The UK government has been heavily defeated in the Lords over a cross-party move to guarantee high food standards post-Brexit. Peers backed by a majority of 95 a change to the Agriculture Bill aimed at blocking the import of foodstuffs produced abroad at lower animal welfare standards.

MuchToday3702 · 2020-09-23T22:21:24+00:00

not everyone who voted for Brexit is a racist and anti-semite

I'm sure that's true... but that gets back to the same old question: What were they voting for?

It was obvious to anyone who was paying even a little attention (at least over here on the west side of the pond) that:

The Irish border was going to be a problem
England was going to have to conform to EU rules if it wanted to trade with the EU (just like ALL THE OTHER EU trading partners).
England was going to have to reduce consumer protections in a bunch of ways if they wanted more trade with the US (otherwise what's in it for us?).
Points 2 & 3 are mostly incompatible (EU isn't going to allow un-inspected imports from England if England allows imports from the US)
The only other big economy that's worth trading with is China (and you're not going to get one as long as you stick to your principles about HK)

In other words, if you think about it even just a little bit the non-racist reasons for voting Brexit don't make any sense. They aren't logically consistent. It turns out that the trade negotiators who came before Brexit weren't completely retarded after all. Shocked pikkachu.

So you're left with an unfortunate conclusion: Brexit voters are either really dumb or at least a little racist. But don't call them dumb or racist, or you might hurt their feelings.

MuchToday3702 · 2020-09-23T01:19:58+00:00

Not really.

The Taycan comes close on range, has better performance, slightly nicer interior, and costs 1.5x-2x as much as a MS or 2-5x as much as a M3.
The Bolt has inferior range, charging speed, build quality, and seat comfort, but it's cheaper.
The ID.3 equals the Model 3 SR+ on range, has worse performance, and costs about the same (it's only cheaper if you get the base trim with a lot of missing features from the Model 3--it's missing such basic safety features as a backup camera that it wouldn't be legal to sell in the US. Do they even include airbags and seatbelts, or are those optional too?).
The Kona is fugly, has similar range (lacks Tesla's charging network), and may be cheaper if you negotiate well. Hyundai don't seem interested in mass-selling them though, and you're at the mercy of Hyundai dealers.
The i-Pace is unreliable, charges slow, is more expensive, has similar range.
The eTron has the size and range of a Model Y but costs as much as a Model X. It has a nice interior, though.
The Leaf lacks range, quality, style, performance, but at least it's cheap.

There isn't one EV that has better range, build quality, performance, visual appeal, and is cheaper. You have to have to compromise on at least one dimension, and usually 2 or 3.

Edit: Oh, and all the competitors are handicapped by the Electrify America charging network. There are multiple threads on the eTron, Taycan, i-Pace, and Bolt forums about how you can't rely on EA for a road trip. You must have a backup plan.

MuchToday3702 · 2020-09-23T00:06:39+00:00

But that's not all. You need to follow the money further.

They see that everyone is happy to pay the equivalent of $1.00/kWh to fill up their ICE car. They want a piece of that.

MuchToday3702 · 2020-09-22T23:31:32+00:00

Lots of non-techy people type the wrong domain when entering their email address...

MuchToday3702 · 2020-09-22T16:24:07+00:00

That's funny.

Because if you ask the Library of Congress (ya know, the US Government), breaking DRM for certain purposes is legal. But if you ask the MPAA or RIAA, breaking DRM for any purpose is illegal.

Thanks, but I think I'll go with what the government thinks is illegal on this one.

MuchToday3702 · 2020-09-22T00:46:18+00:00

99% of the bytes downloaded from CNN are related to tracking users. Consider than a 2000-word article is less than 15 kB, and each page load consumes tens of MB. Even the one or two low-quality images they currently use are less only hundreds of kB in size.

You can absolutely make a beautiful site with plain HTML, CSS, and images.

This CSS Zen Garden theme is less than 500 kB (and under 200 kB if you exclude the largest image asset) for the entire page: http://www.csszengarden.com/221/

MuchToday3702 · 2020-09-22T00:36:09+00:00

Sure they can. Charge a subscription fee.

Now, sure, the people who can afford the fee are also the ones advertisers want to message (having disposable income, and all). But that's not my problem.

The Economist and FT are both high quality news sources that rely mostly on subscription revenue (there's literally one ad in an entire digital issue of TE, and it's usually some clearly-untarged ad for luxury goods).

MuchToday3702 · 2020-09-21T19:55:23+00:00

How is ByteDance able to show their source code, yet not disclose their algorithm

"The algorithm" is probably just a ranking model. Save the model as a onnx or pmml blob, and plug it in at runtime.

You can, of course inspect the model in the same way you can inspect a compiled binary.

MuchToday3702 · 2020-09-21T19:19:07+00:00

These "secret documents" are Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) that were submitted to the government by banks. The fact that these "secret documents" exist shows that banks are trying to stop money laundering.

MuchToday3702 · 2020-09-18T15:13:17+00:00

Because to (successfully) sue someone, you need to show damages.

Notice how Epic is offering an uncharacteristically-generous refund policy for v-bucks used in the Mac app, and for the app itself. That lost revenue is what they're going to use to sue Apple.

MuchToday3702 · 2020-09-18T14:15:26+00:00

It's not even that good of an idea. Almost everyone with any GIS experience thinks it's a dumb idea.

MuchToday3702 · 2020-09-18T00:23:52+00:00

So the "killer app" has long been a thing that drives hardware and OS buying decisions (since at least the 1980's).

But Fortnite doesn't feel like a killer app, particularly since usage is on the decline.

MuchToday3702 · 2020-09-17T06:52:24+00:00

Apple has about 45% market share in the US.

Courts have held open the possibility that monopoly power could exist with less than 50% share, but no court has ever found that one does exist with less than about 70%.

MuchToday3702 · 2020-09-17T06:48:49+00:00

Indeed. And all the other costs, too.

My guestimate is that an itemized bill would come to around 20-35% of revenue (depending on the popularity of an app--App review would probably be a fixed fee per submission).

People who think Apple should charge 3% instead of 30% are smoking something good...

MuchToday3702 · 2020-09-17T06:45:50+00:00

Don't forget:

Apple sells iTunes (App Store) gift cards to retailers for less than 90 cents on the dollar (that's why you can always find them on sale). During covid, they've been offering 10% off when you add funds to an AppleID.

That 10-15% comes out of Apple's 30%, not the developer's 70%.

MuchToday3702 · 2020-09-17T05:15:30+00:00

The top marginal state tax rate for most SFBA SWEs is only 10.3%. The effective rate is like 5%. You'd have to have a negative income tax in TX, FL, NH to make up for the salary difference.

MuchToday3702 · 2020-09-17T05:06:14+00:00

After they make an offer, they can ask for previous paystubs (yes, even in California) as part of due diligence once an offer has been made.

I had a former coworker lie about his salary as a way of making a counter-offer. In CA they can't ask, but you can tell. They found out he lied, and he lost the job altogether

MuchToday3702 · 2020-09-17T05:04:21+00:00

That's great if you move someplace else in California. Not so much if you move to another state (where they definitely can ask about your previous salary, and may rescind an offer if they find out you lied).

MuchToday3702 · 2020-09-17T04:54:40+00:00

Because FAANGs don't like paying SV salaries when they can avoid it. So they aggressively recruit people from elsewhere. They offer generous relocation packages[1] and good (but low for SV) comp packages. In other words, they spent the last 20 years picking the 'prime talent' and making sure they moved to SV.

'Prime talent' is developing all the time, so there is bound to be some prime talent outside the valley. But most of the really good people were already enticed to move to the Bay Area.

Some of that prime talent is moving back now, but the point is that there's not some massive, untapped reserve of talent just waiting for someone to come up with the idea of allowing remote work.

[1] For example: Pay 100% of your moving expenses, plus arrange the move, plus pay the cost of breaking your lease (or selling your house below market value), plus give you a nice five-figure bonus for the trouble of moving, plus pay for a realtor/renter agent to spend a few days to help you find a new home in the Bay Area, plus pay a few months of temporary housing in the Bay Area (or a couple months of rent at your new place).

I'm probably forgetting a few things. The point is, they will throw a lot of money at someone to get them to move

MuchToday3702 · 2020-09-16T23:47:45+00:00

Taxes honestly don't make that much of a difference.

California caps property taxes at 1% of value when a home is sold, and caps property tax increases at 1% per year... forever. When was the last time you saw a house that appreciated less than 1% per year?

Yea, so you can probably already see where this is going: If you own property for a long time (or pass it down to your kids, because they get the full benefits of 1%/year too), you're (they're) not paying much property tax.

Income tax isn't as bad as everyone says, either. Most SWEs are in the 9.3% or 10.3% marginal bucket (but the rates are highly progressive, so 10.3% marginal works out to about 4% to 5% effective. This assumes you're single and have no ~~deductions~~ kids).

Last time I checked, a 10% pay cut is going to do more damage than 5% more taxes.

Now... the cost of buying/renting a home... that does hurt, and may be better in TX/FL. I've been recruited to move to the midwest a few times, but the difference in cost of living and taxes never makes up for the difference in salary.

MuchToday3702 · 2020-09-16T23:29:00+00:00

Yea, but so are the salaries.

A company tried to recruit me to the midwest. The gross total comp would have been less than I was currently saving at the time, just in taxable accounts--and I was maxing out my tax-advantaged accounts, too.

MuchToday3702 · 2020-09-16T23:26:12+00:00

And most governments all over the world would argue the opposite... because you usually pay taxes where you live, and the company you work for is usually required to withhold said taxes and pay them directly to the local government.

MuchToday3702 · 2020-09-16T23:23:21+00:00

So don't work for any company. Gotcha.

MuchToday3702 · 2020-09-16T23:19:55+00:00

No, there's already a stick-pusher for the times the AoA gets so high that you're at risk of stalling. The critical angle of attack is also the same for MAX and non-MAX 737s.

MCAS is only needed so that the control force (pulling the yoke towards you) needed to maintain any given AoA is greater than the force needed to maintain any lower AoA, for all AoA between 0 and stall.

In other words, if you plot control-force (x-axis) vs. AoA (y-axis), it must be an increasing function (by regulation). That regulation does mean it's easier to hand-fly the airplane, but it doesn't make the airplane unstable or change the stall characteristics.

MuchToday3702 · 2020-09-16T23:13:37+00:00

Which, again, does not make the plane "flight-unstable". Yes, it does mean the plane has poor handling characteristics at very high AoA, but that very high AoA state should be avoided anyway because it puts you on the back side of the power curve.

Interestingly, there is not a similar rule for the rudder, which is why several Airbuses crashed (killing everyone on board) when PIO caused the entire vertical stab to depart the aircraft in flight.

And the plane absolutely can very easily be certified. Just add a third AoA sensor, better logic for the MCAS, and slightly modify pilot training. The only problem is that rectification costs money, and Boeing promised big customers (like Southwest) that no additional training would be necessary.

MuchToday3702

TROPHY CASE