Personal XP here. SF cabs will skip you for the fare they just noticed on the street. Uber (a rideshare company) will be there waiting for you at least 2 minutes before you asked for them. No, I don't own stock in Uber -- but I wish I did. They just bought 2500 driverless cars from google (approved by DOT) for their fleet.

Welcome to reality. We've been getting screwed as 99%ers for a couple decades now.

Scan around the odd pics on the internet. You want a sign of the times? There are dozens of pictures of people that are driving on the street WITH NO TIRES AT ALL. They are driving on the metal rim. Deduce it. It's simple. The frequency of that kind of absurdity has gone up not because there are more ridiculous/insane people driving -- it has increased because the ability of people to afford their lives is being so heavily squeezed now that they simply cannot, and yet they still have to get to the store and to work. So they drive on metal rims.

I don't know anyone under 40 that isn't struggling. And that's because I don't have banker friends.

So what you're saying is that they are using a loophole by relying on their drivers to lie about what they were doing. A lawyer might even argue that, of course, the driver was going in that direction because money was waiting for them when they arrive! How keen!

Pffft. Why not just deregulate taxi driving and be honest about it. I know Lyft drivers. They are *not* picking people up randomly. They treat it as a job and appreciate the income.

What good and honorable people of the earth, that you know, measure success by money? If my band were to ever come upon a windfall of cash we would start a charity with it. We are the type of people who only wish for sustenance and stability. Money is for fools.

I apologize if that was how I was taken. I've been vetted and validated personally by hundreds of listeners by CD/Radio/Live-Show, and, to be honest, it's not hard to be better than mainstream

Sorry.. I forgot my sig was our facebook page now. The album is at: http://www.cdbaby.com/areasound2/

... one might note that the mainstream industry has very little appeal to people that are intellectual or at least deeply interested in the actual content of their music.

The mainstream studios that are cracking out 'hit' after 'hit' (aka: highly advertised until people like it) are producing basic melodies in C Major with 'artists' that cannot honestly perform well on stage and likely can't do their music well in a true LIVE setting.

The mainstream studios are facing REAL ARTISTS and losing. What should they expect? They think they can churn out half-assed simpleton music and not be out-competed by bedroom producers with less than 5 years experience? Please... Mainstream music is awfully easy to make. 2 or 3 basic chords. Very little elaboration or demonstration of musical mastery. Major key. Generalized/Simplified/Non-confrontational/obvious/regurgitated lyrics. Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus. Except you call the 'chorus' a "HOOK" now because it's usually very simple and has a catchy jingle.

Yeah. Lame.

Full disclosure: I've been a bedroom producer for 18 years now. I have a successful conscious hip hop crew and produce more complex and better music than most mainstream labels - check my sig. My emcees are more skilled than most of the latest studio-emcess, and they have great stage presence, and we have actual artistic/intelligent lyrics that have value beyond simple entertainment. I've been making music since before it was easy. MS-DOS was the OS when I started.

racists are calling it racist.

Didn't ZImmerman stand his ground by shooting Trayvon?

By the way, I used hyperbole to say 'they have none'. They have one, which is why I said to read it. But when you read it, you'll see it has no inkling of privacy in it at all.

Read their privacy policy. They have none. They share your data with partners and third parties for what seems like any reason at all.

The service actually looks like a front-end for the mass data business that allows you to give them even more to be even more accurate about you -- this is *not* what most people want, rather it is the exact opposite.

I ain't descended from no martian!

Jeebus.

... take the bird in the hand (the job offered).... then work at the company making money and gaining reputable XP while trying to apply to blizzard and get in there....

Nobody is going to think less of you for working in your field. If anything, the xp will only help validate your friends' skillset and give more power to the application to blizzard.

Also, who the hell considers turning down a job offer in this economy? I had to win a grant to get my job.

Good point. And one further... If you don't like your employee, you're not married to them. Its not hard in most cases to figure out a way to let someone go. I'm not from New Zealand though... Maybe they can't be:
- fired from job without reason (like At Will employ)
- let go (layoff for vague reasons about not needing them)
- scheduled for very few hours until they quit because they need more income
- see pay cuts for under performance (sounds like they could probably validate that)
- told they cannot take leave without significant prior notice
- made to have unpleasant, but legal, work conditions like a crappy office near noisy/smelly things, etc.

These things happen to people a lot here in the US. FAIK they are legal-enough (aka arguable if challenged).

are you aiding this guy in his terrorIzIng? ...knock knock...