Mass transit requires people to hang out together.
Societal trends are for people to avoid each other, unless it is on-line.
These trends are incompatible - mass transit is doomed to continued failure, so long as transportation that does NOT require strangers to co-mingle is an option.
Just as an aside....in a few months, it will be 6 years since I got my first iPhone, and I'm currently on my second one, which I bought only because my first one got soaked. It has some issues, but I will probably use it another year...which will be an average of 3.5 years per phone. I guess I'm not much of an "upgrader".
Remarkably, Apple's history of premium pricing may count against it. 41 per cent of customers surveyed agreed (ticking somewhat or completely) with the statement that they would never buy an iPhone, compared to 15 per cent who responded the same way for Samsung.
I found that interesting...considering I bought my first iPhone direct through Apple, with no contract in 2012, sim-free. I've bought my wife's the same way. I bought my next iPhone direct through Apple, with no contract. I bought my wife's the same way. I'll buy my next iPhone direct through Apple, with no contract. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
I bought our phones up front, full price, no contract, even though I could have gotten them "for free" with a contract, NOT because I wanted to upgrade whenever I want - I use my phone until it breaks, gets dunked in water, dropped one too many times, etc., but because I don't want to be tied to any specific carrier. Now, as it turns out, we have been with Verizon this whole time - but we pay less than we would have with a contract, even considering the cost of the phone.
All I need to predict "nannystatism" is the state tax rates.
2016 highest income tax rates (https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/fun-facts/states-with-the-highest-and-lowest-taxes/L6HPAVqSF):
California 13.3%
Oregon 9.9%
Minnesota 9.85%
Iowa 8.98%
New Jersey 8.97%
Vermont 8.95%
District of Columbia 8.95%
New York 8.82%
Hawaii 8.25%
Wisconsin 7.65%
Yeah...that looks about right. Only real surprise there is that Massachusetts isn't on that list, and Iowa and Minnesota are.
If you combine state income tax and sales tax rates, here are you top 5:
New York 12.7 %
Connecticut 12.6%
New Jersey 12.2%
Illinois 11.0%
California and Wisconsin 11.0%
Absolutely no surprises there.
So yeah...I stand by my assertion that you can evaluate nannystateism by just looking at the tax rates.
How do you survive paying one company for your electric, one for your water, one for your mortgage, one for your home insurance, one for your auto?
If I had the option of getting one bill for all of my household utilities, instead of separate bills for gas, electric, water, sewer, internet, and alarm service, I would gladly take that option, even if it meant an extra fee. One bill, one due date, one amount, one account, one login, one entity to deal with. Sign me the fuck up and take my money.
But the difference between household utilities and entertainment services is that I need the household utilities, and I have to buy them on the terms that are offered (unless I want a visit from child services). Not so true for the entertainment services. I don't NEED to watch or listen to ANYTHING produced by a media company, let alone PAY for it.
You know, you can buy Pepsi from a variety of places. You can also buy Coke from a variety if places. In some locations, you can buy BOTH of them. From the same provider!! Despite the massive competition between Coke and Pepsi.
No reason why the same can't be true of other consumables, such as digital media. Disney, for example, could make its content available from the Amazon Supermarket, the Apple Supermarket and even the Disney Supermarket. Each of those Supermarkets could feature content from the Netflix Supermarket, as well as Bob's Porno Productions.
As the consumer, I could choose to shop from any one of those Supermarkets, or none at all. Just like I do when buying Coke or Pepsi. I can base my decision on price, service and convenience available, not just the items for sale.
Digitial media providers are going in the opposite direction. They want you to shop in ALL of the Supermarkets, if you want content from all of the vendors. I'm saying "fuck you" to that. If Disney wants to make its content ONLY available in its OWN Supermarket, then fuck Disney. I won't consume its content (legally). I don't care about Disney's content any more than it cares about my business.
Honestly - the media companies are making it really easy for me. There is SO MUCH more to life than consuming packaged entertainment provided by others. By making it inconvenient for me to access that content, it's also making it really easy for me to make the decision to simply walk away from all of it and find other things to do....which, frankly, is just fine by me.
Probably because I don't give a shit about what other people think about a movie. Why would I give a shit about what they think about a TV show?
It seems like whenever I watch a movie and I really like it (which is rare), I ot on the internet to read about it and find it was poorly reviewed and/or did not do well, and I think, "WTF?? How is this possible??" Similarly, if I think a movie totally sucked, I will find it was wildly successful.
If I relied on movie reviews to determine what to watch, it seems like I would only end up watching stuff that I think sucks. Why would I want to do that?
I'm not going to pay $10/month for this, and $20/month for that, and $15/month for this other thing. Fuck that. My response to this trend has to just walk away from all of it.
What I COULD be convinced to pay is, for example, $100 for "whatever" - where "whatever" includes music, movies, and whatever. So much the better if it includes movies in the movie theater, 3 packaged meals/week (think Blue Apron), etc. Could even make it different tiers:
Mix and match, pick what you want - add it up, that's your bill, and you're dealing with ONE subscription provider. It's not really the prices I object to as the multi-provider, multi-account nickel and dime bullshit factor that just sends me in the other direction.
No, it doesn't. I don't give a shit if a company I do business with collects info about me and somehow uses it to sell me more shit. It's a lot better than getting completely random ads to buy more shit that I'd never, ever buy.
I had a friend that said they worked no more than sixty hours a week while on call 24/7. For programming, that's about the best work/life balance you can expect.
Only if you're a schmuck. I have never worked those kinds of hours - nor would I any longer than the time it takes me to find another job.
No, I'd advocate finding or creating family where you happen to go.
Uh.......OK.
It was someone long ago coming to the USA, finding a profession at random, then hiring immigrants from where they were from to help out "family". These people may have been brothers, or cousins, or "cousins" so far removed that only their shared native language and culture connected them any more as "cousins" than anyone else in the USA. These people moved out of their "shit town" and then sought out others like them and "adopted" them as family.
You can do that if you have a business. Not so much if you work for someone else's.
Some companies are realizing this need for family and take efforts to help new employees find a family. This is not just important in attracting and keeping productive employees but in creating a healthy society.
Do you live in California or some other liberal magnet state?
I realized this need for family. I had a job hundreds of miles away from anyone I could recognize as family and I hated it, even though the pay was good. My decision to move back near home was largely made up for me when there was a mass layoff. My brother and his wife had a similar realization, they found jobs near "grandma and grandpa" so their kids would grow up knowing family. My sisters found work hundreds of miles away but they work near where their husbands grew up. They created a family.
I moved out of my parents' house when I was 18. I'd put a bullet in my head before I moved back to that town. I moved 5000 miles away from there and lived for more than 20 years just fine. I later married a woman from the other side of the planet. Many years later, we now live some 300 miles from my parents and virtually on the other side of the planet from her family. Yeah, it sucks not getting free daycare for my 2 year old - but you know what? Even if my parents lived in town and offered to babysit for free, in my house, I'd turn down that offer, in the interests of the child.
$20 a pop, family of 4. Thats 80 dollars for 2 hours.
My comment was directed at the poster I responded to - who mentioned the $20 for HIM...nothing about a family of four. On that note, apparently, he does nothing BUT work and has no chance of having any kind of family life anyway.
Slashdot Mirror
Mass transit requires people to hang out together.
Societal trends are for people to avoid each other, unless it is on-line.
These trends are incompatible - mass transit is doomed to continued failure, so long as transportation that does NOT require strangers to co-mingle is an option.
Self-driving cars can drive in tight "platoons" that greatly increase the carrying capacity of roads.
We call that "bumper to bumper" traffic. It is neither innovative nor desirable.
Just as an aside....in a few months, it will be 6 years since I got my first iPhone, and I'm currently on my second one, which I bought only because my first one got soaked. It has some issues, but I will probably use it another year...which will be an average of 3.5 years per phone. I guess I'm not much of an "upgrader".
Remarkably, Apple's history of premium pricing may count against it. 41 per cent of customers surveyed agreed (ticking somewhat or completely) with the statement that they would never buy an iPhone, compared to 15 per cent who responded the same way for Samsung.
I found that interesting...considering I bought my first iPhone direct through Apple, with no contract in 2012, sim-free. I've bought my wife's the same way. I bought my next iPhone direct through Apple, with no contract. I bought my wife's the same way. I'll buy my next iPhone direct through Apple, with no contract. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
I bought our phones up front, full price, no contract, even though I could have gotten them "for free" with a contract, NOT because I wanted to upgrade whenever I want - I use my phone until it breaks, gets dunked in water, dropped one too many times, etc., but because I don't want to be tied to any specific carrier. Now, as it turns out, we have been with Verizon this whole time - but we pay less than we would have with a contract, even considering the cost of the phone.
It's interesting how peoples' motivations vary.
All I need to predict "nannystatism" is the state tax rates.
2016 highest income tax rates (https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/fun-facts/states-with-the-highest-and-lowest-taxes/L6HPAVqSF):
California 13.3%
Oregon 9.9%
Minnesota 9.85%
Iowa 8.98%
New Jersey 8.97%
Vermont 8.95%
District of Columbia 8.95%
New York 8.82%
Hawaii 8.25%
Wisconsin 7.65%
Yeah...that looks about right. Only real surprise there is that Massachusetts isn't on that list, and Iowa and Minnesota are.
If you combine state income tax and sales tax rates, here are you top 5:
New York 12.7 %
Connecticut 12.6%
New Jersey 12.2%
Illinois 11.0%
California and Wisconsin 11.0%
Absolutely no surprises there.
So yeah...I stand by my assertion that you can evaluate nannystateism by just looking at the tax rates.
Enough said.
Captcha: preempt
Your Captcha, which was the best part of your post, should have said, "fuck that".
I have my own domain name (since 1995), which is mylastname.org. I send job-seeking info from job@mylastname.org.
I send more serious job-seeking communications (ones that seems like they might actually result in employment) from myfirstname@mylastname.org.
If that's not good enough for "them" then fuck 'em, I don't want to work for them anyway.
How do you survive paying one company for your electric, one for your water, one for your mortgage, one for your home insurance, one for your auto?
If I had the option of getting one bill for all of my household utilities, instead of separate bills for gas, electric, water, sewer, internet, and alarm service, I would gladly take that option, even if it meant an extra fee. One bill, one due date, one amount, one account, one login, one entity to deal with. Sign me the fuck up and take my money.
But the difference between household utilities and entertainment services is that I need the household utilities, and I have to buy them on the terms that are offered (unless I want a visit from child services). Not so true for the entertainment services. I don't NEED to watch or listen to ANYTHING produced by a media company, let alone PAY for it.
You know, you can buy Pepsi from a variety of places. You can also buy Coke from a variety if places. In some locations, you can buy BOTH of them. From the same provider!! Despite the massive competition between Coke and Pepsi.
No reason why the same can't be true of other consumables, such as digital media. Disney, for example, could make its content available from the Amazon Supermarket, the Apple Supermarket and even the Disney Supermarket. Each of those Supermarkets could feature content from the Netflix Supermarket, as well as Bob's Porno Productions.
As the consumer, I could choose to shop from any one of those Supermarkets, or none at all. Just like I do when buying Coke or Pepsi. I can base my decision on price, service and convenience available, not just the items for sale.
Digitial media providers are going in the opposite direction. They want you to shop in ALL of the Supermarkets, if you want content from all of the vendors. I'm saying "fuck you" to that. If Disney wants to make its content ONLY available in its OWN Supermarket, then fuck Disney. I won't consume its content (legally). I don't care about Disney's content any more than it cares about my business.
Honestly - the media companies are making it really easy for me. There is SO MUCH more to life than consuming packaged entertainment provided by others. By making it inconvenient for me to access that content, it's also making it really easy for me to make the decision to simply walk away from all of it and find other things to do....which, frankly, is just fine by me.
Probably because I don't give a shit about what other people think about a movie. Why would I give a shit about what they think about a TV show?
It seems like whenever I watch a movie and I really like it (which is rare), I ot on the internet to read about it and find it was poorly reviewed and/or did not do well, and I think, "WTF?? How is this possible??" Similarly, if I think a movie totally sucked, I will find it was wildly successful.
If I relied on movie reviews to determine what to watch, it seems like I would only end up watching stuff that I think sucks. Why would I want to do that?
You can buy a dictionary to do that from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Oxford-...
If you want to pay the artists, but don't like the loud noise and crowd of a concert, send them a few bucks with ApplePayCash (:
I'm not going to pay $10/month for this, and $20/month for that, and $15/month for this other thing. Fuck that. My response to this trend has to just walk away from all of it.
What I COULD be convinced to pay is, for example, $100 for "whatever" - where "whatever" includes music, movies, and whatever. So much the better if it includes movies in the movie theater, 3 packaged meals/week (think Blue Apron), etc. Could even make it different tiers:
Music: $10
Movies: $20
3 meals/week: $50
Cinema: $20
TV: $10
Mix and match, pick what you want - add it up, that's your bill, and you're dealing with ONE subscription provider. It's not really the prices I object to as the multi-provider, multi-account nickel and dime bullshit factor that just sends me in the other direction.
I'd be happy if they could arrange things so that Prime Video would play without issues on my FUCKING GIGABIT CONNECTION, thank you very much.
then it's not an unauthorised entry
Not authorized by me.
...being abusive to the hotel staff.
Right. You've assumed I'm abusive. Way to go!
Answer your fucking door when someone knocks...
I am under no obligation to answer my door when someone knocks, any more than I am obligated to answer my phone when someone rings.
FWIW, I don't answer my door at home when some unknown person locks on it either.
you fucking psychopath.
If jumping to conclusions were an Olympic event, you'd be a medalist for sure.
No, it doesn't. I don't give a shit if a company I do business with collects info about me and somehow uses it to sell me more shit. It's a lot better than getting completely random ads to buy more shit that I'd never, ever buy.
It's resulted in me getting a bunch of useless GDPR spam, for one thing.
They don't want you anyway.
Yes? How do you feel about cleaners and the like entering, while you're away from your room?
When I am renting a room, I want everyone else to STAY THE FUCK OUT OF IT!
I put the "Do not Disturb" sign on the door when I get there, and it stays there, for the duration of my stay.
If someone knocks on my door, I do not answer - but I do prepare myself for unauthorized entry.
If someone DOES enter - they're generally unhappy that they did...and it's never happened a second time.
Yes. It is not cool. In fact, I wouldn't stay at the hotel again and would demand a apology. However I wouldn't SHOOT THE PERSON.
Of course not. You don't own or carry a gun with you, do you?
Everything is illegal in Europe.
I had a friend that said they worked no more than sixty hours a week while on call 24/7. For programming, that's about the best work/life balance you can expect.
Only if you're a schmuck. I have never worked those kinds of hours - nor would I any longer than the time it takes me to find another job.
I prefer to go by myself. No pressure to make conversation. No one talking to ME during the movie. No negotiation over what seat to get, etc.
I love my wife - but I prefer to see movies by myself.
No, I'd advocate finding or creating family where you happen to go.
Uh.......OK.
It was someone long ago coming to the USA, finding a profession at random, then hiring immigrants from where they were from to help out "family". These people may have been brothers, or cousins, or "cousins" so far removed that only their shared native language and culture connected them any more as "cousins" than anyone else in the USA. These people moved out of their "shit town" and then sought out others like them and "adopted" them as family.
You can do that if you have a business. Not so much if you work for someone else's.
Some companies are realizing this need for family and take efforts to help new employees find a family. This is not just important in attracting and keeping productive employees but in creating a healthy society.
Do you live in California or some other liberal magnet state?
I realized this need for family. I had a job hundreds of miles away from anyone I could recognize as family and I hated it, even though the pay was good. My decision to move back near home was largely made up for me when there was a mass layoff. My brother and his wife had a similar realization, they found jobs near "grandma and grandpa" so their kids would grow up knowing family. My sisters found work hundreds of miles away but they work near where their husbands grew up. They created a family.
I moved out of my parents' house when I was 18. I'd put a bullet in my head before I moved back to that town. I moved 5000 miles away from there and lived for more than 20 years just fine. I later married a woman from the other side of the planet. Many years later, we now live some 300 miles from my parents and virtually on the other side of the planet from her family. Yeah, it sucks not getting free daycare for my 2 year old - but you know what? Even if my parents lived in town and offered to babysit for free, in my house, I'd turn down that offer, in the interests of the child.
$20 a pop, family of 4. Thats 80 dollars for 2 hours.
My comment was directed at the poster I responded to - who mentioned the $20 for HIM...nothing about a family of four. On that note, apparently, he does nothing BUT work and has no chance of having any kind of family life anyway.