Hacker News Reader

oldspicemanon China to create $6.5B venture capital fund to support start-ups

There are already American companies in China which replicate all the ideas from the US and apply them within China. They've been doing so for 5+ years. Nothing wrong with a little home-grown competition. Certainly people in the US would be up in arms if the opposite was happening to them.

oldspicemanon How automakers invented the crime of “jaywalking”

Reminds me walking through the streets of Saigon. You just slowly start crossing and the motorbikes 10-20 deep on main streets magically separate around you. Traffic doesn't move more than 40km/h anywhere in the city.

oldspicemanon SNB Unexpectedly Gives Up Cap on Franc, Lowers Deposit Rate

German groceries just got way cheaper.

oldspicemanon Ask HN: Salary in Stockholm?

$143.83 (122 euro) NYC to Stockholm Wed Jan 21. norwegian.com

oldspicemanon Ask HN: What can we do to show we don't support the response to Aaron Swartz?

Propose a ballot measure in your state.

oldspicemanon How Software in Half of NYC Cabs Generates $5.2M a Year in Extra Tips

Link from a while back on the case against tipping: http://www.vox.com/2014/7/17/5888347/one-more-case-against-t...

oldspicemanon My Resume Is Total Fiction

I've noticed a good positive correlation between income and the level of bullshit people put on their resumes.

oldspicemanon The End of Gangs

Interesting idea. "kids with nothing to do get up to no good" has become "kids with nothing to do go on facebook / reddit"

oldspicemanon How Colonel Sanders Became Father Christmas in Japan

I love that. Same thing happens in most European countries.

oldspicemanon How Colonel Sanders Became Father Christmas in Japan

A regular coffee at starbucks in japan costs $4. And every starbucks is packed to the brim with people. Same in Korea.

oldspicemanon Let the Other 95% of Great Programmers In

Completely agree. I don't have any desire to live in the states.

oldspicemanon Let the Other 95% of Great Programmers In

The states is made up of immigrants. Why wouldn't people outside the states be similarly talented? Sure if you don't have access to education you will not have the opportunity to develop your skills, but that doesn't mean you have less raw talent.

oldspicemanon Let the Other 95% of Great Programmers In

Which is interesting because there is such an oversupply of lawyers in the states.

oldspicemanon Why is everyone so busy?

Thanks, I've never been trolled here before.

oldspicemanon UI Performance Decline – OS X Tiger to Yosemite [video]

Discovering the glitchy flash in the system preferences pane was really unsettling. Almost a uncanny valley type situation.

I need to see a video of this moment.

oldspicemanon Why is everyone so busy?

Necessary reading for anybody who's sick of hearing people talk about how busy they are: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=the+busy+trap&gws_rd=ssl

"Busyness serves as a kind of existential reassurance, a hedge against emptiness; obviously your life cannot possibly be silly or trivial or meaningless if you are so busy, completely booked, in demand every hour of the day."

oldspicemanon UI Performance Decline – OS X Tiger to Yosemite [video]

After Mavericks I swore I would wait to upgrade until the second patch of the next os. So I'm sitting here on Mavericks waiting for 10.10.2 to drop.

If you slightly shift your upgrade schedule you're only 3 or 4 months behind. No big deal.

oldspicemanon Apple Stops Online Sales in Russia Over Ruble Fluctuations

They hedge their currency risk so it's unlikely they have much exposure to the Ruble.

oldspicemanon Apple Stops Online Sales in Russia Over Ruble Fluctuations

By far

oldspicemanon Apple Stops Online Sales in Russia Over Ruble Fluctuations

Why is that meaningless?

oldspicemanon Apple Stops Online Sales in Russia Over Ruble Fluctuations

If Apple is slow to update its prices online you have a clear arbitrage opportunity.

oldspicemanon Apple Stops Online Sales in Russia Over Ruble Fluctuations

It's not so much that they can't predict the price it's that every dollar is worth significantly more on the black market as the official market rate. Compare the dollar blue (Blue) row with the offical bank rate (Oficial). 13.19 vs 8.57. Many people change every peso they earn to dollars immediately. (www.dolarblue.net)

oldspicemanon France Says It Will Ban Uber’s Low-Cost Service in New Year

Agreed, Taxi service in Paris is outrageously expensive. Rivaling Toronto even.

oldspicemanon Why I’m Giving Up My Passport

How could Germany have an inefficient tax filing program? That doesn't make any sense. Please explain somebody

oldspicemanon Why I’m Giving Up My Passport

But you do pay $25 USD for a cheeseburger.

oldspicemanon Why I’m Giving Up My Passport

"government of the people, by the people, for the people"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Address

oldspicemanon Android Studio 1.0

Is Google planning to release a 2d graphics library like SpriteKit but for Android?

oldspicemanon What kind of funny is Kafka?

The kind of funny where you deplore your best friend to burn all your writings after you die but then he publishes them anyway. "Dearest Max, my last request: Everything I leave behind me ... in the way of diaries, manuscripts, letters (my own and others'), sketches, and so on, [is] to be burned unread" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Kafka#Max_Brod

oldspicemanon Hard-won lessons about money and investing

If you don't want to read a book on diversification, look at this picture: http://fycs.ifas.ufl.edu/younginvestor/images/unsystemic-ris...

Unsystematic risk means risks tied to holding individual stocks. Notice the x-axis. Holding more stocks (diversifying) means removing individual stock risk.