There are so many pessimistic comments.

To those who are saying, something along the lines of, aliens wouldn’t come because they wouldn’t recognise us as intelligent.

That is a really stupid augment, even if they were significantly more intelligent than us, we still standout from all other minds on this planet.

We literally study everything, just for the sake of knowledge.

A high intelligence civilisation that has the ability to reach us, would also have to a high level of curiosity to archive that ability.

To answer question posed. There are two ways to look at this:

• if we assume that, at some point an alien civilisation will contact us, the next 10 years is as statistically likely as another ten year timeframe.
• from a background rate, of the actual likelihood of being contacted at all. I have to say, it is exceptionally unlikely. The travel distances/times, and the time a civilisation exists for, all count against contact especially physical contact.

I had children to legitimise my dad jokes.

Trump is an idiot. If he actually cared about US power, he wouldn’t give Xi this opportunity.

It doesn’t matter if it is bullshit or not, the fact that Xi can even make these comments, in a credible manner will hurt US trade relations and by extension, power.

I’m wondering what exactly people raising privacy concerns are worried about?

Even if I tell you my ASL, what can you do with that info?

I’m usually very privacy aware.

The big tech firms already have the information, it can also likely be brought on the dark web.

44/M/NZ BTW. Even if I tell you which small town I’m from, it doesn’t get you to my doorstep.

Wait, of someone at InfoWars does something oniony, do we get the quantum of onion and not onion?

Great news.

Neutron on track; nice!

This is the best news I have heard lately.

How to cover up leaving 10 minutes late!

50kg units, I wonder who will get the launch contract. Electron can easily handle both units in one launch. Or will they get a ride share on a Falcon?

Don’t wait, do the thing you want to do!

I start with, “How much do you want to know?”. Followed by, “what is you level of knowledge on _____?”

Very nice.

A lot of good things happening at RocketLab lately. There is a really positive feeling around where the company is heading and the successes they are demonstrating.

s/main/only/

My oldest (8) bikes to school nearly every day.

His younger brother is allowed to walk to school next year when he is 6.

It is fairly normal here for kids, that are above 6/7, to walk to and from school if it isn’t too far.

That is honestly insane.

In NZ the sticker price is what you pay, if the price on the sticker doesn’t include tax, it is false advertising and you pay what is on the sticker.

It is entirely up to the retailer to ensure that the price is correct. The only exception to this, is if the price is obviously wrong e.g. $5.00 rather than $500.

Search on DDG, maybe “Candling”

Candling : The process of illuminating an egg with a bright light to examine its contents.

While guns, which are manufactured in the US will stay the same price…coffee and chocolate will go up a lot.

So there are going to be some edgy people with access to firearms.

Stay safe next year.

Depending on overheads, your time has to be worth between 1.8 - 2.2x your compensation. For the company to make money and stay in business, it has to charge above this amount.

But if your company is charging you out at 4x your compensation, they are making a massive amount off your time. A reasonable amount would be aroung 2.1 - 2.5x your compensation.

As an anecdote, my little brother finished his architecture degree after being a builder for years. He had both the practical skill from building and the eye of an artist. He got a job at a very prestigious firm. It wasn’t long before they saw how good he was, even though he was a grad his charge out rate was $180/hr. I asked how much of his time was billable, it was not as you would expect for a grad, his time was 100% billable work, he was being paid $25/hr. I was shocked, after trying to negotiate with the firm for a year he got a pay rise to $30/hr. It was only a month later he quit and started his own business, he charges much less than previously for the same work and he makes significantly more.

I don’t recommend watching your childhood movies as an adult.

Kids like good/bad simple story lines…when you look as an adult, it often looks like the “bad” guys are actually the good guys.