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rb808

7,069 karma · joined November 18, 2015

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rb808··on AMD to Launch New Ryzen 3000 XT CPUs: Zen 2 with More MHz
Anyone know about motherboards? I was going to build a new AMD PC and nearly everything was out of stock. I look now, and I see just 7 <$200.

https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?N=100007625%208000%204131%204814...

rb808··on The Next Step for Generics
I like generics for collections but that is about it. I've seen "gifted" programmers turn everything into generic classes and functions which then makes it very difficult for anyone else to figure out what is going on.

One reason I like go is it doesn't have all the bells and whistles that give too many choices.

rb808··on All Roads Lead from Prague
What I dont understand is that so many of the world's great intellectuals lived in beautiful cities and towns. University towns often are really pretty with quaint buildings both in Europe and the East Coast.

Then how did SV manage to do well? Butt ugly warehouses and suburban office buildings.

rb808··on Harvard University Won’t Require SAT, ACT for Admissions Next Year
There are two conflicting attitudes for Prestige universities

A) Ivies/Standford are better than regular universities because they have resources, powerful alumni and well connected students B) They should let XYZ in because they have great test scores

If B was really the most important A would no longer be true.

rb808··on How many of you know that the team is working on something that no-one wants?
I do agree that there is a risk of it all crashing down. I dont think they ask us for load or users, but they notice an area where money isn't coming in.
rb808··on Ask HN: How do you read long PDFs?
I have a Surface which I found the best tablet as it was bigger than most.

In the end I gave up buying ebooks and went back to regular books. If there is a pdf I have to read I'll do on my workstation.

rb808··on AWS’s Share of Amazon’s Profit
"printing money" yes today, but if GCP/Azure or something else comes in and competes heavily the margins could easily shrink to something negative.
rb808··on How many of you know that the team is working on something that no-one wants?
The problem is that software no-one wants often has the best careers.

I worked on a system used by many people and it was hard work, was getting 10-15 years old, held together with tape and lots of users who all had their gripes and requests.

I moved to a system hardly used by anyone and life is so much better. Get to play with interesting technology and no one minds because there is now risk of annoying a our users who dont really care. The best thing is I get paid more here too.

rb808··on New Lego Mindstorms Robot Inventor
Yeah I was enthusiastic but my kids really aren't interested. I'm not sure if I should force them to do it or just give up.
rb808··on After GitHub CEO backs Black Lives Matter, workers demand an end to ICE contract
ICE does support Black and Brown people by keeping illegal immigrants from flooding the market. Wages in many restaurants/building sites in NYC, LA, Florida, Texas are lower than other parts of the country because illegal labor gives an alternative to hiring black employees that rightfully require at least a minimum wage.
rb808··on Basecamp’s founders are trying to start an email rebellion
Looks like a good product. Its an interesting test of how much people value privacy, I'd imagine 99.9% of people would rather be tracked and have ads than pay for email.
rb808··on 10k Steps a Day Is a Myth. The Number to Stay Healthy Is Far Lower
pre-covid I easily did 10k steps every day and I really wasn't healthy.
rb808··on An understanding of AI’s limitations is starting to sink in
I'm still not sure what successful AI implementations there have been. Stuff like Amazon/Spotify recommendations seem sensible. Is there anything else out there that is impressive?
rb808··on Storytelling Tips for Technical Interviews
Amazon is my dream company. FB/Google are social media & ad nonsense. They rejected me though.
rb808··on The American Press Is Destroying Itself
The content of 'Buildings Matter Too' article is worth reading, if you haven't seen it you definitely should. To me the editor resigning is not good.

https://www.inquirer.com/columnists/floyd-protest-center-cit...

rb808··on The American Press Is Destroying Itself
The other half cancelled their subscription because they fired the editor, so they lose-lose really.
rb808··on SQLite as an Application File Format (2014)
I keep switching between csv, parquet and sqlite. I dont need another article to encourage me to switch again! :)
rb808··on Venmo and Paypal Are Stalling Urgent Efforts to Bail People Out of Jail
I think this is just normal for big financial institutions. The small ones just break the rules or haven't been audited yet. The regulation is very suffocating.
rb808··on Ask HN: Is working as a developer on technical route until retirement feasible?
I think its definitely possible, the problem is that after 10 years experience you dont really get much better which caps your salary. My earnings peaked when I was 35 and have gone sideways even shrunk since then. You also have to keep learning - which is a bigger time sink than you think.

Looking back I'm happy but feel like going management route makes more sense and I should have been braver. However there aren't so many management roles either.

rb808··on New Facebook tool allows employers to suppress “unionize” in workplace chat
Hollywood unions are a prime reason lots of movies are made in Vancouver/Georgia/Other Countries now. Hollywood will end up like Detroit.
rb808··on On Systemic Debt
> Much harder, and much longer: you couldn't release to production until someone with authority signed off on it, and that might take days.

Wow lucky guy, its only a few days for you.

rb808··on The Silence of the Never Facebookers
I'm not convinced there is a problem specifically with FB either. Personally its great to keep up to date with friends and family globally. I only spend 20 minutes a week though. I spent a lot more time on Twitter and Reddit and those platforms seem much more toxic.
rb808··on Ask HN: Career and life advice for a 30yo
I think this is pretty common in all professions teachers, doctors, even unskilled workers its like WTF.

Its worse for tech though because you salary probably wont be going up from here.

rb808··on Britain has gone two months without burning coal to generate power
Would be nice if that chart was g/person instead of kWh
rb808··on Apple will announce move to ARM-based Macs later this month
Is this going to be like the surface Pro X? Ie a copy with arm that is kinda interesting buy no one buys because its not very good - but v3 probably will be. https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/5/20948092/microsoft-surfac...
rb808··on How Google Meet's noise cancellation works
I wish everyone would just get a headset. It drives me nuts when people call me on speakerphone, of course they never hear the problem.
rb808··on Ask HN: Which tools have made you a much better programmer?
leetcode.

I hate I have to do these stupid exercises to be able to get a job, but I have learned some useful skills by looking at how I write code and comparing to faster solutions. It has changed how I write normal code, and helps me write automatically without thinking too much.

rb808··on Why skyscraper architects always return to Art Deco
Here is Pine street, which shows how tall the equitable building, with its neighbour. Remember these are >110 years old, were built when electricity was still in its early years.

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7083537,-74.0112452,3a,75y,1...

rb808··on A Crash in the Dollar Is Coming
The biggest problem with the dollar is America's ruthless crackdown on dollar transactions, examining everyone and criminalizing those who break the rules.

That isn't bad, the problem is you never know who's going to be in the bad box. Iran, Cuba had agreements with Obama administration and trade was opening up then a few years later you go to jail for making dollar payments with Iran see Huawei exec. Places like Indonesia, Saudi, Turkey, Argentina, Egypt are sometimes friends then suddenly enemies. I dont know why they will continue to want to hold dollars. I think if we see another 10 years of the Euro holding together and/or some good crypto currency dollar will fade.

rb808··on Performance of modern Java on data-heavy workloads
You're absolutely right. Its one reason I struggle with the modern fashion for immutable classes and FP, they are always making copies of everything, seems crazy.
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