My thought on the general "loudness" of cold months was due to reduced noise blocking or absorbing greenery like tree leaves, grass, etc. Which is then altered by a significant snowfall leading to sounds being softened again.
Both are ways for the company to have your income be invested in the overall success of the company, which makes sense from an alignment perspective. ESPP usually has a material discount benefit, which typically is a "can't lose" scenario if you sell immediately (with some caveats of course as immediately isn't technically possible).
To be fair I never claimed they were the same, just that my "simple" advice applies equally to both. I only called out 2 examples of the many ways this article is lacking in nuance on the details.
Nearly everything in this article is too simple to be correct, or depends on details of your specific plan that is not generalizable. Two examples: ESPP is considered long term capital gains after the later date of 1 year after purchase OR 2 years from the date of the price you paid. Also typically the look back is the lower of the starting and ending price for a period, not lowest in the period.
The only way to provide simple advice on RSUs and ESPP is, as others have said:
Sell them immediately and diversify.
For everything else do research and don't trust a random article, coworker, or HN comment (mine included)
These were recorded in the simulator as stated in the article by Christian. However there is a recording mode on the device itself as well, although as I don't have one I don't know the specifics.