pconner's comments

pconner | 2 months ago | on: Eat Real Food

Actual human RCTs do not show any increased systemic inflammation when consuming seed oils like canola vs. animal fats, and saturated fat consumption from animal cooking fats can still drive cardiovascular risk, even if it is not the singular cause.

Fried foods are bad for you regardless. The idea that one could swap out a seed oil for some other fat and keep all of their bad habits otherwise in place and magically become healthy is a fantasy.

pconner | 8 years ago | on: Two Ex-Googlers Want to Make Bodegas and Mom-And-Pop Corner Stores Obsolete

It's honestly impressive how tech people continue to exhibit a complete lack of social awareness. This is a product no one asked for (NYers actually enjoy bodegas as they are), and the PR seems to be blatantly pro-gentrification (i.e. getting rid of one of the few viable business opportunities for lower-class immigrants is spun as a good thing).

pconner | 8 years ago | on: The Google memo isn’t sexist or anti-diversity, it’s science

Interview pass criteria are not based on the gender/race of the candidate. The criteria are the same for all candidates for the same role. The goal of diversity/inclusion programs is to find more diverse candidates to interview in the first place.

Edit: referring to Google specifically

pconner | 9 years ago | on: Brilliant Jerks Cost More Than They Are Worth

> "Stop. That's stupid, try again."

If you can't say ~why~ it's "stupid," your comment is not useful. And if you do say why it's stupid, those reasons are much more important than the inflammatory adjective "stupid," so just say those instead.

pconner | 9 years ago | on: Brilliant Jerks Cost More Than They Are Worth

In this cases, shouldn't the discussion be purely about the technical merits of the idea, rather than emotions of the people speaking about it? I would count removing unneeded emotions from the conversation as a positive thing.

pconner | 9 years ago | on: Brilliant Jerks Cost More Than They Are Worth

> As long as the person you are saying it to understands that you respect him/her

what kind of person would say that with full vitriolic sincerity to someone they respect? Why say that when you could say, "I strongly disagree for the following reasons..." or something else similarly diplomatic and actually productive?

pconner | 9 years ago | on: Systems Past: software innovations we actually use (2014)

> FORTRAN’s conflation of functions (an algebraic concept) and subroutines (a programming construct) persists to this day in nearly every piece of software, and causes no end of problems

I'm not really sure what the author's point is here. I think "subroutine" is a more descriptive name than the more commonly-used "function," but I'm not aware of any problems this has caused.

pconner | 9 years ago | on: Donald Trump Is Elected President

> trigger-warning=just google it. there are people that go in panic when they hear certain stuff (kinda insane really)

There are people who experience panic disorder/ptsd. Being "triggered" into a panic attack can literally require hospitalization. Just because you are fortunate enough to not experience this doesn't mean that all people are.

pconner | 9 years ago | on: What Killed the Jingle?

People who complain about downvotes get downvoted, especially if they make a whole new comment (or more, wow) just to complain.

pconner | 9 years ago | on: Amazon software engineer interview

Late reply from me, but:

1. Introduction to Algorithms/CLRS (~The~ algorithms book) https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/introduction-algorithms

Also, Skiena's "Algorithm Design Manual" for something a bit lighter.

2. I chose to use Python when possible for technical interviews, as it allowed me to focus more on the algorithms/solution, rather than boilerplate. I rarely use Python in my actual job, but I still prefer it for interviews.

pconner | 9 years ago | on: Amazon software engineer interview

Get the book, "Cracking The Coding Interview." It was the most valuable resource for me in preparing for technical interviews near the end of my time in undergrad.

pconner | 9 years ago | on: Four common mistakes in audio development

> It's possible in Go, unlike many scripting languages, to write in an allocate-up-front style that doesn't generate garbage, in pretty much exactly the same way you'd do it in C

I am very interested in this. Do you have any links with more info?

pconner | 9 years ago | on: Reimagining the future of routers

Yup. I like microservices as an architecture paradigm, but they are a tool, and can be used well or misused just like any other tool. And sometimes they are not the right tool for a job.

pconner | 10 years ago | on: Trying to interview Larry Page

> Suggestion to all potential future reporters out there: pay more attention in your math, science and engineering classes, and less in your liberal (f)arts classes.

No. You do not create technology that serves real humans by refusing to study the humanities.

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