Just a basic programmer living in California
Our decisions are heavily influenced by emotion. We have the sense of empathy, which is an adaptation that makes communal living work. Empathy motivates us to do things for other people sometimes. You can say, “you do helpful things to satisfy your own emotional needs.” But that’s pretty much saying, “you do helpful things because you want to.” I think self-interest is a big factor in how we act, but I don’t think it’s the only factor.
Oh… oh dear!
Linux on ARM is getting better all the time!
I sometimes tell my kids about things I was taught, and survival habits I picked up in the “dad qualification program”. I based the idea of the program on a brief description of air force officer survival training in the book The Hatchet, and a generous dose of imagination. The kids have never questioned it.
Good point! We should only use date formats that are allowed by both standards! https://ijmacd.github.io/rfc3339-iso8601/
Don’t say “acronym” when you mean “abbreviation”!
“Acronym” specifically refers to an initialism that forms a new word. For example,
It’s acro- (height) -nym (word) - a word that exists on top of / above other words.
In contrast “NIH” is not an acronym because it isn’t pronounced or read as a word. It’s appropriate to say, “‘NIH’ is an abbreviation” or “‘NIH’ is an initialism”. But saying “‘NIH’ is an acronym” is wrong!
Yes, I meant miles, but I forgot about the abbreviation collision
I raised my kids using metric temperature for weather. Now that they’re older they hold me to it!
1 cm is about the width of the tip of your pinky finger.
1 m is about the distance from your nose to your fingertips if you hold your arm out, and extend your fingers.
100 m is the length of the straight section of an athletic track, which is about the same length as a football field.
1 mL is about the volume of the tip of your pinky finger.
1 L is about 1 quart, which is half a carton of milk (unless you get milk in the smaller 1 quart size).
The mile-to-km conversion is pretty close to 1½.
The kg-to-pound conversion is two-and-a-bit.
A difference of 1°C is close to a difference of 2°F.
Edit: My milk comparison was wrong - I’ve corrected it.
Edit: Of course by “m” I meant “mile”
This advice is also golden!
Here’s a thread with basically the same question that has references to some specific laws: https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/1cbyw91/can_my_employer_mandate_where_i_shop_as_a/
That thread is in reference to Ohio. Replies call out Ohio labor provisions, and laws regarding rebate.
Here’s someone on Bluesky who does regular “three wins today” posts. But those are mixed with less positive news. https://bsky.app/profile/ariellaelm.bsky.social
I’m not a lawyer either. But going off the company store insight, maybe we can look to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. It prohibits paying wages in scrip, or “similar devices”. Scrip can take a couple of forms; one is an internal company currency that can only be spent at the company store. That provision in the FLSA was specifically intended to shut down company store scams.
It seems that an implied condition of your work is spending some portion of your wages at certain stores. Since scrip is money that can only be spent in certain places, it might be argued that if you are required to spend a portion of your wages in certain places, that has the same effect as paying a portion of your wages in scrip.
Unfortunately after a bit of searching I haven’t seen this specific argument made. But again, I’m not a lawyer, and I don’t know how to research case law. It sounds like they’re trying to claim this program in optional, so it might be challenging to prove that participation is de facto mandatory. I’m guessing if you could get someone to tell you a number for how much they expect you to spend in this program that would help with such an argument. On second thought, I don’t actually know how helpful a number would be, and I don’t want to get you in trouble.
I was also thinking Nestlé before I clicked through. They want to corner the market on water. WTF!
I heard Superman gained the ability to fly during the first TV series because doing the special effects for flying was easier than for jumping.
This is a lovely write-up! I have one nit to pick: I think “Mary was fucked by John” is a passive-voice use of the transitive verb. OTOH “This guy fucks.” is unambiguously intransitive.
My wife has worked with lots of people who are not native English speakers who are sometimes taken aback by the idioms. One colleague flat out refused to accept that “FOMO” is a word.
I suggested that she is in a position to make some up, like “Let’s not put fish in the milk bucket.” But she didn’t go for it. I guess she’s not an agent of chaos after all :/
I know there are lots of possible origins for this phrase, but I think of it as “pleases” and “thank yous”. The “k” sound from “thank” followed by the word “you” combine to sound like the letter q.
Hospitals are required to provide emergency treatment - what we call ED or ER visits - regardless of ability to pay. Patients are expected to pay for that treatment. It’s just that the hospital isn’t supposed to deny treatment based on whether they think patients will or won’t pay the bill. This is getting-stabilized treatment.
This is an important point in arguing for universal healthcare: if people can’t afford treatment, they’re more likely to go to the ED where they won’t be turned away. ED visits tend to cost more than non-emergency, so that drives costs up.