• 0 Posts
  • 224 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
cake
Cake day: July 29th, 2023

help-circle
  • Apple is almost the tale of two companies.

    From the software usability perspective, they have the “it just works” reputation and that might be true if you’re doing really basic stuff. I’ve found both windows and Linux to be much more user friendly if you want to do mildly advanced things.

    Their hardware is generally pretty solid but comes at a premium, especially once you start talking about increasing RAM/SSD capacity. I have both a MacBook pro M3 pro and a Snapdragon X Elite Lenovo Yoga slim 7x. The 7x can give great battery life, but is much more inconsistent in doing so. On the other hand, the 7x has an amszing 3k OLED screen, has a removable m3 SSD, and you can upgrade to 32 GB of RAM for around $100.

    What I find interesting is that a large swath of developers have macs. I get it for some use cases (ARM emulation on ARM vs doing it on x86), but it seems like it’s a bit of a status symbol for others.




  • 10/10 explanation. I would add two things.

    First, there is a massive amount of variation in “normal” people. I’m personally of the belief that we spend too much time classifying people and that can set unreasonable expectations. Just because someone was/wasn’t diagnosed as <x> does not mean they will neatly fit in that box.

    Second, there are cultural norms and elements that interplay here. I am a New Englander living in the Midwest. I consider my communication style to be direct and frank, which means that I try to objectively say things as they are. I grew up being interacted with this way. This style of communication is somewhat contrary to the norms of the Midwest, which can result in people interpreting me as being confrontational and lacking empathy.


  • I ran into this at work today. Proposed a very simple approach for something to an architect and an engineering lead. Engineering lead said this was a practical solution that solves a problem that’s been plaguing them for two years. The architect nearly immediately said, “well, the real source is a mainframe that was stood up in the very early 80s. Let’s ignore the fact that changing it takes an act of Congress or that we have multiple modern downstream systems between it and us that are a much better home for this new function.”

    It really seemed to amount to, “I didn’t come up with this, therefore I don’t support it.”

    Ah, corporate politics.



  • I’m sorry - what strategy finally got us gay marriage?

    Gay marriage is presently legal in the US at a federal level due to a Supreme Court ruling, not a law. It seems inevitable that this will change given the present makeup of the court, similar to abortion.

    I am all for LGBTQ rights, but until something is passed by Congress the current situation seems precarious.




  • 100%. Transitioning from making all decisions for your kids to becoming a trusted advisor is something you need to do intentionally over time. Let your kids make low impact decisions when they’re young. Offer guidance as needed, not all the time. Simple examples include what to have for a meal/snack, where to go for a play date, etc.



  • And building credit is useful to set yourself up for future purchases - a condo/house, car, whatever. The whatever here is bigger than it semese, as having a decent credit score can let you finance all kinds of things at a pretty low rate, if not 0% even today. If you’re saving any extra money in an investment/retirement account, and can pay off your 0% financing offers in full by the time you would start to owe interest, financing at 0% is a great deal even if you have the cash on hand to pay outright.







  • I suggest something where you get to work with a wide range of the populus. Opportunities are basically all service industry jobs: waiting tables in a restaurant, working retail, working in a hotel, etc. Learning how to interact with wide swaths of humans is an invaluable skill that will serve you well in your future professional career. I would focus on building social and emotional intelligence.