Merv's Politically Incorrect Audio Blog

Discussion in 'SBAF Blogs' started by purr1n, Dec 26, 2018.

  1. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    I process all my photographs using GIMP. I've heard "It'll never be successful because of the name." I think I looked that up once, then forgot about it and just went on working with the program.

    Whatever it was, I guess I'm more offended by Microsoft and Adobe.

    I am occasionally tempted by some of the other processing software, but then I think, wait... I'd have to install Windows.

    I didn't know what a SME was until a few minutes ago.

    (I do sometimes think that using heaps of free software leads to a certain amount of entitlement. But, it is not that I'm not prepared to pay: I am. I'm just not prepared to pay over and over and over again.)
     
  2. caute

    caute Lana Del Gayer than you

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    Me either, only instead a year ago, when I was contracting for a FAANG company. Everyone would say "SME" as if it were a word, "smee"—only to me it sounded like "snee" and I was too embarrassed to ask what it was bc it sounded so ridiculous... when I found out, I went "ohhh, well why the f**k didn't they just say that then..."

    Having worked for series B, two person startups to FAANG, I hate the words "agile", "pivot", and "optimize"—I can't stand the jargon of the Valley.
     
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  3. crazychile

    crazychile Eastern Iowa's Spiciest Pepper

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    10-15 yrs ago I had to go to a 2 day Agile training because that was the latest thing. The culty Agile-as-a-second-language jargon was so cringey. We still do Agile today where I work but have avoided a lot of the more esoteric terms on my team. The planning events are 2 days of wasting time when 2 hrs would do. One of the reasons I got into engineering was to get away from the fancy terminology for simple concepts that I experienced in sales and marketing. Now the same problems exist in engineering.
     
  4. Biodegraded

    Biodegraded Friend

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    This is the common characteristic of all those business-management philosophies, regardless of their names and stated intentions: more time is spent on the process for its own sake than on anything (quantity, quality) to do with the product.

    I avoided Agile but twice went through its predecessor Lean (the consultancies, at least up here in Canada, didn't seem able or willing to insinuate the next trends into the oil industry until later in their cycles), in which, in the words of one of the trainers, "nobody ever loses their job, but instead of doing the work they were doing before, they work to implement Lean processes" - which translates in real terms to a higher proportion of middle managers and a consequent decline in productivity.

    In the oil business, this often works out ok for the technical people because middle managers are the fodder of the (way more regular than in tech) layoff rounds - so if you keep your technical/productive job you're more insulated, because a minimum number of proles are still required to do the actual work; or, if you fancy a break until the next boom, you'd become one of the middle managers and be happy with the higher salary until the (never too far off) crash and the bigger termination package that results.
     
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    Last edited: Mar 12, 2023
  5. Metro

    Metro Friend

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    I'm a software engineer and my previous project was in React Native (framework for building cross-platform mobile apps). In a React Native version update, I discovered that a parameter for a module had been renamed from "blacklist" to "excludedList". This was a breaking change, meaning that when developers upgraded to the next version of React Native, there would be an error unless they went in and renamed the parameter in their own code.
     
  6. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    Errrm... FAANG?

    (OK, I googled. But you see what you did there? Just as they smeed you, you faanged me... Using corporate jargon as if everybody knows it. We don't.)

    This though, pleases me. Google says it's an acronym, and hey, looks as if it is! Or maybe its the stopped-clock thing. At least it's correct twice a day.

    :sail:
     
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  7. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    I tried explaining to my boss that I'm a LSS black belt and scrum master that can bend his burn down curve and help him matrix his employees but he looked at me with a blank stare and then suggested I take a Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion course.
     
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  8. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    This is what ai bots writing tinder profiles looks like...
     
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  9. wormcycle

    wormcycle Friend

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    Is it possible to like China's Xi? Well maybe for 15 mins in my life and I am already ashamed of myself :(

    I checked Xi statements about Putin nuclear threats in 2022. He said it three times to Scholtz and others that he finds it unacceptable.
    But we heard insanities in Russian TV about nuking this and that, Warsaw, London etc.. . Even today.

    So finally Xi had enough, and made Putin say it. Here is the direct quote from Russian press agency Interfax:

    "Russia, China declare unacceptability of unleashing nuclear war - statement
    MOSCOW. March 21 (Interfax) - Russia and China said it is unacceptable to unleash a nuclear war in which there can be no winners, calling on all nuclear powers not to deploy weapons outside their territories and withdraw them from abroad.
    "[...] The parties reiterate that there can be no winners in a nuclear war and it should never be unleashed," a joint statement signed by the Russian and Chinese leaders following talks in Moscow said."
     
  10. Entropy

    Entropy Facebook Friend

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    Obviously, there's an ulterior motive here... probably for Russia to point to later if Depleted uranium is used against Russian forces, while China gets the insurance of being neutral if something happens...
     
  11. wormcycle

    wormcycle Friend

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    I will not dig into the motives for neutering Putin nuclear threats. It has been pretty clear to me that this is the last thing China would allow to happen but making Putin saying it, sends the message. And it makes Xi look good unfortunately.
     
  12. dasman66

    dasman66 Self proclaimed lazy ass - friend

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    I thought "not to deploy weapons outside their territories" was the major out. IOW, Russia considers Ukraine their territory.
     
  13. mitochondrium

    mitochondrium Friend

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    There are many different aspects, I found it very interesting, that nuclear powers should not keep nuclear weapons outside of their territories, meaning the US should not have any nuclear weapons outside US territory. I wonder how many they have in Europe (and other regions) at the moment.

    Edit: included the important „not“
     
    Last edited: Mar 22, 2023
  14. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Basically hundreds of US warheads throughout NATO except France because France has its own and likes to do its own thing. Also in subs, of which are there probably a dozen deployed in the oceans at any one time.
     
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  15. mitochondrium

    mitochondrium Friend

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    On another note, I think a republican senator called Russia a glorified gas station (before the war).
    Now some people think that China‘s main political interest in Russia is its capability to prove a nuisance for the West and it’s main economic interest in Russia is as a super cheap gas station.
     
  16. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    China hates Russia - lots of historical context behind it. They are friends of convenience. I wouldn't trust Xi (or any other prior China leaders) like what Obama, Bush, and Clinton did. Putin isn't that dumb, but really, he's got no choice.

    In the end, this war is dumb. Maybe the Ukrainians move the borders a bit out from where they are today. It's a sad fact for Zelenskyy, but I get why he's trying to get more. We'll see what they can do with their spring offensive. This won't be much different from the Winter War where Russia grabbed some land from Finland at the cost of many lives - well except this one has lasted longer.
     
    Last edited: Apr 3, 2023
  17. mitochondrium

    mitochondrium Friend

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    Thanks for:

    a) the information (I would have expected fewer)

    b) the protection this provides not only to the US but also other nations where people enjoy the freedom of speaking their mind
     
  18. Kernel Kurtz

    Kernel Kurtz Friend

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  19. Biodegraded

    Biodegraded Friend

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  20. sp33ls

    sp33ls Friend

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    Having since moved away from Silicon Valley and more recently laid off by a FAANG company, I concur. : )

    SME is just one of many...
     

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