rfrey

He made money when he was working for other people. He did not make money when he tried to trade off his ideas. That was 25 years ago, since then he just broadcasts his ideas.

No skin in the game, as it were.

If the toilets at all those firms started operating in reverse, very little would get built. The conclusion is that plumbers are extremely important, not that plumbing is de facto engineering.

I know lots of writers who have (reluctantly) stopped using em-dashes. Many replaced them with colons, and are now wondering what they will replace colons with.

Yes, but do their publishers need to be compensated for a century after their death?

We certainly wouldn't want to return to the pre-1976 era, where, as we all know, no books were written.

Anybody who still writes using their own mind has stopped using that pattern, along with others. "The thing nobody tells you:" is no longer used by decent writers.

Somebody saying hello to you has you reaching for pepper spray?

So what accounts for the current state of the USA? Not exactly platonic ideals of courage these days.

Federal crimes such as having an Hispanic name.

This time, there is nowhere to move to. And there is no interest in supporting the displaced people in any way.

In the opinion of the champaign socialists in the West. In the opinion of people who lived under that regime... Not so much.

I think it is uncharitable to say "your convenience". It's more like "your vision as a creator". We're talking about developer intent that isn't possible otherwise. You can say "good, it shouldn't be", but don't characterize it as convenience.

What would that "you problem" look like? Bought the wrong laptop? Bad aura? Clicking links wrong?

Man, I remember when the common wisdom was that there would NEVER be enough people willing to put their credit card into a web browser to support a business.

I never expected to be nostalgic for those days.

Although if a big pothole remains for several years amid many complaints, it's reasonable to think there's no such list. Or there is a list, but it's so long that it might as well not exist.

Countries taking care of their citizens is communism? A social safety net leads to empty store shelves? Am I the latest victim of Poe's Law here?

Every advanced economy in the world except for the United States has a well developed social safety net, and I assure you our shelves are not empty and I can listen to all the Mötley Crüe I desire.

Many of us (worldwide, I'm not American) watched China massacre thousands of its own children at Tiananmen Square. The US is descending into totalitarianism, but it hasn't reached that level yet.

And China may have changed in some ways but there have been no signals it would not repeat that event if it thought circumstances warranted.

What you are describing is not evidence, it is a willful misuse (charitably perhaps, a misunderstanding) of statistics. It is exactly analogous to using a mean in a distribution with extreme outliers. The only reason is to hurl numbers around in an attempt to shore up a purely political position.

Your point is even more graphically illustrated if you compare the extremes... Say trust fund babies to homeless people. The trust fund people spend at least ten hours a week reviewing investment and disciplining their entourage, whereas homeless people's time is completely their own.

Tobacco executives probably prevented their children from smoking, especially as evidence emerged. That's just parenting.

It doesn't forgive them for lobbying ferociously against any regulation of marketing to children.

I didn't "vote" but there aren't many clues in your comment suggesting it's satire. It is a mainstream presentation of a mainstream point of view, how would anybody distinguish between you believing it earnestly and you mocking it?

The idea that test coverage equates to well-tested software is one of the unfortunate consequences of MBAs killing QA departments.

Engineering like the guy in the booth at a show is a sound engineer. Talented: check; challenging work: check; valuable: check; creative: check. "Engineering" like designing a building, bridge, or power line? Nope.

It's not a protected term in the US so it's jarring to those of us living where it is.

Real engineering disciplines also have dedicated QA and test engineers.

What kind of reply is that? Nevermind the questionable style of making up a sentence and putting it in quotation marks, what about the comment you're replying to suggests giving up any principles?

People loved the iPod. Users loved Dropbox. Nobody loves windows.

Now what about the change in the number of earners per household? Houses don't earn wages, people do.

In many places, traffic would not function if drivers did not e.g. make space for other drivers to change lanes. It's an extraordinary claim to say such behaviour is bad practice (or even illegal??)

If OAI folded, there would also be a sudden tsunami of recent Nvidia hardware on the used market.

A lot of discussion on the labels. I agree friend/foe is counter to what most of us would like HN to be about. How about align/diverge or similar, suggesting whether a commenters position usually reinforces or challenges your viewpoint?