-
13 votes
-
BLUF: Bottom Line Up-front (How to make your writing more powerful)
5 votes -
Tom Cruise, #GentleMinions mania and the endurance of ‘Elvis’: How summer movie season rebounded from Covid
3 votes -
Bones and All | Teaser
2 votes -
Why does the IRS need $80 billion? Just look at its cafeteria.
15 votes -
US consumer prices rose 8.5% in July, less than expected as inflation pressures ease a bit
8 votes -
Weekly megathread for news/updates/discussion of Russian invasion of Ukraine - August 4
This thread is posted weekly on Thursday - please try to post relevant content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Especially significant updates may warrant a separate topic,...
This thread is posted weekly on Thursday - please try to post relevant content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Especially significant updates may warrant a separate topic, but most should be posted here.
If you'd like to help support Ukraine, please visit the official site at https://help.gov.ua/ - an official portal for those who want to provide humanitarian or financial assistance to people of Ukraine, businesses or the government at the times of resistance against the Russian aggression.
15 votes -
Hulu says ‘Prey’ is its biggest movie or TV series premiere ever
7 votes -
What programming/technical projects have you been working on?
This is a recurring post to discuss programming or other technical projects that we've been working on. Tell us about one of your recent projects, either at work or personal projects. What's...
This is a recurring post to discuss programming or other technical projects that we've been working on. Tell us about one of your recent projects, either at work or personal projects. What's interesting about it? Are you having trouble with anything?
2 votes -
I'm struggling with a potential ethical violation at work; feedback needed
I have a work-related ethics question, and I thought the fine people here on tildes were perfect to give feedback. I'll try to be brief but still give all of the information. Background I work for...
I have a work-related ethics question, and I thought the fine people here on tildes were perfect to give feedback. I'll try to be brief but still give all of the information.
Background
I work for an energy utility. This company isn't a charity, but it is a non-profit. We are owned by the people who buy power from us (called "members"). We don't profit off of the electricity we sell to our members, but we do generate extra electricity to sell to other utilities (mostly to for-profit ones). Any profit we make is either set aside for future use or is sent out to the members as a check. Yes, our members actually get a check each year. This cooperative was built to serve rural communities since at that point in history profit-driven companies weren't willing to spend the money to run electricity to these communities. We cover 90% (geographically) of our state, along with portions of a neighboring state. We generate using wind, hydro, solar, coal, and natural gas. I don't remember the exact numbers, but I believe roughly 30%-40% of our generation comes from renewables, and we now have a dedicated team researching nuclear power (SMNR) and energy storage (which would allow us to further shift to renewables).
Context
There is a PAC (an entity that throws money at politicians in exchange for votes) for rural electric cooperatives that we participate in. This PAC can only accept donations from our members or employees. While the stated purpose is to advocate for rural cooperatives in general, I personally think that largely translates into advocating for fossil fuels.
Every year there is a 10-day period in August where they start asking us employees to donate. Anyone can donate at any time, this is just the time that they emphasize it. Leadership has REPEATEDLY emphasized that there is no pressure and that our supervisors can't see who has and hasn't donated. I've been here nearly five years, and they've said this each time. I know that under the previous CEO (he left ~10 years ago) there was pressure to donate, and that's probably why they emphasize this now.
Issue
I've discovered however that the leadership CAN see information on who has donated and how much. PAC donations are public information, and the names and amounts can be easily seen online if you know where to look. I do believe that my division leader didn't know this, though I can't really know whether the other leadership did or didn't. There's no way to know if any supervisors have looked at this data or made decisions on it. After I brought it up to my division leader he thanked me and said he will send this new information out to our division.
However, communicating this to the rest of the company is beyond his control. He's alerted the people who can do this but what they do is up to them. While my division doesn't really care who donates, I get the impression that other divisions feel differently. IT has a profoundly different culture than the rest of the company. Senior leaders say there's no pressure, but that's not neciserily the case for supervisors and managers. It's been implied to me that the teams that work in power production, transmission planning, etc still have expectations about donations.
What to do?
So here's the core ethics question: Is it unethical for senior leadership to withhold this new information about the visibility of donations from the rest of the company? The assurance of anonymity was intended to reassure us that there would be no retaliation for those who don't donate and that there would be no favoritism for those who do.
Is this just a small thing that's not really important? If this is an issue, how significant is it? It's obviously not "dumping toxic waste in the river" bad, but it still feels like it must have some level (or potential level) of impact. If this is an issue, what actions would you personally take? How much would you be willing to risk taking action on this?
Thanks in advance, I just want to do the right thing.
16 votes -
“Not that there’s anything wrong with that” - It may be hard to believe now, but in its early years Seinfeld was nearly canceled, and to make matters worse there was a rumor following its star
4 votes -
Olivia Newton-John, ‘Grease” film star and pop hitmaker, dead at 73
3 votes -
Netflix has some great games but nobody's playing them
8 votes -
How to reduce latency and minimize outages (in web systems)
1 vote -
British consumers could face even higher bills and potential energy shortages as Norway threatens electricity export cut
9 votes -
White House declares mpox a public health emergency
24 votes -
The reluctant prophet of effective altruism: William MacAskill's movement set out to help global poor. Now his followers fret about runaway AI. Have they seen our threats clearly, or lost their way?
11 votes -
Alexandria Search is a open source ad free nonprofit web search engine
11 votes -
Updated 2023 Oscar predictions
I wouldn’t be doing an update this early on but there were recent news of many movies being delayed to 2023 including Killers of the Flower Moon and Rustin. Here’s the last one:...
I wouldn’t be doing an update this early on but there were recent news of many movies being delayed to 2023 including Killers of the Flower Moon and Rustin.
Here’s the last one: https://tildes.net/~movies/11ix/early_predictions_for_the_2023_oscars
Picture:
- The Fabelmans
- Empire of Light
- Bardo
- Avatar: The Way of Water
- Babylon
- The Whale
- Women Talking
- Elvis
- Everything Everywhere All At Once
- White Noise
Director:
- Steven Spielberg - The Fabelmans
- Sam Mendes - Empire of Light
- James Cameron - Avatar: The Way of Water
- Damien Chazelle - Babylon
- Alejandro G Innaritu - Bardo
Original Screenplay:
- The Fabelmans
- Babylon
- Empire of Light
- Bardo
- Everything Everywhere All At Once
Adapted Screenplay
- White Noise
- Women Talking
- The Whale
- The Son
- Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Lead Actor:
- Austin Butler - Elvis
- Adam Driver - White Noise
- Daniel Cacho - Bardo
- Brendan Fraser - The Whale
- Hugh Jackman - The Son
Lead Actress:
- Margot Robbie - Babylon
- Cate Blanchett - TAR
- Michelle Yeoh - Everything Everywhere All At Once
- Olivia Colman - Empire of Light
- Naomie Ackie - I Wanna Dance With Somebody
Supporting Actor:
- Paul Dano - The Fabelmans
- Seth Rogen - The Fabelmans
- Ben Wishaw - Women Talking
- Colin Firth - Empire of Light
- Brad Pitt - Babylon
Supporting Actress:
- Michelle Williams - The Fabelmans
- Jessie Buckley - Women Talking
- Sadie Sink - The Whale
- Laura Dern - The Son
- Greta Gerwig - White Noise
Animated Feature:
- Strange World
- My Father's Dragon
- Turning Red
- Pinnochio
- Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
Best Original Score:
- The Fabelmans
- Avatar: The Way of Water
- Women Talking
- Babylon
- Empire of Light
Best Sound:
- Avatar: The Way of Water
- Top Gun: Maverick
- Elvis
- Babylon
- Bardo
Best Production Design:
- Babylon
- Amsterdam
- Avatar: The Way of Water
- Empire of Light
- Elvis
Best Cinematography:
- Avatar: The Way of Water
- Bardo
- Babylon
- Empire of Light
- The Fabelmans
Best Makeup and Hairstyling:
- Elvis
- The Whale
- White Noise
- Babylon
- The Batman
Best Costume Design:
- Elvis
- Amsterdam
- Babylon
- Empire of Light
- The Fabelmans
Best Film Editing:
- Avatar: The Way of Water
- Babylon
- The Fabelmans
- Everything Everywhere All At Once
- Elvis
Best Visual Effects:
- Avatar: The Way of Water
- Top Gun: Maverick
- Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
- The Batman
- Everything Everywhere All At Once
5 votes -
Reddit launches NFTs
30 votes -
App of the fortnight: ksnip
2 votes -
Amazon is acquiring iRobot
21 votes -
Walmart ponders streaming deal with Paramount, Disney and Comcast
3 votes -
The armchair psychologist who ticked off YouTube
1 vote -
The simple secret of airport runway digits
11 votes -
TikTok: Life on the algorithm
4 votes -
Greenland is ground zero for the impacts of climate change, but it could also become ground zero for sourcing the metals needed to power the solution to the crisis
4 votes -
Axios agrees to sell to Cox for $525 million in cash
11 votes -
What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking?
What food and drinks have you been enjoying (or not enjoying) recently? Have you cooked or created anything interesting? Tell us about it!
7 votes -
What cool online services should I sign up for while I have a burner phone?
I have a burner phone for the next month. (Lately a number of services refuse to accept my google voice number, and I refuse to share my actual number.) Are there any cool services I should try...
I have a burner phone for the next month.
(Lately a number of services refuse to accept my google voice number, and I refuse to share my actual number.)
Are there any cool services I should try out that maybe require a phone number to sign up?
5 votes -
What creative projects have you been working on?
This topic is part of a series. It is meant to be a place for users to discuss creative projects they have been working on. Projects can be personal, professional, physical, digital, or even just...
This topic is part of a series. It is meant to be a place for users to discuss creative projects they have been working on.
Projects can be personal, professional, physical, digital, or even just ideas.
If you have any creative projects that you have been working on or want to eventually work on, this is a place for discussing those.
5 votes -
Albuquerque police investigate murder of fourth Muslim man
9 votes -
Lars von Trier, the acclaimed and controversial Danish director, has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease
5 votes -
Father, son who murdered Ahmaud Arbery get life sentences for US hate crime
10 votes -
How prisoners in America got into stocks
14 votes -
Fagradalsfjall has been spewing lava for the past few days – as spectators angled their phones for the perfect shot, three tourists have been injured
6 votes -
Reward efforts, not outcomes
5 votes -
Clark | Official trailer
4 votes -
Starkey - Be (2022)
1 vote -
World's fastest electric ship will set sail in Stockholm next year – Candela P-12 is a thirty-passenger 'flying ferry' that will reach speeds of thirty knots
6 votes -
The case of fake IMDb credits
9 votes -
Dean Summerwind - Parked By The Lake (2018)
1 vote -
Movie recommendation: Falling Down (1993)
Falling Down Runtime: 1h 53m Budget: $25m Tomatometer: 75% 6.8/10 (Audience 88% 4/5) IMDB Rating: 7.6 / 10 - 188k ratings (Top 1000 7.5/10) Language: English Streaming: Vudu , Amazon Michael...
Falling Down
Runtime: 1h 53m
Budget: $25m
Tomatometer: 75% 6.8/10 (Audience 88% 4/5)
IMDB Rating: 7.6 / 10 - 188k ratings (Top 1000 7.5/10)
Language: English
Michael Douglas plays Foster, a man with 1950's era mentality who is having a really bad day. He just wants to make it across LA in time for his daughters birthday. The increasing setbacks he faces from modern 1990's society see him increasingly break down into a string of violence episodes. But his violence is guided by his 1950's era set of morals. And in spite of Fosters nerdy 50's appearance, he is surprisingly good at the modern violence thing. Does the movie glorify the violent anti-hero? Not so fast.
Robert Duvell plays Prendergast. A retiring cop on desk duty who is the only who connects the violent dots together. But because he is a retiring desk jockey who is clearly too afraid to take on a real cops job, almost no one listens to him. Almost no one. There is one person on the force who knows Prendergast has a lot more going on than people realize.
This story is an interesting analysis of the male psyche under pressure. Foster reacts with anger and aggression. Predergast bends to the point of being a doormat, and he just lies there and takes it.
What the movie uncovers at the end, is there is a middle ground, that handling life's setbacks sometimes requires patience and grace, and sometimes requires assertiveness and boldness, and that wisdom is knowing what you can and should try to change and what you can and should try to accept.
This movie has always been a favorite of mine, because I love a little bit of the old ultra violence, and I love an unusual ending that makes you rethink about the entire movie with a new perspective.
But what is really interesting, is this movie touches on the 1950's era males ideals and expectations men are still raised with today, and the outrage that arises when that sense of entitlement goes unfulfilled.
13 votes -
Analytic vs. continental philosophy
5 votes -
Weekend movie round-up: Bullet Train, Prey, Thirteen Lives
This is not gonna be a weekly thing or anything. I was just stuck at home thanks to me contracting pink eye, so I got to see two new streaming movies after I had seen the big theatrical release...
This is not gonna be a weekly thing or anything. I was just stuck at home thanks to me contracting pink eye, so I got to see two new streaming movies after I had seen the big theatrical release (before I got pink eye).
Bullet Train released this weekend. And although it received mixed reviews, I thought it was quite a bit of fun. It comes from director David Leitch (who was actually Pitt’s stunt double in movies like Fight Club and Troy). He co-directed the first John Wick before going out on his own and directing Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, and Hobbs and Shaw. With the exception of Hobbs and Shaw all of his films have been hyper stylized and this is no different. I’d actually describe this movie as being a mix of Atomic Blonde (in aesthetic) and Deadpool 2 (in humor). If you don’t like those movies you won’t like this, but personally I love his filmography. This was fun, funny, and super violent with a stand out performance from Aaron Taylor Johnson.
Released straight to streaming this weekend was Prey. A reintroduction of the predator franchise after the disastrous The Predator released four years ago. The film received great reviews and everyone online has been loving it. It’s a great tense thriller. It’s the type of movie that should have been released in theaters but it still kicks ass at home.
Finally, Thirteen Lives released on Amazon Prime after being given a limited release. Thanks to MGM now being owned by Amazon. The Ron Howard film has gotten mostly positive reviews and a good audience response. However, I thought the film was kind of dull and boring. It’s really matter of fact in depicting the event without any drama. There’s actually more tension and drama in the documentary about this event called The Rescue.
So those are the three big movies that came out this weekend.
5 votes -
Scores of historic jazz performances from the 1950s and 1960s are available on the Ed Sullivan Show's YouTube channel
6 votes -
The Banshees of Inisherin | Official trailer
9 votes -
How a Phoenix record store owner set the audiophile world on fire
11 votes -
Ex-rebel sworn in as Colombia’s president in historic shift
5 votes -
How to combine video game genres
3 votes