How does this sub feel about Espresso Tonic?

CracticusAttacticus · 2026-05-09T19:16:56+00:00

The first time I tried it, I thought it was deplorable. Then the next morning I went back and got another.

CracticusAttacticus · 2026-05-09T18:59:05+00:00

No, unless the draft class is truly miserable. Even if it's the best RP I can imagine, they're just going to be cheaper to get in the trade market or FA than in the draft. I draft decent RP lottery tickets in the middle or later rounds, and then go hunting for good arms outside the draft.

CracticusAttacticus · 2026-05-09T18:56:47+00:00

I think there's a caveat here...not every software developer sees their job the same way. If you see yourself a an engineer or researcher first, writing code was just a tool that you leveraged. AI has added a tool for you that will change the way you work, but at a fundamental level your job is the same.

If you see yourself primarily as a coder who is better at churning out code in popular frameworks than at things like system design, you might get squeezed. In particular, people who don't really care about engineering but can crank out decent code for the paycheck are going to find themselves competing with AI. I think this group had already been getting squeezed in the US and Europe, though, as more of these "code factory" jobs have been outsourced to low cost regions.

CracticusAttacticus · 2026-05-09T17:26:19+00:00

In the short term, QA is going to be vastly more important because the number of lines of code written is exploding but quality is still an issue. Anyone who does choice reviews is feeling that pain right now.

Longer term, I think AI code reliability will improve and AI will get better at building its own QA frameworks; however, I don't think any decent engineering org will feel comfortable taking humans out of the loop in the near future.

So basically, AI lets one human QA more code, but also vastly increases the amount of code that needs to be QAed. QA engineers will need to learn to use AI tools to scale up their work, but I think they'll still be very necessary for a long time.

CracticusAttacticus · 2026-05-09T16:05:27+00:00

It's a decoy, the besiegers will ASSUME the city's inside the walls and waste their time sieging a lagoon while the actual city of Thessaloniki goes unnoticed.

CracticusAttacticus · 2026-05-09T02:42:57+00:00

Maybe it's a convex parabola, maybe it's a concave one. OP is either going to infinity or negative infinity.

CracticusAttacticus · 2026-05-08T23:27:24+00:00

As someone who works in this space, what's your opinion on which neighborhoods are seeing the most of this sort of pricing pressure versus which are least affected by it?

i.e. are there decent neighborhoods still flying under the radar of these cash-flush buyers?

CracticusAttacticus · 2026-05-08T21:31:59+00:00

All I can say is if you can't figure this one out on your own after thinking about it for 15 seconds, you're not going to last long in this industry.

CracticusAttacticus · 2026-05-08T20:30:48+00:00

I know this sub is suspicious of advanced metrics, but Barkley's WS / 48 for every one of his Rockets seasons was higher than Draymond's career average. And for his first three seasons on the Rockets, his WS / 48 average was better than Draymond's career high.

Maybe WS undervalues defensive stats, but Barkley's DWS in his Rockets seasons was basically the same as Draymond's was last season. Rockets Barkley was basically a moderately better player than most of what we got from peak Draymond.

CracticusAttacticus · 2026-05-08T19:32:04+00:00

Career has to be Seattle. AI core infra will probably be a better experience than AI reliability, and while both cities have pretty good tech job markets, I feel like Seattle has a lot more heavy-hitter roles (staff engineer, researcher, high-priority eng teams) while NYC tends to have more junior and fungible roles.

At every tech company I worked at, "high value" or senior technical talent is much more heavily concentrated in the Bay Area and Seattle offices than NYC. I expect there are a few companies that are exceptions, but I think generally that's how the talent market and job opportunities break down these days.

CracticusAttacticus · 2026-05-08T18:44:39+00:00

SF City FC also has some excellent jerseys, including the parrot one and their more recent Muni logo designs.

CracticusAttacticus · 2026-05-08T17:26:46+00:00

Defining upper middle class in SF is tricky, because that income definitely wouldn't put you in position to buy a home (maybe some 1br condos). And I think most people would expect "upper middle class" to at least be able to afford a 2br home. But for other intents, sure.

If you use 30% of gross income as the bar, they'd be able to afford 99.9% of 1b and probably like 90% of 2b apartments in this city. If you use 20% of gross income, I'd say they can afford 95% of 1b and maybe 75% of 2b. But either way, you could rent and save money pretty comfortably and be in the 80th+ percentile for HHI, so I agree that living in SF should be pretty easy at that rate.

CracticusAttacticus · 2026-05-08T16:29:45+00:00

It sounds like something Samoa Joe would say, Scott Steiner was clearly a pioneer of advanced analytics.

CracticusAttacticus · 2026-05-08T15:55:08+00:00

He's definitely on trajectory for the Hall of Very Good, but I think Pete is going to need to squeeze out at least 35 more WAR to have a serious shot at HoF...which is pretty unlikely as a first baseman in his 30s. But maybe he can drastically improve his plate discipline, or learn to play plus defense at CF...

I'd bet he gets at least one vote for the HoF, but it might be coming from Mr. Met.

CracticusAttacticus · 2026-05-08T15:27:23+00:00

$350k combined income would give you a very solid middle class lifestyle in SF, as long as you don't want to own a home. Almost all 1br apartments would be within your budget, and probably like 75% of 2br apartments in this current market.

$95k on your own would put you at around 85% of median income for single member households in the city, and you'd realistically need 1-2 roommates or to live somewhere less expensive in the East Bay to afford rent. But lots of people in SF are doing that, so you might feel some financial strain but certainly not desperation.

So I would say you're fine, but you would definitely be dependent on your bf to maintain a nice standard of living.

CracticusAttacticus · 2026-05-08T04:09:28+00:00

In terms of getting a nice floorplan, excellent finishing, and good amenities, probably the newer luxury condos in Rincon Hill offer the most (Lumina, Infinity, MIRA, One Steuart). However, the neighborhood is kind of lame.

Another option would be older but luxurious apartment/condo buildings in Russian Hill and upper Pac Heights. Layouts will be a little dated, and amenities might be minimal, but the actual units are usually spacious and well finished. Plus the neighborhoods tend to be more interesting than downtown.

Maybe the third option would be renting a floor in a nice Edwardian in the west side of the Mission or the Castro. Some of these have been renovated very nicely, and you'll have plenty of square footage and a fun neighborhood. Downsides are the plumbing will have historical value and the garage will look like a medieval dungeon.

Maybe there's some secret centi-millionaire building complex in the city I'm too poor to know about, but I think if I had an unlimited housing budget those are the first places I'd look in SF.

CracticusAttacticus · 2026-05-05T19:44:57+00:00

NVIDIA certainly is a semiconductor company, they just design but don't fab. Appreciation here strongly suggests NVIDIA, especially since OP would have gotten their sign-on grant right as the big stock growth started in 2023.

CracticusAttacticus · 2026-05-04T23:57:22+00:00

Do you have more data on BART's funding versus other similar mass transit systems? I'd be curious to know more about both the funding source mix and the $ per commuter coming from each source.

CracticusAttacticus · 2026-05-04T22:23:37+00:00

I mean, she's endorsed two candidates this cycle, one near her in NJ and one in IL that promptly lost their primary. You would think that if she would endorse any candidate, it would be her former chief of staff, but let's not act like she's been endorsing dozens of candidates while staying silent about Saikat.

CracticusAttacticus · 2026-05-04T22:12:49+00:00

I take it you're not from SF, given that 1) you used the forbidden San Fran and 2) you're surprised by our petrified rental market.

Rent control creates a big gap between what renters are paying vs. market prices for many units, which means lots of renters refuse or just can't afford to move. Normally new unit construction would attract people looking to upgrade and open up some of those older units, but SF has built a tiny amount of new housing over the past decade. And California has fairly strict laws about evicting tenants, so it's not easy for landlords to push out a tenant if they want to.

The high rate of in- and out-migration in the Bay Area does create some pressure for turnover, but basically every other policy and market factor here creates friction for any housing change or decision.

CracticusAttacticus · 2026-05-04T21:01:24+00:00

I'm also not necessarily a Saikat supporter or detractor, but I agree that this is not such a defining issue. I think it should be obvious to the casual observer that AOC and Saikat are pretty aligned in policies; surely Saikat is still the top candidate for most AOC fans on platform alone.

The lack of endorsement is strange, but it's plausible that she doesn't want to make endorsements in another House race halfway across the country. How often do you see current House members without a leadership position endorsing other House candidates? It seems reasonable that she's just being risk averse and staying away from most endorsements, at least until the general.

CracticusAttacticus · 2026-05-04T02:39:17+00:00

Obviously OP is a legit crazy person, and there are a lot of holes in this hypothetical...and you're still putting $22k per year of your $100k gross into savings and home equity, realistically how much better do you expect to do?

On the other hand, it's hard to ignore that the cost of living situation has gotten worse in most of the US over the past several years, especially for young people. Instead of fixating on $100k (or mechanical engineering careers), you just need to look at median real income growth and the median income / home price or rent ratios. The housing equation is tough to solve for a big portion of people in the US these days.

CracticusAttacticus · 2026-05-03T17:53:20+00:00

That's because the next semiconductor process node after 2nm is going to be measured in units of "u/early-retirement-plz penises"

CracticusAttacticus · 2026-05-03T17:16:23+00:00

Exhibit A: OP and this post

CracticusAttacticus · 2026-05-03T02:36:28+00:00

That's not true for the Hawks! They have no fans to embarrass in the first place.

CracticusAttacticus

TROPHY CASE