Hacker News Reader

philoyeon How Birds Evolved From Dinosaurs (2015)

I suspect so, another one:

> Yet once those avian features were in place, birds took off.

philoyeon The Cassowary: World’s most dangerous bird (2016)

Maciej /@idlewords has a wonderful post about the Daintree rain forest where the cassowary makes a star appearance:

https://idlewords.com/2013/02/the_daintree_rain_forest.htm

philoyeon Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

This is so sad to me. Manual transmissions are just more fun, no matter which car you have. I have a 10 year old Subaru Outback and even that (top) heavy PoS gives me joy on a curvy road.

Of course I know that a modern auto is _way_ faster than a human, but I don't care in the slightest. My father in law has a Mercedes C63s and holy shit is it fast, but it would be 10x better with a stick. Spending a ton of money on a Porsche 911 but getting an automatic is baffling to me—unless you actually race it.

Life is too short, find fun where you can. Don't let the robots win.

philoyeon Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions

Random data point: In Australia, I've noticed consistently, over the past year or so, that about 25% of used cars are manual transmission.

(Carsales.com.au is the leading used car marketplace in Oz and as of this comment there are 55k manuals and 171k autos for sale)

philoyeon Female chess players forced to wear hijab at world championship in Iran

> Because I am a man, I am allowed to be topless outside in NYC. I wouldn't if I was a woman.

Actually, it is legal for women to be topless in New York: https://www.law.cornell.edu/nyctap/I92_0160.htm

philoyeon Commission says Ireland granted undue tax benefits of up to €13B to Apple

Apple responds with an open letter: http://www.apple.com/ie/customer-letter/

philoyeon Mac System 1.0 (1998)

Funny how that in 2016 we are further removed from when this article was written (18y) than it from the original Mac (14y).

philoyeon Stripe launches beta in the UK

Pin [1] just launched last week. It is a similar all-in-one payment solution (no merchant account needed), but homegrown in Australia.

[1] https://pin.net.au

philoyeon What the Maker’s Mark dilution debacle says about corporate strategy

This article[1] suggests excise tax isn't that high ($1 or $2), though GST is 10% so that's certainly part of the overall price.

I rather suspect it is pure price discrimination. I saw Pabst Blue Ribbon for AU$49 a case. PBR! Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is around AU$75 a case. These prices are at a huge discount retailer (Dan Murphy's).

[1] http://theconversation.edu.au/calling-time-on-alcohol-taxati...

philoyeon What the Maker’s Mark dilution debacle says about corporate strategy

I can't speak to China, but here in Australia they already diluted it to 40%. I'm not sure when it happened, the bottle I have is at least 4 months old.

philoyeon What the Maker’s Mark dilution debacle says about corporate strategy

In Australia, Maker's Mark lowered the proof a while ago. The bottle I have in my pantry is 40% (80 proof). Not to mention, bottles run ~$40 (1 AUD ~= 1 USD), so I suspect the branding/marketing considerations are different.

philoyeon Stripe And A/B Testing Made Me A Small Fortune

In Australia, Pin (https://pin.net.au) is very similar service: no merchant account required, nice API.