cassieramen

I thought the productivity data was interesting but then it stopped right after hack week... Definitely agree, the long term implications are a lot more interesting.

I really recommend this podcast on how negatively this deal affected the town the center piece plant was targeted for. https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/wbhjwd

This won't fix things. If you look at maximum road capacity for a highway lane it's pretty pitifully in the hundreds. Maximum capacity being exact speed limit driving with minimum safe distance between cars. Obviously, city streets have an even lower capacity even if you exclude pedestrian and bicycle traffic Ultimately cars can't be the only solution in dense urban environments.

It's important to remember that the federal government was actively subsidizing the urban exodus to suburbia in the 1940s. The subway became unprofitable due to federal housing policy and the local or state government ended up having to bail it out.

"Whatever reason" is because the quality of life in an urban area is much higher than in a rural "cheap" area. Jobs are centered in urban areas, you can eliminate a huge commute by living close to work, clawing back hours of your life. For those who are unable to afford a car the rich transit options available in urban areas are life lines to school, work, a community. Cheaper areas can be massive voids where go to the grocery store or post office is a 30 minutes round trip car ride.

Have they confirmed whether they are giving up on their hardware play or not?

If that is true, don't you think the university had a duty to communicate that? It seems like the u of Chicago promised them a first class institute and is not delivering. If that was never possible then it seems like a clear bad faith agreement.

I am happily surprised google assistant not only plays from Spotify but let's you set Spotify as your default music service. No "ask Spotify to play..." just a simple "play..."

I feel like Apple bullies people into inferior experiences.

I hate this line of logic. San Francisco is already insanely expensive. Letting property crime go untouched is just pushing the cost of that on to those in the city who are already strapped for time and money. My window got busted and I had to pay $350 and miss half a day of work. I fully expect this to happen again, at my own expense.

That is a very scary future. I too had comments under my name in support of net neutrality in addition to the real comment I filed. Hopefully the Equifax leak (which really seems to have blown over quickly) leads to a new identification system so public comments can actually be verified as coming from real citizens.

I think he was pointing out how out of reach buying is. I'm sure a lot of people would like to own that are renting in SF right now but that's just not possible. "Having a roof of your head" and home ownership is very different, offering different benefits. For someone with kids, who probably does not want to be moving, renting is a bad option but the only one in a lot of markets.

Can anyone who was at a seed stage startup 5 years ago provide some insight into what salary looked like? I moved here about 2 years ago and constantly here how crazy housing and salary have gotten in just the last few.

I can't believe that half the time and about 15% of the budget were all due to permitting delays. That is totally nuts.

In other cities I think the government has your back. The SF police will not respond not a non violent encounter because the court system heavily sympathizes with non violent offenders in SF, to the point where they don't even prosecute. I am at a loss as to what I, as an individual, can do to curb the aggressive behavior.

I disagree. I think there are certainly people who need mental health/drug counseling but for those that seek it is has to be impossible to get on your feet. I can see a spiral where you seek help, get better, but then you can't afford a place to live. You can't find a job since you don't have an address or you do find a job but can't save fast enough to afford an apartment. So, you go back to living on the streets and you slide back down.

I moved to SF from New York a couple years ago. A huge difference in the homeless populations for me has been the aggressiveness of the SF homeless. I can't recall a single time in New York where a homeless person got in my face or yelled at me or anything of the like. Since being here I've had a full cup of (hopefully) soda thrown on me and been yelled at from a 3ft range multiple times. It's a surreal experience. I'm not sure what led to cultural difference.

This hit the nail on the head for me. Etsy was all the parts I loved about Ebay mashed with the parts of an art fair I loved. It's been on a slow slide to another Ebay in my eyes.

I think I confused the question. Politicians' salaries aren't the 20%, yes that is all salary. But part of the article is discussing the corruption going on here where state employees endorse politicians who end up pushing for legislation that pays them lavishly in retirement.

I think the big focus of the article is the "California Rule" that prevents changes to pension commits that have yet to be earned. It's like buying a house and having the real estate market crash. You can renegotiate your property taxes (lowered home value). You can refinance your mortgage.

From the article: "In Los Angeles and other cities, [retirement benefits] account for 20% or more of general fund spending."

That is certainly not a minuscule portion.

This is a wonderful series the LATimes has been doing. I encourage everyone to checkout the other articles in here.

The one that focused on El Monte was particularly discouraging. http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-me-el-monte-pensions/ A former city manager with a $250K pension rationalizes with: “I have to admit that we made the mistake back then, and I have to admit that I make too much money now, but what can I do?”

Is this true? Will he not end up losing most of it in a settlement? If Google can prove he stole their ip (which looks pretty damn likely right now) are they not entitled to any money he made from the use of it?

I love that this takes an existing government entity and allows that entity to actually do its job. We already know how many units and of what type need to be built. It's frustrating watching those quotas be severely under met year after year.

I'm not sure what the purpose of a suit like this is. They're already shutting down and pledged to issue refunds. Are they trying to collect fines or slap someone on the wrist? It feels like this would have been more effective if they started investigating 6 months or so after the pledged ship date.

This is from my experience consulting with the Alameda County District Attorney's office. I'm using average here less in the statistical sense and more in the ordinary sense.

Backpage does not mean no street pimps. The average profile of a sex worker in the US is a young runaway who begins dating a slightly older man. He takes care of her in a way her family like never did and eventually convinces her to sell herself, becomes her pimp. It's a very rare sex worker that elected to start completely in her own.