billsmithaustin

9 ms·

31.
by billsmithaustin 4y ago
That's funny. I remember news reports about how Japanese consumers didn't want to buy American-made cars because of the perception that Japanese cars were higher quality. The salesmen tried to explain that American consumers did
32.
by billsmithaustin 4y ago
The value of your open source project is not a function of how many trolls spew vitriol about it. There will always be trolls. They’re background noise.
33.
by billsmithaustin 4y ago
I talked to someone who had a similar experience in New Zealand. As I understand it, this kind of treatment is more common in countries where the employment laws make it hard to fire someone. It is also more common when the employee's
34.
by billsmithaustin 4y ago
Thermally insulated password gloves?
35.
by billsmithaustin 4y ago
My daughter credits the test-taking techniques they taught in her SAT prep course for a big boost in her SAT score. She says the test-taking techniques were orthogonal to how well she knew the material. I'm happy for her but at the s
36.
by billsmithaustin 4y ago
So it translates the code into COBOL. That's awesome.
37.
by billsmithaustin 4y ago
Will be interesting to read reviews on the battery life.
38.
by billsmithaustin 4y ago
Are we really referring to data records as dossiers now? I think of a dossier as a record of things like suspected infidelity or membership in a dangerous political group. Do credit ratings and purchase history really rate as a dossier?
39.
by billsmithaustin 4y ago
Clever idea but I wonder how long before the shippers figure out those are really bike boxes.
40.
by billsmithaustin 4y ago
At my previous employer, every quarter we were supposed to update an elaborate spreadsheet describing how we measured up against the numerous criteria for the next level on the career ladder. I hated it. That said, there were lots of peopl
41.
by billsmithaustin 5y ago
At this point, wouldn’t any PDA be a hipster PDA?
42.
by billsmithaustin 5y ago
My high school physics teacher lent me his TRS-80. I learned my first assembly language on it. My whole career started with that.
43.
by billsmithaustin 5y ago
The tone and writing style make me think this was a piece of undergraduate fiction rather than a factual account written by a PhD.
44.
by billsmithaustin 5y ago
My favorite: "How do you make money?"
45.
by billsmithaustin 5y ago
Indeed published a pair of blog posts back in 2013 on how they evolved their architecture to use LSM trees. Part 1: https://engineering.indeedblog.com/talks/1-1-billion-evoluti... Part 2: https://engineeri
46.
by billsmithaustin 5y ago
I live in Austin. The bike infrastructure varies a lot depending on what part of town you’re in. No doubt that’s true for most places — including around the University of Texas. I’ve ridden many trips up and down Dean Keeton Street witho
47.
by billsmithaustin 5y ago
Previous discussion https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15486368
48.
by billsmithaustin 5y ago
Regardless, there need to be opportunities to re-evaluate decisions that don’t work out. Sometimes the project will need to backtrack as people discover what works and what doesn’t.
49.
by billsmithaustin 5y ago
No doubt a balance bike is an effective way to teach someone how to ride, but it also sounds like a way for bike companies to make more money. I taught my kids on normal bikes but with the seat lowered so that it was easy for their feet to
50.
Texas electrical grid: gas producers opted out of winterization(kut.org)
18 points by billsmithaustin 5y ago|0 comments
51.
by billsmithaustin 5y ago
No. It’s a computing museum so the admission fee would be denominated in “pound coin”.
52.
by billsmithaustin 5y ago
The wood textured patch is a nice touch. More electronic components should feature wood paneling.
53.
by billsmithaustin 5y ago
Broken link. Was there actually a study on that subject or was this just a way to start a conversation about taxes?
54.
by billsmithaustin 5y ago
The author meets a collection of friends at 7am because a later time conflicts with taking his kids to school. Friends, not co-workers.
55.
by billsmithaustin 5y ago
I wanted the first ant to climb out of the bunker, find the home nest destroyed, and yell, “You finally really did it. You maniacs! You blew it up!”
56.
by billsmithaustin 5y ago
The Deus ex machina ending ruined the whole thing.
57.
by billsmithaustin 5y ago
Planet of the Ducks it isn’t.
58.
by billsmithaustin 5y ago
I read the offenders were a rogue group of moral relativists. They said under the circumstances they did nothing wrong.
59.
by billsmithaustin 5y ago
In the 90’s I worked for a company whose C/C++ code needed to run on at least 7 different Unix versions: SunOS, Solaris, two different AIX versions, HP-UX, DGUX, and whatever Motorola’s Unix was. The slogan around the office was, “Ther
60.
by billsmithaustin 5y ago
As a parent myself, I think most parents go into it with the best intentions but do not realize how hard it is. Of the parents I know, a handful seem to be naturally good at it. The rest of us muddle through the best we can. I did not kee

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