They should really wait until Game of Thrones comes back before disregarding them.
Readit Newsry0ohki commented on Netflix claims Fortnite is now a bigger competitor than HBO gamasutra.com/view/news/3... · Posted by u/Impossible
This really does sound like working in a union shop in the US, especially as a public sector worker. Seniority, loyalty, etc matter and things like competence and productivity are someone else's problem. Jobs are wielded as political weapons (The Democratic Party leader in Illinois, Mike Madigan famously has a list of every union job he's gifted and calls on favors from that list), etc. Inefficiencies are continually introduced.
I find the far-left often bemoans a lack of paternal aspects in US society, by my god, this blog posting horrified me. I would feel to trapped and powerless in that structure. I think it also explains the milquetoast offers, especially in regards to software, these types of companies deliver.
There's something wonderfully rebellious and wild about US culture, in general, that leads to enough weirdness that somehow gets results. All the early pioneers of the things I love were pretty out there and let their freak flag fly. I can't imagine personalities like these thriving in that type of environment.
I see what you are saying, but it's also almost the complete opposite of a union shop. The huge differences that you don't have to work outside of 8 hour day (without time and a half pay) and you are also paid more than non-union people, but basically guaranteed pension and job for life if you get in.
When I rode regularly in college anything less than about 20mph was considered "pedestrian" and there were days in group rides that we averaged over 25mph. There were some rides averaging very nearly 30mph.
If you've got that kind of a background 12.5mph doesn't feel right. So maybe not entirely pedantic.
I just did a distance ride (100 miles per day) on my mountain bike loaded with camping gear on dirt paths. Average pace was 10mph, there are more than just carbon bikes on flat roads...
Your comment got me excited -- but I looked up the size of the Z3 "compact" and it is larger in every dimension than my iPhone 5s.
It's ridiculous. I thought I remember someone saying the iPhone 1/3/4 size was designed to be perfect for the human hand and I agree. It's easier to make things larger, it's hard to make them small, how are we regressing?
The reason so much disruption comes from "barely skirting the law" is because government sets up the law/regulation to entrench these old business models. So much of what the US government does today is in service of big business, not necessarily adhering to whatever moral standard you have in mind for the rule of law.
Uber has to use the gray areas precisely because regulation was set up to prevent disruption of the cab industry. This regulation inhibits growth and promotes stagnation, evidenced by the fact that NYC cabs did not accept credit cards until 2007 and by how obviously under-served the SF cab market was.
Uber, by skirting the laws that were not serving the consumer but rather entrenching an industry has been able to do more in five years than the entire taxi industry has in 50.
I may be wrong, but I doubt the initial laws were setup to protect the cab industry. It solved a problem of safety, reliability, and set prices with cabs. See third world countries where a cab ride can easily mean a kidnapping or robbery at worst, or a fleecing at best. I'm sure once the basic infrastructure was in place cab companies used their lobbies to further entrench, but the basic laws are there for consumer protection.
It seems to be prevalent in Baltimore. I couldn't find the "many" places that hacks are common names for illegal cabs. Chicago, Philadelphia and NYC all use hack to refer to legally licensed cabs and they're all much larger cities/metropolitan areas than Baltimore. I think this is why it is much more common to use "hack" to describe a legitimate taxi driver. Thank you for your input.
I am indeed from Baltimore, didn't know it was not widespread.
We can answer this question by simply looking at what Uber is without the smokescreen of "tech" and "disruption".
Uber is simply a very old and familiar way to circumvent labor, safety and consumer protection laws. It just happens to have two new elements enabled by tech: an app and dynamic pricing.
There is nothing "cool" or innovative about Uber. Many of the laws and regulations Uber runs afoul of aren't outdated, they exist very specifically because of operations like Uber, which existed in the days before smartphones and the internet.
And Uber brings absolutely nothing new to the table that changes the rationale behind those regulations. What the fuck is innovative about facilitating unlicensed taxi drivers in private cars? Hell, in Dutch we even have a word, "snorders", for such people, a word that has been barely used in decades until Uber popped up and revived it.
Uber is basically the kind of "business" that you would expect from an organized crime outfit, and their other dubious practices should come as no surprise.
We call them Jitneys or Hacks here in the US. Very common means of transportation in poor areas, but an app makes the same concept hip I guess.