Its very different from Stephenson's other novels. Its much more of a thriller with a few tech elements thrown in. I really enjoyed it, but don't go in expecting another cryptonomicon.
HN user
anubisresources
Climate change investor. Based in Uganda now. NYC -> UG
[ my public key: https://keybase.io/spawley; my proof: https://keybase.io/spawley/sigs/bX0ApXK60hNGq7YHqDz2eCOtZAxdF9xDW_VdUulKIH4 ]
The daily trade volume on the Ugandan exchange is ~$18,000. Companies may be “listed”, but good luck actually buying any stock
Financial system varies broadly country to country, but there are virtually no publicly traded African companies. If you wish to invest you need to find private companies willing to take on an investor
There are virtually no publicly traded African companies. There are companies like glencore that have operations here, but they’re still European or Asian companies. If you’re looking to invest in African companies you have to put time in on the ground to find private companies suitable for investment.
Postal investigators have a reputation for taking any violation of the mail system extremely seriously. It seems like yours in Oakland is breaking the stereotype. Have you reached out to his higher ups?
Of course. As long as gatekeeper fees are less than the 3% charged for mobile money it’s a win
I saw it on Twitter a month or two ago, but I love it too! Great name
The bulk of those in Uganda are unbanked. Everyone here uses WhatsApp. Something like this would be a great way for me to pay contractors and domestic staff who right now only take cash.
I live in Uganda and something like this will be a great mobile money alternative. MTN and their ilk take a huge chunk of change for mobile money, and if this is cheap it’ll catch on very quickly here.
It should also make paying domestic staff and various contractors easier, and that’ll be nice.
What economics courses have you taken that are remotely like this? Economics is extremely quantitative and is not some “shallow ideology”.
How many petabytes does something like this take up?
Looking at shooting silver iodide pellets up in the sky or painting deserts black? Lots of issues with weather modification. Virtual water is the most cost effective way to transport water, by far, unless you have some crazy new product
Dropbox doesn’t encrypt your data. There area bunch of other companies that do encrypted cloud storage, eg keybase
You weren't kidding about the small farm! The dealers in your area can't do field repairs?
Obviously your equation is a big simplification, but you’re missing a lot of the input costs.
California has a very strange water system. It’s not really privatized, only ~5% of California’s water is provided by private parties last I checked. Californian water rights promise significantly more water than the state actually has (which will cause some problems).
The water districts and utilities do most of the price setting, as I understand it. The water districts are largely controlled by farming interests who do not want pricy water.
This info may be out of date, since I work in a very different water market (East Africa), so if someone knows better please correct me.
What do you grow? Hay mainly? Acreage?
Keybase chat does support mobile, I use it all the time
Rene Girard comes to mind
How much of the gains from the computing revolution have been captured by a few thousand Bay Area Landlord’s?
Credit fraud. The banks were defrauded, not you.
That makes absolutely no sense. Buying TSLA is in no way a proxy for buying SpaceX equity.
Human waste has been used as fertilizer for ages. Check out night soil
Hydrogen is a non-starter. Many leakage, cost of energy, risky transport issues to overcome.
Sounds like he's an expert in fraud from those links
No Capetown or Nairobi? Nairobi in particular has a ton of software companies
Is he based in DC now?
Copying an existing idea into a new market is incredibly lucrative. It's also a lot easier than coming up with something new.
There are a number of different causes for the slowdown. I'd argue the slowdown was caused in large part as a reaction to the chaos and violence of the 1960s. Desire for safety -> more regulations & less investment in new things. I don't know that any specific law or rule can be attributed to the slowdown or its start.
Peter Thiel and Tyler Cowen have a lot to say about this subject. The argument boils down to regulatory and cultural pressures have caused innovation to slow down drastically since the 1970s in all areas but ICT.
I strongly suggest you read "The Complacent Class" if this is a subject that interests you