percept

If the novels were as bad as he says they were, maybe he can crank out some random(ly bad) prose to go with it, and get Amazon-rich.

(And/or, this might make an interesting companion project.)

Smart design--somebody had fun with this one.

This looks interesting, and definitely addresses some common pain points.

This may seem overly negative or (internet) contrarian, and I believe yours is a good comment, but these are subject to political forces as much as--or more than--any.

Put your time in (not bankers hours), move when transferred, whoa this is a lot of paperwork, climb the ladder, spend time at HQ and "make friends" at all your stops, go along and get along, now there are kids and spouse/house and schools, do your 20 so you can retire, start new job in security or back to private practice thanks to your well-tended reputation, etc.

Who's gonna stick their neck out anymore? (Besides Snowden.)

From a business standpoint: play the game, check all the boxes. (And it never hurts to be flexible and open to different ideas, even those that seem counterintuitive.)

Prison rape and other violence, either.

"on Earth"

Wasteful yet subversive

All these years, and we're finally getting around to the important questions.

I don't have a cat (or a workplace), but cat cafes seem to be purring right along.

Digging a bit, it seems that one in seven kids has cat allergies, which is twice as much as the rate with kids and dogs. Either way, that's a fair number of people, so if there's any sort of discrimination involved, I'm sure cat lawyers will pounce.

US assistance for UXO in Laos has been slowly increasing (though some point out it's only a tiny fraction of the amount spent bombing the country in the first place).