Wow, it even survived the HN hug of death.
Readit Newsthrowaway3b03 commented on Hosting a website on a disposable vape bogdanthegeek.github.io/b... · Posted by u/BogdanTheGeek
throwaway3b03 commented on Ask HN: What are some comfy/stress-free jobs a SWE can do? (LCOL country) · Posted by u/ejlanor
"So I think it's possible just about anywhere in the world"
Anywhere with free healthcare.
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
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.
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).
What does Istvan Varjas do for a living?
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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
For comparison, a small ICE car produces around 100g of CO2/km, so with the same carbon budget you could drive 10km.
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 ...
For anyone who's dealt with a hoarder house that's not the reducto ad absurdum you think it is, just the tragic reality.