rzt

Pretty serious MTB/cyclocross racer here that's done a lot of trailbuilding and trail advocacy: a lot of dudes are scared that offroad ebikes are going to kill access to hard-won trails. It's a not-unfounded fear as motorized bikes are pretty dang close to motorcycles in most people's eyes.

That said, I'd love to have an ebike! I have a 26 mile one-way commute (that's a 30 minute train ride) but every once in a while I ride my road bike in. I arrive sweaty and have to clean up in the bathroom. Not ideal. If I had an ebike, I could ride in assisted without sweating all over the place and then on my commute home, turn the motor down and get a workout in.

I have no expertise in any of this, but I was assuming it would be something along the lines of an IDIQ (indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity) contract vehicle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IDIQ

In discussion on other HN threads, some commenters suggested that the board was composed that way to grease the wheels of a DoD acquisition of the company's "tech". As OP put it [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11403165]:

John the more I think about Theranos the more I think this “mess” is actually deliberate. Looking at the history of Theranos and the composition of the board it appears Theranos was designed from early on as a vehicle to defrauded the US military.

The plan appeared to be to use their connection and access to some rather “helpful” high brass to offload the technology for billions and then later sweep the fact that it didn’t work under the rug (this tactic has worked fabulously for the last 20 years). Avoid the FDA altogether.

Who would have noticed another $10 billion misspent on some wizz-bang technology given the $100s billions lost in other frauds? When the wheels fell of this plan (some underling didn’t play along) the idea seems to be to blame the scientists and say “we were misled”. They might be evil, but they don’t appear to be stupid.

You are a set of eyeballs or "impressions." Maybe you won't click on the ad, but you were displayed it, which is a success in and of itself.

You should read about the "third person effect": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-person_effect

"The Third-person effect [1] hypothesis or Third-person perception or Web Third-person effect [2] predicts that people tend to perceive that mass communicated media messages have a greater effect on others than on themselves, based on personal biases; additionally, because of this perception, people tend to take action to counteract the messages’ influence. The Third-person effect hypothesis often manifests itself through an individual’s overestimation of the effect of a mass communicated message on the generalized other, or an underestimation of the effect of a mass communicated message on themselves."

Neither of those situations you provide above.

As noted in the article I link and quote further down the thread, these companies utilize an often-desperate workforce that will take whatever they can get to work. These companies keep their workers as independent contractors without any benefits. Sometimes that is fine, especially if someone is working as a Taskrabbit during his/her weekend to make some extra money. But the reality is that many of these people are relying on these services for nearly all their income and then leaning heavily on government support to make up the difference (i.e. what keeps a roof over their head or food in their stomach).

I am not making a case for any wholesale policy change on the part of these new services. I am just stating that there is baggage here and that maybe it would be better if benefits were offered through these jobs to their workers/contractors so that the customer pays for the complete cost of the service and that business model, instead of taxpayers.

And I am no economist or expert in the matter ––– all I know is either from news articles or anecdotes. Maybe I'm wrong.

I can't rely directly to yummyfajitas, but here is a NYT article that summarizes the issue[1]:

"“They may be able to paint someone’s shed this week,” says Dr. Standing, a professor of developmental studies at the University of London. “But they don’t know what will happen next week.”

He views peer marketplaces as part of a larger global phenomenon, in which labor brokers encourage people to work on contingency without basic employment benefits or protections. The companies essentially channel one-off tasks to the fastest taker or lowest bidder, he says, pitting workers against one another in a kind of labor elimination match.

The flexible timetables of project work are a trade-off for regular employment income and benefits. Retailers, restaurant chains and other employers may require more rigid work schedules than piecemeal gigs, or, worse, keep their workers guessing from week to week about which hours they will work. But many of those employers also offer workers benefits like disability pay or commuter discounts.

Uber, Lyft and TaskRabbit, for instance, do not regard the workers who provide services to their users as employees. The companies say they are simply arenas, like eBays for gigs. They require their service providers to work as independent contractors and, as such, the workers don’t qualify for employee benefits like health insurance, payroll deductions for Social Security or unemployment benefits."

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/17/technology/in-the-sharing-...

Also, the companies are deflecting costs back onto taxpayers by ensuring that many of their workers will need to depend on government services for health care, housing and food assistance, etc. Sure, some of these taskrabbits/ubers/lyfters/whatever are making a real wage at this stuff, but many of them are also minimally employed –– and trying hard to get work as they can get it.

In so many ways, we are all subsidizing these companies.

Elevation for fitness apps and environmental and weather(?) reporting.

Location: Chicago, Illinois

Remote: Yes

Willing to relocate: Yes

Technologies: Communications and marketing management and strategy, content development, branding, copywriting, copyediting, HTML, CSS, Drupal, Adobe Creative Suite

Resume: www.linkedin.com/in/rzthomas/

Email: r.z.t [at] outlook [dot] com

It's also model-contingent and sometimes luck. My SAAB has required about $1,600 a year for repairs and maintenance in the past three years I've owned it, but my wife's Honda Element has required only new tires ($500) and brake rotors and pads ($200, DIY install) since it rolled off the assembly line.

Yes, there is that limit –– and a good one. You could get around it maybe if you were with some friends doing a klatsch with staggered drinking rates and drink start times, but then you'd just look really cheap.

Two in Chicago (Lincoln Park and Mag Mile), but both of those areas are basically outdoor malls in a loose sense.

Absolutely agree.

Bitcoin is one of the hottest news stories right now. People want to know more about Bitcoin. A big question about Bitcoin is "who created Bitcoin?" Newsweek answered that question.

This is journalism 101.

Many of you disagree with this premise –– and I sympathize and understand why you're upset –– but this is how the system operates.

People also probably give you immense grief over the ridiculous tax deal the stadium has with Hamilton County. :p

I have a 16 year old sister. She was on Facebook and then deleted her profile. She deleted her profile at about the same time she went from being semi-awkward early teenager still shaking off her Russian accent (we adopted her) and became one of (what I am guessing based on her friends and the things she does) the coolest kids in her school.

She is probably doing lots of things that I don't want to know about. That's cool and Facebook gets in the way of doing that.

This was the first thing I thought when I saw that subhead.

Oh, this. My first few years at a university I was a horrible student. I'm talking C's, D's, lots of non-completes. I was a mess, academically. Then around 22, a switch clicked in my head and I made it happen. Dean's list, 3.8 average quarterly GPA, etc. I finished my last two years as a student trying to clean up the mess I made in my first three years.

In grad school, I was a 4.0 student. I got it.

I had the huge luck of being able to go to my local four-year, decent university for virtually free because my father was a campus architect. If it wasn't for the fact that I could squander my time taking random classes without fiscal penalty, I would have probably dropped-out or gone to a two-year school to get my act together. I only detail that to emphasize the mental shifts that sometimes happen with extremely-young adults.

I was a Mac kid, so my world was Marathon, but I think a lot of the lessons are the same. I remember building my own custom worlds, really screwing up the physics, and then deleting en masse.

Whenever I play shooters now, I still think, "Man, I should just get a copy of Doom and play that instead." Too much noise in some of these games –– I just want to blow stuff up.

Wow, I passed through Kansas City a few months ago on a cross-country move and wish I knew about this store (and stopped in). I don't often fund kickstarters, but this one I could get behind –– something about it resonates with me.

The funny thing is, is that when you use Siri, Apple Maps seems to be more accurate. I can say, "Directions from home to 123 Main Street, Hometown" and the directions will be perfect.

If I type that same query out, I get "Directions Not Found." I don't get it.

They're still out there. There are some very cherry examples on saab.net

My girl's Viggen was the lightning blue coupe. She sold it when she got into grad school. We often talk about getting another...

It's really weird. Any sort of subculture is kinda hipster now. I am into punk rock and cycling. I am not afraid to say that I am probably a hipster. In fact, I am sure of it.

Hipster-bashing kinda reminds me of being made fun of by jocks in high school because I had spiked blue hair and torn jeans, except now the jokes come from geeks (who were made fun of by the jocks, too).

Maybe I just don't get it.

I totally, absolutely agree. Once you give up exercise, it goes downhill fast: mentally, spiritually, and of course, physically.

The morning is the best time to take care of the body. I am a cyclist and I love nothing more than to wake up early (well, somewhat early) and getting in an hour-of-power before breakfast, coffee, and work. I start the day off right and by the end of the day, I feel naturally tired instead of run down (there is a difference).

My 2000 Saab 9-5 Aero has the crayon smell in it, too. IIRC, it was the glue used to assemble the interior. They changed the process in 2003ish, so more recent Saabs don't have the crayon odor.

My wife has a 2002 9-3 SE has no crayon smell, but she used to have a 1999 Viggen with the crayon smell.

I love it.

Instagram is even taking over among people in the post-adolescent set. The engagement I see seems to be more vigorous, especially if you're dialed-in and you're making good/interesting photos.

One could always maintain a very skeletal Facebook account. No "liked" movies, TV shows, etc., one photo, no bio other than whatever is necessary.

You wouldn't be contributing much to FB's market research efforts, but that's OK; you'll still be able to connect with schoolmates and cousins and get invited to parties.

That might be something very difficult to rationalize away. Being an active cyclist is to be cognizant of the risks and minimize those risks (i.e. ride assertively on safe streets, use lights, etc.), while also utilizing a little cognitive dissonance.

I ride between 5,000-10,000 miles a year. I've had several crashes due to my own fault or other cyclists' faults in races. I've also been hit once and suffered a very minor broken wrist that healed in three weeks. I am pretty lucky.

Some of my friends have been in crashes with cars and they are all fine. It was scary at the moment and they got hurt, with some injuries such as a broken collarbones, but they're all still riding and healthy today.

Of course, they all LOVE riding bikes. If you don't love to ride bikes, it's tough to "get on that horse after it bucks you off," so to speak.

Biking is a safe activity –– very safe in fact. Good route selection is a big part of making it part of one's lifestyle.

Sometimes it's nice to have some strength in numbers; can you commute in with a coworker?

Imagine if more workplaces had a small shower stall one could use after commuting in? Or a bike locker area with secure parking?

I have the luxury of being not only 2.5 miles from my workplace (I ride in daily), but I can bring my carbon fiber race bike into my office and lean it against my desk. I am very lucky.

I've gotten very good at doing a mild cleanup upon arrival at the office if I go for a longer training ride before work: a damp washcloth, reapplication of deodorant, and I'm usually good. I do shower and shave before leaving my house, though, so I am starting things off fresh.