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throwaway3b03 commented on Ask HN: What are some comfy/stress-free jobs a SWE can do? (LCOL country)    · Posted by u/ejlanor
giantg2 · 15 days ago
"So I think it's possible just about anywhere in the world"

Anywhere with free healthcare.

throwaway3b03 · 15 days ago
I disagree. I spent about 2 years in Romania without healthcare of any kind. I was on a career break/sabbatical. And in the 4 years I've spent in the Netherlands, I've only went to a doctor's office once, for some abdominal pain. I was sent home by a receptionist, telling me to return the next day if it doesn't get better.

And I think that's my only interaction with the medical establishment for the last 6-7 years. The one before that was for some document I needed for my driver's license.

Of course, here in the Netherlands you can't avoid having health insurance, but it's technically free for low income people and not that expensive otherwise. In Romania, and I presume that a lot of other places, you can.

So is it that hard to stay uninsured? I do have some gripes to pick with the medical system, but yeah, I do think taking health into your own hands is a better choice (and a lot more is psychological in nature than the medical system would suggest, which is focused on symptoms and not causes).

I remember in my younger years, I would get a cold probably twice a year on average, and I would always get prescribed antibiotics by an overzealous GP. All of that stopped all of a sudden, and I haven't taken antibiotics in about a decade. I've caught a cold, maybe once every two years, but much lighter and goes away by itself in 2-3 days at most.

throwaway3b03 commented on Ask HN: What are some comfy/stress-free jobs a SWE can do? (LCOL country)    · Posted by u/ejlanor
TheCapeGreek · 16 days ago
Woah, where is 20k buying a comfy life these days?

Genuinely curious. I'm supposed to be in the third world but COL has become ridiculous in the last few years.

I felt similarly to you not long ago, sometimes still do. Honestly right now SWE is still a valuable skill to get paid for. Leverage your network to find calmer waters after taking a break, or freelance part time instead.

Recovering from burnout in my experience is a combination of changing environment, finding tools to help with mental health, and lots of patience with yourself. If can take years to feel like your old self again, and even then your output never quite comes back the same.

throwaway3b03 · 15 days ago
I live in The Netherlands and my yearly expenses are less than 20k EUR per year, and also have a car (major expense around here). But I don't pay rent. Several years ago I used to live in Romania, and similarly, had expenses a lot lower than 10k EUR per year.

So I think it's possible just about anywhere in the world, if you're ready to do a lot of things yourself (don't rely on services such as a car/bike mechanic, fix plumbing, house issues yourself, don't pay a lot of money on going out etc).

throwaway3b03 commented on Tour de France confronts a new threat: Are cyclists using tiny motors?   washingtonpost.com/world/... · Posted by u/bookofjoe
blueflow · a month ago
What does Istvan Varjas do for a living?
throwaway3b03 · a month ago
Now that I found out about him, and saw an [interview](https://index.hu/video/2018/07/23/rejtett_motoros_kerekpar_b...) he gave years ago, an old thought of mine came up.

I was always thinking this was a really underserved market. Ebikes have been really in demand for a long while, but most of the offer was based on very heavy city bikes. I was always thinking that a much sportier, more efficient race ebikes would be a huge hit. I saw some prototypes on kickstarter but nothing that sticked.

I wonder why. If I had the energy and resources I think I would try going into that product space. Seems like ripe for disruption.

I ride ebikes a lot, and I used to ride race bikes a lot as well, years ago. For a long time I thought that a heavy city ebike is similar to a very efficient race bike that in terms of effort required. After I started to ride them simultaneously (more or less), maybe an ebike is in fact more helpful over longer periods, but a light race bike isn't far away. So a product that captures best of both worlds would do great IMO.

LE. Apparently I'm late by around 5 years. When I last had this thought there was literally just a kickstarter project. Now I see most big brands have electric road bike offerings. Still, at 4-5k EUR price points, there's still a lot of value to capture.

throwaway3b03 commented on CO2 Battery   energydome.com/co2-batter... · Posted by u/xnx
brandonagr2 · a month ago
What is the negative externality of recycling batteries? That is way better than having to mine minerals out of the ground, eventually there won't need to be any significant mining and all the battery minerals will be in a constant cycle of being used then recycled
throwaway3b03 · a month ago
Except that the recycling ... cycle is not perfect. Far from it. I'd reckon maybe half of all lithium ends up in recycling. Other half probably ends up in the landfill. For instance, I picked up a broken ebike from the trash not long ago (Amsterdam). Battery still in it. Same goes for lots of smaller electronics.
throwaway3b03 commented on An average human breathes out roughly 1kg of carbon dioxide a day   twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack... · Posted by u/tosh
bloak · a month ago
That comparison makes no sense because the ICE car is releasing carbon taken (mostly) from petroleum while the human is releasing carbon taken (mostly) from the atmosphere via plants and animals.
throwaway3b03 · a month ago
Well, years ago, I was running my indirectly injected diesel straight off sunflower oil, so that was plant based too.

But your point is valid. Comparison is still useful for getting a grasp of the quantities involved.

throwaway3b03 commented on How big is carpooling market?    · Posted by u/rutvik2601
sloaken · a month ago
I think it is a great way to save money and help the environment.

The big problem I see is security / trust. But you have that risk with rideshare.

throwaway3b03 · a month ago
Lately blablacar has been charging hitchhikers/travelers up front. So you as a driver know for sure you won't end up with nothing. This is really useful IMO, but also mostly significantly reduce the popularity of the service in places with low reliability among members.

In western Europe, particularly Germany, it was still very easy to find people, in eastern Europe, not so much. Even though before this change, years ago, blablacar was very popular in said eastern Europe countries.

throwaway3b03 commented on An average human breathes out roughly 1kg of carbon dioxide a day   twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack... · Posted by u/tosh
throwaway3b03 · a month ago
For comparison, a small ICE car produces around 100g of CO2/km, so with the same carbon budget you could drive 10km.
throwaway3b03 commented on Impacts of adding PV solar system to internal combustion engine vehicles   jstor.org/stable/26169128... · Posted by u/red369
throwaway3b03 · a month ago
Alternator delete is a very common hack in the ecomodder community (usually coupled with LiFePo or Lithium battery instead of the regular lead-acid). It reduces the complexity and load on the engine, and does give a few percentage better fuel efficiency. But if you mostly ride at night, yeah ...
throwaway3b03 commented on Ask HN: To what extend have you stopped or limited your use of AI?    · Posted by u/dosco189
iainctduncan · a month ago
I personally do not use LLMs (knowingly) at all, largely for environmental reasons. The improvements are, to me, not worth the attrocious energy use. I will happily pay 20% or whatever more in both money and time.

I also have no interest in technology that impedes my skill development. I do not want to use anything that makes me a worse writer over time.

YMMV, I am answering the OP not evangelizing. Counter arguments will be ignored.

throwaway3b03 · a month ago
> YMMV, I am answering the OP not evangelizing. Counter arguments will be ignored.

Reminds me of the Monty Python Arguing sketch.

throwaway3b03 commented on Overtourism in Japan, and how it hurts small businesses   craigmod.com/ridgeline/21... · Posted by u/speckx
timr · 2 months ago
I don't know about the Ramen place (I can't believe that they wouldn't take cash?), but I agree with you that more places are doing this kind of "two markets" stuff -- it's even becoming official, in that now there's officially sanctioned "foreigner pricing" for certain temples, shrines, and parks. There's also Google Maps and Yelp vs. Japan's local version (pretty much any review on the former two are useless, and hopelessly biased by clueless tourists).

I'm of mixed minds. I really miss the days when it was possible to be welcomed pretty much anywhere as a foreigner and have almost universal expectations of high quality, scam-free experiences, but those days are pretty much gone now. Foreigners are lining up for mediocre tourist traps because of something they saw on TikTok or Instagram, and there are business people who are willing to take advantage of that fact.

It's also really difficult to serve your local clientele when tourists "discover" your establishment. I have a friend with a restaurant that has become known amongst foreign tourists, and it's nearly impossible for the locals in the neighborhood to visit now. I was talking about it with him a month or so back, and while he seemed happy to have the money -- and therefore unwilling to change the situation -- he also interacted with the tourists in a completely different way. He had a back-channel reservation mechanism for locals and people he knows, but it still requires advance planning for a place that used to be a casual, walk-in experience.

throwaway3b03 · 2 months ago
> I can't believe that they wouldn't take cash?

What's so hard to believe about that? Lots of places in the Netherlands don't accept cash (probably out of convenience).

u/throwaway3b03

KarmaCake day136April 5, 2021View Original