Lauchs

Lauchs , 4 months ago to politics in A 5-Way Presidential Race May Help Trump Beat Biden

Yup. But until young/progressive voters start voting in party primaries we're stuck with this.

Lauchs , 5 months ago to Technology in Office mandates don’t help companies make more money, study finds

If you buy a car and don't use it, you're in much the same situation. You have an expensive thing gaining you no value. At worst that money could be in your savings. I imagine a company could find more productive uses for that capital. (A decent chunk of capital mind you, Google paid about 10% of its annual profit for a pair of offices in 2018.)

Sure, you could sell the car but you're going to take a loss as office vacancy rates are at what I assume are historic highs (in Canada it's about 17%).

The more conspiratorial minded may also point out that most CEO level folks or board members are pretty likely to have a lot of their wealth tied into the market, a not insubstantial sum of which is tied to corporate real estate. A significant disruption there could cost those folks and their friends heavily. It's a little conspiracy minded for me but also not so much so that it feels ludicrous.

Lauchs , 5 months ago to Asklemmy in What's with all the tech layoffs?

A few things happened pretty quickly.

During the pandemic, tech profits soared which led to massive hiring sprees. For all the press about layoffs at the big guys, I think most still have more workers than they did pre-pandemic.

Interests rates soared. Before the pandemic interest rates were ludicrously low, in other words it cost almost nothing to borrow money. This made it easier to spend on long term or unclear projects where the hope seemed to be "get enough users, then you can monetize." Once interest rates rose, those became incredibly expensive projects, so funding is now much more scarce. Companies are pulling back on bigger projects or, like reddit, trying to monetize them faster. Startups are also finding it harder, so fewer jobs.

And of course, AI. No one is quite sure how much that'll change the game but some folks think most programmers will be replaceable, or at least 1 programmer will be able to do the work of several. So, rather than hire and go through everything severance etc might entail, I think a lot of companies are taking a wait and see approach and thus not hiring.

Lauchs , 5 months ago to Asklemmy in Where are some good Canadian cities to live in?

Like everyone else says, depends what you want.

If you can afford it, Vancouver is amazing (though, I am a biased Vancouverite.) In a good season, there are local ski mountains about 30 or 40 minutes from downtown, Whistler is a couple hours away. There's awesome food all over the place, the underground scene is a blast and even some of the licensed etc venues can be pretty awesome. In the summer, everyone wants to be outside and if you're into sporty stuff, there's a boatload to do. The weather is generally pretty mild (though climate change is messing with that.)

The transit system can be amazing, depending on where you live. (In the suburbs, like most other cities, it's kind of trash.) But there are trains, rapid busses etc if you live near any hub. And of course, bike paths galore!

Lauchs , 5 months ago to Political Memes in Way to go, guys!

Nixon is inadvertently responsible for the creation of the right wing media circus which I would argue is fully responsible for W and trump.

Lauchs , 5 months ago to politics in Donald Trump has a big problem ahead

Lemmy when polls show trump in trouble: Obviously!

Lemmy when polls show trump winning: You can't trust polls this far out!

Lauchs , 6 months ago to cats in Belle, you will be missed.

So sorry to read this. These adorable monsters win our hearts just to break them.

For whatever it's worth, you're doing the right thing and because you're that kind of owner is probably why she wants to cuddle up with you when she's feeling rotten.

Lauchs , 7 months ago to RPGMemes in Chaotic... Neutral?

OP didn't wash their mouth out at any point before the hospital? Red flag and mouth right there.

Lauchs , 9 months ago to Asklemmy in What's a skill that's taken for granted where you live, but is often missing in people moving there from abroad?

Pooping in the toilet.

When I went to university with a lot of international students, there would often be poop on the seats.

My understanding is Asian toilets are different and a good few students from there were standing on the seat and aiming at the bowl from height, with mixed success.

Lauchs OP , 10 months ago to Ask Lemmy in Who is your favourite Canadian?

Allright, let's take 10% off there bud.

Lauchs , 10 months ago to Asklemmy in What's some really unpopular opinion you have?

Generally, social justice is at best, a distraction from real issues, albeit with very good intentions.

(We talk about human dignity, representation in film etc but not say, the fact most of our stuff is made by children who occasionally burn to death making it. If I were one of the billionaires running things, I would be overjoyed that people were so distracted about what a comedian said versus how our entire economic model is structured.)

Lauchs , 11 months ago to Science Fiction in 'Babylon 5' is finally coming to Blu-ray

Oooh, didn't know about an animated one. I've always been curious but 110 episodes works out to some 70+ hours of tv which would take me forever to finish.