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Comment Re: Can't wait for them to be good (Score 1) 106

So youâ(TM)re just going to âoeno true Scotsmanâ anything that doesnâ(TM)t fit the urban design that you want, stick your head in the sand, and crap on everyone who finds practical solutions to real needs?

Individual/small-group on-demand transit is a valuable ingredient in an overall urban recipe, especially when these cities (and, yes, theyâ(TM)re cities) were started before mass transit was a foreseeable reality. Robotaxis en masse actually represent a mechanism that could satisfy an incredibly wide range of transit modalities, since they could form up into virtual trains if such an approach was called for. As it stands, when electrically powered, they present a very effective bridge from where we are to many versions of where we might want to be. Making a city less passable to *force* it to be walkable is just about the best way to kill the city outright. Iâ(TM)ll invite folks to witness Valencia st in San Francisco. Public policy canâ(TM)t just be idealistically wished upon the public. Theyâ(TM)ll just walk (or drive) somewhere else.

Comment Re: 5 cents per cup at any grocery store (Score 1) 68

Sigh... Straw man.

I make my own coffee at home. It's still not five cents per cup. If I used Folgers, it would still not be five cents per cup.

Nice attempt to weasel out of your bullshit assertion, but, no. Not five cents. Businesses have costs. The $5 cup? Probably some margin there. $1? Maaaaybe, but probably not. Mcdonalds is probably loss leading in most locations.

Comment Re: 5 cents per cup at any grocery store (Score 1) 68

5 cents per cup assumes no capital expenditure (coffee maker), no operating expenses (housing, energy), no per unit or batch amortized costs (cups, filters, energy), no labor costs (okay with me if you want to zero-value your labor as a reasonable approximation...)

Folks dismissive of retail costs by factoring in only one element of total cost of production are the ones who bitch about products that are "overpriced rip-offs", even when those products are loss-leaders...

A 5 cent cup of coffee in 2020 is quite a feat.

Comment Re:Short answer - NO. (Score 4, Insightful) 155

This is a gallingly bad answer, believed only by those with MBA's who think they can manage anything. You know what? Lots of MBA's don't think they can manage everything, because domain competence is critical to being able to handle escalations and make critical decisions.

The best engineering Director I've ever worked with had never been an engineer (came up through customer service and shipping), but he learned how to code and worked very hard to shore up that gap. By the time he left the group, he could have served as a productive engineer on our team. If he'd just pitched things to the group and hadn't known how to call balls and strikes, we could have taken some really bad directions.

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