Semi-Hemi-Demigod

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

They'll justify it with "This is just an unlimited credit card for the Spendocrat party to make all kinds of regulations and social programs at the expense of the hardworking taxpayer"

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

I think it started when software stopped being distributed physically. It's hard to push a bunch of updates to your users when they've need to physically have floppies sent to them versus doing it over the network.

I remember a time when software being "Gold Master" meant it was literally written to a gold master disk, from which copies were made. With that kind of release you had to make damn sure things were finished.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

This just seems like a Patreon with extra steps. If you like what he does, chip in a bit for it. If not, find something else.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago)

Here is a link to the actual study (PDF via GDrive)

One of the authors of this paper is from the Chicago School and the Hoover Institution. Both are pro-business, anti-worker think-tanks that have been this way for decades. They also don't do any research of their own, but cite other papers that show the 5-20% reduction.

However, the methodology mentioned in the papers is suspect. First, they show that remote workers have the same productivity, but work longer hours. So the net output doesn't go down, they just spend more time working. Which raises the question: How many more breaks were they taking throughout the day? Being remote means a much more flexible schedule, so it's not uncommon to take longer breaks if you're a salaried worker.

Another study was IT professionals shifting to remote work at one company at the start of the pandemic. This one showed an 18% reduction in productivity. But considering the timing of this and that company culture and procedures can contribute to this, it doesn't seem to be a valid data point.

Then they bring up some common criticisms of WFH, which I've seen and refuted since I started working from home 2009: People can't communicate, working in groups is harder, and people can't control themselves. Yawn.

Honestly, the fact that they cherry picked hybrid work as being equally productive shows me this isn't about productivity, it's about keeping offices open. Which makes sense considering one of the authors is affiliated with groups that want to prop up the commercial rental business.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

There's really nothing like sitting in a darkened room with music blasting, code pouring out of your fingers while you have an out of body experience from caffeine overdose and lack of sleep. I've spent my entire career chasing that high.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

Your analysis is a lot better than mine. Thanks!

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

If the source of the article is suspect, where is the research by tech firms with a vested interest in cloud and communication platforms publishing counter studies?

I think they're right here

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

I think people leave out the fact that their commute should also be considered time working. If you've got an hour commute and an eight hour shift, you really have a ten hour shift.

So you are taking ten hours to do eight hours of work, because part of it means dragging your brain through meatspace to be there. Since you don't have to do that, you can take longer doing the actual job.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

Right, but you're no better than alt-right people on Facebook ignoring the research that's literally one click away because you're afraid it will disagree with you

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

FYI, none of your posts in this thread have any links

And because jfc you're lazy: Here is a study by the Harvard Business Review showing increased productivity.

It took three clicks from Google so I can see why you'd have trouble getting to it.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

Don't forget that Forbes and The Economist were all in favor of outsourcing jobs, which leads to me having meetings with people all over the world even when I'm in an office.

So if working remotely hurts group work, a lot of it is their fault for sending jobs overseas. Unless they also want those jobs to eventually move back here so we can have happy group work fun time.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

Saying that a conservative economic school is pro-business and anti-labor is not what I'd call an ad hominem, but a statement of fact. Saying they want to prop up the commercial real estate business isn't ad hominem either.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago)

The Chicago School itself says:

Conservative politicians like Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Margaret Thatcher championed Friedman’s ideas

So maybe the school itself holds to some kind of political neutrality, but conservatives love their theories.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

Ah, so it's not that they're conservative, it's that they desire the same things conservatives want. But they're totally apolitical, and it's just a happy coincidence.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

overrun a coal plant to shut it down

I love how you dropped this unfathomably based suggestion in a list of lame and ineffective ideas. I pick this one because it seems easier than dealing with the government.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

The fact that people don't understand that more free education means a better life for everybody is really frustrating

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

They'd have a lot harder time justifying massive administrative pay to a funding subcommittee than they do justifying it to a bunch of trustees who are also rich assholes and know they can charge as much as they want for tuition because everyone just gets loans.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

The ideal that “we’re all in this together” was replaced with the reality that the educated class lives in a world up here, and everybody else is forced into a world down there. Members of our class are always publicly speaking out for the marginalized, but somehow we always end up building systems that serve ourselves.

I love how Brooks can talk about class without bringing labor into it. Just a great example of liberals missing the damn point.

Then he goes on to talk about "open immigration" like that's even close to what we have.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

One thing the political center lacks in America - and I say center because we don't have a truly leftist political party - is a vision for the future. They don't want a fundamental change in how the economy and government work, they just want to keep things steady and work around the edges.

The problem is the economy and government aren't working for most people and most people want them replaced.

Republicans have a vision. Yeah, it's a racist, sexist vision that will drag us back to the 1950s, but it's a vision they can communicate.

What's the Democrats' vision? I don't think it's mine, of worker cooperatives and high speed rail and free education and universal health care, paid for by shaking Bezos and Musk upside down until no more money comes out. As far as I can tell they just want to keep things going like they have since the 90s.

And then they wonder why they can't seem to get people to get excited to vote for them.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

No, we'd have a new second party. And that party wouldn't win against Republicans.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

It's not an op-ed, it's just reporting on the study and reactions to it. The whole article is barely six paragraphs long and doesn't get into any editorializing. The survey also says about a third still haven't made up their mind.

And if you're going to spout of reasons why this is the case, it would be great if you would have something concrete to back up your assertion beyond your gut telling you this is the case. Do you have statistics about how much exposure the average teenage boy has to radical feminists?

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

I’ve actually read the very short article and the author’s opinion isn’t mentioned. It cites opinions of other people a lot, which would explain it being in op ed.

Did we read the same thing?

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

Sounds like the premise to a Neil Gaiman novel

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

Reminds me of when my guy was little and he'd curl up in my robe while I was wearing it

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

Two words:

Ron.

Jeremy.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

Rampant teen pregnancy is definitely one way to solve their demographic problem.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

As long as you don’t need color a laser printer is way better for printing documents.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

HP used to make rock solid laser printers back in the late 90s and 00s. Shame what they turned into.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

I’m a socialist and an anarchist and it’s pretty fucking obvious to me that Putin started this war and should be the target of the peaceniks, not the west.

Putin definitely lied about Ukraine. He claimed to be “denazifying” a country with a Jewish president, for fuck’s sake.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

Just in time for us to fight antibiotic resistant bacteria

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

An even quicker option is to find a cliff and chase the herd off it. Have some of your folks run the herd toward a cliff, and the rest of them at the bottom with rocks to finish off the animals. The oldest blueprints ever found were of structures that would funnel animals to a pit or cliff so they'd be easier to kill.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

I’m still amazed so many of my anti-imperialists don’t recognize that Russia is being imperialist here. It seems so obvious.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

One disadvantage to digital distribution is that companies can't bury every copy of a game in the desert if it's really bad.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

"Yes, this is an actual PC game screenshot!"

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

Then combine that with the blatant gerrymandering

While the electoral college does give less populous states and outside influence, but you can't gerrymander presidential elections without changing the borders of states.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

Remember the old memes? Those were the days...

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

He's basically the character he played on News Radio, except with an audience and too much money.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

Plus AFAIK the stargate is still in NORAD so it makes sense to keep them close

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

“Janitor closet.” Sure.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

If it doesn't make a neat noise when I flip it open like a Star Trek communicator I'm not interested.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

Pee Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special still airs right before Die Hard at my house every Christmas Eve, followed by as much of the Star Wars Christmas Special as I can take.

Why, yes, I was born in the 1980s. Why do you ask?

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

I still have a huge crush on Janeane Garofalo from that movie.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

I had hoped there would be a significant study I could read but it’s just the same reefer madness we’ve seen for decades.

It will be great when it’s finally fully legal and we can do real science on it.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

Those charges were later dropped.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago)

Relying on a third party for your social media presence is a bad idea. Imagine if Elon got a bug up his ass and banned all BBC accounts; they’d be left in a lurch. Or if, as we saw, someone else got a blue checkmark and pretended to be the BBC.

But by running their own site they have control over who posts what, while still able to interact with users on other instances.

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

Flavored lube totally exists

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

Did they get hit with an arrow?

Semi-Hemi-Demigod , 10 months ago

Respawn works but you lose all your progress