Disqus - Latest Comments for stephenyeargin

Re: Monday News Rodeo: Protests, Riots, and Layoffs

Stephen Y. — Sat, 08 Aug 2020 02:25:52 -0000

Not quite gone yet. 😁

Re: Thursday News Rodeo: The Metro Seal, Jeff Bezos, and Go Vote

Stephen Y. — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 11:12:27 -0000

Fixed! Force of habit. ⚾️

Re: Monday News Rodeo: New Vice Mayor, Street Barbers, and Goats on the Loose

Stephen Y. — Sun, 12 May 2019 11:39:24 -0000

Fixed. The phrasing of the original story was a bit confusing, and the part of my brain that should have said "... that's not right" wasn't working when I summarized it.

Re: New Name and Logo for WeGo Public Transit

Stephen Y. — Tue, 17 Jul 2018 14:05:50 -0000

For anyone reading, the agency responsible for the rebrand is Bohan (https://www.bohanideas.com/) here in Nashville, TN.

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My take is that the old logo was way too abstract (which is being charitable) and deserved to left behind. The new one is unremarkable, but I'm slightly more on board with it as a step forward. The name is the product of a marketing focus group Trying Too Hard™ and not having a client willing to reign them back in and remind them that their task is as much functional as it is aspirational.

I would have advised using "WeGo" as part of some launch campaign if at all, but not to rename the agency. The "Nashville" brand is, at least for now, regionally exciting and rising on the national scene. To abandon it is bewildering. Then again, if they went with a guitar pick or cowboy boots, I would similarly have been disappointed.

This all feels like a move to get away from any negative connotation associated with the "old" Nashville MTA (read: slow service that probably doesn't go where you need it to beyond downtown) while pretending that is not still true. It's akin to Comcast wanting everyone to call it "xfinity," but we all know it's the same product trying to run from its reputation.

Re: Thursday News Rodeo: Coyote-sized Rats, Downtown Trash, and a Hatchet Attack

Stephen Y. — Mon, 11 Jun 2018 11:24:12 -0000

It made today's. I turned this post in suuuuper early Wednesday morning because I was traveling.

Re: Monday News Rodeo: President’s Trophy, Candidates for Mayor, and Booted from Ballot

Stephen Y. — Mon, 16 Apr 2018 17:37:22 -0000

I want to have been a fly on the wall during that story pitch meeting.

Re: On Nashville Transit

Stephen Y. — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 13:17:06 -0000

I could send you with a post-it note to put on the ballot screen.

Re: Free Nashville MTA Bus Transfers, Fare Reductions

Stephen Y. — Tue, 01 Aug 2017 13:23:27 -0000

Yeah, the All Day pass suddenly makes a lot more sense for even an out-and-back trip. The one-way trip still may have its place for some. Many riders use a mix of public transit and carpooling/Lyft/etc. There are several days a week where I will carpool in the morning and take the bus home in the evening.

Re: Fixed That For You: Music City Central

Stephen Y. — Wed, 26 Jul 2017 22:03:52 -0000

Great thoughts! For what it's worth, they did improve the lighting, so one item off the list! It is still not a place you really want to hang around.

I do agree that they should reconsider the location long-term, perhaps relying less on a central hub altogether (almost all routes currently begin and end downtown).

Re: In Stark Reversal From Recession, Only One County In Tennessee Now Has Unemployment Over 5 Percent

Stephen Y. — Tue, 11 Jul 2017 00:11:06 -0000

*Upside down Tennessee flag eye twitch*

Re: Thursday News Rodeo: Errant Bullets, Tidy Neighborhoods, and Curfews

Stephen Y. — Thu, 06 Jul 2017 10:45:12 -0000

I figured that stone had not been left un-turned. Maybe "Nashville Hot" froyo? I'm trying to get ahead of the curve here.

Re: A Letter to My Hometown

Stephen Y. — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 23:24:20 -0000

I don't think the CwA closed the deal for most folks (I mean, believing Newt Gingrich is a questionable choice), but it cut those margins by a bit and planted the seeds of distrust for later cycles. Folks didn't buy it wholesale at first. After all, John Tanner had 20 years in the moderate Blue Dog Coalition. But the winds were already blowing, and no amount of policy success could change the narrative. A population disproportionately dependent on WIC and TennCare started seeing Big Government as the enemy. It defies logic, but there it is.

As an aside, my favorite quote from Rep. Tanner was a toungue in cheek comment that his district's "top exports are jobs and young people." I wonder if he still agrees with that.

Re: Monday News Rodeo: A Lot Of Angry People, Cute Animals, and Cranes for Days

Stephen Y. — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 17:15:57 -0000

You know, that *other* Nashville ... http://www.cmt.com/shows/na...

Re: What’s Up with All These Weird Tennessee Liquor Laws?

Stephen Y. — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 09:23:17 -0000

I figured once people saw the "No wine sales on Sunday" signs in person, they would realize the absurdity of it all.

Re: What makes a great Hubot Package?

Stephen Y. — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 12:27:33 -0000

@Alain Hélaïli Sorry about that! I updated Jekyll (the tool that builds this site) and was missing some options for how it handles Markdown formatting. Should be good now.

Re: Some thoughts on Buffer's family policy

Stephen Y. — Wed, 25 Nov 2015 11:06:03 -0000

That is true -- most employers (including mine) subsidize healthcare for additional folks on the plan. I see that as using the company's group size to negotiate a discount for those folks more so than a direct compensation. On the flip side, when increases come around, it is usually those with dependent care that bear the brunt of the rate hikes -- particularly if the employer covers the cost for the employee at or near 100%.

As an aside: I have heard a few anecdotes about small to medium-size companies dropping the healthcare benefit for dependents completely, blaming the ACA (a convenient scapegoat) and then offering employees the cash value instead of providing the coverage, saying that they will find better plans on the open market (very likely wrong, and perhaps dangerous for those that
don't understand what a deductible is). But we could talk for days about healthcare as one of the biggest issues in our country today.

I do believe there is at least a psychological difference between your wage compensation and your benefits (which is a component of your total compensation). An employer has a lot of latitude to change benefits (adding or subtracting) with little to no employee push back. That is not quite true when the wage structure is changed -- I have known folks in sales roles to have a personal lawyer involved every time even minor adjustments are made to their compensation structure.

In short, I agree health insurance is one case where a vast majority of employers reward those with multiple defendants more than those with one or no dependents. I see that as an optional benefit (that has an additional cost attached to it) more so than part of the direct compensation for the work that earns the salary.

Re: SigEp delegates vote to adopt BMP for all chapters

Stephen Y. — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 19:35:02 -0000

It's great to be a SigEp!

Re: How To Stop Referrer Spam

Stephen Y. — Sun, 22 Feb 2015 22:34:34 -0000

Check this out for NGINX.

http://eclecticquill.com/20...

Re: Fitbit Me

Stephen Y. — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:03:32 -0000

Howdy! I came across this looking for a Hubot script to integrate with FitBit. A few things that are so far a bit disappointing:

1) Only looks like a handful of folks use the FitBit API on Github, which isn't too surprising as it is a bit of a niche product
2) The FitBit API supports getting a leaderboard of your friends, but not of the groups you've joined.
3) I haven't seen a great example of how to seamlessly integrate an OAuth process with a Hubot script given that they are typically provided their credentials as ENV variables. I'm almost tempted to write something in one of their other libraries and just provide endpoints to my Hubot that way.

Big objectives (for fun) were to have

`hubot fitbit` - returns a leaderboard for connected users (top 5)
`hubot fitbit user <user>` - return stats for a specific username
`hubot fitbit group <group>` - return leaderboard for a specific group (top 5)

Re: Happy December, It’s Time For The Christmas Parade [Road Closures]

Stephen Y. — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 13:57:38 -0000

I do what I can. :)

Re: http://www.morganautumn.com/post/12839396193

Stephen Y. — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 12:23:08 -0000

Hooray! Somebody else will be out there freezing with us!

Re: Okay, life. You can chill out now.

Stephen Y. — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 12:33:15 -0000

Hang in there. :-/

Re: Bright & Early: Next Train Home Edition

Stephen Y. — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 10:46:47 -0000

That loud sound you just heard down West End Avenue was the heads of Sen. Bill Ketron and Rep. Stacey Campfield exploding at the thought that "dem' der' witches" would be allowed to "practice there hoccus pocus" in Tennessee. Press release forthcoming.

Re: http://theantipimp.com/post/7852158382

Stephen Y. — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 17:45:01 -0000

Tears are running down my face. So funny.

Re: food trucks

Stephen Y. — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:06:16 -0000

My rule is that I already have to be wherever the food truck is located -- I'm not driving to find an elusive food truck. We survived thousands of years as a culture to use forks instead of sticks and a few more to stop having to hunt around for food. That's what Taco Bell is for.