Long Reads

Okay . . . let's try this again.

Moderators: Shirley, Sabo, brian, rass, DaveInSeattle

P.D.X.
The Dude
Posts: 5521
Joined: Wed Mar 13, 2013 12:31 pm

Re: Long Reads

Post by P.D.X. »

It's hilarious (and expected) that kids will sit in crowded bars and surf Tinder. Millennials are doomed to be the most maladjusted generation yet.
User avatar
Shirley
The Dude
Posts: 8061
Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2013 2:32 pm

Re: Long Reads

Post by Shirley »

I bet that article has been written somewhere every 2-5 years for the past 100 or so years.
Totally Kafkaesque
Gunpowder
The Dude
Posts: 8694
Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:52 am
Location: Dipshitville, FL
Contact:

Re: Long Reads

Post by Gunpowder »

Actual real life is nothing like that article. Sure people Tinder in bars for fun with their friends but come on. That article makes it sound like everyone just sits around Tindering for hours trying to find someone to bang without looking up. It might happen for like 5 minutes.
Pack a vest for your james in the city of intercourse
User avatar
DaveInSeattle
The Dude
Posts: 8988
Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 5:51 am
Location: Seattle, WA

Re: Long Reads

Post by DaveInSeattle »

Boy....working at Amazon sounds awesome...
On Monday mornings, fresh recruits line up for an orientation intended to catapult them into Amazon’s singular way of working.

They are told to forget the “poor habits” they learned at previous jobs, one employee recalled. When they “hit the wall” from the unrelenting pace, there is only one solution: “Climb the wall,” others reported. To be the best Amazonians they can be, they should be guided by the leadership principles, 14 rules inscribed on handy laminated cards. When quizzed days later, those with perfect scores earn a virtual award proclaiming, “I’m Peculiar” — the company’s proud phrase for overturning workplace conventions.

At Amazon, workers are encouraged to tear apart one another’s ideas in meetings, toil long and late (emails arrive past midnight, followed by text messages asking why they were not answered), and held to standards that the company boasts are “unreasonably high.” The internal phone directory instructs colleagues on how to send secret feedback to one another’s bosses. Employees say it is frequently used to sabotage others. (The tool offers sample texts, including this: “I felt concerned about his inflexibility and openly complaining about minor tasks.”)
I've had recruiters call me about working there, and even went so far as to take their on-line programming test when I was in Australia, but now I always say "no thanks...". There's no way I could work in an environment like that.

Should be interesting when the Institute moves to our new building in South Lake Union/Amazon-land next month, and I get to see all the burned out 20-somethings staggering around.
Last edited by Shirley on Sun Aug 16, 2015 1:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Fixed Dave's URL tag
howard
Karl Hungus
Posts: 9467
Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 12:00 pm

Re: Long Reads

Post by howard »

That 0.4% profit margin ain't gonna maintain itself.
Who knows? Maybe, you were kidnapped, tied up, taken away and held for ransom.

Those days are gone forever
Over a long time ago
Oh yeah…
User avatar
DC47
Walter Sobchak
Posts: 3090
Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2013 12:49 am

Re: Long Reads

Post by DC47 »

P.D.X. wrote:Tinder and the Dawn of the “Dating Apocalypse”

MSM is like 5 years late to the party.
No doubt there is a high 'penetration rate' in the Manhattan intern and under-30 professional demographics. And their like. Certainly at some colleges.

But there is also the other 90% of the single world. I have a feeling that Tinder et al. aren't quite such dominant forms of social life.

The author obviously has a theme. This piece is not a survey, it's a hunt for supportive quotes that are as splashy as possible.
User avatar
Shirley
The Dude
Posts: 8061
Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2013 2:32 pm

Re: Long Reads

Post by Shirley »

An employee-written counterpoint to the NYT piece on Amazon - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/amazonia ... ciubotariu" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

After reading the two - I believe his much more than theirs. Yes, I've heard some bad things about working at Amazon too - they were considering buying my company as well - but there's NO WAY a competitive technology company could function anywhere near the way the NYT portrayed Amazon. This isn't indentured servitude. Good engineers are in demand everywhere and when companies mistreat the good workers - poof - they leave. Why do you think Silicon Valley tech companies are so famous for all of their employee perks?

I think part of what happened here is you had two writers who have never worked in a tech company before - or maybe anywhere other than a newspaper - and they honestly don't know what it's like. Because real life simply can't be like that article described and any reasonable person should be able to see that.
Totally Kafkaesque
User avatar
A_B
The Dude
Posts: 24195
Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:36 am
Location: Getting them boards like a wolf in the chicken pen.

Re: Long Reads

Post by A_B »

Shirley wrote:An employee-written counterpoint to the NYT piece on Amazon - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/amazonia ... ciubotariu" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

After reading the two - I believe his much more than theirs. Yes, I've heard some bad things about working at Amazon too - they were considering buying my company as well - but there's NO WAY a competitive technology company could function anywhere near the way the NYT portrayed Amazon. This isn't indentured servitude. Good engineers are in demand everywhere and when companies mistreat the good workers - poof - they leave. Why do you think Silicon Valley tech companies are so famous for all of their employee perks?

I think part of what happened here is you had two writers who have never worked in a tech company before - or maybe anywhere other than a newspaper - and they honestly don't know what it's like. Because real life simply can't be like that article described and any reasonable person should be able to see that.
That's the problem when most of the people you interview are no longer with the company. You get the bad sides and not the full story.
My gall is sufficiently mitigated. Thank you for your concern.
User avatar
Shirley
The Dude
Posts: 8061
Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2013 2:32 pm

Re: Long Reads

Post by Shirley »

That and when you believe stories like "I saw everyone I work with cry." I mean, come on. That can't be even close to remotely true.
Totally Kafkaesque
User avatar
A_B
The Dude
Posts: 24195
Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:36 am
Location: Getting them boards like a wolf in the chicken pen.

Re: Long Reads

Post by A_B »

Shirley wrote:That and when you believe stories like "I saw everyone I work with cry." I mean, come on. That can't be even close to remotely true.
I dunno. Someone could have mass e-mailed some "soldiers suprising their family on their return from deployment" montage or something.
My gall is sufficiently mitigated. Thank you for your concern.
User avatar
sancarlos
The Dude
Posts: 19139
Joined: Fri Mar 15, 2013 1:46 pm
Location: NorCal via Colorado

Re: Long Reads

Post by sancarlos »

howard wrote:That 0.4% profit margin ain't gonna maintain itself.
Ha. I was going to say something essentially just like that.
"What a bunch of pedantic pricks." - sybian
User avatar
DaveInSeattle
The Dude
Posts: 8988
Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 5:51 am
Location: Seattle, WA

Re: Long Reads

Post by DaveInSeattle »

Shirley wrote:That and when you believe stories like "I saw everyone I work with cry." I mean, come on. That can't be even close to remotely true.
I don't know...I'm crying at my desk right now...
howard
Karl Hungus
Posts: 9467
Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 12:00 pm

Re: Long Reads

Post by howard »

DaveInSeattle wrote:
Shirley wrote:That and when you believe stories like "I saw everyone I work with cry." I mean, come on. That can't be even close to remotely true.
I don't know...I'm crying at my desk right now...
is that just from having been approached for a job years ago?
Who knows? Maybe, you were kidnapped, tied up, taken away and held for ransom.

Those days are gone forever
Over a long time ago
Oh yeah…
User avatar
DaveInSeattle
The Dude
Posts: 8988
Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 5:51 am
Location: Seattle, WA

Re: Long Reads

Post by DaveInSeattle »

howard wrote:
DaveInSeattle wrote:
Shirley wrote:That and when you believe stories like "I saw everyone I work with cry." I mean, come on. That can't be even close to remotely true.
I don't know...I'm crying at my desk right now...
is that just from having been approached for a job years ago?
No...just from being at work on a Monday morning while those fast dwindling summer days are wasting away...
howard
Karl Hungus
Posts: 9467
Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 12:00 pm

Re: Long Reads

Post by howard »

Who knows? Maybe, you were kidnapped, tied up, taken away and held for ransom.

Those days are gone forever
Over a long time ago
Oh yeah…
User avatar
rass
The Dude
Posts: 21110
Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 9:41 am
Location: N effin' J

Re: Long Reads

Post by rass »

I felt aswirl with warm secretions.
User avatar
Pruitt
The Dude
Posts: 18105
Joined: Tue Jun 04, 2013 10:02 am
Location: North Shore of Lake Ontario

Re: Long Reads

Post by Pruitt »

Great stuff.

Thanks.
"beautiful, with an exotic-yet-familiar facial structure and an arresting gaze."
User avatar
A_B
The Dude
Posts: 24195
Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:36 am
Location: Getting them boards like a wolf in the chicken pen.

Re: Long Reads

Post by A_B »

Couple of swampers posted on Facebook about The Legend at Greenville High. Great stuff.
My gall is sufficiently mitigated. Thank you for your concern.
User avatar
Shirley
The Dude
Posts: 8061
Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2013 2:32 pm

Re: Long Reads

Post by Shirley »

A_B wrote:Couple of swampers posted on Facebook about The Legend at Greenville High. Great stuff.
Man, what a great article. I'm a mess over here.
Totally Kafkaesque
User avatar
mister d
The Dude
Posts: 30600
Joined: Tue Mar 12, 2013 8:15 am

Re: Long Reads

Post by mister d »

Pruitt wrote:
Great stuff.

Thanks.
x2.
Johnnie wrote: Sat Sep 10, 2022 8:13 pmOh shit, you just reminded me about toilet paper.
User avatar
govmentchedda
The Dude
Posts: 13241
Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2013 4:36 pm

Re: Long Reads

Post by govmentchedda »

Shirley wrote:
A_B wrote:Couple of swampers posted on Facebook about The Legend at Greenville High. Great stuff.
Man, what a great article. I'm a mess over here.
Yeah, me too. Shouldn't have read that in the office. I posted on FB, but I have three cousins who all went to Rose. The middle of three was on the 1997 state champion baseball team, and the oldest now coaches little league. I think Marvin has been a part of their life for nearly 30 years now.
Until everything is less insane, I'm mixing weed with wine.
User avatar
Pruitt
The Dude
Posts: 18105
Joined: Tue Jun 04, 2013 10:02 am
Location: North Shore of Lake Ontario

Re: Long Reads

Post by Pruitt »

This long piece ran in the New York Times yesterday.

About what happens when someone dies and the body lays unclaimed.

Fascinating, but occasionally dusty.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/18/nyreg ... -news&_r=0
"beautiful, with an exotic-yet-familiar facial structure and an arresting gaze."
User avatar
brian
The Dude
Posts: 28713
Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 10:52 am
Location: Ryugyong Hotel; Pyongyang

Re: Long Reads

Post by brian »

Bandwagon fan of the 2023 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS!
User avatar
That French Guy
Maude Lebowski
Posts: 187
Joined: Thu Mar 14, 2013 2:36 pm

Re: Long Reads

Post by That French Guy »

Great stuff about Mourinho's career and why his third season with a club is always a mess.

https://www.theblizzard.co.uk/articles/ ... ils-party/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
User avatar
rass
The Dude
Posts: 21110
Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 9:41 am
Location: N effin' J

Re: Long Reads

Post by rass »

I felt aswirl with warm secretions.
User avatar
Shirley
The Dude
Posts: 8061
Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2013 2:32 pm

Re: Long Reads

Post by Shirley »

Death of a Troll

I think all Swampers will see a lot of eerie similarities here. A brilliant, but pain-in-the-ass longtime member of an online community is eventually banned by the mods. Some time later, he commits suicide. But the story's not over there.
“Many people will probably wonder why I’ve decided to do this,” read the beginning of the suicide note that Eris had scheduled to appear on his Tumblr on 27 April 2015, two days after his death. “I was sexually abused as a child … and have dealt with the consequences of that my entire life. Imagine going through life with an ever-present shadow hanging over you, worrying if you too might be like the people who destroyed your childhood and life.”

Eris’s suicide note was unusual for a number of reasons. For one thing, it included an apology to the many players he had abused online over the years. Eris was one of Epic Mafia’s most popular members, but he was also its most notorious troll. Most of his transgressions were juvenile. He liked to post innocent-looking links that led to a photo of a My Little Pony doll he had jerked off on. He could also be malicious and vengeful. On the Epic Mafia forum, Eris once responded to a post by an African-American player by posting a picture of King Kong. In the heat of an online feud, he had been known to hack into people’s accounts and delete them. And he routinely doxxed other players, using his programming skills to reveal details about their offline identities – their weight, their age, even photographs of their home.
Totally Kafkaesque
User avatar
Nonlinear FC
The Dude
Posts: 11793
Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2013 2:09 pm

Re: Long Reads

Post by Nonlinear FC »

Nice tease, I read that yesterday. Interesting and, yes, I had the exact same thought about "shared experience" here at Swamp 4.0 (or whatever we're at.)
You can lead a horse to fish, but you can't fish out a horse.
User avatar
The Sybian
The Dude
Posts: 19707
Joined: Tue Mar 19, 2013 10:36 am
Location: Working in the Crap Part of Jersey

Re: Long Reads

Post by The Sybian »

Great read, totally relatable.Then the last paragraph:

A month ago, Eris also found a new girlfriend, a woman he met through Epic Mafia and whom he describes as being as “dark, morbid and kind-of screwed up” as he is. “When I told her about [my fake suicide] she thought it was kind of funny.” They have not met in person yet, but she lives in Pennsylvania and Eris hopes she will soon make the drive to New York, so he can take her out on a proper date. “The old ways are the best,” he said.
An honest to God cult of personality - formed around a failed steak salesman.
-Pruitt
User avatar
govmentchedda
The Dude
Posts: 13241
Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2013 4:36 pm

Re: Long Reads

Post by govmentchedda »

Until everything is less insane, I'm mixing weed with wine.
User avatar
Ryan
The Dude
Posts: 10782
Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 10:01 am

Re: Long Reads

Post by Ryan »

This thread is getting pretty long
he’s a fixbking cyborg or some shit. The

holy fuckbAllZ, what a ducking nightmare. Holy shot. Just, fuck. The
User avatar
brian
The Dude
Posts: 28713
Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 10:52 am
Location: Ryugyong Hotel; Pyongyang

Re: Long Reads

Post by brian »

Bandwagon fan of the 2023 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS!
User avatar
brian
The Dude
Posts: 28713
Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 10:52 am
Location: Ryugyong Hotel; Pyongyang

Re: Long Reads

Post by brian »

Bandwagon fan of the 2023 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS!
User avatar
A_B
The Dude
Posts: 24195
Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2013 7:36 am
Location: Getting them boards like a wolf in the chicken pen.

Re: Long Reads

Post by A_B »

My gall is sufficiently mitigated. Thank you for your concern.
User avatar
brian
The Dude
Posts: 28713
Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 10:52 am
Location: Ryugyong Hotel; Pyongyang

Re: Long Reads

Post by brian »

Well, the drinking and drugs were secondary. There were, in fact, a given. Regardless of where he went.
Bandwagon fan of the 2023 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS!
User avatar
brian
The Dude
Posts: 28713
Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 10:52 am
Location: Ryugyong Hotel; Pyongyang

Re: Long Reads

Post by brian »

Bitter Southerner interviews Patterson Hood.

Read a lot of Hood interviews over the years and this one actually has stuff I'd never heard about DBT's inception and various lineups over the years as well as discussing Hood's lineage to the music of North Alabama and Muscle Shoals. Also a performance of Living Bubba and Ever South from the new album.
Bandwagon fan of the 2023 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS!
User avatar
rass
The Dude
Posts: 21110
Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 9:41 am
Location: N effin' J

Re: Long Reads

Post by rass »

I felt aswirl with warm secretions.
User avatar
Nonlinear FC
The Dude
Posts: 11793
Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2013 2:09 pm

Re: Long Reads

Post by Nonlinear FC »

That was a good read.. thanks!
You can lead a horse to fish, but you can't fish out a horse.
User avatar
rass
The Dude
Posts: 21110
Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 9:41 am
Location: N effin' J

Re: Long Reads

Post by rass »

Wow.

I felt aswirl with warm secretions.
User avatar
rass
The Dude
Posts: 21110
Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 9:41 am
Location: N effin' J

Re: Long Reads

Post by rass »

How a Donkey Became My Running Partner

The article isn't too long, but it's part of an ongoing (weekly?) series by the author of the book Born to Run.
I felt aswirl with warm secretions.
howard
Karl Hungus
Posts: 9467
Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 12:00 pm

Re: Long Reads

Post by howard »

Who knows? Maybe, you were kidnapped, tied up, taken away and held for ransom.

Those days are gone forever
Over a long time ago
Oh yeah…
Post Reply