1. rustybelt Mar 26, 2023 parent

   I really do like this story, but there is also a part of me that reacts by thinking "Easy for world-famous novelists Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut to chuckle about they have talent, notoriety, and respect that no amount of money could buy and couldn't have been achieved by chasing wealth. For the rest of us toiling away in the rat race, hedge fund billions sound pretty great!"
2. rustybelt Feb 4, 2023 parent

   Isn't excess CO2 the literal cause of climate change? What is the actual cause if not that?
3. rustybelt Dec 12, 2022 parent

   "I wonder if it's because some of those at the mid-to-level making these decisions are under the same market pressures as the rest of us to show they've actually 'done sometime'"

   Definitely true. Also don't discount the influence of good old fashioned corruption - cash kickbacks, job promises, gifts, etc., I've seen IT contracting decisions so dumb that graft is far and away the most logical explanation.

4. rustybelt Dec 8, 2022 parent

   My low-code exposure is mostly limited to Microsoft SSIS, but my experience is that the only people skilled enough to build reliable and maintainable packages were already good coders.
5. rustybelt Nov 21, 2022 parent

   I disagree, yes zoning changes could be needed, but the presence of more daytime workers at home in suburban areas creates new opportunities for restaurants, coffee shops, and other conveniences that cater to those workers.
6. rustybelt Oct 21, 2022 parent

   I'll go a step further and defend "busywork". Unfortunately we don't live in a perfectly efficient society so being able to learn and execute a formulaic task that might not seem valuable is a necessary skill for most adults. Especially since individual actors may not have all the necessary information to fully assess the value of a task within a larger framework.
7. rustybelt Oct 3, 2022 parent

   I think this is a fair criticism. It seems very plausible that Davidson's reputation has fallen among students and more importantly parents in the last twenty years. As the parent of a 9th grader, I would much prefer her attend our state flagship (UIUC) than somewhere like Davidson. My parents on the other hand were much more impressed with those types of smaller private schools and encouraged me to attend one. Anecdotal, but I think this attitude is fairly representative of the mindset of older millennial parents I talk to.
8. rustybelt Oct 3, 2022 parent

   This one blows my mind. I wasn't the brightest student in college but knew enough to show up everyday. I still remember walking into Calc II on 9/11/2001. The professor (a Jesuit priest) was leading the class in prayer. At least 80% of the kids in that class showed up.
9. rustybelt Oct 3, 2022 parent

   I think you are greatly over-estimating how often students are seeking help asynchronously. If the professor was actually flooded with texts and emails from engaged students who just have different communication expectations, I think that would have been mentioned in the article especially in the list of possible ways to improve. It seems more likely that the students are not attempting to engage at all.
10. rustybelt Oct 3, 2022 parent

    Not really comparable as long as the corporations are still subject to market influence. Corporations that become so powerful they can ignore the wishes of their customers exhibit many of the same flaws as totalitarian governments.
11. rustybelt Oct 3, 2022 parent

    Props to Dell on this front. I just installed Mint on a 2018 Latitude and it was easier than installing Windows. Everything just works including things like shortcut keys for volume and brightness. With what Valve is doing with proton and Linux gaming support, I'm as bullish as ever on the linux desktop.
12. rustybelt Sep 21, 2022 parent

    Healthcare too. Cheap debt and outsized investment returns have been keeping health systems fat for years.
13. rustybelt Sep 19, 2022 parent

    Was it? How many plumbers, carpenters, or electricians came out of ITT tech?
14. rustybelt Sep 19, 2022 parent

    GTA V came out in 2013. "The world" has changed considerably.
15. rustybelt Sep 16, 2022 parent

    Trust me, I see your point. I was trying to be diplomatic considering the dominant perspective.
16. rustybelt Sep 16, 2022 parent

    Minor niche subreddits are the only things that keep me on the site. The default subs are universally awful.
17. rustybelt Sep 16, 2022 parent

    Unless the entire narrative you laid out is the result of a propaganda campaign. I don't think it is in this case, but the presence of this quantity of bots pushing a certain perspective does make me question my assumptions and worry how I'm being influenced in cases that are not nearly as black and white as Ukraine vs Russia.
18. rustybelt Sep 6, 2022 parent

    Yes, but those issues are due to modern farming practices. They're not inherent to beef as a food source. Cattle have been used for millennia to convert inedible plants growing on marginal land into human food.
19. rustybelt Sep 1, 2022 parent

    If you read the article their appeal to the state supreme court actually increased the judgement from $31 million to $36 million, so continuing to appeal may have been a poor choice.
20. rustybelt Aug 1, 2022 parent

    Totally agree. Taiwanese immigration should be made as easy as possible. Create special tax benefits for people with semiconductor experience to come over and help relaunch the industry in the US. Tax breaks, citizenship, family benefits should all be on the table. I really can't think of a downside.
21. rustybelt Jul 28, 2022 parent

    I know I've cut back on fast food because both product and service quality have declined dramatically, likely due to staffing shortages. Long wait times, cold food, and incorrect orders have pushed me to the point of staying away. It's a weird time, and it's hard to untangle all these additional factors. That said, I'm sure higher prices are having an impact as well.
22. rustybelt Jul 22, 2022 parent

    I've watched a number of friends, family, and acquaintances move out to Colorado over the past decade. Several of them even proclaimed that our home region, the upper midwest, was dying on their way out. I really try to avoid indulging in schadenfreude, but it's tough sometimes.
23. rustybelt Jul 21, 2022 parent

    It’s famously administered to all nfl quarterbacks. Tom Brady got a 33.
24. rustybelt Jul 21, 2022 parent

    A quick google says that 26.8% of drivers killed or severely injured in a car accident had alcohol in their system. Not drinking and driving significantly reduces your risk.
25. rustybelt Jul 21, 2022 parent

    How? The 26.8% is just drivers with alcohol in their system. If I never drink and drive, I will never be part of that group. That means the raw rate of traffic fatality or severe injury is 26.8% lower for people like me (non drunk drivers.)
26. rustybelt Jul 21, 2022 parent

    Reduce risk, not eliminate it. Do idiots and non-idiots have the same risk of getting into an accident?
27. rustybelt Jul 21, 2022 parent

    A quick google is telling me that 26.8% of drivers who were killed or severely injured had alcohol in their bloodstream. Assuming that's true, then wouldn't never drinking and driving reduce your risk of death or serious injury by around 26.8%? That seems like a substantial reduction that is completely in the control of the driver.
28. rustybelt Jul 21, 2022 parent

    Yes, but if half of all accidents involve idiots, not being an idiot is a legitimate way to reduce your risk of being in an accident. Meaning drivers do have some control over their level of risk behind the wheel.
29. rustybelt Jul 21, 2022 parent

    I don't think you can completely discard all comparisons, but people are intuitively right to recognize that if they don't engage in risky behavior (like drunk driving) they're less at risk of being in an accident. To argue otherwise is basically saying driving drunk is no more risky than driving sober.
30. rustybelt Jul 21, 2022 parent

    Are you arguing that drivers don't have any control over their level of risk on the road? Sure they can't eliminate 100% of risk, but not speeding and not driving drunk absolutely influences a driver's likelihood of being in an accident.

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