mback00 | 5 years ago | on: Ask HN: I've saved up $80k USD. What should I do with it?
mback00's comments
mback00 | 5 years ago | on: Ask HN: I've saved up $80k USD. What should I do with it?
I take it you are a young person... First max out your company 401K with as much contribution to the ROTH option as you can afford... invest it in the lowest fee broad market matching index fund (Hint: S&P500) you can find. OK... now hopefully you are down with this and you still aren't eating into that 80K... If you don't need this money for a house, Well... over the long haul investment in the broader stock market "historically" doubles investments every 7 years. So, I'd suggest you open a cheap online brokerage account and first invest as much as you can into a ROTH and drop both ROTH and excess into an (again S&P500?) index mutual fund with the lowest expense ratio that you can find... and... try not to look at it again for the next 30 years except to convert as much each year into ROTH as possible. After 30 years you will hopefully look back into your account and have about $1.5M in that account with... being able to pull some significant amount of that investment out _tax free_. If you do need some of it for a house try to avoid 30 year loans and elect for 10-20 year loans.
mback00 | 6 years ago | on: A Walk in Hong Kong
But this is how the Hong Kong government has traditionally made its money. Hong Kong’s tax structure is real-estate sales. This is why Hong Kong is all about huge sky rise developments of ultra-small apartments... and because the island is all hills, it is also why so many developments are built literally on a cliff.
Hong Kong is a geographically difficult place... building new plots is expensive - and the government makes it more expensive.
mback00 | 6 years ago | on: A Walk in Hong Kong
This is the most beautiful and tragic thing I have read all day. Is there a reputable place to donate?
mback00 | 6 years ago | on: Unemployed Fishing
In the comment section was “learn to code.” Totally Insensitive... and not that I agree, but nonetheless close to the point. The consolidation and automation of news is here to stay, and not just journalists/writers — all of us, in fact — need to be very careful to learn the new skills it takes to compete in an increasingly automated world.
mback00 | 7 years ago | on: C.S. Lewis on the Reading of Old Books
That’s the point actually of what Lewis is talking about - and it is a miracle that we have the translations that we do. It’s really not so difficult to understand the Bible — especially with modern translations like ESV, it’s today even easier to understand the ideas of the “common man’s Greek” and Hebrew/Arimaic that the Bible was written in. There is always room however for a scholar of ancient language to help others to understand nuance, figure of speech, or subtle cultural reference that may be difficult to translate directly... but the plain truth is that 99.9% of what you want to know is accessible today by the common reader. There is no excuse for not understanding the Bible - far from it... there is only the excuse that someone wants to ignore it.
mback00 | 7 years ago | on: Poverty in America: Greater Than Statistics Indicate
Um. An overly socialized economy incentivizes counterproductive behavior. The early puritans in Massachusetts /started/ with the extremity of a socialist system of non-ownership with the hope that all would collectively contribute to a wonderful Christian society. They starved until they based their society on ownership and focus on equality of opportunity instead of equality of outcome.
My point is that once you start just giving money away - you shift to the early Massachusetts model...which leads to poverty and starvation. Even the most moral of men (can you argue that early puritans were more focused on morality than us?) will fail under a system that rewards sloth.
mback00 | 7 years ago | on: Poverty in America: Greater Than Statistics Indicate
It is not useful to define a demographic of the destitute at a standard relative to the median. (Note: Advancement of inequality of outcome beyond poverty is a _virtue_ of free society.) It is more virtuous to define an absolute poverty value and seek to ensure that the societal wealth distribution minimum never reaches the minimum - then allow maximal opportunity for all individuals to achieve any outcome they desire. If this model is achieved, all are then maximally provided for and maximally contributing to the civil society.
mback00 | 9 years ago | on: Ask HN: What do you want to see in Ubuntu 17.10?
I want 17.10 to be able to jailbreak and install on the Samsung 8+. Samsung is looking to provide a phone/pc in one device, but I use ubuntu as my os today and want to continue. Samsung is already doing all the hw and docking work... but their sw is bloated and locked down... I want the freedom that ubuntu provides on a great phone/pc.
mback00 | 9 years ago | on: The short list of jobs with high and rising pay
My argument is simply.... If you leave technical advancement alone and provide people freedom - not government oppression or try to kill innovation underneath of some set social theory... It works out, and it works out better in the long run. What would have happened if someone was regulating our speech right now in this forum? Would you stand for such oppression in the name of social correctness? It's going to work out... Just not in the old framework of the way you envision. Have a little faith.
mback00 | 9 years ago | on: The short list of jobs with high and rising pay
Um... the revolution of productivity that his happening in the workplace will likely enhance social behaviour and especially creative behaviour. The last revolution was about applying personal computing to the work environment - which did eliminate a lot of jobs, but created many more creative ones... and also brought about a much greater connectedness between human beings - first through email and then through social media. The next revolution is through robotics and one that will free many people from mundane tasks to much more creative ones... Bringing manufacturing back to the garage, and opening the opportuity for profit to many more people. In the same way, robotics/ai will also reduce traffic and provide a service where a person can have a physical presence virtually anywhere on the globe. We do not yet know the implications of the latest technological innovations - but history has definitely proven that each one only enhances not only our productivity (and "fun") but also our social connectedness.
mback00 | 9 years ago | on: Where have all the iOS games gone?
Poor and stupid - Simple you are. In a civil society those that provide a utility (or "fun") to others are rewarded and incentivized.
mback00 | 9 years ago | on: Traffic-weary homeowners and Waze are at war
The problem here is not the app. People need to understand that the road /is/ public! Your neighborhood does /not/ own the road - everyone does. IMO, The solution to the problem of conjestion is opening of carpool lanes to all travelers, aggressive clearing accidents, creation of visual barriers (blinds) to accidents, and above all global acceptance of driverless systems.
mback00 | 9 years ago | on: I created Godwin's Law in 1990 as a warning
He should have mentioned Chuck Norris in the discussion.
mback00 | 10 years ago | on: New GNU Emacs website
VI !!!
^_^
mback00 | 10 years ago | on: Why Is Productivity So Weak? Three Theories
Because we increased the number of jobs in the public sector, because we instituted a healthcare system where we get less for paying more into it (and one that makes it attractive for business to decrease permanent labor), because our tax policy makes it more attractive for business to hold money overseas, and because government through regulation continually makes it more difficult for individuals to succeed and produce a good or service.
mback00 | 10 years ago | on: Rewrite Everything in Rust
IMO -- Better is to just write better tools for plain olde ANSI-C. We can build tools to check C as well as any other. Let's just not waste time on building further complexity into our toolset and look at building toolkits and best practice at the very flexible level of abstraction that Plain olde C provides. With the right tools and expertise, we can improve the world without the never ending whiz bang rewrite.
mback00 | 10 years ago | on: All Hollowed Out: The lonely poverty of America’s white working class
U need to branch out and prove what you are saying is true -- and u don't need to relocate... That is the strength of being a uber hacking sw "man of foo" that you are. If you are right, then your true value is an order of magnitude more than your employer is willing to pay. "Good!" -- prove it!!! Go to stack exchange and up your rep. Market yourself and go grab another job... But in all cases, (and respectfully) stop with the whining already.
mback00 | 10 years ago | on: All Hollowed Out: The lonely poverty of America’s white working class
"Not lucky enough" - that just gauls me every time I hear it. If someone chooses to slack off (only HS education w/o trade and w/o entreprenurial ambition)... They are automatically ranked by the willfully ignorant as "unlucky." Please! There has never been a place and time in the history of mankind when a man with a will could not make something of himself as today! A man with an idea can easily and quickly form a company of one... And can hire overseas to build his idea... Get it shipped to any market he chooses, advertise his idea in any way he chooses, and make a profit in any way he chooses. Today, the world is open to any individual that chooses to work.
mback00 | 10 years ago | on: "Customers are likely to see regressions with Windows 7 ongoing servicing"
I have outgrown a few laptops since 2006 when I finally gave up dual boot and just ran with Linux. Linux admittedly does have the occasional mixup (especially about competing graphical interfaces and init systems) and does sometimes need a little experimentation to get things working as I would like; however, these seeming inconveniences are mostly caused by newly presented "options" and are not about forced lock-in. Besides, Linux also has some very positive qualities that have become essential to me. Linux maintains compatibility with old code (sometimes very very old code) that is still useful to me. Linux puts an astounding array of tools at my fingertips that help me automate work and learn new things. Linux also keeps me secure, virus-free and conveniently keeps everything installed on disk up-to-date... and it gradually (every 6 mos for me) gets better all the time -- for free. I can't see a reason why I would ever want to return to an OS as restrictive and inconvenient as Windows.
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I would love a direct massage on my next trip to Nigeria... In fact I have 401 reasons to look into your offer! I hope very much we can meet up for the direct massage and mutually enjoy being fondled under your expert care.
Also I will be traveling to the planet Luna in the upcoming Russian mining mission. I am looking for investors that are interested in sponsoring me in exchange for a percentage of my cut in the mining operation.
Please respond with your interest. I am very excited about the direct massage and the opportunity to work with you in a mutually beneficial business opportunity!
Sincerely,
Sr. Cosmosnot Andropov Niet Bing Zhou