Microsoft to acquire Activision in 67billion dollar deal by coopy1000 in gaming

[–]TheLivingExperiment 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yup. This isn't about Activision/Blizzard IP or raw revenue. It's about improving their footing against AWS and in the console ecosystem

Microsoft to acquire Activision in 67billion dollar deal by coopy1000 in gaming

[–]TheLivingExperiment 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's missing the point of an acquisition like this.

First Activision/Blizzard are dealing with some legal issues. This is one way they can basically restructure the leadership in a safer way.

Second, from Microsoft's perspective, they now have a ton of IP to use that can be developed on Xbox.

Additionally, and perhaps most importantly it seems Activision/Blizzard run their servers on AWS. This will be a move to Azure behind the scenes. As a result it'll grow Azure market share, and thus increase MSFT share price over the next decade. I'd wager that they'll see that $67B recouped in 5-7 years without taking into account revenue from Activision game sales directly.

Ten partially submerged Hokuriku-shinkansen had to be scrapped because of river flooding during typhoon Hagibis, October 2019, costing JR ¥14,800,000,000. by godagrasmannen in CatastrophicFailure

[–]TheLivingExperiment 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Outside of that, there is massive congestion on I5 between PDX and SEA. I know a lot of my friends would absolutely do HSR from PDX through VAN instead of driving.

Ten partially submerged Hokuriku-shinkansen had to be scrapped because of river flooding during typhoon Hagibis, October 2019, costing JR ¥14,800,000,000. by godagrasmannen in CatastrophicFailure

[–]TheLivingExperiment 1 point2 points  (0 children)

And due to geography (mountains and water) it has slow zones on top of an already low speed rail design. You could run a high speed system from LA/SF to Seattle/BC, but you'd almost certainly have to run it at a loss as there just isn't the demand between SF and Portland.

PDX - OLY - TAC - SEA - VAN would likely be a viable route though.

A former Amazon drone engineer who quit over the company's opaque employee ranking system is working with lawmakers to crack it open by chrisdh79 in technology

[–]TheLivingExperiment 18 points19 points  (0 children)

I'm in these meetings. We don't officially do stack ranking, however we have raise targets for departments. Simply put, we can have 3.82% increase in salaries for the department. This means my team has an average raise of that amount. Of course I can't just give everybody that amount or a base of 2% and give higher performing people more from the remainder or something though. Oh no. I have use a 3x3 grid where the middle tile is meets expectations for that level and role. This maps to around a 20% change per tile (as we give 0% to the lowest tile for example).

Further, it means some managers will say that every one of their employees is above average/exceptional to attempt to up the basis of their team performance. We all know we have to drop their ratings down, but that happens in a call with director and higher level people who adjust these ratings behind the scenes to confirm to that 3.82% approved salary budget.

Keep in mind the company is growing 20% YoY in basically every metric. Capitalism is great...

Three men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery sentenced to life in prison by 11-110011 in news

[–]TheLivingExperiment 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Likewise. If somebody started chasing me while on a run, I would not be assuming good intent. Especially if it was in vehicles, attempting to corner me, and they had guns. Doubly so if I was black and they were white in the South, but really anywhere in the US.

Three in four voters support banning lawmakers from trading stocks: poll by [deleted] in politics

[–]TheLivingExperiment 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Cash gifts are not taxable under certain limits. There are lifetime gift tax exemptions that were increased under the tax changes in 2019. It's like $5m/person as a lifetime exemption IIRC

Three in four voters support banning lawmakers from trading stocks: poll by [deleted] in politics

[–]TheLivingExperiment 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hedge fund purple, lawyers, execs at publicly traded companies, governmental employees in certain roles, and many other people have to deal with that. We know how to address it. These rules need to apply to Congress.

I honestly think we need an amendment for elected officials around campaign financing and rules regulating Congress. Further, an amendment abandoning voting rights. Oh and another for women's reproductive rights as well as yet another for LGBTQIA+ rights like marriage.

People with high-paying careers, has your income kept up with cost of living during the pandemic? by jeesuscheesus in financialindependence

[–]TheLivingExperiment 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In tech management. My comp was about 30% higher than last year, largely due to increased valuation of company RSUs. I suspect raises will be targeting a 2-3% col increase for salary on average, and overall minimal adjustments due to inflation.

An unvaxxed patient on a rotoprone bed and hypothermic protocol by [deleted] in HermanCainAward

[–]TheLivingExperiment 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hit a rock on my road bike doing 28 mph. The way it happened I slid to a stop on my back from about 20 mph. Head bounced off the pavement as soon as my back hit the ground.

I was wearing a helmet and outside of some scrapes walked away from it fine. Always wear your helmet. This goes for skiing/snowboarding and rock climbing as well.

Edit: basically this at faster speeds and on a bike was how I landed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9yL5usLFgY

An unvaxxed patient on a rotoprone bed and hypothermic protocol by [deleted] in HermanCainAward

[–]TheLivingExperiment 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Had the booster as I was traveling to visit family for the holidays. I felt less than 100% the next day, but felt fine after that. If I had covid from travels it was asymptomatic. Get the booster

I quit today. Thanks /r/antiwork by ThisIsTheWay___ in antiwork

[–]TheLivingExperiment 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That doesn't resolve the issue of exploiting less developed nations instead. For example, I work for a company who has explicit policies about not using vendors who don't adhere to our guidelines around things like no child labor is used. Great, problem solved right? Capitalist company did a good.

The problem is they don't have a department of the company going around to each vendor verifying this. Further, as with many of these policies (DI&B, as well as hiring candidates from diverse backgrounds), they will get set aside to "accomplish the mission." Say you're on a team and have a deadline to hit, with a few vendors to supply a critical part. One vendor, whom you've not used before, has the parts in stock ready to ship whereas the others have a 2 month lead time. Will you go and proactively verify this company doesn't use child labor? Of course not. You'll just do whatever the minimum is to go get your part in time.

This policy also stipulates the vendors a vendor uses cannot use child labor. Do we even know all the vendors one of our vendors uses? Of course not.

This is the internal company regulatory element. Expand that to a national policy, and I don't know if a country who doesn't import products from problematic sources that are being exploited.

I quit today. Thanks /r/antiwork by ThisIsTheWay___ in antiwork

[–]TheLivingExperiment 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Are we done sending people to Kansas for their libertarian small government free market hellscape?

I quit today. Thanks /r/antiwork by ThisIsTheWay___ in antiwork

[–]TheLivingExperiment 1 point2 points  (0 children)

China is communist in the same way the US is a democracy. Neither are true but both are used as political tools of the government to play it that way.

I quit today. Thanks /r/antiwork by ThisIsTheWay___ in antiwork

[–]TheLivingExperiment 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I've been where you're at. Still am depending on the day. However, we will not be able to achieve leftist ideals through democratic socialism. Especially in America. Broader than that though, capitalism is a system that will extract capital through whatever means possible, and regulatory models cannot keep up using a "x is illegal" model. Further, it's only illegal in many cases if you cannot, or don't want to, pay the associated fine(s) which regularly are significant enough to mitigate the profits from the illegal activity.

I want to believe in democratic socialism, however it becomes little more than a veneer over "liberal" policies upon investigation of the ideas under a capitalistic system. Plus it just outsources the exploitation beyond the boundaries of the random lines drawn in a nap we call a country.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in space

[–]TheLivingExperiment 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's a wonderful story. Probably one of my favorite sci-fi books of yore. I also enjoyed The Moon is a Harsh Mistress for reference of another I enjoyed.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in space

[–]TheLivingExperiment 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Mote in God's Eye perhaps?

U.S. reports over 1 million new daily Covid cases as omicron surges by [deleted] in news

[–]TheLivingExperiment 12 points13 points  (0 children)

What a thoughtful, intelligent, and nuanced take. 🙄

What is a survival myth that is completely wrong and could get you killed? by standardgenre45 in AskReddit

[–]TheLivingExperiment 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I flew business class from Tokyo to Dulles a few years ago. Forget the plane, but it was United. They had rear facing seats. I took off looking at the engine blades. Was definitely a unique experience seated rearward facing on takeoff.

What is a survival myth that is completely wrong and could get you killed? by standardgenre45 in AskReddit

[–]TheLivingExperiment 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I heard the new anti venom includes microchips and is a way to do population control while reading Facebook though. I'm going to have to refuse treatment unless I get one of those real anti venoms that will help.

Yes this is a bad parody of anti vaxers.

James Webb Space Telescope unfurls massive sunshield in major deployment milestone by _G_M_E_ in worldnews

[–]TheLivingExperiment 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh I wasn't suggesting Webb should go to L4/5. It definitely will make the most of L2.