HN user
One question I have on this - if rail travel became more ubiquitous, would it become a more enticing target for malevolent actors and/or a higher priority for security screenings, etc? We marvel at how easy it is to walk on a train today, but would that change / how might it change if rail carried a more significant portion of travelers?
Another tool to look at might be Dendron[1]. It's a VS Code plugin with similar functionality to Obsidian (according to the docs, it actually evolved from being a standalone app like Obsidian into the plugin form). My understanding is the client/plugin are FOSS, and the developer plans to implement some (optional) server-side functionality to fund ongoing development.
Have to second this comment. The Audible version of it had me riveted. A great story well-told, with a raft of good quotes, such as "People didn’t like game changers in the 90s anymore than the owners of of the Erie Canal liked the transcontinental railroad. New technology always leaves a battlefield littered with bodies."
Raw materials are also not a problem
Knowing very little about the topic, I recently saw an article talking about how the first wave of wind turbine blades was starting to be decommissioned, and running into difficulties with what to do with them. While they're no longer useful on the tower, since they're designed to withstand incredible forces, it's difficult to destroy, recycle, or otherwise dispose of them, and indicated they're ending up in storage.
Do you happen to know more about this particular phenomenon and what the end game is for that? Granted, this is likely less of a concern than the waste that coal creates, or the long term storage of spent nuclear fuel. I'm just curious about it.
Many publishers and exchanges these days are using the OpenRTB format, which you can find e.g. here for MoPub: https://developers.mopub.com/dsps/integration/openrtb/
The call out to make are the fields device.d(p)idmd5, device.d(p)idsha1 (both now deprecated), and device.ifa, as well as the user/data/segment fields. That's where user ID's (and potentially other data) are passed around. Some exchanges pass a bunch of data, others pass less data but allow you to do a cookie or device-ID exchange/sync so that one side of the transaction can map the other's ID's to theirs, so that the bidder can look up their user profile information. (which they've either bought or accumulated somehow).
Looks like MoPub doesn't pass ID/buyerId any more (it's strikethrough'd), but they do still pass data/segment fields. Not sure what those contain though, perhaps others can chime in.
For what it's worth, getting approved as an ad network is potentially non-trivial. I don't know all the steps involved, but you do need to demonstrate that you can at least meet minimum network response latencies, among other things. Additionally, most exchanges do have some sort of bidrate/winrate monitoring that will eventually throttle you if you're not participating "in good faith" or with reasonable bids/expectations of winning (it's costing them processing power and bandwidth to send you a request even if you don't win). Most also have ToS (for whatever good that does; enforcement may or may not be strong) restricting your ability to collect and store data received from bids (you're typically only allowed to store data from the bid IF you've won the auction). I've heard anecdotes of companies trying to tap into bid flow as "passive observers" this way and ending up getting cut off.
Without meaning to quibble with the numbers in the article, they point out that the bottom 50% of income has gone up $8,000, while the top 1% has gone up $800,000, which is indeed a 100x difference in absolute numbers. But on a relative basis, the bottom 50% of earners' incomes have gone up 42%, and the top 1% have gone up ~250%. Still a large difference, but not nearly as extreme as 100x.
Is there merit to analyzing these numbers on an absolute vs. relative scale, and/or is that beside the point? Does it miss the point if analysis like this doesn't also look at the cost/standard of living in those time periods too? E.g. if a particular standard of living that cost $19k in 1970 (manageable in the bottom 50%) now costs $21k, that's a great boon, but if it now costs $30k, that's probably a bad sign.
I agree a data diff would be challenging, especially at scale, but one tool I think is lacking is schema diffs. For sure one can see the sequence of migrations that were applied, but if all you have is a series of sql files that add/remove/update column definitions, by the end of one or more diffs, you may not actually know or remember what's IN the table you're trying to understand. And if you don't have prod access to show create table (or equivalent), you're left with tracing the diff operations and reconstructing the table schema yourself. Have you seen a tool that can do that?
Does that sort of regulatory capture accomplish the same effect though? If you're a competitor in the space, you'd either a) not have any access to an ingredient you want, or b) would have to go through the trouble of finding a new company to import it AND get them licensed (which I assume is likely a difficult thing to do).
To an extent, the barrier to entry could end up so high that it's effectively _as if _ Coca-Cola has a legal stranglehold.
Often, at least in the US, and perhaps other places as well, money is a pretty strong proxy for power, and so concentrating wealth can end up concentrating power as well. I can appreciate the semantic difference between the two, and conceptually agree that breaking up companies _should_ distribute power. But I'm wondering about the long-term implications/success rate of breakups?
Antitrust action against Microsoft has been argued to have led to the oligopolistic state of affairs today [1].
The break up of AT&T/Bell System worked in the short term, but the market has re-consolidated into a few big TelCo players.
And that's just at the company level. I'd be interested as well whether the increased wealth/increased concentration of wealth among former owners also leads to (in the long term) increased regulatory capture or other side effects spearheaded by those individuals with their increased war chest.
[1] https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/6/17827042/antitrust-1990s-m...
At least a few years ago, Facebook did publish about partnering with Twitter and Microsoft to build tools for sharing image/content hashes [1], presumably to better aid in removal or prevent dissemination of certain types of content. It's not outlandish to suggest the partnership runs deeper 2-3 years later to cover more vectors.
[1] https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2016/12/partnering-to-help-curb...
Great analysis and comment. A question though - was MoviePass's flameout ("dictate terms to suppliers ... didn't exactly turn out well") because Hollywood/the movie industry is far more consolidated and cartel-like than expected/imagined? And more consolidated than for instance, distributed commercial building owners?
I agree network effects will come into play - the more WeWork can capture the demand side, and abstract it away from the supply side ("who else are the owners going to lease to"), the more powerful they'll become over the supply side. But are commercial owners organized enough to resist?
Yep, that's the one.
If you have a chance to watch the video, I'd recommend it (it's about 1h, as a heads up). It is certainly mature themed, so may not be suitable for younger viewers, but it is a news station-produced segment/doc (KOMO in Seattle), so is not wildly inappropriate, and I found it to be a fascinating and hard look at a real problem. (In fact, the first thing I did when I saw this thread was ctrl+F "yout" to find out if anyone had already posted it).
The video explores the visibly-homeless issue in Seattle, as well as a program to address the problem that was implemented in Rhode Island (specifically, enforcement + long-term treatment). I found it worth the watch.
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I heard from a customer service rep at a bank that they did that based on customer feedback. The general reasoning being that large amounts were most likely to be things like housing payments and car payments, where missing payments would incur larger charges from those companies, and/or put housing or transportation at risk.
As to why buses come to the mall? Really?
This is a good point, and one not well-explained in the article. I agree, what's the big deal? The Columbia Mall in Howard County, MD (the 3rd wealthiest county in the US) has the Mall as a primary stop for many buses. What does a bus coming to the mall have anything to do with the quality of a neighborhood?
Yesss, I've been thinking about this sort of thing lately! Do for privacy-conscious users what Wordpress did for blogs. Users can (effectively) point-and-click to install apps to their personal clouds, data is end-to-end encrypted. Users get billed for usage (+ a platform margin?), and developers get paid a royalty.
"The Phoenix Project" references this - when a particular resource (expert) is the only person who can get some task done. Of course that means that person is at or beyond 100% utilization, which means their queue length (or wait time) goes through the roof. Paradoxically, reducing utilization increases productivity/throughput. The section about controlling WIP here [1] illustrates it quite well.
[1] https://itrevolution.com/resource-guide-for-the-phoenix-proj...
I thought Gen-Y is the Millennial generation? At least, according to Wikipedia it is [1]. To your point, there certainly is a broad range of exposure to technology within the generation. (And I wonder if that holds in every generational cohort, or if the ever-increasing pace of technological change exacerbates the differences in each cohort?)
I really like the phrase "anti-consumerist undertow!" but I also visualized it in the opposite way - consumerism as the undertow, and "Tidying Up" as the "swim parallel to shore until you're out" advice.
Just an extra nugget of food for thought - I'm all for "seeing [something] through to the end," as it shows a lot of grit and determination. But in your quest for being more decisive and deliberate, you can also give yourself room to fail or to quit or to change your mind. The road to success isn't always built on a single decision that you follow straight through like an arrow to a destination. Your path may meander, and your destination may change. It's all part of the journey. When his kids occasionally seemed "stuck," my father used to tell us "You don't have to take the perfect step, just take a step in the direction you think you want to go. Maybe it'll be right, maybe it won't, but then you look around, make a decision, take the next step and keep moving."
Another translation for Creativity - "The best ideas come when you walk home from work and your brain just cannot stop thinking about the exciting problems you are working on." ==> "My developer should live, sleep, breathe the company, outside of the 9 to 5, even though I won't pay more for the additional time and creativity."
Is it economically rational, or irrational, to pass costs on to someone else if one can? It seems a little odd to pass costs to one's grandchildren, but hey, then it's "not my problem!" and they can vote to pass the costs to their grandchildren!
I also like a similar version: https://heeris.id.au/trinkets/ProgrammerInterrupted.png
I'm slowly getting towards my ideal with my latest addition of a treadmill, motorized desk, and 4k monitors. I definitely could use more above-desk power though. I enjoy having oversized desks that are large enough to stretch my legs out under when I do sit, like 30-36"+. A great set up I had was when two 30" table tops met in a corner - there was about 45" of legroom there! Chairs and lighting are always important too, and I definitely put some emphasis on color. I used a warm, cozy brown in a cold climate, and a lighter blue in a gray and rainy climate. I do try to have a view and natural light, otherwise it gets a little bland, and I like having both overhead lights and task lighting.
In an ideal world I'd have more audio options than just headphones and Sonos. It'd be awesome to have in-wall high quality speakers, but headphones will suffice for now. If I could get a water supply and coffee/espresso maker in the room too, that'd be sweet, but it's probably good to move around and go to the kitchen every now and again.
App wise, RescueTime and WakaTime have been interesting products for getting and keeping focus. In the past I've engaged in "rituals" to get in the zone like certain playlists, beverages, an Esington hour glass for pomodoros. But other pomodoro apps have been reasonably effective too.
I like having a couple "things" around, e.g. art, tchotchkes, that are meaningful, but I lean towards (what I think of as) an art-gallery-meets-cozy-reading-space type of aesthetic - a few books, a couple choice pieces of art, etc.
I'd love to eventually have a separate work space - a little shed/nook in the backyard, that I could spec out with all the "wishes," but alas that dream will have to wait a bit longer...
Ditto on the treadmill that is easy to get out of the way. Best I've figured out is to flip it up on its side when I want to put a chair in.
I've had similar experiences, though can't claim whether or not it's a scam or artificially inflated. When we shop and scan our loyalty card I say "we saved X dollars!" and my wife replies, "you mean, we avoided getting overcharged X dollars."
Since we alternate between QFC and Fred Meyer, I have noticed that Fred Meyer doesn't have yellow stickers everywhere, and generally scanning my loyalty card doesn't reduce any prices, just accumulates points. In a trip to QFC around the same time frame, I've definitely seen the same item listed at a higher standard price, and the loyalty card price will be on par with the Fred Meyer "standard" price.
Not OP, but worked in the field for a time. Trafficking usually means configuring your ad in the campaign management system. What are your targeting parameters, what are your tracking tags, uploading the ad itself, entering in lots of custom information that while conceptually similar across ad platforms usually has different names and often has to be manually entered. A lot of platforms do offer APIs of some sort to help with bulk campaign/ad creation, but there's often no "one stop shop" to be able to set up a google campaign and facebook campaign at the same time. There are some companies working on this, I think usually referred to as (or in conjunction with) "marketing automation".
A mistake can mean - misconfiguring your target (wasting money on ads that won't give you an ROI), misconfiguring your 3rd party tracking (letting data like conversions go unaccounted for, or not having your auditing tags setup, meaning you show ads to fraudulent users that you otherwise wouldn't have to pay for), etc.
I think Socrata (now acquired by Tyler Technologies) was maybe tackling some of these challenges?
Hazarding a guess, it looks like it might have been Monodraw, or something similar.