Hacker News Reader

Yahoo was in "the ditch" long before Mayer. They had the opportunity to buy Google for $1M, they passed on it...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CoNYEe0WEAAGC0P.jpg:large

velodromeon WA, NY and CA Governors Announce Formation of United States Climate Alliance

Texas and California are diversified economies. Texas is more exposed to the oil & gas industry. However, it is still not a petrostate. Which state is the closest to being a petrostate? Alaska (25% exposure).

It is very easy to validate this. Look at the price of oil. It has taken a massive beating over the last years.

Oil Price History: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/DCOILWTICO/

If the state is truly a petrostate, it will clearly be reflected in its GDP.

California: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CARGSP

Texas: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/TXNGSP

North Dakota: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NDNGSP

Alaska: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/AKNGSP

Note the massive drop in oil prices after 2014. Alaska's GDP drops around roughly the same period.

Now let's compare this to ACTUAL petrostates.

Saudi Arabia: https://tradingeconomics.com/saudi-arabia/gdp

Columbia: https://tradingeconomics.com/colombia/gdp

Brazil: https://tradingeconomics.com/brazil/gdp

Norway: https://tradingeconomics.com/norway/gdp

Mexico: https://tradingeconomics.com/mexico/gdp

Kuwait: https://tradingeconomics.com/kuwait/gdp

Russia [1]: https://tradingeconomics.com/russia/gdp

Iran [1]: https://tradingeconomics.com/iran/gdp

[1] Sanctions

See the shortfall in GDP, that is a PETROSTATE.

In March of 2017, California produced 14,907,000 barrels of crude oil. Texas produced 102,443,000. That's 7x more. Play that against the fact that Texas' GDP is 2/3rd of California's. Oil has a massive impact in Texas that it simply doesn't have in California.

This is not a good measurement to determine the exposure of the industry to overall economy. It just shows the amount the barrels that can produce. The reason why there is a massive increase in production is due to shale (fracking). The cost of producing oil through fracking is a lot higher than pumping it out of the ground. Because they still have to sell it at market prices, the margin is a lot less for these producers. To compensate for this, these producers have to frack more out of the ground to stay afloat.

Shale Exposed

Texas Field Production of Crude Oil: https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=M...

North Dakota Field Production of Crude Oil: https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=M...

Non-Shale Exposed

Alaska Field Production of Crude Oil: https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=M...

California Field Production of Crude Oil: https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=M...

velodromeon WA, NY and CA Governors Announce Formation of United States Climate Alliance

> I think Texas' situation is too unique. They're effectively a petrostate right now.

Conveniently ignoring the fact that California is ALSO a petrostate.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/08/03/the...

velodromeon US Household Debt Surpasses 2008 High

> Let people default on their student debt with 5 years of bad credit, and colleges will fix themselves.

How can the colleges fix themselves? They are not the one's giving out the loans. Maybe that's how it should be... It forces the colleges to have a vested interest in their students' future.

velodromeon How Pixar Lost Its Way

> So they stole it

They bought it.

velodromeon Google Cloud Prediction API End of Life

From the FAQ:

Q: Why is Google Cloud Platform no longer supporting Cloud Prediction API?

A: As we've expanded our Cloud Machine Learning services, many of the use-cases supported by Cloud Prediction API can be better served by Cloud Machine Learning Engine.

velodromeon Why Isn’t Native American Food Hip?

According to Navajo tradition, frybread was created in 1864 using the flour, sugar, salt and lard that was given to them by the United States government when the Navajo, who were living in Arizona, were forced to make the 300-mile journey known as the "Long Walk" and relocate to Bosque Redondo, New Mexico onto land that could not easily support their traditional staples of vegetables and beans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frybread

velodromeon How to Survive as a Solo Dev for Like a Decade or So

Yes, the US has the home business deduction.

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p587/index.html

velodromeon The Grim Biology of Being Poor

I think you correctly identified the symbiotic relationship. If seniors expect their benefits to be fulfilled, they need to invest (jobs, education, etc.) in very people who are paying their entitlement.

Stan Druckenmiller gave a talk about this very subject called "Generational Theft":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbgIiAnpcPc

The chart from that talk showing the reversal of investing in the young vs the old:

http://www.businessinsider.com/stan-druckenmiller-on-generat...

velodromeon USA Facts – Federal, state, and local data from government sources

> The fact that Ballmer is purposefully not setting an agenda makes this more powerful.

Yes, I agree.

> Otherwise people tend to accumulate their own set of convenient facts.

I think people will do this anyway...are we not human?

velodromeon USA Facts – Federal, state, and local data from government sources

I find PerotCharts more useful (with commentary), than this particular site. Too bad it has not been updated in a while.

http://perotcharts.website/

Yes, its that Perot: Ross Perot.

velodromeon Want a Loan in China? Keep Your Phone Charged

> Technically someone can have complete ability to pay back their credit card debt, yet they might miss a credit card payment (like I did last year because I was out of the country due to a personal reason), yet that is counted against me.

I am not sure if you have this capability but have you tried auto-paying the minimum balance?

velodromeon Amex, Challenged by Chase, Is Losing the Snob War

Many are looking to churn (cash in and leave)...The rest are doing it for utility and/or status.

Read the SlickDeals thread:

https://slickdeals.net/f/9036199-chase-sapphire-reserve-100k...

velodromeon Toshiba Pares Losses on Report of Apple Investing in Chips

FYI, Bob Iger (Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company) sits on the Apple board.

https://www.apple.com/pr/bios/

velodromeon Chrome 59 has cross-platform headless support

> FWIW, you can do that now, using phantomjs (which is chrome) http://phantomjs.org/screen-capture.html

It's based on webkit.

velodromeon Building a NAS

The article doesn't mention it but it is probably for deduplication.

This processor supports RAM 128GB+. ZFS dedup uses a lot of ram.

velodromeon How I Learned to Take the SAT Like a Rich Kid

Yes, it is back to 1600.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/05/living/sat-test-changes-school...

The test will shift from its current score scale of 2400 back to 1600, with a separate score for the essay. No longer will test takers be penalized for choosing incorrect answers.

velodromeon Audi's unions demand electric model for main German plant

Why Unions Exempt Themselves from Hard-Fought Minimum Wage Hikes

https://economics21.org/html/why-unions-exempt-themselves-ha...

velodromeon Audi's unions demand electric model for main German plant

1) Germany did not have a minimum wage until recently. They just enacted a minimum wage in 2015. Minimum wage erodes the strength and bargaining power of trade unions. Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and Sweden do not have a minimum wage but have strong trade unions.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-28140594

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/080515/5-deve...

2) They have strong apprenticeship programs and vocational training.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apprenticeship#Germany

3) Mittelstand - long-term, focused, and sustainable business culture

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mittelstand

http://theconversation.com/the-secret-behind-germanys-thrivi...

velodromeon Audi's unions demand electric model for main German plant

> Employers were not willing to give those concessions without a fight.

Today, they don't have to fight. They can offshore, outsource, or automate your job. There are a lot more options these days then there were back then...

velodromeon A Multibillion-Dollar U.S. Spy Agency Few Know Exists

I think the mission patches are quite clever...

velodromeon How I Start: Go (2014)

I like it.

1) I know exactly where the package came from:

import "geocities.com/bla/packagebla"

import "packagebla"

2) Easy to determine if the package is official, internal, or external (gofmt).

However, what is lacking is a unified vendoring standard. They will address this shortly.

velodromeon Molten Salt Reactor Claims Melt Down Under Scrutiny

Except molten salt reactors (MSRs) do NOT have meltdowns.

velodromeon Crazy Eddie Fraud

This is not uncommon. This is taking tradecraft and applying it in a useful and valuable way (for society as a whole). Frank Abagnale is one such example.

American security consultant known for his history as a former confidence trickster, check forger, and impostor between the ages of 15 and 21.

Abagnale also continues to advise the FBI, with whom he has associated for over 40 years, by teaching at the FBI Academy and lecturing for FBI field offices throughout the country.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Abagnale

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264464/

velodromeon Berkeley Removes 20,000 Free Online Videos to Comply with DOJ Ruling

The complaint was put forward by two employees of Gallaudet University - not students.

Gallaudet University is a private university for the deaf. I would like to point out that their videos are not friendly to those with visual impairments and they should have their videos removed for the same reason UC Berkeley has to remove theirs. Here are a few such examples:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffqU3mT4k1o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWdF7G1SrzA

velodromeon San Francisco university lays off IT workers, jobs head to India

> I don't think that's a fair comparison at all.

How much income tax do you pay in Texas vs California?

California [1]:

1% on the first $7,850 of taxable income.

2% on taxable income between $7,851 and $18,610.

4% on taxable income between $18,611 and $29,372.

6% on taxable income between $29,373 and $40,773.

8% on taxable income between $40,774 and $51,530.

9.3% on taxable income between $51,531 and $263,222.

10.3% on taxable income between $263,223 and 315,866.

11.3% on taxable income between $315,867 and $526,443.

12.3% on taxable income of $526,444 and above.

Texas [2]: Texas residents pay no personal state income tax.

[1] http://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/state-taxes-california...

[2] http://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/state-taxes-texas.aspx

> There is a 3-5% property tax that is paid out annually. I currently pay $14,000/yr in property tax against a $320k mortgage.

Yes, that's high. However, consider what $320k gets you in SF vs Houston. With $320k I can get a decent sized house in Houston vs a tiny studio in SF (if that).

One state is not necessarily better than the other. They are making trade offs. These trade offs benefit you depending on your lifestyle and circumstances.

velodromeon The Murky Future of Nuclear Power in the United States

Too bad this article mentions nothing about the future of LFTR reactors (Thorium).

velodromeon First unmanned factory takes shape in Dongguan City (2015)

Too bad the article does not discuss the time it would take to break even on that investment.

velodromeon Military Reading List

Nice list. Thanks!

velodromeon Node v7.5.0 Released

According to the site:

Node.js ES2015 Support is at 99% for v8.0.0 nightly.

Node.js ES2017 Support is at 74% for v8.0.0 nightly.