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trapperkeeper79

180 karma · joined July 30, 2016

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trapperkeeper79··on A late workout shouldn’t hinder your sleep. It could even help
Usual rant .. I think paywalled articles don't have a place on Google search results and also HN. I suppose someone will reply telling me to change my user-agent or something else.

Edit: actually .. scratch that .. I should have an option on HN to not see paywalled links. Can someone on the dev team make that happen?

trapperkeeper79··on Ask HN: Ex-Founder. Should I take lowball buyout offer?
What does "2x liquidation preference for $2,000,000" mean?
trapperkeeper79··on Amazon Echo Show
My latest gen Apple TV wants to disagree with you. As does my wife's first gen Apple Watch ... both are magical turds IMHO.
trapperkeeper79··on Amazon Echo Show
Amazon is killing it in IoT/Smart Home. However, IMHO, they are making a bit of mistake by not allowing developers to monetize their platform (at least the last time I checked). There were also certain device functions that apps could not utilize (e.g. programmatically mute and unmute). I suspect they'll have a wall garden approach to their new Echo devices too ... if this was open, they'd win it all (again, just my opinion).
trapperkeeper79··on $A100K Equity-Free Startup Grant from Queensland Government
Wish Canada did something like startup chile .. I'd move and do a startup in a heartbeat.
trapperkeeper79··on Alphabet's Self-Driving Cars to Get Their First Real Riders
Wish they deployed this in Mountain View. I see like 20 of these a day going around aimlessly. I'd sign up as a customer!
trapperkeeper79··on Exercise 'keeps the mind sharp' in over-50s, study finds
Shower? For me, that makes the lunch break workout impractical :(
trapperkeeper79··on What Living with an Eye Patch in a Big City Taught Me
I knew a guy with an eye patch, and politeness prevented me from asking how that happened. Now I know that one of the causes is cancer .. but it is a bit surprising that I only learned that after this article.
trapperkeeper79··on Show HN: “What Are You Syncing About?” by Ninjadev [WebGL Demo]
How to play it???
trapperkeeper79··on Arduino board adds Sigfox low power wireless for IoT
I'm curious what the fundamental underlying tech is that is driving Lora and Sigfox? E.g. cdma has a few core ideas that make the magic work. What is the equivalent fundamental concept that is driving the low-power, long-range, low-bw communication?
trapperkeeper79··on Scientists Aging Faster Than Other Workers
Your last point reminded me of some old days for me. I too taught as an adjunct when I was younger. I would try to bring industry insiders to visit for the Software Design course. Students loved these as well as sessions on how to get a real job. I was a bit surprised too.
trapperkeeper79··on Nintendo sells 2.4M Switch consoles worldwide in first month, above forecast
Yes .. the early discounts on games explains it. Very odd from the typical way discounting happens on XBox, etc. Typical games lose value a month or two after release. Nintendo crap either stays the same, or goes up in value because of lack of availability.
trapperkeeper79··on Bob Taylor Has Died
RIP. For you youngins ... you may want to read up on him. He is an example of a boss we'd be fortunate to get at some point in our life.
trapperkeeper79··on Nintendo Discontinues the NES Classic Edition
They really have the worst supply chain out there. A bunch of people I know wanted this and/or the Switch. These are casual gamers who may not care later.
trapperkeeper79··on Silicon Valley Is a Big Fat Lie (2015)
The article and title are a bit sensational but makes valid points.
trapperkeeper79··on Ask HN: What are some great “Free” services provided by IBM, Amazon, etc.?
Wait .. is this the track where you get a mentor or does it include the "follow along" track as well?
trapperkeeper79··on Amazon's Sick New Sick Policy
This!!!

At the top-level, you know people are not slackers. They want to do their best to contribute. It is true that goals are not always aligned, etc.

In the modern world, it seems we have lost our humanity. This story, the United airlines story, and so many examples. I don't think things are worse off than they were in the dark ages of course. But I think we don't have an excuse to be jerks anymore - partly because as a society we have abundance or sorts. Not just pointing fingers at Amazon and United, but collectively, as a society, we need to clean up our act soon or I fear things will get worse and worse for everyone (rich and poor).

trapperkeeper79··on Ask HN: What makes a good place to work?
You got into an MBA program on whim? Was it full-time?? I look at the sticker price for the degree (around 100K just base tuition for a top program; more than double that in lost income). Even a part-time program seems like an expensive proposition. I just cannot justify it as a mid-career tech professional.
trapperkeeper79··on Google Brain Toronto
Equal society? Lets see you buy a detached house in Toronto if you are a first generation immigrant, and your parents are not loaded. If you do not own property today, I don't see a way to EVER afford it in Toronto. Our society is hell-bent on taxing income when we should really be taxing wealth. The latest budget is fairly against young people in favor of old people. But to each their own I guess.
trapperkeeper79··on Google Brain Toronto
Why? I've never lived there but it seems one of the few places with tech jobs and houses that don't cost a million bucks.
trapperkeeper79··on Google Brain Toronto
Spot on. This new institute (and other govt efforts like it) all fail to answer this fundamental question - why would someone work at half the pay (or less) if they were a Canadian citizen? It is a chicken-and-egg problem .. salaries and labour pool quality go hand in hand.
trapperkeeper79··on How “engagement” made the web a less engaging place
For the past few years, I've noticed that a major news site (CNN) has titles that I would term click-baity. Seems wrong to me.
trapperkeeper79··on Open Source Needs FPGAs; FPGAs Need an On-Ramp
I really wanted to get that board - but the price difference between academic and regular users was a bit too much given this was coming out of my own pocket (I ended up buying used FPGA dev boards from ebay, etc.).

I recall there was a lot of excitement around the Pynq. Has anything notable been done with it yet?

trapperkeeper79··on Logic Production Systems: A new mixed logic/imperative programming language
Getting RETE right isn't trivial. I tried looking into the fundamentals a few months ago, and was very unsatisfied - it felt like people explaining it knew parts of it but not the whole thing. I guess it is good that we have some open source implementations that can be reverse engineered by someone motivated enough.
trapperkeeper79··on Canada to announce marijuana will be legal by July 1, 2018
It was a unique situation - we spent a lot of effort to get a baby sitter. Movie theatre was completely full. We just ended up leaving and got a refund.
trapperkeeper79··on Canada to announce marijuana will be legal by July 1, 2018
I'm not a user but have a question for people with more experience. I recently had a few very bad experiences at the movie theatre where (a) the entire outside area smelled of what I think was weed, and (b) the person next to us in a very full theatre reeked of it. We had to leave because it was a really bad odour. Is Toronto going a bit overboard in the short term while people are experimenting or is this just the way it is going to be? I.e. we stop going to movies, etc. I'm not being judgemental .. want to try to be open about it. What does one do in this situation?

I see drunk people from time to time too but I can avoid them fairly easily. MJ seems harder to avoid. I also had a run in at a beach recently where I was there to watch the sunset. The MJ user also seemed to be there for that reason .. I just moved away. Harder to do in a packed theatre.

trapperkeeper79··on Why is this little construction crane illegal in New York City? (2016)
The plumbing unions made some dumb arguments about toxic gas coming up from the sewer IIRC. Why does the regulation care about costs anyways?
trapperkeeper79··on Why is this little construction crane illegal in New York City? (2016)
This reminded me of my time in NYC :)
trapperkeeper79··on Logic Production Systems: A new mixed logic/imperative programming language
Any tips for introductory/intermediate material on the topic? In undergrad, we used Russel and Norvig. Surely there are more advanced books or courses.
trapperkeeper79··on Logic Production Systems: A new mixed logic/imperative programming language
Logic programming and productions are a wonderful idea that I studied in undergrad back in pre-2000. These days, people seem hostile towards them. People just don't like the idea of specifying rules. I couldn't find modern intro textbooks on the topic or classes that cover it on MOOCs. I'm very surprised and confused.
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