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eigen

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Grocery stores have very small margins, as little as 1%.

Looking at the Kroger 2024 Annual report shows that they have 22.3% gross margin . they pay dividends, had a stock buy back, etc so its entirely possible that they had a very low margin but gross margin seems to be similar to a home builder.

Sales $ 147,123

Merchandise costs $113,720

Rent, Depreciation, Amortization $655

Gross profit $32,748

for a gross margin of 32.7/147 = 22%

MacBook Neo 5 months ago

certain cables won't charge certain devices

not sure how you can make a cable that doesnt connect power from end to end. I can see if it doesnt charge as fast as others if it doesnt have the bits required for higher current support. and if a device requires >5V to charge, thats on the device not the cable.

other cables won't transfer data

again, not sure you can make a cable that doesnt connect the USB2 pair from end to end. but if device doesnt use USB2 and requires something else without mentioning it then that again seems to be on the device not the cable.

Year over year price hikes with minimal improvements

did you have a specific example in mind? It seems that the price of the hardware generally stays the same from year to year.

for example, from iphone 3g to iphone 6s was $199. and iphone 12 through today's iphone 17 is $799. I think the change in the middle was due dropping carrier subsidies and going to full-screen with face id.

1000Base-T uses two pairs per direction, actually. It's full duplex. Each port sees two TX and two RX pair.

you may be thinking of 1000Base-TX (TIA‐854) which uses 2 pairs in each direction, similar to 100Base-TX (IEEE 802.3u). whereas 1000Base-T (IEEE 802.3ab) uses all 4 pairs in both directions.

basically, the -TX are dual simplex with a set of wires for each direction and -T are full-duplex with the same wires used in both directions at the same time.

For example, consider a president who dies in office a few days into the term. The VP becomes president, serves out the remainder of that four-year term and then be elected for two more terms

text of the 22nd amendment covers that. serving more than 2 years of someone else's term means you can only be elected once.

Section 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.

I mean this is an issue in private industry as far as I've seen as well. as a company grows layers of middle management are added to translate and implement policies from other management layers

I'm sure you read the footnote that goes along with the spike in 2020 where the definition changed.

and looking at the numbers, I see declining increaes over previous 5 year periods

39.1% increase from 2010-06 (8628.1) to 2015-06 (12004.6)

30.8% increase from 2015-01 (11787.8) to 2020-01 (15416.3)

21.0% increase from 2020-06 (18140.6) to 2025-06 (21942.4).

But it seems like certain jobs are funded for the duration anyway (infamously, members of Congress are one).

I think thats due to the 27th Amendment [1]

No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.

can't change (or stop) congressional pay until an election. guess it's a double-edged sword they can't give themselves in immediate pay raise, which I think was the point of ratification in 1992, but also can't cut their pay for failing to pass a budget.

[1] https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-27/

technically, he is currently scheduled to be president for the entirety of 2028 because the election is in November 2028 and the presidential term ends on January 20, 2029.

but that's probably not what he meant.

The two options are reach over all else, or control of its customers and overcharging them at every turn over all else.

do you have an example of "overcharging them at every turn"? looking at the Google One [1] vs Apple iCloud [2] pricing it seems pretty similar.

------ Google Apple

5 GB: free free

50 GB: N/A $0.99

100 GB:$1.99 N/A

2 TB: $9.99 $9.99

6 TB: N/A $29.99

[1] https://one.google.com/about/plans?hl=en&g1_landing_page=0

[2] https://support.apple.com/en-us/108047

Pixels 8 and later get 7 years.

looks like Pixel 8 was released October 2023, so not even 2 years ago. not sure I'd put much stock in what Google says about support after <30% of the stated time.

Pixels 6-7 got 5 years.

looks like Pixel 6 was released October 2021, so not even 4 years ago.

A Staff and Sr manager would be paid the same

do they report to the same level? every place I've seen a "technical track" and "management track" it seems the higher level technical people report to someone on the same or even lower level in management. I.E. a manager can have technical reports that are equal level or higher. that obviously doesn't happen in the management track.

not that these are first level managers but if a principal engineer not reporting to a VP, the it doesnt seem like the tracks are equal.

title says design circuit boards, but it looks to just be netlist generation which is used as input to an external layout tool. step 5 is to use kicad to do lay out.

https://atopile.io/atopile/quickstart#a-typical-workflow

A typical workflow

1. Sketch your circuit on paper.

2. Search https://packages.atopile.io and GitHub for pre-existing modules you need, and use ato install to install them.

3. Design a module and do its calculations using ato code.

4. Run ato build to compile your project, choose components to suit your design, and update your layout (PCB) file.

5. Use KiCAD to lay out any changes

6. Repeat steps 3-5 until you’re happy with your design.

7. When you’re done with your design, push your changes to your repo.

8. CI will automatically build and test your project, and generate the manufacturing files you need to order your PCBs.

9. Take these manufacturing files to your PCB manufacturer to get your PCBAs.

The numbers have been so consistently wrong in the same direction.

summary of mean revision for seasonally adjusted numbers, since 2003 are

2nd-1st: 8

3rd-2nd: 2

1st-3rd: 10

but 2025 has been consistently, so far, be negative revisions. Dec 2024 has some positive revisions but 2023-2024 on the whole was negative while 2017-2022 were on the whole positive revision. so I dont think that there is data to support consistently wrong in one direction.

https://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cesnaicsrev.htm

Looks like the currently 3 versions of mac OS are supported. current is macos 15, macos 13-14 are supported.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_os#Timeline_of_releases

macos 13 supports hardware back to 2017.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS_Ventura#Supported_hardwa...

looks like only 2 versions of Windows is supported. current is windows 11 and windows 10 support ends in October. of course, windows 10 was released in 2015 so comparing version support isnt a fair comparison.

They just dont want the state to fund the cause and don’t consider it the state’s role or problem or the state as a solution to a problem that isnt wholly solved by the proposed expensive solution

Texas Senate Bill 819 "relating to renewable energy generation facilities; authorizing fees." would have made it the states role to create an expensive solution.

(1) for a solar power facility, ensure that all facility equipment is located at least: (A) 100 feet from any property line, unless the applicant has obtained a written waiver from each owner of property located less than 100 feet from the facility; and (B) 200 feet from any habitable structure, unless the applicant has obtained a written waiver from each owner of the habitable structure; and

(2)for a wind power facility, ensure that all facility equipment is located at least 1,000 feet from the property line of each property that borders the property on which the facility is located, unless the applicant has obtained a written waiver from each owner of property located less than 1,000 feet from the facility

Texas Senate Bill 388 "relating to the legislature’s goals for electric generation capacity in this state." would have made it the states role to create an expensive solution.

(a) It is the intent of the legislature that 50 percent of the megawatts of generating capacity installed in the ERCOT power region [this state] after January 1, 2026 [2000], be sourced from dispatchable generation [use natural gas].

are the Texas bill sponsors not part of the aggregate conservative position?

Lawyers, judges and juries understand the intent of the law, and are not bound like we software engineers are to the exact commands in front of them.

a good example is O'Connor v. Oakhurst Dairy, No. 16-1901, also known as the Maine Dairy oxford comma case. the District Court followed the intent but the Appeals court followed the law as written.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/missing-oxford-com...

from the Appeals Court ruling

The District Court concluded that, despite the absent comma, the Maine legislature unambiguously intended for the last term in the exemption's list of activities to identify an exempt activity in its own right. The District Court thus granted summary judgment to the dairy company, as there is no dispute that the drivers do perform that activity. But, we conclude that the exemption's scope is actually not so clear in this regard.

https://cases.justia.com/federal/appellate-courts/ca1/16-190...

As of January 2024, we are extending our security update support for Samsung Galaxy devices by up to 7 years, to help our users enjoy the latest Galaxy experiences longer and securely. 1

1 Availability and timing of Android OS upgrades and security updates may vary by market, network provider and/or model.

note that it says "up to 7 years" and may vary by market. and has only been in effect for 15 months so there isnt a track record to say it will actually happen.

the re-definition seems fairly early in COVID (May 2020) rather than "In the middle of Covid" and appears to only drop savings deposits. [1]

Before May 2020, M2 consists of M1 plus (1) savings deposits (including money market deposit accounts); (2) small-denomination time deposits (time deposits in amounts of less than $100,000) less individual retirement account (IRA) and Keogh balances at depository institutions; and (3) balances in retail money market funds (MMFs) less IRA and Keogh balances at MMFs.

Beginning May 2020, M2 consists of M1 plus (1) small-denomination time deposits (time deposits in amounts of less than $100,000) less IRA and Keogh balances at depository institutions; and (2) balances in retail MMFs less IRA and Keogh balances at MMFs. Seasonally adjusted M2 is constructed by summing savings deposits (before May 2020), small-denomination time deposits, and retail MMFs, each seasonally adjusted separately, and adding this result to seasonally adjusted M1.

isn't it more accurate to point to M1 which increased substantially?

Name Jan 2021 Dec 2020 Jan 2020 Units

M1 18,063.1 17,803.0 3,977.6 Billions of Dollars

M2 19,335.0 19,110.3 15,401.3 Billions of Dollars

M1 was also re-defined to move savings deposits (including money market deposit accounts) from M2 to M1.

Before May 2020, M1 consists of (1) currency outside the U.S. Treasury, Federal Reserve Banks, and the vaults of depository institutions; (2) demand deposits at commercial banks (excluding those amounts held by depository institutions, the U.S. government, and foreign banks and official institutions) less cash items in the process of collection and Federal Reserve float; and (3) other checkable deposits (OCDs), consisting of negotiable order of withdrawal, or NOW, and automatic transfer service, or ATS, accounts at depository institutions, share draft accounts at credit unions, and demand deposits at thrift institutions.

Beginning May 2020, M1 consists of (1) currency outside the U.S. Treasury, Federal Reserve Banks, and the vaults of depository institutions; (2) demand deposits at commercial banks (excluding those amounts held by depository institutions, the U.S. government, and foreign banks and official institutions) less cash items in the process of collection and Federal Reserve float; and (3) other liquid deposits, consisting of OCDs and savings deposits (including money market deposit accounts). Seasonally adjusted M1 is constructed by summing currency, demand deposits, and OCDs (before May 2020) or other liquid deposits (beginning May 2020), each seasonally adjusted separately.

[1] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M2SL

[2] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M1SL

Their own choice of a time interval to look at (Apr - Oct) looks cherry picked. If you include the next month, it goes from a +1000 job gain to -1200 loss.

I didn't check all states, but most show a decline in fast food employment from Oct to Nov 2024, based on "All Employees: Leisure and Hospitality: Limited-Service Restaurants and Other Eating Places in X" data from St Louis Fed.

Nevada Oct 2024: 65.424 Nov: 65.192 0.35% decline

California Oct 2024: 740.069 Nov: 737.886 0.29% decline

Utah Oct 2024: 69.571 Nov: 69.406 0.23% decline

Nebraska Oct 2024: 37.732 Nov: 37.4999 0.61% decline