Bramble

So you hate getting something back for choosing one payment method over another when there's no indication that retail stores would lower their prices if credit cards (and their transaction fees) were wiped out?

doesn't opening and closing new accounts all the time impact your credit score, though?

While some of these figures might actually be due to faulty data or divergent definitions in other nations, there is another factor that neither you nor your friend seem to be acknowledging - how the high cost of health care in this country is impacting the way women seek care during, before, and after childbirth.

Giving birth in this country is extremely expensive (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/16/why-does-it-...) and we have a ton of people who are uninsured, underinsured, have high deductible plans, or simply aren't in stable enough financial situations to risk going to the doctor for prenatal/postnatal care when the $40 copayment or $300+ tests the doctor runs could delay their rent check that month.

When you talk about people coming into the hospital with comorbitieis, it's an easy next step to say "eh not our fault, that's on the patient, not on the medical system," but it kind of is on the medical system (or the insurance system, if you choose to differentiate the two) if the inability to afford healthcare is causing so many people to die of secondary causes when something serious enough to warrant it (in this case, pregnancy) forces them to go to a hospital.

It's a shame that bay area housing prices, which higher paid tech workers already struggle with, are even more of a burden for Facebook cafeteria workers, who make less money than many of those they serve every day. Thankfully, since your year-old article, Facebook cafeteria workers have unionized. I hope it's helped.

Still, it's unlikely that food service and retail workers in these cities are having an easier time making ends meet. The article you linked acknowledged that the cafeteria workers were making well above CA minimum wage - do you think the same can be said for all the restaurant/shop employees in the bay? Is there a reason we should be more concerned about some service industry employees over others?

Do you have a source for your claim that people are cheating on their income taxes to the tune of thousands of dollars a year?

It took them the better part of 4 years to bring clean water back to Flint - they only ended their bottled water program in April of this year. Those who were there during the crisis will be living with the consequences of lead poisoning for the rest of their lives. Odd that you view something this recent, and of this magnitude, as an outdated talking point.

Anyway, Flint isn't the only place in the US with water problems. https://impact.vice.com/en_us/article/wj4qvx/these-us-cities...

I am aware that Marissa Meyer's looks are often spoken of. However, before she was a CEO, she earned degrees from some of the world's most highly ranked universities and did interesting work for another 13 years.

Regarding the article you posted - the advantage that attractive people have in the workplace is not limited to women; attractive men also earn this benefit. In fact, some studies show that if attractive women are applying for typically male-dominated fields, they are rated more negatively than their unattractive counterparts. Attractive males do not experience a noted disadvantage when applying for any job.

Further info on this phenomenon: http://www.hofstra.edu/pdf/orsp_shahani-denning_spring03.pdf

While it might help "normalize" a programming career, it also reinforces the idea that no matter what a woman has accomplished (or is capable of) in her career, her physical appearance is at least as important when evaluating her accomplishments.

Full disclosure: I am a woman. I am also a student and CS major. I happen to be conventionally attractive, and rather than inspiring me, this kind of article contributes to certain fears I have, going into the industry. If we want to inspire young girls to be interested in programming, we should highlight the work of people like Marissa Meyer, who have worked really hard over many years...not give them the impression that being born tall and beautiful is as important as their resumes.

As much as I empathize with you in feeling that our vote is useless in the presidential elections, I would like to remind you that our votes still matter in local elections. I'm sick of people telling me they don't vote because our president hasn't made enough changes in our corporate-driven, polarized, two party system. I am just as disappointed in our government as you are, however, I know that when I vote for a mayor, I am voting for someone who actually can/will make visible changes in my community. Additionally, every ballot contains various propositions and bills, where I am able to vote directly on various tax increases, local law modifications, etc. These are important issues, and I encourage all of my friends to register, if only for these reasons.

So ridiculous! Why are they cracking down on this? Are young French and German girls really posing such a risk to US employment rates? I have offered the same thing while asking if I could stay with relatives in other US cities (I'm American). Next, are they going to go around accusing 16 year old American girls of tax evasion since their bank accounts "fit the profile" for someone who's done babysitting?

Sorry, but the living standards are high enough and tuition costs low enough in France and Germany that I'm not really sure why any French/German college-aged kids would be sneaking into this country for real jobs.

do you really have that many friends who put all of their contact information on their facebook profiles?

In addition to the links already posted, I might suggest watching the Frontline documentary College INC http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/collegeinc/view/

If you're college is not already in the online arena, my first thought is that an investor is going to come in and try to turn it into another University of Phoenix or DeVry.

I like it, but I'm curious how long the links stay active for? As for feature requests, maybe make this an option (like pastebin does, with link expiration)?

Curious: What do you consider adequate math for an beginning CS student?

If you don't mind living in the outerboroughs, taking the subway every day, and having roommates, this should be easy.

When I was 18 - 22 (2007 - 2010), I saved over 10k making about 30k-40k a year in 4 years in NYC. I was also paying off about 6k in student loans at the time, going out drinking about once a week, splurging on clothing every once in a while, and eating out a lot.

I lived in Queens (Astoria and Sunnyside, in my case, though I could have found cheaper if I was okay with a sketchier area) for about $900 a month with roommates and commuted by train. I had an expensive (NYSC) gym membership, a cell phone, and a social life. I enjoyed what NYC had to offer.

To be honest, every time I hear someone say that NYC is too expensive for them and they can barely make ends meet, I look at their lifestyle and see immediate room for improvement: They refuse to live outside of Manhattan, they go out 3-4X a week compared to my 1, they insist on going to the most expensive, trendy places that were recently featured in XYZ magazine, whereas I enjoy eating out at the neighborhood Thai place and grabbing drinks from my neighborhood bar. They insist that they "need" to buy new clothes every few weeks for some reason, whereas I would splurge once every few months.

I could have saved a lot more during those 4 years if I were eating ramen every night, sure, but I put life enjoyment above my monetary nest egg. Even now, as a working student, I will not stoop to eating PB&J and Ramen as my only sources of nutrition. I live outside of NYC now, live on 15k, and still don't feel that I lack for anything. I think a lot of people don't keep track of their spending as well as they purport.

Thankfully, there is regulation in this area for any school that gets state funding. If state-subsidized 4-years don't accept X number of transfer students from that state's community colleges every year, they can say goodbye to a chunk of their state funding.

I can't speak for private universities, however.

If the Google Nexus 4 is meant to show the direction Google wants to take Android phones in, "most" android phones will not be robust for long. While the newest iPhone has done away with the glass back, the newest flagship phone from Google has a glass front and back and a non-removable battery.

>But seriously, rethink the quotes-only approach. Writing is about so much more than quick snippets.

I agree. When I read the blurb of the website, I thought "okay, it's a place to show off writing; awesome," and I was actually confused by the just-quotes format. Quotes do not make writing. I was hoping that clicking one of the quotes would bring me to an essay, story, or longer excerpt of writing, but no dice.

Many of the quotes on the sample page beg for context, and my eyes glazed over as I scrolled down the page.

Sure, the page looks neat at first glance, but I'm not really sure what this website is trying to achieve. I like to write poems and short stories and I am an avid reader. I don't really see one-line quotes as a way to show off that kind of work, and I wouldn't buy a novel based off one line. But perhaps I'm missing the point of the website?

It actually does sound like you are trying to cyberstalk people and pass judgement on their work ethic based on what they do outside of work, in their personal lives. I find it distasteful that this is increasingly considered acceptable during the hiring process, and it's partially for this reason that I keep almost no online record of my day-to-day life.

I have a barebones facebook page, which I primarily use for privately messaging old friends who prefer facebook over normal e-mail. I do not use twitter or involve myself in any publicly identifiable way with message boards or mailing lists. This may be 2012, but I know quite a few people who do not even have facebook accounts.

So I'm curious - how does someone like you react when an applicant tells you he has no online presence for you to stalk? Would you say that speaks volumes about his competency for your job as well, or would you try to make do with the information in their CV? Just curious.