spangry

24 ms·

181.
by spangry 8y ago
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_slavery : The history of slavery spans many cultures, nationalities, and religions from ancient times to the present day. However the social, economic, and legal positions
182.
by spangry 9y ago
I'm glad to see some empirical testing of assertions about unconscious gender bias. I think people fall into a bit of a trap when they see the high-level statistics: they assume all other factors are equal and therefore the disparity i
183.
by spangry 9y ago
This kind of regulatory response to natural monopolies can (and does) result in 'gold-plating'. It incentivises profit-maximising monopolists to over-invest in qualifying capital: even though their ROI remains the same, their abso
184.
by spangry 9y ago
This is what makes this issue so frustrating to discuss. People care so very much about it, yet often know surprisingly little.
185.
by spangry 9y ago
Huh, well I definitely learned something today. As for anti-market biases, I suspect we might disagree on the definition of the phrase 'the market'. Admittedly, I mentally put the word 'free' in-front of the word 'm
186.
by spangry 9y ago
In most cases the answer is "no, but it helps". Close physical proximity reduces transmission loss (both inward and outward). And hydro storage requires a very specific sort of topography. If you have fortunately built solar ener
187.
by spangry 9y ago
In the case of natural gas power plants, aren't they (at least some of the time) built due to the need for 'peaker' plants? That is, if there's a sudden surge in demand (which solar can't react to, for obvious reaso
188.
by spangry 9y ago
It's only my faint impression, but I think there's some renewed interest in some sort of international financial / monetary framework similar to Bretton-Woods. The governor of the Chinese central bank publicly expressed inte
189.
by spangry 9y ago
Well, that's kinda encouraging. Interesting to see the number of genocides fall off starting in 1989. Maybe normal statistical variation + dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991?
190.
by spangry 9y ago
It's not so much banks using blockchain. It's more blockchain being the new 'magic beans' that Deloitte, Accenture and their ilk can sell to clueless (but 'agile'!) executives.
191.
by spangry 9y ago
Isn't it false to assume the human body (and the human brain) is a 'closed system'? This is going to sound mighty stupid, but doesn't the fact that we ingest variable amounts of food (i.e. energy) suggest that in surplus
192.
by spangry 9y ago
Ah, thanks, I think I get it now. So, if my understanding of the situation is right, there are a number of conflicts that involve militant Islamic groups, but some of these conflicts are being spurred on by foreign powers with ulterior moti
193.
by spangry 9y ago
I guess a more analogous phenomena would be sudden death due to various medical conditions. Just to pick a random one (not the only one): spontaneous coronary artery dissection. Statistics are rather difficult to come by on this, but assumi
194.
by spangry 9y ago
For the benefit of dummies like me, what's the lesson / clue?
195.
by spangry 9y ago
I don't have the time atm to get into much detail (but will come back in 8ish hours after work), but very quickly: - This is just a simplified description of probably the simplest macro-economic growth model you'll learn if you st
196.
by spangry 9y ago
Australia?
197.
by spangry 9y ago
As a developing country, China has lots of easy productivity growth just by adopting current technologies on the technological frontier. High rates of growth in developing countries, with the rate slowing as they 'catch-up' to m
198.
by spangry 9y ago
It's a tax haven that doesn't tax earnings derived from 'intangible assets' (e.g. licensing fees that "Widget Co. California" pays to "Widget Co. Delaware" for using the trademarked Widget Co. logo).
199.
by spangry 9y ago
On Delaware, because many corporations incorporate there (or incorporate a subsidiary there). It's strange this hasn't been mentioned yet, but the primary reason Delaware is so popular is because it's a domestic & interna
200.
by spangry 9y ago
It won't need to be 17% this time around, that's for sure. Just to give people a sense of the magnitude of the debt Australians are in: - When mortgage rates 'peaked' in 1989 at around 17%, aggregate interest payments at
201.
by spangry 9y ago
What you've highlighted is what I've always thought Marx's primary criticism of capitalism was: that the surplus value (roughly: revenue - wages - cost of capital) from industrial production is deemed the exclusive property o
202.
by spangry 9y ago
I'm not sure how to bring this to the attention of a mod, but is it possible to merge this post with this other one: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14355964 EDIT: maybe if someone flags this commment... don'
203.
by spangry 9y ago
Seems pretty quiet in here, so I figure I'll do a bit of spruiking. The article is definitely worth the read; I found it quite riveting. The most interesting part is the suggestion that there might be effective methods of treating psyc
204.
by spangry 9y ago
I've always been fascinated by this idea; the possibility that a few of the highly popular or charismatic people you come across are actually psychopaths with a well constructed 'mask'. Indeed, one of the phrases that is used
205.
by spangry 9y ago
I've started to think we might have the causality reversed here: government is inefficient not because it's 'the government', it's inefficient because the problems it concerns itself with don't have efficient
206.
by spangry 9y ago
I don't think that all who disagree with Picketty's conclusions do so simply because they don't like them. Nor would I agree that all critiques are mere nitpicks. For example, here's an IMF working paper that conducts an
207.
by spangry 9y ago
This article really resonates with me. I burned out badly around 2 years ago and have still not recovered. 2 years. Although it's probably exacerbated by pre-existing chronic depression in my case. It's cost me so much. My friends
208.
by spangry 9y ago
Man, that's pretty nice. Looking at the TPG plan page I'm guessing that's at 100/40? What's bandwidth contention like? I know TPG cop a bit of flak on whirlpool, but for the 2 or so years I had ADSL with them I neve
209.
by spangry 9y ago
This gets repeated a lot, but people seem to forget that a large part of the continent/island [?] is inhospitable desert. Our population distribution looks like this: https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-4afe2e7cc5078f
210.
by spangry 9y ago
Yep Hackett called it right. He put his money where his mouth was too: he sold his ISP to iiNet/iiBorg (who were subsequently consumed by TPG) and got the fuck outta dodge. It's a pity; Internode was possibly the best ISP in the c

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