However, before we start booing Google...

Facebook already holds unarguably the biggest part of this already, and Google heading closer to the center of that particular arena will likely result in a net positive for publishers.

My guess for would be that this will push Facebook little by little to specialize in iOS ad-mongering.

This move is exactly of the category that is crippling Croatia. We (yes, a Croat here) are in a bit of a pickle, and let me explain the core of the it...

Even excluding astonishing amount of pensioners (many from previous regime) and war-inflicted disabled persons (whose actual condition is matter to be looked upon suspiciously) and other non-working class of people, work-force segments into two distinct categories - directly or indirectly dependant on the goverment as source of income, and the good "old" private sector. The trouble here is that former is riddled with catastrophic inefficiency, corruption and evades competitive market, and the latter carries the burden of former. The issue is - in democratic elections, majority wins, and the former here is the majority.

So we keep up with this cancerous tumor of goverment-dependants who won't ever vote for someone who'll put a stop to it (hey, they're not crazy, why would they vote against their immediate interests), and violently cut it out of the system.

Maybe, and just maybe (haven't crunched the numbers), within a generation, when few factors align (war-disabled die off, unemployed numbers increase even more), the actual critical mass of value-adding work-force outweighs the tumor, brighter days await us. And even that is under assumption there will be an election choice that'll be catalyst for those changes at that point.

I personally don't hold an optimist view. Hell, even our geographical geometric shape looks unstable and unnatural. War ended by higher powers putting a stop to it, not resolution. And as far as EU membership goes - meh, we're again at the age-old role of a border country as a proxy for keeping the region stable and keeping the muslims out. Important role, but hardly grateful.

Not to end on a completely sour note - I did notice a sentiment of unity last few years. Particulary noted during holiday sales (or the lack of excessive spending), people seem to coalesce in misery, slowly perceiving that we're in this shit together, unlike during last two decades, where they would aspire beyond means, due to many factors including prominence of war-profiteers. Like my grandma said: "It was never worse here during my lifetime. After WWII at least everyone was poor."

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8649090

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

Spandex suits for everyone!

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8580862

Points: 2

# Comments: 2

In my book, it's simple - if I have a maxim "do not be an asshole", then I won't be. If I do not, but instead "unseat a corrupt taxi monopoly", then I'm bound to be an asshole in some of my actions. If I have both, they're bound to clash in some subset - there's no synergy of limitations.

And, like my thread sibling stated, paraphrased, you're bound to be marked an asshole by some anyways, whether you're Gandhi or Zuckerberg.

There's N options for optimal action, some more in category of "asshole", some more in "non-asshole".

Blanket statement all "asshole" actions are non-optimal is a pretty huge leap of faith.

The real question you should be asking yourself is optimal for what? Your statement (or sentiment at the very least) says you're optimizing for not being an "asshole", in which case, you're correct. That's also the only case where you're fully correct.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8498228

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8476007

Points: 3

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Now we just need to get 7.2 billion minus 2 people on-board.

Your units suck.

You can teach almost everyone to perform "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" on piano or "Smoke on the Water" on guitar within 15 minutes, both of which are de facto "Hello world!" equivalents to many aspiring musicians.

EDIT: Removed attempt at drawing a HTML/music analogy which could be closer to truth. It is really fruitless endeavour, makes no sense.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8452320

Points: 79

# Comments: 73