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amylene

132 karma · joined January 6, 2020

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amylene··on Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers’ computers
I wouldn’t so much consider this childish, as I would consider it criminal. You may feel justified in doing it, but don’t fool yourself: this would be theft.
amylene··on Unicorn layoffs keep piling up
Isn’t this a result of good governance, ie no stock buybacks?
amylene··on Unicorn layoffs keep piling up
That’s the wrong question. The right one is whether the economic downturn would be worse if we had a multiple amount of deaths.

Additionally, we have saved lives (and animal lives) by shutting down parts of the economy. That should be included as a silver lining to the whole thing.

amylene··on Unicorn layoffs keep piling up
The other side of the argument is also just an opinion. What’s your point?

The way I read it is that we have no reason to think the economic drop would be less severe if we didn’t have a shutdown. This is because people dying could hurt the economy just as much, if not more.

It is assuming facts not in evidence to suggest the economy would be better off with more deaths but less of a lockdown.

amylene··on Falcon is a free, open-source SQL editor with inline data visualization
This is how PowerBI, from Microsoft, works. It copies the data into local RAM (or on a cloud machine that also runs the dataviz)
amylene··on A Long Time Until the Economic New Normal
There are other options of actions he could have taken that wouldn’t have involved shutting borders. Over the years, as well as not making obviously false statements, starting in late January. Those falsities created a republican resistance to the necessary actions, making it some sort of misguided windmill tilt about freedom.

Further, the entire culture he created — don’t speak truth to power, or you will be fired - is also responsible for the late actions and poor preparedness of the administration.

amylene··on Yelp lays off 1000, furloughs 1100
That is a charitable view of private equity - that it improves margins without hurting operations.

Another explanation lies in reputation mining. Think of it like doing something profitable but unsustainable.

Curious what kind of experience or data sources you base your first graph on — the Pareto principle piece makes sense. But isn’t it possible the very end of the tail is still profitable, albeit less so, than the head?

amylene··on U.S. airlines want a $50B bailout. They spent $45B buying back their stock
Matt Levine has a good take from a few weeks ago. Basically he argues the buybacks were the only sensible play, if you were the airlines.
amylene··on The internet should be a public utility
I’m on a 2 year contract with Comcast and getting 600 down for $60. You might give them a call to see if they can lower your rate.
amylene··on New restrictions in Hong Kong show that a single lockdown won’t be enough
Or, it could spur some necessity is the mother of invention innovation for deployment.

Or a million other things could happen.

I am asking that you change your “would” to “could” to properly reflect the uncertainty.

We have a tendency to want to convince people of our views, which gets in the way of making our views more correct. This is challenging to fight, but necessary to learn.

amylene··on New restrictions in Hong Kong show that a single lockdown won’t be enough
I can’t correct other peoples flawed thinking. But I can avoid reacting to it when that reaction makes my thinking worse.

Just because someone does something I don’t like doesn’t mean I should base my viewpoint around rejecting theirs.

amylene··on New restrictions in Hong Kong show that a single lockdown won’t be enough
Our best guesses are the best we can do. Are you familiar with the research around the bias bias? Or the fact that smart people tend to be more subject to biases?
amylene··on New restrictions in Hong Kong show that a single lockdown won’t be enough
Yes, certainty in future economic projections is delusional, but it’s a delusion that is well received by society. Humans prefer confidence over competence, and abhor uncertainty. Right now, we have a lot of uncertainty.
amylene··on New restrictions in Hong Kong show that a single lockdown won’t be enough
Super interesting, thanks for replying!

So you are aware that your estimate is biased because of your other beliefs, but you don’t try to fix that? Mind if I ask why?

amylene··on Interview with German Ventilator Manufacturer
Why do you believe that vehicle quality is related to anything else? This seems like halo effect bias.
amylene··on New restrictions in Hong Kong show that a single lockdown won’t be enough
The difference is that flat earthers reject objective evidence. This is someone disagreeing over projections about the future. And, to be frank, nobody has a fucking clue how to estimate the medium term effects of this.
amylene··on New restrictions in Hong Kong show that a single lockdown won’t be enough
When you say, very likely, can you put a percent on it so we know if you mean 20% or 80%?
amylene··on New restrictions in Hong Kong show that a single lockdown won’t be enough
Deaths would also worsen an economic depression. Why does everybody forget about this?

Also, an economic depression reduces air pollution which would reduce deaths.

There are lots of factors that would need to be considered. Most people I’ve seen advocating this pov are stopping at the first order analysis.

amylene··on Square eGift Cards
There exists a significant set of businesses who are overall profitable, but cannot manage cash flow. This mechanism robots the cash flow from incredibly bad times, into the future.
amylene··on It's not what programming languages do, it's what they shepherd you to
Remember the old phrase, “imagine the person who maintains your code is an axe wielding murderer who has your home address”?
amylene··on Current Wuhan Situation
Because there is value in making good decisions after a series of bad ones. Wuhan has stopped more infections, which is to be applauded.

Moving forward, we can criticize the reasons in the post mortem. However, if we are looking to find the truth, we cannot start with blame. We all know how blame causes people to cover their ass and inhibits learning.

amylene··on Breathing and Exercise: Strength Training for Your Diaphragm (2018)
Big belly breaths (when you fill up with air, then top it off, then top it off again) stimulate the vagus nerve, which for me is crucial in combatting my anxiety.
amylene··on Venezuela to Close Pumps as Gas Runs Short, Viral Outbreak Grows
The comment they responded to was not a serious comment, which is what they were mocking.

That is t to say that relatives of yours went through horrible things, with some American responsibility. As a nation, America has done some awful things, and we don’t do enough to acknowledge our mistakes.

amylene··on McDonald's is considering rent deferrals for franchisees
Unfortunately, this feels like it relies on the same mechanism as trickle down economics.
amylene··on McDonald's is considering rent deferrals for franchisees
They have fewer people in that category, and also more room to make lifestyle adjustments so they can remain afloat. Also, access to credit and family loans.
amylene··on Alphabet, Walmart join U.S. effort to speed up coronavirus testing
Yes, the best way to fix something dysfunctional is to slash its budget, repeatedly make statements contrary to what they actually say, and downplay worldwide pandemics.

Without conceding the point of prior dysfunction, I have to say that trump has yet to find a bad situation that he can’t make worse.

amylene··on A Peek Into Graviton2
Do you have any evidence that their pricing is confusing on purpose?
amylene··on Dr. John von Neumann at the dedication of the NORD (1954)
The same reason anyone did: signal status. Immigrants can be self conscious of their accents, so it seems even more likely that a normal person would feel that impulse.

JvN was no ordinary person.

amylene··on Airlines flying empty planes to keep flight slots during coronavirus outbreak
That rotting copper is going to be immensely valuable after the collapse.
amylene··on Airlines flying empty planes to keep flight slots during coronavirus outbreak
No, they are supposed to measure progress in one dimension towards a target. They are often misused, but it’s not necessary to conflate the improper use case with the original intent.
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