eplanit

These stories reinforce my decision to go into consulting so long ago. People hire me because they can't get stuff done, and they need it done now. We're not getting married, and I'll be gone as soon as the project/mission is accomplished. And, no BS coding tests.

285 murders in San Fran last year, a 35% increase. I didn't witness a single one, but I think they really did happen.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/A-violent-year-Bay...

In the bay area and California in general, they've been basically been told that they're on their own regarding thefts. One can simply walk in and take hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise and leave, because the DA will not prosecute. Security guards won't intervene, and the thieves know all this. It has become a spectacle.

Between online sales and this, I sympathize with anyone in brick and mortar retail sales.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Prop-47-which-reduc...

https://news.yahoo.com/looters-ransack-san-francisco-neiman-...

I lose respect for their engineers, if that one was typical.

Egos are the worst parts of humans. A lack of sense of humor is a personality or character flaw.

I think it's great that he's accomplished this -- but he acts like he inventing Consulting, and is the first to live a beach life (or whatever one's paradise is) as a result. That's been a thing for decades now, especially for that 30-45 year old sweet-spot-o-life phase he's in. I'm glad for him, sincerely, regardless.

However, he does deserve to get bitten by clients who read his article and get offended by the (very immature and very unprofessional) condescension towards clients and their "silly ideas" that he _blogs_ about.

"randomly assigned long virtual coffee breaks every week"

Really? As in you and someone else are each assigned a meeting with each other on Zoom (or whatever) at a given time? Would your co-workers not socialize, otherwise? It sounds like it was a positive experience for you, which is great.

"It is well-established that a complex set of conditions and factors enable people to adopt beliefs in conspiracy theories, including personality types, heuristics, and cognitive biases to sociological factors such as level of education and political orientation"

It's true. Some fools will believe that Covid was a grand plan by the elites to control society, while other fools will believe that the 2016 election was stolen by the Rooskies -- both for the reasons cited above, right? Or, I wonder if the author meant only "those people" (i.e. conservatives). I'm betting on the latter.

Well, a guy with a show called "Politically Incorrect" is supposed to be a contrarian.

The Left is so extremist now that it has lost any sense of humor (Maher had to point out the sarcasm to his audience), and it rejects any critical analysis of its agenda/narrative. Mao would be proud.

There's no distinction anymore. As of this last week, NPR isn't even trying to hide it anymore: https://www.rt.com/usa/530618-npr-reporters-activists-protes...

Have you applied at iFixit?

https://www.ifixit.com/Right-to-Repair

He's one of the most important, insightful, and yet woefully underappreciated social observer/reflector of the past 25 years.

I have the same feelings. I'm really fine with Amazon -- but I'd be much more fine by seeing them reduced via antitrust actions, with the goal of seeing more competition.

First, I'd like to separate AWS from Amazon the Bazaar. It's just too much control over _both_ the Internet (including all other e-commerce) and retail merchandise commerce.

It's like they own the railroads, the ports, the trucks, and the stores -- we've seen the Robber Baron movie already.

I understand that it's "precision engineering"; and, that the result is a fragile product (they are not mutually exclusive concepts).

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fragile

I think you're also describing something that is "easily broken or destroyed".

Maybe Apple's superior precision engineering results in a product that is too fragile for their Dorito-eating users. Maybe they could apply that engineering to make devices with better durability.

"users who shut their MacBook screen onto a keyboard with a bunch of Doritos crumbs stuck in it"

Wow, they're that fragile?

"Modern materials are complex and display counter-intuitive failure modes" == "We're using really cheap materials, and it will surprise you how fragile and breakable they are"

I wondered why there is a superfluous comma in the title.

Isn't that exactly the technique made infamous by the "Lumberg" character in Office Space? He would walk up with his coffee cup..."what's happening? did you get the memo?"

Didn't read TFA due to paywall.

This is so close to the plot of the movie Juggernaut[1], and occurred only 4 years after the movie's release -- I can't help but wonder if the bomber was inspired by the plot. That movie had bombs (on a ship, not a casino) with multiple triggering mechanisms: some behind flathead screws, movement switches, photoelectric detectors/triggers. So similar. A really good movie, by the way.

1. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071706/

Glad you liked that... but they knew which features you're using via telemetry?

I would have probably given them an earful, including a demand for a refund.

That's what makes so many you tube videos so difficult, especially when the purpose of the video is explanation or description (i.e. a lesson). Please just focus on the agenda, and maintain a flow of thoughts.

People mostly just want the info. That said, this looks like a great piece of work.

Did they try "redneck" names like "Elrod", "Rusty", or "Betty Jo"?

So, it's an institutional directive to its writers to treat subjects differently based on race: i.e. systemic racism.

Because, the best cure for perceived systemic racism is _actual_ systemic racism. It's all absurd.

Does capitalizing "black" compensate, somehow?

I can't upvote this article enough times -- it's concise yet rich with astute observations.

Just one example: "Thirty Years Ago...Insulating developers from interruptions was management’s Prime Directive."

From my own experience, when I started at IBM in the mid 1980s, we had private offices just for this very reason. Me and my colleagues also recognized, though, that we were on the tail-end of those good ol' days. By the early 1990s "bullpens" were becoming the rage, and the rest is history.

Another, "QA was other people": it was other people, and not the can't-make-it, under-performers, either. Testing was a discipline in and of itself, with very experienced testers. They were often older programmers in their last 5-10 years which knew what kinds of corners and edges to think of. That, too, was a just a fond memory by the early '90s.

Which makes them more honest, in that regard.

"if not the government-enforced kind, then the kind that comes from those who control the flow of information"

When they work together cooperatively, there is no distinction. https://nypost.com/2021/07/15/white-house-flagging-posts-for...

I'm so done with the f-ing Olympics. They're just a vast marketing scam that countries and cities buy into -- often acting against the wishes of their own people. The cities that host them see more negative impact than positive; and, frankly, the coverage is boring.

After the last fiasco in Brazil, I was hoping it would drive a spike into the heart of the old relic -- maybe the tremendous loss on the investments in Tokyo will help it end . The summer games are the only ones any mass audience really cares about anymore, true?

IAM has been in use, without any confusion that I've encountered amongst various clients, for well over 10 years. How is it confusing? It sounds like people are wanting dumbed-down "Romper Room" names. Meaningful acronyms serve as mnemonics as to what the thing is. Noobs should learn and embrace.

This could get interesting at defcon conferences (if they're still a thing), which is already famous for having the world's most hostile wifi networks. Now DIY, private stingray?

You're right. Also, yard work is generally unpleasant. I have found that by approaching yard work as exercise, I then enjoy both a lot more (like a _lot_). My whole attitude about squatting down, pulling weeds, cutting, etc. etc. is really a pile of opportunities to squat, bend pull, push as repetitive strength and stretching exercises. I've change my techniques of the actual tasks to make them more focused on muscle groups, etc. The "two birds killed with one stone" benefit is very reinforcing for me, too.

YMMV.

That's actually a good anti-diversity argument (not saying that's necessarily your intent). Japan is another, similar example re: "solving what you call basic problems".