ksplicer

5 ms·

1.
by ksplicer 1y ago
I'd say the German mindset and American mindset is closer than most other European countries. Germany is one of the most capitalistic countries in Western Europe.
2.
by ksplicer 2y ago
This is where the author lost me as well. Massive peer pressure to conform is not the same as not caring. Maybe thats a little reductive, or the worst possible way to look at it, but no place that really cares would have such a bad reputati
3.
by ksplicer 2y ago
When reading anthropics blog on agents I basically took away that their advice is you shouldn't use them to solve most problems. https://www.anthropic.com/research/building-effective-agents "For many applicat
4.
by ksplicer 2y ago
I try to distinguish between "the scientific process" and building scientific consensus. As rigorous as the scientific process may be, building consensus is always a messy and human thing.
5.
by ksplicer 2y ago
This is something we've been grappeling with on my team. Many of the researchers in the org want to try all these reasoning techniques to increase performance, and my team keeps pushing back that we don't actually need that extra
6.
by ksplicer 2y ago
Cars are built for drivers, any inconvenience they cause for others is a problem for someone else to solve /s One example of this that drives me crazy is how soundproof vehicles have become. Horns and sirens keep getting louder to make
7.
by ksplicer 2y ago
"I always avoid working with EU firms, they are way too lazy. You give them a clear deadline and the next thing you know they tell you everyone went on vacation." I'm sure you've heard that before. It's exactly the
8.
by ksplicer 2y ago
You almost hit on it, but I think the real problem is the economy got worse first. That trickled down to increase pressure in college and high school.
9.
by ksplicer 2y ago
Exactly, what the hell is "not necessarily because of cars" supposed to mean? Or maybe it's a comment on how, despite cars being way more dangerous, parents over-focus on crime?
10.
by ksplicer 2y ago
You're making the assumption that roads pay for themselves, but that isn't true at all either. Across the US cities are going bankrupt because they can't maintain roads and other infrastructure. California has a gas tax that
11.
by ksplicer 2y ago
This would only be true if additional lanes were built on top of each other instead of next to each other. As lanes are widened though they just keep pushing things apart and making other types of transit less pleasant, which will then crea
12.
by ksplicer 2y ago
That's a weird way to put that. Tax haul for 10 houses is definitely higher than the tax haul for a 10 unit complex, but how many 10 unit complexes can you fit in the space you need for 10 houses? The complex has a much better tax haul
13.
by ksplicer 2y ago
You don't need more than two lanes to dedicate one to buses.
14.
by ksplicer 2y ago
How are you coming to the conclusion that cars are paying their fair share of costs? I'm not familiar with Australian politics at all, but a quick look found that local governments pay most of road maintenance, not the fuel excise tax[
15.
by ksplicer 2y ago
What you are missing is that every time we widen roads to allow more car throughput we are making every other type of transit and mobility less attractive. Busy streets with big parking lots are unpleasant to walk or bike along, so people j
16.
by ksplicer 2y ago
His full compensation was probably between 300k-500k at Google, so I don't think money was what motivated him...
17.
by ksplicer 2y ago
"the odds are good but the goods are odd" I've only ever heard that said in the Bay Area, and I think I would agree...
18.
by ksplicer 2y ago
> Would you also tell the chronically unemployed person that you being flooded with job offers all day means you're dying just like him, but in water instead of sand? The analogy would be one person not getting any job offers while
19.
by ksplicer 2y ago
"New housing should be of a family-friendly type (something with a yard for kids to play in)" Low density of other children nearby and inability for children to safely travel on their own is not family friendly. I agree that if we
20.
by ksplicer 2y ago
Only considering the cost of housing ignores how expensive transportation can be. See https://htaindex.cnt.org/compare-affordability/ for a comparison of affordability between housing costs below 30% of median regional
21.
by ksplicer 3y ago
Maybe future generations will not have to worry as much about accumulating wealth when countries work harder to ensure a high quality of life in the middle class. I doubt that will happen for the west until they figure out how to relieve al
22.
by ksplicer 3y ago
> All you'd do is add all the inefficiencies of politics into business-level decision making. While I'm sympathetic to that line of thought, I feel like it ignores the reality that most business-level decision making is already
23.
by ksplicer 3y ago
I don't think it's contradictory. There was an amazing ROI for a long time, so I think it was a very successful strategy early on. It's just clear that as the founders retired and more MBAs got a hold of upper management posi
24.
by ksplicer 3y ago
I don't know anyone starting a family happy with the situation. Most people I know are moving to suburbs only because they can't get 3 bedroom apartments in cities. If MFH's became broadly available I think many new families
25.
by ksplicer 3y ago
Even our wood has so much fire safety chemicals baked in now that it's not nearly as flammable as it used to be. The safety standards should be reevaluated. Plus, I'm sure that there are some developers who would happily build the
26.
by ksplicer 3y ago
Plumbers can make a significant amount, but it's not that easy to get into either. How many students go to tradeschool and then can't find a position where they want to live?
27.
by ksplicer 3y ago
One aspect that isn't discussed much is that the heavier vehicles do put appreciably greater wear on tires. Since as much as 70% of microplastics in the environment are from tire wear any increase may have a pretty alarming impact on t
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by ksplicer 3y ago
People are notoriously bad at identifying what actually led to their success. Career advice authors even more so.
29.
by ksplicer 3y ago
Replace the switches instead of the lights and you can keep your energy efficient bulbs.
30.
by ksplicer 3y ago
I live in Germany, Bavaria specifically, and I don't carry cash most of the time. That works fine for groceries and almost all restaurants/cafes, but there are some weird places it causes problems. Post offices don't like to

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