Live data from Hacker News

Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US

nytimes.com

91–100 of 273 posts

Re: Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US

#92
There's something comically evil looking about Ballmer, almost the Emperor from Star Wars.

A former Microsoft exec wondering what the government does with money? A lot landed in his pockets I suspect, but it's good he's philanthropic now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vhh_GeBPOhs.

Re: Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US

#93
post #3
post #2

I am very eager to see what's in store here when it goes live. If indeed it contains accurate, unbiased and factual data then it is a great project. And it is about time someone did it. I wish it was citizen funded instead of rich individuals (even if the intentions are good). But I will take what I can get for now.

I'll get excited when it comes out. What is in it for ballmer?

I've made databases to scratch an itch before and this is that, but at a curious billionaire scale. Sounds like an a fun project to work on.

Re: Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US

#95
post #27

m$ has got so much better since he left.

Seems to me lots of companies make $ Do they all get a derogatory psuedonym? adob$ amaz$ face$ goog$ mailchim$ etc etc etc or is the negativity reserved for M$ Suggesting there is something wrong with a software company because it makes money seems to be a blow in from 1990's militant open source philosophy and probably best left in the 1990s.

> adob$ amaz$ face$ goog$ mailchim$ etc etc etc

It doesn't help that not one of your examples is replacing an 's' with a '$'.

Adob€ and Goog£€ have some potential though.

Re: Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US

#96
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The UI is actually making me feel angry, for some reason I can't put my finger on.

Could it be the front-and-center red * bolded * text? Or perhaps the logo with the clipped words?

Hehe that might be part of it, I actually feel claustrophobic reading it. A neutron star of text and links.

Re: Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US

#97
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Mn1N0ssZsUs

He was featured on the A&E show Biography , and one of his high school math teachers said that Ballmer never once got a math problem wrong, which I found incredible in the true sense of the word.

Did he emphasise the "once"? Crucial bit of info here ;)

Re: Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US

#98

And in related news, Trump killed open.gov today. https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170414/13382037153/trump...

The article you link to says it was last week. This was the selective publication of White House visitor logs online. Those logs still need to be submitted to the national archive.

You can freely object to such changes. But the second people start spinning it into something much worse than what it is. I feel like they are playing politics and don't really care.

Re: Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US

#99

> “How many people work for government in the United States?” he asked, with the excitement of a child showing off a new toy, before displaying the answer. “Almost 24 million." Directly, sure. Indirectly, a lot more. By indirectly, I mean companies that do government contract work.

And how often are those contractors the target of budget cuts, and how often do nurses, teachers and so on end up bearing the brunt of them?

Re: Steve Ballmer serves up a data trove about government spending in the US

#100
post #8

The article mentions that the data shows a huge allocation of resources to education. Why is education publicly funded in the USA, and not left to market forces? Can't that be considered a "socialist" policy?

Are there any countries where education is not publicly funded? What are those countries' education systems like?
Post reply on HN