What I don't understand is why science museums aren't more geared toward adults. For me, it's hard to tell the difference between a children's museum and a science museum.
Readit Newspneill commented on I didn't bring my son to a museum to look at screens sethpurcell.com/writing/s... · Posted by u/arch_deluxe
pneill commented on US weighs Google break-up in landmark antitrust case ft.com/content/f6e84608-e... · Posted by u/JumpCrisscross
I'm having trouble understanding how a breakup addresses the allegations in the case? Wasn't this all about Google paying Apple for search exclusivity on iPhones? How does a breakup address that?
pneill commented on U.S. now short 4.5M homes as housing deficit grows zillow.mediaroom.com/2024... · Posted by u/myroon5
Housing is actually a good business. Otherwise everyone starting from upper middle class families to trillion dollar hedge funds would not clamor to get into it. Also, there might be regulations, but there is also lots of incentives and tax benefits which makes up for it.
Of course it's a good business. Just not at the price points people can afford.
Watch the video I liked to above. It's about a person that owns a laundromat in SF who wants to convert the building to affordable house. He basically wants to do the right thing, but the regulations make it impossible. It was EYE OPENING for me.
pneill commented on U.S. now short 4.5M homes as housing deficit grows zillow.mediaroom.com/2024... · Posted by u/myroon5
Asking why there isn't enough housing is like asking why water is wet. The answer is state/local government regulation.
There's an old saying "your margin is my opportunity" and I suspect that the current crop of homes that are built have decent margins, but in a deregulated market an entrepreneur could come in offer more affordable housing options with lower margins.
You can see this in vehicles. Nobody complains about the vehicle affordability problem because there are far fewer regulations in the transportation industry (don't get me wrong, there are regulations, but not a constraining as you see in the housing market). There's a vehicle at every price point. You got bikes, then ebikes, mopeds, scoters, motorcycles, sub compacts, compacts, full size, trucks, suvs, and all the way to crazy expensive sports cars.
You don't see that in house because affordable housing is not a good business. It's impossible to offer options at the lower end of the market because of zoning laws, environmental impact regulations, a difficult permitting process, nimby's, and affordable housing politicians that are really big proponents of affordable housing except "they have question about this particular housing project."
Here is a terrific video that everyone should watch that shows how insanely difficult it is to make affordable housing. A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExgxwKnH8y4
Sometimes what you need is less government regulation, not more.
edited sentence "You don't see that in house it's not a good business." to You don't see that in house because affordable housing* is not a good business.
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pneill commented on Reflecting on 18 Years at Google ln.hixie.ch/?start=170062... · Posted by u/whiplashoo
I see these posts and just shrug. Tech companies have lifecycles. There is that early startup energy where "we're all in this together." Then, if they're lucky, success and growth, but the startup mentality remains. But as the company grows, it can't maintain the startup culture. It's simply not possible. And then companies mature and you have bureaucracy and leaks and empire building and layoffs, etc. It's inevitable.
What surprises me about Google is not that its changing, but that it's taken so long to change.
pneill commented on Toyota Takes Aim at EVs with Ammonia Engine enginelabs.com/engine-tec... · Posted by u/rbanffy
The best option is to use a similar process to HB, but using “green” H2, so yet more inefficiencies from “excessive” renewable electricity generation.
https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/low-carbon-e....
Interesting! Thanks for the link, but that just explains how to get the hydrogen for the process.
What about the energy to run the HB reaction? It's super high temp and high pressure. Is there a zero carbon way to make that?
pneill commented on Toyota Takes Aim at EVs with Ammonia Engine enginelabs.com/engine-tec... · Posted by u/rbanffy
I love that Toyota is forward thinking, but where does the ammonia come from? The most common way to make it is via the Haber-Bosch process, which, as I recall, consumes 1% of global energy product as of today. I wonder what that number would look like if we manufactured fuel that way?
Disney is under some pretty serious financial pressures, but it's not for sale. The most profitable part of the company is the parks, and they will never sell those. But what might be for sale is some of the IP - eg. Lucas Film, Marvel, or Pixar. But what I'd expect to see first is some sort of license where Apple TV+ gets Disney Plus content shortly after it's released on Disney (or maybe they get rights to distribute after a series has completed on Disney Plus.) That would help Apple get a real handle on the revenue opportunity there and if it works, then make a play for overall IP ownership (assuming that Disney gets desperate enough)
The history here is complex and very unsatisfying due to gaps in the historical record, but it' darn interesting.