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rufus_foreman

3,387 karma · joined October 30, 2020

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rufus_foreman··on People keep flocking to Linux, not just to escape Windows
Oh fuck. The assholes that thought Windows was perfectly acceptable until late 2025 are flocking to Linux.

Maybe get a Macbook?

Do you even know how bad Linux is? The video drivers don't work, bluetooth doesn't work, your laptop won't wake up from sleep, it's horrible. Go the fuck away. Linux is horrible.

Windows is fucking awesome. Mac is OK. Linux sucks. Don't waste your time.

rufus_foreman··on Norway's lesson for Europe on wealth taxes: let some millionaires go
"Free" health care paid for by whom?

"Free" health care paid for by people richer than me? There aren't enough of them to pay for all us slackers. "Free" health care pair for by people poorer than me? That's actually probably what is going to happen if I retire early.

I vote no.

If a majority votes yes, does that absolve me of guilt that poor people are paying for my early retirement?

I vote yes!

rufus_foreman··on Cool-retro-term: terminal emulator which mimics look and feel of CRTs
I forgot I had this installed, thanks for the reminder!
rufus_foreman··on Norway's lesson for Europe on wealth taxes: let some millionaires go
I'm planning for retirement. One rule of thumb is that you can spend 4% of your investable net worth a year, there are people that say that is too high and 3% would be a safer number.

Now you want to take 1% a year in wealth taxes on top of the capital gains taxes and income taxes I would pay. So either I now have to spend 25% or 33% less a year in retirement, or I work another half decade.

I vote no. If the US state I live in did that, I would move to another state.

rufus_foreman··on The realities of being a pop star
That wasn't the only time Lou Reed did performance art for the Australian press, the other one is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx-mH9ZjnuM.

"Are you happier as a brunette?"

"Uh...are you happier as a schmuck?"

...

"You like doing things you don't like?"

"Yeah. That's a paradox isn't it?"

I believe I listened to Charli XCX music once, my girlfriend has grandchildren. Not really my thing, but it's great that people are still being influenced by those interviews.

I still listen to the Velvet Underground all the time, but if I listen to Lou Reed's solo stuff, it's either Walk On the Wild Side or those interviews.

Maybe "The Kids" from Berlin once in a while.

And "Sweet Jane" depending on whether you consider Loaded as a VU album.

rufus_foreman··on McDonald's is losing its low-income customers
>> You are eating in the same place were the cooking happens, without going outside replacing your gloves, putting of your hairnet, apron and mask, and without washing your hands?

I'm not now, that was decades ago. We didn't wear gloves, hairnets, or masks. The guy working the grill would wear an apron.

I mean there was a bucket of dish rags under the sink there once that had maggots in it. I worked in two restaurants and as far as I know the "food regulation authority" never showed up at either of them.

I don't have any illusions that things are different now. Sometimes it's just better not to know.

rufus_foreman··on McDonald's is losing its low-income customers
When I worked in fast food, they gave you a meal allowance, but it didn't really matter because I would grab a hamburger patty right off the grill and chow down. God damn, now I'm getting hungry.

Supposedly you would get fired for doing it, but when the managers accused me of doing it I would just deny it with my mouth closed while still chewing, and the managers would do it too.

They probably have cameras now or something. Those were the days.

rufus_foreman··on McDonald's is losing its low-income customers
Two weeks to flatten the curve.

Institutions can only lose their credibility once. That was one of the worst things that Covid did.

rufus_foreman··on Homeschooling hits record numbers
>> they mispronounced a lot of words that they had only ever seen in books but never heard out loud

I did that as a kid. Still do. I read more than I talk. Nothing wrong with that.

The flip side would be people who misspell words or get phrases wrong because they've never seen them in books, they've only heard them out loud. They talk more than they read. Nothing wrong with that.

Although both of those might be a clue as to what type of vocations would make someone happy.

rufus_foreman··on Ask HN: What are some modern technologies that you refuse to adopt?
Automatic transmissions for cars. I'll be sticking with manual.

New-fangled music formats like 8-tracks, cassettes and compact discs. Vinyl records work just fine.

Any payment technology that didn't exist by the year 1000.

rufus_foreman··on More liberals, people of color and LGBTQ say they're buying guns out of fear
>> I have never in my life heard or read anyone, of any social standing, political affiliation, education or station of life discuss the abolition of police entirely

"Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police"

-- New York Times opinion headline, June 12, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/opinion/sunday/floyd-abol...

I can remember things that happened 5 years ago.

rufus_foreman··on Secret Boat Strike Memo Justifies Kills by Claiming Targeting Drugs, Not People
>> Many (possibly all) of the boats in question were not capable of making it to the U.S.

Now none of them are.

rufus_foreman··on Mag Wealth (2024)
>> Having 500k in stocks is different than 500k in your primary residence. Same net worth but if you need to tap into 500k of stock, you can do that tomorrow. Liquidating your primary residence takes a few weeks (or months) and you’re then homeless.

I have a HELOC. I've never used it. Hopefully I won't need to, but it was free to apply for and a good thing to have in case you do need it. I can tap into about 50% of my house's value any time I want instantly by writing a check or transferring money to one of my other accounts.

rufus_foreman··on Waymo Was on a Roll in San Francisco. Then One of Its Cars Killed a Cat
Absolutely. And it's not just cat's. Look at the number of deer that get hit by cars every year. And like I said in another post, I saw two dead raccoons by the side of the road yesterday in the space of a few miles. Cats, dogs, deer, raccoons, bobcats, etc. should all be strictly indoor animals.
rufus_foreman··on Raccoons are showing early signs of domestication
Saw two of them dead on the side of the road this morning in the stretch of a couple miles, that will drive some evolution.
rufus_foreman··on Secret Boat Strike Memo Justifies Kills by Claiming Targeting Drugs, Not People
Not anymore they're not.
rufus_foreman··on Norway's Wealth Tax Unchains a Capital Exodus
The people who are fleeing the country aren't just fleeing a specific rate of taxation. They are fleeing the idea that their wealth was, as you put it, simply given to them.

They are fleeing from people like you.

I blame the rich people a little bit for leaving. My fight or flight reflexes learn more towards the side of fight.

rufus_foreman··on My dad could still be alive, but he's not
Where I live, it's common for them to not answer when you call 911.

They were out trying to steal my neighbor's car, and my girlfriend called 911, and no one would answer.

She went and banged on the neighbor's door and told them someone was trying to steal their car, she walked right past the car thieves to do this, which was more than I would do, because I was scared of getting shot.

The car thieves noticed and moved down the block to steal someone else's car. My girlfriend stayed on the line, but yeah, 911 never answered.

You live somewhere where the ambulance is too slow when you call 911, be grateful. Here, they just don't answer. You deal with whatever it is personally.

911 never answered. They were busy with something else I guess.

For the woke/progressives among you, I agree, this was not as bad as the crime wave of the late 1980's and early 1990's. I was there for that crime wave. It was fucking epic. This was not as bad as that, so we're all good.

This is fine.

rufus_foreman··on US House approves bill to end longest government shutdown in history
>> SCOTUS hasn't been liberal since Nixon got Rehnquist as chief justice

The Rehnquist court made rulings that allowed burning the US flag, that made abortion even easier to get than under Roe, that upheld affirmative action, that struck down sodomy laws, and that ruled that political speech was not protected by the First Amendment.

The main conservative rulings it made were minor restrictions on the commerce clause.

Conservatism in the judicial branch began with the confirmation of Ed Meese as US Attorney General during Reagan's second term.

rufus_foreman··on US House approves bill to end longest government shutdown in history
For further reference, a 55 year old early retiree who wants to spend $400,000 during the year might sell $400,000 of stock with a cost basis of $200,000 and pay a little over $60k capital gains tax.

The question here is should we continue to subsidize health insurance for that person? Should taxpayers who can work and do work pay for the health insurance of wealthy people who can work and don't work?

It does not sound fair to me, even though I might benefit from it in the near future.

rufus_foreman··on Project Euler
I played around with some of the easier problems, my favorite was a couple times when starting with the obvious brute force solution in code and then refactoring and simplifying it iteratively ended up getting me the paper solution.
rufus_foreman··on The last-ever penny will be minted today in Philadelphia
If someone is buying a banana for resale, or buying with WIC or SNAP benefits (among other things), they would not owe sales tax. So if the price included sales tax, the sticker price would not be the final price.

You do not know the final price until you know how they are paying for it, what they are using it for, and when they are buying it (among other things).

Falsehoods programmers believe about sales tax (among other things).

rufus_foreman··on Always be ready to leave (even if you never do)
Except for gross misconduct, COBRA.

Yes, you will need to pay for the coverage that the employer was paying for, but that's not "eliminate your healthcare coverage at the drop of a hat with no remorse".

rufus_foreman··on Older Adults Outnumber Children in 11 States
>> I feel that demographic collapse is the single biggest crisis facing the developed world now

This is similar in some ways to the situation when I was young where population growth was the single biggest crisis facing the developed world.

Either way, we're doomed.

rufus_foreman··on James Watson has died
>> Watson is the only person in my entire life I've seen say racist things about Irish people

Oh my goodness, that's terrible. What racist things did Watson say about the Fighting Irish?

rufus_foreman··on Ticker: Don't die of heart disease
>> given that we all have to die at some point, if you could choose what natural cause to die of, wouldn't you pick heart disease?

Monty Python, "The Meaning of Life", Part VII.

rufus_foreman··on Notes on Being a Man
It could start in New Jersey.
rufus_foreman··on Notes on Being a Man
>> what is the actual solution?

Let's have a war.

rufus_foreman··on Nasdaq 100 set for worst week since April meltdown
Absolutely. In the food delivery industry.
rufus_foreman··on Nasdaq 100 set for worst week since April meltdown
Chuck Prince from Citigroup. "When the music stops, in terms of liquidity, things will be complicated. But as long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance. We’re still dancing"

His explanation of the quote:

'"My belief then and my belief now is that one firm in this business cannot unilaterally withdraw from the business and maintain its ability to conduct business in the future,” Mr. Prince said."'

...

'"And if you are not engaged in business, people leave the institution, so it is impossible to say in my view to your bankers we are just not going to participate in the business in the next year or so until things become a little more rational," he said. "You can’t do that and expect to have any people left to conduct business in the future."'

-- https://archive.nytimes.com/dealbook.nytimes.com/2010/04/08/...

To me it looks like history proved him right. The largest institutions were the ones that got bailed out.

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