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basica

35 karma · joined May 31, 2018

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basica··on It’s hard to have an unusual name in China
As someone whose first name is spelt in a way that's uncommon where I live, I can appreciate to some degree how frustrating this is. Most places spell my name wrong thanks to people "helpfully" correcting the "mistake" when I submit forms or other such things.
basica··on Why Gov.uk content should be published in HTML and not PDF
As someone who's experienced life prior to the internet, it's not that one can't live without social media but it does affect how easy it is to organize things when everyone else does. As another comment pointed out, social events are organised as a part of facebook events, or through group chat. Buying and selling things locally are done through facebook groups rather than a newspaper or even eBay or CraigsList. Photos and the like are shared on social media for key important events in people's lives that you mightn't have the opportunity to see all that often.

All of these things can be worked around, but the alternatives are slower paced and less efficient and leave you ultimately out of the loop. So it's not a problem of imagination, it's a problem of wanting to be able to keep up with what's going on.

basica··on I’m leaving China
Children like to blend in and not be noticed as different (adults too of course, but to a lesser degree than children). The label itself is inoffensive, she just didn't like the fact she wasn't seen as just another kid.
basica··on I’m leaving China
I'm not an American, but I am used to being able to modify an order. I don't think of this as being entitled as I am after all paying for the meal and depending on the restaurant it's not exactly a cheap meal. That being the case I don't see any reason for negotiation if I'm not happy with the meal. The only thing I'd agree with is that it'd be absurd to request another meal for free simply because the one you chose wasn't to your fancy.

The customer is always right attitude is one that I appreciate Americans having. While not as bad in Australia as some parts of Europe, the attitude here is definitely closer to "give me your money and and leave" than "what can I do to ensure you leave happy?"

basica··on Twitch streamers who spend years broadcasting to no one
It's kind of broken though as most people will only view the most upvoted comments because once again there's just so much content it's impossible to view it all, so you upvote what's already been upvoted. If you're there first you generally will get a lot of karma even if better comments come later.
basica··on Why Gov.uk content should be published in HTML and not PDF
I wouldn't say it's impossible, but it does have a non negligible impact on your social life. It would be rather dismissive to wave away the impact of removing your social media accounts if you have by any stretch of the imagination a social life.
basica··on 2018 MacBook Pro Review
Yes, as stupid as it sounds the trackpad is one of the things I love most about the MBP. I wish the XPS had the same reputation as it'd make it an easier sell for me.
basica··on 2018 MacBook Pro Review
This is exactly what I meant.
basica··on 2018 MacBook Pro Review
In 2014 I bought the top of the line MBP for $2700AUD. To get a top of the line model now it's $4100AUD. As someone who loves macOS, I'm still not gonna buy a new MBP until the price reaches some level of reasonableness. I've been seriously considering of getting a Dell and using Linux instead and I may just do so if there's no budging of the prices in the next 2-3 years.
basica··on [dead]
I don't have a name that evokes such an emotional reaction to it, but I do have a name that stands out. I identify with the doctor a bit because at first I tried to fit in as a kid, but I eventually accepted myself and my heritage and have gone back to using it and not hiding it.
basica··on Show HN: Mimicking the Bloomberg menu widget without JavaScript
Haven't you studied cardinality? You don't have One to Multiple relationships, you have One to Many /s
basica··on How many words do you need to speak a language?
Those numbers are about right IME. I speak two languages and I'm learning a third. With a vocabulary of around 1100 words I am able to make basic conversation (able to talk about myself, who I am, what I do and what I enjoy and so on). If I read a newspaper I understand on average about 60% of what's written which sounds like a lot, but it's often not enough to understand what's going on for certain.

If someone is learning a language for fun, I'd recommend starting off with one with a lot of shared vocabulary with your native language. French for English speakers is a good start. Much better than German (despite English itself being a Germanic language). Even as someone who's only exposure to French was a couple of Michel Thomas cassette tapes; I understand a surprising amount of a French newspaper. I studied German in high school and I understand virtually nothing in a newspaper in comparison.

basica··on Ask HN: How do I resign?
If you're a co-founder, get legal advice. Don't rely on what people have to say here. Speaking from experience as someone who started a business with a friend, things can get ugly when you want to part ways; even in the very early stages. Sorry to hear that it didn't go well, and best of luck in your future.
basica··on Ask HN: What is it like to experience a PIP?
I think it depends on the company. Here's two anecdotes for what it's worth:

I worked for a well known defense force contractor and worked under someone who was put on a PIP. The PIP was just a formality in the overall scheme of things as they couldn't fire them without putting them through one first. It was a death march with no chance of success. It was hard hearing them go through it as they were a nice enough person, just not at all suited to the role they were in. In short, PIPs were not seen as methods to actually get an employee back on track in their current role or another one; they were already fired, it's just got a ~12 month notice.

In another organisation a coworker of mine was absolutely useless and were put on a PIP. They genuinely tried to get them back on track and the PIP lasted for a very long time and even renewed their contract when they had a perfect opportunity to let them go. Ultimately they weren't fired directly, when their contract came to its end they put the job up for applications and they didn't win it back. I didn't find out about their PIP until years after the fact and TBH I wish the team knew about it. For all this time we thought they were getting away with their terrible work ethic.

basica··on Google diversity figures show little change
> In the US almost 90% were white or Asian, 2.5% were black and 3.6% Latin American.

I've always found it curious how asians are treated as honorary whites when it comes to talking about diversity in American companies. This is the most egregious example.

If you go to Google's own diversity report the breakdown becomes 36.3% asian and 53.1% white. Considering white people maybe up like three quarters of the population in the US they're actually under represented at Google, ironically.

Report: https://diversity.google/annual-report/#!#_our-workforce