EngManagerIsMe

We've had decades of systematic removal of protections and healthcare for people. There is zero political interest in improving things (and even when there is some, it's opposed brutally.)

Both parties are responsible for dismantling the infrastructure to care for the humans who live here in favor of profit seeking. Republicans perhaps only slightly more so, but this is the obvious "finding out" result of the "fuck around" period we've had since the 70s.

Anyone who has been watching cops over the past few decades shouldn't find this at all surprising. Cops consistently believe themselves to be above the law and above oversight -- especially the NYPD, but the problem is in every precinct around the country.

It's all cops.

It takes ~50 kcals to walk 1 kilometer, and approximately 25 kcals to bike 1 kilometer, and approximately 10 kcals (electric + human) to use an electric bike to move 1 kilometer.

I put ~1,000 kilometers on my electric bike last year, which is a net savings of ~40,000 kcals. That's not an insignificant amount of energy saved per year. And many of those trips I had a passenger, a load of cargo (like plants from the nursery, soil, clothing, groceries, etc.) that was too large for me to carry.

So, while an infrequently used bike is probably a loss, sustainability-wise, there must exist a break even point. 40,000 kcals is not nothing. It's not huge, but it's not nothing.

And compared to owning a car? A car might be 500-1000 kcals/kilometer or more. Doing the same math with a car (1,000kms) is like, 500,000-1,000,000 kcals for a small car , 50,000 for walking, and 10,000 for electric biking. No matter what, the savings of walking or biking are monumental compared to a car.

And if we really, really had to we could find ways to dramatically reduce manufacturing, transport, and packaging costs for electric bikes.

On the flip side, Democrats are just the Republicans from two decades ago. Biden pushing for stronger border patrols, shutting down striking unions, and opening oil drilling is pretty bog standard Republicanism from the 2000s.

The two parties differ in how they view some minorities, but honestly, they're pretty alike in the broad strokes.

Oh to have an actual leftist party in the states.

The moral panic of the era.

Whether it's the internet, rock n roll, dungeons and dragons, Elvis gyrating his hips, the red scare, mods and rockers, violence in games, or even the printed word, there's always someone coming out and saying "X has turned everyone into Y".

Let people enjoy things.

Biking is demonstrably more efficient than walking. And electric bikes are even more energy efficient than biking.

Sure, manufacturing a bike takes some energy, but there's huge value in people using e-bikes to get everywhere.

So I looked through Climatebase, and I found it hard to evaluate the companies listed. There's plenty of listings, but no (easy) way to say, "Show me one entry per company, for every company hiring engineering leaders." I either got drowned in "this company has 35 reqs open, so here's 35 entries" or "you've narrowed your filters so much that you only see two companies".

Not quite easy to figure out "Which set of companies are hiring for a role I can fulfill?"

Edit: And within moments, I of course find the URL to do exactly what I want: https://climatebase.org/organizations?l=&q=Engineering%3A+So...

I bought some forest land, and I'm restoring it to riparian habitat. It's not world changing, but if a few hundred acres can be returned to a natural state and grow large, carbon sucking trees, I feel like I'll have done a net good over my life.

This required giving up on some other goals though. I don't know that there's a lot you can do that is sacrifice free.

I've also gone to a mostly vegetarian diet -- preferring to source meat only from local farmers I've met in person. If I haven't met the farmer, I won't eat the meat. This reduces the amount of meat I eat, but still lets me seek it out. Maybe this helps, maybe it doesn't, but it's a pretty easy rule to follow that doesn't require me to be a strict vegetarian. I can have my beef stew as a treat, but also know that I'm not contributing to a massive industry of wasteful excess with every meal.

Species extinction is very real, and ongoing. There's little more irreversible than a whole species ceasing to exist.

If your position is "taxes are theft", and fail to pay them, we're going to disagree on a lot. We can still chat if you'd like.

Yes and no. There's some degree of nurture here, for sure. But there's some degree of nature.

Misophonia is common in folks with autism, for instance. While there are techniques and strategies for living with autism, it's simply not something one can learn their way out of.

Some of us do have neural connections that have hard wired responses to certain stimuli.

I think the author and you might have different understandings of "lazy". If I pursue a hobby for an afternoon with no financial upside (say, building model kits or painting) I might consider that a "lazy Sunday".

I was productive, insofar as I pursued an interest, but I was not productive in the "producing salable work".

I think there's a universe where lazy can mean different things for different people. For some that's lying on the couch, others might read or write or pursue art and music.

> I declare your house a public good, it is now mine.

Private houses, when used as a primary residence, are typically closer to the personal property rather than private property realm. There's a very real discussion about how the land should be allocated, but it's more likely that land use becomes addressed via land value taxes rather than by appropriation.

> [Rude remarks re: definitions]. My property is my property. Not yours.

Private property, real property, personal property, public property -- these are all types of property in the discourse. Liberalism, conservatism, socialism, and many other economic theories use these terms, and choose (or choose not to) differentiate between them. Plenty of conservative thinkers recognize the difference between private and personal property, and choose not to treat them differently.

> You're not here for discussion.

I think you'll find I'm very much interested in a discussion, if there is discussion to be had. Despite your hostility, I don't believe I've resorted to any 'punching down', as it were.

> Of course you do, you're a commie.

My personal beliefs are on that side of things, yes, though that's not the language I would use. (FWIW, I would also describe myself as opposed to Soviet style communism. I am not, for instance, a fan of Lenin's authoritarian "Dictatorship of the Proletariat", and I find many authoritarian communists absolutely vile.)

I have a strong, strong, flight or fight aversion to the sounds of people eating with their mouth open. Like, measurably increases my heartrate, adrenaline spike.

It's not rational, it's not something I have control over. It's something I deal with and largely have built techniques to try and lower the stress of.

I'm aware this is fundamentally a "your brain is wired different" issue, and so I'm never sure what the etiquette should be on asking others to chew with the mouths closed.

Many cultures don't have any concerns around slurping/chewing with mouth open, so meal times in mixed company are often quite hard for me. Add on the stress of trying to figure out whether I should even mention something (and make everyone else uncomfortable) is bonus stress on top.

This is always the response of someone who doesn't understand the difference between "private property" and "personal property". Next to zero percent of people who want to abolish private property want to abolish personal property.

You can keep your playstation. That's personal property. The people who want to abolish private property are interested in removing the ability for you to exercise power over others because you are holding a public good in private. For instance, by purchasing land and renting it to others, or by using private water rights and making a profit from them.

If we can talk about this stuff without resorting to strawmen, I think there's an interesting and useful exchange of perspectives that can happen.

Tax me, tbh. I make $700k a year. If my taxes go towards resource conservation and regulating the commons towards sustainability, I'm all for paying more in taxes.

So yeah, tax the other guy who is like me and tax me.

(And before you respond with, "Well, you can voluntarily pay more in taxes" you should know that I've put aside hundreds of thousands a year towards environmental conservation, and two, I believe that even if I donated 100% of my own income it wouldn't be enough. I believe in taxes as a mechanism, and I believe that taxes on income at or above what I make are eminently reasonable.)

Yes. Capitalism, exactly.

Can you explain a bit more? This seems like basic biology -- cells grow whether they are attached to a cow or not, assuming you provide them with the basic ingredients they need and the environment they need to grow.

I always preferred the moniker "clean meat" over "lab grown" or "cultivated meat". It's the same material as meat, but without the ethical questions surrounding the factory production of meat.

Can you explain yourself a bit more? It's unclear what point you are trying to raise.

But equally, I think dismissing their concerns as a pursuit of ideological purity undermines them.

Like, I work for a FAANG, I have for a long time. But I also do good within and outside that FAANG. I do habitat restoration, I get involved with political organizations that align with my views (mutual aid, socialism, etc.)

One doesn't have to care 100% or 0%, one can live with the understanding that we are in a system where you gotta pay your bills and have problematic favorites, while still trying to make things better where you can.

I assume things like:

a) Alleged sexual assault of staffers (which again, alleged, but could be considered evil)

b) Leaking of personal information that is of no public interest, e.g. unredacted SSNs

c) Leaking private medical records of otherwise ordinary individuals, including e.g. medical records of teenagers who were raped

d) Leaking the names of people who are LGBTQ+ in dictatorial countries where that's illegal, putting their lives in danger

e) Timing the release of DNC hack is arguable, but I could see how someone might consider the timing of that release to be evil

f) There's some antisemitic stuff happening with Assange/Wikileaks. There's nothing like, glaringly out of line, but there's a whooole lot of stuff that's just over the line. (e.g. use of (((name))), calling his opponents "Jewish" media, employing holocaust denier and denying it, etc)

g) Assange himself is quoted as saying, "[We might] have blood on our hands" due to their editorial policy of publishing everything, unredacted, about potentially vulnerable people

Honestly, good. Our commercial fishing operations have really, really depleted stocks and we need more than a couple years to let them build back up.

It's one thing if you are out line fishing and throw back the live fish who are caught on your line you don't want. But net fishing and just destroying a huge percentage of whats in your net because it's not what you wanted is absolutely outrageous.

> Unfortunately, this means we will no longer need some of the roles on the late stage investing team. Seventeen of our teammates are impacted today.

I hate this passive voice. It implies there was nothing that could be done, that this was just a force of nature. That it wasn't an active choice by YC, but rather just some eventuality.

Most of us understand the necessity of hard decisions. Own the outcomes. It's ok to say, "We fired 17 people, because their roles were no longer needed by us".

If you think that looks too bad, then don't do the thing -- find other opportunities for the people in the company.

I live in Seattle, which has strict noise requirements for heat pump units, and will absolutely ensure you are compliant. The electric air website mentions a db measurement, but it's not clear if that's the external or internal unit's noise level. Might be worth clarifying that.

In the US, at least, there are generally 3 classes of ebikes, and they definitionally have pedals. Some (class 2/3) bikes might also have throttles.

Globally, ebikes are generally broken into two classifications based on whether they are pedal assisted or throttled, with some additional classifications for high speed throttled ebikes.

There do exist low power, throttle only ebikes but they are comparatively rare, and typically classified as a electric motorbike or electric motorcycles depending on jurisdiction. Ontario, for instance, classifies these as "Nopeds". (haha).

In general, broadly, an ebike has pedals and either pedal assistance or a throttle (or both) and can be ridden without the motor. Regional language of course exists, much like how parts of the US call all soda "coke", even sodas like Mountain Dew. They aren't wrong, per se, because regionally they are understood, but they are hardly standard.

Mine works fine? It feels like a heavy bike, which it is, of course, but it's still very much an adequate bike.

Given that ebikes are more efficient than bikes, and bikes are more efficient than walking/cars/trains, the ebike seems like a fantastic piece of kit.

(Plus, the added benefits of cardiovascular exercise, which it has been shown is still present in ebikes.)

E-bikes have pedals. If it does not have pedals, it's a different type of vehicle.

That's super common. It was more common historically, these days it's largely gone away. (Scaleform was the technology that used flash for UI dev)

Meanwhile, the gaming world is moving to HTML/CSS/JS for game UI in many cases.