WingNews logo WingNews GitHub [2]

netfire's comments

netfire | 6 years ago | on: Asian countries take a stand against the rich world’s plastic waste

The problem with glass is that it isn’t biodegradable. If it gets broken, it can cause a hazard for humans and wildlife. If it gets thrown away, it’s not going to break down. Glass is good for the ideal case, but not great for the other use cases. For milk and juice, it’s seems like thick paper might be a better option, since it’s biodegradable and recyclable.

netfire | 7 years ago | on: Amazon in Its Prime: Doubles Profits, Pays $0 in Federal Income Taxes

Just because Hillary’s campaign contributions were not as effective at persuading voters enough to win a electoral college majority does not mean that Trump (or other politicians) are not influenced by those contributions. It seems clear to me that businesses are getting a return in investment for the money they are spending in politics, otherwise they wouldn’t do it.

netfire | 7 years ago | on: Climate change and the 75% problem

The linked article indicates that only a small amount of seaweed needs to be added to their diet to be effective and that seaweed is easy to grow, so it doesn’t sound like it would take long to scale.

netfire | 7 years ago | on: Why work has failed us: Because no one can afford to retire anymore

Several states already ban payday loans and some don’t allow lotteries (let alone state sponsored lotteries that are used to fund things like education). Personally, I think setting an effective interest rate cap (including loan fees) at around 15-20% a year would be very effective at preventing the kind of lending that can lead someone to multiple years of high-interest debt repayment or eventual bankruptcy. More education in high school about how to manage your finances wisely could also prove beneficial.

netfire | 7 years ago | on: Why work has failed us: Because no one can afford to retire anymore

Per https://www.valuepenguin.com/average-credit-card-debt#income... the lower income earners in the US have almost 10% of their income in credit card debt. Per https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/fact-shee... 12 million people spend $9 billion in payday loan fees and people spend billions of dollars each year playing the lottery. Poor financial decisions and money management is definitely playing a role in this as well.

We really need to include suggestions for adding programs and laws for encouraging saving, removing predatory lending, and incentivizing responsible spending in articles like these. There is too much focus on consumer spending and not enough on household stability and having money in the bank for emergencies.

netfire | 7 years ago | on: Traveling to the Sun: Why Won’t Parker Solar Probe Melt?

Not at all. I expect NASA has done as much due diligence, planning, testing, and verification as possible. I just don’t think they are being upfront as they should be about the possible risks for a previously unattempted scientific endeavor. We’ve had massive failures (including NASA itself), in environments that are much better understood and with systems that have actually had exposure to those environments.

netfire | 7 years ago | on: Traveling to the Sun: Why Won’t Parker Solar Probe Melt?

For sure, but it would be a shame if NASA lost confidence and trust (and possibly funding) with their stakeholders (the public), because they weren’t more upfront about the potential risks. As a scientific organization that has experienced significant (and expensive) failures before, I expect better.

netfire | 7 years ago | on: Traveling to the Sun: Why Won’t Parker Solar Probe Melt?

Doesn’t it undermine the credibility of NASA if something goes wrong? The public who is the audience for this article is also paying the bills (through taxes). I’d settle for just changing “won’t melt” to “shouldn’t melt”. I think that appropriate for something that’s never been attempted.

netfire | 7 years ago | on: Traveling to the Sun: Why Won’t Parker Solar Probe Melt?

The article makes it sound like there is no possible way for the probe to melt. Is this actually the case? Is there no possibility that manufacturer defects or a solar anomaly that could cause unexpected problems?

I don’t want to downplay the good design and engineering that went into this, but should we be so confident without actually having done something like this thousands of times?

netfire | 7 years ago | on: The dream of driverless cars is dying

Personally, I’d be happy with just automated freeway driving. That seems like an easier problem to solve (no pedestrians, complex traffic controls, cars going the other way or turning across your path, and visibility is usually pretty good). Why not focus on and perfect that first?

netfire | 8 years ago | on: U.S. Income Inequality Hits a New Threshold

You don’t need to know the reason why someone isn’t working or is working less to have better claims for or against discrimination. I’d just like to see something that says that a certain demographic who work a certain number of hours a week differs from a different demographic who works the same number of hours a week.

netfire | 8 years ago | on: U.S. Income Inequality Hits a New Threshold

I’m just saying there is a factor that could impact the statistics and that how much a person works should be taken into account for all the findings. Not just the gender-based one, so that we have accurate data from which to make decisions from.

I didn’t say anything about forcing anyone to work or subsidizing habits. I think these charts are trying to claim that discrimination is happening and if how much someone is working isn’t taken into account, they don’t support that claim very well.

To be clear I’m not stating that discrimination is or isn’t happening. I’d just like better data.

netfire | 8 years ago | on: U.S. Income Inequality Hits a New Threshold

The same could be said for the racial-based statistics, since race might be tied to cultural opinions which could impact how many hours a week or years in a lifetime someone works.

netfire | 8 years ago | on: Turning Soybeans into Diesel Fuel Is Costing Billions

This is covered in the article. The forests in question are in Argentina, not the US, and it sounds like demand for Soybeans from China may be causing some of the deforestation (although it is unclear how much is due to that versus US-based demand).

netfire | 8 years ago | on: SpaceX: Making Life Multiplanetary [video]

Question: Why do the autonomous cargo missions need to be done in the ideal launch window? It doesn't seem like the systems required to operate and navigate in space should require much energy, once your are up to cruising speed (and there's no air resistance in space to slow you down). Does it matter if the cargo takes 6 months to deliver the cargo instead of 3? Am I missing something?
page 1
more