moocow01

Is it a given that a speeding car emits more emissions per the distance traveled?

Without knowing you to me it seems that maybe your biggest obstacle is letting go of the idea that money/salary equals a measure of personal or professional development. If what you want to do is switch industries and learn new stuff, you should do exactly that and be ok with whatever salary comes with that change. If for some reason your family requires you to be making a very high salary that situation needs to be adjusted to be way more reasonable anyways. Overall I think that maybe you are feeling trapped by a high salary in a not so positive employment situation - I personally wouldn't qualify that as being rich. Perhaps think about using whatever assets you have amassed to change your situation while scaling down your financial obligations so you can take any job that looks exciting.

Every large corp Ive been at has been 2 months salary. This gets distributed as a lump sum sometime after signing whatever they want you to sign.

Your missing another big one which is the cost to hold the house. If you're an average flipper that investor money is going to cost you about 1% per month of the purchase price so you can probably assume another 3% or so there.

After that you need to factor in your time as the flipper (time to do the purchase analysis, acquire the property, fixup the property, market the property, sell the property). Ultimately for flippers a 15% spread between purchase and sale would usually be a sizeable loss

"The system was simple and cheap" ... $10-$40 per sqft without labor assuming you are "handy" is not exactly cheap. Presuming most homeowners wont want to do this work themselves it sounds like something that would cost $50-100k for a midsize home. At that cost I'd imagine it would only be installed for more expensive homes where flooding is expected to occur frequently.

If savings is your goal I wouldn't do it...

Just the difference in your housing costs (about 30k after taxes) wipe out your salary increase. On top of that it sounds like you'd be losing a 2nd income as well by moving so it looks like a net loss. On top of that other things in the area are going to be some what more costly.

Despite the down votes, yes Geoff would be correct. We (meaning us the masses) don't live in a world of any of those things yet.

There are a lot of things missing though in this analysis for the homeowner if you want to do a true comparison.

1) The difference between the mortgage payment and equivalent rent for an equivalent place

2) Tax write offs (mortgage interest deductions)

3) Principal pay down

4) Property Maintenance costs

5) Property purchase fees (transfer tax, loan origination fees, etc)

And then for the stock holder you missed...

6) Taxes paid on cashing out stocks

I can understand being surrounded by people who you don't think of as highly skilled but some of the statements such as "so now I have to be the one that explains simple crap like Big O" and "I don't know how long I can surrounded by these guys without losing my mind" make me think you might not be happy in a leadership role.

In any sort of leadership role you're supposed to be trying to extract the best work from your people. Generally you are not going to be able to do that effectively if you are looking down on them. Give them a bit of respect, encourage incentives and comaraderie. Your new job is to be explaining stuff to them so they can work better. If you don't like them figure out how to make them better - its usually easier and way less expensive than firing and hiring.

Im going to assume that this is just damage control to handle the media accusations. Ive never been an Uber employee but have been apart of previous large SV companies that were driven by what I perceived to be management structures plagued (or driven?) by in-fighting and unethical behaviors. Perhaps Im being presumptive about Uber's internals but from my experience once you define a company culture its almost impossible to turn it around in any meaningful way. From what I hear about Uber internally and externally it smacks of the same cultures of places of the past like Zynga or Groupon. It seems to me watching SV over the years companies of this profile follow a pattern of hype, exuberant growth and then an unabated fall over a long period of time after which the CEO gets thrown out and the company survives on life support. I guess we'll see if Uber is different.

Actually I lied Im a lawyer and have represented many class action lawsuits over my 50 years of experience and my assumption is that you are as well. Happy now?... Look, its very accessible to contact a lawyer and be professionally consulted about your legal options especially for someone who is compensated at the level of an engineer. Personally if I experienced the things exclaimed here Id be tossing in bed thinking about how to sue my employer. I agree that its personally challenging to pursue legal action... but I think supporting and encouraging people who may deserve legal retribution is responsible.

To some degree... my Uncle sued Fedex, his employer at the time, for unsafe working conditions about 10 years ago after being injured on the job. I'd actually call his lawsuit frivolous but he received a very large sum of money from it. About 5 years ago I used an attorney to communicate with my previous employer about a contract they had broken by not paying the agreed severance compensation.

Im not sure why in this situation you would not consult with an attorney to explore your legal options? Consulting with an attorney and at least initially engaging in a legal discourse with your previous employer is really not that expensive and many times if you have a viable case the legal costs are paid only by a successful settlement. Im not sure what she has to lose here besides seeing if she can get a lawyer to take it on contingency and time documenting the damages.

My honest guess is that IF she has documentation, having an attorney engage Uber would just result in some form of settlement to not have it go into court.

No - employee lawsuits are not that uncommon. The vast majority are settled before they see the inside of courtroom. The majority that do go to a courtroom go the employees way unfortunately for employers in frivolous cases. Talking to a labour law attorney to consult about your case is not that expensive - if you have an open and shut case most lawyers will want to work on a contingency fee anyways.

In all honesty if I were you I would sue them plain and simple. Partially to discourage this company behavior for the other employees remaining who Im sure continue to endure it. And partially as compensation for having to endure a lot of unethical and illegal work environment behaviors being endorsed by the company on the low. You really should seek being compensated for this for the good of everyone involved.

Well first of all Folsom has little to no seismic activity nor does Sacramento. If an earthquake hit Folsom hard enough to impact the dam Im pretty sure the bay area would be eviscerated. But if the dam was to falter, the water would actually just go into Lake Natoma and sit behind Nimbus dam rather than turning Sacramento into a lake. Even if both dams failed fully or partially, Sacramento levies would experience an increase in flow and volume. You could presumably have a breach in the levies in one or more places but one thing to know is that much of the levies that surround downtown Sacramento are rated at 500 year partly due to the capitol being in Sacramento.

Caltrans and UC Berkeley were very seriously working on technology to have cars fully autonomously run on freeways. In fact my father was involved in the project some odd 20 years ago. The difference is that today you have more advanced technology, more private interests, less government interests and more media involved.

Yes. I have a very strong case of it on my hands. You should buy an iontophoresis machine (I use an Idromed) and do the treatment religiously. It usually takes about 15-20 hrs of treatment (split up over a week or so) for the effect and then maybe an hour a week to maintain. (It also makes for a great excuse to catch up on your Netflix queue).

After iontophoresis I actually can't sweat from my hands (unless I get lazy about maintaining my treatments). This basically feels like a miracle if you have this condition. Iontophoresis is also very safe and very well proven for hyperhidrosis where I have concerns about the long term effects of some of the other treatments. You can also do the same treatment for your feet (I have it on my feet as well but it doesn't impact my day to day enough to do treatment.)

(Also Id caution against ETS. Go onto a hyperhidrosis forum and there are a very large number of people who had ETS that strongly advise against having the surgery)

I moved from SF to Midtown in Sacramento. I personally really like it. Its probably the most affordable urban area in California. Its not as dense as SF and has nowhere near the tech jobs but its a very interesting enjoyable place in its own right. Great people, food, beer scene and vibe. Might be a place worth looking into.

BUY YOUR OWN... or at worst buy and don't pay in full if you need something high end. Id even go as far as to say that you should try to perform all your employment-related work on your own computer if you can get away with it.

In most companies, company provided computers are or can be heavily monitored with the flip of a switch. Anything you potentially do could be used against you in a review or change in relationship with the company. Not only that but an employer can lay claim to anything you do being that it is their property your using <- this one even applies in California.

Im usually a cheap ass but on this one spend the money.

Id guess largely overhyped but something that will continue to happen where it actually makes sense.

Id bet there will be 2 buckets that things fall into ...

1) Added connectivity that makes the core functionality better (ex. thermostat that can forecast the temperature for the next 2 hours to improve AC costs)

2) Connectivity that is tacked on as a gimmick that doesn't actually improve what the thing is made for in the first place (ex. microwave that texts you when its done)

In the long term I think only category 1 will remain in the IoT world. From my consumer perspective most things around my house fall into bucket #2 - All I want is for that thing to do what its meant to do best which usually doesn't involve being able to talk to anything.

What exactly was expected by it? The article consists of anecdotes and fictional numbers to argue and support an agenda which has historically been highly politicized by big tech companies. Perhaps PG doesn't have the same intention as others supporters of immigration but the article sure didn't show it or really bring anything new to the table. Truthfully, Im not sure that the comments are any lower quality than the essay itself.

How about Silicon Valley first working on actually optimizing the use of the current labor pool by letting in the REAL other 95% of programmers meaning ...

- Anyone over 40

- Anyone who doesn't fit the profile of a 25 year old white male

Until this happens in any real manner, these sort of pleas are just politics as usual for economic gain.

Is this what a midlife crisis looks like for a billionaire venture capitalist ?

The world's only unlimited energy source

I'd ask your boss how the bonuses are calculated and ask how you can reach some target (say... 3k for satisfactory performance).

If $200 is par for the course and there is no real explanation as to why, Id personally start packing my bags in that it likely indicates that they either... like to bait and switch on employees and don't care about morale or they are in the hole financially.

I personally have seen a lot of bait and switch to get people in the door in the startup world and from my experience its usually a sign that your going to be a glutton for punishment more or less.

You basically did what the majority of Americans do. There is a difference between fraud and FRAUD.

Your story is the equivalent of wondering if you'll be prosecuted for grand theft for taking 2 samples at the grocery store instead of 1.

Yes but Im not sure I will win a prize for how I handled it...

1st death march managers promised bonuses, extra days off, etc etc for working overtime. Everyone went above and beyond to get things done after which all promises were forgotten

2nd and 3rd death marches I nodded my head while putting in as few hours of work as possible per day. I think others did the same in their own way. In my own mind I figured payment was due from the first go around and they were going to pay whether they realized it or not.

The problem I think is that in these general scenarios management is acting unethically and the dumbest practical thing you can do is to point out their ethical gaps when they are well aware of what they are doing. So I think you ultimately have 3 choices... you either 1) just quit 2) battle their unethical behavior with your own counter unethical behavior or 3) go along with it all (worst of all 3!)

Lastly the way that job ended was that the whole company toppled due to financial problems so in my experience that sort of behavior from management is usually an indicator of a company in collapse.

Perhaps someone with elevated privileges at the NOC or systems groups does but otherwise the answer is likely no - at least at every large company Ive worked at sensitive data on production systems was off limits to 99% of the technical staff.

Sounds like a good question for a lawyer but that being said most (established) companies will work with you if you talk with a rep and explain your hardship/inability to pay in full. The business rationale for this being that going after a non-paying non-compliant customer will likely be more expensive with lawyer/collection costs than forgiving a portion of the amount owed.

My boring answer... At every level you'd look at your available investment choices and try to balance a predictable return with the rate of potential growth. Hopefully as you walk up that latter, you get stepped into a more lucrative pool of choices. Likely the best things available on each rung are going to be the investments that you personally understand best.

$1 - A can and a piece of cardboard to use to beg for money

$10 - A spray bottle and rag to wash cars with

$100 - A book

$1,000 - A few classes at community college

$10,000 - A really cheap degree of some sort

$100,000 - Index funds

$1,000,000 - Rental property