chrislongss

That's an interesting insight, thank you. Are there any good articles about his deliberately comic / ironic approach, or his approach in general? His reliance on cliche story building troupes (like private detectives) can be off-putting at times, would love to understand better what was behind his choices.

Not sure about the critical consensus, but VALIS is by far my favorite Dick's book. I read almost all of his works and love very many short stories and novels, however VALIS is in a class of its own in science fiction IMO.

The title is also brilliant: mysterious and vague until you learn what is stands for. What's not to like?

Just out of interest: do you notice any difference at all between different brands of coffee? I am with on the idea that coffee tastes awful, but despite that I still prefer certain brands that taste subjectively better.

Maybe we should strive to make it illegal for companies to collect and sell phone data instead of allowing more mass data collection?

You forgot tracking. Tracking and recording every trip you take.

Are you advocating for "speed limits"... for advancing people's careers based on race?

I am not nitpicking and in general am in support of offering more diverse options. However, in my experience I can't remember a single event where soft drinks where not offered in additional to alcohol: pre DEI or during the DEI era.

As a vegetarian, I really struggled finding good non-meat options though.

Parent comment doesn't limit this to Google.

This is a minor detail but reducing or removing alcohol all together (my company) from social events for inclusion reasons is excluding people who like consuming alcohol at social events. We somehow pivoted to embracing restrictions in order to accommodate small groups of people, instead of offering alternatives (e.g. vegan options). This will always irritate other groups of people and is not a sustainable way to improve inclusion.

This is a fantastical speculation based on no evidence other than political bias. We do have evidence, though, that candidates had to go through performative hiring practices to prove that they support "diversity".

Yes, as it should be. Criticize the policies, not an administration led by a party you don't align with.

I know this is a joke, but iirc there used to be certain procedures that would surgically implant something physically harmful into an addicts arm to scare them into soberness. Like a capsule maybe?.. Can't remember the details. And if the person were to start drinking alcohol again, the capsule would break down and release a chemical into their bloodstream.

Reminds of the infamous attempt to fight discrimination in orchestras by conducting blind auditions. Which ended up reducing diversity even further.

Even following the charitable interpretation, grouping a dozen of cultures with very different educational and economic opportunities into a single "asian" designation is a bizarre practice.

"Trillionaire" media moguls were on board with the previous regime for at least the last decade. They are realigning now, not particularly surprising.

These DEI programs were not primarily about outreach. Outreach existed way before DEI (e.g. interns, new grads, Grace Hopper conference, etc) and will continue to exist. DEI introduced improper - discriminatory - systems with quotas and heavy prioritization of specific groups of people.

With one caveat - Air is very popular in the enterprise world. It's just so much lighter! And powerful enough to handle the vast majority of non-eng tasks.

I was able to buy it once ~15 years ago (UK).

Some niche markets have alternatives - like Reverb for music gear - but other than that eBay still has the best selection, unfortunately.

Seller reputation is the only reason I still use eBay (when no other options are available). Even when I am desperate, a seller with fewer than 10-100 relevant positive reviews (depending on how expensive the item is) is a deal breaker.