Spyke

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Tech Job Interviews Are Out of Control

I applied to a small tech company back in late 2021, when everywhere was hiring like crazy. It was my first full time role, but I have my bachelor’s and had work experience.

Overall I had:

  • a phone screen with the recruiter
  • a video interview with the recruiter for the specific role
  • a video interview with HR
  • a cognitive aptitude test online
  • a personality test online
  • an interview with a team member from the department hiring
  • a take home assessment that I completed then went over on a video call/interview with my would-be manager and the same team member

I also had my credit checked, and had to provide 3 references which were all called.

The job paid $36,000. Though it is definitely getting worse, these people have always been out of touch. My company was just ahead of the times, I guess.

When I left last year, they had just excitedly announced that they would be using video interview question submissions for all candidates going forward. The only feedback I gave in my exit interview was that I wouldn’t apply today with the required video interviews.

world

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CO2 levels just broke another record. Here's what that means

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The problem is these numbers are based on the country of origin of emissions and don’t take into account the demand/consumption that is driving those emissions. China is a huge exporter and the US is a major importer of Chinese goods. US consumption is driving a lot of China’s emissions

By not being a manufacturing economy, we’re able to offset the appearance of our emissions when the data is tracked this way

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Pfizer says it will price Covid treatment Paxlovid at nearly $1,400 for a five-day course, which researchers estimate only costs Pfizer $13 to produce. That's a 10,000%+ markup. Shameful.

I’m allergic to Paxlovid; taking it makes my neck and head swell up to where I look like Rocky Balboa after a fight and my neck feels like a giant tree trunk.

This isn’t important, but it’s probably the first time I’ve seen an article about Paxlovid since that happened, so it’s all I could think about for a minute.

I guess I’m not surprised that this is happening with one of the few very essential drugs that isn’t in the list of medications that congress is negotiating prices down on for medicare.

Of course pharmaceutical giants use any opening, opportunity, or loophole to exploit those who are sick. Disgusting.

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After luring customers with low prices, Amazon stuffs Fire TVs with ads

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Agreed. You can buy the displays that are marketed to businesses and usually come without all of the invasive smart features.

They definitely cost more on average, but they’re also built to run more often or constantly, and hold up far better. They’re even a lot more customizable.

You can buy some that come with slots where you put in a raspberry pi or another computer of your choice, instead of whatever OS that comes with smart tvs.

At this point, I’m starting to regularly check if there are “for business customers” options available when I need something, because the options for regular consumers are getting so bad with all this data hoarding and ad pushing.

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Moms for Liberty and the ‘parental rights’ agenda flopped in 2023

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This is why anything with “for liberty” or “right to” in the name immediately makes me suspicious.

I wish more people realized this. “Right to Farm” was just passed in Texas by voters by a wide margin - long term it just removes accountability from agricultural giants and even emboldens them to push out small farmers.

It was advertised as being for small farmers 🤦

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USDA statement on Organic labeling

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Yeah I used to scoff at the gluten-free label on basic ingredients that are not wheat based.

... Until I started shitting myself and getting migraines due to gluten. I'm no longer laughing, and am especially grateful for the label on anything containing oats, which can be a huge source of cross-contamination.

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People working in the meat industry: could/can you actually feel the effects of the rise of veganism of the last ~10 years? How (much) did it affect the area you work in?

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Apparently so, but there is a wide variance in American diets. I wouldn’t be surprised if the biggest meat eaters are skewing that data quite a bit.

It’s not exact, but I just did a tally of the meat I’ve bought in the last year and it’s about 20 lbs. I could’ve forgotten something, and had a handful of meals out, so I’ll round up to 25lbs to be safe. Totally anecdotal, but 9% of the average listed here. I know I’m on the low end, but for most of my family I’d be pretty shocked if they ate over 3lb a week, or ~150lbs a year.

I live in the south and it seems like about half the people I meet eat more along the lines of what seems normal to me for someone eating meat, anywhere from 4-10x a week. A lot of those outside of dinners can be very small amounts of meat.

The other half unfortunately seem to be the type that consider it a tough challenge when they stop eating meat at every single meal, and it’s often at least 30% of their meal. It’s wild.

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Texas Governor Greg Abbott declares that Texas law supercedes Federal authority and hints at secession

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His last election was the most competitive of his career.

The public in general leans pro-choice, so Republicans are absolutely losing support with their insane anti-abortion policies even if it isn’t obvious yet.

He’s also been in national headlines a lot lately for his extremism. He has always been horrible, but he has never been so visible for it.

Next election, he will be hanging on by voter suppression, a wish, and a prayer.

What worries me though is why he’s gone off the deep end already if he still believes he needs to get re-elected…

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inflation

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This. The primary goal of chemotherapy in pets is to minimize symptoms to improve their quality of life. It’s nowhere near the high dosage that humans undergo in order to completely eradicate their cancer.

My cat is technically on chemotherapy. She gets a pill 3 times a week and a blood test every 3 months to check that it isn’t causing issues with her bone marrow.

So far, no symptoms. Without it, she’d probably have died a year and a half ago. When I used to hear about a pet getting chemo, I had a mental image of a really sick pet, but it’s pretty much the opposite.