FullMtlAlcoholc

> In any case, what's happening to some people is that they're being sued over debts they owe, not showing up to court to defend themselves, getting default judgements against them, still not paying, getting summoned to court for a debtor's examination, not showing up for that, and then getting a bench warrant issued.

> If you don't show up for jury duty, the judge can issue a bench warrant. They probably won't, but they can. If you get subpoenaed and don't show up, bench warrant.

For starters, instead of throwing people in jail for missing the debtors examination, they can complete it without your input. They can already garnish your wages or look at the last tax filing so there is enough information for a rudimentary examination.

I think you're missing that next logical leap though. Courts generally have hours from 9-12pm and 1-4pm. I'm going to make the assumption that a significant percentage of people that end up having a bench warrant issued for owing debts are those on the low end of the income scale, generally service and retail jobs. These jobs are generally the most inflexible in terms of scheduling. Also, consider that some of these people may be transient and/or homeless (From sleeping on a relative's, friend's etc. couch or sleeping on the streets) Your options then come down to: 1) Go to court and risk losing your job if you do not have an understanding employer, which can snowball into losing housing 2) Get a lawyer 3) Take the hit to your credit score, make whatever payments one can on the debt, hope for the best but cross the bridge when it comes to it and focus on more immediate concerns.

> If you don't show up for jury duty, the judge can issue a bench warrant.

Employers are legally obliged to excuse you for jury duty so the comparison is not that apt.

Siderant: It is somewhat ridiculous that the whole court shuts down for lunch instead of staggering schedules, especially when often that is the only time that people can show up to court. Those who can afford to do so generally send a lawyer, who get their own special line to save their time.

If you owe a debt, you are already penalized with collection costs and a penalty to your credit score (In my not heavily researched position, that should be enough. People who take on debts like these often are not financially literate. Anecdotally, I've also found it a bit surprising the number of people who do not understand expoentiation, thus making it nearly impossible for them to truly comprehend compounded interest rates). Not only are these people being penalized multiple times for the same issue, it's enforcment is being subsidized by taxpayers. They're also being criminalized, endure the trauma and mental, if not physical, torture, and be subjected to the detrimental health consequences of a prison diet (which only seems to require a minimum number of calories as its nutrition requirement) that is the American prison system. Not to mention the stigma and reduced employment opportunities that come with being a part of that system

I have the opinion that it is morally unconscionable. Whatever technically sends them to jail, the issue originates from an unpaid debt and has a chance to cascade down to jail. You're criminalizing people for unpaid debts while those with means can engage in the exact behavior, but through the use legal instruments can declare bankruptcy or take on the debts through a fictitious entity with a limited liability (often both). It's literally just a stroke of a pen (incorporation of an llc or other fictitious entity via our legal system. For me, it's a ritualized incantation of a magic spell) that separates the two. If these loans are so risky that they need this kind of enforcement to be profitable, perhaps its removal would mean that some of these loans are not made in the first place. Also, time spent in jail does nothing towards the actual debt, but that is once again subsidized by taxpayers. (I assume that they’re in jail for failure to appear, so after they get out and most likely have lost their job and will find it harder to get a new one, and after all these punitive measures nothing still has gone towards the principal).

TL;DR: It sucks being poor. It really sucks in America to be poor [1]

[1] https://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21663262-why-lo...

Another related development is that you don't need to have a successful military career to distinguish oneself. Also, compulsory military drafts aren't nearly as widespread.

To everyone bemoaning the introduction of a class such as this, it's a 1 credit class, which at Stanford roughly translates to about 3hrs/week of work given that you're expected to take 15 credits per quarter. It is comparable to a class on financial responsibility or golf. Its focus isn't so much on how to crack a technical interview than it is on how to prepare for a job interview in general.

Mock interviews, resume writing and critiques, life at startups, how to answer team/behavioral questions, and panels of employers and employees are all covered with sample whiteboard/coding problems only being given one week of attention. This is simply preparation for how to professionally navigate the job landscape.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe I saw ketchup on the food pyramid in elementary school in the 1980's. :(

He had some type of surgery on his sinuses. He also had high blood pressure showed signs of heart arrhythmia. Nothing out of the ordinary for a person his age.

>but smoking organically grown tobacco without additives and filters doesn't seem to do much harm from my experience.

Get an x-ray or ct scan of your lungs. Or get your VO2max tested. Quit for a month and try testing it again. I assure you, you'll see a difference just from your airways and nasal passages not being inflamed.

My dad smoked for 50 years until quitting in his 70's. Now, at age.80, he's still healthy as a horse. However, I wouldn't draw a conclusion from an anecdotal data point and say cigarettes aren't a health hazard.

>You can not do the same with biology - no student or expert, given unlimited resources, equipment, or reference material can construct a new living cell from scratch (proteins / molecules).

Craig Venter did exactly this.

https://www.nature.com/news/minimal-cell-raises-stakes-in-ra...

>Thanks to the technological and cultural advancements of the Afro-Euro-Asian human cluster, we could wipe 99% of these “threats” tomorrow if we wanted to.

We can be wiped out by some of the simplest lifeforms, and even simpler, not quite lifeforms on the planet.

What is consciousness? I don't believe that it's universally accepted that it even exists amongst rsearchers. Even those who believe it exists have trouble defining it.

A better question would be why can't San Francisco's political class and housing authority solve the issue.

Firefox does the same thing

Being at war with the Klingons has a lot to do with it.

Did they even show what life was like on earth?

A significant amount of blacks worldwide had sickle cell anemia. In the past when humans lived in more isolated and homogeneous societies this was the standard existence. In fact, it conferred a resistance against malaria. Today, we have better treatments for that disease that don't carry the same side effects.

A more prescient and present example is that almost all humans are subject to cognitive biases. A wise man known as Citizen G'Kar once said "In the past, we had little contact with other races. Evolution taught us that we must fight that which is different in order to secure land, food, and mates for ourselves. But we must reach a point where the nobility of intellect asserts itself and says no, we need not fear those who are different. We can embrace those differences and learn from them."

check out black-screen terminal emulator for IDE style auto completion

check out black-screen terminal emulator

> There's just no point to living in California these days.

There's an ocean, fantastic and constantly improving dining scene, beautiful people, the best national parks in the country, a gorgeous and diverse landscape, great weather that allows you to go skiing and surfing in the same day, arguably the best/tastiest crops and accompanying farmers markets in the nation, cultural attractions such as a top 5 symphony orchestra, iconic music venues, fully legalized marijuana, high quality illegal drugs from being right on the border, population diversity, high quality meetup groups (specifically thinking of BioCurious), and, most importantly, a high concentration of engineering talent.

That's not to mention the perks of living in a world class city. I get to demo things like Microsoft's HoloLens for free at a meetup at their Santa Monica campus, go to Hacker Nights at Riot Studios, attend a free presentation by Robert Sapolsky, watch SpaceX rocket launches and be a part of a very dense, helpful, and talented developer and entrepreneurial community.

The total compensation for the average engineer in LA is around $150k. I do this and work some side gigs. Maybe I can't afford private jets or a yacht, but I have very little material desires.

There is no amount of money that could convince me to spend the bulk of my time in the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa, Arkansas, or any other place in the US that offers tax advantages outside of Florida. (No offense to anyone who lives there, it's just not for me).

I see and agree with your contention if you find most or all of the above meaningless. I did the whole big fish, small pond thing before in Michigan and didn't like it, but I see how others can appreciate the differences. It's downright arrogant to call anyone who chooses to live in California insane just because you're over it.

Let me try: there has been no acknowledgment, moral reckoning, mea culpa, apology, investigation or national discussion about the devastation and atrocities committed during the Korean War. "We went over there and fought the war and eventually burned down every town in North Korea. Over a period of 3 years, we killed off - what - 20% of the population of Korea as direct casualties of war." - General Curtis Lemay, Commander of the US Strategic Air Command 1948-1957

The US destroyed literally every single town. A State Department official in charge of Far Eastern affairs during the Korean War, would admit that the United States bombed “every brick that was standing on top of another, everything that moved.” American pilots, he noted, “were just bombing the heck out of North Korea.” For a point of comparison, the Nazis exterminated 20 percent of Poland’s pre-World War II population and the Khmer Rouge killed ~21% of Cambodia's population during Pol Pots reign of terror.

Western media fails to ever mention this grievance when trying to give a reason for the state of NK's behavior, instead painting a picture of a zany regime that operates without rhyme or reason. For them, it is still the 1950s … and the conflict with South Korea and the United States is still going on. People in the North feel backed into a corner and threatened and have not forgotten the devastation.

That's just one example. I could substitute in the US's use of Agent Orange in Vietnam and Cambodia (who we were not at war with), the 1953 coup in Iran that deposed a democratically elected leader, the 1973 coup in Chile that put Pinochet in power, or the shooting down Iran Air Flight 655.

To be clear, I'm not excusing China's behavior at all. I think it's sad that Americans forget the atrocities it committed. I don't think there can be a peaceful way forward if we are on a high horse, believing that we possess some moral superiority. Although we are correct to criticize the Burmese treatment of their minority Rohingya, the US is still a country that had race riots in the 21st century and a violent Neo Nazi rally in 2017.

P.S.

The US is the unchallenged global leader at hiding messaging behind marketing, propaganda, consumerism and strong arming other countries, and we are ruled by a powerful group of multi-national corporations.

"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, and our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of…. It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind."

-Edward Bernays (often considered the father of PR), from his seminal work, Propaganda.

Bernays’ publicity campaigns were the stuff of legend. To overcome “sales resistance” to cigarette smoking among women, Bernays staged a demonstration at the 1929 Easter parade, having fashionable young women flaunt their “torches of freedom.”

He promoted Lucky Strikes by convincing women that the forest green hue of the cigarette pack was among the most fashionable of colors. The success of this effort was manifested in innumerable window displays and fashion shows. And yes, he was aware of some of the early studies linking smoking to cancer.

By most measures, progress in happiness and quality of life in has stalled compared to other industrialized nations. Fewer people are getting married with many citing economic pressures. The world happiness report lists the worlds 3rd largest economy in 56th place in the list of happiest countries.

From my own experiences living there, Japan may have a strong sense of community that shines during crises, but that connection is often only surface level. Relationships are heavily compartmentalized. You may have drinking buddies, golf friends, etc. But they aren't friends in the sense that you'll visit them outside of those activities or really open up to them to reveal your vulnerable side. If an older person loses a spouse, they often don't have anyone else for companionship.

Japan's suicide rate is still among the highest in the world and 2nd highest of rich, industrialized countries. It is the leading cause of death for women 15-34, who are amongst the longest lived in the worls.

Career satisfaction is also pretty low. The reality of work. The system is based on seniority. Hours are unecessarily long, most likely hurting produxtivity. Gaining advancement based upon merit is rare.

Google is not an oracle. Trusting search results is the problem especially, when the algorithm reutrns popular/relevant results, is the problem. Using Facebook as your primary news source is the problem.

It's become fashionable for media outlets lately to beat up on tech companies and blame them for the general public's lack of critical reasoning and analytical skills. Many decry that democracy is under threat. However, it is often said that an educated and well-informed citizenry is necessary for a viable democracy.

>Probably the most "And I Must Scream" moment in mother nature.

Another contender for that crown is the tongue eating louse or Cymothoa exigua. It attaches itself to a fish's tongue. Then, the true horro begins. 'The parasite severs the blood vessels in the fish's tongue, causing the tongue to fall off. It then attaches itself to the stub of what was once its tongue and becomes the fish's new tongue'

I'd rather be a fungal thrall than have to a parasite take over as my tongue

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymothoa_exigua

That is not higher pay, which is generally considered a rate($X/hrs workes). They are simply working more in your scenario

Meanwhile, Sinclair media, whixh is likely regulated by another agency, is allowed to purchase a significant percentage of local TV stations nationwide.

While they may not be considered a state in that sense, they can be considered a nation of sorts. Instead of a common language or shared history, Facebook originally catered only to students of elite universities, who do have their own unique culture.

Facebook can't levy taxes on its citizens like a state, but it can raise revenues. They can't realistically monopolize the use of force, but that is due our current social climate. In the past, the Dutch/British east india companies, Belgian Congo and other early trading corps had their own standing armies. More recently, agricultural corps in Latin America employed their own paramilitary groups. If there was ever a need, they could create a PMC.

>They start a thread/conversation/request, and then are slow to respond, or disappear.

That's the primary benefit of qorking remotely IMO. Not having to immediately stop everything im doing allows me to stay in flow state. It also improves the quality of my responses and solutions since i can let the request percolate in my head. Usually, I come up better answers when Im not actively thinking

? Hourly workers who live further away dont get paid more.

From a UK Bureau of Labor and Stats study, the average office worker is only productive for ~3 hours/day. People spend the majority of their time surfing the internet, socializing, eating/drinking, and looking for a new job. I wonder if it's worse in east asian countries where no one leaves before the boss.

Source: https://www.vouchercloud.com/blog/office-worker-productivity...

The last time I worked in an office, I got most of my work done in the morning or after 6pm when no one was in the office.

Yes, let's not forget about those fat cat abortion tycoons

Do you believe that the opinion of older citizens who, if climate change is happening and they wont have to live with its effects, should be somewhat disregarded?

>Is a warming planet a problem? Again, debatable. Rising sea level and ocean acidification scares aside, history suggests that we tend to do better with a warmer climate.

The IPCC reports that "There is medium confidence that approximately 20-30% of species assessed so far are likely to be at increased risk of extinction if increases in global average warming exceed 1.5-2.5 °C (relative to 1980-1999). As global average temperature increase exceeds about 3.5 °C, model projections suggest significant extinctions (40-70% of species assessed) around the globe."

As a bioengineer, it saddens me that we do not value species diversity, dooming us to ignorance of the survival strategies and adaptations of unknown or little studied organisms and the accompanying nanotechnology

If you're interested, warmer climate in the past hasn't been a clear boon. Its a more nuanced relationship Here is a writeup of it: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-climate-ch...