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smil

283 karma · joined May 3, 2015

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smil··on 7 Rejections
This is evidence that:

Investors and VCs are not smart/do not have enough information/experience to make smart decisions generally

The only way to escape working for non-smart people (bosses, VCs) is to bootstrap

smil··on Student Loans May Be Driving the Tuition Explosion
It is the same mechanism as the mortgages that created the housing bubble -- an almost limited amount of credit with a 0% risk (in theory, not practice as we will soon see).
smil··on China’s Market Rout Is a Double Threat
You're implicitly making a prediction here. Are you sure that the market will fall in the coming weeks?
smil··on China’s Market Rout Is a Double Threat
Heard it before, google Orientalism.
smil··on Thomas Piketty: “Germany has never repaid.”
So Die Zeit is on the same level as the New York Times, you mean.
smil··on Energy
Wouldn't trust a Silicon Valley startup to care about our properly execute for "safety." This is a pump and dump, making a quick buck.
smil··on Could dark matter not exist?
Exactly. Dark matter and dark energy is just a symptom of the standard model of physics being incorrect.

>Dark matter neither emits nor absorbs light or any other electromagnetic radiation at any significant level. According to the Planck mission team, and based on the standard model of cosmology, the total mass–energy of the known universe contains 4.9% ordinary matter, 26.8% dark matter and 68.3% dark energy.[2][3] Thus, dark matter is estimated to constitute 84.5% of the total matter in the universe, while dark energy plus dark matter constitute 95.1% of the total mass–energy content of the universe.[4][5][6]

Science is literally religious faith.

smil··on Why do ten Chicken McNuggets cost the same as twenty?
The farmers get to sell more milk.
smil··on Greece debt crisis: ECB 'to end' bank emergency lending
No nation has its finances in order, whether they are part of the EU, or if it's the U.S. or Japan or China. Get off your high horse.
smil··on The Lonely End: in aging Japan, thousands die alone and unnoticed
He obviously knows nothing and so fit the ignorant and arrogant American stereotype to a t.
smil··on The Lonely End: in aging Japan, thousands die alone and unnoticed
How has your country (you must be American) distinguished itself by doing these same core social and psychological issues? Or are Americans stubborn and ignorant?
smil··on I spent the last 15 years trying to become an American and failed
Your president's ideology is American Exceptionalism which he uses to give grounds for the murder, rape and torture of all non-Americans, and daily acts of terrorism and genocide in Afghanistan, Yemen, and Pakistan. American Exceptionalists are racist regardless of the color of their skin.
smil··on Airbnb and Uber’s sharing economy is one route to dotcommunism
>I'm REALLY wondering "why the hell did AirBnB catch on and this didn't?!"

Marketing budget

smil··on Airbnb and Uber’s sharing economy is one route to dotcommunism
no, i rent it out.
smil··on Airbnb and Uber’s sharing economy is one route to dotcommunism
indeed, they are the super-middleman because digital platforms can grow much larger than analog ones.
smil··on Airbnb and Uber’s sharing economy is one route to dotcommunism
renting out isn't sharing.
smil··on Airbnb and Uber’s sharing economy is one route to dotcommunism
Indeed. Ad-financed media has to be entertaining, not factual.
smil··on Airbnb and Uber’s sharing economy is one route to dotcommunism
Airbnb and Uber have nothing, 0.000%, to do with sharing. They have simply built a digital infrastructure for renting out rooms and selling taxi fares. Their success lies in the fact that digital communication systems are significantly lower cost and more flexible than pre-internet ones. They now own that infrastructure 100% and aim to become monopolies.

(Edit: Another good example of a digital infrastructure company is Amazon. That's what they are, not a retailer or anything else.)

smil··on To Apple, Love Taylor
Apple should just pay royalties out of their own, enormous pockets of $172B (our whatever it was) for the first three months, just not charge users. Then there wouldn't be a problem. What they're doing now is just strong-arming weaker parties to create a platform that will increase their own power even more.
smil··on Why is it taking longer and longer to fill open jobs?
So compensation is not relevant to your point at all since you didn't list it. Or were you looking for mind readers? The low response rate makes sense in that case.
smil··on Why is it taking longer and longer to fill open jobs?
Sure, but this is not a relevant response to my comment unless you meant it as an insult.
smil··on Why is it taking longer and longer to fill open jobs?
As a recent graduate for whom it took a year and a half and a move to a different country to find another job, I think I've developed job searcher's PTSD. Applied to lots of jobs I was very excited about, only to get degraded during interviews or not hearing back at all. I wouldn't dream of asking for a lateral move as that might make my boss think I don't like my current job, and as they can fire my with 48 hrs notice, which would cost me my week visa, I can't take any chances.
smil··on Interviewing candidates
So according to this logic, nobody should have hired you back in the day?
smil··on Is Social Rejection the Key to Creativity?
Pursuing original ideas, aka creativity, leads to social rejection. There's only so many times you can stand ridicule and disbelief before you disengage.
smil··on Can Silicon Valley Fix Women’s Fashion?
No
smil··on Ask HN: Why is it so hard to find remote jobs in Europe?
Excellent comment.
smil··on Some tech startups in Germany
All non-CS entry-level jobs at startups that I've seen in Berlin are "internships" and pay unliveable wages, if at all.
smil··on Some tech startups in Germany
You probably won't be getting any (liveable) pension and in the near future we may see tuition fees for university studies.
smil··on Some tech startups in Germany
In Sweden, you'd be stoned to death if someone found out you made $150K, or more, as an engineer.
smil··on Florida Classifies Uber Driver as Employee, Says He Is Eligible for Unemployment
Uber is not a "ride sharing" service.
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