nickff

23 ms·

481.
by nickff 1y ago
Aerial photography is also used for targeting strikes, it is de facto prohibited in Ukraine, and most hot wars.
482.
by nickff 1y ago
The US automakers built an oligopoly when foreign competitors were technologically behind, and they developed a burdensome cost-structure based on expensive labor and multi-layered supply chains. To compete, they would need to vertically in
483.
by nickff 1y ago
Where is all this money going to come from? Labor is already the largest expense for most companies, and executive compensation is only a very small proportion of it. If the companies are have all their profits taken away (in the form of in
484.
by nickff 1y ago
On one of the Apollo documentaries (I can't remember which one), the astronauts joked that it was the least effective quarantine ever; they talked about how there was a stream of ants going in and out of the Airstream they were in.
485.
by nickff 1y ago
Neither Cruise nor Waymo seems to be profitable yet, and the jury is still out on whether they will win the market. They may be the MySpaces (or the Fiskers) of autonomous driving.
486.
by nickff 1y ago
It’s only a pro if Bedrock has some sort of advantage that the existing companies don’t and can’t easily get. Without some sort of innovator’s dilemma-type situation, they’re likely to be crushed (into gravel).
487.
by nickff 1y ago
Construction costs are not the only costs relating to development and redevelopment. Financing and project risk are also quite significant. Issues that push back the start of construction vastly increase financing costs, and increase constr
488.
by nickff 1y ago
If all you have to do is get written affidavits, you’ll just create an industry of co-minglers and liars abroad, without changing anything. I don’t think this is a readily solveable problem.
489.
by nickff 1y ago
So your solution is that purchasers just need to buy from someone who tells them that the commodity is clean? That is definitely what many do, and what the conflict minerals regulations have encouraged companies to do, but I don’t trust any
490.
by nickff 1y ago
But how do you actually verify the source? Let’s assume that some amount of conflict metals are laundered through other countries, and commingled with ‘clean’ material (which is usually how it happens); how do you figure out whether your su
491.
by nickff 1y ago
Let’s say you buy electrolytic capacitors, and you’re worried that they might have conflict tantalum in them. You call up the manufacturer (likely Samsung), and they tell you that they are unable to verify the origin of the metal. Even if t
492.
by nickff 1y ago
You seem to have a very cynical view, but I think the reason nobody is verifying these things is that they're hard to actually check, and nobody wants to pay for the cost of verification. My only experience with this sort of tracking i
493.
by nickff 1y ago
Most pizza restaurants are built around the delivery cost-structure. They locate off main streets, they have a small front-of-house relative to kitchen size, and they have relatively low ingredients costs. They save money on both real estat
494.
by nickff 1y ago
I’m not sure where you’re getting your info, but it seems like well over half of US healthcare spending is on wages for doctors, nurses, and other patient-facing staff (such as RMTs, techs, and physios). Administrative and drug costs are de
495.
by nickff 1y ago
A16Z is a very well-known venture capital firm, due to its founders, who were involved in Netscape and Loudcloud. They put a lot of late-stage money into a variety of ‘startups’, with wide-ranging results.
496.
by nickff 1y ago
There are many limits on SR&ED, and the reporting/auditing process is burdensome. Canada also suffers from a variety of other inconveniences, mostly related to its dependence on resource extraction-related industries.
497.
by nickff 1y ago
You can only expense Canadian R&D expenses; meaning anything that is not completely used up almost immediately is treated as an asset. This makes almost no difference for software development, but is very important (and disadvantageous)
498.
by nickff 1y ago
There are many alternative explanations (aside from 'healing powers'), including that people with pre-existing lung issues which correlate with lung cancer (such as emphysema) are less likely to smoke marijuana.
499.
by nickff 1y ago
I think it makes sense to be against military action in general, though it’s a much more persuasive position in a safe western country than Israel, South Korea, or Ukraine. I also think you’d be well-served to learn a bit more about the his
500.
by nickff 1y ago
The USA had abandoned the prior deal some time ago, and was not party to any current agreement which authorized any Iranian nuclear activities. Thus Iran was neither in compliance or abeyance of any agreement with them. Iran has not earned
501.
by nickff 1y ago
In your view, would the USA, Japan, or South Korea have been justified in striking North Korea’s nuclear program at any point before or after their development of nuclear weapons? If so, when? Note that North Korea has repeatedly threatened
502.
by nickff 1y ago
I am not sure what would 'merit' military action; that's a difficult political question, especially when one party suspects that their counter-party is lying.
503.
by nickff 1y ago
It's a very difficult negotiation on either side, and I am not sure that a sustainable long-term deal is possible: From the US/Israeli perspective, it's hard to trust Iran, which is positioning itself as a threshold nuclear s
504.
by nickff 1y ago
Not the parent, but the IAEA did find Iran to be non-compliant just before the Israeli strike: https://www.euronews.com/2025/06/12/un-nuclear-watchdog-find...
505.
by nickff 1y ago
It is well-known that Iran has enriched Uranium to 60%, much more than the 5% which is commonly required for nuclear reactors, and also more than the 20% required by some specialized reactor designs. Iran has clearly tried to position itsel
506.
by nickff 1y ago
Those claims are not verifiable (with open-source intelligence), they're possible, but not especially likely because the Israelis seem to have extensively infiltrated both assets and hardware into Iran (so they probably didn't nee
507.
by nickff 1y ago
Canada has had many opioid-related overdoses and deaths: https://health-infobase.canada.ca/substance-related-harms/op... The numbers seems roughly proportional to US opioid deaths (though I haven’t taken a detailed loo
508.
by nickff 1y ago
Voters don’t seem to sympathize or at least support pornographic performers or distributors; see Operation Choke Point for an example of how they were lumped in with ‘unsavory’ industries, and cut off from essential services (with no substa
509.
by nickff 1y ago
I am not sure whether the issuers report that to the processors (though I doubt it), but you cannot get that information from a processor.
510.
by nickff 1y ago
The regulatory burdens on most companies have been gradually increasing, to the point that it is very difficult to run companies with <100 (some might say <1000) employees in most non-software industries. I am sorry to hear that it wi

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