- supertrope parentAs new moms tend to change their consumer purchasing habits they are coveted by advertisers. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.h... Certain cohorts and keywords are very valuable so even searching a medical condition once or clicking on a hiring ad for an in-demand job can shift ads toward that direction for a long time.
- While businesses hate being a dumb pipe and love vendor lock in, lots of customers choose dependence on big tech. Each retail business that only has a Facebook page to save the cost of hiring a web developer reinforces this dependence.
- The business model of Facebook, YouTube, traditional TV, app stores, and yes video games depend on people not touching grass.
- If it's more profitable to keep your money under a mattress than to make things, provide services, or provide loans, the economy will tilt toward hoarding cash instead of more productive activities.
- Educating and socializing kids takes more than 180 days a year. It takes a village to raise a kid. Think of all the things you learned from your parents, your extended family, your sports coach, your neighbor, or the manager of the corner store you frequented. Did you ever have a lesson at school about tying your shoe laces? How did you learn that advertisements don't have tell the truth?
Teaching to the test is about pulling low achieving students up to standard, not so much about supporting high performing students. Even though a lot of difference between a good school district and bad school district comes down to out of classroom factors like socioeconomic class and parental involvement, the district gets praise or blame. The district can't fix food insecurity, absent parents, abuse, and anti-intellectual attitudes. But it can focus those 180 days on reading and math and specifically what's on the test.
- "Dad, download the PDF and then email it to me."
"The file disappeared. I can't find it."
"Look in the download folder."
"How do I get to that?"
- Even when the phones on both ends use IP calling technology, the interconnection between phone companies is usually not IP.
- iCloud backups are something normal people do each time they plug in their phone.
- No. SS7 predates cellphones. It's the legacy control plane for the PSTN (public switched telephone network). It was never designed for security since it originally never crossed corporate boundaries as everyone had to use the monopoly provider. (Except for international calls).
- Media mail is a way to make the USPS subsidize schools, teachers, and students. Fiction books are used in English classes so they are considered educational. They set the rules in a way that's enforceable. Imagine if they required you to show ID to prove that you're a student or teacher, or the clerk had to make a judgement on whether or not something is educational. It's easier to consider books all okay for the discount and (magazine shaped) comics not okay.
This circuitous way of subsidizing education costs reflects America's aversion to taxes and cash transfers. The USPS does not take tax dollars, it's entirely funded by postage (electric vehicle funding is an exception). Yet it is expected to forego revenue for mostly public education services. Teachers must front the cost of some school supplies which they can deduct from their Federal taxes (up to a $300 limit). Other "It's not a tax" tricks include shifting some city services to the HOA level (HOA fees are not a tax), requiring private businesses to provide free or discounted service to the government and low income customers, and raising user fees for government services.
- I understand your concern about software quality. We are deeply committed to delivering the highest standards of the industry, having a customer focused culture, and delivering win-wins in AI digital transformations that excite. Let’s circle back and touch base on this later when we have more bandwidth. Okay?
- Fraud is knowingly deceiving others for material gain.
- Bureaucracies begrudgingly allow a few shortcuts to exist so they can respond to regulators and media attention. But once enough customers realize it exists they will shut it down and raise the bar to keep the vast majority of peasants herded down the profitable happy path.
- The hospitals and insurers are locked in a Red Queen Race. The hospital bills for 10x actual market value. The insurer touts they are getting you a 90% discount. The individual who got sick or injured gets crushed in the middle.
- In a bazaar you can examine the fruit or rug yourself.
An average person cannot call up $750K in a year to pay for cancer treatment. But for-profit businesses (and any organization for that matter) treat you much better if keep the carrot of another payment in front of their face. If you've forked over the whole wad of cash upfront they immediately de-prioritize keeping you satisfied.
- Warning! As grotesque as health insurance companies are, in theory they are obligated to pay valid claims under your policy. Health sharing ministries can exercise discretion to deny payment because they disagree with your lifestyle choices. Or for any reason or no reason given at all. They are subject to far fewer regulations and audits and in some extreme cases the administrators just pocketed the money.
- At Costco Pharmacy I stopped using my insurance plan as the co-pay was more than the no claim cash price. I learned later that my health insurance company owns its own pharmacy and they design the claims process to bias you toward their own pharmacy. Since medical loss ratio must exceed 85% on employer health plans they realize their excess profits by jacking up prices at their pharmacy subsidiary and using their pharmacy benefit manager subsidiary and insurance product to steer you toward overpaying if you just take their suggestion (e.g. $100 if you use OptumRX mail order Pharmacy for the "savings" versus $20 cash price from Costco).
- Even for politicians who are not absorbed in wedge issues, meaningful reform is a long term task. It would require multiple elections in a row showing that there is a durable political coalition for universal healthcare.
- Even if you keep your plan it's getting enshittified every year.
It's that time of year again - enroll for 2026 benefits. My employer raised employee premiums by 10%, raised the deductible, added more administrative burden such as "step therapy" (the insurance company denies your claim for a drug until you've tried a cheaper but less effective drug, even if you've already done "step therapy" while on another health plan!) Your employer will change the plan premiums and structure every single year. They can lay you off, exclude expensive drugs, exclude doctors, etc. Some specialties like anesthesiology and psychiatry are usually not in network. In extreme cases an employer can change health administrators mid-year and your deductible will reset.
https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/health-industries/libra... https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/workplace-health-insu...
- As Lawrence Lessig put it: before the general election and before the primary election, there is a "Lester" election where donors choose who is able to mount a campaign. Candidates are effectively pre-qualified by 0.0005% of Americans. It's probably an even smaller crowd than that as that includes Joe Nobody who gives $20. Those who "bundle" $1 million in donations or write a mega check themselves have exponentially more access.
- Always buy standards based equipment. 802.3af, 802.3at, 802.3bt. You can label cables and jacks with red lettering (“Passive PoE. will fry your laptop port. Really!”) but it only takes one mistake to let the magic smoke out.
- I switched to dual booting. I only boot Windows for Steam. I wish there was a way to disable the pop-up asking to format the unknown (ext4) partition.
- Iranians who who have become US citizens cannot renounce their Iranian citizenship because their country of origin refuses.
- Lower end jobs tend to be unforgiving on not planting your butt in seat at the scheduled time. I find the higher end your job the less BS you are forced to endure. e.g. No drug tests, no doctor's note to justify sick leave. If there's a layoff there's severance. Flex time.
There are some accommodations for poor drivers. Politicians loath to raise fuel tax. This shifts costs of roads from drivers onto general taxpayers. Car insurance limits are the same as in the 1970s. This shifts cost of accidents from poor drivers onto accident victims who are not fully compensated. Emissions testing and safety testing is either not done at all or waived for drivers who claim hardship.
- Housing and transportation should be considered a single budget category. If you can get rid of a second car but pay $500/mo more in rent it could be a wash.
- Cities could create bus and bike lanes literally overnight. Load up a truck with concrete parking curbs and cones and drop them. No one is going to bike until the infrastructure makes it safe and convenient. Like safe enough to let a kid or 65 year old woman bike.
We just choose to continue subsidizing a triangle of car dependency. The government finances toll-free roads, mandates parking minimums, and enforces restrictive zoning. Businesses and real estate consumers pick up the tab on the real cost of free parking (higher rents and mortgages, parking garage construction costs). Drivers pour money into car loans, insurance, maintenance, and fuel.
- A common advertising technique is to exploit peoples' problems. Buy Product(tm) and your problem(s) will be solved! Sometimes this problem doesn't even exist but the advertiser will exploit your fear. If you don't buy Product(tm) for your family you don't love them/are putting them in danger/you are not a real man!
- I don't think gp comment is advocating doing a cash out re-finance, but to exploit leverage when first financing the purchase.
I used to be very debt averse. Owing a six figure sum seemed like a huge burden. Now I understand that mortgagees are non-callable. If you put 20% down that removes a lot of risk of being underwater. Fannie Mae is eating inflation risk for you. It's a way of smoothing expenses over multiple life stages. With a 30 year mortgage you can get a smaller payment when you're younger, earning less, and paying for daycare. When you're older you're earning more, might be an empty nester, and inflation has made each payment easier. By not rushing to pay off low interest debt you've effectively transferred money from 50 year old you to 30 year old you.
If you stayed employed, locked in a 3% mortgage, and contributed to your 401k, you won the wealth re-distribution game of 2020-2022.
- This is analogous to why houses listed for sale are so bland. Realtors and sellers stage the property to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. Even if you could elicit a stronger response from a niche of buyers who love a certain amenity it's a surer bet to appeal to the lowest common denominator.
- Please make sure to throw away your Kleenex before stepping onto the Escalator.