Hacker News: talldatethrow

New comment by talldatethrow in "The world could run on older hardware if software optimization was a priority"

talldatethrow — Tue, 13 May 2025 19:56:00 +0000

I'm a layman, but in my opinion building quality software can't really be a differentiator because anyone can build quality software given enough time and resources. You could take two car mechanics and with enough training, time, assistance from professional dev consultants, testing, rework, so and so forth, make a quality piece of software. But you'd have spent $6 million to make a quality alarm clock app.

A differentiator would be having the ability to have a higher than average quality per cost. Then maybe you're onto something.

New comment by talldatethrow in "Ask HN: How are you acquiring your first hundred users?"

talldatethrow — Tue, 13 May 2025 19:50:22 +0000

That's what I would think. But then I don't really understand what the OP was saying.

New comment by talldatethrow in "Ask HN: How are you acquiring your first hundred users?"

talldatethrow — Tue, 13 May 2025 16:19:57 +0000

What do you mean by "cold start"? I can't figure it out, but are you saying because your site was very new google gave it more weight for those search terms and that's why you were ranking well on that competitive search terms?

New comment by talldatethrow in "All BART trains were stopped due to ‘computer networking problem’"

talldatethrow — Fri, 09 May 2025 21:15:15 +0000

Most people I know wouldn't take Bart if it was free. Dirty, noisy, and unsafe. I can't imagine anything can be done to make Americans take trains at scale unless atleast the unsafe part is handled, and then the dirty part atleast.

New comment by talldatethrow in "I decided to pay off a school’s lunch debt"

talldatethrow — Thu, 08 May 2025 02:58:30 +0000

I told you I went to public schools and made it into cal...while talking about people spending $4k a month of 1st grade.. And you decide to talk about the quality of UC Berkeley instead of the average 1st grade school in the SF Bay Area. But yes, I have the mental defect.

New comment by talldatethrow in "I decided to pay off a school’s lunch debt"

talldatethrow — Wed, 07 May 2025 19:56:10 +0000

It doesn't matter what percentile in the US it is, when a 2 bedroom apartment is $3k+ and the average small house is $6k to rent.

Also. If you haven't been to a public school in California recently you really don't know what has changed. I went to public school all my life and then ended up in Berkeley. I'm 40. It was borderline negligent for my parents to send me there in my opinion as a kid knowing what I know now. But we were pretty hard up for money.

But if you told me, should someone lease two luxury cars or send their kid to private school.... You'd have to be nuts to think you'd gain more from the cars than the school.

New comment by talldatethrow in "I decided to pay off a school’s lunch debt"

talldatethrow — Wed, 07 May 2025 19:53:03 +0000

No it doesn't. Living paycheck to paycheck means you don't have any left over each paycheck, and the worse version of it is that you don't even have emergency savings left over in case unforseen costs come up.

New comment by talldatethrow in "I decided to pay off a school’s lunch debt"

talldatethrow — Wed, 07 May 2025 19:03:38 +0000

It's all relative. Someone making $250k with a family in the SF Bay Area could be basically living paycheck to paycheck if they just try to appear casually financially well-off. Nice house, nice car, electricity is 4x more than Idaho for example so add bills, eat out a few times, and send one child to a $4k a month 1st grade and you're living paycheck to paycheck.

New comment by talldatethrow in "I decided to pay off a school’s lunch debt"

talldatethrow — Wed, 07 May 2025 02:00:26 +0000

I am dating someone that has a child in private school. First grade costs $4k+ a month, maybe even 6k I forget. Nothing in the parking lot or talking even screams wealthy. Every person I've met in the social circle, also send their kids to private school in the SF bay area. I haven't even met another adult that sends their kids to public school. These are people that make $250k-$600k probably. But that's not "wealthy" in the SF bay area.

New comment by talldatethrow in "When the Dotcom Bubble Burst"

talldatethrow — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 04:59:42 +0000

IMO this used to even be the value proposition for blue collar trade service companies. They had expertise, they had advanced tools and equipment, they had some economy of scale buying in bulk... So they would give you prices for things that even a DIYer would look at and go "well geez, that price is so fair I don't even think I could compete doing it myself. Where do I sign??"

Now that is totally gone, partially I think to tradesman/small business owner social media influencers, and prices are set as high as the market will bear. Sure, they're so high way fewer people are installing new sliding doors, but hey when they find one they make an extra $3k in 7 hours. Why do three jobs a day and make $2k profit when you can wait for the wealthier or more desperate person and make it all at once and go home?

New comment by talldatethrow in "Why fastDOOM is fast"

talldatethrow — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 01:40:05 +0000

I assume there's a way to pause a gif.

New comment by talldatethrow in "Zelensky leaves White House after angry meeting"

talldatethrow — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 00:54:31 +0000

I have a feeling your dislike of Trump and possibly even conservatives is clouding your judgement. Vance is well liked by basically all Trump supporters.

If Joe Biden has proven anything, it's that voters will vote for someone they barely like if they think it's helping their cause.

The only issue in play here is how many voters think lower crime, less wasteful spending, less racist hiring practices, and less illegal immigration is something they like. If they decide those things matter to them, JD is more than likable and capable enough for them to get behind.

New comment by talldatethrow in "Zelensky leaves White House after angry meeting"

talldatethrow — Sat, 01 Mar 2025 07:20:03 +0000

Personally most Trump supporters I know can only hope for a more Trumpian successor to Trump. Basically if JD Vance continues on his path he is looking like a sure thing for the Republican nomination obviously, but if any of Trump's tactics work he has a decent chance overall to ride that wave.

New comment by talldatethrow in "Dust from car brakes more harmful than exhaust, study finds"

talldatethrow — Sat, 15 Feb 2025 18:42:22 +0000

My Chevy volt has 199k miles and it's original brake pads and rotors are definitely almost new looking, but I'd say to be conservative they are 60%.

My cheap Chinese Walmart tires have lasted me 50k miles and are due to be replaced soon, but I spend zero attention to driving smoothly or in an eco mindset.

New comment by talldatethrow in "TikTok goes dark in the US"

talldatethrow — Sun, 19 Jan 2025 07:28:18 +0000

Basically everything I buy now means my money is going to China. Somehow that's ok, but letting me choose to consume their app, that's ok.

New comment by talldatethrow in "TikTok goes dark in the US"

talldatethrow — Sun, 19 Jan 2025 07:19:34 +0000

The message being displayed to users is very pro Trump right in the message.

And I assume you mean woke* content not DEI.

New comment by talldatethrow in "About availability of TikTok and ByteDance Ltd. apps in the United States"

talldatethrow — Sun, 19 Jan 2025 06:16:15 +0000

Great, maybe this will add more energy to making things browser based instead of app.

New comment by talldatethrow in "Ask HN: How can I realistically change careers?"

talldatethrow — Fri, 17 Jan 2025 18:59:08 +0000

As someone that did the whole burn the boats and force the change thing several times in my life.... That is exactly what I don't recommend.

Everyone here has great advice. But my #1 advice is to take all their advice and use it to get a new job.... Before quiting yours. Do not quit your job first. Sure it works for some people. But those that it doesn't work for end up wasting a lot of time and a lot of money.

If your dream of a career change isn't enough for you to give up nights and weekends to help facilitate it, then odds are you don't want it bad enough imo to really pull it off.

New comment by talldatethrow in "Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, but Trump might offer lifeline"

talldatethrow — Fri, 17 Jan 2025 16:57:39 +0000

Tbh, what you describe sounds nothing like forcing opium on a people. If mexico invaded and started making meth in the US, or started sending even more meth into the US than they do now by totally taking over the border, I would not begin taking meth.

New comment by talldatethrow in "Palm’s CEO emails Steve Jobs (2007)"

talldatethrow — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 08:24:32 +0000

How much money a company makes should not matter. You get paid by how hard you are to replace and how important your task is to continued revenue.

You can make your company $1 billion a day, and save countless lives, but if you can be replaced easily, do you expect to get paid much?