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anemoiac

338 karma · joined July 23, 2020

Squirrel connoisseur, cat evangelist, and breaker of things.
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anemoiac··on Why South America Is So Good at Football
The article's dek is relevant here:

> The region isn’t the world’s richest, or its most populous, or the one that spends the most on sport. Yet in men’s football it has spent decades performing far above what its economy would predict.

anemoiac··on Trump launches $1M 'gold card' immigration visas
Is this satire?
anemoiac··on Recent CS grad unemployment twice that of Art History grads
Having a bachelor's degree in CS doesn't mean that you're underemployed if you work as a programmer or something in business. The criteria for underemployment in the referenced report is:

"...graduates working in jobs that typically do not require a college degree. A job is classified as a college job if 50 percent or more of the people working in that job indicate that at least a bachelor's degree is necessary; otherwise, the job is classified as a non-college job."

anemoiac··on Return-to-office policies are leading to increased brain drain in the U.S.
Institutional knowledge often plays a huge role here, but can be difficult to measure. A team member whose experience allows them to quickly provide needed context that would otherwise take hours/days/weeks to obtain might significantly boost their team's productivity without generating any metrics that demonstrate their contributions.
anemoiac··on Ask HN: Is wind power financially viable without subsidies?
Not saying I agree that this is an actual Chinese strategy, but the idea is that, for now, they just don't drill production wells that pull from these reserves, not that they stop producing from existing wells.
anemoiac··on Rethinking Zoning to Increase Affordable Housing 
Zoning is a scapegoat that allows us to avoid thinking critically about the "fuzzier" complexities behind housing prices. Of course it may be a primary driver of rising prices in some areas, but I think it's simple-minded to assume (and misleading to claim) that zoning is the cause of high prices in general.
anemoiac··on On being brought up by libertarian economists
This is a modern (American?) take, though. In many cultures, especially traditionally, age is accompanied by experience, wisdom, and even power.
anemoiac··on Inequality Without Class
A world with high levels of inequality is also a world where power is highly concentrated, which makes the focus of the majority largely irrelevant... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
anemoiac··on Support for Windows 10 will end October 2025
Money?
anemoiac··on NYC officials took 24 minutes to alert New Yorkers about earthquake
So what? Did the lack of immediate notification impact anything?
anemoiac··on Bitcoin tumbles $5000 in 24 hours as interest rates jump
I mean... the price is still more than twice what it was a year ago ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
anemoiac··on ADHD Stimulants May Increase Risk of Heart Damage in Young Adults
The "Oh, well everyone has a little bit of ADHD..." opinion seems to be fairly popular, perhaps due to the increasing ubiquity of digital distractions we all encounter daily, but reading just a small amount of actual research led me to the conclusion that this is completely misguided and "real" ADHD (whatever that is) has likely left a significant amount of its victims dead, in prison, or terminally drug-addicted.

One simple example that supports this conclusion can be found in driving (the most dangerous routine activity most people engage in?), where stimulant medication significantly improves outcomes for those with ADHD. I don't have specific links handy, but a simple Google search (https://www.google.com/search?q=adhd+medication+driving+safe...) will offer ample confirmation.

anemoiac··on >50% of college graduates are working in jobs that don't require degrees
This isn't really news to anyone, but the headline dramatically understates the actual situation if we extend beyond the conventional understanding of 'jobs that require a college degree'

What the article discusses are lower-paying, non-"professional" jobs that don't include a degree as a required qualification, however the majority of jobs which do "require" a college degree (your typical non-specialist corporate role, for ex.) only use that requirement as a filtering mechanism when hiring. That "requirement" doesn't actually reflect a need for any specific knowledge/experience that might result from getting a college degree, which is evident when we consider those hiring for these positions don't usually care what degree an applicant has - only that they can tick off the "college degree" checkbox.

anemoiac··on Selfish reasons to want more humans
That would also be true but, yes, the population would be decreasing without immigration from regions with higher birth rates.
anemoiac··on Selfish reasons to want more humans
Wouldn't most of the so-called "West" already be in the process of depopulation, based on current birthrates, if not for immigration from other regions?
anemoiac··on Selfish reasons to want more humans
It seems like you didn’t finish your response… Why is depopulation terrifying? And why shouldn’t we be concerned about resource constraints? Malthus being wrong implies nothing about the future.
anemoiac··on Ask HN: Anyone else hate company "hack days"
Yeah, definitely not a great experience for anyone on a team that already doesn't have enough time to do their actual work...
anemoiac··on People don't want to tip their Uber and Lyft drivers
Why can’t businesses just charge enough to pay their employees adequately and eliminate tipping altogether? Tipping adds unnecessary ambiguity and degrades the customer experience.

I have no problem paying higher prices, if that’s the solution to the problem, but I find the (seemingly) increasing pervasiveness of tipping across US industries annoying and feel no obligation to tip in situations where it was not traditionally expected.

anemoiac··on Learning to live with musk oxen
TIL (I initially only read the first half of the article).

I still think opposition to their presence differs from the anti-wolf movement in the continental US, which is primarily driven by commercial interests.

anemoiac··on Tech companies axe 34,000 jobs since start of year in pivot to AI
This is pure conjecture (and probably the 2,897th such "article" this year carrying this empty premise).

The chart provided by the article even shows that this year's lay-offs have been significantly lower than last year's, when the AI train was running with less steam...

anemoiac··on Learning to live with musk oxen
Major difference is that musk oxen are essentially an invasive species, whereas wolves play a critical role in the surrounding ecosystem. Look into the impact of Wolf reintroduction to Yellowstone National Park if you're curious about that role.
anemoiac··on The myth of men's full-time employment
What the ubiquitous prescriptions of college education as a panacea for mass unemployment seem to miss is that, for most, a college degree is primarily a signalling mechanism intended to keep their resume in consideration long enough for it to reach human eyes. Jobs that were formerly held (and performed adequately) by non-degree holders now inexplicably require a degree (or multiple degrees!).

If we could simply flip a switch and grant all American adults a college degree (and the general knowledge that supposedly accompanies it), it seems far more likely that the average job's "requirements" would simply inflate to account for this increase than that we'd see a huge drop in unemployment.

anemoiac··on The Economist who wants the field to account for nature
Ecological Economics has been around since the '80s...
anemoiac··on Undergraduates' average IQ has fallen 17 points since 1939. Here's why
IQ still measures the same thing...
anemoiac··on We may not lose our jobs to robots so quickly, MIT study finds
Geez, what about all the other studies telling me to fear for my life? I don't know what to believe!
anemoiac··on Is There Any Benefit to Multivitamins?
It's always DNS!
anemoiac··on Federal Scientists Recommend Easing Restrictions on Marijuana
You think?
anemoiac··on Why Are American Drivers So Deadly?
Hmm maybe we shouldn't allow men to drive before the age of 25? 30?

Statistically, young men are shown to be the riskiest drivers so this should definitely have a positive impact on the safety of our roads.

anemoiac··on Why Are American Drivers So Deadly?
Hmm why am I somehow not afraid to take the wheel every day?
anemoiac··on Why Are American Drivers So Deadly?
Geez why not just execute people who have different brain chemistry than you?
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