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sejordan

21 karma · joined May 1, 2013

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sejordan··on Sears has another chance to avoid closing down
I feel like every time there is a discussion about Amazon on the Internet, this point is brought up.

I spent about $9,000 on Amazon across 139 orders in 2018. I buy a lot on Amazon. I've never had a problem with receiving knockoff products. I don't understand how this can be such a prevalent issue when I've not run into it, given how much I use Amazon.

The only thing I can think is that, if I'm buying something expensive, I'll strictly only purchase items "Sold by: Amazon.com Services, Inc" or alternatively, I'll use a marketplace seller if the seller is the manufacturer of the item I'm buying.

sejordan··on Images of New MacBook Pro with Magic Toolbar Leaked in MacOS Sierra 10.12.1
The fact that you haven't had it enabled for years is probably why you can't understand its usefulness. It's just not part of your workflow because its not available. It does in fact provide a lot of value. As an example, entering uppercase alphanumeric codes is annoying without capslock (switching from holding shift for uppercase letters to remembering to let go of shift to enter a number really slows down entry).
sejordan··on Browsing your website does not mean I want your spam
This is like refraining from voting in an election because "my vote won't matter." If enough people "Report Spam" then even LinkedIn's email operation will start to be impacted.
sejordan··on Wal-Mart Plans to Test Grocery Delivery Through Uber, Lyft
There's a walmart near me that has been testing this. And it is essentially a drive thru. You place an order online (its for groceries, so yes you can order perishables), and have the option to either drive to the store park in a designated parking spot and push a button, an associate brings out your order, OR, they'll deliver it to your home.
sejordan··on The Evolution of Profanity
This pretty well sums up my feelings on how children's movies approach profanity. Or in the article, how the musical avoided using the word "belly."

The curse word itself is only offensive because of the meaning, or what it implies. The proof of this: say the word to someone who does not know it (for example, someone who does not speak the language); they won't be offended.

So, when a kids movie says "What the freak!?" or "What the fudge!?" the meaning is the same as "What the fuck!?" Or when a loud noise drowns out the speaker, we know what was said. So, then, why is this okay? Because we didn't hear the sounds? If I carry an airhorn around with me, go up to people and say to them, "You're a fa<HOOOONNNNKKKKK>!" they will be upset (and not just by the loud noise).

I've felt before that I'm just not offended by profanity. But after reading this article, I've had to really reconsider that view. I'm not okay with using "the N-word." When people say it, I cringe. I don't even want to type it, because it is offensive. But when I say "the N-word," I know what word I mean. You know what word I mean. You're probably not offended though, because we're just talking about the word. Using the word "nigger" in a conversation about the evolution of profanity should not offend anyone.

The article talks about how many of the words we consider offensive today are used to slur groups of people. This is why it's not offensive for black people to use the word in place of "buddy." It's not a slur, it is an endearment. From this, I conclude that using any word as a slur is offensive. To slur is to "make damaging or insulting insinuations or allegations about." That action is offensive. It's not the sounds that are offensive.

In closing, I would just like to say that you're all a bunch of <HOOOONNNKKKKKKK>!

sejordan··on Show HN: Sheetlabs – Turn your spreadsheets into APIs
I actually think I'll be using this quite soon. I've also shown it to an excited PM, who thinks this could be useful for some clients that have been building reports from spreadsheets.

For me, I think there's a great use case for prototyping applications with a spreadsheet. I don't intend to build a service that exposes spreadsheet data as an external facing API.

sejordan··on Waffle.io
Notice that this app was created by a group of interns at Rally, which is a larger, publicly traded company. This isn't just someone's side project...
sejordan··on How Poverty Taxes the Brain
I've found that automating my finances make a lot of those stresses go away.

I don't have to worry about accidentally overspending in my checking account and not being able to pay my bills because my bills are paid from a separate account, and they're all on auto-pay.

Likewise, my savings and retirement investments are automated and I just know that enough is going there. I have a checking account, which is labeled "Spending" and that's what I use to buy groceries, etc. It doesn't matter that it's literally dwindled down to almost $0 a couple times a month because my bills and investments are automatically managed.

My wife and I lived pretty poor for the first 3 years of our marriage, and only the last couple years have I been earning enough to be able to "set-it-and-forget-it" with my finances. The reduction in stress is HUGE, though. Earning more money definitely allows you to spend your time thinking about things that don't cause such stress.

sejordan··on Founders' Accents
My wife's family comes from the coastal islands off South Carolina.

They speak English, but I just could not understand anything the locals said. The dialect/culture is called Gullah: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gullah

sejordan··on Google has lowered the price of the Nexus 4 by $100
I went through the same thing, correcting everyone with "the next Nexus 4 will be Nexus 4 again, not Nexus 5"

And then I read some rumors saying it will have a full 5" screen. We'll see.

sejordan··on Tesla Model X
Unless you're talking about the height with the doors open being the problem, the Falcon Wings seem to require less space than the regular doors to open.

If you didn't notice, the picture on the linked page is interactive. Click-and-drag to open/close the doors to see.

sejordan··on Four Steps to Google, Without a Degree
I don't have a college degree. I just enrolled at a local college to finish my BS in Computer Science.

I've not exactly had trouble finding work, and make more than most college graduates. I'm going back because:

    * I don't want my resume thrown out because I don't have a degree. The climate is great for developers right now, but that may not always be the case. I can handle taking classes for the two years it will take me to finish the degree for a little extra job security. 
    * I want to learn the stuff! Being as I'm gainfully employed without a college degree, it would appear that I'm an excellent self-learner. Sure, maybe I am, but I know myself, and I know I'll be more likely to stick with learning artificial intelligence and computation theory if I'm concerned about keeping my grade up.
    * Also, on that end, I'm not good with advanced data structures. When interviewers break out questions that deal with these problems, I struggle. I could study more and learn them on my own, but the structure of a class makes it easier (to me).
    * My employer is paying for most of the tuition costs. I probably wouldn't consider it worth it if they weren't.
sejordan··on Four Steps to Google, Without a Degree
Also, the community college. In-district tuition at community colleges is typically less than $4000 for the whole year. The in-state tuition at Purdue is about $10,000 per year. Assuming no grants or scholarships, that's $28,000 for a degree from Purdue (their graduate CS program is ranked #20 (us news), not too shabby).
sejordan··on The Most Innovative Employees at Google Aren’t grads with Perfect SATs
I think it'd be a fair assumption that the percentage of Google employees with a perfect SAT score is higher than the national average. Just like the percentage of students at MIT with perfect SAT scores is higher than the national average.

Google employees aren't representative of the entire population.

sejordan··on My first Mac App - a distraction-free note taking app
It's because I can't see any content. My viewport is arguably smaller than most since I don't auto-hide my dock...

Here is what I see: http://i.imgur.com/HeProLG.png

sejordan··on My first Mac App - a distraction-free note taking app
I stared at the landing page for a few seconds, waiting for it to do something. Then, I clicked around furiously trying to figure out what I was supposed to do. Then I accidentally scrolled down and found the content.

The landing page is a little confusing...