Not sure about the "wasting the pollster's time" bit as that's not really a problem for software.

How does it work in the USA - don't you still pay for the telephone call per time spent on the call? Although I guess most Americans would consider that a trifling amount.

Where I am I'm struggling to get someone of a particular profession to come to my house to do a particular task. Nobody says it outright, but it seems that my unwillingness to install Whatsapp and thus communicate with them through this "free" service, instead of plain old calls or SMS text messages, seems to have to do something with it. After the initial call to them where everything seems a-ok, I send through my details (address/GPS and times available) to never hear from them again.

How nice it would have been to know of this beforehand.

How nice it would have been if the article (and most others that were found via websearch) actually included a way to know the place and time where this could have been observed.

Whatever happened to paying your dues, then being left the fuck alone?

Crime isn't like buying something and once you pay for it you're done.

As an aside, it is very interesting to me how these two different viewpoints are exemplified by the posters. We often have subconscious values that are so very deeply ingrained that we feel they are universally applicable to all people - but they aren't. Being busy reading The WEIRDest People in the World, I am amazed at all these type of differences - having an influence on societies, justice and even religion.

You cling to your flesh, as though it will not decay and fail you.

I cling to my flesh, because it will decay and fail me. Eventually I will be free of this mad world.

We are not the same.

Digging holes and filling them with blocks seems like a money sink instead of an (additional) income stream. I'm pretty sure that with some slight tweaks, the product of this process could be turned into a new product that could be sold...

For instance, blocks that look more like actual "Lego" pieces and/or "bricks" (than the photo on the article). Pretty sure something that is easy to stack and interlock, but is impervious to rotting and weather, and has similar insulating values and feel of wood, could be a welcome building material. Or, you know, panels similar to OSB, or floor planks? Especially if it is price competitive with existing materials - if you were going to throw the stuff away, it should still possible to ask a few cents without pricing the stuff beyond all interest in it.

But hey, I'm just a random guy on the interwebs, what do I know? Pretty sure those guys already thought of this.

My experience with government-controlled entities is that they become unwieldy and uneconomic behemoths over time that often employ workers (for lower salaries) that can't get employed in the private sector. Yet, we also see private entities milking profit as much as possible.

In some instances, private companies outcompete the public ones, in other instances, it is the other way around (schooling in the US was under discussion here yesterday). Not sure how one would ensure a utility gives the best service at the lowest price. Maybe having different entities (both private profit-oriented and public service-oriented) compete for the same customers?

In my country, South Africa, many decades ago the government created the state-owned electricity provider currently known as Eskom. In the beginning it created cheap and reliable power driving industrial growth, even exporting power to neighboring countries. But it had a monopoly on providing power, and under the disastrous ANC management it was captured and milked dry by state capturers - now it is an unreliable supply, with scheduled "load shedding" black-outs and steep price hikes each year. Thanks to the advances in PV tech, a lot of electricity is now being generated on-prem by homeowners and businesses. There are a couple of very funny (ironic) inconsistencies, like office blocks being 100% off-grid still required to buy electricity (which is then used for something trivial e.g. landscape lighting), and small municipalities that generate 100% of their own power via an investment in PV, still being required to adhere to the official load-shedding schedule and switch off the supply to their consumers even if they have the watt hours at hand and would need to dump them otherwise.

I recently went with a bunch of colleagues to a touristy ("Bavarian specialties") but popular restaurant in downtown Munich. The fare did seem to be a bit better than at similar places, not sure if "upscale" would be really warranted. It was a Wednesday night but still very crowded (the fact that our company reserved and filled 5 tables contributed, but there were still queues of tourists outside).

After my whole table already received, and finished, their meals, I had to get up and grab the waiter to ask about my meal, as he was ignoring raised hands... It arrived when the others were already well into their 2nd or 3rd beers, and the waiter explained that he swiped it from someone else's order - which caused me to get the other guy's side dish, which was different from what I wanted.

It does kill the mood somewhat if a table is not more or less at the same stage of eating - some get orders inside 15 minutes, others after an hour. One does not get the same flow of conversation around a mouth full of food compared to a glass in front of you. On most of my previous group outings an experienced waiter would pay attention to first bring starters (for those that ordered), then have the main courses ready at more or less the same time - for exactly this reason.

tired of 'tech' being used to solve an 'issue' but only making everything worse and more inconvenient for everybody"

A lot depends on how tech is implemented: does it make the user's life easier or more frustrating? Does it get out of the way or is it obnoxious? Does it offer something more compelling than the current situation? The developer actually needs to be able to look at it from the user's perspective, not slap together a MVP using generative AI just to rake in the dough. And the restaurant should have more carefully evaluated alternatives instead of being steamrollered by the marketing promises.

I have not seen e-menus when I've been eating out up to now, but a few features I'd love, that a paper menu can't (or doesn't) provide, include:
* Full description, including e.g. full ingredients list, nutritional info, sizing/weights, picture(s).
* Filterability: only show dishes suitable for my particular allergies / diet preferences / budget / whim.
* Modification options for dishes
* Call button for waiter, instead of the constant interruptions with "is everything allright?"
* Estimated Time of Arrival (even better if configurable, but synchronized with rest of table by default)
* Ordering more without having to find waiter and asking for the menu.
* Split bills
* advance ordering, seating capacity forecasts

But many of these will require some effort to set up (e.g. photographing dishes) or restructuring/formalizing processes in the kitchen. I doubt many restauranteurs have the required holistic vision required; they often come over as not-seeing-the-forrest-for-all-the-trees kind of people.

What with all the other races to the bottom, e.g. environmental degradation, climate change, political shortsightedness, money-grubbing, food/water scarcity, cultural upheaval, wars, and general psychological aimlessness, amongst others primarily in the West, it surely is an exciting race to spectate to see what will bring us to the bottom the first.

From where I sit, my money is not on AI though.

Another error was mixing up billions with trillions.

Yeah, the thinking tanked big on this one.

It's like Amazon has this S&M relationship with its customers. The latter seem to like being hit with crap and their money taken away, and they are too submissive to go buy somewhere else or demand better treatment (or just be content with what they have) - each time that cardboard box with its arrow-smile arrives they experience another high. And Amazon is just working on increasing the pain it gives its lovers...