complexmango

Having politics ‘happen’ to you is exactly the reason to put advocacy aside at work. Because hopefully it helps you empathize with people who have had ‘different’ politics ‘happen’ to them.

E.g. There’s a lot of Asian Americans from impoverished immigrant backgrounds who experience reverse affirmative action at American universities. They may still vote liberal, but for very different reasons as people pursuing social justice.

The issues are hardly black and white, and a workplace environment where people are forced to pick sides is inherently unhealthy, not to mention anything but diverse.

Regulations are written by large corporations to protect themselves.

It’s the reason why the SEC never caught Maddoff (who ran the SEC!!!), or literally ANY of the 2007/08 bad actors. Or why the EPA sat quiet on the 3M situation other than small slap on the wrist fines.

The only way around the corruption in the system is the open flow of information, which has only just been picking up steam. The amateur and crowd sourced expert/investigator is our best hope to find the truth in these situations.

Forget about technical definitions for a second, and consider a practical view from a businessperson.

A share of stock in a publicly traded company is a legally recognized right to the earnings/assets of the company. Of course, the company may choose to distribute the earnings, or reinvest them for greater future earnings/assets. However, all ICOs I've seen so far bestow no legal right to $$ denominated earnings/assets of any sort.

So an ICO to purchase a cashflowing asset (e.g. an apartment building) gives the owner of the token ZERO legal right to claim any of the cash from the rent collected or proceeds from a sale of the apartment building. However, the owners of stock in the corporation that purchased the building definitely have legal rights to the cashflow/proceeds from sale etc, even if their purchase was facilitated by the sale of virtual tokens. They have no legal obligation to pay the token holders anything whatsoever.

This is an over-simplified example to drive the point home.

That precludes the breed of jerks who will talk over anybody that will tolerate it.

What makes you think there aren't women who also like to claim the center of attention, regardless of other men OR women around them?

I don't understand this need to idolize one sex over the other, when the issue is that some people (like this moderator) are just more tone deaf or inconsiderate than others.

Equality between sexes implies treating everyone as a human rather than assuming that this moderator is a stand-in for men in general.

This is a particularly ironic comment on HackerNews. While there indeed is a depression underway (as has been the case every 50-80 years in recorded history), opportunities have accrued to tech in an unprecedented fashion. Anybody can learn to code in their bedroom and open up options that require no connections or wealth (e.g. freelancing online). Combine that with unprecedented global mobility, and all of a sudden being an American programmer living and working in South America, Eastern Europe, SouthEast Asia etc means life is better than its ever been in history. Sorry man - I'm an immigrant to the US, and this strikes me as a very classic first-world-problems type sentiment.

Agreed, and that's not even limited to tech. I'm in the commercial real estate world, which practically revolves around apprenticeships, and the system works amazingly well. It also rewards competence over credentials, commitment to improvement over connections.

Trying to make the world better (with initial guidance) and solving real life problems is the best teacher of all.

College training for me, or for all the apprentices I've had over the years, was of minimal importance beyond learning the discipline of a rigorous approach. I could have started after sophomore year, and arguably done better (without having to have spent 2 more years at school, and 2 more years at a tech startup as an employee, and with 1/2 the student debt and bad cafeteria food).

Why doesn't anyone ask why kids in China, Korea, India etc. don't 'disengage' from math as easily as American kids?

Had to work 30 hrs a week? So did I. But I look at that as a major advantage. The experience I acquired as well as the 'adulting' life skills gave me an incredible headstart over my peers, who think I was 'born lucky' to have those skills.

Sorry but no. It ALWAYS makes sense to sell high and buy low, even if you're buying the exact same company. In other words, just find one value play if you want, and follow the cycle.

The skill is in determining what high and low is - i.e. you do need to have a sense of what the asset is worth. The easy answer is - figure out what its worth to you. i.e. what level of earnings or dividend does it seem attractive, and then accordingly, what is too cheap and what is too expensive. Obviously, take into account debt and other liabilities if you can.

That's why its necessary to understand the basic business model.

The tricky part is the temperament to do nothing when others are in a frenzy. Only a few transactions in your entire lifespan will determine the vast majority of your performance.

Actually Buffet is talking about investing in an index fund VS investing on the advice of an investment professional. He is referring to the same biases of professional investment advisers that the previous poster was referring to. Basically ordinary investors do have an asymmetric advantage over investment advisers and 'professionals'.

Hence, it may not be your intention, but you are using Buffet's quote to make the exact opposite point of what Buffet himself originally intended. And he has often spoken on this subject. See also Mohnish Pabrai and his book 'The Dhandho Investor'.

Naive and unnecessary. The Patriot Act was overwhelmingly supported across the aisle. And it should be obvious by now that Obama is an enthusiastic supporter, based on his treatment of Snowden. Not to mention Pelosi and Feinstein aggressively defending the government's right to suppress information. This has nothing to do with party affiliation. If you believe in Republican Vs Democrat, you're still in the Matrix, and, sadly, sipping the koolaid.

'Nobody will care' is missing the most important person's opinion - your own!

I don't agree that most stuff created gets thrown away or forgotten, especially in the sphere of intellectual achievements.

We live in the age of the internet, or as I think of it - 'perpetual memory'. Storage is cheap, communication is free, search is instantaneous and context is being built through sites like Hacker News, for example.

So the real question is, in my opinion, are you proud of your choices? Are you proud of how you spend your time? Do you meet your own standards? Do you want to attach your name to your work, your intellectual achievements?

If the answer is yes, how can it not make you happy? We live in an age where our needs for food and shelter are easily met (at least in the US), and we can afford to pursue the higher elements of our hierarchy of needs. If we achieve self-admiration, then does outside validation even matter?