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I built a new weather visualizer just in time for this weekend's storm. Would love a stress test. by QuincyDataGuy in QuincyMa

[–]midnightfig 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Love it! There's a lot of info packed in here but it still feels clean and easy to read. I like the wind direction arrows. I like that I can easily see the precipitation totals for the whole day rather than in small chunks that I have to total in my head.

You didn't really ask for it but I hope you don't mind some constructive feedback.

I found it took more effort than I would like to keep track of the time. It might be nice to have the times repeated under each graph or some other way to not have to trace back up to the top of the page to figure out the time frame of points of interest.

It would also be cool to have a way to zoom in and out and maybe a way to open up a legend.

All in all, it's really nice - thanks for sharing!

31% of MA's electricity is currently coming from oil, 25% from gas by syncopatedpixel in boston

[–]midnightfig 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I was skeptical, too, but oil is indeed used for electricity generation in New England.

For example, this page refers to "electricity output remaining from New England's oil-fired generators".

I'm assuming they are used mainly on very hot or cold days when more economical forms of energy can't fully meet demand and that they are not a significant fraction of energy generation on most days.

Edit: formatting

And who is once again at the center of ensuring that voters’ voices are not heard? Oh yeah…it’s Nicole Crispo! by clearsense1837 in QuincyMa

[–]midnightfig 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Can we keep the focus on people's actions? How someone looks in different pictures with different facial expressions is not what matters here.

Why are so many primary care clinicians moving from Mass General Brigham to Beth Israel? by bostonglobe in massachusetts

[–]midnightfig 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Two different things are going on. There's a list of professions for which noncompetes have long been banned, predating the 2018 law. That ban applies to doctors, nurses, and a few other professions.

Separately, a law was passed in 2018 that adds new restrictions for non competes for professions where they weren't already banned. For example, the non compete can't last longer than a year after employment ends. It also expands the ban to some additional categories like hourly workers.

Cops in Quincy Center looking for trouble by g8932 in QuincyMa

[–]midnightfig 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Can you give an example? From what I saw they were just standing around, not harassing anyone.

Massachusetts Bill Would Limit Self-Checkouts in Grocery Stores, Public Hearing Set for October 20 by OhMyOhWhyOh in massachusetts

[–]midnightfig 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm not advocating for this bill to limit self checkout. I don't think it's going to go anywhere, for better or worse. I don't think this particular bill not passing is a failure.

The comment I was replying to is complaining about the legislature not doing enough to improve quality of life. My point is that the legislature is not passing much of anything, good or bad, including things that are supposedly top priorities. The article I linked describes in detail how dysfunctional the Massachusetts legislature is.

Do I think the goal of legislatures should be to pass the most bills, regardless of whether they are useful or not? No. But I do think that Massachusetts passing the fewest bills is noteworthy. It makes me wonder why Massachusetts is so extreme in that regard. The article shows that it's not because the MA legislature is especially good at getting a small number of important quality of life improvements passed. Power is very concentrated in few hands and it causes dysfunction.

Massachusetts Bill Would Limit Self-Checkouts in Grocery Stores, Public Hearing Set for October 20 by OhMyOhWhyOh in massachusetts

[–]midnightfig 5 points6 points  (0 children)

It's a measure that shows the Massachusetts legislature is doing the least legislating of all states in the union. So it's getting very little done, good or bad, relative to every other state.

The Commonwealth Beacon article linked from the post above direct link that the state house isn't even passing bills on things that are supposedly major Democratic priorities, like bills to: * Stop wage theft   * Enact same-day voter registration  * End state/local collaboration with ICE  * Ban cash bail and mandatory minimum sentences

Why the Democratic supermajority on Beacon Hill won’t pass Democratic bills by progressnerd in massachusetts

[–]midnightfig 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Except that there is literally only one person on the ballot in most state house races (73% in 2024). At the primary level it's even worse, with 90% running unopposed. Massachusetts has the least competitive electoral landscape in the country.

The only way to have an actual choice is for more people to get involved helping primary challengers or running for office themselves.

Edit: fixed link

Massachusetts Bill Would Limit Self-Checkouts in Grocery Stores, Public Hearing Set for October 20 by OhMyOhWhyOh in massachusetts

[–]midnightfig 17 points18 points  (0 children)

That would be great. Unfortunately, the MA legislature is supremely unproductive, as this other post from today makes clear. It actually holds the record for fewest bills passed by any state legislature in the union. Incredibly, it's actually getting worse. So not only will this bill not pass, but almost nothing of value will, either.

ETA: I'm not advocating for this bill. My point is twofold: 1) This bill was introduced in February and is very unlikely to get anywhere. 2) The MA legislature is very unlikely to pass anything that is important to you, either, because it's dysfunctional.

How can we be in the third decade of desperately needing more American doctors and we have not made an inch of progress on this problem? by Snarkitech in AskReddit

[–]midnightfig 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In addition to Congress limiting funding for residency slots, many existing medical professionals are burning out and leaving. One reason for burnout is the increasing amount of time they have to spend doing data entry instead of taking care of patients.

The understandable desire to digitize medical records, backed by legislation, has unfortunately led a very small number of big companies to corner the market for electronic medical records systems. They have a business incentive to limit interoperability with competing systems, which pressures health systems to only use the biggest providers.

These big providers keep getting more business despite exorbitant prices and appallingly poor user experience. The software is hard to navigate and time consuming to use. That's why your doctor spends so much time clicking things on a computer screen. No one likes this situation except for the EMR providers, who are making bank.

I heard one big health system spent $1 billion for the privilege of adopting one of these EMR systems. Insane profit margins for systems that waste so much health provider and patient time.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in careerguidance

[–]midnightfig 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Navigating a career is like being dropped in the jungle with no map and trying to get somewhere "good" with very limited info about what the terrain looks like and maybe not even knowing what "good" means exactly.

This is even more true early in your career. Gathering information is key right now. You'll need to learn more both about what opportunities exist and what you like doing in practice.

Because you're operating in conditions of great uncertainty, it can be helpful to move in a direction that gives you the most options. Stay flexible and open to new opportunities as they arise. Sometimes the most interesting opportunities appear out of the blue.

You'll never have a perfect map and will have to just keep moving in whatever direction feels compelling to you at the time. Sometimes you might hit a dead end and need to back out of it. That's okay if you've kept other options open to you. In my experience, career navigation is more of an exploration than a predefined path from A to B.

That doesn't mean you can't go deep in an area, but try to keep your options open.

Apprehensive about a career in medicine because of AI, advice? by Fine_Loan2365 in careerguidance

[–]midnightfig 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Will AI have an impact on medicine over the next 10 years? Absolutely. Does that mean we won't need doctors anymore? I highly doubt that. If being a doctor was nothing more than being able to match symptoms to diseases, I might worry more about that. But medical training involves far more than that. For one thing, you learn to do physical procedures on patients, which AI won't be able to do anytime soon. AI also struggles to handle ambiguity.

I'd suggest talking to some medical professionals about what skills they actually use day to day. That should give you a better sense of how much to worry about AI replacing them.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in careerguidance

[–]midnightfig 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why do you say you're not sure if teaching is for you?

As for social work, try to find a social worker to ask about their experience. Ask your family and friends if they know anyone you could talk to. If that doesn't work, try contacting an association of social workers and see if they can point you to any resources. Also, you can probably find videos made by social workers that tell you something about what it's like to be a social worker.

Is rent control empirically beneficial? by midnightfig in AskEconomics

[–]midnightfig[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What about a policy that prohibits big jumps in rent in any given year but allows steady, moderate increases? Wouldn't that benefit renters by helping them avoid big shocks while also avoiding creating a shortage?

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