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totalcrepe

95 karma · joined August 2, 2016

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totalcrepe··on Trouble in the House of Rothenberg
That sounds like the descriptions of the IPO purchasers (being the cash out providers for insiders) just before the last dotcom crash. They didn't know what it was but they wanted to be invested in tech.. anything they couldn't understand was going to have an absurd ROI, putting them in the rich crowd.

Like the nature of the dot com crash, if it ends like a pyramid scheme, that reflects worse on the state of finance and analysis of our industry than on the last "suckers" in another tulip season.

totalcrepe··on Sugar industry secretly paid for favorable Harvard research
There is nothing inherently wrong with a briefcase, but I think the ideal use of large internationally recognized notes is to sew your life savings into your clothes before you sneak across the border to try to start a securer life.

The alternative to flight is fight.. The more you deprive someone of options in one direction the more often they take options in the other direction. But what kind of cold, sick people would like small arms skirmishes so much that they would fund bias towards them in international policy over decades under the guises like a pathological fear of chemicals?

totalcrepe··on Ask HN: Is web programming a series of hacks on hacks?
I think writing an IDE or anything else with editor integration during the editor wars would be a similar analogy:

- you could push one or the other

- you could try to support users on both side based on the editor variable

- you could go the new route where only users who care enough to invest do

- you could go the Jed simplicity route.

In the end, IDEs like jetbrains have the new route with plugins for the factions. Most lower investment cases do the Jed route which is more like web neutral. No one who pushed the unwanted editor on its opposing group seems to be still standing.

totalcrepe··on Ask HN: Is web programming a series of hacks on hacks?
But none of your examples are as cross system portable and "native/normal feel" as writing an app that only works in chrome/chromium.

For the decades leading up to this stage cross system GUIs with a few simple library dependencies have been an unachieved "easy" task. Web remains as frustrating as ever because now we need it to work on all non portable browsers even on platforms that supports better ones. Then we want new features at an alarming pace that GTK could never normalize across *nixes.

Using the only non-browser that I think sort of got cross system portability working as an example.. I don't think things functioned reliably against the weird m$, Ibm and gcj Java implementations. But since they aren't really GUIs themselves with bookmarks, and familiar menus, no one gets upset when you tell them to replace an odd Java implementation before running a Java program.

totalcrepe··on The careless errors of credit reporting agencies
If a bank in America gives a loan in your name that essentially is your problem until a sequence of things happen that require a fair amount of education to research and do yourself or the advice of a low end but real lawyer (which is dangerous to seek out among the ones that screw over the poor).

If you live in the US you should consider filing every block available to you so for the banks you don't use, you can start the discussions with asking why they were illegally pulling your credit record or giving credit without it.

In Europe, it looks like banks are petitioning to be allowed to verify identity over camera phones using an independent third party. That is still better than the US, since you can probably force them to retrieve that record of "you and your id" fairly early in a dispute.

totalcrepe··on Enough with Basic Income
The French program as quoted is nothing like basic income. I've seen quite a few people just need a few bucks. The longterm risk of that and the likelihood that if they didn't get the few bucks they would need permanent safety net was sometimes pretty high.

For example, I knew a vet in college who came very close to dropping out, where a few hundred bucks the safety net never knew he needed made all the difference. I can only imagine what percent of their lifetime writeoffs come from having these condescending "shutup, we know what you need" safety net systems.

totalcrepe··on CIA spies on Senate
Give me money and I'll make you rich. Don't mind that I am spying on your allocators of money. More money please. My friends that I bought with your money want to sell crack on your streets, thats cool right? How about some heroin? More money please, I'm having trouble tapping the lines of everyone who has something bad to say about me. Oh I mean us.
totalcrepe··on Dell-EMC to Lay Off 3,000 US Workers After Requesting 5,000 H-1B Visas
And the last thing you need is those recruiters finding qualified employees in the US when you hire by h1..

I find that companies are very much opposed to seriously finding those matches where the employees are convertable since longterm employees cost twice as much as the untrained new hire in a role that now uses half their abilities. Further, if they are "certified" as competent in both fields instead of eliminated from the market as tainted goods, they can be snatched by better managed rivals who know how to get full value of a programmer-accountant instead of paying for both skillsets and not being competent to consistently manage profit from either one.

401k plans managed fairness by making sure your top and lowest employees got reasonably comparable benefits. It helped, but also lead to outsourcing the low roles. In this case, I think companies should be limited to h1s that cost more than the greater of: the average inflation adjusted salary they've laid off, the average salary they still have and the average market salary for the specific role. If that's too expensive for them, maybe its fine to let them workout their problems without crying about the labor market not matching their inconsistent needs.

totalcrepe··on The Open Source Data Science Masters
It might not be sufficient, but I would no longer pay for education and do it "on the record" without first taking the equivalent free classes.

From what we know about human memory the practice of cramming a topic for 3 months is not helpful and just the result of resource costs.

totalcrepe··on Facebook deletes Norway PM's post as 'napalm girl' row escalates
I find these quotes very confusing, did they delete any words of criticism&support as well as the repost of the photo, and if so were they posted separately or together with the photo?

It seems like purely reposting a photo without comment could now be being called a post of support. While fb users can use whatever slang they like, I expect a media that assumes we don't know about these behaviors in the walled gardens and tells us what specifically was censored.

(Perhaps this seems like splitting hairs to FB users, but as a non-user of a communication network, I would tolerate a network that bans pictures of blue but not a network that bans criticism of its ban of pictures of blue. The latter requires government intervention.)

totalcrepe··on House votes to let 9/11 victims sue Saudi Arabia
Malcolm X got a fair amount of criticism for saying JFKs assisination was chickens comming home to roost, I.e. poor US policy brought the same back on them. In this case, the terrorist the US designed to attack Soviet forces now view the US as their enemy.
totalcrepe··on House votes to let 9/11 victims sue Saudi Arabia
This could end well, or at least comically. I am sure the Saudis have a treasure trove of evidence on the source of Afghan war derived terrorism and the US is now equally compelling them to share it and hide it?

Killing Malcolm X might not have been enough to supress the theory that chickens will go home to roost.

totalcrepe··on Companies would benefit from helping introverts to thrive
Imo, that is just turning neurosis into high art.

To flip it around, sociopaths are charming and dangerous people and they aren't going to waste time trying to make social progress with a relative brickwall, when there is buisiness skills Jane, who can't even remember what friendly lies she told whom.

I've never had a coworker tell me a quiet person made their skin crawl, I couldn't say the same for the past year in any past year for the buisiness smooth.

totalcrepe··on I am a fast webpage
Yes, and HN is in violation of Google's performance guidelines for putting those sensible rules in a sensible place.

> Not all websites can do without all of that - imagine a photography site, or an e-commerce site, etc. without pictures?

How does HN's CSS enforce a ban on img elements in pages pointing to a photo's canonical location? Or preclude putting your standard frames into it?

Imagine a photography site where no photo link is shared across any pages (but 90 page base64 encoded URLs are repeated randomly), an ecommerce site where a product is shown in a strange new light at every step in the checkout process using a mishmash of entirely different CSS.. Google's advice is approving the most idiotic behavior on sites that are barely keeping their head above water in terms of technical understanding, letting them hold onto strange ideas because they are "fast."

totalcrepe··on I am a fast webpage
HN is neither of the two and IMO represents where people spend most of their time.

I think Google's CSS embedding is terrible advice for the meaningful web, but logical advice for adwords landing pages or sites with content so bad or sparse you wont be navigating them.

totalcrepe··on Stepping down as Nodevember organizer
> Personally, I don't think "well I'm comfortable, so it's okay" would be an acceptable response.

In the 1950's the underlying actions one speaker would have been "guilty" of to make these other speakers uncomfortable would have been what? A gay "indiscretion"? Associating too closely with other races?

If you are uncomfortable, that is primarily on you unless there is a rational explanation underlying the discomfort that is better than prejudiced nonsense like I am avoiding all gays or all homophobes. A portion of the society is uncomfortable with all social events, but we don't cancel them and do everything straight to online video out of deference to their discomfort. We at most try to do what we can to make them comfortable to the extent that they don't get in the way of the event.

My problem with this situation was the conference publicly taking sides and disparaging a particular speaker based on current political winds. Professionalism in running these things is avoiding any unnecessary public slight to anyone whether the society is anti-homosexual or anti-homophobe. It is simply not appropriate for a conference to judge a speaker or any evidence about them.

I think the resignation and reflections in the OP were very appropriate and I hope Kevin will return to organizing future events using this hard won experience.

(edit- I should note that I mean inherently uncomfortable with the other participant, I think it is fine for a group to exclude a participant who has a history of ignoring rules explicitly agreed to. But excluding someone who was "rude" in the past under no specific rules really amounts to ageism eventually.)

totalcrepe··on In defence of Douglas Crockford
No, they "often" ask people to cancel and state personal grounds or scheduling conflict, etc. Much like suspicious resignations. Then they get wierder when people refuse but the facts are then confusing nonsense about inflexibility and inability to reach a concensus, not a statement of vague unease about a speaker.

Given the terrible track record of the JS community with regards to basic behavior, I really have to wonder what is wrong and why anyone should risk their personal reputation by doing public activities in JS.

Perhaps transpiling purely to avoid interacting with caustic elements of the JS community will be the new normal.

totalcrepe··on Employers Find ‘Soft Skills’ Like Critical Thinking in Short Supply
> And yeah they are in short supply because you can't teach them directly.

If you can think critically are you going to get past the HR filters and convince them you are the recruit willing to take a deal that will descend into just a little worse than unemployment? (So your empty shell of a life after they spit you out is devoid of any unused benefits.)

If you want to openly think critically in corporate employment, step 1 is becoming irreplaceable so they can't replace you when you become inconvenient at step 2.

An easier tactic, (employed by the best corporate game theorists that I've encountered) is following directions like a total Svejk, this leads employers to think you lack critical thinking skills. Then more resources are allocated and eventually you have a whole empire of minions.

totalcrepe··on Even the Rich Are Being Priced Out of Central London
A net zero property seems like it could generate less paperwork if the management balanced incomming and outgoing payments, (less their fee.)

How exactly do they pay utilities/etc without anyone noticing their transfers? But I don't believe they are successfully hiding anything in any case, governments want everyone to be guilty of something so they can achieve whatever political outcome they need through selective enforcement.

totalcrepe··on Ask HN: I'm 28yo. Should I start college now, or get real world experience?
I did a mix of fulltime school, fulltime work (with an occasional class) and part time work/part time school. Employers seemed fine with my being in process of a degree and having done basic reqs, so no degree wasn't a barrier at entry, but it did slow down my career path as the highest status/most interesting groups couldn't justify selecting me until I had the degree.
totalcrepe··on Ask HN: I'm 28yo. Should I start college now, or get real world experience?
If you have any bachelors then you should be able to add a BSCS with about a fulltime year of credit. I would do that part time over 4-6 years, ideally while working somewhere that pays for it.

If you don't have a bachelors, I would recommend getting one. But again, you can find somewhere with tuition reimbursement and do it slowly.

(If you already have another STEM degree, I would consider a masters that builds on it and requires programming before seeking a CS degree at a level you already have in another science.)

I finished my bachelor in my 30s, and I am glad I did. It is one less thing to worry about when looking for a new job, debating if I want to rock the boat changing the terms of my current employment, etc. It also lets me work in markets that are tough without any degree and continue to dictate most of the terms of my employment when the economy is in a down cycle.

While I get very similar things from MOOCs as from my degree, it is nice to have had the in person lectures as they seem to trigger a different kind of memory bootstrapping when I am drawing a total blank. I just wouldn't pay for them myself at the US market rates.

totalcrepe··on Artist Peter Doig victorious as court agrees '$10m' painting is not his work
Normally no, but here the "owner" was claiming it is the artist's work, not a facsimile or reproduction. So this is an exact case of the normally theoretical ill that trademark and brand related law is supposed to protect against: something that is honestly confused with the work of a manufacturer with a substantial cost to that manufacturer.

Try doing this at the border with a "rolix" and that offended manufacturer has rights to protect their interests not a responsibility to show up to convince customs that your rolix is a real rolex from back when they had trouble spelling. So I'd say this is an example of different justice for different relative social status.

totalcrepe··on Artist Peter Doig victorious as court agrees '$10m' painting is not his work
To be safe, I think the picture should be awarded to Peter Doig. Perhaps on the grounds that the owner admits it confusable with his brand..
totalcrepe··on Almost 80% of Private Day Traders Lose Money
I think survivorship bias indicates a segment that survives at a higher rate due to an actual trait and then its trait is presumed to have been a norm at the start. Survivorship Bias would imply there is an actual factor beyond gambling and we are just too optimistic about its frequency.

More simply, once you exclude people who only bet once you are excluding a disproportionate number of negative bets simply because betting a second time is based on the first outcome. If you want to do exclusions you have to exclude the outcome of the 1st n bets even from players who keep playing.

But then you get something that is also misleading as players can get more and more conservative on the way out the door. I.e. taking guaranteed pennies in splits and buyouts as they realize their big payouts from roller-coasters were not as certain as they thought. There should be a strategy that does similar to the return from a safe investment, so that also isn't interesting.

totalcrepe··on Android 7.0 Nougat released
> Privacy & Security

> Direct boot: When restarting your device, Direct Boot helps it start up faster, and ensures that important communications still run. So before you even put in your password, you'll still get that important text message and hear your alarm clock ring.

Safety - We added a leprechaun with an axe and hopped him up on some uppers. He sure is fun to watch.

totalcrepe··on Almost 80% of Private Day Traders Lose Money
People who initially win in gambling will kick around money for longer than those who lose on their first play.. So excluding immediate dropouts can make a gamble look like an investment.
totalcrepe··on The Mystery of the Missing Hotel Toothpaste (2013)
Toothpaste is heavily branded in a health related fashion that makes it hard for hotels to get away with fake botique and paying for a real brand risks offending users of a "higher" or competing brand. Then there are also the foreign patrons who will find local brands funny at best.

This is notable in that the one hotel that carried toothpaste felt they had to say which brand. (They were right, I once stayed at a hotel with generic foreign toiletries and only the toothpaste triggered ill ease: wondering whether potentially tainted toothpaste or skipping toothpaste was the higher risk.) But they had also chosen the wrong brand if they have foreign patrons as aquafresh has very little presence abroad.

totalcrepe··on Anti-Google research group in Washington is funded by Oracle
Destroying the sun grid group and bad mouthing cloud wasn't the smartest way to handle the buyout of Sun, in retrospect.

Solaris engineers know quite a bit about their stack and what it can and cant do.. the trouble is trying to make a standard consortium by relying on garbage code that sort of works on Linux. Anything you do better than Linux will just be a problem for achieving ultimate bland.

totalcrepe··on Ask HN: Best passive income method for a solo developer?
You can suceed on $0, but are you willing to fail to keep that limit? I've never seen someone not sink $5-10k post release into a production stage flop. A success may never need paid marketing, but a flop is a "what if" until you tried everything that seems reasonable.

The LLC is also not a total firewall. You can always raise your top by having the wrong/no insurance, but that is just making the worst outcome further negative.

I'm not saying its bad to try your own buisiness, I'm saying its silly to think your only downside is lost time. Unless you are a social pariah that no one will assist, you will have a way to risk losses and you should think about that and try to set limits that are realistic enough to stick to.

totalcrepe··on Ask HN: Best passive income method for a solo developer?
The bottom is -10k, you have to outlay for lawyer, marketing, hosting and possibly travel or industry specific capital. No matter what your research you can have zero paid uptake in the market. I.e. Google can solve your chosen task for your chosen niche for free and by accident or your domain experts can be confused about what technology will solve their problem until it really exists and is in front of them.
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