Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and wanted to share.

- Uber incenting drivers to switch to Teslas.  Curious how drivers would make out on a per mile basis. Know independent cab drivers make more per mile driving an EV.

- How AI could save (not destroy) education. (Ted video)

- 10 movie actors who served in combat. I agree - Jimmy Stewart should have been on the list.

- Amazon takes minority stake in Bally sports - will stream many games on Amazon Prime.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Great film soundtracks. Trying to think if he's missed any.

- Who knew? Uber has a freight division. Wonder how well they pay their drivers?

- Esquire's profile of Don Wildman: The World's Healthiest 75-year Old Man. Even though Wildman died five years ago this profile is worth reading - no matter your age.

- Tucker Carlson Episode 37. Was less than 1 million views when I first saw this.

The Democrats War on Independent Contractors

Interesting editorial on how the Democrats, thinking they are helping unions, are really intentionally harming independent contractors like Uber and Lyft drivers, freelance writers, etc. The independent contractors rightly feel, "We do not need lawmakers to fix something that, for the vast majority of us, isn't broken."

Every Republican candidate should make support for independent contractors a keystone of their campaigns.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Daily Coach - Honor By Doing

- The Gospel according to Peter Thiel. A year old but worth another read.

- How to Snag a Campsite this Summer

- Wally Bock's The Statue in the Stone. Also a couple years old but worth a re-read.

- 17 secrets to live without regrets 

- Sobering look at Uber's business model

Linky Links

Stuff I thought was interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- When baseball knew better

- Ex-Google engineer Levandowski's jump to Uber ends in prison. "Levendowski's guilty plea, after reaching a deal with prosecutors earlier this year, leaves him a bankrupted convicted felon." This seems to have the making of a good movie script.

- Interesting post from Mr Money Mustache on "The Sweet Spot"

- No matter your politics this is funny

- And no matter your religious beliefs this is beautiful

- Detailed look at early treatment with hydroxychloroquine. Bottom line the groups treated with hydroxychloroquine had a 79.1% lower chance of death. 

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I consider myself a person of color. Unfortunately during the summer that color is usually a distressing shade of sunburnt red... Prediction - tight white tennis shorts that were popular in the 80's are going to make a comeback. I'm going to stock up now and start priming the fashion pump before the summer's out!... Uber, Lyft drivers manipulate rates at Reagan National causing fare price surges. I can see both sides of this issue. I can also see just calling a cab... Thinking of changing my name to "Glass of Water" and moving to the NY 14th District to run for Congress. My campaign motto would be a simple "I'm not AOC!" Only way to see if Nancy Pelosi was right about that... Seriously can't believe the number of supposedly smart people who voluntarily uploaded their pictures for that stupid aging app...  I'm also thinking of proclaiming myself a minor celebrity. Who's to argue? So I'd be a minor celebrity person of color running as a Democrat against AOC. That's seat in Congress is as good as mine!... Damn it! It looks like I'm already too late to the party...

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Intuition vs Rationality: Where one stops and the other starts

- Why Uber's self-driving car killed that woman. Uber seems like the type of company that is only concerned about safety after the fact and only if bad PR is hurting the company. I don't think Uber will last long-term. A new technology or more customer friendly company will replace them.

- Have the feeling you may not be seeing Neil deGrasse Tyson much on TV till this is resolved.

- This is quite a booklist.

- GM Layoffs: A tragedy caused by embracing government subsidies not markets. Get woke go broke indeed!

- When the histories are written one of the main tragedies of our era will be recognized as the subversion of pure science to political or PC considerations

Uber Employment and the Gig Economy

A recent California Supreme Court ruling makes it more difficult to classify workers as contractors instead of as employees.

The decision could eventually require companies like Uber, many of which are based in California, to follow minimum-wage and overtime laws and to pay workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance and payroll taxes, potentially upending their business models

This ruling could have major impacts on the way the Gig economy works for companies and for how some people work their "side hustles".

For companies like Uber and Lyft I would foresee them limiting "workers" to a certain number of hours per day and per week. They want to avoid any overtime or full-time employee expenses. I would also look for the rates for these services to go up as employment taxes need to be covered. It should be noted that going to driverless cars avoid all these problems.

For "workers" the revenue possible from driving for Uber or Lyft would now be limited. Also certain "freedoms" may be curtailed. How can Uber brag about not having a drug test for drivers when they now become responsible for the actions of these "employees"? I would also suspect that Uber and Lyft would start looking more into the backgrounds of people now that they would be "employees."

Would a background check on this driver have shown him to antisemitic to the point of kicking out riders mid journey for speaking Hebrew? Would Uber be liable under such circumstances?

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Why you should try to live your life with an appreciation of expected value

- Heh heh

- Compelling read on the fall of Uber's founder Travis Kalanick

- Heh heh

- Some science facts are just harder to believe than others

- The only instance of the testimony of a ghost making its way into a murder trial in US history

- Heh heh - took me a second

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Mike Rowe has a very honest answer when challenged why he didn't serve in the military

- Cool high school science project

- Sad state of politics in 2016

- This is also true

- I want to fly on this plane!

- DUI's are way up in Austin since Uber left town