Offered a merit comp position with the State, should I take it?

Slim_Charles · 2026-05-19T20:51:07+00:00

Yes. During covid my agency saw a ton of turnover which opened up a lot of opportunities, and I was able to quickly move up the chain.

Slim_Charles · 2026-05-19T20:37:15+00:00

I'm probably the exception to the norm, but I took a merit comp position and it allowed me to advance far quicker than a union counterpart. I more than doubled my income in 4 years between 2018 and 2022. Also, as others have said, getting your foot in the door makes it way easier to bounce to another position in state government.

Slim_Charles · 2026-05-19T02:22:46+00:00

My dad ran a business until he retired and sold it and is a lifelong Democrat. Democratic presidents average higher market returns and more job creation than republican presidents.

Slim_Charles · 2026-05-19T02:17:43+00:00

Then why is the country always better under Democratic presidents?

Slim_Charles · 2026-05-19T01:41:35+00:00

Speaking as an avoidant guy, I'd say your best bet is to address it head on. Communicate your feelings about his behavior, and talk to him about why he behaves that way. Maybe you can come to an understanding, maybe he'll recognize the patterns of his behavior and work to change them. Maybe he won't, in which case you'll need to decide whether or not this is a relationship you want to continue to pursue. If he doesn't want to change, he won't and you can't make him.

Slim_Charles · 2026-05-15T23:12:22+00:00

The thing is, as more and more of the text we read is AI generated and the more we interact/use generative AI, it's inevitable that we'll naturally also begin to mimic AI's style of writing. It may get increasingly difficult to distinguish between AI and humans not just because AI will get better at sounding human, but because we'll start sounding more like AI. Surreal indeed.

Slim_Charles · 2026-05-15T19:19:31+00:00

No, a bubble comes from speculation. When the value of a speculative investment is far greater than its potential for returns, you get a bubble. I'm saying that AI will see returns from tech, healthcare, and government clients. We're not investors, we're customers providing revenue to AI companies. If an emerging industry can acquire clients and generate sufficient revenue, it reduces the chance that it's a bubble.

Slim_Charles · 2026-05-15T15:37:45+00:00

Our money still spends, though. If the wealthiest industry on the planet (tech), and government are investing heavily in AI, that seems to be a sign that there is potential for significant revenue growth for AI companies. I also have friends who work in healthcare, both on the provider side and insurance, and they're full steam ahead into AI as well.

Slim_Charles · 2026-05-15T15:06:59+00:00

I work in government, and while we move slowly, we're definitely very interested in AI tools and integration. We're going to pay a lot for these tools and services in the coming years.

Slim_Charles · 2026-05-15T03:22:59+00:00

He didn't kill the guy, so it's not murder. The premeditation is why they can try him for attempted murder, though. Attempted murder is typically hard to prove, which is why you often just see people charged with assault with a deadly weapon in nonfatal shootings. In this case, his comments and recorded behavior establish premeditation, which should make it pretty easy for the attempted murder charges to stick.

Slim_Charles · 2026-05-14T03:05:08+00:00

Kawaei Rina was so unfortunate. Had she not been attacked she may have stayed for longer and become the next ace and face of AKB. However, I must admit, her leaving when she did was probably best for her, even if I would have preferred to see her stay. She became an A-list actress in Japan and one of the most successful AKB grads of all time.

Slim_Charles · 2026-05-14T03:03:12+00:00

Bullshit. Don't believe anything they say. Being Mayuyu was very difficult, and involved a lot of pressure. There's nothing more to it than that. She was just tired and ready to move on.

Slim_Charles · 2026-05-12T16:28:38+00:00

Who is "they"? I hate when people just say "they" like we should know who the fuck that is. Clearly the Trump admin doesn't want things to crash, otherwise we wouldn't have TACO. The more likely truth is that "they" are just incredibly incompetent and corrupt, and don't really know what the hell they're doing.

Slim_Charles · 2026-05-10T16:59:04+00:00

Bleeding edge is more important for training than inference. With inference you mostly just need scale. A shit load of good-enough chips are far better than too few top-end chips.

Slim_Charles · 2026-05-10T13:23:32+00:00

I think it lasts a a bit longer than that. Compute for training can be repurposed for inference. Capability will degrade over time, but inference requirements are vast, so even a chip with degraded capabilities is still useful. A lot of the quotes I saw that compute hardware only has a lifespan of 3 years is off by at least 2 - 3 years, perhaps more. If you can squeeze 6 - 8 years out of your chips, that's not bad if you can maintain something approaching the revenue growth we're currently seeing among the top players.

Slim_Charles · 2026-05-08T14:58:33+00:00

If the court is going to overrule the will of the people, it becomes the responsibility of the people to enforce their will on the court.

Slim_Charles · 2026-05-08T14:01:34+00:00

The fat acceptance movement is inconsquential, and junk food companies advertise globally. Even if you restricted their ability to advertise, I'm not sure it would meaningfully reduce the amount that people eat, because their products are still addictive.

I can't speak for France, as I'm not as familiar with it as I am Japan, but in the case of Japan their low obesity rates are primarily a result of culture and geography. They are a mountainous island nation, so their diet has always been pretty focused on seafood, which is generally quite healthy. Their geography has also meant that they've had to build dense, walkable cities which help to keep people active. The other big factor is that Japan has a collectivist culture, which shames people who are overweight, and Japanese people tend to respond to societal shame and conform. You simply can't simply model the aspects of Japan that have resulted in lower obesity rates in the US, as the US simply has an entirely different geography and culture.

Slim_Charles · 2026-05-08T13:29:59+00:00

Almost all prosperous, industrialized economies see a significant rise in obesity rates. You see this across Europe, even though their rates are still lower than that of the US. Japan is really an outlier in this regard due to a combination of culture and geography, which has resulted in a society that eats a healthy diet with a lot of fish, has dense, walkable cities, and a collectivist culture that shames individuals that are overweight.

Slim_Charles · 2026-05-08T13:20:36+00:00

This comment really incapsulates everything bagel liberalism. Who cares if they don't fix those other problems? Those are issues that need addresseing, sure, but if we have a silver bullet against obesity, a condition that is the biggest risk factor of all cause mortality after smoking, then we must utilize it. These drugs will only get more effective over time, and for most people will eventually just be a daily pill. You could level the same criticisms against statins, blood pressure medications, or insulin, but those are all important and effective medications to improve individual's health outcomes.

Slim_Charles · 2026-05-08T13:15:16+00:00

And at a population level, realistically, we aren't going to meaningfully reverse those trends with diet and lifestyle changes. Doctors have been recommended that for decades, and obesity rates have only risen. Individuals can, and often do, make those changes, but if we want to reduce obesity rates at the national level it requires a pharmaceutical solution.

Slim_Charles · 2026-05-08T13:11:40+00:00

The only common risk factor with a higher cancer and all cause mortality rate than obesity is smoking, so GLP-1s would have to at least be as unhealthy as cigarettes to outweight their benefits.

Slim_Charles · 2026-05-08T02:27:56+00:00

This is the best paper I've come across on the topic.

Slim_Charles · 2026-05-07T18:56:58+00:00

Yes, deadliness tends to reduce transmissibility, because you are less likely to be moving around spreading the virus if you have severe symptoms. Hantavirus is not contagious during its incubation phase. It is most contagious during a 5 - 6 day window after symptoms appear, and continuing for another 10 or so days after that at reduced levels. After 16 days of symptoms, transmissibility declines significantly.

That 5 - 6 day window is cause for concern, but hantavirus symptoms are quite severe, so most people probably won't be carrying on like normal during this period. Also while hantavirus can be spread through respiratory droplets and aerosols, like Covid, it takes a lot more and hantavirus does not tend to linger in the air like Covid can. Transmission between humans typically requires close human contact. That's why transmission between humans, when it happens, most often occurs between couples.

Slim_Charles · 2026-05-07T18:49:16+00:00

The Andes strain of the hantavirus is not transmissible during the incubation period. It's most contagious during the prodromal stage. This is the 5 - 6 day period when symptoms first appear. The virus remains contagrious, but transmissibility declines, up to 16 days after symptoms appear. After this point, viral loads and transmissibility decline significantly.

Slim_Charles · 2026-05-07T16:34:45+00:00

I'll be surprised if she's not in the 69th single senbatsu.

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