billions (u/billions)

billions commented on Protobuf-ES: Protocol Buffers TypeScript/JavaScript runtime buf.build/blog/protobuf-e... · Posted by u/jacobwg

arein3 · 3 years ago

Usually when visiting a website, saving a few kilobytes on the client side on requests to backend does not make any difference.

billions · 3 years ago

Agreed. ProtoBufs slows code iteration velocity tremendously. Saving 100 milliseconds on page load while reducing developer efficiency by 30% = a net worse product for end users.

billions commented on Apple to withhold its latest employee perks from unionized store bloomberg.com/news/articl... · Posted by u/alphabetting

lovich · 3 years ago

I think we might come from very different worlds if people higher up the chain are more accountable for customer disgruntlement in your experience.

That being said, I could see your point of view if you were in an org where that was true

billions · 3 years ago

By your logic an unqualified person could attain the CEO job. The CEO is picked by the shareholders to maximize shareholder value. The top boss is extremely well vetted to make sure they make good decisions to protect shareholders' money. The CEO's #1 job is to hire & fire managers that let him keep his job by increasing sales. And so on down the chain.

How could people at the bottom be more "accountable for customer disgruntlement"? They have less skin in the game than people up the hierarchy.

billions commented on Apple to withhold its latest employee perks from unionized store bloomberg.com/news/articl... · Posted by u/alphabetting

lovich · 3 years ago

Does that not apply to management? What if the end users preferred a cheaper product rather than paying out exec bonuses? What if end users preferred a well made product rather than cutting corners to keep costs down?

billions · 3 years ago

The higher up the hierarchy, the more accountable they are to the customer. If management doesn't increase sales by providing an offering at a competitive price, sales will slump and someone will get fired. This is the opposite of union shops where the manager to employee ratio is much higher because nobody gets fired for being a burden on the customer's wallet.

billions commented on Apple to withhold its latest employee perks from unionized store bloomberg.com/news/articl... · Posted by u/alphabetting

tibbon · 3 years ago

I'm a coder, and now in a union. I'm happy about this. No longer can management kick the can down the road on things that many of us wanted to directly address.

I'm also not just concerned about myself and my own compensation, I greatly care about my team overall. Sure, I can muscle my way up through performance reviews and such but not everyone has the same background or privilege I do. I'm happy to have a union to represent everyone, and not be happy with a few people having a lot of leverage.

Caring about others... who would have thought?

billions · 3 years ago

"No longer can management kick the can down the road on things that many of us wanted to directly address."

so you choose to prioritize your desires over customer needs? what if end users preferred to keep their cash instead of pay for your code refactor of a feature nobody uses?

billions commented on Black Conservative Programmer · Posted by u/BracketMaster

billions · 4 years ago

My bet is HN will downvote this post because HN fights hard to "conserve" against alternate viewpoints such as those of the author

billions commented on Tether Required Recapitalization in May 2022 kalzumeus.com/2022/05/20/... · Posted by u/jlhonora

billions · 4 years ago

Bitcoin is the real stable coin. Everything else is fluctuating in price discovery until hyperbitcoinization completes.

billions commented on Bitcoin's fungibility graveyard sethforprivacy.com/posts/... · Posted by u/rzk

magicjosh · 4 years ago

It really does seem like the main purpose Bitcoin is succeeding at is sort of a digital gold. It's not good as cash, privacy, or anything else. Lightning seems like a joke compared to the types of efforts happening on Ethereum.

Appreciate this thorough analysis of problems with cryptocurrency.

Disclosure: crypto owner

billions · 4 years ago

Can you expand on "Lightning seems like a joke compared to the types of efforts happening on Ethereum" ? I was just in El Salvador and Lightning was a faster and more convenient experience than credit cards...

billions commented on 50 Years Ago, Sugar Industry Quietly Paid Scientists to Blame Fat (2016) npr.org/sections/thetwo-w... · Posted by u/mgh2

dxgarnish · 5 years ago

So, I've got a highly speculative hypothesis that BIG COFFEE will have a similar tobacco-like health event in the future. These are my semi-conspiratorial circumstantial evidences:

1. It's basically burnt bean water. Roasted is just a marketing term.

2. The constant rate of "New Study Finds Coffee Improves [insert health benefit]" articles

3. The incredibly powerful forces (industrial, corporate, personal) that would hold back such an event

I'm not willing to defend this hypothesis, but I would love some steel-manning

billions · 5 years ago

Coffee increases heart rate. Heart failure is a leading cause of death and caffeine could be a contributor at scale.

billions commented on CDC website built by Deloitte at a cost of $44M is abandoned due to bugs technologyreview.com/2021... · Posted by u/donsupreme

ceejayoz · 5 years ago

The Hubble Space Telescope? (and the other "Great Observatories" satellites)

billions · 5 years ago

Hubble was funded in the 1970s with a proposed launch in 1983, but the project was beset by technical delays, budget problems, and the 1986 Challenger disaster. It was finally launched by Space Shuttle Discovery in 1990, but its main mirror had been ground incorrectly, resulting in spherical aberration that compromised the telescope's capabilities. The optics were corrected to their intended quality by a servicing mission in 1993.

Meh.

u/billions

KarmaCake day444October 3, 2011View Original