161–170 of 224 posts
FWIW the person you're replying to represents everything that is bad about HN. If you read his post history you'd be lead to believe he's an industry insider in: Shipping, Irrigation, Crypto Currencies, Genetics, Nano Technology, Manufacturing, Microkernels and a lot more if you keep going back. There was a time I believed his posts, until I read one of his mini-essays on a topic I happened to know about (cryptograph…
FWIW the person you're replying to represents everything that is bad about HN. If you read his post history you'd be lead to believe he's an industry insider in: Shipping, Irrigation, Crypto Currencies, Genetics, Nano Technology, Manufacturing, Microkernels and a lot more if you keep going back. There was a time I believed his posts, until I read one of his mini-essays on a topic I happened to know about (cryptograph…
I think he's annoyed because I criticized the poor auditability of Bitcoin. Yes, you can tell if someone received Bitcoins at some address. What you can't tell is whether they still have exclusive control of them. If someone else has a copy of the private key, the coins can disappear at any time. This happens in practice all too often. (Yeah, multi-sig, etc.. Not that it helped Bitfinex.)
As I know absolutely nothing about the shipping industry or Hanjin, what is your background or interest in it?
I shipped my stuff from Beijing to LA a month and a half ago, without seeing it on this side yet (takes 1-2 months). Hoping it is not stuck on one of these boats!
Hrrm, best of luck with that. Are you finally bailing on China, Sean?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wondered about that too. What if they all decided to simply abandon ship and head for land, leaving a ship to flounder and possibly become a hazard to other vessels or cause an environmental problem when it crashes into a reef or similar?
The officers, at the very least, would be criminally liable.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think he's annoyed because I criticized the poor auditability of Bitcoin. Yes, you can tell if someone received Bitcoins at some address. What you can't tell is whether they still have exclusive control of them. If someone else has a copy of the private key, the coins can disappear at any time. This happens in practice all too often. (Yeah, multi-sig, etc.. Not that it helped Bitfinex.)
That wasn't what I was referring to, and although I hold very little interest in bitcoin, I do know enough that "[...] you can't count it without access to the keys that let you spend it." is fundamentally wrong. However, I'm glad you have since refined your stance to something more tenable, but anyway, let's not get too off topic. As I know absolutely nothing about the shipping industry or Hanjin, what is your backg…
We have overcapacity that could lead to the formation of cartels if profit margins remain small. We need more companies in this game, not less, but with overcapacity, who would like to join?
This is a mess because Hanjin's top management was in denial about the possibility of bankruptcy. Just like the typical startup. They've been trying for months to get a bailout deal from somebody, anybody - a merger, loans, their parent chaebol, their stockholders (Korean Air is the largest), or the S. Korean government. Everybody turned them down. There's too much container ship capacity right now; nobody needed Han…
> This is a mess because Hanjin's top management was in denial about the possibility of bankruptcy. Just like the typical startup. Just like pretty much anybody. Everyone keeps hoping against hope, everyone is afraid to show weakness, and nobody likes to tell the boss no. Typically the staff knows for months that the end is nigh until some minor event precipitates the final undeniable crisis. Megan McArdle has some i…