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dublinben's comments
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dublinben  ·  19 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: March 6, 2024

    There's not nothing in there, but the book is certainly not useful.

Thanks for the heads up. Too many non-fiction books these days would be better as a magazine article.

dublinben  ·  212 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: This Company Created a Return-to-Office Plan That Employees Actually Like

    about 25% of the time ... employees can live anywhere in the U.S. so long as they pay their own way to get to Orrville

This is still grossly exploitative. It would be unreasonable for any job with 25% required business travel to not reimburse employees for all associated expenses. Their own CPO admits that 2 years of work from home was successful, but these facts are clearly being overridden by the feelings of their old-school executives.

    If Orrville Mayor Dave Handwerk had his wish, Smucker employees would be back in the office five days a week

Screw this guy. This attitude is unbecoming when it's coming from the mayors of New York City and San Francisco. It is pathetic coming from the leader of a 9000 person company town. He's lucky that Smuckers is still a family-run company, and hasn't been seduced away to a neighboring state with the promise of tax breaks.

    Massey ... said she spent much of her time at Smucker in a nonmanagement role, not wanting to take on a leadership position if she couldn’t be in Orrville full-time...

    Nicole Massey lives in San Francisco and commutes to Orrville for core weeks.

Good for her for overcoming the backwards corporate culture that was thwarting her advancement. Inflexible policies like mandatory in-office days are known to harm recruiting and retention of women, minorities, and other underrepresented groups. It's no surprise why this lunchroom looks like a bag of marshmallows.

dublinben  ·  287 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: June 14, 2023

    is this what’s it’s like to be actively living the life you’ve envisioned

hoo-rah! Sure is, bud. I'm glad to hear that you've found your climbing crew.

dublinben  ·  371 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: March 15, 2023

    we're both depressed

is likely a significant contributing factor of

    we don't have sex

It's worth doing everything you (both) can to fix that, because it is slowly killing your relationship. Once you're on the other side, you may be amazed just how much better everything is between you two, inside and outside the bedroom.

dublinben  ·  441 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: This firm is working to control the climate. Should the world let it?

Thankfully most of the companies they back are busy working on B2B SASS and crypto nonsense that is unlikely to have any significant impact, positive or negative.

Gaffes like the ill-timed Sequoia profile of Sam Bankman Fried make it clear that venture capitalists don't have any unique wisdom or insight.

dublinben  ·  499 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Lolbrooks on the election results

It's almost like Joe Biden is good at politics. He must have picked up a thing or two in all his years in Washington. Imagine that.

dublinben  ·  518 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Was it about the friends we made along the way?

    The fact that one particular user-inactivated's outburst is still above the fold in the chat says something about how active this place is currently.

That particular user is who I originally followed to this place 11+ years ago (oof). I wish I could say I'd made stronger connections with anyone here, but if this site were to go away, I'd never be able to connect with any of you lovely, interesting people again. That would be a shame.

dublinben  ·  826 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: December 22, 2021

    Should I be setting an alarm 30-60 minutes before bed and turning off all screens?

Probably. It won't hurt. I find it helpful to have an attractive substitute like a paper book that replaces the usual bedtime phone scrolling.

I'd also suggest trying to adjust your lighting at different times of day. Bright, cool light is better for productivity, but you should switch to warmer (2700K) lighting at about 5 PM to help your circadian rhythm. Especially if you're getting up to swim that early!

dublinben  ·  828 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: EVERYTHING WILL FINALLY BE GOOD AGAIN

I can't quite make sense of erecting a very flammable ceremonial sculpture each year, and then getting upset when it's repeatedly burned down. It seems clear that the tradition is to burn the goat, despite what the officials might say.

dublinben  ·  847 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: America is looking down the barrel of population collapse

Matthew Yglesias of Vox fame has a provocative book called One Billion Americans where he lays out the case that we should reverse this trend by implementing policies that support families, allowing more immigration, and revitalizing second-tier cities.

dublinben  ·  876 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: U.S. Telecoms Are Going to Start Physically Removing Huawei Gear

I think we learned about that because of everything Snowden leaked.

dublinben  ·  877 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Cornel West: Howard University’s removal of classics is a spiritual catastrophe

    the more privileged you are the less likely you are to encounter someone else's math-shaped policy

There's a pretty good documentary called Coded Bias that introduces a group called the Algorithmic Justice League that is working to raise public awareness about the impacts of AI and fight for equitable and accountable AI, as opposed to what we have currently.

dublinben  ·  882 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: October 27, 2021

If you have access to a food processor, this pie crust recipe from Kenji is really good. I'll never use store bought pie crust ever again. It really elevates any pie filling you put inside.

dublinben  ·  910 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Secret military aircraft possibly exposed on TikTok

This is more interesting than overseas military bases being revealed on Strava exercise heatmaps.

It's even worse than a pawnshop, it's like a flea market. You think you're buying from "Amazon" but you're really buying from fly-by-night sellers who come and go on a regular basis.

dublinben  ·  1007 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: June 23, 2021

Congratulations doctor tie die! I'm sorry to hear that you're suffering from the irrationality of your extended family. I wish you and your grandmother a speedy recovery.

This is why nobody likes architects.

dublinben  ·  1118 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: March 3, 2021

Congratulations on your new job!

It's very common for many people in full time "knowledge work" positions to only spend 4-5 hours on "real work" and to feel self-conscious about that. Especially with everything going on in the world, that's a completely reasonable amount of effort to expect from anyone.

I refuse to use Spotify. I don't want my musical tastes to be determined by a black-box algorithm. I think it's sad that many people just listen to whatever music the machine tells them to, instead of trading recommendations with friends. Any college radio station will give you more interesting music than the autogenerated playlists from Spotify.

dublinben  ·  1227 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Moderna has a vaccine that will be easier to distribute than Pfizer

Direct link to the text-only NPR story: https://text.npr.org/935239294

dublinben  ·  1250 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Google Play Music is gone, long live YouTube Music

With cheap earbuds, I found myself turning my phone volume almost all the way up when listening to podcasts on the train to work. With the SE215s I was comfortable on the lowest volume level. They’re such an investment in protecting my hearing that I’ll actually just wear them with nothing playing just for the peaceful quiet it brings.

dublinben  ·  1253 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: October 21, 2020

I can't imagine how difficult it must be to be enrolled in university right now. All of the "extracurricular" aspects that are now cancelled were what got me through my time there. It sounds like you've got the right approach figured out to surviving this. Discipline and socializing are key.

dublinben  ·  1254 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Justice Dept. to file landmark antitrust case against Google

Previously:

dublinben  ·  1321 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What Virus? Let’s talk about showers

If we don't all watch our water usage now, we'll be stuck using mist showers before long.

dublinben  ·  1359 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: "It is rotting American democracy from the inside out."

I'm far from an expert, but it seems like teaching to the test has ruined education in this country.

dublinben  ·  1393 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: June 3, 2020

Squats and oats did the trick for me. You'll have a hard time putting on mass by running 5ks, as opposed to doing resistance training.

It's also easier to consume calories in liquid form, like protein shakes. Whey isolate is nearly lactose-free, and non-dairy powders would be completely lactose-free.

dublinben  ·  1393 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: June 3, 2020

    "that's the way they choose to behave" or "they're genetically predisposed to be that way"

Those responses themselves are literally expressions of systemic racism, not that you'd get your dad to recognize it. I suppose it's completely unsurprising that someone who "doesn't believe" in systemic racism would be perpetuating it.

dublinben  ·  1441 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: The Cost of Thriving

Thanks for reminding me where I originally found this. I posted this again on the off chance it didn’t originally come from kleinbl00.

dublinben  ·  1457 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Dark Sky acquired by Apple and will shutdown Android / Web access

Add a bookmark of https://mobile.weather.gov/ for your location to your home screen. Direct to the source, not supporting a profiteering private company, nobody can ever take it away.

(Until the Republicans shut down NOAA.)

dublinben  ·  1463 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: March 25, 2020

I'm very fortunate to be healthy and able to work remotely. I've actually been more busy at work this week than usual, which is good. Work is the only thing that's able to effectively keep me distracted from the disaster going on around us. A small part of me wants to just wallow in the insanity and binge Netflix, but I know that wouldn't keep me interested beyond a day or two.

I think the best thing right now is to overcompensate on (virtual) social connection as best as possible. Call your older family members at least several times a week. Schedule time to talk to your friends and others that you might otherwise see under normal circumstances. Don't let anyone be home alone with just their anxieties.