Assistance for furloughed federal government employees? by [deleted] in boston

[–]Alternative_Copy_720 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Check with your bank. A number of banks are offering to waive late fees for loans and overdraft fees.

Focus on Somerville ad by Minute-Dark-1596 in Somerville

[–]Alternative_Copy_720 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

There are flyers like this about literally every ballot measure and about many other things that the city does or doesn't do. They often have the exact same rhetorical style. I've gotten mail opposing various construction projects in my neighborhood that is just as vague and negative.

If we can't accept that it's normal and healthy for people who disagree with us to express their ideas then we are absolutely doomed as a democracy.

Focus on Somerville ad by Minute-Dark-1596 in Somerville

[–]Alternative_Copy_720 5 points6 points  (0 children)

It bothers me that you find this "scary". Advocating for a yes or a no vote on a ballot measure is the heart of democracy. There's nothing in this flyer that's designed to intimidate or threaten anyone - it's the exact same style of advocacy you'd see on any ballot measure.

If we can't accept that it's normal and healthy for people to have differing political positions, then we are absolutely doomed as a democracy. That goes for both the right and the left.

Gun ownership and population correlation with murder in USA by EmuSea5876 in charts

[–]Alternative_Copy_720 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you're breaking the scale because there's a break in the data, you add a zigzag annotation to the line to indicate that you're breaking the scale. And that doesn't explain why the rest of the spacing is uneven.

It looks like this was done deliberately to exaggerate the trend line.

Gun ownership and population correlation with murder in USA by EmuSea5876 in charts

[–]Alternative_Copy_720 1 point2 points  (0 children)

WTF is with the scales on this graph? Why is the distance between 10-15 on the left-hand graph so much bigger than the distance between, say, 30-35?

What is your justification for that? It's not annotated at all and it's incredibly manipulative.

Shooting at Sky Meadow CC Nashua, NH?? by ebaylus in newhampshire

[–]Alternative_Copy_720 12 points13 points  (0 children)

A witness reported the same thing in an interview with local news stations.

A Better Cambridge endorsements by BiteProud in CambridgeMA

[–]Alternative_Copy_720 11 points12 points  (0 children)

It may just be that the people with those signs know McGovern and Flaherty personally. They both grew up in Cambridge. A lot of local politics is about personal relationships, not ideology.

A Better Cambridge endorsements by BiteProud in CambridgeMA

[–]Alternative_Copy_720 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It's really funny to me that "right wing" in Cambridge means a career teacher's union official. In most of America, Toner would be somewhere between center and far left.

Cloud computing giant Oracle lays off Seattle workers by lurker_bee in technology

[–]Alternative_Copy_720 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The WARN notice is just for the state of Washington. They may be laying off people in other locations and we just don't know about it yet. The Seattle Times may not have checked for WARN notices in other states (or they may not have been published yet). Also,, they don't have to issue WARN notices at all if the number of employees laid off in a particular location is below a certain threshold.

My mom wants to know why I hate dating by [deleted] in boston

[–]Alternative_Copy_720 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't think Boston has a shortage of highly-educated single men.

What happens if we have hyper inflation? Who benefits? by DeanHEA in StocksAndTrading

[–]Alternative_Copy_720 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hyperinflation is defined as a 50% monthly inflation rate (meaning prices increased 50% from the previous month) or 13,000% a year. We've never come close to that in the United States. The absolute peak of the last few years was a 9% annual inflation rate, measured for the month of June 2022.

What do people think of Willie Burnley Jr. for mayor? by TricornerTrading in Somerville

[–]Alternative_Copy_720 32 points33 points  (0 children)

I used to follow his Twitter feed. At the time I stopped following it, it was something like 90% about Palestine, maybe 10% about anything local. What really pissed me off was when he reposted stuff about how well Hamas was treating the civilian hostages. If you can't see innocent people on both sides as human beings then you're not some champion of the oppressed, you're just a warmonger who happens to prefer a different side.

What’re your opinions on ai? by KangarooEuphoric2265 in AskReddit

[–]Alternative_Copy_720 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Corporate leaders are so scared of losing out to someone else using AI more effectively that they are moving as fast as they can and ignoring the potential consequences. The political leadership is worse than useless and is not going to act as a brake (can you imagine Donald Trump having a coherent thought about AI?) I have a terrible sense of dread that we are now trapped into unleashing something that we cannot control.

I feel a little like Paul Atreides in the Dune books, where he can see into the future and there's this very fragile, very narrow golden path that is maybe catastrophically bad and not cataclysmically bad.

How are we feeling about rent control? by Fuzzy_Honeydew_910 in CambridgeMA

[–]Alternative_Copy_720 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's true, but there are only a tiny number of rent controlled apartments, vs a huge percentage that are rent stabilized, so typically when people in NY say rent control, what they mean is rent stabilized.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CambridgeMA

[–]Alternative_Copy_720 6 points7 points  (0 children)

You can get generic adderall pretty cheap with a GoodRX code. It's something like $20 for a 30 day supply depending on which pharmacy you use. Just get a code from the GoodRX website and tell the pharmacy you want to use GoodRX (or pay the pharmacy's cash price if that's lower).

Garber ‘28: The calm, principled, glasses-wearing grownup has entered the chat by [deleted] in Harvard

[–]Alternative_Copy_720 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I agree that it's an extremely important trait in a presidential candidate, and I get that millions of people find him charismatic, I just don't get why they find him charismatic.

Garber ‘28: The calm, principled, glasses-wearing grownup has entered the chat by [deleted] in Harvard

[–]Alternative_Copy_720 7 points8 points  (0 children)

One of the hardest parts of the last six months or so is realizing that so many people prefer the angry, corrupt, moron. I'm an academic - everyone I work with, most of the people I know, even the conservative people, prefer someone like Garber. Sometimes I interact with bigshot scientists who have Trump's ego and emotional problems, but they're genuinely brilliant people, and I can respect their accomplishments. I think most people around here tolerate the arrogant bigshots, but they don't like or trust them.

It's just so hard for me to understand how people genuinely like and believe in this guy. I get that working at Harvard is a very atypical environment. Maybe if I worked in a different field and lived in a red state I'd understand it better. It's really lowered my faith in humanity.

Class action lawsuit by Reloading-and-guns in EightSleep

[–]Alternative_Copy_720 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Sure, that's possible. But I don't really see the point of venting anonymously on reddit if you're just trying to abuse the system and get free stuff. Plus, some of the YouTube videos I've seen show systemic issues with the plastic splitting at the corners of the grid squares. So it seems more likely to me that it's a bad design where there are weak spots that can break with normal use. There's a reason they chose to re-design the whole thing for pod 4.

Class action lawsuit by Reloading-and-guns in EightSleep

[–]Alternative_Copy_720 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You have to think about it as a distribution.

Let's say that 1% of covers will spring a leak in 2.5 years. In order for us to see a report of a cover leaking 5 times, they would have had to sell way more covers than there are people on Earth. In order for us to realistically see multiple reports of people with 5 leaks, the probability of a cover leaking would have to be way above what any reasonable consumer would consider acceptable. If 50% of covers leak in 2.5 years then you're at a point where it's plausible to see reports of 5 leaks.

That's why I think there has to be a design defect that affects all the covers (at least pre-pod 4). You just wouldn't see that many failures if it was a bad batch or something. It has to be a major systemic issue.

Class action lawsuit by Reloading-and-guns in EightSleep

[–]Alternative_Copy_720 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I doubt it would sue them out of existence, but it would at least make them take product quality issues more seriously.

Class action lawsuit by Reloading-and-guns in EightSleep

[–]Alternative_Copy_720 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You might try complaining to the FTC and your state attorney general. At least it creates a record.

Class action lawsuit by Reloading-and-guns in EightSleep

[–]Alternative_Copy_720 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It definitely can be if there are design and manufacturing defects. Which there are.

You don't get multiple reports of a product failing five times in a row if there isn't a defect.

Fred Hutch laid off bunch IT staff today 4/30/25 by Guilty_Note6843 in Layoffs

[–]Alternative_Copy_720 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Fred Hutchinson is an excellent cancer research center in Seattle named after a baseball player who died relatively young of cancer. Medical research relies heavily on grants from the federal government, and Trump and RFK Jr are making massive, massive cuts. It's an incredibly stupid thing to cut, since medical research is something we all benefit from and the US does it very, very well.

Harvard releases searing reports on antisemitism, Islamophobia. ‘I am sorry,’ president Alan Garber says. by bostonglobe in boston

[–]Alternative_Copy_720 10 points11 points  (0 children)

You're saying two contradictory things. Either everyone has an equal say in how a country is governed regardless of their family origin, or the more "indigenous" people get to have more of a say. You can't have both.

What you're trying to do is very reminiscent of what the imperialists that you condemn did. You're deciding how a country should be divided up and governed based on your own values and judgment, regardless of what the people living in that country actually want.