I was once in a fast-growing startup, where the CEO told us in a company all-hands that we had 18 months of runway and that our future was looking great! Some of us devs booked long-delayed vacations after months of grinding hard on releases.
Turned out that this "runway" factored in dumping all the American devs and replacing us with workers overseas who made ~35-40% of what they paid us.
My recent experience in the "data" world taught me that many companies in the US actually want contractors, but our employment laws make it make being "full-time" not that different than a contractor.
Another thing I learned was to never jump on R&D type projects unless you are in a very close communication loop with the leadership. If they are going to see you as a consultant on retainer, you have to always be delivering and improving on stuff that affects the business. I was put on some sort of "special projects" role in three fast-growing startups and those are always the first on the chopping block when things tighten up (and they almost always do at some point, especially in a startup).
I used to get very frustrated that others could not intuit information the way I could. I have a lot of experience trying to express quantities to leaders and policymakers.
At the very minimum, I ask people to always think of the distribution of whatever figure they are given.
Just that is far more than so many are willing to do.
It is all a house of cards. A bunch of people in the city became dangerously levered bagholders, and the city is pushing people to come unnecessarily. It is a huge amount of waste of time and resources for the sake of an economy.
I lived in Turkey for over 3 years. It is really sad how taxis were by far the worst part. When Uber came to Ankara, it was a massive improvement in my quality of life.
In Istanbul, there are a few things to watch out for but Uber is still a million times better than calling a random taxi. Part of it is because taxis in Istanbul are surprisingly cheap and it encourages bad behavior. During peak times in the most busy places, Uber drivers may cancel on you if the ride is short. Whatever happens, Uber support in Turkey has been very responsive to me. So I have to give them credit for that.
There has been a massive (but slow) sell off of natural diamonds. People in the industry have known this time was coming for a while.
It is very much a bag holder problem.
In some countries, people (often families) have saved for a long time to accumulate some inventory of something that is now worth a lot less. The diamond industry varies a bit by country, but in places where individual dealers hold a lot of inventory, there is a lot of incentive to be against synthetics.
I saw this firsthand in Turkey. I gave my a fiancée a ring with a very nice moissanite stone about a year and a half ago. She showed it to some jewelers and most had to really make a show of things like, "Congratulations on your upcoming wedding, but I can only work with real stones. We are not supposed to even look at these."
And I don't blame them for at least having to act this way. A lot of these family stores have hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars worth of natural diamond inventory that they took years to accumulate, and along comes something that is superior in every way for a fraction of the price.
Yes. In some other places around the world, the resistance to lab grown stuff has been violent. But the industry of natural diamonds is much more violent, and it is great to see that the way we mine diamonds will soon be a thing of the past.
It is a very compelling article and nice to read about the Liberian farmer entreprenuer, but the South also had tea, tobacco, and yaupon (black drink) which are all stimulants.
This is a completely unfair and unfactual assumption you made.
I entered Saudi Arabia just this morning with a star of David necklace on my neck (yes it was under my shirt, but it wasn't hidden or anything). There was not even the slightest sign of discomfort nor disapproval. Just a friendly and helpful border officer who said, "Welcome to Kingdom. Have a wonderful time".
And this notion of separation into "undesirables" in Gulf countries is also just plain false. The UAE just granted visa-free access to Indian nationals.
I would check the information you are relying on if this is the kind of assumptions you are making.
Once the leaves are older, there are all sorts of oxalates, and you should really avoid them if you are sensitive to kidney stones.
These plants also absorb pollution very effectively, so keep in mind where you pick them from.