vfourier

I never, ever had a single good experience with any product that was bought as a result of persuasion by human sales person, as opposed to careful research by the buyer who was then the one to initiate the purchase. This has held true both in my personal life and my work life as a software engineer.

Now I don't know the coffee industry, but the same principles should hold where if you're about to drop $30k on an espresso machine, it should be after you've read reviews from trusted industry professionals, talked to people who've used that particular model, ... (read more)

You start the curriculum with the following:

> Despite our superior technology, there are many things that Western countries could do in the past that we can’t today—e.g. rapidly build large-scale infrastructure, maintain low-crime cities, and run competent bureaucracies.

Which seems to be objectively false. There is a huge range in terms of infrastructure capacity, crime rate and bureaucratic competence in Western countries. Cities in the Netherlands, Norway, Estonia, Croatia, are among the safest in the world. Spain has doubled its amount of high-speed ... (read more)