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analyst74

2,705 karma · joined December 29, 2009

hn@billyang.com
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analyst74··on Source code of Swedish e-government services has been leaked
People in safe countries generally do not worry about kidnappings.
analyst74··on Efficient String Compression for Modern Database Systems
compression is not free, dictionary compression:

1, complicates and slows down update, which is typically more important in OLTP than OLAP

2, is generally bad for high cardinality columns, which requires tracking cardinality to make decisions, which further complicates things.

lastly, additional operational complexity (like the table maintenance system you described in last paragraph) could reduce system reliability, and they might decide it's not worth the price or against their philosophy.

analyst74··on Escaping the trap of US tech dependence
Sounds good in principle, but I don't see any meaningful suggestions.
analyst74··on How we lost communication to entertainment
News has never been about reporting absolute truth, there is just too much influence/power/money to be gained for manipulating public perception.

The fact that people believe in journalistic integrity shows how successful they are at brainwashing the public.

analyst74··on Budget Car Buyers Want Automakers to K.I.S.S
Do they not want those conveniences? Or are they tempering their expectations based on their budget and perceived cost?

If, let's say, a typical $30k car means a large EV SUV with all the luxury gadgets and conveniences, plus fridge, massage chair, full camping setup, etc. Would 30k car buyers not expect those things?

analyst74··on NYU Website Hacked
I can accept the argument that they are trying to be inclusive towards disadvantaged students, and it just happens that racial make up of poor but qualified students lean towards black or hispanic.

Is that the reality? or is it middle class and less advantaged white/asian kids giving way to middle class black/hispanic ones? Or worse, is it simply raising the bar for asians because there are too many of them in higher education like they did to jews?

analyst74··on Twitter kills its San Francisco headquarters, will relocate to South Bay
I think it's mainly corruption. A significant amount of budget (hundreds of millions) is allocated to "deal" with homelessness in SF, so efforts to actually solve the problem are going to face significant challenges from existing beneficiaries.
analyst74··on Girls in Tech closes its doors after 17 years
Since a few years ago, especially as layoffs started at big name companies, there have been a massive investment in funding and talent into modernizing traditional industries. This effect will be felt by IT departments that built in-house software and small product or consulting shops.
analyst74··on Biden announces 100% tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles
US car manufacturers other than Tesla have not been very successful at producing EVs despite subsidies. It'll be interesting to see how this affects future policy making. Will there be subsidies to protect legacy US automakers? Does that mean gas cars are here to stay?
analyst74··on Why US renters are taking corporate landlords to court
If a building's rent is higher than its surrounding ones, renters are less likely to live there. The same applies to cities, if, after adjusting for job/lifestyle/etc, people feel it's too expensive to live in a city, they move away, eventually reducing demand.
analyst74··on U.S. Intelligence Says TikTok Is a Threat – But Only in Theory
China does not ban YouTube or Instagram because they're foreign, They have some very onerous rules about censorship, which I disagree with, but are applied equally to all companies operating in China, including Chinese ones.

A good example is that google is banned but bing is not, and tiktok is also banned in China because they don't follow those laws.

analyst74··on TikTok’s algorithm keeps pushing suicide to vulnerable kids
That's completely untrue. I can't say if the algorithm is the same. In my short experience of using Douyin for the past couple weeks, I get zero education content, but a surprising amount of content about inequality and injustices.
analyst74··on Seagate hit with $300M penalty for selling sanctioned storage to Huawei
China is not a single entity. Huawei is not going to choose low quality high price local startup over suppliers with good reputation if they have that choice.

Sanction means those uncompetitive local startups don't have to compete with established players, giving them chance to catch up.

analyst74··on U.S. bank lending slumps by most on record in final weeks of March
Coincidentally, I just saw two separate job ads on the subway looking for caregivers. Maybe the next booming sector would be taking care of retired boomers.
analyst74··on The One Thing I Can’t Stand About Teaching English in Japan (2019)
I do not like ghosting, but having the ability to adapt to local customs is quite important when living in a foreign country.

It seems the author actually understands the local customs, but couldn't accept it emotionally.

analyst74··on China plans to ban exports of rare earth magnet tech
Of course Taiwanese people care about their way of lives, and they have full right to expect and defend that.

The problem is sadly much more complicated than "dictatorship wants to subjugate democracy". Simplified thinking is what the elites from China, Taiwan and the US wants you to think, so powers can be held onto and wars be justified.

analyst74··on China plans to ban exports of rare earth magnet tech
This is a very western view on things.

Chinese people from mainland cares much less about democracy than citizens from western countries. The primary motivation for Chinese people to want reunification is that it's one of the last remaining symbols of colonialism.

analyst74··on Tailscale Funnel now available in beta
It only opens up to another machine validated by public keys.

It serves similar purpose as opening firewall to just a specific IP/port and dynamically change the IP/port as the other machine moves or disconnects. One of the main advantage is that it works behind NATs you don't control (i.e. public WiFi).

Edit: also most home routers do not have the ability to dynamically open up to specific IPs based on where your outside machine is.

analyst74··on Tailscale Funnel now available in beta
I was just reading about it the other day, pure ingenuity!

For those who don't have time to read, Tailscale uses a quirk in how stateful firewall treats inbound UDP traffic to allow connection to a remote server without it opening up to the public.

analyst74··on Who becomes an entrepreneur? Insights from research studies
It seems the first reason is root of all the other reasons. If one cannot find a job that pays what they believe they deserve, they are much more likely to start their own business.

The employee market does penalize generalists, those who lack political savvy (ADHD, OCD), and/or those who do not come from well off families and connections.

analyst74··on Credit Suisse sheds nearly 25%, key backer says no more money
What if the federal reserve goes down? Or just that US dollar goes down in value.

Even if you only do business within the US, exchange risk is baked into your supply chain and inflation.

analyst74··on Changes at YC
Out of curiosity, what services do YC provide for additional fees?
analyst74··on Live on a cruise ship for $30k per year
The cheapest option is

> 13 square feet “Virtual Inside” stateroom

I can't wrap my mind with how this works, is it like a capsule? For 3 years?!

analyst74··on The Italian city-states as a distant mirror
US has done much better than previous empires.

Despite starting off with genocide of natives and slavery, it slowly improved over time in terms of addressing internal strife, which is probably a major contributor to its longevity as a global power.

analyst74··on The Italian city-states as a distant mirror
History may not repeat, but it rhymes. Great empires all eventually fall because its citizens started to see each other as enemies more than allies.

That being said, the narrative is also written by victors in the eyes of the ruling class. So take them with a grain of salt. For example, America was only a symbol of freedom for those fled Europe, not much for those who were here before or shipped from Africa.

analyst74··on Chicago sold rights to 36k parking meters for $1.2B that generate $200M per year
Typical utility company margin is ~10%, so $60M profit for the buyer, it will take 58.3 years before they break even, or 1.7% return on their capital.

This just seems like a really bad deal for whoever buys it.

analyst74··on The tech downturn seen through Hacker News comments
How do they calculate this rate? I simply left the country after layoff, and most likely not counted in the numbers.
analyst74··on Chicago sold rights to 36k parking meters for $1.2B that generate $200M per year
Why would Chinese owners want to buy that? It seems unlikely that Australia will hold its bargain for the whole 200 years given current political climate.
analyst74··on Ask HN: YC co-founder matching is bad
I wish the same! My first couple weeks on co-founder matching were consumed with meeting a wide range of folks, most of whom in the "I'd like to start a company if the right co-founder / idea / other criteria present themselves" stage.

One thing that seems to reduce the noise is selecting "I'm working full time on my startup" and make that a requirement for co-founder. But it would be nice to also meet those who are not actively working on an idea but very committed to finding a co-founder to start something.

analyst74··on My mindfulness practice led me to meltdown (2021)
> I experienced a deep realisation that our thoughts manifest from nowhere and not from ourselves (words fail me here) and that the construct of 'me' was completely false and was just a reverberation of my environment.

Wait, is this not common knowledge??

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