szferi's recent activity
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Comment on What will prevent this site from becoming Reddit 2.0? in ~tildes
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Comment on The Correspondent will stop publishing on 1 January 2021 in ~news
szferi Link ParentI was a member until recently. I think they delivered on the promise of the ”unbreaking news.” However, I agree that the topics they chose were not diverse enough (too many social justice issues...I was a member until recently. I think they delivered on the promise of the ”unbreaking news.” However, I agree that the topics they chose were not diverse enough (too many social justice issues to my taste, almost no science, only - very agenda-driven - tech criticism, etc.) What topics did you miss?
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Comment on The games people play with cash flow in ~finance
szferi Link ParentAs someone who lives in a country with a 27% VAT rate, I assure you I could write another 5000 world article about the ”Games people play with VAT.”As someone who lives in a country with a 27% VAT rate, I assure you I could write another 5000 world article about the ”Games people play with VAT.”
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~finance
szferi Link ParentMost of the MSCI ESG Integration indexes are reweighting ones. Eg. MSCI ESG Universal IndexMost of the MSCI ESG Integration indexes are reweighting ones. Eg. MSCI ESG Universal Index
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~finance
szferi LinkAs you described, there are basically two strategies you can follow: find indexes that fit your preferences or invest in the preferred companies directly. Unfortunately, if you have less than 100k...As you described, there are basically two strategies you can follow: find indexes that fit your preferences or invest in the preferred companies directly. Unfortunately, if you have less than 100k investment, your options are very limited, so in that case, I would pick ETFs, which are following ESG indexes and accepting compromise. Above that, there are robo advisors which focussed on ESG investing and some of the offer ”custom index” solutions which can help you to manage a large number of direct stock in investments for a reasonable cost, but it is more of the 500k+ game. Be aware that the cost of ESG investment can be much higher than broad index funds (e.g., 50 bps v 7bps)
If you are willing to make even more compromise, you can find indexes that are not excluding specific industries or companies but underwriting them based on certain ESG scores. These products tend to have better cost/performance characteristics. -
Comment on Understanding measurement issues is key to understanding ‘economic growth’ in ~finance
szferi LinkI use macro data all day long. Even in countries like the US, not all data is equally reliable and we use various techniques to post-process them. Bayesian techniques are typically applied...I use macro data all day long. Even in countries like the US, not all data is equally reliable and we use various techniques to post-process them. Bayesian techniques are typically applied assuming measurement errors around every datapoints. But for countries like China and Nigeria or any other one outside of OECD, it is common practice to not use the GDP data directly, but re-estimate them from higher frequency more reliable data, sometimes not even measured by the given country stat office. There are also interesting crowdsourcing experiences to collect data directly from the field like Wordbank food price data and Premise.
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Comment on The refined sociopathy of The Economist in ~news
szferi Link ParentCould you give the link or title to those example articles that motivated you?Could you give the link or title to those example articles that motivated you?
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Comment on Help me think about the next step in my life in ~life
szferi Link ParentLog analysis refers to the broad spectrum of techniques to basically data-mine the logs generated by applications, operating systems, etc. For example, I worked on the system, which predicted DDoS...Log analysis refers to the broad spectrum of techniques to basically data-mine the logs generated by applications, operating systems, etc. For example, I worked on the system, which predicted DDoS attack using logs from various ISP's routers. In distributed systems, you can apply these techniques to identify performance issues and correlate errors, especially if you collect application traces and system logs into the same system.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~comp
szferi LinkIf you want to be a world's best in some particular field of programming, it is good to know what kind of strategy you have to follow to reach that goal. Otherwise, the metaphor is not that...If you want to be a world's best in some particular field of programming, it is good to know what kind of strategy you have to follow to reach that goal. Otherwise, the metaphor is not that useful. My hunch is that any job is a "losers game" in a corporate environment: the only thing you have to focus on is to make less error than most of your peers. That encourages the minimization of risk-taking.
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Comment on Help me think about the next step in my life in ~life
szferi LinkBased on your background, I would suggest looking into data science and machine learning, especially the time series analysis part of these fields. It can combine both of your IT and your...-
Based on your background, I would suggest looking into data science and machine learning, especially the time series analysis part of these fields. It can combine both of your IT and your financial math interest. It seems narrow, but time series analysis can be applied to log analysis, security, performance analysis of distributed systems, as well as the obvious ones like a prediction of web site visits and business performance of SaaS and e-commerce companies.
(I'm a physics working in fintech and this knowledge served me well in the last 20+ years). -
It is hard to start as a freelancer if you have no tangible experience in the given field. I would suggest applying to a junior position in an IT/Cloud infrastructure company or fintech and spend 2-3 years there to get the experience.
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It sometimes helps in hiring if you worked on some open source projects in some capacity.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
szferi Link ParentYou can use Angular form builder to build reactive forms dynamically from the JSON representations. This might help: https://angular.io/guide/dynamic-formYou can use Angular form builder to build reactive forms dynamically from the JSON representations. This might help: https://angular.io/guide/dynamic-form
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Comment on What are lost continents, and why are we discovering so many? in ~science
szferi LinkI just stumbled upon this topic, and I found the discovery of Zealandia in 2017 especially interesting. However, I did not find recent updates about the progress.I just stumbled upon this topic, and I found the discovery of Zealandia in 2017 especially interesting. However, I did not find recent updates about the progress.
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What are lost continents, and why are we discovering so many?
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Comment on Many Japanese children refuse to go to school in ~life
szferi LinkJust to have context, there are over 1 million new entrants for the elementary schools every year in Japan and over 3 million total number of students....Just to have context, there are over 1 million new entrants for the elementary schools every year in Japan and over 3 million total number of students. https://www.mext.go.jp/en/publication/statistics/title01/detail01/1373636.htm#02
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech
szferi LinkWhen I teach AI/ML for executives, I always argue that the intelligence in the name of the filed AI is misleading since what most of the research and practical applications are focusing on is to...When I teach AI/ML for executives, I always argue that the intelligence in the name of the filed AI is misleading since what most of the research and practical applications are focusing on is to create “rational agents”. Being rational can be achieved with constraint optimization. So do not even expecting anything remotely human intelligence like solutions from AI techniques is a good prior now. However, I also argue that you do not need artificial general intelligence to change fundamentally how our society works. Linear regression - which is the posterchild of curve fitting - changed how we do every almost everything science and engineering related.
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Comment on In a new report, Penn State political scientists suggest that radicalization on YouTube is driven by communities that form around right-wing content more than the recommendation engine in ~tech
szferi LinkI just watched Tom Scott's presentation about related topics at the Royal Society: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leX541Dr2rU It summarizes well, among other related things, what could be the...I just watched Tom Scott's presentation about related topics at the Royal Society: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leX541Dr2rU It summarizes well, among other related things, what could be the driving forces behind radicalization and the current state of affairs in online communications, especially on YouTube.
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Comment on What are you doing this weekend? in ~talk
szferi LinkI'm working through myself on this list of videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3A50BB9C34AB36B3 It is about Fast Growing Hierarchy and all sort of related topics.I'm working through myself on this list of videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3A50BB9C34AB36B3 It is about Fast Growing Hierarchy and all sort of related topics.
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Comment on Hungary is lost in ~misc
szferi LinkI would argue - living through the modern history of Hungary since the "method change" - that Hungary never was and still not a real democracy. Mainly because there were never good independent...I would argue - living through the modern history of Hungary since the "method change" - that Hungary never was and still not a real democracy. Mainly because there were never good independent institutions and civil society. Therefore, democracy cannot be dead in Hungary since never was born. Nevertheless, the recent autocratic tendencies are the worst of all the times I lived through. For example, I personally was threaded by the current regime because I was chairman of the board of a foundation which was listed on an unfamous "Soros bérenc" list and unlawfully questioned by authorities. I fought back with legal technique and I won in an extent that they instead focused their threatening effort for the organizations which had a weaker legal war chest. Since then I try to minimize my interaction to the Hungarian society as much as possible even though I physically still living there because of my family obligations.
Having said that, I think the main driver of the current events is that they feel real existential threat that and even more integrated EU might pose to smaller countries like Hungary. Whether this treat is realistic or not (I don't think and even if it is that the current strategy is not the winning one to mitigate this risk) it does not matter because it allows to position and dictate the public discourse.
I think however that as most of the time during history the economic effects of the current political strategy will dictate the faith of the current rules. And that for I'm optimistic that this period will end since it won't be able to provide long term sustainable growth especially for their own voting bases. That is the curse of populism in general. They are not really good at increasing and dividing the economic pie. Therefore, I believe Hungary won't lost forever. -
Comment on Business Idea in ~talk
szferi Link ParentFirst of all, if you get a really good feedback from potential customers, and you already ready to deliver then there is no good reason to back of even if you find a bigger market opportunity. You...First of all, if you get a really good feedback from potential customers, and you already ready to deliver then there is no good reason to back of even if you find a bigger market opportunity. You can always explore if you have cash. Sales can solve every problem in a startup. If your growth you will be able to find your CEO as well, but you can learn it as you go. So I would suggest keeping going with your original plan until you really hit the wall.
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Comment on What are you working on this weekend? in ~comp
szferi Link ParentCan you find new phase transitions and critical points? What are the input and output layers? If you can send the presentation I would be interested.Can you find new phase transitions and critical points? What are the input and output layers? If you can send the presentation I would be interested.
While the original mission of this site is foucused on peventing the situation the OP described, I think the lack of scale (above a million+ user base a small percentage of bad actor can generate significant amout of toxic content) and incentives for fast growth as well as the lack of recommendation system (less likely those toxic content will be promoted) can help a lot.