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A $40 Toll to Drive 10 Miles? It Happened on Virginia’s I-66

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/05/us/i66-toll-virginia-washington.html?module=WatchingPortal&region=c-column-middle-span-region&pgType=Homepage&action=click&mediaId=thumb_square&state=standard&contentPlacement=8&version=internal&contentCollection=www.nytimes.com&contentId=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2017%2F12%2F05%2Fus%2Fi66-toll-virginia-washington.html

( Read More... | no comments | 5 points | on HN )

Inside China’s Big Tech Conference, New Ways to Track Citizens

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/05/business/china-internet-conference-wuzhen.html?module=WatchingPortal&region=c-column-middle-span-region&pgType=Homepage&action=click&mediaId=thumb_square&state=standard&contentPlacement=6&version=internal&contentCollection=www.nytimes.com&contentId=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2017%2F12%2F05%2Fbusiness%2Fchina-internet-conference-wuzhen.html

( Read More... | no comments | on HN )
Re:The Dark Side of Doctoring on Friday May 19, 2017 @03:51PM (#14378851)
I am not a doctor, though I have many friends that are either med student or residents and do hear about the harrowing workload and stress quite a bit. I just want to point out the sentiment expressed here should all sounds very familiar to anyone who has ever had a job.

The managing class (Company CEO, Hospital/University administrators) is ever in the pursuit of more profit, euphemized as "efficiency" or "optimization", at the expense on everything else. How can we squeeze the employees a little harder so we don't have to hire as many? How can we increase "productivity" so more patients can be seen(and pay up)? How can we eliminate waste (lower cost of care as much as possible so we can make more) to the patient? How can we make more money by tweaking our charging model (Insurance rewarding loyal customer by charging them more, Hospital Chargemaster etc)? Oops, I see people are complaining a lot. Let me pay some lip service about appreciating our employees and valuing our customer/patients. Heck I am feeling extra generous right now , let's put up some cheap program they can participate in. There, they should feel happy now.

This is all too familiar in the corporate world. Any employees with a half a brain will get the message loud and clear: employers do NOT care. Or maybe they do, just nowhere near money. See, their incentive is aligned quite nicely: cost cutting/profit increasing actions are how they justify their pay and the profit it generates is how they pay themselves. Everything else can be sacrificed.

Caring for a patient is a very intellectual, specialized and dare I say it creative task. Doctors are paid well above many other professions though one can argue it is not for the years they have to invest into training and the work hours. The point is, at the end of day they are glorified laborers, being told by their boss what to do, just like the rest of us. Prestige has shielded the medical profession for decades but now the grip of corporate America has finally caught up. And lo and behold, what scant voice and influence do we have!

We absolutely do need managers/administrators. We need them to make sure companies/hospitals are running smoothly, is well funded and serve the customer well. But the lack of voice and the power imbalance in employment is suffocating. We are partners not servants or slaves. And the all consuming focus on money has got to stop. Human welfare deserve to be at the top. not profit.

Same as you, not condoning piracy. However, in my opinion it is very unlikely we are paying for "the persons who worked hard on creating this content". Sure we are paying for them, but I think most of the money goes to the person whose capital "worked hard on creating this content".
Re:Why do Chinese websites look so busy? on Monday February 08, 2016 @03:34PM (#11060697)
It is useful when you are trying to type a character that you cannot quite pronounce/pronounce erroneously. It happens quite often even with Chinese people. With this input you can simply imitate the strokes.
Re:San Francisco Bubble on Friday January 29, 2016 @04:43PM (#10998724)
Great points. Also a "free" market in practice will always tend to lead to extremes. For example, monopolies naturally form when economic power start becoming concentrated. That's why government regulations were put in place.
Re:San Francisco Bubble on Friday January 29, 2016 @04:41PM (#10998705)
Your points are great and all, but what about the local folks that the engineers displaced? The people who has lived in SF for decades, contributed to its wonderful culture but failed to catch on to the tech boom. After being pushed out by the high living cost you cannot just expect they will seamlessly move right back when the prices/market calibrates to normal.
Re:How experts stay safe at the Black Hat security conference on Thursday August 06, 2015 @02:57PM (#10018576)
Who is this guy and why are nation state/criminals interested in him?
Re:Thomas Piketty: “Germany has never repaid.” on Tuesday July 07, 2015 @04:10PM (#9847767)
The medium page is not viewable for me apparently due to a copyright issue. Here is an alternative site for the full transcript:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-07-06/piketty-germany-has...

Re:How I became an artist on Tuesday July 07, 2015 @03:49PM (#9847653)
Just curious, How are the pictures, from section III The professional, made? Are they made by with software or by actual painting?
Re:The Steady Rise of Bike Ridership in New York on Friday April 17, 2015 @01:48PM (#9395955)
Bike infrastructure is being built. Bike ridership is up, all great news.

However, there remains a fundamental problem. As packed in as NYC is, it is still a huge city designed for automobiles. Many people lives 10, 20 miles away from their jobs.

It is obvious from the picture in the article that many cyclists gear themselves up for a long arduous ride. Unless one is into biking or exercise most people is just not up to that kind of ride. I do not think a 20 mile ride is what the average cyclist in Amesterdam or Berlin imagine their commute to be.

Re:Facebook use linked to depressive symptoms on Tuesday April 07, 2015 @01:15PM (#9335526)
Quitting Facebook has definitely made me more out of touch with friends who are not in the same locale. I do miss the ability to get timely updates on what they are up to.

On the other hand, the separation has made reunion/catching up that much more exciting for us. When we do get together, it is always an exhilarating time, with so much to talk about and share. Personally I think this model works just fine for me.

"sure, but you've still lost your home, anything you didn't take with you, possibly your job, and have to now find somewhere else to live and completely change your life."

I think you just laid out precisely why it is hard for them to move out ASAP.

Re:Fake Amazon Tech Book Reviews Are Hurting My Book on Friday March 13, 2015 @05:09PM (#9200056)
I was recently on Amazon looking to purchase an item. Apparently not a lot people buy this item online, so there was very few number of reviews.

I got curious if the people reviewing these items are genuine buyers or otherwise, so I click through to one guy's profile (verified purchase). Turns out he posted hundreds of one liner reviews for a plethora of esoteric products(all verified purchase) all on Jan 12, 2015.

They are out there.

Re:WEB DEVELOPER (DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES) on Tuesday February 17, 2015 @12:01PM (#9063359)
I don't live in LA so am not too sure about the wage market there. But 12$/hr seems pretty low for any job, let alone a developer position, in the second largest city in the US?

I bet some HR person came up with that stack and the corresponding pay.

Re:Anthem Breach May Have Started in April 2014 on Tuesday February 10, 2015 @04:13PM (#9029938)
Reduce bonuses? Ha. More like passing the buck to their customers?
Re:Amazon Is in Talks to Buy RadioShack Stores, Report Says on Monday February 09, 2015 @12:09PM (#9022247)
No actually I don't. Haven't been to one in years. Thanks for the tip.
Re:Banks Paid $32.6B in Bonuses Amid U.S. Bailout (2009) on Monday February 09, 2015 @11:49AM (#9022115)
I don't think the bonuses is a problem per se. Companies should be allowed to pay their employee however they want, being true to the contract the employee signed, of course.

The bailout is the problem. If there was no bailout, these banks would have totally reduced the payout. They would feel the hit and have to adjust accordingly to keep the company afloat. Bailout gave them the go ahead to disregard all the losses.

It is extremely cynical for the same players to be crying for free enterprise, woe is regulation and the market always work its magic. But hey it's not their problem. We just had to be the sucker, pony up and bail them out.

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