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Comment Re:Is arithmetic that hard? (Score 1) 171

I see all the comments of people putting coins in jars and this is on a tech board where I expect most people to be reasonably good at arithmetic. Or is the problem that you don't have a reliable place to keep the coins?

I seldom have more than five pennies or three quarters on me at any given time because I deliberately pay out whatever it takes to get the next denomination. If price is $1.24 and I don't have exact change, I could pay $1.25 that means another penny in my wallet but if I pay $1.29, those four pennies in my wallet become one nickel. Later, I might toss that nickel at a transaction to get a single quarter back instead of two dimes. And I never pull out a $1 bill if I have four quarters.

The math is not that difficult though I do understand that it depends on me being able to keep my coins together and too many wallets have no useful coin purse.

And there are countries in Europe where if you do NOT do that sort of minimalist transaction arithmetic, you are given such a serious stink eye by the cashier that you think twice about going back again.

I jest ... but only a little.

Comment Re:Interesting (Score 1) 48

There are plenty of places that will take your exposed film, develop, and scan and/or print for you, by mail, or in-person, at least around here. If there's a Hunt's Photo near you, they do a great job.

If you only want digital photos printed, then there are many, many places that will print pro-grade photos for cheap, and the results will be a damn sight better than what you get at the local drug store.

Comment Re:Average track position (Score 1) 43

Instead of just the average track error (the dotted black line), I'd be interested in the error of the average track position. In other words, get the track position at each timestamp for all models, average that, then determine the error.

You're describing the consensus models, and they are better than any individual model, at least thus far.

Comment Re:Let kids play in the dirt (Score 1) 89

There have been many studies at this point showing that exposure to dirt, dust, and dander early in childhood results in low rates of asthma. I'm personally fondest of the one a friend of mine (Hi Dubes!) worked on in Papua New Guinea where they found the westernization of formerly isolated cultures where dirt floors are replaced by cement results in an increase in asthma.

I recall recently hearing of a study where it was determined that when an infant's pacifier falls on the ground, and the parent cleans it by putting it in their own mouth first before returning it to the child, the children end up with substantially stronger immune systems than if the pacifier is cleaned more vigorously.

As with many aspects of developmental biology, we are born with scaffolding that needs to be trained in order to function properly. A lack of that training leads to disease. So, yes, let your kids play in the dirt.

Comment Orthogonal issue (Score 2) 136

Whether or not workers in a particular segment are unionized is entirely orthogonal to the quality of goods being produced and services being provided.

Enshittification is happening because of many factors, but perhaps the biggest single idea is "move fast and break things." When a company no longer values the customer experience, the customer experience is shitty. That effect has nothing to do with the organizational structure of the company.

Comment Re:Awesome! (Score 2) 35

What "workflows" can you possibly have on a phone?

This makes you sound unaware that a phone is a general purpose computer with more power than any of us had just a couple of decades ago.

Yes, that is true, but the grandparent perhaps was referring to the fact that the user interface on phones is excruciatingly bad for anything other than entertainment and communication. Sure, you might be able to use it in a pinch to do actual work, but for general-purpose productivity, a modern phone would be left in the dust compared even to a laptop from 25 years ago. CPU and memory in a device are not the only factors for productivity. In fact, I'd argue for general use (e.g., writing, spreadsheets, light computations), screen size and keyboard will be the primary factors driving productivity. For anything specialized (e.g., photo / video editing, data analysis, visualization, CAD, etc.), there's no question that the screen size of phones is crippling.

Comment Re: Curious catch 22 (Score 2, Insightful) 238

Never expect UBI, as long as billionaires exist. They want to keep you poor, weak, and most importantly *dependent*.

I believe you have that backwards. UBI is exactly about creating dependence; that's why the B stands for "basic", and not S for "standard". UBI is about creating a new version of welfare, larger and more extensive, that will keep even more of society placated in servitude.

Comment Re: Curious catch 22 (Score 5, Insightful) 238

Perhaps with loss of employment it motivated them to increase their skill set.

I'd normally ignore such a bone-headed comment, but as my career is focused on improving the lives of people with a specific disability, I find I cannot sit idly by.

People in positions like the ones described are not the part of society that can increase their skill set. As a segment, they typically have very, very high unemployment. The particular demographic I work with currently has 75% unemployment in the US. Their disability fundamentally precludes an increasing of their skill sets.

So, instead of assuming that every person can be trained to the New Reality, please seek out products created by or with people who are disabled in one way or another. In doing so, you are improving the lives of people whom the rest of society has quietly forgotten about.

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