Ephphatha posted:

It's a chat thread. Vent about the introduction of American traditions to backwards countries like Australia, or just enjoy this shot of Stubby Bob being awesome.

Dagen H posted:

Yeah I don't know what the deal is, but I don't like it.

E: I think I see disc brakes...maybe a front axle swap?

Dagen H posted:

Lupus.

The Locator posted:

Dumb healthcare question.

The benefits package where I work is something that is held out as part of why good people should work for us. Competitive pay and good benefits is something that you simply must have if you want to attract and keep good talent. You can substitute higher pay for worse benefits, or sometimes better benefits for worse pay, but the combination has to be attractive at some level if you (as a company) want to keep solid talent on the payroll.

My company is heavily IT, and it's really difficult to keep good people in the long term, because the really good people can get huge raises by just jumping ship periodically.

Is the lovely healthcare I'm reading about in this thread because this just isn't true of most industries in the country? Is there no competition for good workers so no need to provide good benefits and/or pay? I guess it just seemed obvious to me that good employees would migrate to good companies that provided these benefits, and the other companies would need to step up and provide similar benefits/pay if they wanted to not constantly lose their talent. It sounds like this is completely not true, and I'm puzzled as to why, as it seems like the labor market would force the companies into providing decent benefits.

The Locator posted:

The example above where a nurse practitioner in a cancer center has a worse health care option than the government job is mind boggling to me. With the incredible demand for health care professionals I would expect the health plans available to the employees to be fantastic in order to attract the workers.

InitialDave posted:

What I mean is that it seems an awful lot of Americans seem to regard it as normal that you have to fill out forms declaring your income etc and making sure what you've paid in tax is correct, and to get a rebate if you've overpaid. Really, only people who are self employed (or otherwise receiving income "directly") need to do that, the average working stiff just gets their payslip with it all dealt with and that's the end of it. "Doing taxes" is completely alien to almost all employees in the UK.

Coredump posted:

Flat rate tax is regressive and the low/middle class would pay more of the tax burden.

BraveUlysses posted:

its regressive because those with lower incomes pay a higher percentage of their salary or annual wages in the form of taxes than those with middle or higher-end incomes do.

BraveUlysses posted:

nope

also thanks to a few whiners we arent supposed to have political chat in here anyway

Enourmo posted:

No joke: Yes, they're too big. There's a commercially available hybrid motor that's 38mm OD; ideally we'd like to make one in the next common size down, which is 29mm. That tank is 2 inches wide, which is 51mm. My ideal tank is one with that same capacity, but half as wide and twice as long. Our drag margins are super tight, going from 29mm up to 38 decreases our best-case apogee by 1000 feet.

If we can convince our senior design advisers that we can safely fabricate our own pressure vessels it would be no problem, but they have a strong preference for off-the-shelf components already rated to do the job, so I'm strongly looking at backup options.

Previa_fun posted:

Welp I must be an old now because I really really enjoy driving this slow CVT hybrid Honda.

It's like a spaceship though.

angryrobots posted:

So if you look closely, you'll see the "custom" exterior sun visor made out of sheet metal, with clearance lights. That's home-made. Also the fog lights on bumper, side markers, and diamond plate cladding.

All that is to say...the inside looks a lot like the outside. The owner is AI in his own way.

angryrobots posted:

Possibly/probably. I had that thought. The wheel arches, door bottoms, and rockers I could see were solid though. If there's rust on the least-difficult section to replace, that's not necessarily a death sentence.

Applebees Appetizer posted:

At 22:25 an idiot with his GTR blows the motor showing off a "launch" and tries to act like it's no big deal lol.

Right when he starts to do it I'm thinking why are you doing this you're gonna break it, then it's "I just broke the motor, it's gone"

Metal Geir Skogul posted:

I'm 30, and have only been in two relationships. One for around 8-9 years (small break in the middle, Army), and one since just about last year, in three days. I mean, I knew the person for a few years before that.

I'm not certain, but I think I just got dumped today. It's weird. When this lease is over in February, she is going to move back in with her ex-husband to raise her kids. Separate rooms (like they have been for years, it was a loveless marriage I'm told). It will save 2+ hours of commuting a day that was being done for the kids' school, and logistically make a lot of sense.


However,




On the plus side, I got an 85% on my Biology 156 final today (online course, I did the accelerated 8 weeks versus 16) meaning I get an 88% in the class .

Applebees Appetizer posted:

That's when you have her deal with it. If she has a problem with it let her talk to the guy, there's nothing worse than being the jerk in the middle.

InitialDave posted:

Just met Hans Rey. Excellent.

slidebite posted:

Question time:

So my neighbor is a pretty nice guy. Maybe early/mid 30s, hockey coach and he's a pretty well known guy in that field as teams he's coached have won championships. Definitely aggressive with his career and his goal is to be an NHL coach, of which he very well might become one. He and his wife just bought their house shortly after ours. We're not super close, but we get along well, chatted quite a bit and helped each other out around our yards as we were landscaping. We're not incredibly tight by any means, but I would say we are friends. Only a few months after they moved in he got a coaching job out of town. So he is renting a house in that town about 5 hours away, and the wife goes back and forth between there and here. I think it must be pretty tough on the wife because they've got 2 little ones and dad is never home (he seriously hasn't been home here since July) .... although she does go up north to visit quite often. She's quite attractive... I did a bit of a double take when I first saw her, strong Lucy Liu vibe. I've also helped her out a couple times when he's been gone with yard work and stuff. They are thoughtful to me and have repaid me with beer and gourmet chocolates as a thank-you gift for helping them out.

Fast forward to last night, heard a strange vehicle pull up in front of my house, look outside it's a late 90s dodge pick up with lovely exhaust (why I heard it), pulling into neighbors driveway. Dude got out went into their house. Didn't think much of it.... except this AM the truck was still there. Guy actually just left as I am typing this. Same age group and not likely her family (she's asian, dude wasn't). That's sort of, um, odd. I've never seen anyone with a strange vehicle spend the night there before. Actually, I've never noticed anyone spend the night there before.

Question: Mind my own business or next time I talk to neighbor dude some how slide it into conversation? I'm definitely leaning towards minding my own business as I certainly don't know for a fact anything is going on.

Alternatively, I guess I could talk to her next time I see her and somehow mention the truck in the driveway... and see if she has a look of horror come over her face or not, but once again, none of my loving business.

General_Failure posted:

Just walked back to my car. Started first go, as predicted. Took a multimeter with me. Battery is about 12.3v so kind of meh. Interesting thing is when it's running the voltage at the regulator is 13.8v and elsewhere it's 14.8v. wtf?

Seminal Flu posted:

Darchangel posted:

BraveUlysses posted:

Post a pic of these hilariously expensive shoes so we can mock u