winstonx's comments

Many posts here express dismay at Airbnb's selective disregard for the law.

Companies often ignore laws when it is expected to be profitable. It's a simple matter of risk management. And it is a straightforward consequence of our economic and legal system.

See this 2012 article "Should Companies Obey the Law If Breaking It Is More Profitable?" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-radcliffe/should-companie...

> The fact Airbnb is allowing this to continue makes me question their ethics.

Laws and ethics are not the same thing. In fact, it is often ethical to break a law.

Yes, he has an impressive mind. Which is why we shouldn't just pat him on the back and say "good boy."

Rather, we need young impressive minds to solve real problems. Government spending is intentional.

If he doesn't get that, he's more likely to end up building pointless boondoggles for the government rather than solving real problems.

> I'm two years before heading off to university, but I have no motivation to learn the things that are being taught at college.

Personally, that was a really tough time for me in my life.

> I chose to study the subjects that I thought I would enjoy, but sadly this isn't true.

That happened to me too.

> I'm assuming that if I had made other choices for subjects, I'd be in a similar problem.

Maybe; it's hard to know where other paths would have led.

> Maths is one of the subjects I'm studying, and although I enjoy maths itself, I'm not enjoying what I learn in school.

I had that same experience. That's why I studied maths on my own, outside of school (I consider programming a subset of maths.)

> I can't be motivated to put the work in, so that I can get good results at the end of the year.

Same thing happened to me.

> I spend my free time programming or researching instead,

That's also what I did. Studying philosophy also helped alot :-)

> but I can't continue doing this if I want to get the A-levels I need to enter a half-decent university.

I found my high school to be very oppressive, so instead I went on academic strike and programmed for fun. I almost flunked out of high school, and only got into one university that has a tradition of accepting everyone.

It was all for the best. I'm not saying you should do that. But, it was the path I needed to take. You can live a wonderful life regardless of what academic success you achieve or fail to achieve.

Older people have a bad habit of advising younger people they need to do very specific actions in order to achieve very specific goals.

In this ancient tradition, I will now offer you very specific advice ;-)

(1) Ask yourself: do you desire the goals you are told to desire. What are your goals? What do you actually want from life?

(2) Once you have your goals in mind, your advisors will usually be conservative. That is, their advice usually describes one path to your goal --- not the only path. For example, if you want to go to a half-decent university and an advisor tells you, "you should try to get straight A's" --- then your advisor is being conservative. Yes, if you get straight A's it will be easier to get into a half-decent university. But it's not the only way. Furthermore, younger people are often more creative in finding ways to sidestep tradition.

(3) Ask for lots of advice, but only listen to advice skeptically.

(4) Don't be afraid to "Go ahead and fail." http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-20/go-ahead-let-your-k...

> Are there any ways by which I could motivate myself to study more?

I would caution against trying to coerce yourself into being more motivated. Follow your own path. When people give you advice it's up to you to take it or leave it. Even this advice.

That is the nature of effective propaganda.

The best defense you have is your mind. Be skeptical and fact-check; good documentaries contain lots of truth.

If the government paid for all education, then education would be adapted to suit political / corporate desires (they are the customers in the transaction).

For example, the politicians who control Texas education ensure that all Texas textbooks are ``politically correct.'' Aka censorship. That's what happens when politicians control education.

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/revising-the-revisio...

> would the costs not rise if attending college became free?

It depends. Prices could go up as a result of cronyism and corruption. Or prices could go down if the deciders decide to cut it.

Or if education were democratically managed, resources could be allocated according to the population's preferences.

Who knows what would happen in real life?

I am disappointed by the shallow analysis of the article. It doesn't consider the monopsonistic effects that would result from 100% government-paid education.

(1) America's elite creates a housing bubble (2) America's elite forecloses on the residents (3) America's elite buys the houses at low cost, then rents them back to the residents.

That's a nice racket.

This cover fits great over my macbook camera http://www.amazon.com/C-Slide-1-0-Webcam-Cover/dp/B00AZ639VG

I think the disconnect between the author and you is that the author has empathy for impoverished people.

Try to understand their plight. They are born poor and die poor. Why? Because they were unlucky enough to be born poor. You were lucky to be born into a family that could afford servants.

The moral of the article is "it's wrong to exploit the impoverished." It's easy to apply that moral to other cultures and societies, but difficult to apply to one's own.

Indians deny injustice when it gives them servants just like Westerners deny injustice when it gives them iPhones.

I'm freaked out there's no microphone indicator.

I bought this exact webcam cover; it works great. http://www.amazon.com/C-Slide-1-0-Webcam-Cover/dp/B00AZ639VG

A blinking light requires electricity. The sliding cover is purely mechanical, tamper evident, and requires physical access to hack.

The sliding cover is simpler and more secure.

But then you can't see the keys or the monitor.

It's a truism, roughly equivalent to "there's no free lunch."

You are pointing out that the converse of my statement isn't necessarily true. I agree with you: if you are paying for something, you might still be a product.

"Robin Hood" seems to be a misnomer for this service.

The character Robin Hood stole from the rich to give to the poor. In contrast robinhood.io encourages every-day folks to compete against the elites in the stock market. Which explains why elite capitalists are funding the robinhood.io venture.

If you're not paying for the product, you are the product.

The older generation literally creates the younger generation.