throwaway90446's comments

throwaway90446 | 11 years ago | on: How Sustainable Is Stored Sunlight?

I'm still trying to figure out why everyone, including Deutsche Bank, seems to think the Tesla Battery is such a great deal at $3500 for 7kwh.

I can buy 18 35Ah 12v AGM batteries, plus 0 AGW conductors, for about $1350. That's 7.5kwh for $1350.

What exactly defines the "good deal" argument I keep seeing?

throwaway90446 | 11 years ago | on: Where Is Germany's Gold?

Agreed that deflation is terrible. I hate paying lower prices for goods and services. Thankfully we have central banks to fight the scourge of lower prices.

throwaway90446 | 11 years ago | on: SNB Unexpectedly Gives Up Cap on Franc, Lowers Deposit Rate

Could someone explain the market reaction here?

When rates are lowered, it puts both competitve pressure and supply pressure on the currency. This can be seen in all historical interest rate cuts. You cut rates to weaken, and raise rates to strengthen.

And yet, this CUT in rates is leading to a BID for CHF.

As they say in Geneva, WTF?

throwaway90446 | 11 years ago | on: ThorCon Power

So basically, they are better on every possible front, and the technology has existed for a while?

Yet, LWR is still the dominant design. So, what's the catch? There's clearly something preferable about Uranium LWR that causes their dominance, no?

throwaway90446 | 11 years ago | on: What Bums Me Out About the Tech Industry

This isn't music, or anything like it. The article touches on the Millenials' refusal to learn anything below their chosen layer of abstraction to be a systemic risk to anything they build.

It's more akin to every bridge engineer not bothering with materials science or integral calculus because they know how to throw a bunch of trusses together than it is akin to every hipster on the planet learning to play Stairway to Heaven.

throwaway90446 | 11 years ago | on: Let the Other 95% of Great Programmers In

Excellent programmers are only paid well if they have a good internal idea of their value and are able to negotiate.

I've known countless great developers with terrible self-esteem and/or total inability to effectively negotiate. Far more, in fact, than the reverse.

throwaway90446 | 11 years ago | on: Let the Other 95% of Great Programmers In

Addendum to #3: Motivation is necessary but not sufficient in software development; it is one of the professions that really does have minimum cognitive capability and working memory requirements, which current research shows to be highly nonplastic via education or training. Genes matter.

throwaway90446 | 11 years ago | on: Silent Circle's warrant canary is out of date

I may be persuaded that the individual tasked with signing and updating the canary got drunk over the Holidays and forgot.

Nobody is going to convince me that same individual went on a twenty day bender and sobered up on Christmas morning.

throwaway90446 | 11 years ago | on: Uber Driver Accused of Raping Passenger in Boston

Not without cause. The recent UVA scandal, the semi-recent duke lacrosse scandal, and the unconscionable number of rape convicts being exonerated and released on account of dna evidence being tested with modern methods all point to the need for defense of the accused.

It's almost as if accused rapists, like other accused criminals, should be innocent until proven guilty.

throwaway90446 | 11 years ago | on: Putin Blames Outside Forces for Economic Woes

was perceived widely in the West

Because of our propaganda. We heard all kinds of things about Russian military mobilization, conspiracy theories about who shot down the airliner, how much Putin hates gays, how horrible living conditions were at the Sochi olympic village, how "rigged" the Crimean referendum was, etc.

But we have heard nothing about NATO breaking its post-wall promise, of the enormous rise of nazism on Russia's borders( actual nazism, not the soft nationalism you see in France ), the outrageous corruption and duplicity of the players responsible for the ouster of Yanukovych, the ethnic and political divisions between the Crimea and Ukraine proper, etc.

I continue to be astounded that HN is so virulently anti-russia, mainly because I thought this group would be the most immune to propaganda and most likely to question the official narrative.

throwaway90446 | 11 years ago | on: Putin Blames Outside Forces for Economic Woes

Most wells don't run at full capacity, and absolutely alter draw speeds to maximize the life and economics of a well.

This is correct, but only to a point. Many producers still lease land for limited timeframes (some of them do have "until we are done" clauses, but this is not the norm in Eagle Ford). If your lease has two years left and you don't expect the price to rebound for 18 months, it's still in your interest to produce NOW, since horizontal drilling (far more expensive than the fracking) is a capital cost you've already paid that you need return on.

throwaway90446 | 11 years ago | on: New York Magazine's Boy Genius Investor Made It All Up

In both of the stories you cite, it's a case of journalists beginning with a narrative and then seeking a story to corroborate that narrative. Whether it's feel-bad narratives like "rape culture is rampant in fraternities" or feel-good narratives like "downtrodden teenager wins big with his pluck and smarts", journalism has become driven by narrative. It no longer reports news.
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