AFKBRBChocolate

I have mixed emotions about it. I manage a software engineering team at an aerospace company. I do see some increased quality and productivity when folks who work together and colocated. But there are tradeoffs, and happier employees for sure needs to be in the trade. Our company has sites in different states, and for years and years we've grabbed the skills we need from wherever they are. That is, we've recognized that it's workable to have at least some people not colocated, and are willing to take that hit if it buys us something.

We were nearly 100% remote for the better part of two years, and it was fine. Our productivity was at least adequate. My personal feeling is that a hybrid arrangement, where everyone has some overlapping days, is the sweet spot. But I've fought for individuals being fully remote when it made sense.

The article says the "or else" was that they'd become ineligible for promotion, and half decided to do it anyway. So they didn't lose their job.

I'm fairness, a calculator wouldn't explain how to get there. An LLM might not explain it correctly, but it will explain it.

I honestly didn't mind when stores sell Christmas stuff early. Some people like to plan things out. What bugs me is when they put up their own decorations early or start playing Christmas music.

I never said that being a driller is trivial. Do you think being an astronaut is trivial? That's a pretty intensely technical job, which is why the bar for entry is so insanely high. I would put my money on those folks leaning how to drill better than drillers leaning how to be an astronaut.

Where I am in SoCal, it's perfect right now. The lows are in the upper 50s, the highs in the mid 80s. The mornings are cool and a bit overcast, but it burns off to a sunny, warm day. It gets cool enough to open the windows just after sundown, them close them mid morning. Really nice. In a month, highs and lows will increase ten to fifteen degrees, so it will be a bit hot.

That's super true. What's worse is that it often turns out to be true of news as well. There have been a few times when I was familiar with events that made the news, and there were always inaccuracies in the articles. It's made me look at articles on events that I'm not familiar with differently; they probably have the same amount of inaccuracies.

I'm software engineering in aerospace, so a lot of computer and space stuff is ruined, which covers a lot of content.

But everyone should smack their heads about Armageddon.

Ha! I hadn't heard that - I'm glad someone involved called him out on it. I mean, I get that the real answer - to that and all my complaints - is that the movie doesn't work otherwise, but it's so annoying.

I worked on the space shuttle program, and I found Armageddon almost unwatchable. I mean, those things go up with the big solid rockets and an external tank full of hydrogen and oxygen, all of which get jettisoned during launch, then they come down as a glider. But in the movie they're landing on asteroids and taking off again, smashing into things and still flying, etc. (remember how Columbia blew up because of a crack in the leading edge of one wing?). Plus the whole premise of it being easier to teach oil drillers how to be astronauts than to teach astronauts how to be oil drillers is a joke. Every astronaut I've met has been an amazing capable person - many are test pilots with multiple advanced degrees.

A decent sized package of medium quality chocolate.

I should have mentioned what you just did: your passion doesn't have to be your job.

Tangentially, as I get closer to retirement, one of the things I hear from retirees is that they planned on doing a lot more of their hobby when they retired, but found that the hobby felt more like a job when they tried to do it all day. So sometimes it's better that you keep something you enjoy as something that you can just do when you want.