of going up against the largest competitors on the planet and surviving. And not just an example in general, but an example in detail -- decisions and efforts they made at ever
462.
by neolefty 9y ago
The feeling was rather one of camaraderie: the challenges to unravel the deepest mysteries of the universe, the thrill in understanding another tiny bit of this grand puzzle, and the sheer wonder at how beautifully the physics hangs togeth
463.
by neolefty 9y ago
But would they have the same incentive to take risks? I hear you -- I want them to do well too, and keep making cool things, but giving them too much help may kill the golden eggs. Or something.
464.
by neolefty 9y ago
The article makes the case (to me) that local + anonymous was a failed experiment. In real-life communities, local means not anonymous, and bad behavior -- which is rare whether anonymous or not -- can be tied to an individual right away.
465.
by neolefty 9y ago
I like that argument. It seems tangential at first, but it would make a lot of retirees much more comfortable and willing to spend their money. That line of reasoning sounds similar to the establishment of the FDIC bank account guarantee th
466.
by neolefty 9y ago
It's a cart before the horse problem. His argument is that the economy is imbalanced by excessive saving, and it needs retirees to spend more. He's trying to come up with a reason for them to do it.
467.
by neolefty 9y ago
The rates are low precisely because there is an oversupply of saved money. In other words, capital is so easy to get that nobody has to pay much interest on it. It's a borrower's market and will continue to be as long as we have t
468.
by neolefty 9y ago
They've made some amazing progress! However, a landable booster can't put itself into orbit -- its engine cutoff is always well under 3000 m/s (today's was about 9800 kph according to the YouTube broadcast, or about 2700
469.
by neolefty 9y ago
I've heard of top-down and bottom-up design, and what you're describing sounds like top-down debugging, in contrast to "open the debugger at the first bug" -- bottom-up debugging? They're both great, like having two
470.
by neolefty 9y ago
For a real comparison, I think it would be better to include jobs at coal power plants as well.
471.
by neolefty 10y ago
> The ideal solution is to fix all of the world's ills, but obviously that isn't realistic, at least not in our lifetimes. We can make progress, but help will arrive too late for many. I love this sentence, and I want to say ye
472.
by neolefty 10y ago
Does this mean they are getting serious about a plugin API?
473.
by neolefty 10y ago
It also points out that you get actual light speed instead of fiber's 90% of light speed. I didn't realize there was a physical possibility of it being faster than ground. Mostly trivial compared to the other ramifications, but
474.
by neolefty 10y ago
Maximum efficiency is ... 100%. So if a turbofan is 30% efficient, then the best you can do is about 3x.
475.
by neolefty 10y ago
I hear people "from both sides" clamoring for more logic. For example: * Logical social conservatives (early childhood education plus libertarianism?) * Pragmatic environmentalists (renewable power + GMOs to reduce pesticide use)
476.
by neolefty 10y ago
That's a great comparison. Facebook has taken on that kind of quality for me. It's become one more communication channel. Fantastic for keeping up with my friends who use it, but not intrusive. I'd say telephones are still ad
477.
by neolefty 10y ago
> Greg asked me questions for the first half of the drive back to San Francisco, then declared he was in, and started planning logistics for the rest of the drive. I think he took on the risk when he bought into it. But yeah.
478.
by neolefty 10y ago
It does work but only if you haven't tried to read it already (that is, they set a cookie or something when you first try to open the article that sticks when you open it from Google).
479.
by neolefty 10y ago
Messy civil wars maybe but the major countries and regions have no appetite for war on their own soil and will actively avoid it. China, Europe, India, US, Indonesia, South America, 90% of Africa -- war is neither popular nor desired there,
480.
by neolefty 10y ago
SpaceX claims methane's better for engine reusability (much less soot buildup) but that's as yet unproven. Efficiency is similar to kerosene.

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