norb's recent activity
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Comment on Tokyo starts ride-hailing service — but it may not be what you expect in ~transport
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Comment on Two years to save the planet, says UN climate chief in ~enviro
norb Link ParentI have a friend that lives in Louisiana, not on the coast but within 50 miles or so. Their home insurance has more than doubled in the past 2 years alone. I also have family in Florida and their...I have a friend that lives in Louisiana, not on the coast but within 50 miles or so. Their home insurance has more than doubled in the past 2 years alone.
I also have family in Florida and their insurance companies will no longer insure a home with a shingle roof that is more than 10 years old. The roofing materials are required to be metal now. (Funnily enough they blame Biden for this, not the private insurance companies and their state government, but that's a whole other thing.)
Anecdotal evidence, but it is happening now.
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Comment on Here are thirteen other explanations for the adolescent mental health crisis. None of them work. in ~health.mental
norb Link ParentI don't think your observations are incorrect. Most parents I know (my wife and I included) are busier and seem to have less money than our parents did. But I think that goes back to us actively...I don't think your observations are incorrect. Most parents I know (my wife and I included) are busier and seem to have less money than our parents did. But I think that goes back to us actively spending more time "parenting" than previous generations as opposed to doing other things.
Many parents sacrifice their entire social lives for their kids, especially once the kids reach middle and high school and sports and other extracurricular activities really start to ramp up. I have friends that have two boys, who both play 2 or 3 sports, so their entire year is filled with traveling for tournaments, practices, and other sports related events like banquets and fundraisers and whatever else. I see them very rarely. I'm sure they see a lot of other parents of kids on their teams, but those are "forced" relationships vs. those that we choose to cultivate for reasons of our own.
I think this is a product of our society and the way we push kids to be active and "do the right things" to get into good colleges, etc.
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Comment on Here are thirteen other explanations for the adolescent mental health crisis. None of them work. in ~health.mental
norb Link ParentI just wanted to point out that there have been studies that show parents of today (one study I found is from 2016, so a bit dated by now but I think probably still stands) spend more time with...Parents have less time for their kids as they scramble to pay for the ever increasing number of things we need to pay for and cost of those things.
I just wanted to point out that there have been studies that show parents of today (one study I found is from 2016, so a bit dated by now but I think probably still stands) spend more time with their children than parents in the 1960s.
The study did note that "better off" parents spent more time with their children than those with less, but overall it showed an increase no matter what income and education level the family has.
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Comment on Researchers show that introduced tardigrade proteins can slow metabolism in human cells in ~science
norb Link ParentCan't wait for the super-rich to be able to give their children an extra 50 or more years compared to non-rich people, just so they can stack the deck EVEN MORE in their favor. Sorry for the...Maybe we will start incorporating it as packages for gene shopping parents.
Can't wait for the super-rich to be able to give their children an extra 50 or more years compared to non-rich people, just so they can stack the deck EVEN MORE in their favor.
Sorry for the negative reply, but it's just where my brain went first. I appreciate you sharing the article otherwise, though! You're absolutely correct, it is fascinating.
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Comment on PlayStation Portal sales continue to impress despite skepticism in ~games
norb Link ParentThis YouTube video goes over using it out in public (linked directly to the relevant section) TLDW; It doesn't have any browser, so it's hard to connect to many free Wi-Fi networks that require...This YouTube video goes over using it out in public (linked directly to the relevant section)
TLDW; It doesn't have any browser, so it's hard to connect to many free Wi-Fi networks that require you to agree to terms or login. He was able to play by hotspotting with his phone. He goes into trying it at a McDonald's, library, out in public, on a mountain, and discusses trying it on corporate Wi-Fi as well.
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Comment on New Music Fridays: Adrianne Lenker, Julia Holter, Waxahatchee and more in ~music
norb LinkRickshaw Billie's Burger Patrol just released their new album Big Dumb Riffs (appropriately titled, I might add) RIYL Torche, Kowloon Walled City, Sludge anything, Stoner anything Bandcamp Spotify...Rickshaw Billie's Burger Patrol just released their new album Big Dumb Riffs (appropriately titled, I might add)
RIYL Torche, Kowloon Walled City, Sludge anything, Stoner anything
Bandcamp
Spotify
Other Links (taplink.cc) - First link there has all the streaming site URLs -
Comment on Folks in those $100k+ jobs, corporate types, office workers... What would you say you actually do? in ~life
norb LinkI work in Information Security in higher ed. I make over $100k a year, which isn't too bad for mt area. There are a lot of large technical and software oriented businesses in my city, so the...I work in Information Security in higher ed. I make over $100k a year, which isn't too bad for mt area. There are a lot of large technical and software oriented businesses in my city, so the salaries for those types of jobs are probably a bit higher than in some other places.
My work "product" is really guiding others to do things in the best way possible.
For example, I got cold called into a meeting a few days ago where the web development team wanted to make a site less secure overall to fix a problem they found. No one knew how long this problem has existed, it came up in testing for an upgrade. So I had to quickly evaluate the state of what was broken, the potential impact of lessening security to achieve a business need, and balance that with the amount of time required to implement the fix. All in about 15 minutes. In the end I pushed back on the change and we had to meet with the business leaders and explain what was wrong, why we couldn't/shouldn't just slam a fix in place, and plan for a more complicated work around (including adding addition burden to other departments) to put in place until the correct fix can be put in place.
All of that takes a particular set of skills that I've developed over the last 20+ years in IT. Technical understanding to know when other technical people are putting their priorities (get shit done) over mine (get shit done securely), people skills/soft skills to work with the developers and management to explain the problem and discuss solutions that are not really palatable to anyone involved, then the ability to track and follow through on the fixes to make sure they're done correctly.
Beyond that one example, I'm also responsible for doing internal risk assessments of 3rd party applications to make sure we're not buying shit that's immediately going to get hacked (hopefully), making sure that we have policies and procedures (documented) to meet our internal and external regulatory requirements, as well as provide other kinds of "IT support" when needed.
I guess what I'm trying to say here is that my job is hard to explain to people who don't really know how IT functions in larger organizations, and there are plenty of days where I'm just in meetings and talking to people, but the results of those conversations are part what I "produce" even if there's nothing tangible.
I also have days where I can kind of slack off and play a game for awhile or watch a video, but really I have to manage my own time and schedule and do still have things that need to be done at certain times so that I don't affect the productivity of others. From the outside I can see how that is hard to grasp for people that work in other types of jobs.
I really respect teachers (have a number of them in my family and had things gone differently for me I might be one too) and think they are underpaid and underappreciated in our society today.
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Comment on Folks in those $100k+ jobs, corporate types, office workers... What would you say you actually do? in ~life
norb Link ParentFellow security person here (Information Security Officer) and never want to be a CISO mostly because of all the things you listed in this thread. I do think I have the correct balance of...The weight of that on your head is just exhausting and draining to regularly be involved in.
Fellow security person here (Information Security Officer) and never want to be a CISO mostly because of all the things you listed in this thread. I do think I have the correct balance of technical, managerial, and soft skills but I already know that the mental pressure of the job isn't for me. I was the primary IT admin for a department for 15 years and the stress of being on call 24/7/365 eventually burned me out. Switched to security awareness for a bit, and now this role.
I feel for anyone that wants to be a CISO. You're basically the figurehead and scapegoat for all IT security things, and as you mentioned, events wholly out of your control can land you in the unemployment line. All you can do is try your best to keep everything as secure as possible and everyone as informed/educated as possible.
Keep up the good fight!
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Comment on Folks in those $100k+ jobs, corporate types, office workers... What would you say you actually do? in ~life
norb Link ParentYou've got people skills! You take the specs from the customers and give them to the engineers! (Or your secretary does) Sorry, couldn't resist getting an Office Space joke in this thread somewhere.You've got people skills! You take the specs from the customers and give them to the engineers! (Or your secretary does)
Sorry, couldn't resist getting an Office Space joke in this thread somewhere.
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Comment on "The university campus is rapidly becoming a locus of infantilizing social control that any independent-minded student should seek to escape" in ~life
norb (edited )Link ParentAbsolutely. Those amenities cost money, and most universities get their main funding from tuition so future students pay the price, literally. The big universities are diversifying their income...I’d also like to highlight this as a cause for inflated college costs.
Absolutely. Those amenities cost money, and most universities get their main funding from tuition so future students pay the price, literally. The big universities are diversifying their income streams in sometimes smart (funded research - either from government or private businesses) and sometimes not-so-smart (privatizing or leasing assets) ways. Others, like WVU, are slashing programs to cut costs.
I think another area that isn't really looked at as far as I know is the increased costs that regulations add to a university budget. Meeting federal information security requirements to get research projects is costly. Providing the support staff to deal with NIL deals and NCAA compliance cost money. Generally running a world class educational institution is going to be more expensive now than it ever has been. So you have ballooning non-instructional staff costs, which also feeds into a salary arms race to attract the right people to the right jobs (even laying aside the extremely high paying coaching salaries that many top tier schools offer).
All of these things, in conjunction with a general trend in reducing the ways kids can get loans just continues to pile up the costs and then lessens the return on investment for many students.
[Also, I think I grew up in the same town as the university you described, but it’s equally likely that it’s not a unique situation]
Quite possible. I try not to out myself too much on public forums, but it's the capital city of the state and has one of the largest universities in the country. Our sports fans are pretty universally reviled. Shouldn't be too hard to figure it out from there. ;) (It's not Texas lol)
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Comment on Memecoin trading at levels last seen before crypto bubble burst in ~finance
norb LinkThis quote from the article "That’s not stopping fans of the tokens from trying to keep the momentum going." should probably swap "fans of the tokens" with "scammers." I feel like we're seeing...This quote from the article "That’s not stopping fans of the tokens from trying to keep the momentum going." should probably swap "fans of the tokens" with "scammers." I feel like we're seeing another real time pump and dump scheme with these "meme" coins.
I do find the idea of separating these types of coins from bitcoin by implying they are less serious quite amusing. I don't see much fundamental difference between any cryptocurrency. They are all speculative investments at best or just straight up scams at worst.
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Comment on "The university campus is rapidly becoming a locus of infantilizing social control that any independent-minded student should seek to escape" in ~life
norb (edited )LinkLike a few of the other commenters here, I also work in Higher Ed and have done so for the past 22 years (not in direct student interfacing positions, to be fair). I think this author took their...Like a few of the other commenters here, I also work in Higher Ed and have done so for the past 22 years (not in direct student interfacing positions, to be fair).
I think this author took their angle and then wrote the piece to satisfy that. Everything is framed as "university administration" does X or imposes Y. They make it seem like all of this is just university administrators making up rules to "indoctrinate" a "liberal agenda" into schools. Maybe I'm extra sensitive to this, but again I see an aggrieved conservative that is upset their worldview is falling behind popular opinion. The parts about dating and sex and consent really stand out to me in that regard.
What is fully ignored and/or lost in the argument the author is making is that college is a big business, and most universities implement policies due to market forces. Students (or maybe even more so, their parents) are the ones pushing for these types of changes.
The university I work at is in an urban area. When I first attended here in the late 90s, the off campus areas were more rundown and more dangerous than they are today. The university has worked with the city and locals to "improve" the off campus area by knocking down old buildings, renovating buildings, and generally "cleaning up the place." ALL of that was spurred by angry parents and students, probably rightfully so. Students should not have to walk home in fear every night just so they can "feel what the real world is like." I think someone else said it in another comment, but everyone deserves to feel safe and as a society that's about the least we can do.
I do feel that children today are less resilient than I was in a similar time in my life, but that's just me applying my perspective backwards to kids today. I may be wholly wrong about it! But to say that college and university administrators are making a bunch of weak-minded individuals is far from the truth, IMO. I think it has a lot more to do with a large number of factors beyond any one institution's, person's, or political agenda's control.
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Comment on What are some highly praised comedians you don't find very funny? in ~talk
norb Link ParentCouldn't agree more. I was also a fan and found his jokes, delivery, and how he went weird places and took the audience along with him kind of revelatory. But in hindsight, the masturbation jokes...But after the whole masturbation thing I can't stand to even look at his face anymore.
Couldn't agree more. I was also a fan and found his jokes, delivery, and how he went weird places and took the audience along with him kind of revelatory.
But in hindsight, the masturbation jokes take on a wholly different light when you know the truth, in that they weren't actually jokes but more slices of his real life. Not so funny when he's using his position of power to force women to put up with his fetish.
Also, when that all came out he wasn't even peaking, career-wise. I watched Horace and Pete and was completely blown away by it. It was basically a play performed for cameras. It wasn't really funny, even. Just very, very well done. He was still on a meteoric rise, then crashed hard.
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Comment on ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ to end with season 6 at FX in ~tv
norb Link ParentTotally agree. Way too many shows hang on for too long. More should go the Seinfeld route... That said, I don't want it to end!Totally agree. Way too many shows hang on for too long. More should go the Seinfeld route...
That said, I don't want it to end!
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Comment on What surprised you the most about becoming a father? in ~life.men
norb Link ParentWe have a garden. It did not work. Maybe next year! :D I appreciate the advice though.We have a garden. It did not work. Maybe next year! :D
I appreciate the advice though.
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Comment on What surprised you the most about becoming a father? in ~life.men
norb Link ParentMost of my friends also have picky eaters, and it's made me wonder what it is about our society today that seems to produce kids like this. Is it our parenting style? Is it the fact that we have...Most of my friends also have picky eaters, and it's made me wonder what it is about our society today that seems to produce kids like this. Is it our parenting style? Is it the fact that we have so many food options they have the ability to be picky? Or something else entirely?
My wife and I both have our "peculiar" things we don't like, but for the most part we are not picky eaters so our meals are usually varied enough to be interesting (to us). We have also been pretty conscious of not saying things are "gross" or whatever in front of the kid, just to get them to try things. We've both also eaten things we say we don't like just to give the kid an idea that you can try something and not die or whatever lol
Anyways, glad you have it easy in this! I'm sure there's other things that are hard for you that make up for it! LOL
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Comment on What surprised you the most about becoming a father? in ~life.men
norb Link ParentOh we have tried. Jessica Seinfeld has an entire book (or maybe even two) about picky eaters. She has great ideas if your kid will eat any kind of sauce, which ours does not. Otherwise, if there...Oh we have tried. Jessica Seinfeld has an entire book (or maybe even two) about picky eaters. She has great ideas if your kid will eat any kind of sauce, which ours does not. Otherwise, if there is any noticeable change in color or texture, they're not eating it.
We do not have to fight about eating fruit, which is good. Vegetables are straight out, even with an attempt at adding cheese or other sauces (kid won't eat any sauces really). No red meat, very little chicken (even chicken nuggets - occasionally a couple Chick-fil-a nuggets will get eaten), and no pork unless it's bacon or bratwurst or occasionally pepperoni. The one thing is, they'll eat seafood like there's no tomorrow - salmon and shrimp especially but also lobster, crab legs, and other white fish.
Pizza would be eaten every day as long as there's no red sauce. Pepperoni is fun for about half a slice then no more. Can't pull the pepperoni off because it was on there and now they don't want that! (I have eaten many chewed upon slices)
So basically my kid exists on carbs, eggs, and dairy. We aren't big into sweets in our house, so thankfully not a lot of sugary stuff outside of fruit.
It is a struggle and I worry about them as they get older, but hopefully their willingness to try new things will grow.
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Comment on What surprised you the most about becoming a father? in ~life.men
norb Link Parent"One of" doing a lot of lifting in my statement there LOL Thanks!"One of" doing a lot of lifting in my statement there LOL
Thanks!
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Comment on Threads is starting to make content available on the Fediverse in ~tech
norb Link ParentI totally get that, but my personal view is it's too early to go nuclear, and by doing so they are actively harming the system they supposedly advocate for. I mean, I guess my biggest issue is...I totally get that, but my personal view is it's too early to go nuclear, and by doing so they are actively harming the system they supposedly advocate for.
I mean, I guess my biggest issue is that social media of this kind is inherently a public square type thing, and if you don't want your posts getting vacuumed up into some mega corporation's database, then either post on your own private instance with your friends, or don't post at all. I know that seems harsh but I think people seem to often want to be able to be seen, but then when they are say "no no not like that."
People want to go back to Twitter and have a thing like Twitter where they felt important and seen by a large number of people, but at the same time don't want the centralized control or corporate overlords that came with it. I'm not sure you can have all those things at once, at least in the way we have social media systems today.
Sounds like this is for times when taxis are typically hard to find, so it's more a way for them to surge supply to meet demand than for a "cost savings" as we've had it sold to us in the US/EU. My anecdotal experience is that Uber/Lyft have had costs rise to be nearly the same as a typical taxi service, and most of the big services have apps that function basically the same as those, so there's less technological incentive to use them.
I quit using Uber/Lyft for a number of reasons, but safety was one of them. Rode in more than one vehicle without functioning seat belts. Then it's on me, the customer, to report safety violations to the business and incur the guilt associated with ruining someone's livelihood. The other reason I stopped being driver pay.
This Japanese system sounds better for the driver than the capitalistic hellscape the rest of us have been put into.