InvalidName2

Almost every depiction of Anomalocaris, particularly in those CGI documentaries, make members of this genus look like enormous hideous sea monsters.

But in reality, these things are small, all less than 40 cm (like the largest ones are slightly more than a foot for us in the USA).

Giants of that era I guess and certainly an order of magnitude or more larger than superficially similar modern day relatives like sea monkeys and fairy shrimp. But they're like the size of a lobster, we'd probably be eating them to extinction these days if they weren't already extinct.

I'm game for it. Southern hemisphere celebrates Christmas in summer, I see no reason why we northerners can't as well.

And time, goes by so slowly. And time can do so much.

This is why I go out of my way quite a bit to poison the AI with my pointless boomer anecdotes, largely made up or confiscated. Plus, I rarely proof read my comments anymore, so apologies for the grammatical issues and the hard to believe and rarely either one way or the other but twice the times there's another type of type that you can also quite not, right?

Also interesting reading the comments about how many other countries are wrong. I have a hunch this entire graphic is wrong.

I certainly would not be surprised if there are some inaccuracies, but of the comments I've read so far suggesting that the numbers don't capture the truth appear to be misunderstanding what the data is showing (nationwide statutory paid time off and paid public holidays).

As an example, you mentioned the 7 paid federal holidays in the USA. But similar to some of the other observations in question, those aren't what this graphic is capturing. Outside of government jobs and maybe certain industries, those 7 public holidays are not required by statute on a nationwide level -- it's not even close to applying to everyone. Even if we agree that most jobs give people paid time off (but not because they are legally required to) or that some states require it, that's still not what this graphic is showing, so those don't make the 0 in any way inaccurate.

To be perfectly honest, if a CEO is truly working 80+ hours a week, you almost have to wonder where they would find the time to write walls of text to rejected candidates and to play around on social media.

Granted, I suspect a lot of higher level folks are like the ones I know, they're very generous with what they qualify as "working hours" for themselves. For instance, "I work 12 hour days" translates to I leave for work at 7 a.m. and I don't get home until 7 p.m." so basically they consider their travel to/from the office, the 2 hour lunch break + gym time, picking up kids after school, etc to be part of their working hours. Or if they're away from home for 3 days at a conference, that's 70+ hours of work right there.

And the thing is, I don't completely disagree with any of that, it's just that they tend to take the opposite stance when it comes to people actually doing the work. If you're not sitting in front of your computer or on the phone making calls, then you're not working. Your commute to/from work doesn't count. Your lunch break doesn't count. Your travel time to and from the conference doesn't count for your 38.5 hour minimum billable time for that week.

It's like dun-dun dun dun-dun-dun dun dun dun-dun. DUHN-DUHN DUHN-DUHN-DUHN-DUHN DUHN DUHN DUHN-DUHN.

Good. Fast. Cheap. Pick two.

That's the golden rule for a lot of industries, and fast food is no exception. For my entire life, it's been well known that this is not good food -- in the sense that most people realize it's unhealthy, processed, junk. So, these places basically have to deliver on the fast and cheap part.

Now, they've pretty much all given up on being cheap. Most of them are as expensive, or nearly as expensive, as a sit down restaurant with a server who comes to your table.

And based on nearly every fast food experience I've had in the past 5 or so years (which honestly isn't much), I don't even think they're really delivering on the promise of fast, compared to a typical sit down place of similar caliber food.

So, then when the working class, the bread and butter of the fast food industry, is getting economically squeezed to the brink, I suppose this isn't exactly all that surprising of an outcome. Fast food was for those nights when people were too busy working all day to prepare a meal for dinner, for a bite to each on your lunch hour when you forgot to pack something, or a quick stop while you're on a road trip. But think about how many people are out of work now (don't let the official unemployment numbers fool you). They aren't traveling, away from home during lunch, and they have way more time and much less money so dinner prep at home it is. And people who are gainfully employed with money to spare, they're going to non-fast food places because the food is better quality, about the same price, and usually just as fast or faster.

So where's that leave "fast" food? It's time to return to the core tenants (cheap & fast) or these places will likely continue to see declines.

I'm hoping to be wrong, but I have to agree with the experts who are saying that current AI (i.e. generative AI / LLMs) are a financial bubble. It's good, it does some things very well, but it's not the AGI that the average non-technical person seems to view it as, and it's not the replacement for real work that CEOs and CFOs seem to believe it is.

We're just not there from what I can see. This is like 3D media and virtual reality, in a lot of ways. Every decade or so there's a big break through, giant leap forward, brand new tech that's going to revolutionize everything. But most of us are currently staring at conventional 2D screens right now thinking the VR stuff is cool but it doesn't really deliver on the promise.

I don't know if it's my "favourite" but I remember how hilarious it was the first time I heard that original Resident Evil line about "you, the master of unlocking". Granted, at the time I assumed it was all intentional B-grade horror movie parody.

She slammed them, but at least she didn't completely eviscerate them.

Also, Glenn Beck is still a thing? I can't recall the last time I heard that name.

I won't claim to be super optimistic, but I'm in a conservative region in the rural south where the cracks are showing and people aren't just ignoring it anymore. Folks are starting to talk openly and vocally in opposition.

If you've never lived in a conservative, rural area before then know that it's the type of place where "Fuck Biden" signs littered the yards of so called Christians while gas pumps and egg shelves were covered in "I did that" stickers. You hear someone verbally bashing a Democrat politician or liberals while you're standing in line to check out, then you know it's a day that ends in Y.

It's hard to stress how jarring it is to hear anybody expressing any degree of dissatisfaction with a Republican policy / politician in this area, in public, around strangers. And that's especially true when it comes to criticism of Trump. But let me tell you, it is happening with increasing regularity.

People are pissed that grocery prices are only getting higher. They're upset that they have to wait in line for 45 minutes at the post office because there's only 1 employee working. They are absolutely livid that the local hospital may be closing down because of medicaid cuts.

They're talking about this in public with strangers. And they're blaming Trump. There's no push back. I've literally never seen this before.

Obviously a day late and a dollar short, since the time to have done the easy thing was back in November 2024. But at this stage of the game, I'll take whatever fickle alliance I can get.