pbuzbee

I wonder how long it will take for Bay Area real estate to take a hit if the pandemic continues longer and/or remote working becomes significantly more common.

I think it's unlikely to turn out like Detroit, and I say that as someone who wants to leave the region.

The region will continue to have many of its best qualities: good weather, (relatively) diverse culture, access to nature, and good employment prospects. The biggest issue with the region is the high cost of living, but any relief in housing costs will only make the area more appealing again. There's a high floor.

I agree. The people with the power have far more incentive to return to the old model than to try a different one.

My partner once received a toothbrush like this. I enjoyed the instruction manual's image showing someone using their phone instead of the mirror: https://imgur.com/a/VfT2WEl

> No one in their sane mind would retire [...] in this environment.

Why is this a bad time for a faculty member to retire?

Related: I've noticed here (California's central valley) that trees have started changing colors for fall already. This is pretty early: usually trees change in mid-October. I'm guessing this is from the smoke reducing light/temperatures.

Looking at maps of the fires can give a sense of what fraction has burned.

Here's the Cal Fire map for California: https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/

These fires are certainly large, but there's plenty more that can burn.

This is how I feel too. I like working in an office, but I don't find living in the Bay Area to be worth it. A partial WFH situation isn't that much better than full-time in-office if it means moving back to the Bay Area.

Really, I just want the choice to work remotely. I prefer working remotely, but everyone has their own preference and it's been discussed ad nauseum.

But my concern is that I likely won't get this choice. I suspect that the layers of management above me will want employees in the office ASAP because that's how they wield the most influence and control. Plus, management makes more money, so they aren't as subject to the quality of life tradeoffs that come from being in the office. I feel like if only one of the people in my management chain want me back in the office, then I'll have to go back. It seems unlikely that all of them will be OK with remote work.

I like this model too. I don't want to see ads, but payment options always seem to require too many decisions. I don't want to manage subscriptions or choose whether to pay for every single piece of content, but I'll happily make a regular monthly payment if I feel it gets distributed fairly.

I'm not sure what incentive there would be to increase the amount contributed though: seems like if users can pay any $X > 0 then it's not enough. Maybe there would need to be a bare minimum.

Do you (or anyone) have a recommended bodyweight routine?

Wait But Why has been releasing a long series of posts on the current polarized era. I've found them insightful: https://waitbutwhy.com/2019/08/story-of-us.html

As a technical writer, I often find board game rules suffer from poor writing. They often present information backwards: they start by telling you every thing about every piece and situation before you really understand the basics of play. This makes it difficult to piece together how to play the game.

I'd much rather see board game instructions written as starting out with a VERY short summary of the game and its objectives (e.g. for Dominion: "in this game, you build a deck of cards that you use to purchase victory points. At the end of the game, the player with the most victory points wins."). Then you can follow that up with set up instructions, a simple explanation of a basic turn, followed by more detailed descriptions of gameplay and ending conditions, and finally close with detailed reference material.

I suspect this too. I once rented a Prius, and the first thing I noticed is how much the car focuses on its fuel economy. The car really makes you aware of each time that you aren't driving very efficiently.

$100,000 to replace stairs with a wheel chair ramp? Were more fixes necessary than just this, or is that really how much it costs to create a wheel chair ramp?

I've been asked this when requesting a letter of recommendation, and honestly I find it a bit insulting when I worked with the person closely.

I see writing letters of recommendation as one of the responsibilities that comes with more powerful/prestigious positions. If you work closely with someone, a recommendation request is a way of giving back and helping further someone's career. If you ask me to write my own letter, it implies that either you haven't paid much attention to my contributions or that you don't think that I'm worth your time.

To be clear, I'm talking about cases where the person should be familiar with me and my work, such as a direct supervisor or research advisor. If I'm asking someone who isn't familiar with me, then I think it's far more fair to ask me to write my own letter.

After spending a couple thousand dollars on photography equipment, I've realized that I usually prefer photos taken with my phone.

If I photograph the same scene with my phone (Nexus 5X, an old phone!) and my DSLR (Canon 80D, usually with a decent prime), I'll like the one my phone took better. The color and contrast on its photos are much better than on pictures from the DSLR.

Do the DSLR photos look better at the pixel level? Sure, but I rarely need that level of detail. Could I edit the DSLR photo to get the same color/contrast? Yes, but that takes a lot of time when you have 500+ photos from a vacation. The DSLR really only wins out if I want to zoom in for the shot. Then the DSLR wins in a landslide.

So now my personal rule is: if I don't need to zoom, just use my phone. And it's been nice not having to drag the heavy DSLR around everywhere I go.

I think Google+ failed first and foremost because there wasn't any reason to switch.

First, it didn't make sense that people would quickly leave an established network (FB) to join a new empty network. At this time, most folks who wanted to join a network had finally joined FB. It took a lot of time and momentum for FB to reach that point. Google+ didn't offer anything fundamentally different from Facebook: it was very similar, just with far fewer people to talk to.

Second, Google+ wasn't cool. Most successful non-niche social networks seem to grow from young people first: young people enjoy having an online space that's separate from older friends/family. Then, as the network becomes more popular, older folks join. This is loosely the trend we've seen with Facebook and Instagram, and to a lesser extent with Snapchat and MySpace. But, to get young people to join, you have to offer something cool and/or unique. Google+ wasn't very cool or unique: it seemed to target everyone at all once.

G+ failed for other reasons too of course, which others have listed in the comments here. But I think the biggest reason it failed was because there wasn't any compelling reason to use the network.

(I'm a Googler, but my opinions are my own)

This article claims that these homes are going because buyer preferences have shifted towards smaller homes in walkable areas. I don't disagree with this, but I'm surprised the article didn't factor in the cost of these homes.

These homes are priced in the millions and are generally not in areas known for high salaries. Coming up with that much money is out of reach for most members of younger generations. Some people may be interested in buying these gargantuan homes, but they can't afford it.

And as the article states, the generation that can most afford these homes, boomers, is losing interest in these homes because they are coming to terms with how impractical they are as they age.

My personal view is that the birthrate in America has dropped because the amount of resources necessary to raise a kid continues to increase. The expectations of what it means to "raise a kid" continue to increase.

Financially, this means providing for them into their mid-20s, often at least through (and including) college. The costs of everything along the way -- housing, clothing, food, education -- continues to grow and outpace income growth.

The other big resource is time. You're expected now to enroll your children in a variety of activities and shuttle them around, rather than give them unstructured time to roam. Families now are more disconnected from their extended families and their communities, so it's harder to get help here. It's up to the two parents (if they're still together) who only have so much time to give.

Basically, the marginal cost of each kid continues to increase, so people have fewer children.

I think another effect is the extension of many of life's milestones. Establishing a career, getting married, etc continue to fall later and later, leaving people less time to build and raise a family.

I just want to listen to music on my phone using the same set of headphones that I use for literally every other device that I own, without much/any hassle.

But without the headphone jack, this use case becomes harder. Now I suddenly have to accept a trade off: either I (1) spend a lot of money for fancy headphones (e.g. Airpods), (2) deal with cheap Bluetooth headphones, or (3) deal with dongles.

My use case used to be simple, but now it costs me money, convenience, or both.

I carry an iPod Touch with my main phone (Nexus 5X). I use the iPod as a dedicated MP3 player. There are a few advantages:

* Much better battery life than a phone (> 80% left after 8 hours of playback on a 6 year old device).

* I can dedicate the full capacity to music storage and free up the same space on my phone.

* No need to change apps to toggle music.

* No music interruptions due to notifications.

Could you share a link to this site?

I'm in the same boat. I worry, though, that the move to streaming means that the days of controlling my own music library are numbered.

For me, Firefox's customizability is its biggest advantage. When this update rolls out and breaks many extensions and complete themes, I'm not sure what reason I'll have to choose Firefox over Chrome.

Agreed. Firefox has two advantages: it's customizable, and it's not made by a major tech company. If the customization goes, then there's only one advantage left.

Fully agree with your comments on how the magic of the Internet is leaving. It seems like piece by piece we lose the parts that made the Internet an exciting place.

I can't imagine this playing out well for the GOP. Trump is a populist candidate; impeaching him would strongly alienate their base.

This. When you're in a store, a thin phone feels nice in your hand. It feels new and sleek. You can't judge battery life in the store -- you need to research that separately.

1) Put yourself out there. Get involved in activities you care about and try to meet people. Network through your friends and family. Take a chance and ask potential partners out. You will never get anywhere if you don't try.

2) Build friendships before looking for a relationship. It's generally much easier to find friends than a partner. A relationship isn't the solution to loneliness -- friends are.

3) Be someone people want to date. Find some interesting hobbies. Identify your flaws and work on fixing them.

4) Set realistic expectations. Your mental idea of what it will be like to have a steady partner is a lot different than what it's really like, so don't filter out potential partners too soon. Give things a change to develop.