Option D. Global warming insed of an ice sheet. Water rains down on the land and erodes it all into the ocean. The final part when earth cools back down is a global ice sheet for a "short" time that scours the erosions smooth. Ice doesn't erode land nearly as well as flooding does.

I suspect the director knew exactly what s/he was doing in order to put in their own people without having to go thru a lot of essentially pointless explaining.

Hadn't really thought that much about it, but that's probably pretty much true of software in general. I write web apps on databases and you'd think lots of stuff would be straightforward and easy to carry from system to system and it seems that something always bites you. The library never quite seems to do everything needed.

Add in the cost of gas and repairs for 10 years and the price is a wash, so yeah, it's a real benefit for rich people who can afford to pay it ahead sotospeak.

FOIA is fairly specific about _material_ requests, relevant to the creation of the document. Most govt agencies document the sources they use, whether journals or websites. The way employees search for that information seems superfluous. That's like asking: What are the journal articles you read that didn't apply?

The government does have you sign an agreement and even re-sign it every few years, State, local, Federal.
However, none of them have the manpower or dollars to dink around with search histories. There's a lot of other computing stuff they can spend money on. Apparently you have to keep video evidence (police body camera) until all appeals have been exhausted. That's easily 30-40 years.
Video and security is taking up all their time. They got no spare bandwidth to look at web page logs.

High speed (and even low-speed) railroads work when the density of the population reaches a certain level. That's why it works in Japan and Europe. They've built some in China but it's too early to see if it's workable across the non-dense areas.
Hi speed rail in the northeast requires more people first. Amtrak is actually profitable between DC and Boston because of the population density in that specific area.

NAtural gas apparently produces a lot more methane than coal or oil and methane is 4 times as bad as CO2 for the atmosphere so natural gas isn't really a fix for global swarming. For particulates and air pollution, nat gas is better, but that's it.

I agree that flow rarely occurs on Zoom calls, but I'd also have to state that flow rarely occurs in meatspace meetings either. Take your own example. How often have you had a team meeting that "flowed" and everyone was engaged? I'm thinking every 3-5 years, maybe less often. Of course, the types that enjoy talking without thinking probably assume flow happens all the time cause to them, flow is talk, not accomplishment. Those people hate Zoom calls.

#2 is not true: " 2. Many of the folks with competitive skills already have the option to migrate out of the town, for better salaries."

The pandemic work-at-home changed that and that's the big change. Before, if you wanted big city salary, you lived in or near the big city. Now that big city salaries are spreading across the US, that's not necessarily a good thing (or a bad thing). But your item number two is exactly what changed. Before, you could leave the big city, but not for a better salary unless it was to move to some other big city.

My take on his "measurements" are that this sounds like Jeff Bezos or some AI that thinks folks are out to cheat. And given his attitude, I can see why folks would try cheating him. Other measurements of business quality include profitability or stability of your workforce (training costs money) which is why ther companies work differently. He probably works at Yahoo since they actually don't trust their workers.

Yahoo should be the number one company in the world to work for and the most profitable company in the world if that really works. Instead, Sheryl's pronouncement smells like some "fact" from Fox "News."

There is a lot to be said for chance encounters, but they will not happen in a open office environment. I used to have an office with door and we spent lots of time discussing stuff with co-workers. Then we went to open office arrangements and everybody put on headphones and headed for the exits during any break. No chance encounters whatsoever.

Open offices don't work very well for anything. Open campuses oftentimes don't even work because building or office managers won't let "their" people hang around outside.

Seems like there was a job like that in a famous Heinlein novel.
Stranger in a Strange Land: Fair Witness

Advertisers and stations used to to say the decibels were the same on programs and that advertisements weren't louder. TIVO showed that was a complete crock. Ads used all possible wall-of-sound technology.