I think the issue is they would argue that independence would be a 0/10. Why fight for 3/10 when you can fight for 0?

Yes this is something I drill into more junior engineers as much as possible - Simplicity is a design consideration. Your designs need to convey what they are doing as clearly, intuitively, and simply as possible. You invented some new thing that automated everything? Congrats, the next person that needs to do a modification or read the drawing to react to an emergency is definitely going to break it, possibly even hurt themselves. Whenever I look at a drawing I can very quickly tell the quality of an engineer by how intuitive the drawing is - and for the quality of the notes they left when they had to do something complex

I think if it were a post about the Canadian perspective of whatever the US is doing it would be fine but not sure this is that

The problem is made up. We’re more productive than ever and should have plenty of leisure time and plenty of safety nets for old age…but that wealth has all been siphoned off by a very few. The solution to this is tax the wealthy.

I mean, I agree, but that’s what people mean. And the perception of a thing is (like it or not) often just as important as the reality of the situation when it comes to how people make decisions. I’m not arguing that America was some shining city on a hill, I’m arguing that people perceived it that way. That said, I think the republic was a step in the right direction and the DOI and constitution had some really forward thinking stuff in them. I think several influential Americans really did care about doing the right thing. Nuance can exist

This is what people mean by that:

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure."

In its conception is very much was an experiment. “A republic, if you can keep it” so to say.

I mean sure, if half the population agrees on anything it gets a lot easier to accomplish. Good luck convincing them though

Not just that but a character that is written as glossing over important details for profit

I mean in modern times mining companies have instigated wars for ‘rocks’

Yeah I feel like we’re getting a derivative joke here…like we’re mixing two other ones and something got lost in translation

Yeah I lived abroad for a while and it sure was fun having a bunch of randos lecture me in how awful America is. Like, dude, I grew up there, I’m aware of all these things. Also notice I left?

Units are weird. I just say one orbit

I def had some weird experiences like this in school too, though not as extreme. I had a teacher once give me a zero on an exam because I used greater than and less than symbols to describe two lines intersecting. She thought I did them all backwards. Normally I’d be too shy to push back but zero on an exam was pretty extreme so I went to discuss one on one and she basically called me dumb saying I don’t know how the symbols worked (this was like 9th grade, I def did and was pretty alarmed she didn’t). Finally she said fine, she’ll go ask a math teacher to come explain to me in front of the class if I’m so smart. She left, was gone for like ten minutes, and came back super upset. Slams the paper on my desk in front of everyone and says something like ‘fine I guess you want an A now?’. Was traumatizing. But was actually a huge teaching moment for me in that I stopped seeing teachers as things/concepts, and started seeing them as people. Same as me/my classmates/some random on the street. No one has this shit figured out. I also realized I never wanted the experience she just had, and learned to always hedge my opinions. It looks like, I think, it seems to me, etc. Has saved me from looking stupid but also encouraged those that I teach to question my dumb shit. But yeah. Teachers are just people, have you met people?

Side note my math teacher was extra nice to me that afternoon - I also learned that the teachers don’t necessarily like each other either. Apparently I had helped score points for the ‘not batshit insane’ crew

Without spoiling too much in the book he isn’t muscley on earth but is once he is in space for a well explained reason. However, he’s also meant to be clean shaven in space due to the same reason and it looks like they’ve changed that so who knows.

My industry is desperate. I hire people that are barely qualified if at all just based on if they seem like they’d be able to learn. So I recognize I’m an outlier, but just saying such situations exist. I’ve been doing this about 15 years and I’ve never once had more qualified candidates than roles to fill.

Industry dependent I know but every time I’ve had two good candidates I’ve just gone ahead and hired both

Some damned foolish thing in the Balkans

Seems like a great opportunity for an actual televised protest. Line the parade route with opposition

Yeah I’m confident I could learn to run a cash register pretty dang well in less than a month. No way I’m learning plumbing that quick. Also, I’m confident I could teach myself to run a cash register. If I tried to teach myself plumbing (like, no books, internet, etc) I’d be at pretty high risk of a literal shotshow

Yes but compare that to a ‘skilled’ profession. 4 year degree, 5 years training under a licensed professional, series of examinations, and continuing education requirements.

It’s not that one is ‘unskilled’ in a vacuum, it’s that it has relatively less time/effort investment to reach ‘acceptable’ performance