pneill

7 ms·

1.
by pneill 1y ago
The story of scurvy is way more complicated that this article would have you believe. Lind partially shot himself in the foot by attempting to a make lemon juice more portable (and easier to store on a ship). He did that by boiling down t
2.
by pneill 1y ago
What I don't understand is why science museums aren't more geared toward adults. For me, it's hard to tell the difference between a children's museum and a science museum.
3.
by pneill 2y ago
I'm having trouble understanding how a breakup addresses the allegations in the case? Wasn't this all about Google paying Apple for search exclusivity on iPhones? How does a breakup address that?
4.
by pneill 2y ago
Of course it's a good business. Just not at the price points people can afford. Watch the video I liked to above. It's about a person that owns a laundromat in SF who wants to convert the building to affordable house. He basica
5.
by pneill 2y ago
Asking why there isn't enough housing is like asking why water is wet. The answer is state/local government regulation. There's an old saying "your margin is my opportunity" and I suspect that the current crop of h
6.
by pneill 3y ago
I see these posts and just shrug. Tech companies have lifecycles. There is that early startup energy where "we're all in this together." Then, if they're lucky, success and growth, but the startup mentality remains.
7.
by pneill 3y ago
Interesting! Thanks for the link, but that just explains how to get the hydrogen for the process. What about the energy to run the HB reaction? It's super high temp and high pressure. Is there a zero carbon way to make that?
8.
by pneill 3y ago
I love that Toyota is forward thinking, but where does the ammonia come from? The most common way to make it is via the Haber-Bosch process, which, as I recall, consumes 1% of global energy product as of today. I wonder what that number w
9.
by pneill 3y ago
Disney is under some pretty serious financial pressures, but it's not for sale. The most profitable part of the company is the parks, and they will never sell those. But what might be for sale is some of the IP - eg. Lucas Film, Marv
10.
by pneill 3y ago
I'm a reformed news junkie. At one point, in addition to consuming local, national, and cable TV news daily, I also read three newspapers a day (I was young and hand more time on my hands back then) and listened to NPR. But my confid
11.
by pneill 3y ago
The core issue is that there isn't a free market at work here and there are conflicting motivations that are preventing progress toward that model. One the one hand, people want higher education to be affordable and cost effective (wh
12.
by pneill 3y ago
It pains me to say this, especially since I saw Star Wars in the theater over 10 times when it first came out, but you have a point. When I was a kid, I saw Star Wars over 10 times in the theater, and I LOVED it. For the time, it was revol
13.
by pneill 3y ago
There are lots, but here is one examples: In "Falcon and the Winter Soldier" there is a random scene where the police hassle Falcon. (this was shortly after tragic George Floyd incident). It wasn't part of the story, had not
14.
by pneill 3y ago
To some extend that's true, but it was always in service of the story. What's happening at Disney is just the opposite - they're randomly inserting ideological stuff which has no relation to the story or they're contort
15.
by pneill 3y ago
This isn't widely talked about, but one of the ways that folks in China can get their money out of China is by buying foreign real estate. So if you're worried about protecting your assets from the CCP, this is a great way to do
16.
by pneill 3y ago
Anyone that tells me they don't have the money for something, I always say "open the books." People are terrible at managing their money. I can't tell you how many high income earners are living pay check to pay check
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by pneill 4y ago
Testify!
18.
by pneill 4y ago
Try "Coming of Age in the Milky Way"
19.
by pneill 6y ago
First, thanks for the awesome tip about 990 forms. Had no idea. It's interesting in that these numbers differ from the conversations I've had with academics who tell a different story. But I had those conversations decades ago
20.
by pneill 6y ago
Tuition is a drop in the bucket of the funding model for a research university. The majority of university funding comes from research grants and that's why the piece they take off the top is so outrageously high. Note that I don&#x27
21.
by pneill 6y ago
It's not about tuition. It's about funding of the university. Typically a university will take 50-90% (Yes, up to 90%) of a research grant to fund the university (keeping the lights on, etc). And universities are the ones making
22.
by pneill 6y ago
Across the US, about 20% of the spots to get a computer science degree are occupied by foreign nationals. The research at these universities is funded by US research grants. If there's a need to create more skilled tech workers, it
23.
by pneill 6y ago
The number probably came from looking at what brick and mortar stores do. Typically stores "mark up" products by 40% from their distributors. And if you think about it, that's effectively what Apple does, but in this case,
24.
by pneill 6y ago
I'm not opposed to basic income, but before we do something like that I think we owe it to people to teach them how to actually use money. If you look at the US Bureau of Labor Statistics for people making less than 50K a year, you&#x2
25.
by pneill 6y ago
I get it. You're saying if Apple takes less of a cut, then that savings will trickle down to me. The stunt by Epic, aside, has that ever happened to you? Has your Netflix bill ever gone down because they secured a better discounting
26.
by pneill 6y ago
> If customers don't like a ceratain app store, or solution, then they don't have to use it. I am trying to force other people to do anything with their own phones. I just want Apple to stop doing this to my devices, when they,
27.
by pneill 6y ago
They wouldn't brick your device as the native apps would always be available. In my mind, I'm toying over how committed Apple is to the customer experience. Apple always talks about the user experience first and if they honestly
28.
by pneill 6y ago
Yeah, but how does Apple/Google determine if an app developer has the capability to do it and verify that they're consistently doing it? Or are we saying that only big companies with verified and known payment platforms can use
29.
by pneill 6y ago
Not sure I follow you. Do you mean, they won't do it because it makes a lot of money or do you mean they straight up don't have the right because of the economic platform they've created benefits a lot of people. Just to be
30.
by pneill 6y ago
Logically, you're 100% correct. But I don't think most folks will reason it that way. Do you think a senior citizen will follow that reasoning? And then how will they contact the provider? What is the provider doesn't res

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