topher515
Joined 16 years ago
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308
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46
Member since
Jun 24
Recent submissions
Comment · 1 year ago
Comment · 1 year ago
From the link in other threads: https://www.tsunami.gov/events/PAAQ/2024/12/05/so1aq0/1/WEAK...
* Boat operators,
* Where time and conditions permit, move your boat out to
sea to a depth of at least 180 feet.
* If at sea avoid entering shallow water, harbors,
marinas, bays, and inlets to avoid floating and
submerged debris and strong currents.Comment · 1 year ago
This is sort of what the Strava "heatmap" map
is when you switch it to cycling mode: https://www.strava.com/maps/global-heatmap?sport=Ride&style=....
Comment · 2 years ago
Are you familiar with the concept of "pricing ladders"? The point of the entry level product is not to simply be "the economy model", it's to be feature deficient in just the right way to make you take a "step up" the ladder to the next model.
What I've observed is that Apple does this by targeting the base model with a storage option that's just below what's probably the sweet spot for price / usefulness in the current market. You'll likely be just frustrated enough to take the step up that ladder.
MKBHD has a very fast explainer on this effect in iPad pricing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiNYOZZLOyg
Comment · 2 years ago
There are many well intentioned regulations that end up restricting the housing supply by making it more expensive to build. Some of them definitely sound good (and are good?), but collectively have done a lot of bad.
Note the important point here that these don’t “stop building” but rather simply make it more expensive or more time consuming. Increased time is essentially equivalent to increased cost since you must pay lawyers and employees and so forth as time increases.
- minimum parking requirements
- single family zoning restrictions
- height restrictions
- environmental reviews
- historical preservation review
- local input on many/most decisions
There is a whole universe of stuff written around this topic. You can Google around for it with the topic of “YIMBY” or “housing abundance” or similar.
A good entry point can be: https://new.yimbyaction.org/top-resources/
Also read Matt Yglesias and Ezra Klein as they have been harping on about housing abundance for many years.
Comment · 2 years ago
What is most interesting to me about automation in the restaurant industry, is its almost complete absence in the United States.
If—as I understand it—labor costs dominate the cost structure of all restaurants, then why isn’t the average restaurant already mostly robots?
Is it really a technology issue? We haven’t been able to build a burger making robot until today? Seems unlikely.
Is it financial? The capital deployable to build a single restaurant can’t cover the initial costs of the robot? Seems like a McDonalds could spread the costs over thousands of restaurants.
So what gives?
Comment · 3 years ago
Can you explain a bit more about the difference between the anisotropic and isotopic nature of these different zones?
Are both of these zones “solid” states of matter? Or does our intuition about states of matter not really work for materials at these exotic temperatures and pressures?
Comment · 3 years ago
I had a buddy who built a solar e-bike for Burning Man; it had a sort-of roof on top, so it had room for something like four of those flexible 100 watt solar panels[1].
He told me his biggest build-regret was the solar panels. Mounting the solar panels on the bike makes everything much more complicated—which means it's more expensive and more delicate. And even if it doesn't shake itself apart, you're constantly thinking about where and how you're parking it.
The right solution for solar powered biking is to keep the solar panels off the bike, fixed in place, facing the right direction. Then you can use lots of cheap, heavy panels, and just plug the damn bike in when you get home.
[1] for example: https://www.amazon.com/Flexible-Monocrystalline-Bendable-Sem...
Comment · 3 years ago
Not a flight buff, but...
- Jet fuel from NYC to LAX seems to cost ~$10k.[1]
- You pay a pilot $50 / hour salary. (+100% more with benefits?)[2]
- Double all of that for a bunch of random things I can't think of (airport fees?)
My napkin math seems to indicate this couldn't possibly cost Boeing more than $10-20k? Pretty small potatoes to such a large company.
[1] https://simpleflying.com/commercial-airliner-fuel-cost/ [2] https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/Commercial-Pilot-Salar...
Comment · 3 years ago
But the goal here in setting these prices (from Society’s perspective) is not to maximize Safeway’s profits, but rather to incentive more people taking up carrot farming!
Since we’re fairly confident we need lots of carrots to save the world!
Comment · 4 years ago
Agreed! It seems like exactly searching for special characters could be the "killer app" that programmers need which would get them to leave Google.
Comment · 4 years ago
This is actually one of the classic "disasters" in Sim City 2000[1]. The "Microwave Powerplant" works by bouncing a concentrated beam of sunlight to earth. It provides plentiful, pollution free power... The only downside is sometimes the satellite beam misses, melting everything surrounding it.
Comment · 4 years ago
I just want to take some issue with your characterization of "with mathematical certainty".
You're completely right that given fertility rates are under replacement rate—from memory: 2.1 children per woman—populations will decrease with mathematical certainty. But there is no universal law that developed countries must remain below replacement fertility levels; that's just what has always happened so far—given the cultures and policies which exist today.
It's not completely absurd to imagine scenarios like:
- a rich society getting serious about the fertility problem and putting it's money where it's mouth is: free childcare, free fertility clinics, generous subsidies for having a third kid, etc
- a culture shift amongst the patriotic, or the religious, or whatever subgroup, to believe it's their responsibility to have more children.
Comment · 4 years ago
I'm not familiar with how pricing precious metals works, but it looks like, as of this moment, gold is priced about 2x more than platinum[1]! Presumably these prices have quite a bit of variability, and gold and platinum switch places sometimes? (Although your main point about gallium being _way_ cheaper than gold/platinum holds for sure.)
It’s from the mid-00’s so it’s missing the latest research but it’s still an extremely interesting (and terrifying) read.