officemonkey

It's called Lemon Socialism. Businesses keep their winnings. Governments pay their losses.

Because once they select you, they immediately want to low-ball you.

Government Jobs are completely transparent in this regard. You know exactly what you're going to make when you apply for the job.

Duo works fine on my $200 Chromebook.

No. The A-10 is a better platform to destroy individual pickup trucks. The bomber is overkill.

It would have been a lot better if they used an A-10. It's basically a flying gun.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Republic_A-10_Thunde...

When I listen to audiobooks or podcasts, I can easily bump up the speed by 25% until I hit 2x. Faster, depending on the reader and the type of book. If it's a good non-fiction reader like Edward Herrmann, I can go faster. If it's a fiction book with an expressive reader using accents and emoting, I sometimes can't get beyond 1.5.

I'm picky about translations, and the Buss translation is very good.

Whatever you do, just don't read a "Public Domain" translation. A lot of Victorian-era translations of 19th Century French literature are... crap.

The problem is "Housing" is not simply a consumable like food or (mostly) clothes.

The owner can consume the housing or rent it. But if it's not used to house people, then is it really housing? Or just real estate?

It depends on what you think the best use of housing is. Is housing meant to "make money for the owner" or "provide housing for people?"

There, I've just taken class out of the equation. Your answer?

Truck traffic cuts waaaay down between Christmas and New Years.

Fun fact: Truck traffic is waaaay up right now, as JIT inventories have depleted many grocery staples. Also, Amazon.

Fun fact: Rand Paul today is calling undocumented persons requesting COVID-19 assistance "non-persons."

See what dehumanizing analogies results in? Congratulations.

It's entirely appropriate to tell the chef he's about to cut off his thumb.

You're not an expert and you're spouting xenophobic bullshit. Take the L.

Analogies can also be used to dehumanize victims. It's pretty unproductive to refer to people as vermin, coyotes, animals, etc. Unless you're trying to "highlight common characteristics."

Are we calling disease victims coyotes now?

Ruby became far more popular in the US. Especially after Rails kicked adoption into high gear.

Let's treat Facebook like something between a mental health threat and a propoganda site, said ex-User.

The cognitive dissonance you feel between what a government says and what the truth is often the first sign that the government is authoritarian.

You are correct. The Overdrive app is garbage.

It's successor is the Libby app. It's fantastic. If you're not using the Libby app, you are missing out.

I've been getting ebooks from my library for at least three years. Your library probably uses the Libby app (from Overdrive) which makes searching and checking out ebooks and audiobooks a snap.

I'm a cheapo, so I'm always looking for ebook deals. Waiting a couple months to buy a new expensive book I'm interested in (for free) is not a problem for me.

Homeless people use the library more than just a place to get warm. It's a free place to use the toilet. It's an important entry point to social services, and free internet access.

And of course, plenty of people use them as a place to read books, magazines, and newspapers.

YouTube has a lot of Jack Benny TV shows on line. Rochester gets a lot of screentime.

I don't do much screening. I'd just prefer to have him listen to Ernie Anderson playing Rochester than Amos and Andy.

Anderson was a black comedian getting top billing and a high salary. His character often gets the better of Jack Benny, and is always treated respectfully (as respectfully as any of the characters, anyway.)

Compare that to "Amos and Andy" where two white actors play blackface and are often the butt of the joke.

I know someday he'll be ready for Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor, but frankly, I'm just trying to get a boy to bed... ;-D

I have a related problem.

My tween son and I have been listening to Jack Benny radio programs for approximately two years. They're funny and clean, and mostly not problematic. And they're guaranteed to knock my son out at night.

The sad part is every single person associated with the show passed decades ago. We literally have no one to thank.

So, thank you Jack, Mary, Dennis, Rochester, Phil, and Don. You too Kenny, even though you kinda sucked.

Anthony Trollope's "The Warden."

Trollope isn't as well known as Dickens or Austen. I think the emotional intelligence of this book makes up for the fact that nothing much happens.

There's a vicar who is old friends with the Bishop. He's made Warden of an Almshouse for old men in the community. The amount of money he's going to get to do basically nothing is embarrassingly large.

It's an extremely gentle book about controversy, conspiracy, and people taking a moral stand.

It got me hooked on Trollope. His other books are far more intricate, worldly, and entertaining. But I like this short novel very much.

My biggest problem with understanding french is being able to comprehend it at speed. I'm much better understanding song lyrics (because they're often sung much slower than speech.)

I just tried this with "A Very Secret Service" and It's immediately easier to understand what is being said. I can see this becoming a very useful tool for me.

I think you would enjoy Anansi Boys. It doesn't have that much to do with American Gods, and it's a really fun story.

Inherent Vice was Pynchon's attempt to write a Chandler novel. It was a pretty good attempt, IMO.

In many parts of the city, dog waste bags make up a significant portion of street trash. It would be wonderful if there was a way to compost or otherwise remove dog crap from the landfill.

I remember reading the book "Ghost Map" (great book, BTW) and it said that Victorian London had "pure collectors" who collected dog waste and sold it to tanneries, but apparently that's not a resource stream anymore. :-D

>At least one report has named the Big Apple the dirtiest city in America.

Chicago is laid out with an extensive alley system, even in the downtown parts of the city. In New York, garbage ends up on the sidewalk. In Chicago, all of that is tucked into alleys. Garbage trucks and dumpsters are all tucked behind the scenes.

That layout was done generations ago, and is probably the biggest reason that downtown Chicago smells like chocolate instead of trash.

> So why have eBooks failed so miserably, when other media such as movies and music now sell and rent so well online?

Repeat after me: the average person doesn't read. The market for ebooks is a fraction of the market for movies and music.

OTOH, there is a viable market because there are such things as "avid readers" (people who read more than one book a month.) Those are the people ereaders are made for.

I predict that ebooks will be like jazz records: they not terribly popular, but they'll still be made because there's a devoted audience.