Viewing profile — phil248

"universally a negative + derogatory" No it isn't. It's often hilarious, as in the above example. And in that one episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. You wouldn't use it in mixed comp…

The negative health impact of smoking tobacco is so massive that it's pretty hard for anything to top it. Could vaping be worse than smoking cigarettes over a 40-year period? Maybe…

Many, many sales people would say... sales.

Even if your demand was valid, the first demand should be "stop driving gas-powered cars!" long before you ever get far enough down the list to talk about air travel.

Most of the people I see litter in SF already have zero social credit and don't look like they're trying to earn any.

It varies dramatically. Some people have to endure scorn from their managers and lose pay in order to handle important tasks in their lives. They may end up losing their jobs. Othe…

It's a good time to remember that the vast majority of people never use Twitter. The media has had a fixation with the platform for as long as I can remember, which has helped it g…

Given the trajectory of most developing economies away from industrial growth and towards service growth, is this really so bad? Wouldn't we expect industrial output to peak and de…

Young people did start voting. In 2018 there was a 16 point jump from 2014. Much higher than the 11 point overall increase.

There is no reasonable justification and I find it nearly impossible not to view this decision as either a petty jab at California and Obama, or some red meat for the base, or both…

In this case, not much. The automakers don't want the rules to change and are extremely unlikely to start retooling factories since this is a temporary situation.

"stretching the limits of current human capacity - but not exceeding them" That means "feasible". As for inexpensive, it may be a poor word choice, but the alternative is launching…

I used to be like that about physical keyboards on smartphones, but I gave up that battle years ago. Same with headphone jacks. All I want now is more than one USB input! That work…

Let's hope it doesn't come to... defenestration!

Given the increasing public backlash to football-related injuries, specifically brain injuries, this is likely a problem that will solve itself over time. There's an increasingly s…

Sort of, but most bike rental places will charge you a fairly hefty fee (some places I know charge around $200-$300). With the scooters, you just have to find a different scooter a…

That is not how cities work.

Which is an oddly elaborate way of saying that rent increases in California can happen annually.

Luckily for all of us, this law will not create a new class of rent control prisoners/devotees because the allowable increases are too high.

This is simply about spreading out massive rent hikes over the course of a few years instead of a few months. It gives families time to adapt or move. The allowable increases under…

I'm shocked at the ideological fervor here and the fact that virtually no one seems to have looked at the details of the actual bill. This is nothing like the rent control ordinanc…

Most rent control implementations are far too restrictive and create severe market distortions that can last generations. This one, thankfully, is not, and the allowable increases …

This program is vastly different than the program you are criticizing, in case you actually care.

...and completing all of those forms flawlessly, as a layperson, lest you open yourself to any number of lawsuits. Just the thought of it makes me nervous. It's why large companies…