I get all my news by reading: NYT, WSJ, BBC, AP, and a few Substacks.

NYT has gotten so bloated both in actual content (long meandering interviews) as well as the encapsulating junk. I started to put it into Gemini to summarize. During this process I found, the two hour interview transcript was 50% actual words and 50% junk (probably formatting, tracking, adware, surveillance?).

The junk made me feel dirty.

Great concepts, very well written, Kudos to the writer! I bookmarked your main site.

Also : as usual, lots of HN type nitpicking in the comments, most missing the main story.

I'm an existence proof of this. I learned SQL following my previous employer dying a slow death > layoffs. Having worked in a narrow field, there weren't options to continue working in it. That was 25 years ago.

SQL was the foundation of a second career in business data analytics. Moderately interesting and paid the bills.

I must say, it's not just select *, joins and so forth. The human side was important. Always being on the lookout in Big Corp for people hungry for data (lots of them), and working to find quick solutions.

Another desperate practice. They have the teaser subscription at a very low rate and quietly hike it up after a year.

I've read NYT regularly over the past 30+ years, and roughly fit in this boat. They have become monetizing addicts like everyone else. They keep showing pop-ups about "family subscriptions". I've written about their desperate seeming practices in comments on appropriate articles.

On their reporting, they want to appear to be objective but their biases are clear. For example, their campaign against Mamdani at all stages (it continues). They always have a couple of crazy "conservative" columnists. And so on.

I send all their emails to spam, and X out of the pop-ups. For now.

I've read through many comments. Like true HN-ers, they are trying to understand this change in terms of logic, reasoning, cost / benefit, and so on.

This is missing the point. The arbitrariness, cruelty, racism, xenophobia, etc. is A DESIGN FEATURE, NOT A BUG.

I hope this may help youngsters in this terrible situation understand what is happening. Since at least the 1980's, if not earlier, one American political party has been using racism as a part of their platform. They used to do this in coded "dog whistles" before. The earlier targets were mostly Black Americans (they still are, if you look at what the Supreme Court just did with their voting rights).

Now it is all out in the open. The racist beast needs to be fed continually with fresh targets. Gay Americans were another target group. More recently it is undocumented South Americans. The most recent target is .. foreigners (especially non-white non- Christian).

Don't look for logic and reasoning in all this, in the abominations. Take a deep breath, and a long walk. Evaluate if it is worth dedicating your life and career contributing to the beast, and living in constant uncertainty of your legal status, unable to travel, and so on. You are worth way way more than that.

Missing key points:

Why is this administration, which is all for coal, oil, and against environmental policies pursuing THIS?

This DOJ is all about pursuing cases for retribution. It could be, they already know someone they want to punish, and already found they're using the device. Or, use it as a source for finding people they want to punish.

It’s not about this administration. The lawsuit was filed in 2021.

US Attorneys aren't forced to toe the party line on every issue.

This issue is just not directly politically important enough to get the "don't touch" treatment.

Donors and party power brokers aren't rolling coal.

Also strange as it would disproportionately affect modified diesel trucks, who are overwhelmingly Trump supporters.

What's the vaccine equivalent of keifer? Point being there are all sorts of things that require unpasteurized milk. Some sort of immunity that can't be acquired by vaccines I guess. You dont have to be a nut to see value in raw milk.

You can use pasturized whole milk and lower your risk of dying of listeria and bird flu from >0 to 0.

And some sketchy doctors that will write bogus letters.

Anyway, OP you’re blowing up their spot. Selling this shit is illegal.

This is why I use Ecosia and Duck most all of the time.

Scary stuff .. I have seen up close family members undergoing treatment for a different cancer. Believe me, it is harsh, changes the rest of your life for the worse. .. Consider living in a townhouse and never having to handle these toxic chemicals ever. And saving oodles of your time for more fun stuff.

Or just don't use pesticides for your residential property.

Maybe I’m unique but growing up part of my chores (or punishment) as a kid was weeding - weeding the vegetable garden, weeding flower beds, weeding the stone driveway etc. - we would have never used chemicals around the house or on things you’re going to eat - we were definitely not a super “environmentally conscious” household but that just seemed like common sense…

Right? Grow some wild flowers instead of grass and plant some f*ckin trees. Americans love their yards but dont plant any trees. You know what creates shade?

I realized my rant is charged and unhinged. But idc. I hope at least 1 person sees this and pays the $200 to hire someone to plant a young tree in their yard.

Why a townhouse?