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standardUser

13,314 karma · joined December 30, 2018

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standardUser··on The dead economy theory
Every technological revolution spreads more rapidly than the last, so it's novel almost by definition. The internet gradual expanded over 2-3 decades, long enough to give most people, and the economy, the chance to keep up. This is happening far more rapidly.
standardUser··on Is AI causing a repeat of Front end's Lost Decade?
Honestly I think what is missing is not developers but designers. Or, I should say, designers hired to create competent designs that serve people well and not to instead manipulate users. If you want better front ends - get more and better designers! As for front-end code, I don't expect to ever write a line of that again in my life.
standardUser··on Canada to order military plane fleet from Sweden in shift from US suppliers
As an American with mostly headline-level knowledge of Canadian politics, this Mark Carney seems unusually competent and effective, as far as heads-of-state go.
standardUser··on Uber, Lyft drivers in Massachusetts form first US ride-share union
The end of driving as a profession is going to hit the economy hard. Teamsters may have the organizational strength and political influence to protect themselves. But they only represent ~20% of US truck drivers and none of the other ~3 million people who drive for a living in this country.

I don't see either American labor or American government being anywhere near strong enough or capable enough to facilitate a soft landing.

standardUser··on Artificial egg hatched 26 healthy chickens
Creating a food system that is more cruel to animals than what we already have is a very high bar. Not that I doubt we can clear it.
standardUser··on Sam Altman Won in Court Against Elon Musk. But, We All Lost
Jargon isn't a scam. I get more and better work done with AI, to my own satisfaction and to the benefit of my employer. People using dumb terms to describe this doesn't make it less true.
standardUser··on Agent Skills
> It produces code, declares victory, and moves on.

Not when I'm in charge. It proposes changes based on my detailed instructions, I review the proposed changes, only then do I have it implement code, and then I review it again. I understand my AI agent would prefer a quicker way but for the meantime, I'm still the one in charge.

standardUser··on Waymo in Portland
Waymo and Baidu are the only big players and both are working on launching in foreign markets for the first time this year, in addition to big expansions in their home markets. But country roads are not on the agenda. I predict an eventual public-private partnership to bring AVs to rural areas. It would be a cost-effective way to support the healthcare of ageing rural populations who are facing hospital closures.
standardUser··on SF is obsessed with the safest drivers – and ignoring the ones killing people
https://archive.is/2026.04.18-123609/https://www.sfchronicle...
standardUser··on Got kicked out of uni and had the cops called for a social media website I made
I find it hard to blame the young ambitious teenager and much easier to blame the grown-ass adults in supervisory roles who apparently can't cite a single violation by name and later violently steal a kid's phone.

The kid might have some things to learn, sure, but the adult behavior is what I would call "super immature".

standardUser··on Student Debt Burdened Them, So They Moved Abroad and Stopped Paying
In the US, student loan interest rates tend to be close to market (which I find despicable) and there is no automatic forgiveness. In fact, student loan debt has extra rules in the US making it difficult to get discharged in bankruptcy, so even that route doesn't work for a lot of people.
standardUser··on [dead]
There was the strike that massacred a school, which was the result of DOGE cuts. There was the double-strike on the bridge the other day, for no apparent reason other than to kill first responders. I'm sure there have been other instances of the US causing unjustifiable harm, but those are the two big ones that come to mind. Meanwhile, Israel has been doing pretty much whatever the fuck it wants, razing neighborhoods, bombing medical facilities and schools by the dozen, assassinating moderate leadership, and on and on.
standardUser··on F-15E jet shot down over Iran
Via the NYT: Mohammad Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament and a key government figure overseeing the war, took to social media to mock the Trump administration as U.S. forces searched for a missing American airman from a downed fighter plane. “This brilliant no-strategy war they started has now been downgraded from ‘regime change’ to ‘Hey! Can anyone find our pilots? Please?’”he said in a post on X. “Wow. What incredible progress. Absolute geniuses.”
standardUser··on F-15E jet shot down over Iran
Even the Philippines, a US ally, has struck a deal with Iran for safe passage. Meanwhile, Oman is working with Iran on a toll scheme. There's an emerging chance that no US-flagged vessel crosses the Straight of Hormuz again in our lifetimes (except maybe for a retreating 5th fleet).
standardUser··on F-15E jet shot down over Iran
We don't know what downed it yet, so it's hard to say. Iran is hiding and rationing their offensive munitions, we know that, so it's not surprising when the number of drone and missile attacks spikes after weeks of bombing. That's part of the plan. But the ability to take down a US fighter jet is not something they are rationing- it's likely at the edge of their capabilities and they got lucky. If they could be knocking down more, they would be.
standardUser··on F-15E jet shot down over Iran
That's not a concern it's a reality. Iran is not shut-off or blockaded to any meaningful degree. It has tons of unmolested border crossings and Caspian sea access, and maintains full control within it's own borders (minus the parts that have been blown up).
standardUser··on Why the US Navy won't blast the Iranians and 'open' Strait of Hormuz
Iran's deep investment in asymmetric warfare is paying serious dividends. You wouldn't expect a nation that's being bombed day and night, essentially at will, to still hold so many cards. Not only is the US completely incapable of strong-arming the straight open, but the rate of missile and drone attacks out of Iran and its proxies has been accelerating the last few days, as has the rate of successful hits.
standardUser··on Midnight train from GA: A view of America from the tracks as airports struggle
Spoken like one of the small percentage of Americans who can afford to tag on extra days to their PTO to enjoy a nice view.
standardUser··on Midnight train from GA: A view of America from the tracks as airports struggle
Years ago I tried to book a train from San Francisco to Chicago as part of a trip I had planned but found it to be more expensive and, more significantly, a multi-day journey instead of a few hours. If you happen to be an American living near one of the useful passenger rail lines, and desire to go to one of the few destinations it can take you to quickly and affordably, more power to you. But most Americans live nowhere near a useful rail system.
standardUser··on Miscellanea: The War in Iran
The second the first bomb hit, the Republican Guard went from a standing military force to a guerrilla army, similar in a lot of ways to what the US faced in Iraq, just vastly better-trained and better-equipped. The US couldn't subdue Iraq with hordes of troops on the ground for years, so why would anyone imagine an air-only campaign would have better results against a stronger and larger opponent?
standardUser··on Missile defense is NP-complete
China is building force projection rapidly. But it's a huge gap.
standardUser··on Missile defense is NP-complete
Take China for an example. No one knows China's true military capabilities, because they're rapidly evolving and because they virtually never use them. If there's an element of surprise to be had, they have it. But that cut's both ways, because China itself doesn't have experience exercising those capabilities. The learning curve could be noticeable. Meanwhile, no one doubts the ability of the US military to execute.
standardUser··on Bets on US-Iran ceasefire show signs of insider knowledge, say experts
Iran will not stop harassing the region, and perhaps not even allow the strait to open, if Israel is still bombing them or fighting a proxy war in Lebanon. So Trump can pack up and head back to this side of the planet, having made our country a few trillion dollars poorer in the process, but the war doesn't ends until Iran and Israel decide it ends.
standardUser··on Bets on US-Iran ceasefire show signs of insider knowledge, say experts
There's something funny about watching global markets react to Trump's every lazy lie as if Moses himself just passed down orders. Maybe funny is the wrong word. The kicker is that this isn't even Trump's war and he likely lacks the capacity to end it if he wanted to.
standardUser··on Bets on US-Iran ceasefire show signs of insider knowledge, say experts
There's an entire academic field called statistics you seem to be forgetting all about.
standardUser··on US and TotalEnergies reach 'nearly $1B' deal to end offshore wind projects
They are taking money committed to a wind project and redirecting it towards burning fossil fuels - because what other lesson can we take from a global energy shock other than to increase our exposure to the next one? The company itself (France's Total) had already committed to the wind deal, so now the Trump admin is letting them off the hook, and using Trump's irrational refusal to issue licenses for wind power as the excuse for why the deal wasn't working out as originally planned.
standardUser··on US and TotalEnergies reach 'nearly $1B' deal to end offshore wind projects
Trump wrecks the global energy economy and his next move is to increase our dependence on it? They don't make enough dimensions for the type of chess this brainiac is playing.
standardUser··on Passengers who refuse to use headphones can now be kicked off United flights
The ones with limited recourse are the flight crew who are trapped with you and a hundred other asshole for hours with no escape and very limited options in case of a serious disruption. If there is one space that has justification to act as temporary dictatorship, it's an aircraft in flight.
standardUser··on Passengers who refuse to use headphones can now be kicked off United flights
I've found that looking the person in the eye and giving a quick "hey, forget your headphones?" sometimes does the trick, and has yet to start a fight. Everyone has to act in ways they are comfortable with - but mass inaction is what creates space for this shitty behavior in the first place.
standardUser··on Passengers who refuse to use headphones can now be kicked off United flights
They should be stripped of all citizenship and left to live out their life roaming the airport. But this is a start.
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