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mstodd

7 karma · joined October 31, 2016

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mstodd··on An American airline wins the right to weigh passengers on its Samoan route
You as an individual should pay more because you're an idiot
mstodd··on Cheetahs heading towards extinction as population crashes
People want virtue like they want anything else: quick and cheap
mstodd··on 'All I wanted to do is build a house' (2010)
It's not because they were constructed to survive a natural disaster?
mstodd··on Finland will hand out cash to 2000 jobless people to test universal basic income
You /might/ replace 'unfair' with 'immoral'. Lots of things in life are unfair and are just a part of life, so there's a mentality that unfairness is just a part of life. Hopefully those who wish to take from those who work can see that this is theft and theft is immoral.
mstodd··on Amazon Go
Other people don't share your values, nor should they, nor should you expect them to. I would rather have more humans working these jobs, but minimum wage laws prevent that.

There's no reason why your human interaction would suffer if you truly value it. With the money and time saved, perhaps people now go to the cafe and talk more often, or perhaps there's now a vendor outside the shop where you can get a conversation and a coffee. More than likely there will be a solution that i can't even think of.

mstodd··on U.S. To Forgive at Least $108B in Student Debt in Coming Years
Are there any standard paths to getting in on this scam? I'm tired of always being picked to fund other people's carelessness.
mstodd··on Donald Trump could dismantle net neutrality
Aristotle said that a city should only be as large as to encompass everyone that could hear the sound of a ram's horn or trumpet. Beyond that, you weren't part of the city or it's governance. Seems like a good rule which would prevent taking money from Florida and giving it to Alaska.
mstodd··on Donald Trump could dismantle net neutrality
No, saying that an issue is for the states to decide is simply acknowledging that US citizens are individuals, and they know better than the Federal government what they want. Regulation at the Federal level removes choice and freedom.
mstodd··on Donald Trump could dismantle net neutrality
How is it bad for those things, especially freedom? Regulation takes away freedom, by definition. An ISP start-up offering services which discriminate traffic now can't exist, and therefore can't give consumers more options. This is why I'm against net neutrality. I also believe that even with NN, companies will do what they want if it's worth the risk of being caught.
mstodd··on Homeopathy 'treatments' must be labelled to say they do not work, US gov orders
It's scary how much power simply give to the government, and how thankful they are that government officials who they've never met can make decisions for people neither of them have ever met.
mstodd··on Homeopathy 'treatments' must be labelled to say they do not work, US gov orders
I feel alone in thinking I don't want the government regulating any of this. What's next? A prayer disclaimer as you walk into a church?

The people who buy this are probably the ones who can't afford real medicine, and now regulation is going to make this even more expensive. If you think this is the government trying to protect us against ourselves: it's not, and that's not the role of government anyway. This is just an alternative medicine attack to remove competition and keep the price of real drugs high.

mstodd··on Manifesto for Responsible Software Development
Too bad a manifesto that states "I will not waste the most valuable resource: time" can't exist
mstodd··on Manifesto for Responsible Software Development
We could write a manifesto for that, or not and just get back to our lives
mstodd··on Regex that only matches itself
I'm inclined to say that some people 'just get' certain things like this or complex SQL. How they got to 'getting it', I don't know.
mstodd··on Vancouver plans to tax empty properties 1% of their assessed value
There's no good reason for any of this other than simply being able to take more money from people. It's wrong for the government to pick who wins and who loses, and never works how it's sold.
mstodd··on Judge rejects Airbnb bid to halt San Francisco ordinance
An ISP may facilitate lawlessness in the same way a road might for a drug trafficker, but they certainly don't participate. Airbnb participates
mstodd··on Review: The NES Classic Edition and all 30 games on it
*resource allocators
mstodd··on Soylent Thinks It Found What Was Making People Sick: Algae
Gotten away with it? Have they been lying about something? If people don't buy their products, they'll leave the market. If people continue to buy them, they'll stay. I really hope the FDA doesn't get involved. As it is a low cost source of nutrition, more regulation will raise the price with no corresponding added benefit to the consumer; affecting the people who may be the most vulnerable to price increases.
mstodd··on Soylent Thinks It Found What Was Making People Sick: Algae
They're busy regulating life saving drugs. If we got rid of the FDA all together, there would be more competition for products like this, and companies would need to win the trust of consumers by providing real health study information.
mstodd··on Elon Musk thinks universal income is answer to automation taking human jobs
We also continue to more efficient at consuming, pricing, and allocating those resources.
mstodd··on Elon Musk thinks universal income is answer to automation taking human jobs
Con: money is taken from people who earned it and given to those who didn't
mstodd··on BART janitor grossed $270K in pay and benefits last year
Contractually, yes, but I doubt he delivered that level of service to the riders. BARTs carelessness is funded by American tax payers who get nothing in return
mstodd··on It's Harder to Get an Uber or Lyft If You're Black, Study Says
I'd like to see that study data as I'm skeptical that a person's name is the only factor. I can see them going the same route as Airbnb, forcing drivers and passengers to not discriminate. Unfortunately, the freedom to use your property how you want is why people are drawn to driving for Uber. Take that away, and less drivers means higher prices, and longer wait times... but at least we'll all be waiting longer together.
mstodd··on Making what people want isn’t enough, you have to share it
I take the opposite approach. If I share my idea and people say "that's a great idea", I get a feeling of accomplishment even I haven't done anything. It can be tough to actually do the hard work now instead of just coming up with another "great idea" again and being praised for it.

https://sivers.org/zipit