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terrywilcox

262 karma · joined October 6, 2010

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terrywilcox··on Why Don’t Some TV Shows Sound the Way They Used To?
Who decides what is a reasonable amount?

In the real world, that's called "negotiation".

terrywilcox··on A top-grossing scam on the App Store
It's as if the people paying for this app aren't actually the ones complaining.

Why wouldn't they complain if it was a scam?

Because they're not actually using it. It's a money laundering app.

If you're just laundering money through an app, it doesn't have to actually do anything.

And if you make the price outrageously high, you can launder more money with fewer clicks and reduce the risk of some idiot actually buying it.

terrywilcox··on The Economies With the Most and Least Efficient Health Care
An infant mortality rate far above other first world nations isn't a health care problem?

We're talking about kids too young to be be gunned down, so they're not part of America's remarkable teen-gun-death statistics.

They're predominantly kids from poor families, who don't live healthy lifestyles or have good health insurance. If the family doesn't have access to good healthcare, the kid's chances of survival are lessened.

Maybe Russia could improve its placement on the list if they ignored the health care issues caused by alcoholism.

And then America could improve its position by declaring obesity, and the health problems that come with it, a lifestyle issue instead of a health issue.

terrywilcox··on The Economies With the Most and Least Efficient Health Care
So if you simply eliminate some of America's health care problems, America is like other nations?

That's convenient.

terrywilcox··on Apple Is Secretly Giving People 'Trust Scores' Based on Their Iphone Data
"To help identify and prevent fraud, information about how you use your device, including the approximate number of phone calls or emails you send and receive, will be used to compute a device trust score when you attempt a purchase," the page reads.

See the "information about how you use your device, including the approximate number of phone calls or emails you send and receive".

So the score calculation for that device includes the approximate number of phone calls or emails you send and receive on it.

You could interpret that as "the more personal activity you have on a device, the less trusted it should be", but that makes no sense. The more you use a device, the more likely it is to actually be your device.

It makes sense to place less trust in devices that you rarely use.

terrywilcox··on Apple Is Secretly Giving People 'Trust Scores' Based on Their Iphone Data
I'm confused by the headline.

The quote from Apple is that they're computing trust scores for your devices for when you attempt a purchase. It sounds like the more you use the device, the more trusted it is. That brand new device that you've never used before shouldn't be trusted.

What I don't understand is how you can reasonably stretch that out to giving people trust scores.

Click bait?

terrywilcox··on The Surface Go reviews are in, and… they’re a bit all over the place
Microsoft's marketing: "Performs like a laptop, travels like a tablet."

It it performs like a laptop, it should be tested like a laptop.

terrywilcox··on A new digital divide: Young people who can’t use keyboards
This is true of every generation that has grown up with computers and video games.

It's also true of any generation that grew up with manufactured items.

Really, our ability to create has declined with our need to create. Who needs to make their own clothes these days?

terrywilcox··on A new digital divide: Young people who can’t use keyboards
>It is sad though, that young people appear to be less computer literate in terms of creating content (as an overall percentage of previous generations).

Previous generations? How many generations back do you imagine widespread computer use to go?

Jerry Pournelle was considered cutting edge for using a word processor to write as early as 1977. Adobe Illustrator is from 1987 and Photoshop is from 1990.

There haven't been a whole lot of generations in the 41 years since the Apple II was released (about 2 generations, given 20 years per generation).

I can tell you that kids from my generation (baby boomers) had almost no computer literacy. Most of us never even touched a computer until adulthood (if then).

terrywilcox··on A new digital divide: Young people who can’t use keyboards
I'm guessing I'm a generation older than you and I agree, my generation built a lazy, useless generation.

My parents say the same thing about my generation.

terrywilcox··on A new digital divide: Young people who can’t use keyboards
Typing a word into Google gives you a sense of accomplishment? Wow.

When I was a kid (and by that I mean all the way into university), we had to go to the library (an actual physical place that wasn't our home), look in the card catalogue (an actual physical box of drawers with actual physical cards in them), then find the shelves with actual physical books on them. Then we had to look at the index in the book. Or just read it.

That took time and perseverance. There was no instant gratification. It took hours or days.

Are you advocating a return to that past and that much perseverance?

Typing a word into Google and clicking search is nothing. Trying to make it sound like it's so much better for character building is ridiculous.

terrywilcox··on Poor kids who do things right don't do better than rich kids who do things wrong
I believe you've swapped the narrative.

A lot of people work their ass off just to pay the rent and feed their kids.

Working your ass off does not imply wealth. That's the problem.

terrywilcox··on The surprising benefits of a mid-career break
You sound like you need a sabbatical.
terrywilcox··on The Difference Between Introverts and Extroverts, in One Simple Chart
Given that we introverts are a minority, I'm not sure how you've managed not to notice those people who hate silence and solitude.

Perhaps you've spent too much time alone?

terrywilcox··on Lawsuit: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer led illegal purge of male workers
If these men were good at the managerial jobs, why was the company ailing in the first place?

Maybe firing them all was the right move, but it was too late to repair the damage.

terrywilcox··on All together now. Introducing G Suite
I'm waiting for a G Suite/G Spot/G Men/G String joke.
terrywilcox··on How a Tweet About Getting Rejected Went Viral
Having a publisher decline to publish your unsolicited article isn't censorship. It's business.

Why do people not understand that their right to free speech does not obligate (oblige?) others to give them a soap box or even listen?

terrywilcox··on Old Geek Jobs: fighting against ageism in the industry
I'm happily coding at 51.
terrywilcox··on Old Geek Jobs: fighting against ageism in the industry
We old developers _are_ better.

I, for one, have a lush neck beard and am seriously contemplating going with the sandals with socks look.

terrywilcox··on Ask HN: How to Learn OOP
+1

This is the book I wish I had 25 years ago.

terrywilcox··on How the Doves Type Was Nearly Lost
It's rather a simple algorithm:

1. Do I average more than 10k page views a month right now?

No: Buy license good up to 10k page views per month. Yes: Contact them about a bigger license.

You're not asking how to measure your own page views, are you?

terrywilcox··on Tell Justin Trudeau to Fight for Web Developer Saeed Malekpour
Especially when our previous Prime Minister started his career working in a mail room.
terrywilcox··on How the Doves Type Was Nearly Lost
I think you may have misinterpreted the license. There's no pay-per-view.

From the description:

"It is also available in web font formats for self hosted websites (up to 10K monthly pageviews on average)."

You buy a license for your website. Large websites (with more than 10k monthly pageviews) need to contact them for a license.

terrywilcox··on The Drug of Choice for the Age of Kale
I'm having trouble with your logic.

The very fact that poisons exist in the first place cannot be a coincidence.

The very fact that pointy sticks exist in the first place cannot be a coincidence.

The very fact that razor blades exist in the first place cannot be a coincidence.

That may be so, but that's no reason to ingest them.

terrywilcox··on You’re How Old? We’ll Be in Touch
It's as if people have to work their way up through the ranks...
terrywilcox··on [dead]
When Reed Richards prevents Galactus from consuming Earth, he's really screwing up the natural order of things. The jerk.
terrywilcox··on How to be a wizard programmer
Or the question is "can we solve this better with the actor model", which is what I asked my team last week.

None of us has any experience with the actor model, but rather than dismissing the question, we're investigating.

If the senior people have never had to solve the problem before, how can they know if it's a valid problem?

terrywilcox··on How to be a wizard programmer
This is how dinosaurs are born.

"No experience in and no answers for" implies a gap in your knowledge, not a bad question.

terrywilcox··on Apple launches coding camps for kids in its retail stores
Because you need glasses?
terrywilcox··on Apple launches coding camps for kids in its retail stores
They've renamed OS X to macOS. That's it.

Always read past the headline before getting upset.

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