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DeBraid

350 karma · joined September 19, 2014

Web developer. https://github.com/DeBraid/
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DeBraid··on Wall of stones found beneath Baltic Sea may have helped humans hunt reindeer
> Caribou are herded

This is literally the purpose of a stone wall: herding the animals in a specific direction, to a specific location.

> not sure why you would make a wall to hunt them

Because 8500 years ago hunting tools were primitive (stone tips on spears) so stacking the odds in their favour was smart.

DeBraid··on Wall of stones found beneath Baltic Sea may have helped humans hunt reindeer
> A prehistoric structure reminiscent of England’s iconic Stonehenge has been uncovered in Grand Traverse Bay, an arm of Lake Michigan on the western shore of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.

> ... discovered what appears to be a dry land corridor that once connected northeast Michigan and southern Ontario. Scientists say the main feature, known as Drop 45 Drive Lane, is the most complex hunting structure discovered beneath the Great Lakes to date. The 9,000-year-old limestone structure consists of two parallel lines of stones that lead to a cul-de-sac lined with natural cobblestones. If the findings are correct, the hunting complex would be twice as old as Stonehenge.

Source: https://arkeonews.net/the-mysterious-prehistoric-underwater-...

DeBraid··on Ask HN: Why is TSMC so competitive in semiconductor fabrication?
Strongly recommend this deep dive podcast from Acquired https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/tsmc
DeBraid··on How a dangerous stew of air pollution is choking the United States
Friend who spent time there 2008-10 has a great line: "the air is a prison".
DeBraid··on Books to read to understand financial crime
Wilful Blindness: How a Criminal Network of Narcos, Tycoons and CCP Agents Infiltrated the West by Sam Cooper

https://www.cbc.ca/books/wilful-blindness-1.6136088

DeBraid··on Pedal Me bans staff riders from wearing helmets for safety reasons
I have the exact opposite experience.

My first time ever wearing a helmet on the slopes I slammed head-first into a tree. Got up, laughed it off, and rode away. Better lucky than good.

DeBraid··on Dog digs up haul of medieval coins in Poland
For anyone missing context, joke refers to the fabulous TV show `Detectorists`. Well worth your time to watch.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detectorists

DeBraid··on Ask HN: Which tech stack is the most fun?
This. Nextjs / Vercel is amazing. React + Typescript for building (Nextjs), Vercel for devops (hosting, dns, CI/CD). Excellent DX and customer service (the CEO/devrel will reply to your tweets for goodness sake).
DeBraid··on Ask HN: What are the best books for professional effectiveness?
High Output Management by Andy Grove (Operations, people mgmt)

Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive by Harvey Mackay

Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jerry I. Porras and Jim Collins

DeBraid··on Tiny
pg and others commonly cite founder divorce as reason startups fail. If Tiny et al can workaround for this (liquidity + recruiting network), they can unlock value that would otherwise get destroyed by shutting down a nascent startup prematurely due to human conflicts.
DeBraid··on Wolves make roadways safer
There are several initiatives in the hunting and fishing community doing this, aka buying land, managing the wilderness, and making it available to the public.

* The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, or TRCP, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) coalition of conservation organizations, grassroots partners and outdoor related businesses, the main goal of which is increased federal funding for conservation while preserving access for hunters and fishers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt_Conservatio...

* MeatEater’s Land Access Initiative (designed to raise money so we can find properties that will provide more access for regular folks to hunt and fish) https://www.themeateater.com/pages/land-access

(Disclosure: no affiliation)

DeBraid··on Wolves make roadways safer
> that nature is there to be economically exploited. Does a species run up a loss? Extinction is its fate.

Nature will do what it wants, so I can't speak for the wolves. Humans on the other hand, at least in US and Canada, operate under North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, whose core principles are elaborated upon in the seven major tenets:

* Wildlife as Public Trust Resources

* Elimination of Markets for Game

* Allocation of Wildlife by Law

* Wildlife Should Only be Killed for a Legitimate Purpose

* Wildlife is Considered an International Resource

* Science is the Proper Tool for Discharge of Wildlife Policy

* Democracy of Hunting

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Model_of_Wildli...

IOW, humans in US and Canada are less likely than ever to hunt animals to extinction, mostly because `Elimination of Markets for Game` makes it illegal to sell wild game.

DeBraid··on Wolves make roadways safer
Related, an excellent podcast episode by that name "Landscape of Fear" from Meateater: https://www.themeateater.com/listen/meateater/ep-162-landsca...

Steven Rinella talks with Dr. Kevin Monteith, Dr. Matt Kaufmann, Jared Oakleaf, and Janis Putelis.

Subjects discussed: genetics that rewrite our understanding of animals; big game guts; learning how to migrate; who pays for wildlife research?; brain scrambling, extreme sports, and wildlife capture; advancing modern wildlife management; etc.

DeBraid··on Toxoplasmosis associated with entrepreneurial initiation and performance (2020)
This is fascinating:

> Mind-controlling parasite makes hyena cubs more reckless around lions

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/mind-cont...

the study for those that prefer primary sources:

> Toxoplasma gondii infections are associated with costly boldness toward felids in a wild host

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-24092-x

DeBraid··on Startup Ideas
While morbid to some, pet crematoriums are potentially great business for 3 reasons:

  * service that humans require in perpetuity
  * luxury status good
  * no one wants to own/operate such a business (few competitors)
https://twitter.com/brentbeshore/status/901908518675947520?l...
DeBraid··on YouTube removes “I Can't Believe You've Done This” video from 2007
And, it's back up per OP.

https://twitter.com/Twotafkap/status/1443250484458962953

DeBraid··on Genius Sells to Media Lab for $80M
The drama with Google has to be mentioned as major part of their company history.

They also had a famous fight with heroku

https://genius.com/James-somers-herokus-ugly-secret-annotate...

DeBraid··on Sauna use as a lifestyle practice to extend healthspan
> Heat shock proteins are produced by cells in response to exposure to stressful conditions (heat, cold, UV light, and during wound healing or tissue remodeling)

> Many members of this group function to stabilize new proteins to ensure correct folding or by helping to refold proteins that were damaged by the cell stress.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_shock_protein

DeBraid··on Predictors and effects of phubbing behaviour in friendships [pdf]
Came here to post something similar, "I don't experience this problem..." and realized this is due to my age (approaching 40yo) and having the good fortune of curated great group of friends who enjoy each other more than doomscrolling.
DeBraid··on If software engineering is in demand, why is it so hard to get a job?
Very few firms want to hire juniors, while nearly all firms desire senior-level talent.

This manifests inflated job vacancies because so many firms have an evergreen job posting for "Senior Full Stack". Because talent is scarce these roles rarely get filled (hiring managers expect million-dollar candidates to accept $100-200k compensation).

Also, because lots of software requires specific expertise, there are vacancies that can't be filled because of a knowledge gap (novel industries / projects, etc). For example, how could SpaceX possibly fill all their engineering roles? Surely money is not a limiting factor, but rather the limited supply of qualified expert rocket engineers?

DeBraid··on Why Teslas Keep Striking Parked Firetrucks and Police Cars
IIRC, in this[1] video Andrej Karpathy mentions radar was mostly redundant, and in addition was occasionally harmful (sending conflicting signals vs. video), so they got rid of it to reduce cost and complexity.

[1]: https://youtu.be/g6bOwQdCJrc

DeBraid··on Airbnb and Neighborhood Crime
Likely because of the outliers. If you live in a "nice quiet neighbourhood" and an airbnb party house emerges, everyone freaks out.

Horror stories on sites like https://www.airbnbhell.com/ are remarkable. Clearly these aren't typical host/guest experiences, but they seem more societally acceptable at hotels vs houses.

DeBraid··on How Notion pulled itself back from the brink of failure (2019)
Agree. They own the company, success or failure is on their name. A 2-person team on brink of failure doing week or two of 18-hour days to rescue the business (and reputation to lesser extent) is reasonable to me.

By contrast, salaried folks with no equity should not be cranking out those hours, IMO.

DeBraid··on “Great resignation” wave coming for companies
A few charts showing 20-year quit rates via FRED:

* ALL Non-Farm: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/JTSQUR

* Professional and Business Services (which I believe captures software) https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/JTS540099QUL

List of all the options https://fred.stlouisfed.org/categories/32247

DeBraid··on Canadian property bubble nears systemic failure
Canada is widely known (internally and among allies) to be an easy place to launder money (relative to other similar countries).

> The U.S. Department of State has designated Canada a “major money laundering country” where foreign drug-trafficking gangs are exploiting weak law enforcement and soft laws.

via https://globalnews.ca/news/5102137/us-canada-major-money-lau...

> Tim Hudak, president of the Ontario Real Estate Association, said he was “very nervous” that Toronto’s housing market could see an influx of dirty cash as B.C. regulators crack down. “I’m very nervous that the Greater Toronto area will become the epicentre for dirty money in Western democracies,” Hudak told Global News. “For some reason, Canada still seems to be in a bit of the dark ages when it allows drug dealers to hide behind numbered companies and snap up real estate.”

https://globalnews.ca/news/6608644/canadian-real-estate-abys...

DeBraid··on Canadian property bubble nears systemic failure
> since the tax was imposed in April 2017

Base rate matters here. They are measuring `Sales subject to foreign buyers tax`, not the impact of foreign buyers.

This percentage of foreign buyers THAT ALSO pay their taxes. The foreign capital that flows into residential real estate mostly held in numbered corporations which are not captured in the above data.

> Why not just park your money in the US where no such taxes exist and is overall less hostile to foreign ownership?

After 9/11 the USA (relative to Canada) got very serious about prosecuting money launderers. Tax rates are less important than getting dirty money clean.

> government inaction is putting Canadian banks in an awkward position as they seek more growth south of the border. Americans are keenly aware that criminals exploit [Canada's] weaker laws.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-...

DeBraid··on Canadian property bubble nears systemic failure
Not saying what is / isn't a bubble, but enjoyed this discussion here on Aussie / Canadian RE bubble. https://youtu.be/2MLZxJuzT5E?t=2802

Joe Walker: "Sydney and Melbourne are 2 of the most expensive cities in the world..."

Tyler Cowen: "AND THEY SHOULD BE! Great food, great views, relatively competent government. Are there 2 nicer places to live on Earth? Maybe these places are actually undervalued?"

Turns out really great places to live are extremely rare (Toronto, Vancouver) and expensive for good reason.

DeBraid··on Canadian property bubble nears systemic failure
Clean money can buy financial assets like foreign stocks. Dirty money cannot.

> Canada is a great place to launder money because of our lack of ownership transparency ... criminals can park large amounts of illicit cash in real estate and hide the purchases behind numbered corporations or shell companies located in offshore tax havens.

> Canadian real estate has been “extensively exploited” by the problem of money laundering and all financial sectors need to fight against it.

~Half of all transaction fail basic AML/KYC compliance.

https://globalnews.ca/news/6608644/canadian-real-estate-abys...

DeBraid··on Canadian property bubble nears systemic failure
Majority of mortgages in Canada are fixed rate and do not float month to month.

> 73%: Percentage of mortgage holders with fixed-rate mortgages in 2020 Down from 74% in 2019

> 22%: Percentage of mortgages that have variable or adjustable rates Down from 21% in 2019

https://www.canadianmortgagetrends.com/2021/03/the-state-of-...

DeBraid··on The Lakota: A Human Story
Back in the day when arrows were handmade from natural materials with primitive tools they were scare and highly valuable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor

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