Just today, one of their rail cars caught fire at an elevated station, and their broken fire suppression system did nothing but flood the ground floor when the firefighters tried to use it.

Wu's push for more housing density along the city's functioning arteries feels more realistic. Maybe they're realizing that plan could also suck a lot of property taxes out of the urban center.

Suppose that I have an idea for a widget which market research indicates could sell for $20/, but probably not $50/.

I can hit the $50/ target with small contract runs, which would cost about as much as a down payment on a house.

Or I can make it in volume for less than $10/, but I need a large minimum order, space, equipment, logistics. Now we're looking at 7-8 figures.

If you aren't independently wealthy, neither option is really feasible, and the former option will almost certainly end in tears if you try to stretch and bootstrap with your own money.

$10/mo * 20 years = $2400. That's almost an extra 5% you get over the purchase price, nicely hidden away at the time of sale.

You also self-select for the sort of customer who will put up with being treated like that. There's one born every minute.

Nor is it surprising that people who sit in front of screens dealing with petty workplace politics score poorly.

What's up with the sad CNC machinists and happy heavy equipment operators, though? Is it the sunlight?

>Jesus went into the temple courtyard and threw out everyone who was buying and selling there. He overturned the moneychangers’ tables and the chairs of those who sold pigeons. He told them, “Scripture says, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you’re turning it into a gathering place for thieves!”

- Matthew 21:12-13

>If you lend money to my people—to any poor person among you—never act like a moneylender. Charge no interest.

- Exodus 22:25

KJV used the word "usurer", but it's the same idea.

"Analog electronics" communicate using voltage/current/temperature/etc levels.

One of the simplest examples is a voltage divider: if you put two resistors across a DC voltage source, like this:

    V+-[R1]-¢-[R2]-GND

    V+ * (R2 / (R1 + R2))

I usually recommend The Art of Electronics as a well-written, beginner-friendly textbook which covers the basic concepts.

I'm pretty sure they have hooks into audio systems for wireless emergency alerts, but could be wrong.

The baseband is an opaque binary blob that operates outside of the phone's main OS, and its contents are usually considered a trade secret by the manufacturer since it handles low-level hardware interactions with the main radios/etc.

Personally, I would be surprised if those systems weren't compromised by agreement. It's already common to see criminals and dissidents get busted because they think that turning a phone off stops it from reporting location data.

You just have to provide your own transportation.

    to = 2;
    while (!request(timeout=to)) {
        to *= 2;
    }

* They've seen a lot of houses, and know what to look out for even before you commit to calling in inspectors.

* They've seen a lot of closings, and can handle all of the title/law crud. "Quick closing" can be a big plus to some sellers.

* They've seen a lot of negotiations, and can help you get a feel for how the other party is thinking.

There certainly are people who unlock the door, stare at their phone all day, and collect their commission. Those aren't very good agents, even if they can get the job done when the market is extremely short on supply.

Why should lawyers discipline lawyers? Why should cops discipline cops? Why should lobbyists advise legislators? Why should banks help to shape financial regulations? Why should corporate aircraft engineers participate in the aircraft certification process?

Because they are subject matter experts. Who else is better placed and better suited to do it, and who else would charge less for the service?

It might not be simple to implement, though. Off the top of my head,

* Can you confidently say that $100>¥10 in an offline environment?

* You'd need to support different bases for splitting units to deal with eldritch values such as farthings.

* Where is the line drawn? Is a Bitcoin a valid currency? A gold Krugerrand? A bundle of stock shares? A bushel of apples?

All of that said, I would love to see a world where I could write code like:

    money balance = money.lumber.grade.kilograms(8);

The pandemic opened the door to making a piece of technology a mandatory requirement to participate in society. It used to be possible to live without a smartphone, now you really need to be able to read and produce QR codes¹.

Why couldn't the same thing happen with AR, considering how expensive it is for governments and companies to put displays and audio announcements everywhere?

¹: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/nov/04/my-lif...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mens_rea

You can definitely be convicted of one, though!

Seems pretty simple.

They're also not really pickup trucks, underneath they have the same SUV unibody as the Bronco (yikes) and the Escape.

That injustice stems from a system that we cannot meaningfully change, though. Our cages are larger and more comfortable, but people making 6-7 figures are not policymakers or influential voices.

Having realized that, are you ready to walk away from Omelas today?

Something like, every year the property owner pays:

    property value * (average vacancy % over N years)