stvswn

34 ms·

271.
by stvswn 11y ago
I see you're interested in the history of the 9/11 attacks! Here's a 600 page report with over 100 pages of footnotes. The first chapter deals with the hijackings. You can start your research there! http://www.9-
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by stvswn 11y ago
Agreed, I just finished writing the same thing in many more words before seeing the point had been made.
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by stvswn 11y ago
I wear a helmet, because I want my daughter to wear a helmet when she rides and so I set a good example. But I have no idea why anyone believes it's appropriate to make a law about this. Risky behavior that puts others at risk is fai
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by stvswn 11y ago
Being 14 months into the experience, I'd say that you don't have any time for hobbies at first, but you're surprised at how much you don't really care. My family is my passion outside of work. I don't think of tak
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by stvswn 11y ago
Is the word "liberal" being used ironically?
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by stvswn 11y ago
OK, then, what is instant access to all of wikipedia, and to Google's entire search index, inside your pocket at all times? It is what computers have wrought. If you don't think "computing" means "using a computer,
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by stvswn 11y ago
People aren't taking offense to the comparison to clergy, they're amazed at the hubris.
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by stvswn 11y ago
Because people should be exposed to a variety of disciplines, and they should be given the chance to demonstrate a talent for whichever they find suits them. In that sense, we should absolutely expose kids to programming. But it isn't
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by stvswn 11y ago
A command line used to be the primary UI, and thank God we don't have to do that anymore. The iOS UI makes computing way more accessible to everyone. Programming is certainly going to be an increasingly valuable skill. But it is not
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by stvswn 11y ago
I think you're giving yourself the ability to reason along the spectrum, but assuming that more libertarian leaning people are incapable of admitting that some standards are OK. Of course some standards are OK, it's these standar
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by stvswn 11y ago
I do make the same argument about minimum wage, and about "predatory" lending.
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by stvswn 11y ago
Exactly. The real minimum wage will always be $0, and we will only hasten the moment when self-driving cars are worthwhile investments if we continue to insist that labor should cost more.
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by stvswn 11y ago
It's almost as if businesses react to economic incentives in predictable ways. I'm starting to think that well-intentioned policies may sometimes backfire.
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by stvswn 11y ago
Well put. Also related: there are similar articles around lamenting the effects of Cuba's opening on the pristine beaches. There are plenty of places in Cuba that might see new tourist activity where once there wasn't enough dema
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by stvswn 11y ago
Is that you, Fox Butterfield?
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by stvswn 11y ago
Good point! Those are inherent subsidies to property owners, I expect. In which case my answer would be that we should remove the market distortions, not correct them with more central planning.
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by stvswn 11y ago
I mean the net effect of any housing subsidy in isolation or all housing subsidies in aggregate is likely negative. By subsidies I mean any government policy which distorts the market from either the supply side or the demand side. In eve
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by stvswn 11y ago
You have an arguable point, if you think that artificially inflated asset prices, caused by low interest rates, led to the decline in real wages for the middle class while benefitting the super-rich. Our points would then not be mutually e
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by stvswn 11y ago
Yes, undersupply and high prices are a problem. Only 9% of the housing stock in SF is available for rent at market rates. I know it is the desired effect of subsidies to reduce prices for a worthy class of people, but my point is that it
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by stvswn 11y ago
To oppose housing subsidies is to always be considered heartless, siding with the rich, etc. But you cannot create prosperity by destroying wealth. The broken windows fallacy applies here. It's easy to see the cost of allowing the pr
291.
by stvswn 11y ago
Hmm.. it seems like most of his strategy depends on "middle class welfare," public healthcare, and public schools. I don't know much about Australian taxes, but I assume that with his low income and high savings he's pa
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by stvswn 11y ago
I'm not arguing that it's too big of a burden to contemplate the injustice. I'm arguing that the scale of the injustice may not be as great as the author contends, and there may have been a competing thing of value that was
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by stvswn 11y ago
I didn't say we should sweep it under the rug, I said that there exists context that the original author did not provide. Yes, the history of the population matters in these cases. I don't know where we should draw the line, but
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by stvswn 11y ago
Apologies for the mixup. You can calm down now.
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by stvswn 11y ago
I said it was in dispute, not that I agreed. If you squat on gov't land in the US and have kids there, would the gov't just cede the land to you after an appropriate amount of time? Maybe yes, I guess, but it's complicated.
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by stvswn 11y ago
Some additional context from wikipedia: the island was originally 100% uninhabited in the 19th century when the French brought slaves there. Over the course of the next century, it was mostly privately owned, and the majority of residents
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by stvswn 11y ago
You had me nodding in agreement when I thought you were standing up against slacktivism and outrage-bait. Then I got puzzled when you started railing against consumerism and its consequences. Finally I realized you were just nostalgic for
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by stvswn 11y ago
Not trying to be a skeptic for its own sake, but its worth noting that, buried deep in the article, you can find reference to an "unorthodox publishing practice" -- it hasn't yet been peer reviewed.
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by stvswn 11y ago
You assert that Google is "aggressively raising min CPC in a number of categories" and then link to an article that speculates that this might be the case without evidence. They didn't even say "aggressively..." As
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by stvswn 11y ago
Those of us who "bristle" think that it's absolute nonsense that free adults should be prevented from engaging in a mutually beneficial transaction because the government is concerned with protecting one of them. Treating Ub

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