Taxis are not efficient or cost-effective for short trips, so they’re not an ideal last-mile solution. I’d rather rent a scooter, personally.
However, if I need to make an appointment on time, or just reduce morning hassles, I take a Waymo, but afterwards, I may be inclined to take public transit in the return direction. Same distance, similar route, but distinct criteria for budgeting time, money, and mental health.
Ridership of public transit has grown dramatically in the past 20 years, here in the Phoenix Metro area. I’m excited about this new offering, and I hope it is expanded as described!
Tech workers located in South Africa and nearby regions suffer, because the power grid there is unreliable at best. Therefore, those workers may be required by employers to prove that they have arranged for reliable backup power and network connections in order to stay connected (nearly to the antipodes) and ensure that their performance is competitive with workers located in stable regimes with robust power grids and network backbones.
It may seem unfair or unnecessary for US employers to require US employees to have a UPS, solar array, a redundant network connection, etc. But if employers required these things up-front, surely some tech workers could step up to the challenge and perhaps even be distinguished from those who don't get it.
Yes. Why would US employers require US employees to have those redundancies?
It seems like the employer would be throwing away leverage in the employer/employee negotiation without giving the employer anything they actually value.
Hiring magaenrs and applications routinely ask if the applicant has reliable transportation. Likewise, they often require workers to bring protective equipment, tools, clothing, etc. whether they work on-site, or remotely from home. Employers can deny employment or hours to a worker without a computer or without a network connection, based on the essential requirements for BYOB policies.
The computer should be reliable, and the network should be reliable. I’ve seen how satellite connections flake out, freezing with every handoff like distant cell towers . If the tech stack and/or transportation isn’t reliable, then neither is the expectation of productivity.
If employees need reaction times that are reasonable, live teleconference connections on a presentation, then the employer may say that certain precautions are necessary to guarantee reliability up-front.
There are more people doing “digital nomad” work and more American expats in foreign countries. A worker who is a citizen of the USA and employed by a USA firm may be working from South Africa. A digital nomad may be less prepared or less well-informed about the prevailing conditions on the local power grid, network backbone, solar wind and aurora forecast. You name it.
If someone believes that employers are concerned about “throwing away leverage” then that believer is not me, because I have personal lived experience of such employers and such written requirements.
"Moloch" only means "Lord" in its essential consonants. It's the same Semitic triple-root for "Malik" and "Melkite" and "Melchizedek". Cognates: certainly still in widespread use today as forenames and surnames, et. al.
"Leviathan": The full name certainly strikes fear. One of my ancestors brought his family over from Scotland on the Leviathan which was a captured-and-repurposed German passenger vessel. We can imagine: it was ginormous. has an interesting derivation if we take it apart into component parts: they would be recognizable as good guys, or denim jeans I guess. Since Semitic roots standardized on the triple-consonant, we may see ancient tongues incorporated for this one.
"Be-el-ze-bub": "Lord of the Flies", of course; the implication of the English name of the novel about those good children on a desert island, who lived in interesting times. A theophoric name. Shares a root with "Ba'al" of the Tanakh. Glottal stops FTW.
https://youtu.be/sNhPplje7xM?is=h5VtnMe9wva-VKGM
reply