I don't really remember for sure, honestly. If I really cared that much about this story I would just Google it and get the answer. You could do the same if you are so inclined.
In the second place, distilling issues down to "dick pics" is part of the problem with the modern media.
It also diminishes the issue. I don't give a shit if the government gets a look at my dick. That is the absolute least of my concerns with the NSA spying.
What I do care about is the government building a profile on me of everyone that I communicate with and storing all of those communications. If one of my facebook friends teams up with one of my cellphone contacts and goes all rogue crockpot bombing Islamic terrorist, I don't want to get roped into that by association.
Has this guy seen Detroit? You can't distinguish it from a missile strike.
I love how this got an "Insightful" mod instead of a "Funny"!
Conservative friend here. (Well, I'm someone's conservative friend. Maybe not OP's conservative friend.)
If memory serves, the story in this case was that the couple had both suffered job loss at roughly the same time and were long-term unemployed. The Mercedes was already paid for from back when the happy couple had jobs. In order to "look the part" of being poor, they would have had to have replaced the Mercedes for a beater that almost certainly would have been more expensive to maintain than the 'Benz. That would not have been a sound financial decision.
I understand the perceived inconsistency of someone pulling up to the welfare office in a Mercedes, but it also seems that some people are a little eager to rush to judgment.
People with STEM degrees have lower unemployment, and higher salaries. To say there is a "glut" relative to humanities is silly.
This really depends on what part of STEM you studied.
I have some colleagues with PhDs in either Chemistry or Physics, and they all tell me the same thing: if you go for a career in one of those two sciences, you should gear up for going through PhD level and then several minimum wage post-docs and then pray to your deity of choice that you are hired for a teaching position or something in industry because if you are not, you have become so specialized that you are unemployable.
I may have missed a few details, but the refrain is the same: some people do very well in those fields but most people are chewed up and spat out with very little to show for it. People with the brains to get to those level in those fields would be well-advised to choose some other field if they care about their future career.
As for me, I have a "lowly" degree in the Social Sciences and I'm happy with my career progression.
College is for many kids the first time you will live away from home, with all the distractions and temptations of the real world - but without losing your job and ending up homeless if you get too drunk and are too hung over to go to class the next day.
Oh, right, because nobody in high-pressure professions would ever, ever get shitfaced drunk all the time!
The only difference between my drinking during college and my drinking after college was that after college, I got fucked up on good alcohol because I could afford to no longer drink swill!
I'm probably older than you, my friend. I've had contracts end. Whatever, it's just business. I don't really care if I get notice or not. My rates are based on working only 9 months out of the year. If they want knowledge transfer sessions, they give me notice. If not, no skin off my back.
companies in the US no longer DESEVE 2 weeks notice. the rules are no longer valid; they won't give YOU notice. don't give them any courtesy they won't give you.
Most companies do pay a severance package, and it's normally more than 2 weeks' pay.
Comments like this leaving me wondering why anyone should bother giving two weeks notice. Just tell the company at the end of the day, "I'm leaving and not coming back."
I've been around the block a few times, and I have many times seen the situation where someone leaves a position and later comes back to work for the same employer. For better or for worse, not giving your 2 weeks is considered "burning the bridge".
Besides, what do you lose by giving 2 weeks? Worst that happens is you get 2 weeks' pay for doing no work.
If a single person can take down a company - beware what an unsolicited virus/malware can do!
A disgruntled individual with knowledge of the company's business systems can do way more damage than generalized malware could.
Maybe, it depends on how you define consumption. If you use a narrow definition that sort of tax would be incredibly regressive.
I'm not in favor of a straight up consumption tax, but I'll point out that there are ways around the regressivity of it.
For instance, you could exempt necessities like groceries and clothing items that cost less than a winter coat from the tax. Or you could just exempt the first $x of consumption tax by giving out a cash payment to everyone in the amount of $x.
If they restrict reviews to paying customers (customers who paid through Amazon's), I think that would make it too expensive to game the system on a large scale. How much would you be willing to pay for the privilege of writing a fake review?
I can't see how they could get any service provider to sign up for that unless they are providing more business than the provider can handle. Who would sign up for Amazon if they have to give Amazon 10-20% and only be ~50% utilization? That's a big ask.
i wouldn't subject my business to amazon's policies, pricing rules, commissions, or the very real possibility of having my business trashed in reviews by shady competitors.
You already have that risk with Yelp and similar services.
My guess is that with Amazon, they won't let non-customers review you. Why should they? So even if your competitors go to the trouble of actually hiring you for something and then giving you a bad review, how many bad reviews could they realistically generate compared to all of your good reviews from real customers?
I'm not saying that BS reviews are a nonissue, but I think that you are overestimating size of the issue.
For one thing, standardized prices imply consistent quality. That might happen when you're making widgets. For labor with any degree of skill - I'm rather doubtful that this is the case.
I'm not even so concerned about consistent price as the fact that I think Amazon will increase quality.
A service provider who is dealing only with individuals doesn't lose much if he/she botches an assignment. I mean, how much do you really spend on a plumber or electrician in your lifetime? But an Amazon service provider who generates a lot of customer complaints is going to get booted from the program which presumably feeds them a lot of business, so there is a higher incentive to do each job right.
You're using a keyboard! How quaint!
