pashapiro's comments

pashapiro | 9 years ago | on: Vancouver plans to tax empty properties 1% of their assessed value

I'll allow that ignoring or abandoning private property is generally the measuring stick that libertarians use to justify seizing it, but as others have said, if the real estate market in Vancouver were less regulated, this wouldn't have happened in the first place.

pashapiro | 9 years ago | on: Epic Games chief pays $15M to protect 7,000 acres of North Carolina wilderness

I've found that undeveloped land in low-demand, rural areas tends to go for about $2,000/acre. It jumped out at me in the headline that the donation was about the same rate.

pashapiro | 9 years ago | on: Exit polls aren't what you think they are

Doh! That wasn't what I thought it would be.

pashapiro | 9 years ago | on: Why I wrote a damning review of my own debut novel

When writing a work of fiction, the aim is to find truth not in the creative process, but in the un-dogged pursuit of verisimilitude - in the attempt to build reasonably causal events in response to the creative flights of fancy. Theoretically, it should be possible to achieve this in the frontal lobe, but putting pen to paper has always been a more effective approach at striking the perfect balance.

I'd say the author here decided to apply the same muscles that balance creativity and verisimilitude to his own review. Imagining the response to an unknown, unpublished novel is obviously a work of creativity, which he is also able to balance out because he actually knows the novel, knows its strengths and weaknesses.

In this way, he was able to find a simple, comforting truth: he was either about to become a novelist, or he wasn't.

Writing a piece of pseudo-fiction like this review seems like a great answer to allay the fears of failure.

pashapiro | 9 years ago | on: What 2,000 Calories Looks Like (2014)

Thanks for the detailed answer!

The reason I asked about beans specifically was because, as I understand it, they're harder to digest. I'm guess the corn I see in the toilet doesn't leave many calories on my stomach either.

pashapiro | 9 years ago | on: What 2,000 Calories Looks Like (2014)

One of the things I wonder about is how many calories your body can actually metabolize into fat and glycogen in a given day. For example, if you eat 15,000 calories, how many of those calories will your body just pass right through your digestive tract? I could see liquid calories like pop or juice being metabolized easily, but do all the beans in a Chipotle burrito end up clinging on your thighs and gut also?

pashapiro | 9 years ago | on: Researchers Develop Safer Opioid Painkiller

I wonder if the cost of this research is greater than the cost for lobbyists to legalize medical marijuana.

pashapiro | 9 years ago | on: The Rich Douchebag's Approach to Basic Income

Yeah, the darkness is a big part of the point. You should feel sort of dirty when you're done reading it, but still be able to see that an entity driven by greed can provide a social good.

Ideally, a good basic income program would provide a mix of incentives to maximize both social and economic good. The story challenges the reader to consider even the slimiest, scummiest greed as an incentive.

pashapiro | 9 years ago | on: The Rich Douchebag's Approach to Basic Income

Author here. You pretty much nailed it.

The exact intent is what you describe plus "make people that read HN laugh". If some of the meaning gets muddied for the sake of comedy, well, that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

If it's not funny, well, that's the risk of satire. In any case, I'll keep working on the story.