achates

287 karma · joined April 12, 2023

achates··on American librarians helped defeat the Nazis

Kind of insane that the Germans were still allowing papers on rocketry and nuclear physics to be published in journals in 1943.

achates··on OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns

Alongside luminaries like "the wife of the guy who played Robin in the Batman movie".

achates··on After luring customers with low prices, Amazon stuffs Fire TVs with ads

If you dig down into the account settings there is an "apps only" mode that brings back the grid.

achates··on Who falls for fake news? Psychological and clinical profiling evidence

Thomas Jefferson for one.

> "Gentlemen, I would rather believe that two Yankee professors would lie than believe that stones fall from heaven."

http://www.meteorlab.com/METEORLAB2001dev/metics.htm#:~:text...."

achates··on Is there anywhere in the world someone can just live for free?

They pay income and sales taxes. They don't pay social security taxes but they also aren't eligible for the benefits.

achates··on Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education

Also many public school horror stories.

achates··on U.S. GDP grew at a 4.9% annual pace in the third quarter, better than expected

In practice they're comparing America to an idealized, fantasy version of other developed countries from 2007. They largely aren't aware of how much the US has pulled ahead since then. The UK now has a lower GDP per capital than Mississippi for example.

achates··on Who profits most from America's baffling health-care system?

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/learn-to-code

Basically a bunch of journalists told laid off coal miners that they should just learn to code, which some people saw as callous. Then in 2019 Buzzfeed and Huffpo and a few other places laid off a bunch of journalists. People started tweeting "learn to code" at them and they weren't happy about it.

achates··on The Fight for Fair Wages

>People who are less fortunate are well, less fortunate.

I agree. That's why I don't want the government to forbid them from taking a job that they want by setting a minimum wage. Cutting out the bottom of the labor market doesn't help poor people.

achates··on Ending Junk Fees, the Most Annoying Thing in American Commerce

All of those agencies have larger budgets and more power than they did 50 years ago.

achates··on The Average New EV Costs $14,000 Less Than It Did a Year Ago: KBB

I've always done that too but the used car market has been so insane lately that it might make more sense to consider new as well going forwards.

achates··on US sues eBay for allowing sale of emissions defeat devices

You knew what you were getting into when you bought a BMW.

achates··on Redfin Is Leaving the National Association of Realtors

I put mine on Zillow after interviewing a realtor and it sold for $1,000 less than the maximum amount he realtor said I could expect. Since I didn't have to pay his commission I came out ahead by a lot.

achates··on Most demographers now predict that human population will plateau

I pay way more in taxes than I spend on housing or education. I pay more in taxes every year than I paid for 4 years of college. So yeah, taxes are definitely a bigger consideration.

achates··on The Philips Hue ecosystem is collapsing

That's basically what the Matter specification is.

achates··on Amazon to add limited ads to Prime Video starting in early 2024

eBay is surprisingly good. I think it's because the reviews are tied to the seller instead of the item.

achates··on GPT-4 is not getting worse

Are pit bulls more likely to attack humans than other dog breeds?

achates··on The Federal Helium reserve is for sale

The top voted comment is always some variation of "capitalism bad".

achates··on Walmart cuts pharmacist pay, hours while workload piles up

Pharmacists are pure rent seeking. They got state legislatures to mandate their services and restrict the number of graduates to keep salaries high and pass the cost to consumers. Hopefully online pharmacies reduce our reliance on them and bring costs down.

achates··on For many home-schoolers, parents are no longer doing the teaching

If I can find a news article about a public school teacher who molested children will you support shutting those down too?

achates··on Ghana's MPs pass bill criminalising witchcraft accusation

I would assume most witchcraft accusations are made by people who believe in witchcraft and believe that the person they're accusing is a witch.

achates··on NYU Professor says he's locked out of X after declining to meet with Elon Musk

Not necessarily, institutional investors are playing with other people's money. Many of them are happy to accept lower returns in exchange if they get to their personal politics.

achates··on Las Vegas approves 68 miles of underground transportation tunnels

It's not really more expensive. In Denver it's $10.50 per person to take the train from the airport to downtown. At the time of this post an Uber from LAS to the Bellagio is $11. If you have two people then the Uber is about half the cost per person of the train in Denver.

achates··on San Francisco Landlords may lose everything [video]

So if you fulfill basic human needs you aren't allowed to make a profit but every other industry can?

achates··on The Boring Company will dig a 68-mile tunnel network under Las Vegas

I'm glad that people try new things even if it's more expensive at first and sometimes turns out to be a bad idea in the end.

achates··on War Is a Racket

Sales taxes are state taxes, they don't pay for the military (except for the national guard, but they're tiny and the feds pay when they deploy abroad).

achates··on Plans develop for high-speed rail in the PNW

Trains aren't a good fit for the US outside the northeast corridor. We have a fantastic interstate highway system for medium distances and for longer trips flying is cheaper and faster.

achates··on Tesla created secret team to suppress thousands of driving range complaints

No one outside of America is rude.

achates··on Sugary drinks tax could prevent decay and increase health equity: study

An example of a sugar tax working would be if obesity and cavity rates went down.

achates··on Canadian immigration policy luring tech workers should be a warning to USA

Sounds like a good sign for salaries in the US.

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