philoye | 5 years ago | on: How Birds Evolved From Dinosaurs (2015)
philoye's comments
philoye | 6 years ago | on: The Cassowary: World’s most dangerous bird (2016)
Maciej /@idlewords has a wonderful post about the Daintree rain forest where the cassowary makes a star appearance:
philoye | 9 years ago | on: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions
This is so sad to me. Manual transmissions are just more fun, no matter which car you have. I have a 10 year old Subaru Outback and even that (top) heavy PoS gives me joy on a curvy road.
Of course I know that a modern auto is _way_ faster than a human, but I don't care in the slightest. My father in law has a Mercedes C63s and holy shit is it fast, but it would be 10x better with a stick. Spending a ton of money on a Porsche 911 but getting an automatic is baffling to me—unless you actually race it.
Life is too short, find fun where you can. Don't let the robots win.
philoye | 9 years ago | on: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions
Random data point: In Australia, I've noticed consistently, over the past year or so, that about 25% of used cars are manual transmission.
(Carsales.com.au is the leading used car marketplace in Oz and as of this comment there are 55k manuals and 171k autos for sale)
philoye | 9 years ago | on: Female chess players forced to wear hijab at world championship in Iran
> Because I am a man, I am allowed to be topless outside in NYC. I wouldn't if I was a woman.
Actually, it is legal for women to be topless in New York: https://www.law.cornell.edu/nyctap/I92_0160.htm
philoye | 9 years ago | on: Commission says Ireland granted undue tax benefits of up to €13B to Apple
Apple responds with an open letter:
http://www.apple.com/ie/customer-letter/
philoye | 10 years ago | on: Mac System 1.0 (1998)
Funny how that in 2016 we are further removed from when this article was written (18y) than it from the original Mac (14y).
philoye | 13 years ago | on: Stripe launches beta in the UK
Pin [1] just launched last week. It is a similar all-in-one payment solution (no merchant account needed), but homegrown in Australia.
philoye | 13 years ago | on: What the Maker’s Mark dilution debacle says about corporate strategy
This article[1] suggests excise tax isn't that high ($1 or $2), though GST is 10% so that's certainly part of the overall price.
I rather suspect it is pure price discrimination. I saw Pabst Blue Ribbon for AU$49 a case. PBR! Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is around AU$75 a case. These prices are at a huge discount retailer (Dan Murphy's).
[1] http://theconversation.edu.au/calling-time-on-alcohol-taxati...
philoye | 13 years ago | on: What the Maker’s Mark dilution debacle says about corporate strategy
I can't speak to China, but here in Australia they already diluted it to 40%. I'm not sure when it happened, the bottle I have is at least 4 months old.
philoye | 13 years ago | on: What the Maker’s Mark dilution debacle says about corporate strategy
In Australia, Maker's Mark lowered the proof a while ago. The bottle I have in my pantry is 40% (80 proof). Not to mention, bottles run ~$40 (1 AUD ~= 1 USD), so I suspect the branding/marketing considerations are different.
philoye | 13 years ago | on: Stripe And A/B Testing Made Me A Small Fortune
In Australia, Pin (https://pin.net.au) is very similar service: no merchant account required, nice API.
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> Yet once those avian features were in place, birds took off.