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jlittel

46 karma · joined January 10, 2012

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jlittel··on She invited four people over for lunch. A week later, three were dead
As a beginner, I found it helpful to

- get a regional guidebook

- attend a mycology society foray

You can start with mushrooms that have no poisonous look-alikes, and gradually build confidence in your identification skills.

I do see a lot of troubling Facebook posts asking if a big heap of different mushrooms are edible.

You do have to put in some work to be able to identify a lot of different species. As a bonus though, I've leave a lot about trees and natural systems in general.

jlittel··on New York City’s Empty Offices Reveal a Global Property Dilemma
Or if you're comparing jobs with different travel times and salaries, or an employer figuring out benefits.
jlittel··on How to build a chess engine
Engine is the common term in chess for the program that analyzes a game.
jlittel··on Rock climbing and the economics of innovation
Typing this from a climbing gym, where I can see kids around 12 years old crushing climbs I struggle with, I'm inclined to agree.
jlittel··on Rock climbing and the economics of innovation
I think the fascinating takeaway from Cochrane piece, and this response article, is how much innovation improves a person's performance, even if indirectly. It's a great reminder of how hard it is to measure the effects of technical innovation.

It's also amazing that even before some of these innovations (dynamic rope, cams) how many people were able to climb incredibly tough routes. The technology has opened the sport to people who enjoy the it but aren't so interested in risking their lives on a second-by-second basis.

And as an aside, having climbed the Salathe route featured in the Free Solo movie, I can't even begin to imagine the mindset you would need to consider climbing it without protection.

jlittel··on Dropbox Files Confidentially for U.S. IPO
Not necessarily. Excluding interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) is a common financial metric. It can demonstrate a business model is working, before taking in to account capital structure or other semi-external factors.
jlittel··on Timeline of the ChainCoin Scam – Massive Cryptocurrency Pump and Dump Scheme
For those that didn't pick it up, this is sarcasm - playing on someone giving pithy reasons for stock tips.
jlittel··on New Study Finds Performance-Enhancing Drugs for Chess
Discarding losses on time could plausibly be the bulk of the effect.

I can improve my chess rating in short time controls by a good 50+ points just by reminding myself to move quickly.

jlittel··on All New Amazon Echo Dot
It's $60 with a two year warranty (vs. $90 for previous model and one year warranty).

I appreciate being able to choose to purchase the warranty, as opposed to bundling it.

jlittel··on Big Beer’s 5-Point Plan to Crush the Craft Beer Revolution
It makes perfect economic economic sense. Craft beer is growing[1], and beer companies want to keep that piece of the pie. They're producing their own craft beer, buying smaller brewers, and disparaging the competition.

[1] 8% in 2013 to 11% in 2014 http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/news/2015/03/18/craft-beer...

jlittel··on How the World's Most Difficult Bouldering Problems Get Made
Brooklyn Boulders will at times feature photos of many of it's employees, so not sure it's just a cult of route setters.
jlittel··on A Dive Into The Lending Club Data
I'd love to see any info.

Their current offering document is here[1], but I don't see much mention of specifics. There's some detail on mapping to grades on p42 of the Aug 22 doc, as well as interest rates charged for each risk category.

[1]https://www.lendingclub.com/info/prospectus.action

jlittel··on A Woman Finding Tech Jobs for the World’s Poorest People
Are you implying someone should help you find a job before they help someone in Uganda?
jlittel··on United Airlines awards hackers millions of miles for revealing risks
My roommate is a flight attendant - he informed me of term for transporting passenger-less commercial planes: "ferrying".
jlittel··on British Columbia Securities Commission requires the latest browser technology
I wonder if it actually works in Netscape.

Makes is a little tricky to raise capital in BC.