michael_vo

I wanted to highlight that the user experience is better than SMS. For example when I add a phone number I have a higher level of trust that it's a verified business. Having read status feature is also good. Last online tells me if this is an active business number.

Actually once you start travelling outside the USA you realize that everyone uses whatsapp for texting friends and businesses. No one uses SMS. At least with whatsapp you get the profile picture and a bio - which is a little more trustworthy.

Such a protocol should allow people to report whether this number is trustworthy or a scam.

The fact that phone calls cannot be verified. Why can’t we design a system that can eye ball scan you before you call and verify that you really work for Microsoft. Or verify that I’m pinging off USA cell towers.

For example with the robocall issue the ftc actually implemented system solutions. Why don’t we put it on the ftc to also fix this issue?!

It’s so clearly a scam.

Some lobbyists must have lined some pockets.

I view the overwhelming majority of driver errors as faulty system design. Instead of red lights use turnabouts like in Europe.

I just came from a small town in France where they put these staggered obstacles on one side of the road which forced both directions of traffic to be merged into one lane. So they forced people to drive into incoming traffic thereby causing cars to drive slower. A really low cost solution to slowing car speeds in the busy pedestrian area and making the roads safer for pedestrians.

You could probably fix the drought situations by reducing consumption.

I don't see this policy as having much of an effect against climate change but it is another step in making people aware of climate issues. Congress does not have the ability - right now - to ban cow meat or eating fish, but this would be a much better policy to aim for.

A question to ask is it better for a kid to score 90% in algebra and it takes 2 more years or is it better that they score 50% and then move on to calculus. That would be a good A/B test to compare their lifetime earnings. My hypothesis is that calculus is a pretty useless skill and basic maths is more important in life.

There could be ways of doing A/B tests if the standardized tests are the same between states that have different curriculums.

I have friends who from then on always acted upset and asked for more :)

If someone is perfectly happy with their salary why should the employer pay them more for the same work?

The immigrants also use underground cheaper taxi services that ferry workers to and from these locations.

Will this stop drivers from using cell phones? This is a post event solution. This solution might work but requires police, judges, witnesses, cameras, and many components to properly implement.

One way that Amsterdam or Copenhagen would fix this is to reduce the number of lanes. They purposely remove lanes (even when the street can accommodate extra ones).

They also introduce shrubbery on the side of the road that blocks human vision. This is because if you can't see past the corner you slow down as you approach.

Another solution is changing the texture of the road. We naturally drive slower on cobblestone versus smooth asphalt.

I've also seen speed bumps or even just a slightly raised smoother bump on a highway/road in honolulu and in colombia to slow drivers down.

There are many well understood road engineering solutions to use.

For example a well understood engineering concept is that narrow roads produce slower speeds and wider and more lanes produce faster speeds. Instead of putting up a sign that says "Maximum 30mph", which "requires" police to enforce, you could make the road so narrow that drivers only feel safe driving at 30mph.

I definitely saw so many dangerous driving behaviours. I think tourists using scooters aren't treating these like useful day to day transport vehicles but as a way to have fun. For a lot of people it's their first time on a scooter. I saw people zooming through red lights into oncoming traffic. Others tried to jump the curb. It's kind of like giving a kid a toy for the first time.

I try to solve problems from a systems perspective. For example the common automobile stop and warrantless search allows officers to more easily abuse power and escalate situations quickly as cops no longer required a warrant from a judge. This was by design by the Supreme Court who ruled in 1925 to allow this exception in times of prohibition when an individual ran away from police with alcohol and they didn't have time to go get a warrant. Stop and frisk was an extension of this case law.

And how changing the systems and culture can fix it. Think the book checklists discusses this in detail .

But it’s like firing the whole development team because we all keep ignoring lint errors and our bugs crash the system.

I think there’s systemic changes to make.

Maybe for cases like this if the judge or person that approves the warrants has a high failure rate they can no longer approve warrants.

If you bought btc, used it to buy goods, and never cashed it back to usd then I think it is a currency.

If you’re a day trader of forex usually at the end of the day you would settle back into your default currency. Your gains from this is taxed. But usually when doing this you’re buying derivative products that are explicitly securities with maturity dates.

I know someone who used all of their 200k medical loans to instead buy btc. Clearly individuals believe these to be securities with expectation of profit since there’s interest in the loan. The guy even bought it on binance under a fake name so he won’t be taxed.

Whatever legal mumbo jumbo used by companies might be right. But the users and market treats these as securities - especially with all the derivatives built on top.

I think real time alerts or daily summaries sent to trusted caretakers. Another layer is having the caretaker approve of the transactions. Can think of this as 2 factor authentication where they'd have to hack multiple phones or accounts for a successful scam.

For example, seeing multiple gift cards would be suspicious. Or if you know your parents never take out more than 100$ from the ATM.

Sometimes though they willingly scam themselves. My dad gave this real life scammer 30k in advance payment in return for future caregiving services. We told him she was scamming us and he didn't care. When she asked him for more money to buy a new car he finally realized she was truly scamming him.