Yeah, the public perception (mostly created by the company) of SAS is very different from reality. The work is mostly boring, the pay is just ok and the lifestyle balance - while better than the Bay Area - is definitely not 35 hours a week on average. Historically the COL in the RDU area has been a major selling point but even that is changing as property prices continue to rise across the Triangle.
In short, liability. So much behavior within the US medical profession is driven by a fear of getting sued for malpractice. Even though the patient would be sitting in the ER with treatment close at hand, if the situation did worsen and the patient suffered complications there will be the inevitable questions asked as to why the triage nurse didn't admit them in the first instance. For hospitals it's just not worth the risk of potentially expensive and lengthy lawsuits/settlements.
And in reality, it's really only the US. Even though pharmaceutical ads are legal in NZ, they are pretty rare and most GPs won't just write a script because a patient asks for a particular drug unless there's a clear need for it. The role of Pharmac (NZ's central drug purchasing agency) also tempers the effectiveness of drug advertising so you just don't see it like you do in the mainstream US media.
The humidity amplifies the effects of the heat. I remember the first time I travelled to Arizona and was expecting to suffer when I saw the forecast temperatures were 100+, but the dry heat was - I hesitate to say comfortable - but very different from a 90 degree day on the East Coast with high humidity. An extended period of extreme heat + humidity can be brutal on the body, particularly those already vulnerable or without adequate air conditioning.
I'm in NY and when it's ~90f degrees out with high humidity, it's an unescapable heat unless you have an A/C.
I'm in ok shape I guess. I walk 3-5 miles a day in all types of weather ranging from about 10f to 100f degrees but when high temps hit with high humidity my skin immediately glazes over and I know to take it easy. My arms will be dripping wet in less than a minute just standing outside doing nothing with a ~60 BPM heart rate.
The reaction of someone who moved from a desert to Georgia is always interesting. Everyone has a unique way of processing the huge puddles of water under their car. Sometimes it's "oh yeah, humidity." Sometimes it's panic.
Outside of the US, the Falcon continued to be mass-produced in a number of international markets (and in some, like Australia, became wildly popular) and one of those markets was Argentina where it was used by both the police and paramilitary death squads which I assume is what the reference was to.
> Part of the lock-in is their brilliant multi-org client
While not quite as fully-featured as Slack, Keybase offers this. I'm a member of multiple orgs and seamlessly change between conversations (both group and 1-on-1).
Almost all of them. They manage their portfolios like most other large fund managers albeit with a slight preference towards lower risk assets to ensure their short/medium term pension obligations are met, but they will almost always have an alternative investment bucket which VC will be a part of. They're also not interested in doing direct investments, so they'll diversify their early stage risk by investing in a couple of the more successful, established VC funds who spread the bets for them.
Technically LPs, but they're more-often-than-not large, faceless funds only interested in returns and mostly insulated from any blowback so moral considerations don't always concern them.
Yes, but the cost is significantly less. When I first moved to the US I used a tax accountant because I didn't know any better and it cost me ~$500 a year (this was in New York). I now file using either TurboTax or TaxAct and my costs are typically in the $60-70 range depending on which tier of service I select.
Is it more work? Arguably yes, but I enjoy the freedom of being able to do it all from the comfort of my sofa and the tools have improved to such an extent that it rarely takes me more than half an hour start-to-finish.
Real estate is obviously a very different proposition to tax filing, but if disruptors can cut out some of the fat/overhead to bring the costs down I think it would be appealing to a wide range of people.
Or you can get the worst of both worlds (looking at you H+R Block), where you pay accountant prices for someone to walk through what is essentially a customized version of something like Turbo Tax.
When I moved to the US I used them, once. I had just arrived, was working from home, had bought a hybrid vehicle, my spouse was a student.
I/we literally sat there with someone entirely clueless as she read questions off a screen.
"Okay, for Item X, how much do you want to claim?"
Yeah, the shops like H&R looks like people there literally are just typing in numbers into forms on screen with zero added value. I got the same impression when I talked to them, fortunately I discovered it before paying them. OTOH, there are real professionals which gave me excellent advice over the years and saved me a bunch of money. They are usually independent CPAs and not part of any large franchise like H&R. Otherwise I just use TurboTax - no reason to pay anybody for typing I could do myself.
> I'm really skeptical of this claim without good market data, because whenever I've looked at this for my own personal reasons the headline monthly cost of renting is 10-20% higher than mortgage payments
In sane markets, yes. However, in markets experiencing property bubbles the opposite is often true.
I recently moved to a new city where prices have doubled in the last 10 years as a result of foreign buyers sending prices skyrocketing, and we currently rent a house worth $1.8m (valuations are public here). Assuming 20% down and a 30 year mortgage at 4% interest, we'd be looking at a monthly mortgage repayment of ~$6.9k with ~$4.8k of that being interest if we were to buy the house. Instead we rent it for $3.2k a month and happily save the $1.6k we'd otherwise be paying to the bank.
Friends look at me crazy when I tell them I have no interest in buying, but until the math is flipped and I start losing money by renting I'll happily let the landlord worry about maintenance and continue to enjoy my free time.
