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elevenfist

174 karma · joined December 25, 2013

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elevenfist··on About This Googler's Manifesto
Wow, I can't believe these comments. I give. HN is stupid. Programmers are by and large stupid, we just have a set of specialized skills.

I'm starting to understand now why so much code is documented so poorly.

And yet, there's smart posts like these that give me some glimmer of hope. Thanks for stemming the tide. I hope those of us not totally brain dead can figure something out.

elevenfist··on Note to Google Employees from CEO Sundar Pichai
I'm arguing for diversity of gender, skin color, cultural or sub-cultural background and identity. Diversity of viewpoint should already be a given.

In order to promote tolerance you have to shut down and remove the people who support intolerance. Firing this guy is clearly in line with that mission and improving productivity.

We learn this in grade school, are you all foreigners or something? Or has American education really been gutted...

elevenfist··on Note to Google Employees from CEO Sundar Pichai
> "... that diversity hiring yields both better individual and group performance."

This is a well-known, well-researched fact of organizational psychology. Are you guys really this stupid? Think about it from a problem-solving perspective, in terms of the solutions individuals and groups will come up with.

Sexism, racism, and discrimination in general doesn't benefit anyone but the wealthiest few, and only if they're really, really stupid.

elevenfist··on Accelerationism: how a fringe philosophy predicted the future we live in
I guess libertarianism is on its last legs if they have to give it a new name and a fresh coat of paint. The bullshit is still simplistic, as always.
elevenfist··on Impulsive Rich Kid, Impulsive Poor Kid (2015)
Can someone please flag these shills. The article is about how evidence-based behavioral therapies like cbt can reduce crime, and should be applied as an alternative to prison for kids. For those that don't know anything about cbt, in this context it's basically about reducing cognitive distortions that convince people to commit crimes.
elevenfist··on N.S.A Halts Collection of Americans’ Emails About Foreign Targets
You can't generalize all agencies or all departments within an agency either. I'd be surprised if anyone working with Comey would give a damn based on what he tried to do to Apple, but I doubt everyone in our three letter agencies is going to violate the current system and read data without authorization and a warrant.
elevenfist··on N.S.A Halts Collection of Americans’ Emails About Foreign Targets
Well, scraping has taken place, so you've violated a eula and potentially committed theft. But you haven't violated copyright, as long as you do not distribute the data either, (through any means) pretty sure that's fair "use."

Ymmv, not a lawyer and this is internet bullshitting, not legal advice.

elevenfist··on N.S.A Halts Collection of Americans’ Emails About Foreign Targets
This isn't really a secret interpretation, I and a lot of people I knew noticed the same thing over a decade ago by reading the privacy policies of tech companies. Reading the data requires a warrant. Recording the data doesn't.
elevenfist··on Facebook says it will act against 'information operations' using false accounts
No, that's not even remotely close to what I'm saying or believe, you've constructed a strawman.

But your comment is shockingly similar to what I've heard from people who still support Trump irl. Do you personally ever talk about what's actually happening in washington, or just stick to this he-said she-said crap?

elevenfist··on Latest Viral Craze: Ex-Staffers Bashing BuzzFeed on YouTube
Half the people who make these videos still actually work for buzzfeed.
elevenfist··on Facebook says it will act against 'information operations' using false accounts
I used to believe the same thing until the aftermath of this election. It's not even remotely in the same ballpark. It's like the Dunning-Krueger effect except there's two more peaks in the 0-20% range, and a lot of people with an island of intelligence in their career path outside that range.
elevenfist··on Facebook says it will act against 'information operations' using false accounts
Reagan was an actor, not a businessman. He did shill though.

Zuckerberg is waking up to how easily manipulable the portion of Americans who voted for Trump are. It's too easy. Just look at the republican response to sb18 in CA. The counseling association was suppossed to be working on an initiative to help but I'm starting to worry.

elevenfist··on Early Nintendo programmer worked without a keyboard
Marketing, sales, numerous supporting jobs in entertainment, skilled trades and engineering, (as many mentioned) white collar food industry jobs, logistics, accounting, statistics, mediation, community builders, I could go on and on. So many diffierent types of jobs, even when you exclude all the shitty ones that make the world a shittier place, like low-information political shills and propagandists, (tiny conservative talk radio shows and online communities do decently, moderate and liberal not so much) junk and junk food marketers.
elevenfist··on Man Fined $500 for Crime of Writing 'I Am an Engineer' in an Email to the Gov't
Sorry, I can do better, just a bit tired of seeing shallow comments on hn.
elevenfist··on Early Nintendo programmer worked without a keyboard
...you must not know many people then. There's lots of opportunity for a middle class life in non-it-related professions. Something I found pretty shocking after I left the sv bubble.
elevenfist··on India Is Winning Its War on Human Waste
Hmm, it doesn't appear to be their intention to fuck up education though.

They tried to fund smaller classes but it ended up not improving performance and made schools more costly over the long term, (crappy instructors/hiring policies were likely the root cause of the failure, and then those new small schools didn't provide a good ror on the money invested vs other projects)

So then they tried to improve teacher quality with bonus schemes, but their implementation made the problem worse (who decides who gets the bonus? What happens when the majority are mediocre bad actors?).

Then they backed common core which was rolled out quickly for fear that teachers, schools, and parents would water it down. And there was a vehement backlash.

It looks like they just keep fucking up on the little details, which naturally is going to fuck up initiatives that could've worked.

They need better employees and a ceo :/

elevenfist··on Ask HN: Other communities like HN?
...just be aware there isn't much evidence supporting most of what's on there...
elevenfist··on Men Without Work
Able-bodied? Sure. Able-minded? Not quite. There's a huge surplus of middle-age men more interested in pointless office politics and political propaganda than doing good work, conducting themselves respectfully, and maintaining competence. And a dearth of the hardworking, skilled variety.

This isn't just a training problem, it's a cultural issue.

Praising charlatans like Scott Adams, and worse, failing to recognize their lack of ability and their motives is another cultural issue.

Ultimately, the reason we have so many unemployed is because we're stupid. We suffer from a cultural stupidity partly the result of longterm political propaganda campaigns by less-intelligent politicians and industry leaders who can't gain support any other way (because they are also stupid). If America wants to slip back to the level of a third world country in terms of political systems and the average education of the citizenry, a higher unemployment rate is just par for the course.

We have people unfit for training.

As an aside, how can the American workforce maintain world class competency and compensation? We need to interact with the best in the rest of the world. Bringing them here and giving them the option to stay in a safe, fair environment is best. On the flip side, engineers need to believe they are being compensated fairly for their efforts, and not take so many pains to prevent the industry from developing better ways of doing things.

elevenfist··on How did Europe become the richest part of the world?
Looking at the comments in this thread, I'm really starting to get sick of the stupidity and ignorance of the hn community. I hope you're all just paid provacateurs.

War isn't some special attribute of european history or success. While some people (mostly on the narc spectrum) are motivated by competition, many aren't

Historical Counterexamples:

Chinese warring states periods, Japanese warring states periods, post gupta and mughal empires in India, west African pre colonial history, and there's many more.

elevenfist··on Can I Talk to that William Fellow? He was so Helpful (2009)
Welcome to the third world.
elevenfist··on A course in “exponential thinking” at Singularity University lures executives
> That's a rather naive view of what's going on in the world right now.

Is it? Did you watch the inauguration with all of its cheesy old-old-school references? Make what 'again?'

elevenfist··on Epic's Tim Sweeney on VR and the Future of Civilization
> If VR lives up to the hype we can have a future with no jobs, less income[0]

Disregarding the hype, what we have right now, (which isn't fundamentally different from what we had in the 2000s with Disney quest) are some eye "headphones" you can strap to your face and two remotes you can wave around.

We're nowhere near the hollywood-esque fantasy of being in a world virtually indistinguishable from our world. What we have right now only fits the bill if you smash your head into some pavement a few hundred times. And then read all the ads.

elevenfist··on H-1B Visas: U.S. Lawmaker Re-Introduces Bill to Tighten Rules
> Highly skilled workers do not receive cost of living adjustments. I've been recruited for jobs in low cost of living and high cost of living areas. The pay is the same in both when there is a true shortage of labor.

Policy cannot be determined by anecdotes.

> Company A wants to pay Engineer X $500k and Company B wants to pay Engineer Y $50k then clearly Company A has a greater need.

Hardly a forgone conclusion, there are numerous confounding factors. For example company B might not have the resources/revenue to outbid company A.

Another counterexample of many for why an auction system is terrible: employee y could be a research scientist in industry contributing to the foundation of a new industry. An auction system would give their visa to a fullstack developer hired by a startup flush with funding.

elevenfist··on Obama Administration Gives Up on Pacific Trade Deal
Because it gives both of us a firm ally and makes it far easier for us to coordinate.
elevenfist··on Donald Trump’s Contract with the American Voter [pdf]
Get real, this is an amazing boon for lobbyists. Members of congress would not be able to gain experience at crafting legislation and dealing with the entire shitshow process at the federal level. Lobbyists can still be lobbyists for life.

On top of that, this significantly weakens congress's position when raising funds for elections. They've got to dance to the right tune quickly, they can't slowly ramp up a career and build a brand. With their bargaining power lowered...ugh.

America is probably going to get totally fucked now. And no, not necessarily because of this. But this policy proposal is the best Trump could come up with? This isn't even half-baked, it's fucking flour in a pot and he's calling it cookies. How can this be called a contract.

elevenfist··on California surpasses France as world's 6th largest economy
I think they could do it, each country will just need to have its own "SV" and the appropriate expectations. They will be smaller, but there could be ways to connect them.
elevenfist··on Aldi's Barcode Strategy
I posted this as a response to another comment, but it probably bears repeating. If the person seems genuinely friendly, try taking them up on that offer, and see what happens. If you tell them what you're looking for they may give you recommendations, and you might end up finding something better. This is what typically happens to me.
elevenfist··on Aldi's Barcode Strategy
I totally understand, dealing with fake friendliness can be unnerving. Just remember, not all of those smiles/friendliness is fake, some of it definitely is, but some of it is genuine, just not at the same intensity as they'd show for close friends/family.

> If they don't feel that great that day, they don't need to smile and put on a show, as long as they don't give me shit.

I'd be fine with this personally.

> And also we like our privacy. When people follow you around the store and keep asking if you need help, or comment on something you are looking at, it just feels invasive and disrespectful.

If the person seems genuinely friendly, try taking them up on that offer, and see what happens. If you tell them what you're looking for they may give you recommendations, and you might end up finding something better.

elevenfist··on The most alienating thing that happened to me as a female engineer
...You're overgeneralizing my comment. The solution to this small scale problem is to share, and be open to trying new things.
elevenfist··on China issues demolition order on world’s largest religious town in Tibet
China is primarily Confucian today, with more rigid social structures/order and a "parental" ruling class or oligarchy, so any different ideology, especially one that does not advocate for social/political structures (as not typically involved) is seen as a threat.
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