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howlingfantods

588 karma · joined February 4, 2015

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howlingfantods··on Why the global elite gave up on spelling and grammar
Grammar at its best promotes clear communication but more often is used as a social tool of control and exclusion. When you are already talking to people within your in-group, that impulse isn’t necessary.
howlingfantods··on FBI is investigating Minnesota Signal chats tracking ICE
Where is it confirmed that Pretti's gun went off? The only place I see this theory is /r/conservative...

You're arguing that an acceptable, albeit unfortunate, punishment for civil disobedience is state murder.

howlingfantods··on Zohran Mamdani wins the New York mayoral race
They shouldn’t exist
howlingfantods··on Troubled electric truck maker Nikola files for bankruptcy
Public companies have to undergo a financial audit every year. If you’re referring to a tax audit from the IRS, then yes, those are rarer.
howlingfantods··on Character amnesia in China
“Sneeze” or “喷嚏” is a pretty difficult word to write in Chinese in terms of number of strokes and its internal components. I’m not surprised people wouldn’t know it off the top of their heads. It’s like if someone asked you to spell “unnecessary.”
howlingfantods··on British microchip plant faces closure after Apple pulls the plug
The graph is percentage of total production. You can see Chinese production ramps up significantly, which can presumably imply that US production as a percentage of total world production falls off, even if absolute production increases.
howlingfantods··on Apple deletes WhatsApp, Threads from China app store on orders from Beijing
WhatsApp servers have been blocked in China forever. I lived there for 13 years and the only time I recall using WhatsApp without VPN was in the early 2010s.
howlingfantods··on WeWork plans to file for bankruptcy as early as next week, source says
Guys, it’s chapter 11 bankruptcy. Wework is not going out of business. One of the top uses of chapter 11 is to renegotiate/break commercial leases. Wework is going to continue as a company though it may shut down some locations. It is absolutely going to use chapter 11 to pressure landlords to renegotiate leases.
howlingfantods··on H-1B Visa Program Changes Aimed at Stopping Applicants from Gaming Lottery
I think you’re underestimating the agony of a overland trek through Central America…
howlingfantods··on Real-Estate Commissions Could Be the Next Fee on the Chopping Block
In NYC, the commission for sales is about 6% and 1-2 months rent for rentals. So I would welcome this.
howlingfantods··on Robin Williams’ daughter Zelda slams AI for recreating her father’s voice
market valuation depends on the consensual negotiations of all the stakeholders and consumers of a product don’t have 100% power to control the price. movie studios would love to price content creation at 0 if possible.
howlingfantods··on The iPhone 13 mini is dead
i love my iphone mini form factor, but i have to charge mine twice a day. and if i'm traveling, i have to carry an external battery pack, which severely diminishes the form factor advantages.
howlingfantods··on Pentagon leaks linked to young gun enthusiast who worked at military base
If you can't judge someone by their actions, what can you judge them on?
howlingfantods··on Pentagon leaks linked to young gun enthusiast who worked at military base
Irrespective of the contents of the leaks, the Trump resistance leaker wrote an Op-Ed for the NYTimes and leaked formally, directly to the media, so of course the media is going to protect its anonymous sources.

This leaker was trying to win an internet flame war on a subculture forum.

howlingfantods··on VMware Acquires Carbon Black for $2.1B and Pivotal for $2.7B
In simple English

Context: Dell has large stakes in both Pivotal and VMware

VMware buys Pivotal. Pivotal's regular shareholders get paid in cash per share ($15). Dell, which owns a separate class of shares, gets paid in VMware shares rather than cash. This is likely because Dell already has a large cash balance and they don't need any more cash.

howlingfantods··on More money than anyone imagined: an explanation for why the bubble never burst
"acquiring companies" not "acquired companies"
howlingfantods··on A Wave of Fear in American Commerce
How does the left has a vice grip on discourse in media? The most watched cable news network is conservative. The largest operator of local tv is conservative.
howlingfantods··on Apple moves to store iCloud keys in China, raising human rights fears
iCloud accounts are region specific, it’s a pretty involved process to change it. You have to have a local payment source like a credit card.
howlingfantods··on Why are glasses so expensive? The eyewear industry prefers to keep that blurry
Warby Parker is a good alternative to the Luxotica monopoly but I think even their lenses are Essilor
howlingfantods··on US shutdown: Flight delays caused by staff shortages
On one hand, I understand Ross’ reasoning. If my company were to go to a bank with a federal guarantee, we’d get a very cheap loan.

On the other hand, he thinks an average individual’s response to missing paychecks should be to seek a low interest loan against a government guarantee. That’s comically out of touch. I’ve been working in finance my entire life and I’d have a tough time working through the loan application process.

That’s the type of advice you’d hear a private wealth manager give to his wealthy client. Wealthy people are often asset rich but cash poor so they’ll take out bank loans to finance short term cash flow needs. No doubt Wilbur Ross has availed himself to these services and is shocked that government employees haven’t taken advantage of such conveniences.

howlingfantods··on US shutdown: Flight delays caused by staff shortages
Seems like it’s just delays rather than a full stoppage.

From Newsweek: ‘Flights arriving into LaGuardia Airport were delayed by about 41 minutes as of 10:15 a.m. EST and gate hold and taxi delays were between 15 and 29 minutes, although FAA said it was decreasing. Arrival traffic was experiencing airborne delays of 15 minutes or less.‘

Regardless, US scoring a lot of own goals here.

howlingfantods··on Soros at Davos: China's social credit system and Big IT are mortal threat
I’m pretty sure there’s no e2e encryption in WeChat. I communicate in WeChat with the assumption that everything I write can be read by censors.
howlingfantods··on Soros at Davos: China's social credit system and Big IT are mortal threat
There's currently no one 'social credit score' in China. There's some local government pilots and some private enterprise "credit scores." The ones you hear about often are stuff like Alipay's Sesame Credit, which gives you a score based on your activities in Alibaba's app ecosystem. Currently, Sesame credit is pretty harmless, and gives you discounts on online orders or financial products if your score is good. The danger is that the national government will soon get its ducks in order and hoover all this data into one overarching national credit score and use that to police behavior.
howlingfantods··on Soros at Davos: China's social credit system and Big IT are mortal threat
I remember some weeks ago, I sent over a picture of the Chinese President as Winnie the Poo (a popular meme at the time) to some friends on WeChat. It showed up as sent in my WeChat but my friends confirm it never actually reached them. Maybe 10 minutes later, it had been deleted from the chat logs on my phone as well.
howlingfantods··on U.S. Oil Production Is 23 Years Ahead of Schedule
That's patently untrue. Saudi crude is primarily heavy or medium and sour (high in sulfur), the complete opposite of what you're saying.
howlingfantods··on The Secrets of Lyndon Johnson’s Archives
If you enjoyed the article, I'd highly suggest "The Power Broker" by Robert Caro (the author). It's the best non-fiction book I've ever read and the only 1300 page book that I felt was too short.
howlingfantods··on China tests opening up social credit scores to WeChat with debt map
Just to add some color. There's currently no one 'social credit score' in China. There's some local government pilots and some private enterprise "credit scores." The ones you hear about often are stuff like Alipay's Sesame Credit, which gives you a score based on your activities in Alibaba's app ecology. Currently, Sesame credit is pretty harmless, and gives you discounts on online orders or financial products if your score is good. The danger is that the national government will soon get its ducks in order and hoover all this data into one overarching national credit score and use that to police behavior.

As for this applet, it's not really relevant to social credit scores. It's a mini-program inside WeChat that pulls data from court records. It doesn't list people who are in debt. Instead it lists people who have defaulted on debt, been taken to court, subject to court order to pay up a portion or the full amount, and still refused to pay.

howlingfantods··on China just blocked its last major foreign search engine
Can confirm that Bing is blocked in China for me. Having lived in China for the past decade, I've found that increasingly, my VPN has gone from sporadically on to sporadically off. China's internet has become an entity unto itself, divorced from the rest of the world.
howlingfantods··on Nike’s auto-laced future
That was primarily because of the nostalgic and hypebeast factor. The nostalgia from the people who loved the original movies. And the hypebeast from the resale market which loved that it was a highly limited run (89 pairs). These new shoes have neither.
howlingfantods··on Apple tells suppliers to produce 10% fewer new iPhones
The point is that they're cutting 10% from planned production, rather than previous quarter production. This implies less than projected demand, which means they may miss their sales forecasts.
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