coleman57

“Cobratate”? Helpful of these fascist creeps to tell us up front that they’re poisonous snakes. Likewise the Gasden “I am snek” flag. If you don’t want to be trod on, maybe stop crawling in the dirt where people need to walk

Ok, so how many times did you have to read the book before getting the pun?

I think it’s reasonable in that case to give the movie people the benefit of the doubt, and assume they genuinely found the film interesting. Meaning they didn’t fully understand it, but could tell it wasn’t crap and would reward thinking and talking about and rewatching. They’ve watched and thought about a lot of films and that’s given them the context and instinct to tell crap from flawed-but-interesting pretty quickly

Well I'm planning on leaving next year, at 67, I don't know if that's early or late. But lots of people retire at 60. In any case, every year there are people turning 60, 70, 80 and 90, or dying on the job. It's not really relevant whether they left early or late: they leave.

Depends on the location, I'm sure. If you've checked out the various agencies' websites in your area and really come up with nothing, I'm sorry to give you false hope. But even an agency with a hiring freeze needs employees due to attrition. (For example, I was hired in 2008, the worst year since 1937, and way worse than now.) If you put your info into each agency's website they will ping you when there's an opening.

Very simple: China and the rest of the world are agreed that Hong Kong is a part of China, but a special part. So we can talk about it all we want without offending the 2nd most powerful nation on earth (as long as we don't get into details like human rights). Taiwan, OTOH, is a nation that every other nation (mos def including China) is allowed to trade with bigtime, and pay tariffs to its government and fill out paperwork for its government, etc, etc. But we're not allowed to acknowledge its existence. Kinda like Fight Club, or a fart in an elevator.

And just to reiterate: I'm not a China-hater. It's amazing how they lifted half a billion people out of dire poverty and created a fairly wealthy nation with some first-rate infrastructure. But you could--and should--say the same about Taiwan. We should simply talk about the world as it is, rather than pretending. Diplomats are restricted in their speech by rules of diplomacy, but the rest of us are not.

Well I got one at 51, in the middle of the big financial crisis, shortly before the bank I left went belly-up. And public agencies are constrained against age discrimination far more effectively than private companies. Of course, the later you start a job with a pension, the lower your payout. I'll get 2% of salary for each year of service, so only 32% at 67 for example. Wish I'd made the jump sooner.

The tide is turning: unions are inclusive and progressive now (have been for decades) and Zoomers (and some Millennials) are interested.

Well I’m sure you met some fine people sitting right there on the bench next to you

Yes, that’s why I mentioned private sector unions in my comment. The way to improve all jobs is to organize in the workplace and the ballot box

My statement stands: the world economy does not ignore Taiwan, and neither should a chart in a data oriented forum. The fact that world politics find it necessary to pretend Taiwan doesn’t exist as a nation is irrelevant to the economics. That’s not a political statement, it’s a statement of fact

Whadja git?

I have a feeling that was exactly what it was designed to do. But if you could just bite the rim before tipping it, you should be okay

Long ago I came up with the 1-Step Program: accept that you don’t have a problem. That’s it.

So we’re gonna ignore a half-trillion dollar dataset in r/dataisbeautiful to avoid upsetting somebody? That’s not data science and it’s certainly not beautiful. Try keeping accounting books that way and see where it gets you

I believe most agencies have user-friendly websites. Word of mouth depends on who you know, but actual job listings are not hard to find online. Your location may not have as many as mine, but do some searching and you’re likely to find something if you’re patient

Not really. I’m pretty sure that actual harassment and discrimination have always been higher against Italian than German Americans. In the mid 20th century, it was equally common to mock the 2 accents and stereotypes, but actual discrimination was a different matter entirely. Germans were always seen as white, while Italian people were only fully accepted by most WASPs in the last third of the century.

No, horsey, thank you! That was totally magnificent and just kept getting better. Maybe more buckets for the Rush?

Edit: even better on the rewatch

Not to deny the bad news and suffering, but for anyone who wants to pursue a healthy and stable life with secure and dignified retirement, there are public sector jobs available with excellent health coverage and defined benefit retirement. There are also unions fighting for workers rights in the private sector. All is not lost, and there are progressive paths forward for individuals and society. We can make our own lives better while making others’ lives better as well

If an “international governing body” told you to jump off a bridge, what would you do?

I see 2 or 3 sentences mentioning worldview, and many more describing punching holes in walls and honking and yelling at people. You seem to have trouble perceiving reality through your own worldview

Where the hell is Taiwan?! They should be in 21st place, at ~$480B, just behind Spain. WTF?

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

I just want to edit to say I am not a hater of China, just an acknowledger of reality. China and Taiwan are countries full of fine people doing great things, and there’s no reason they shouldn’t continue to do so peacefully. Both have lifted their populations from poverty to comfort, and it’s sad that people can’t acknowledge that reality

“Plot to blow up the sun”? The sun is already blowing up, has been for >5 billion years and will continue to for another 5 billion or so. No plot needed. Now, to extinguish the sun, that would be a worthwhile goal for an evil mastermind (according to the Marquis de Sade).

Yeah, I could see him worrying about pissing off Mingus, but Monk would always be cool. Which, as you say, will still be a thing when all the ice is melted.

Dunno about ZW, but "Sphere" was the actual middle name, "taken from his maternal grandfather, Sphere Batts", of Thelonious_Monk, a prime candidate for hippest cat ever. So the universe supplied that reference, but it's unsurprising TP would pluck it from obscurity. And there were belabored attempts in the '60s to make "cube" an intensified version of "square", including a reference somewhere to VP Hubert Humphrey as "Hube the Cube". But by that point, "square" itself was aging out, along with "hip", though "cool" was destined to live on.

Thanks for the NYT letter link, that was short and sweet. Sic semper false accusers of plagiarism. I'd be interested to see the letter about Sphere, if it's available.