andersonvom's comments

andersonvom | 3 years ago | on: I have complicated feelings about TDD

I think people sometimes forget that tests are made of code too. If it's possible to write bad code, it's certainly possible to write bad tests. And writing bad tests first (as in `test-driven`) won't make them any better. At some point, people see bad tests _and_ bad code together and instead of blaming it on the "bad" part, they blame it either on the tests, or on the fact that the tests were written first.

andersonvom | 4 years ago | on: We need to reclaim our attention

If the two horrible options were free from context, sure. But that's hardly (if ever) the case. It is very convenient to start from a place where A has power over B, then say "B is free to choose whatever crappy options A offers, because... freedom".

andersonvom | 4 years ago | on: We need to reclaim our attention

I think there are two main factors that are different (not necessarily in order):

* companies can much more easily weaponize their services and tailor them to get individuals addicted, than individual video games ever could. And the feedback loop happens much faster.

* it was easier to moderate video games, because they had a single purpose: entertainment. since you can be in a device for any number of reasons: gaming, studying, catching up, reading,... and _everyone_ is on their devices _all the time_ (both kids and parents), it's much harder to establish good boundaries.

andersonvom | 4 years ago | on: We need to reclaim our attention

> Everything the free market does is voluntary by definition. Every "intervention" is by definition not.

In some ideal world, where both parties of an exchange hold equal bargaining power, the "free" market might be "voluntary".

This is certainly not the current state of affairs, though. Being able to "choose" between a crappy option and a horrible option is anything but voluntary: "you can choose to work for me for little to no money... or you can choose to starve to death. it's your 'free' choice."

The very premise of what would make a free market efficient in the real world simply doesn't exist, but we keep trying to convince ourselves that it does because we don't know or aren't used to anything different.

andersonvom | 4 years ago | on: You can't download this image

It also works in this case, too: at some point the connection does close (if it doesn't, just hit escape) and you can save the image as usual, now from the cache.

andersonvom | 4 years ago | on: The Framework is the most exciting laptop I've used

It also goes a little bit beyond that: if one of your ports stops working (e.g. rust, water damage, etc), you can just buy a replacement port and you're back on track, as opposed to "welp, I guess I'll have to do without it..."

andersonvom | 4 years ago | on: Amazon Prime inflates prices, using the false promise of ‘free shipping’

It's great that we can use this as reference for what it used to be. Presumably, this is what competition should bring in: "traditional retail sucked, so amazon comes in and takes over it by offering something better."

The same thing would still apply now too: "if sellers are able to offer their goods elsewhere for cheaper, they should be able to", instead of being forced to raise prices everywhere.

andersonvom | 4 years ago | on: Nonnative English speakers share their gripes about speaking English

Languages are not inherently easy or hard. It all depends on where you're coming from: if you happen to already speak languages that are similar, then it can be said English will be easy to learn, otherwise, it's a language like any other. Just ask any Japanese or Chinese speaker how easy/hard it was to learn English.

The reason English got so popular is purely because of the power and wealth English speaking nations have amassed in the recent history.

andersonvom | 5 years ago | on: Chuck Feeney Is Now Officially Broke

Maybe it was the case, a long time ago, that the very rich accumulated their wealth by "living frugally", but it is certainly not the case anymore. Neither is the case that the estate tax discourages saving is just nonsense: at least in the US, the estate tax doesn't even apply is your estate is under $11M. [1]

> "As a result, only about 2,000 estates per year in the US are currently liable for federal estate tax." [2]

[1]: https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employe...

[2]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estate_tax_in_the_United_Sta...

andersonvom | 5 years ago | on: Chuck Feeney Is Now Officially Broke

This is already how things work in the US: you only need to file if your estate is greater than 11.5MM as of 2020 [1].

"As a result, only about 2,000 estates per year in the US are currently liable for federal estate tax." [2]

The argument that it "discourages living frugally" is just complete nonsense.

[1]: https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employe...

[2]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estate_tax_in_the_United_Sta...

andersonvom | 5 years ago | on: Linus Torvalds: 'I Do No Coding Any More'

You're talking about the title of the commit message. Yes, the title is supposed to be under 50 characters. Now add a blank line after it and you can write all you want (line wrap at 72 chars).

If you use markdown Syntax in your commit body, github and other tools will gladly render it correctly. You can grep for commit messages with "git log --grep <pattern>" and it will also search commit bodies as well. It's beautiful!

andersonvom | 5 years ago | on: Amazon added a non-compete after the employee entered the U.S. on an L1B visa

Lobbying itself is not bad: legislators need information to make decisions about things, and lobbying provides them with it.

The bad, and frankly unbelievable part, is the whole "money is speech" and the fact that it's OK for lobbyists to just transfer money in many different forms to politicians as a firm of persuasion to vote for/against certain pieces of legislation.

andersonvom | 6 years ago | on: IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete with TurboTax

> They can't so much as coordinate with the PAC.

There were whole weeks of "The Colbert Report" where Colbert and Jon Stewart legally set up a super PAC for colbert to run for "president of South Carolina" where they exploited every bit of the super PAC legislation just to show how easy it is and what kind of legal things people can do with the money. The "you cannot coordinate" part was hilariously easy to get around.

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