Massachusetts has not held its Senate primary yet either. I had to check, it will be on September 3rd it seems.

That reminds me of the time, quite a few years ago, Amazon tried to automate resume screening. They trained a machine learning model with anonymized resumes and whether the candidate was hired. Then they looked at what the AI was looking at. The model had trained itself on how to reject women.

Unfortunately, living in the US, I would not take a job with a pension because the (private) pension system cannot be trusted. I remember the 00s when many company pension accounts went bankrupt, because companies were no longer offering it as a benefit and it was easy enough to screw over retired past employees. Companies would take poorly performing divisions and their pension plans, spin them off as a new company that would quickly file for bankruptcy.

I would not trust a pension without it being insured by an organization like the FDIC. Even then, I would be afraid that my pension would not cover living costs due to inflation.

Luckily there are alternatives. I have a 401k, which should give me a steady flow of inflation proof dividends… until a market downturn wipes it out. If that happens, I can fall back to Social Security. Don’t believe the baloney that the government will ever let Social Security go bankrupt. They will just cut down benefits.

Tie more positive things to the federal minimum wage, for example tax brackets and retirement fund contribution limits. They go up every single year, so the government will either have to keep raising the minimum wage or go on the record to justify why the ratio is wrong.

It was not automatic so rich people can avoid it. I have never heard of someone facing criminal charges for failing to register. I have heard that failing to register can impact eligibility for college financial aid and scholarships.

How will that work for individuals who own .00001% of hundreds of homes (by owning shares of several real estate holding companies)?

Also, mega rich people don’t to legally own anything. It is owned by a trust with undisclosed beneficiaries. It is also routed via multiple offshore dummy corporations. It is set up this way so that tax agencies can never figure out incomes and inheritances.

I am pretty certain Marshalls (a TJX store) has kept prices fairly flat (if not dropping them slightly). I am used to paying about $30 for pants (across many discount retailers), but the last couple of pairs I bought there were around $20.

An advertised top speed of 80 means that, assuming you have ideal road conditions, tire conditions, are on a flat road, have no wind, and a long distance to get up to speed, you will hover at 78. There are plenty of places with a 65 mph speed limit, wind, and a big hill. Besides, most people will occasionally exceed the speed limit to “overtake traffic”.

I am not saying it is right, but many people online demand that their EV be able to go much more than 200 miles/charge. I am not sure if that is a majority opinion or just a very vocal minority.

The Chinese cars that are half price don’t include any safety features, have a theoretical top speed of 80 mph, and a battery range of 100 miles. Those ones would never make it to the US even without tariffs.

AI is the future, unfortunately we are eternally stuck in the present.

That makes sense. Sorry, I grew up in a school system where recess stops after the fifth grade.

Also, you mentioned that lack of coat was a problem for lunch? I assume that means that your cafeteria only had outdoor seating. How did that work when it was raining or very windy?

Maybe it is because I am used to a colder climate, but how did you come to school without outerwear? Did your parents not notice the temperature in the morning and put a jacket on you?

Douglas Adams is undoubtedly one of the greatest writers of the period.

He is known for light, surrealistic science fiction comedy, not a genre generally considered “high art” but his mastery of language is superb. He is a master of analogies in a way that is both funny but also makes the reader think about the roles and conventions of symbolism in language.

I did not read this article in particular, but the actual report: http://www.brandonrottinghaus.com/uploads/1/0/8/7/108798321/presidential_greatness_white_paper_2024.pdf

Respondents included current and recent members of the Presidents & Executive Politics Section of the American Political Science Association, which is the foremost organization of social science experts in presidential politics, as well as scholars who had recently published peer-reviewed academic research in key related scholarly journals or academic presses. 525 respondents were invited to participate, and 154 usable responses were received, yielding a 29.3% response rate.

Note, that is not 154 random people on the street. That is 154 US academics specializing in presidential politics, a much smaller total population.

I did not like the constant tonal shifts between silly magic frat boys and depressing magical apocalypse.

It is an American brand of oatmeal. You cook them to make a porridge.

Those are still half height cube walls. It is a bit more privacy, but still has noise isolation issues. I miss head height cubes.

Pokemon Pinball is better.