philk

33 ms·

271.
by philk 16y ago
Yes, but the bubble itself was created by investors building and selling complex financial instruments in the first place. Wouldn't it be better if investment bankers had been building legitimate businesses rather than working out new ways
272.
by philk 16y ago
I'm not sure, however, that there's a huge use to society in allowing many bets like this given at the very least it's a huge sink for quality human capital. I understand that there is value from the insurance/hedging side, but as we've see
273.
by philk 16y ago
Actually they've got ~ 10% and other plastic cork producers have another ~9% between them. Additionally screwcaps have another 11%.
274.
by philk 16y ago
With the possible drawback that anyone who you're connected to thinks that you're becoming a Belgian monk with a goat fetish.
275.
by philk 16y ago
For FB I suspect that the ideal would be a network with lots of nodes but few connections; I want to be able to find my friends but I don't want them to be connected to so many that they have to sanitize their posts/thoughts.
276.
by philk 16y ago
Never, because they wouldn't want the negative social proof that publishing deletions would cause.
277.
by philk 16y ago
FB also seems to get less useful over time as you add more people. Initially, when you have a few people you know really well and get on with, you can post quite freely knowing that it's unlikely to come back and bite you. Later, as you gai
278.
by philk 16y ago
This is rubbish. My privacy is important to me because I enjoy it. I enjoy being able to do things/have thoughts/express opinions that are not universally popular. I enjoy not having my interests analyzed by potential employers. I enjoy
279.
by philk 16y ago
Gen Xers and beyond have a much higher quality of life, even in a recession, than their grandparents did and to say otherwise is an example of the very self involvement that's being criticized here. Humans readily adapt to changed circums
280.
by philk 16y ago
All of these articles bemoaning "kids these days" are starting to get really tiresome.
281.
by philk 17y ago
I did a lot of follow up work and watched as he basically out competed his old company to pieces. I can't help but wonder if the pain of losing so much to his co-founder gave him the motivation to beat his old company and become a success
282.
by philk 17y ago
Chess has lost a lot of its prestige since the end of the Cold War. Poker, on the other hand, has grown in prestige since tournaments have offered much more lucrative payouts [1], been televised more widely and had lots of amateurs enter th
283.
by philk 17y ago
Poker is probably more advantageous to learn if you can get good at it; more money, more prestige and a focus on reading/bluffing others.
284.
by philk 17y ago
Good stuff. It seems that every field of endeavor that's difficult to make headway in and has no clear pathway to success has this kind of industry grow up around it.
285.
by philk 17y ago
Unfortunately common sense is often electoral suicide.
286.
by philk 17y ago
I actually found it pretty interesting.
287.
by philk 17y ago
I thought the first one was better than the second one. Overall I've found Dilbert to be very hit and miss over time. There are some real gems out there but there's also quite a few which miss the mark. Of course, Scott Adams has been at t
288.
by philk 17y ago
True. Although with HK property prices I imagine that it's quite a good deal.
289.
by philk 17y ago
Wow, that's some mighty well targeted spamming you're doing here. Later I'm going to follow suit and post my blog about handbags and shoes to HN.
290.
by philk 17y ago
Yeah, although if it was motorized you'd go to sleep one night and wake up sandwiched between the bathroom and the library the next morning thanks to a bug in the software.
291.
by philk 17y ago
This is incredibly cool. Of course, you'd have to put stuff back in its proper place every time otherwise the system would quickly break down.
292.
by philk 17y ago
I don't think that even a sophisticated investor could understand many of the instruments that Goldman was selling; so for the most part I think people should have taken that as a warning. (Hell, even Warren Buffett was saying he couldn'
293.
by philk 17y ago
For regular users tech specs haven't mattered in years. Although I suppose if you're writing for a website called ipadwatcher.com you feel obliged to relate everything to the iPad.
294.
by philk 17y ago
These broad demographic generalizations get really tiresome after a while. I sure as hell don't remember being showered with praise or getting athletic trophies just for turning up.
295.
by philk 17y ago
I'm still optimistic about my conservative, iPad-based portfolio.
296.
by philk 17y ago
If you invest in something you don't understand I'm not sure you're entitled to complain when it doesn't do what you wanted. (If you don't want to have to spend all your time managing your investments then you're best off sticking to simple
297.
by philk 17y ago
Personally I cheered the housing market's decline as well. It's interesting how we're always told it's a disaster when there's a market correction but never when an asset class is getting overvalued.
298.
by philk 17y ago
Unless it's the same employee at Goldman doing both within a short timeframe, I'm not sure what the problem is. Goldman is a big place; of course they'd have divisions dedicated to shilling instruments and divisions dedicated to exploiting
299.
by philk 17y ago
I would be thrilled and (assuming I hadn't collapsed under the stress) I'd shamelessly milk it by trying to get Woz out for a drink.
300.
by philk 17y ago
There's clearly no malice intended, and I'd say "mocked" is far too strong a term. He's making fun of the situation, not Gray himself. If you find this joke to be insensitive I'm having a hard time imagining what sort of humor you approve

More ›