Iranian water concerns aside, I wonder how much of Iran's decision-making in this situation is tied with Iran's fixation on keeping Iraq in check / within Iran's political sphere.
One fallout of this is the rise in prices of old / used cars. To give you an idea, a 2018 Toyota/Honda minivan is Canadian dollars 10,000 higher than pre-covid times.
It's ok for folks who have a newish car and want to buy another used car as their current car prices would have increased. But if you are like me, who drives a 15+ year rusty old car and is desperate to buy a 3-4 year old car, then good luck. Not only are the prices much higher (and your car's value is junk) but at the same time, inventory (even for used cars) is super low.
I would have loved to live in a City / Country where car is not necessary but this city I live is built for cars...
Purely as a joke:
Maybe car manufacturers should revive the production lines to produce 1980s Toyota Cressidas, Camrys and Chevy Impalas.
In my experience and opinion about studying till High school and then University here in Ontario, Canada:
- Canada seems to be obsessed to maintain high-stats. when it comes to 'literacy rate' - that is why till Grade 12, education is intentionally dumbed-down to the point any kid could just do bare minimum and still pass. Even if the kid is dumb-as-bricks, they can choose to do watered down versions of maths, physics, chemistry and still complete their High School Diploma requirements.
- However, as soon as you enroll into STEM program at University, it is on-par in terms of difficulty with their counterparts elsewhere. What was a easy-peasy style of mathematics taught in Canadian High School makes way to the old 'no-calculator and Professors don't help' style engineering calculus and maths.
This is where I found students who had studied even in 3rd World countries like Pakistan and Eritrea (I kid you not) had advantage in math and science courses throughout their degree program. Heck, it took me few tries to get into the groove but in process wasted 1000s of dollars and couple years trying to retake the courses.
The severe downside is that if your kid has above-average intelligence (as it was in my case) and if they join the Canadian education system at young age (in my case at age 13), by the time majority of these kids become adults, majority of them (as in my case) permanently loose their spark and thus get destined to think only inside the box.
I don't want to rant but another thing I notice is the leniency showed by Canadian Education system when it comes to the whole 'culture' in K-12 years. It is hands down meant to destroy bright minds / make them outcasts. The whole toxic culture of labelling those who are intelligent and/or less fashionable as nerds/geeks/dorks and nonsensical encouragement for sports and arts activities ends up alienating majority of smart kids and many just intentionally dumb themselves down to blend in with their peers.
Had the Canadian education system taken leaf from countries like Singapore/India/Pakistan/Iran/Russia/China and actually made efforts to academically grind their students and to promote discipline (with uniforms and academic competitions leading to glory) - Canada would be producing far more intelligent adults.
The current status is: Canada manages to 'import' bright and gifted scientists / university students from all corners of the World and is happy to grant them passports and claim 'Canadians are damn smart' -- what really is smart if you can take army of Canadian children and ensure they are smart-as-heck when they become adults.
Reading the article, I agree with the Author's sentiment. But the battle is not only for the Management it seems. As as example, if you are stuck working from Home due to pandemic with toddlers at Home and you are unlucky not to have a large house where you can have your total privacy during work hours from the entire family, you will struggle a lot to focus.
Also, whether for better or worse, that commute time is often working adult's (who has family) only 'free' and 'personal' time during the weekdays. I took the train and that sweet, sweet hour of no interruption was a bliss - I could browse the internet, listen to music, read tech articles or just chill. Now, I close the laptop and boom - the family is right there...don't get me wrong, I love them but I also love to have my sanity and that healthy separation from my family which the work on site afforded.
So it’s better to put yourself in a position where you are forced to drive an hour to work each day and spend 10 hours away from your infant just to get an hour to yourself?
Also this isn’t about your infant, no one is getting work done while watching an infant.
Someone else is watching the toddlers—-no one is doing a full days worth of work while taking care of multiple toddlers.
If that person and/or day care can take care of the kids for x hours of work plus a 1 hour commute, they can take care of the kids for x hours of work plus 1 hour of “me time” if that’s what the OP thinks they need.
That’s what I meant when I said it’s not about the kids. It’s about the person watching the kids.
There’s no reason for someone to put themselves into a situation that forces them to spend an hour commuting each day in order to get some alone time.
I do not subscribe to the parents idea in their comment of that because they had an hour traveling of free time per day, they should get that same time at the same time of day now they are not travelling.
I think it is hilarious how quickly and flippantly you solved the problem by saying "heck" get your wife to take care of the kid and go outside for an hour guy. I certainly am not prescribing anyone travel an hour a day just to get their own free time.
If you have a wife and kids I wish you all the best.
Personally I can’t imagine voluntarily choosing to spend any time on a daily commute.
I asked my wife if she was a stay at home mom, would she let me take a 45 min to an hour lunch each day away from home if I worked from home if it meant I’d be home more overall. She said sure.
My wife is a physician, so she works unusual hours. Many of her coworkers occasionally send their kids to daycare on their off days, so that they have time to run errands or just get in some kid free time.
Seems like your complaints are mostly due to being unprepared for working from home, which, given the situation being thrust onto most of us, is understandable, but also not particularly representative of remote work. Most people aren't going to be working from home with children at home all day, the same way they wouldn't be leaving their children at home alone while they went to the office. Many will have a daycare or school at which their kids will be all day. The ones that don't likely have young children with a stay at home spouse, and yes, not having a dedicated setup for WFH may cause issues, but that certainly isn't universal.
The commuting argument makes absolutely no sense to me. I'd personally much rather be spending time with family, or literally anything else, other than being stuck in the car for an hour or two. If you feel differently, that's fine but literally nothing is stopping you from doing the same thing when working from home. If you drive to and from work, and you miss the solitude so much, then take the same amount of time to take a drive. If you take the train to and from work, and you simply need it, then do it. Requiring working in person however forces those who don't want the commute to participate. That's a though-process I simply can't understand.
>I'd personally much rather be spending time with family, or literally anything else, other than being stuck in the car for an hour or two. If you feel differently, that's fine but literally nothing is stopping you from doing the same thing when working from home
i take it you don't have kids? the commute provided me with some time to unwind and transition from work mode to dad mode. im a lot more irritable if i just go immediately from closing my laptop to dealing with the kids, and telling them that dad needs to go sit somewhere by himself for an hour after i finish work isnt gonna work for them.
If you don’t have at least a small office where you can shut the door, I have no idea how you’re getting anything done with small kids running around.
But that’s really a requirement for WFH and companies should start offering some kind of stipend to support that.
Assuming you do though, why can’t you stop work and then spend 30 minutes reading something, or working on a side project? My wife would be fine with me doing that, and she doesn’t keep track of when I finish work that accurately anyway.
I don't get this. We have an arrangement with my wife that I take the kid for a few hours right after work (we usually go to the park) so she gets her uninterrupted free time, then I also get mine at night when she goes to sleep (I usually go 1-2 hours later). Why would I choose a commute instead of this?
would this lead to era of enhanced employee loyalty to the Company? For example, if the company town provides comforts of a well supplied, suburban AND closed-gate lifestyle for workers and their families, people would think many times over before leaving the company.
This phenomenon is present in Saudi Arabia - Abqaiq (Spelling) and Ras-Tanura are both company towns for Aramco Oil Company and even Universities like King Fahd University (KFUPM) has comfortable, suburban-style residential quarters for its Faculty.
In fact, driving through Abqaiq and Ras-Tanura would seem as if you are magically transported to suburbs of USA. I kid you not.
nuclear families + rise in dual income households = greater GDP = greater inflation = push for knowledge economy = loss of unionized workplaces = reduced workplace benefits such as defined benefit pension = increase scrutiny of worker = more educated workforce = more competition at workplace = greater time commitment towards work and self knowledge upgrade = greater demands for expensive leisure activities
Not against any step of the process that I listed above. I am just stating the societal transformation as I see it for any xyz country out there that becomes wealthy over time.
However, this model ultimately ends up treating children and sometimes marriage (And even romantic relationships to an extent) as shackles and hurdles on the road to success. And for those who still want to get into relationship and have kid(s) unfortunately means you have to work and save for a lot longer time before making it economically feasible to have kid(s).
While this may still work out in case of males, for females, unfortunately, the more they wait to have kids (hey, I am not saying anything against this -- it is their body and their choice and their is nothing wrong with this and yes, all the power to them -- I get that, thx) - the more likely they won't have as many kids as in previous generations (Due to their biological clocks).
Of course, it is always going to be down to individual will power and personality, but I am stating from common person's perspective.
>However, this model ultimately ends up treating children and sometimes marriage (And even romantic relationships to an extent) as shackles and hurdles on the road to success.
And not just shackles in the traditional sense. Having children compounds matters because wealth and competitive advantage is largely about relative values.
If it becomes the norm that, defying economic pressures, everyone has children, culture in a democracy can force societal change in policy and business to make these conditions reasonable. On the other hand, in a highly competitive labor market, it's a chosen competitive disadvantage to have a child. Less time to devote to work, higher comp needed to support them and the family, etc. You're at a disadvantage to your peers that can sacrifice their personal lives more easily than a responsible parent can.
Case in point, I've done a large amount of contractual work. I have a friend who works in the same ecosystem and they've had to pass up on opportunities to work a bit of overtime that helped me solidify a future business relationship and contract by being there to deliver when they needed it. My friend on the other hand has a family and simply couldn't put in the extra hours in the short turnaround requested. The bias went towards me, the one with flexibility (no children but relationship with working professional who understands) to grasp these opportunities. That person shortly after had difficulty finding a new contract while I had a solid portfolio to work from. I don't like the idea because I'd like to have kids in the near future but it's quite clear you suffer a huge blow economically, in ways often seen and unseen, at least in the US.
I remember when the big tech companies started offering an egg freezing benefit in addition to IVF. I hope they also offer flexible work for new moms and dads as well.
But the US as a whole needs to do better, we are way behind the curve.
When my first was born there was no paternity or maternity leave. Apparently it was unpaid FMLA or use your PTO. Thankfully it was "unlimited" PTO and I've not yet encountered any shadow limits. (Though did have to get VP approval for 15 consecutive days.)
Many places are still like this . I had to use pto in addition to working 60hours when I got back after one week for the birth of my son. I ended up leaving this job due to the stress on my marriage and health . Unfortunately many people do not have that privilege
for those outside the US, based on my quick google: PTO means "paid time off" and FMLA I think means "family and medical leave" (the abbreviation is for the family and medical leave ACT). FMLA provides provisions to take UNPAID leave. PTO seems to cover both holidays and paid sick leave.
Please correct me if I'm wrong any US person.
I'm guessing from the context of getting VP approval for 15 days compared to my wife who took off a year in approximate half-pay through various combinations of annual leave, maternity leave, and long service leave and gov payments that the talk of not bumping into shadow limits has to do with cultural expectations of how much leave you'll take and that you'll be soon back to work rather than actually they're being no shadow limits. By which I mean my wife's actual case would so obviously hit up against any shadow limit that practically no one would try it on, but I'm happy to be educated on that too...
For context, I managed to take 3 months off on about half pay through similar leave gymnastics...
I was talking with specific regards to couples living together -- not about single/divorced/widowed folks.
And yes, I was referring to nuclear families being the norm in wealthy countries as opposed to multi-generational housing arrangements found typically in less developed countries.
As a Pakistani living abroad, here is my suggestion to avoid diarrhea:
Simply avoid eating food from outside anywhere besides KFC. No, not even McDonalds or Pizza Hut. Doesn't matter how fresh or clean the food or restaurant or bakery look.
I love meat and dairy - avoid these both things while in Pakistan (KFC is alright). Only drink canned cold drinks (Try to do as locals -- they prefer 'white' / transparent cold drinks over coca cola. Only drink boiled water (or mineral water from some large supermarket/pharmacy/hotel). And avoid eating salad after sunset -- don't know why, just don't.
If you can, take dried instant oats/ramen noodles/etc. and chuck them into bowl of boiled water. Fruits and veges are good - just make sure you wash your fruits such as apples and grapes thoroughly with cooled boiled water / mineral water before eating them.
Finally, if you do get diarrhea in Pakistan, DO visit the local clinic and get some medicine prescribed. It will help you feel better much faster then trying to 'brave it out' or relying on some simple medications from back home.
Frankly speaking, it sounds the author ended up joining a 'dud' team where the entire team is well steeped with playing politics rather than actually being productive. It happens in large companies and sometimes in small ones as well. How these unproductive teams survive is beyond me but they do.
I hope the Author realizes one thing: Never ever complain to Manager and/or HR in any company about other team member UNLESS they disclose themselves to you that they don't like that person and ask you for your negative input -- even then, keep it almost neutral / slightly negative. And if you do make the mistake of complaining, DO NOT EVER do it over email/chat/anything written -- a simple call / over-the-coffee conversation is more than enough. Based on this fact, its hard for me to fault the Senior Manager / Director / VP at Apple the Author talked about -- once this kind of thing starts, at any company it is expected outcome from Management.
From what I can deduce - the Manager and the violent co-worker were best of friends and Manager was going all out trying to protect that co-worker who was a toxic and non functioning employee. The Manager and co-worker kept on making stupid rules and confrontational policies and the Author kept on thinking she doesn't have any choice and is stuck otherwise she will get deported -- I mean, USA (or any other Country) is not a place where you would end up going in depression over for and start popping mental health pills for while contemplating suicide. I would choose my dignity and sanity even if it meant going back to Yemen or Somalia or somewhere similar. The Author could have simply started applying for jobs in lots of countries for some R&D job or post-doc position and should have left Apple.
Microsoft under Bill Gates, Apple under Steve Jobs, Amazon/AWS under Jeff Bazos, and Tesla under Musk. To a somewhat lesser extent - Alibaba under Jack Ma, Oracle under Larry Ellison and Dell under Michael Dell.
You see a trend here? I reckon there is a connection between how well a Tech Company's products are received by the consumers based on whether it has an identified / globally recognized, Billionaire Head? I don't know but that's what came to my mind.
Sure, Jobs is not there any more nor is Gates the head of Microsoft but their legacy certainly carries on with the consumers.
