Dox your professional insider secrets here - KiwiPros do some good

[Pargon]

People who work in specialized industries learn shit all the time that regular people can use to make shit easier. Talk about what you know here so people can hack the planet and be less likely to shoot up a Whammy Burger.

Mine:

- for the love of God you have no idea how much time and work it is to push an insurance referral through on the referring party's side. Insurance company drones are perpetually swamped so on a good day provided your shitty doctor's office actually has the order in and we're unlucky enough not to have the referral automatically approved you're looking at two to three days. Much, much more if we need to actually speak to your insurance on the phone. By a magnitude of ten if your insurance is out of state. Do not assume you'll call the day before your colonoscopy and everything will be hunky fucking dory because every office and every insurance plan is different and exactly none of them follow procedure consistently. Your Insurance is likely also A Bastard and will actually reject your claim or pre-auth if one "I" isn't dotted. This is often written into their own internal procedures because their lawyers advise them so. Forcing perfect paperwork is how they limit liability on their end, but the side effect is that it makes some poor fat-fingering clerk inadvertently responsible for your claim getting denied. If you think you may need a referral, confirm with your insurance. Then maybe just get one anyway, unless your provider or the referred office confirms it too.

- states have fucktons of heating assistance programs. Don't make your kids go cold if you don't have money to heat your house. Swallow your pride and make phone calls; everyone needs help sometimes. Again, you have to reach out to them as soon as you know you'll need it because there's processing time involved and they have to talk to your utility company. Don't stop looking at the local level, either; check for county and state as well. Unless you're just a rich fucker and you spent too much and now you can't get heating oil for your pole barn or something. In that case go fuck yourself.

 

[Justtocheck]

Psychologists often times have a chart as they interview you so they can draw and doodle since most patients are boring as fuck. It prevents them from going insane. Very rarely do they actually need to be writing most of the time about your inner demons.

 

[Tootsie Bear]

Even though I have never worked at a casino, I do something that I'm amazed most people-regardless if they gamble or not-never usually do at a casino. Well, unless they cash in a small amount of change...

A few years ago I had the option of cashing my change in at a Coinstar before my parents and I went to the casino but I decided against it because the machine would probably been down and I didn't want to have wait in line. We ended up going to the casino because I had cash already. However, I remembered before I cashed in a little over $20 for cash at a different casino in Reno without hassle, so I took a big bag of change that amazingly gave me over $100 worth in extra cash. Hey, extra money to gamble. I'm not complaining.

What I learned is that casinos, unlike Coinstar, do not take a percentage off top or make you cash in a limited amount of change for cash. And the icing on top is that I don't have to be disappointed to discover the Coinstar machine was down and now have to find a different one at another location. Talk about a clusterfuck.

So if you ever in the need of cash and have a lot of loose change, take it to the casino. You don't even have to be a member or a regular to cash in your change.

 

[Radical 38]

Most case law can be handled by a scrivener with an age-old thesaurus. Scant few can actually recall what they had studied at their university, and ethics are non-existent in virtually any large law firm.

 

[HeyYou]

Everything you've heard about liberal arts "professionals" being petty and vindictive partisans is true. Getting a history degree was a complete nightmare.

 

[whatever I feel like]

I work at a distributor of sporting goods. If we have questions about a product we open one up and look, then put it back in the box and sell it as new.

Our biggest secret? Trumps tariffs are working and everyone is scrambling to get out of China and into Vietnam/Thailand.

No optimist, I deal with the overseas shipments. Everyone is in a mad scramble to GTFO.

 

[Synthetic Smug]

If you're an artist, don't go into game development. There are better paths.

Everybody wants to do it, and the money and stability isn't there as a result. Further, the field is consolidating to a few big corporations and most of the opportunities are in a handful of expensive cities. Austin is a sweatshop. Woke minorities are used as human shields for sharp business practices. It's no longer a prestigious profession, but it's still regarded as such by low-information students that are sold a bill of goods by colleges.

EDIT:The 3D tools are becoming good enough that the art pipeline is no longer deep and difficult enough to make positions in it secure. Good for memes and modders, bad for good pay.

Currently working under the assumption that 'learn to code' isn't just a meme.

 

[Captain Manning]

There's an absurd amount of kabuki theater in healthcare politics. A common misconception peddled by the left is that Republicans want sick poor people to die.

The state's resistance... overwhelmingly from the GOP... to the legalization of assisted suicide and voluntary euthenasia is largely driven by the fact the managed healthcare corporations can't make money off a dead person. A disturbing number of politicians are in their pocket.

The Christfag arguments you hear are a canard to make all this seem more palatable to the base. The alternative would be confessing that they place their corporate benefactors above fiscal conservatism and empathy for people's suffering. To them, ideally, a sick person must be fully milked by Wall Street, often at taxpayer expense, before it is permitted to die.

Dems don't chimp out over euthenasia because they don't get nearly as many gibs from that particular business sector. Hence, they're more receptive to things like the legalization of assisted suicide.

I got redpilled (blackpilled?) on this when I worked monitoring the performance of the indigent health care system in Arizona (a deep red state), and saw the actual political priorities manifest. I am also sorry to say I am experiencing the fallout from it first-hand.

 

[Neon]

If you're an artist, don't go into game development. There are better paths.

From my experience in the industry I don't disagree. Out of curiosity, what alternative paths are there that you would recommend for someone with that 3D skillset?

 

[Cynically Insane]

I was a casino dealer for more than a decade. The best way to win is not to play or use it for entertainment only. Go in with a set amount prepared to spend it like you are buying dinner or drinks.

If you want to play, here are a few pro tips:

• The higher the denomination of slot machine the larger the payout percentage. Play the highest denomination per play you can afford.
• Craps has the best odds but requires an insane amount of knowledge and math skills to reach said odds. Not for uneducated players.
• Blackjack is easy, odds not great but OK. Avoid the side bet scams.
• Let it Ride, Caribbean Stud and other in pit pokers have horrible odds. Avoid. Learn Texas Hold'em instead.
• If you want to play for comps, Pai Gow poker is your best bet. Easy to learn, use house ways. 7/10 hands end in a push. You can earn lots of play time and get dinner, shows and rooms for free without risking as much as other games.
• Go in with a budget and do not deviate. If you lose, you lose and it's gone.
• People who attempt to have fun generally fare better than pricks. Don't know why. Don't be a dick.
• Tip your dealer.

Edited for grammar

 

[Synthetic Smug]

From my experience in the industry I don't disagree. Out of curiosity, what alternative paths are there that you would recommend for someone with that 3D skillset?

I could be talking out of my ass here, but my money is currently on learning the web stack in addition to what I do right now. I can't be more specific without doxing myself by triangulation.

EDIT:This is what I'm learning right now, so if my advice is bad I'll suffer for it too FWIW

Depending on what sort of 3D you do and what else you know, you might want to look at tech artist or UI skills to stack on top. There's a lot of variables.

 

[JULAY]

If you're looking for a job on Indeed, don't click on "Apply now with Indeed"... Recruiters might look at Indeed applications once a week (or less). Instead, go to the company's website and apply directly through that. Applications that come through the website go into the company's applicant tracking system, and those are the first ones that recruiters are going to see. Also, if a job has been posted for more than five days, don't waste you time applying for it unless it is a very specialized position. After 5 days, most job postings will have dozens of applicants, and at least a few who are viable for the position. Anyone who applies after that isn't even going to have their application seen by a person, let alone get selected for an interview.

 

[Hellion]

When you read about a 'new' scientific study that has just been published, the research itself could be years old.

Spoiler: Explanation

First you have to find time to actually write up the study. Then you have to deal with peer review:

1) The manuscript has to be in the correct format for the journal you're submitting to. Many journals with a high Impact Factor reject a paper without even sending it out to reviewers, so you'll have to reformat the paper again before you attempt to submit it somewhere else.

2) If your paper is accepted for review, it then takes time for the journal to find scientists with expertise in your study's area. Reviewers are not paid, so the journal may have to reach out to a lot of people before enough accept. You then have to wait for all the reviewers to finish and submit their review. They may outright reject the paper at this stage and you go back to square one.

3) Even if your reviewers don't reject your manuscript outright, it's very unlikely they'll recommend accepting the paper as is. Most likely you'll get the verdict of 'Revise and Resubmit'. This means making changes to the paper that they've suggested (these may be extensive), or arguing why their suggestion is incorrect in your reply. The reviewers then have to re-review the paper in light of the revisions you just made. You may go through this step multiple times. The paper can be rejected at this stage by the reviewers/ editor if the revisions aren't up to par.

4) Once the reviewers, the editor, and yourself/collaborators are all happy, your paper will be accepted for publication. However, you still have to deal with issues like paying the associated fees (especially in open access publishing) and liaising with the journal about final edits / the typesetting of the article. Finally, you have to wait for the publication of the volume/issue that your study will be featured in.

Mileage may vary by subject.

 

[Ellesse_warrior]

Data breaches happen more often than you think. We only ever hear of the big ones where there's fines or sanctions. Most organisations couldn't tell you what they do with your information, where it's stored, if it was sold to a third party. It's very much every individuals own responsibility to be aware of what information organisations collect about them and what happens to it, if a company can't tell you why they need certain information, they don't need it, don't give it to them because it's likely being sold on or used for profiling.

 

[Christ Cried]

In the grand scheme of things physicists roughly understand the universe as much as any layperson

 

[Papa Adolfo's Take'n'Bake]

1. Actually Making the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients for Gene Therapies is actually really mundane. The main reason that specialists are needed for it is that if something goes wrong, you risk losing raw material solutions worth upwards of $900,000.00. Other than that, if the operator knows what he's doing, it's multiple hours of monitoring various data points just to watch them do the same thing over and over again. For something I am told is "really interesting and cool sounding" it actually turns out to be incredibly boring to actually do.

2. :Gene editing" as understood by the general public won't be a thing for many, many, MANY more years. The reasons for this are two-fold:

Sense-Antisense therapies achieve the same effects while being reversible, a lot less risky, and much better understood.

Picture the following: you have a computer system, but for this scenario it is NOT CENTRALIZED AT ALL. There are 70 trillion plus terminals, all with a discrete series of effects tied to what you think is a certain block (or, often certain blocks) of code. Your solution is to send 350 trillion programmers (in this scenario, think of them as human programmers prone to human error. This is easier than explaining how hard it is to perfect the chemical kinetics, quantum mechanics, and resulting errors in control of Biochemical processes.) You have to get 70 trillion of them to implement a coordinated fix at the same time to full extent, at the right terminal, simultaneously or damn near close. When this is done, it cannot be undone except for repeating this strategy you just attempted. The icing on the cake? Neither you or the programmers actually understand the programming language of the underlying code being run particularly well. Oh, and if you fuck up, the patient is dead and the company goes tits up 7 ways to sunday.

Good luck.

 

[RapeMan]

Nobody wants your "recyclable" materials except for the metals. Best case scenario your paper and plastic is incinerated for energy but mostly it's dumped.

 

[A Cardboard Box]

When a cop asks you "do you know how fast you were going?" Or "do you know why I pulled you over?" Don't admit anything. This is regarded as a "spontaneous utterance" which is exempt from miranda rights.

Radars do not work accurately in the fog. If you are pulled over in the fog and you receive a ticket and it is marked "radar" as the method of measurement, you can take a weather report of the day and locale to traffic court and beat the ticket.

If you REALLY want to fight a ticket, radars are supposed to be calibrated at the beginning of every shift and they never are. You can go to traffic court and subpoena the maintenance logs and win that way. If they did maintain it you're fucked though.

Edit: a clarification on spontaneous utterance. Basically any time a cop talks to you outside of cuffs, he can use that against you in court and as a "law enforcement professional" his testimony is already worth more than yours, legally and to a jury. You do not have to be mirandized until you've been cuffed and they are preparing to interrogate you. The days of the "dumb American cop" are gone. Cops are generally smarter than the people they police. Most of them have degrees and most police academies nowadays focus more on law block and how to fuck you than traditional stuff like shooting and driving.

If you are on the receiving end of a police action: NEVER talk to the cops, but don't be a dick, either. Simply say "unfortunately I've been advised by my legal counsel to defer answering any questions until they are present." They will try to get you to think you're on the same team. DO NOT fall for it. They will say things like "listen man you got a little weed? I understand, it's just weed it isn't a big deal. You give it to me now it's easier than all the searches and stuff, you know?" Bullshit. There is no legal difference between "he gave me the weed" and "I had to take the weed." It's the same charge and the DA's office doesn't give a fuck about the officer's opinion.

Cops are good at getting things done even if it's by dubious means. If you are a concerned citizen TALK TO THE COPS. Even if it is out of boredom, those type A fuckers will find a way to do something about your concern. Give them as much detail as possible and appeal to their humanity.

 

[Radical 38]

“Gene editing" as understood by the general public won't be a thing for many, many, MANY more years. The reasons for this are two-fold:

Sense-Antisense therapies achieve the same effects while being reversible, a lot less risky, and much better understood.

Picture the following: you have a computer system, but for this scenario it is NOT CENTRALIZED AT ALL. There are 70 trillion plus terminals, all with a discrete series of effects tied to what you think is a certain block (or, often certain blocks) of code. Your solution is to send 350 trillion programmers (in this scenario, think of them as human programmers prone to human error. This is easier than explaining how hard it is to perfect the chemical kinetics, quantum mechanics, and resulting errors in control of Biochemical processes.) You have to get 70 trillion of them to implement a coordinated fix at the same time to full extent, at the right terminal, simultaneously or damn near close. When this is done, it cannot be undone except for repeating this strategy you just attempted. The icing on the cake? Neither you or the programmers actually understand the programming language of the underlying code being run particularly well. Oh, and if you fuck up, the patient is dead and the company goes tits up 7 ways to sunday.

Good luck.

Is it even feasible in the way most laymen understand gene editing? I don’t doubt the technology will be available eventually. But I have every reason to doubt that, even if all had understood the language within the underlying code in your scenario, it will result in a game-changer inasmuch as an amplifier of the “beneficial” traits. And even then, I see such “amplifications” as simply spreading the potentials of human outliers (be it intellectual or health-related traits) as opposed to the bullshit being conjured by some up-jumped transhumanist clique.

 

[Bunny Tracks]

The Big Lots' rewards card does basically nothing, and is just used to send you targeted ads. You might get a coupon to use eventually, but they expire very fast, and usually have requirements that make them very annoying to use. Employees are forced to ask you to sign up for ones so their store can reach their quotas. Employees are punished for not getting enough sign-ups by having their hours cut. The same thing happens if they don't get enough donations for charities when they come around.

The term "Bookseller" at Barnes and Nobles just means general employee, and that they can put you where ever they want, even if you have literally no experience in said area. This also applies to the ones with in-store cafes. Especially the ones with the cafes. There is no formal training for them, and you're basically left to figure it out by yourself. That's why the turn-over rate is so high. Quit as soon as they dump there for more than a week. You're never getting out of there otherwise.