ryandamm

32 ms·

301.
by ryandamm 10y ago
That's actually the crux of the problem: there are no dedicated mountain bike trails on public land in Marin. So people who want to mountain bike use the fire roads, and often skip over to the 'single track' where bikes are d
302.
by ryandamm 10y ago
I think what's missing from this discussion is the demo is apparently really, really good. Google didn't put ~$500m, and Alibaba something like $800m, just on a whim, or some investment thesis. And everyone I've spoken to who
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by ryandamm 10y ago
Dada capitalism at its finest.
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by ryandamm 10y ago
This is part of long-standing tension between mountain biking and other trail users in Marin. Odd that modern mountain biking was invented in Marin, but there are no dedicated trails (and very few single track trails at all) available to bi
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by ryandamm 10y ago
> You are insane Let's not do this here, please. Also, you're discrediting yourself and your arguments before I even get to the substance of your comment.
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by ryandamm 10y ago
Illiquid markets, stable equilibria (that are not at global minima), and irrational decision making. Unless your model accounts for such things, it's too simplified. Particularly when it comes to human factors. And if your model is tha
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by ryandamm 10y ago
I wish I could upvote this 1000 times. I think the counter arguments (haven't read the entire thread yet, and probably never will) often engage in abstract thought experiments, which are often very simplified models with tons of unspok
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by ryandamm 10y ago
Very true (and parent makes a really good point, also). I do wonder: rather than a single axis, how many would be appropriate? If you did PCA on... well, some crazy mishmash of factors -- demographic, political, socioeconomic, geographic --
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by ryandamm 10y ago
> You got to be delusional to think Please stop that, too. It's not an argument.
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by ryandamm 10y ago
Oddly enough, it's on tech-oriented sites like this one that I hear the most chatter about universal basic income or post-work societies, and grappling with the very disruptions of the social fabric that tech development creates. Perha
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by ryandamm 10y ago
Personally, I don't think that's "good." I remember fondly Tim Cook's response to an activist investor about why they support environmentally sound policies: "When we work on making our devices accessible by th
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by ryandamm 10y ago
Hey, now that's something more interesting to me! This political nonsense was getting a bit tiresome. Sadly, I'm heading to bed. I'm a single parent this week and my son's up in ~5 hours. Where are you based?
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by ryandamm 10y ago
I don't see much of substance to discuss, as I mentioned in reply to your first, similar post. I think Thiel has bad politics, uninteresting investment theses, and a knack for bad macro- timing. I've devoted too much time to him t
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by ryandamm 10y ago
Is this a (nearly) double post from a (nearly) single-purpose account? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13380273 Your effusive language undermines your credibility, for the record. Then again, I don't think I'
315.
by ryandamm 10y ago
It's fair to say you and I disagree on a lot. Have you spoken with anyone who's affiliated with the scholarship fund / alternative to college? I have, at length, and walked away unimpressed with the "program". Colle
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by ryandamm 10y ago
Once again, I'm left wondering where (beyond his Facebook investment) Thiel's reputation comes from. This interview is Kabuki intellectualism, at best: grossly exaggerated positions meant to make some larger point ("Peter Thi
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by ryandamm 10y ago
You can get coworking spaces for ~$300-500+/month per desk, sometimes more for dedicated space. For a funded startup, I've heard that you should budget ~100+ square feet per employee, and rents in SF are in the $50 (very low) to $
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by ryandamm 10y ago
That sounds logical absent any context, but context matters. Thiel took a very public stance on a very controversial figure. A figure that's controversial for good reasons: things he's done, things he's said, and things he sa
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by ryandamm 10y ago
I subscribe to the Economist, too. Their opinion of Trump jibes with mine, as far as I can tell. Do you disagree? And I ask about media because you've got to start from an agreed upon set of facts. That didn't used to be so diffic
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by ryandamm 10y ago
So, Thiel has done an excellent job of cementing his reputation as a contrarian. But I'd invite any startup founder to think long and hard about whether you'd want to be associated with him. I read this interview, like many others
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by ryandamm 10y ago
'The 1920s were the last decade in American history during which one could be genuinely optimistic about politics. Since 1920, the vast increase in welfare beneficiaries and the extension of the franchise to women — two constituencies
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by ryandamm 10y ago
Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I think that the mechanics of governing are probably mind-boggling, but parsing the "less-bad" from the "more-bad" is definitely the job of today's voter -- and those seemingly minor
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by ryandamm 10y ago
(To be clear, I'm referring to Obama's time in Indonesia when I say he experienced life as an immigrant. Obviously I'm not trafficking in ridiculous, racist falsehoods like our President-elect.)
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by ryandamm 10y ago
I do have heartburn about mass surveillance -- and watching "Citizen Four" was an eye-opener. Snowden should be pardoned, and given a medal. But I think there's false equivalence at work, here. Maybe there are no good guys in
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by ryandamm 10y ago
I hear QE being disparaged a lot, but I'm not sure why. The world economy has been in a doldrums, and QE was the only monetary lever left to pull (given that fiscal tightening, rather than expansion, was the political calculation). Loo
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by ryandamm 10y ago
Downvotes.
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by ryandamm 10y ago
It doesn't work that way. You reach out to funds, work the circuit, etc. Any investment requires time from both parties, and it takes weeks to close a transaction. Thiel-affiliated funds are automatically off my list. We've had a
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by ryandamm 10y ago
You wouldn't expect the uptick in venture financing to immediately result in an uptick in venture exits. Using the 'pipe' metaphor, the flow takes time. The pipe has nonzero length. In fact, the pipe's length should be r
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by ryandamm 10y ago
Again, where do you get your news? I find anyone that most people who posit a monolithic "left" are typically consuming a strange brew. Anyone who cares about truth -- not just in science, but in economics, policy, etc, should be
330.
by ryandamm 10y ago
I suppose if you already respect Thiel you have already given him a pass for his misogynistic and racist statements in the libertarian press. So yeah, less to forgive in his support of Trump. But then again, you'd have to overlook his

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