OpieCunningham (u/OpieCunningham)

OpieCunningham commented on Tonight with the Impressionists mssv.net/2024/06/18/tonig... · Posted by u/adrianhon

I was in Paris in March and had a ticket for this. I was at the museum an hour before my booked time slot. The square in front of the entrance was one gigantic queue, and when I asked at the front I was told that they were still processing people who had booked a time slot an hour before that. I decided not to stand around in the rain for two hours for a very dubious chance to get what I had paid for. There are no refunds for any reason ever, of course.

It's a shame because when I lived in Paris the Musée d'Orsay was one of my favorites. Apparently management changed sometime in the last few years, and ticket sales are higher than ever. But only because it has turned into yet another tourist trap.

OpieCunningham · a year ago

I saw it in mid April. Walked right in at the scheduled time. But I did feel that was anomalous. Both d’Orsay and Louvre should really be capping daily entrants - it’s becoming a significant waste to go when you’re 5-10 meters away with a crowd between you and most works of art.

OpieCunningham commented on California spent $17B on homelessness – it’s not working wsj.com/articles/californ... · Posted by u/mfiguiere

dangwhy · 2 years ago

Why are all the lofty examples from countries that are hostile to refugees/immigrants like Scandinavian countries.

Would love to hear examples of great public welfare/healthcare programs from countries that accepts 6 million refugees / year like USA. In my head these are two opposing goals but curious to know if there are counterexamples.

OpieCunningham · 2 years ago

The US accepted 22,645 refugees in 2022. Since 1990 the U.S. has accepted, on average, roughly 75,000 per year.

In 2021, the US accepted 11,411 refugees (approx. 1 refugee per 28,900 citizens), and Finland accepted 1,282 refugees (approx. 1 refugee per 4,300 citizens).

* https://www.statista.com/statistics/200061/number-of-refugee...

* https://www.worlddata.info/europe/finland/asylum.php

OpieCunningham commented on Permanent campers: Rising rents are pushing people to live on public lands azcentral.com/story/news/... · Posted by u/jkestner

livueta · 3 years ago

I spend a lot of time tooling around one particular pnw national forest and can anecdotally confirm that sort of camping activity has gone through the roof from summer '21 onward. While I'm sympathetic to the situations a lot of these folks are in (had some extensive conversations with campers) the bit in the article about environmental damage is unfortunately super true. I'd say that at least in my area, as many as half of illegal long-term campers put very little effort into trash disposal. These days, every time I go out I come back with a pickup bed full of bags of trash. Last time, I had to figure out how to get rid of a bunch of partially rusted through propane tanks. Yelling at individual campers about it doesn't really work because they're all constantly cycling through anyway, so in a week the same spot will have been trashed by another jerk.

One bright spot is that the FS, at least in my area, has been stepping up enforcement. A couple trips ago I ran into a pair of rangers who'd been turfing out RVs and issuing citations for litter.

OpieCunningham · 3 years ago

Am I supposed to be more concerned with leave no trace than I am with people slipping through the cracks of society? Because I’m not.

OpieCunningham commented on Le Corbusier's project Plan Voisin – a radical urban design for Paris from 1925 clemensgritl.com/video... · Posted by u/revolucien

OpieCunningham · 3 years ago

Le Corbusier, a pioneer of YIMBYism.

To be fair, housing costs in Paris would be much more reasonable, both due to such a glut of housing and the subsequent decreased interest in living there.

OpieCunningham commented on Melting glaciers may produce thousands of kilometers of new salmon habitat science.org/content/artic... · Posted by u/rbanffy

OpieCunningham · 4 years ago

“They say the smog is the reason we have such beautiful sunsets.”

OpieCunningham commented on Statement from Mark Zuckerberg facebook.com/login/web/... · Posted by u/jaredwiener

BobbyJo · 4 years ago

I don't think it's an emergent property, I think it's a by-product of the constraints. It's all well and good that they want to make Facebook safe and healthy, and I honestly believe plenty of people working there are trying to do just that. However, they are operating under the constraint that they cannot move backwards on profits, and therefore engagement.

Imagine if you were trying to fix climate change, but under the condition that you weren't allowed to burn fewer fossil fuels. You may try very hard, and very sincerely, but it's fool's errand.

OpieCunningham · 4 years ago

Nice.

> I don't think it's an emergent property, I think it's a by-product of the constraints. > Imagine if you were trying to fix climate change, but under the condition that you weren't allowed to burn fewer fossil fuels.

There is one person who controls all the constraints: Zuckerberg. He even went so far as to enforce that through his stock classifications. It’s entirely understandable and acceptable to have empathy for those working at FB who are attempting to solve the problems. But Zuckerberg made the decision to be the single source of the constraints that bind everyone below. And his constraints are: profit over all else. He should face consequences for setting those constraints, just as anyone should who set a constraint of “address climate change without adversely effecting GDP”.

Separately, and as the “revelations” of Zuckerberg’s immoral behavior continues year after year, those who work for him but are attempting to solve the problems, should recognize at some point in the future, now, or in the past that the problems are insurmountable within the confines of the constraints. As that knowledge spreads, then the question becomes whether those idealistically earnest individuals are justifiably ignorant of the reality: that all their best intentions are moot in the face of the constraints as were determined by Zuckerberg. And when or if they are no longer justifiably ignorant, they become culpable.

OpieCunningham commented on Ultraprocessed Foods Now Comprise 2/3 of Calories in Children and Teen Diets now.tufts.edu/news-releas... · Posted by u/lxm

sonicggg · 4 years ago

Quite impressive that our diet and lifestyle habits seemingly get worse, and yet our lifespan keeps on climbing, when compared to previous generations.

One could say "Oh, they did not have modern medicine, and blah blah blah".

The way I see, ultraporcessed food, medicines, industrialised goods are all part of the same package. And yet we always see the cup half empty.

OpieCunningham · 4 years ago

Life span is increasing very marginally. You are probably referring to life expectancy, which has been increasing.

Life span is how old a human is capable of living. This number has not changed much in hundreds or thousands of years. Life expectancy is how many humans reach any specific age. Life expectancy increases are primarily driven by decreases in infant deaths (which bring down the averages), and secondarily by better diagnosis and treatments of disease in older humans.

In any case, the existence of better medicine is not predicated on the development or consumption of ultra processed foods. There is no “same package”.

OpieCunningham commented on Creep – a pretty sweet 4px wide pixel font github.com/romeovs/creep... · Posted by u/pabs3

LeoPanthera · 4 years ago

What software is available for designing pixel fonts with? It's something I've always wanted to try.

OpieCunningham · 4 years ago

Bits ‘n Picas is pretty good.

https://github.com/kreativekorp/bitsnpicas

OpieCunningham commented on US companies hit by 'colossal' cyber-attack bbc.com/news/world-us-can... · Posted by u/sedeki

genmud · 4 years ago

After the Equifax breach, everyone learned that until there are actual repercussions for cyber attacks (like fines and people going to jail for negligence), if you can weather the storm, over the course of a year or two, there is effectively zero impact to your bottom line.

You can also see this in the Solarwinds stock price. Year over year, they are down a hair under 4 percent... After being directly responsible for one of the most impactful cyber incidents yet. Hell, if you invested in January, after most of the stuff blew over, you would be up nearly 20% on your investment.

There is even a perverse incentive to not do things and just get cyber insurance to cover you. Since these underwriters generally have no fucking clue what they are doing, you can actually make money on a cyber intrusion if you play your cards right. Only now that insurance companies have paid out the nose with ransomware incidents have they started to wise up. Having worked in the space, its absolutely bonkers what we accept as normal business practices with regards to cybersecurity.

OpieCunningham · 4 years ago

“After the Equifax breach, everyone learned that until there are actual repercussions for cyber attacks (like fines and people going to jail for negligence), if you can weather the storm, over the course of a year or two, there is effectively zero impact to your bottom line.”

It’s even worse than just weathering a storm. Lax security has been incentivized. The Equifax CEO, Richard Smith, stepped down shortly after the public became aware of the breach, with a $90m severance package.

https://fortune.com/2017/09/26/equifax-ceo-richard-smith-net...

OpieCunningham commented on How to Work Hard paulgraham.com/hwh.html... · Posted by u/razin

swman · 4 years ago

Okay, but nobody is going to become anywhere close to Messi without working hard. That's the point. Do you think someone could become Messi by putting in barely any practice or effort? You might get into a team, but you won't be a Messi lol. Be honest with yourself.

Obviously luck plays a role, but most people (>90% I'll bet) who are successful in the end get there due to hard work.

I could sit on my butt and do nothing all day, and suddenly my doge coin are worth a million bucks. I basically don't know anyone IRL who got mega rich off these things. I know a lot more people IRL who are mega rich because they work hard to this day.

OpieCunningham · 4 years ago

Put it this way: if you’re lucky and work hard, you could be like Messi. If you’re very very lucky and don’t work hard, you may still be like Messi. If you’re unlucky and work hard, you won’t ever be like Messi.

Just ask Babe Ruth, he didn’t work hard like Messi. He was very very lucky to be born with phenomenal talent.

Luck is the critical factor, hard work is secondary, though beneficial in that it decreases (but can never eliminate) the required amount of luck.