Reach for the Stars @antares@qoto.org

@danwentzel Los Angeles has a last mile problem more acute any place on earth.* The only way to get more transit dollars is for transit to get used, and the only way for transit to get used is if they increase the catchment area of their metro stations beyond the standard half mile radius. LA metro needs this program, no matter how inefficient, to have enough ridership to justify the next step.

* - to spite what "downtown LA" developers will tell you the LA area doesn't have a city center. Transit works on the idea that lots of people hare headed to the same place, and that is just not how LA works. Also, yes Huston we see you.

@davidzipper In two or three months there well be much wailing an gnashing of teeth asking why everyone is buying their holiday presents from Amazon and not going to local downtown retail spaces.

my repeated failed attempts at answering this question without snark indicate that I should remain clear of counselors and 10 year olds.

@seachanger A slightly oblate spheroid? So that is the reason I have and astigmatism.

@ClaudetteGabbs Update? Pictures? Did it work?

I have a co-worker who is on a solo crusade to eliminate abbreviations from written language. I am new employee who has to ask every time I encounter a new abbreviation in a field I have not worked in before. Stay tuned this solo crusade may shortly turn into a dynamic duo of just-write-it-out crusaders. #work #WorkStories

@amandacsb2 In addition, it is ok to be married and not have children. Not every couple wants, needs or can manage to have children.

@Azure Interesting. I wonder how long it took for "yourself" to come into common usage when thou started going out of favor.

@BenjaminHCCarr I don't understand how making a better product for lower costs at one company would be the cause of workers going on strike at a different company. Building ICE cars requires a ton of very skilled labor that deserves higher pay. Electric Vehicles can be assembled by a much smaller number of workers who need far less skill. Other than the fact that they make competing products, I don't see much comparison at the worker level. It is like a chef at a 3 star restaurant being concerned that McDonalds pays minimum wage.

@paninid

I own a Tesla and I disagree with this statement. My Model 3 is superior in just about every way to the Nissan Versa it replaced. Also better than the Toyota Corolla I had before that. Over the last 10 years Tesla's have been far more reliable than comparable ICE cars, and this will continue to be the case for any #EV because there are drastically fewer moving parts.

@BenjaminHCCarr

@seachanger I don't know the exact number, but some unfathomable large percentage of bikes are not ridden ever again a year after purchase. I am waiting for the chance to buy a late model ebike at a yardage in the near future. Right now they are just a bit to expensive to find in the secondary market.

Just like the vehicles, hydrogen fuel stations require a LOT of continuous and costly high precision maintenance. Without that they become unsafe to operate. With no real market to serve they quickly become an expensive white elephant.

Hydrogen is hell on metal components and these super high pressure systems need to be re-certified every 24 months. The expense of certifications is quickly becoming uneconomical

https://www.hydrogeninsight.com/transport/hydrogen-vehicles-in-denmark-left-without-fuel-as-all-commercial-refuelling-stations-shuttered/2-1-1519914

@corvax So let me extend your metaphor a bit.

A bunch of researchers studied cliff divers and discovered that with good technique an a deep body of water to dive into, they almost never go injured when they jumped off a cliff. Those researcher then suggested putting shallow plastic kiddy pools below the cliff and telling people to jump in them just like the cliff divers and it will be safe. We have the cliff diver studies to prove it.

@elduvelle "How would you handle a co-worker who was having a bad day?" Asked by at both the HR screening interview and the technical interview. 🤔

@NicoleCRust In my most recent job search I asked each interviewer how likely it was that the job I was interviewing for would still be there in 10 years and got some surprisingly frank answers. The places that were the most anxious to assure me that the job was good long term also seemed to be the ones where I felt the most comfortable asking for pay above baseline.

@rspfau

I agree that upper division labs intended for students who will likely peruse a career in a lab environment should focus on the job skills seen in actual lab settings. A 400 level genetics class indeed should emphasize following established protocols with the needed precision. On the other hand 100 level science classes, especially those without prerequisites that are likely the GE classes for non-science majors, should emphasis scientific reasoning and iterative problem analysis through experimentation more than discipline specific lab skills.

I honestly don't care if the HR person doesn't remember how inductors work even though that is a core part of our business. I would like them to be able to determine that neither his coffee maker nor his printer are working because the power strip they plugged them both into has tripped its breaker. There will never be a lab on fixing common office appliances but there are skills we can teach people that even HR might be able to apply.

@freemo

@rspfau

So let me give an example. A chemistry class had done a unit on ways to identify Sodium salts and for homework had turned in a report detailing a proposed process to identify an unknown salt. However when students got to the lab, they were presented with a step by step guide instead of using the process they had developed themselves. Why?

Well, we know why. The powers that be did not trust students to use their own process because it might be wrong. It was just easier and less messy to hand out detailed instructions. But the real world is messy and doesn't come with instruction. In my opinion, the students were denied the chance to see the results of their own work and learn how to improve it.

@freemo