landedgentry

Some would call this a valuable skill.

Why would a Canadian who has options stay when the government shows time and time again that real estate should make more money than productive members of society, and that capital should be used to inflate assets than to invest in the country's future?

I don't think success directly translates into high trust.

I think of China as a hypercompetitive place, which to me should mean lower trust.

This data conflicts with my image of Japan and China, and I wonder where the discrepancy lies.

I think the 2008 recession and its aftermath redirected many "Wall Street people" to Silicon Valley.

S.Y. Lee wrote an excellent series on the privatization of Japan National Railways (JNR). This is part 4 of 4: https://www.substack-bahn.net/p/the-rise-and-fall-of-japans-...

If I remember correctly, the privatization of JNR was mostly political, and has little relation to the subsequent successes or failures of the railways. In other words, keeping it public would not necessarily have changed the outcome for passengers.

This tweet finds that US systems like BART and MTA have more employees, when adjusted by number of riders or miles of track, than JR East, which seems to contradict your comment.

https://xcancel.com/shinobu_books/status/2043991756291879024

When merit is easy to define and measure. I have a lot more respect for athletes than tech leaders.

Youtube premium is not claiming AGI to justify a certain valuation.

I think those tickets are for people who train watch on the platform or see off friends/family from the platform.

Pachinko

> The amount of transparency over government

Can you describe how transparency over government has increased (by social media)?

Correct, Fidelity has a list of 25 Program Banks[1] of varying quality, so I prefer sweeps into a money market fund instead of a bank.

I also use Schwab _Bank_'s checking account instead of Fidelity's Cash Management Account for similar reasons. The latter's debit card is issued by PNC Bank and administered by BNY Mellon[2]. They are large institutions, but I have no wish to deal with the finger-pointing when something goes wrong. Whereas at Schwab, I know who to blame: Schwab.

This type of specialization or "deintegration" seen with neobanks in the name of innovation seems to be a common pattern used to skirt accountability, and it is weaponized against the average consumer's already inadequate rights and ability to recover damages.

[1] https://accountopening.fidelity.com/ftgw/aong/aongapp/fdicBa... [2] https://www.fidelity.com/cash-management/help-center/debit-c...

Agreed.

> I have given poor reviews to people who invested lots of time and energy in projects and probably even did good work on them, because they were _completely_ off strategy and completed before anyone who knew better could tell them they were a waste of time and energy.

Alignment is really hard to do when management claims they're there to "support" engineers and their decisions, and not dictate from above. I see this as a great CYA move, couched in empowering language.

It is even harder when they visibly reward shiny new features while trumpeting a pivot to reliable infrastructure, only to change their mind and behavior on a whim. Mixed signals.

Some employers will have healthcare concierges that help with resolving such issues. An example is HealthAdvocate[1] (no relation). I believe some of these services will take a cut (e.g. 25%) of the money they save for you.

I cannot speak to how effective these services are. My general experience with "proxy" services have not been great, due to inadequate care or training.

[1] https://www.healthadvocate.com/site/product-index/engagement...

These alert systems could definitely be abused.

In January 2024, the Taiwan government issued an erroneous "presidential alert" to the entire country of 23 million people, warning of a "missile" from China. Occurring just days before a presidential election, some allege that sending the alert was politically motivated.

Reference: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/09/world/asia/taiwan-alert-c...

Well, you're supposed to read the code and figure it out. And if you can't, you're not good enough an engineer. According to people at Meta.

I have had enough problems with USPS, both sending and receiving, that I no longer rely on them, and I'm just an average person who doesn't use USPS much. Whether it's first-class, certified mail, or priority mail with tracking–they all get lost at higher than acceptable rates. (Maybe domestic registered mail is the last reliable option.)

When a mail piece gets stuck or lost, there's no way to get help. USPS staff is generally unhelpful. It's a disaster.

Agree. Bandwagon behavior seems to indicate aversion to (perceived) risk.

I'm a big fan of this blog: https://atadistance.net/2023/04/04/final-frontiers-how-suica...

The author understands Japanese sources and writes about how the various Felica-based systems operate and evolve.

Hong Kong's Octopus card uses the FeliCa standard, not MIFARE.

The MIFARE protocol (which Oyster cards use) takes 300ms to 500ms per tap. EMV (i.e. contactless cards) take ~500ms, which slows down normal walking speed.

Here's a good summary of NFC protocols used for transit gates: https://atadistance.net/2020/06/13/transit-gate-evolution-wh...

The Felica standard is fastest at 100ms per tap, and is used in Japan (e.g. Suica card) and Hong Kong (Octopus card).

I certainly believe so. Most executives (heck, most professions) are just pattern-matching and regurgitating cargo cult fads of the day. When's the last time someone had an original thought? The only problem is AI can't shake your hand, yet.

This is what worked for me. (In my case the insurance company and provider were the same - Kaiser - so YMMV.)

Write a letter to your insurance company to dispute the explanation of benefits. Follow the instructions for the dispute process. Cite and attach relevant information, like what annual preventative labwork is mandated to be covered by insurance for people your age due to the affordable care act (I believe this is on healthcare.gov). Note that the labwork was preventative and NOT diagnostic. Then wait for them to process it.

Providers submit my explanation of benefits wrong (in their favor) almost every time I go into a clinic or hospital or lab. And it boils my blood to know they get away with it because 90% of the people just pay it.

Edit: if it's the provider's mistake, then you got to start with the provider.

Problem is, with growing inequality, the 80th-percentile school and the 20th-percentile school is vastly different, whether that is in school resources or the life trajectories of graduates.

There is a huge asymmetry in costs. When an issue arises, the customer has to spend an inordinate amount of time and effort to fix it, but for the company, the problem actually benefits them (e.g. a billing mistake, refunds for a cancelled flight, saving customer support costs).

Company profits increase and stock goes up, but customers' lost weekdays and weekends are not measured.

I'm less concerned about the spying and more concerned about insurance companies arbitrarily non-renewing policies with no recourse for the consumer. Insurance is heavily regulated for good reason, and insurance should be a source of stability instead of anxiety.

Calling it luck makes it sound like there are uncontrollable forces at work. However, these consequences are entirely downstream of artificial, man-made policies.

It's exhausting. I wish there were a way to quantify this, because it feels more and more unabashed, egregious, common and normalized.

Tax rate seems too low to make any difference.