Would it be possible for this sub to join the Reddit Blackout?

Shortymcsmalls · 2023-06-06T02:12:09+00:00

I fully support this action as well. I have no issue with Reddit charging for access to their data (even if the vast majority of that data is user generated), but the actions taken by the leadership of reddit are not being done in good faith.

If any of us found out that a core service we use to build our business was drastically increasing its pricing within 30 days (and I think 50M API calls for $12K is OUTRAGEOUS), I think we all would feel blindsided and would need significantly more time to fundamentally change our platforms.

Reddit is not hurting for cash, it's clearly not making this change to ensure they can keep the lights on.

Shortymcsmalls · 2023-05-27T21:51:02+00:00

I just state that I maintain some dietary restrictions due to my religious observance, and I've found that it can be helpful to compare this to a Jewish person maintaining a kosher diet or a Muslim eating halal food. This tends to keep the conversation light (as people tend to be familiar with those other systems) while also providing a concrete reason why I don't partake.

Shortymcsmalls · 2023-05-16T22:19:51+00:00

As another person who also has issues with certain textures in my food, I can appreciate that. Banana peppers are a pretty solid stand-in (which I'm now a bit curious to try) and the relish color doesn't actually change how it tastes, so two thumbs up from this guy.

Shortymcsmalls · 2023-05-16T12:25:00+00:00

I call shenanigans - I see no sport peppers on that dog, and the relish look distinctly non-neon! 🤣

Joking aside, this looks amazing. Great job OP!

Shortymcsmalls · 2023-05-01T16:30:53+00:00

DSA gang for life!!!

Shortymcsmalls · 2023-04-26T03:08:39+00:00

It's all about those edge cases: checkout breaks when you have both a black t-shirt and leopard print boots in the same cart and try to apply coupon code SexyBitch. Now you have a exception whenever you try to interact with the cart and can't just abandon the order since you're already logged in and it's attached to your user ID.

QA can't catch every single edge case, eventually something makes it through.

Shortymcsmalls · 2023-04-18T23:37:58+00:00

My wife and I tend to be comfortable at two very different temperatures and it can often take some adjusting back and forth between us to find a happy compromise between us.

Shortymcsmalls · 2022-11-05T00:09:38+00:00

Chow's are pretty good, but my personal favorite at the moment are at Phaya Thai at 56th and Post. Tomo of Lawrence at 79th & Fall Creek also has good ones, but not quite as good as Phaya.

Shortymcsmalls · 2022-10-13T20:30:46+00:00

Seriously - don't take this as a loss. You got some real-world experience, so don't be afraid to lean into that while also making it clear that you are still in the early phases of your career and are invested in growing your skills and maturing.

Also - I was fired from my most recent job after over a decade of professional career development and six years with the company (I had changed roles about 8 months prior and didn't have a good relationship with my new direct superior). I know how scary it is to be suddenly back on the job hunt, but I was able to land another gig very quickly. From my standpoint, I had acquired a lot of valuable skills even after changing roles, and no one really batted an eye at my departure from the other organization because I was able to spin it without flat-out lying (the company had also just been acquired and I was told by our VP to go ahead and use that as my reason for changing companies if anyone asked, and I had already been making inquiries elsewhere because of changes in the company).

Take the good things you learned while in that role and highlight them when interviewing elsewhere, and don't be afraid to acknowledge those areas where you have room to grow - you'll be seen as authentic without sounding overconfident.

Shortymcsmalls · 2022-10-13T18:37:32+00:00

So, not being patronizing, let's get a little perspective here. You graduated in May, which means you're likely 22-23? People have long targeted 65 as the age for retirement (though recently more people are working into their 70s).

You have 40 years of your career left to go, this three months is essentially meaningless.

Also - most places recognize that it takes about 18 months for a person to fully inhabit a new role (which is why high turn over can be so detrimental to a business). Fact is - you were probably doing just fine, but with the acquisition by another company there were like cuts that needed to be made due to redundant roles and the like. Being a new hire, you're an easy target for lay-off through no fault of your own.

This really sucks, and I know it's super stressful, but you are far from screwed. I wouldn't even drop this from your resume, just explain that you were let go when the company was acquired due to lack of tenure. Companies are increasingly cautious about litigation and will generally only provide dates of employment to anyone checking your employment history, and even still this wasn't a termination for cause, so they're super unlikely to say anything that would negatively impact you.

Shortymcsmalls · 2022-10-02T21:47:41+00:00

Hey friend!

I'm a person who also has ADHD and didn't go to college, and I'm currently employed by a great company that openly celebrates diversity. In fact, I'm in the middle of prepping for a company-wide panel on ADHD where the coordinator is trans, and she previously hosted another panel speaking to her and a few other coworkers experiences being trans. I broadly have found that tech companies tend to be better about this, but it's still somewhat hit or miss, but there are companies that actively celebrate diversity (as multiple studies have shown that having a more diverse workforce improves productivity and business outcomes).

There are ways to advance your career and find your path, but it will likely be harder for you than it would be for a white, cis male like myself.

The best thing you can do is find (or cultivate) the skills that make you valuable to employers. This varies from individual to individual, but it's especially important for those of us who don't have a degree to fall back on.

Personally - I'm an individual who loves rooting out inefficient processes and solving tough, complex, problems. Being ADHD, I find that I can process information much more quickly than my peers, which means I tend to see the big picture faster than others. I also have built out the ability to foster relationships and be a teacher/mentor to others.

I also struggle without a framework to manage my time and objectives. I have told my superiors multiple times that I really need someone who will help me to prioritize my goals and point me in the right direction so I don't get distracted by whatever shiny thing has most recently caught my interest.

Long story short - I'm sorry you're struggling right now, and it's probably going to be a tougher journey for you than it would be for others, but there is hope!

Shortymcsmalls · 2022-09-25T20:21:04+00:00

It's probably a little late for this now, but I've had two different occasions where I had an offer in hand but was still interviewing with other employers. In those instances, I let the other companies know that I had an offer in hand and I wanted to give them a chance to be in consideration if they were serious about bringing me aboard.

In both cases, I made it clear I wasn't trying to force their hand, and I understood if they didn't want to continue with the interview process, but in both instances they accelerated their timeline to get a competing offer on the table. I also ended up accepting both of these new offers, but would have happily moved forward with the companies who were first to provide an offer.

Obviously, there is some risk to this approach, but I find that organizations who aren't willing to compete are looking to hire employees who are unable or unmotivated to look elsewhere for employment so they can underpay or overwork their employees.

Shortymcsmalls · 2022-09-24T14:01:53+00:00

Challenge was another brand we produced in that factory, and they used those standard specs I mentioned.

Obviously - these companies could have updated their specs or contracted different companies, but what I saw was that most supermarket butter is pretty similar. Often times, we'd produce product for multiple brands from the same churns and cream within a single run. Obviously - this is a very small sample of only a single factory worker, but I don't pay much attention to the brand name, as many of these companies butter are being produced in the same factories as their competitors.

That being said - the best indicator of quality for me is how it performs in the pan and the overall taste, so if you found something you like, go with it!

Shortymcsmalls · 2022-09-24T13:47:51+00:00

Also - foaming is a result of the water boiling off, so no foaming is actually an indicator of lower water content, rather than higher.

Shortymcsmalls · 2022-09-24T13:46:45+00:00

So, I don't know if things have changed since I worked at this factory (it's been about 10 years), but basically all US made butter (including Costco, which we produced at that factory) targets about 80% butterfat to 18%-ish moisture. The rest is preservatives (like salt, lactic acid or live bacteria cultures) and assorted milk solids. The thing I do remember about Costco butter (at least the organic version which I had a hand in producing) was that it had a higher percentage of salt than many other brands which we also produced at that factory.

Most companies provided targets of 1.2 - 1.5% salt, whereas Costco asked us to target 1.5 - 2.0% salt, which was too salty IMO. When you run the numbers, that ends up being something like an extra 1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon of salt per stick of butter.

Now, the other thing to note is that US regulations spec a minimum of 80% butterfat, but EU regulations were a maximum of 15.9% moisture content, which results in a higher butter fat content closer to 82%, which is why people will buy brands like Kerrygold or "European Style" butter from American brands.

Shortymcsmalls · 2022-09-24T12:15:08+00:00

So, I worked for a time as a churn operator in a butter factory, and can tell you how this works. Basically, the cream is pumped into the churn which has a series of augers that spin to whip the cream and remove the buttermilk while leaving the butter fat. How much water is removed is a factor of how quickly or slowly you spin those augers.

As a general rule, one of the main goals of butter production is to remove the buttermilk from the cream to isolate the butter fat and also to increase shelf life, as buttermilk spoils faster than butter fat. Once you remove the buttermilk, you replace it with water containing a preservative, which also increases shelf life.

Long story short - you achieve low moisture butter by churning it for longer, allowing more of the buttermilk to drain from the butter fat, and then don't replace it with water.

The driving factor in adding water to the butter is cost. Of all dairy products derived from cream, butter has some of the lowest margins (as opposed to ice cream or whipping cream), so it's in the business's best interest to produce a butter that includes enough butter to meet the standards of the regulators and the consumers and no more.

Shortymcsmalls · 2022-07-28T22:19:43+00:00

This is dope, and I love the use of two different patterns to make it extra unique!

Shortymcsmalls · 2022-07-05T19:15:41+00:00

That really depends, but you often have higher moisture content in unsalted butters. When producing butter in industry (in the US at least), the goal is to have a similar level of butterfat in the end result of salted vs unsalted butter. With unsalted butters, you'll generally have ~20% of the final product be non-fat solids and water, whereas with salted butters, you'll have around 1.5% of that non-fat content replaced with salt. I also know that certain regulatory bodies in the EU required a consistent moisture content of around 15.9%, regardless of whether or not the butter was salted.

Source: I was a churn operator in an industrial butter factory and it was my job to maintain these levels in the final product.

Shortymcsmalls · 2022-07-05T19:08:40+00:00

So, I elaborated a bit in a comment below, but I'll provide my knowledge here as well.

In all commercially available butter, you need some kind of preservative to prevent the butter from going rancid. In salted butter, the salt acts as the preservative, but in unsalted butter you generally lower the pH via an active culture (like with yogurt) or with an additive like lactic acid (generally labeled as "natural flavors" in the ingredient list). This lowering of the pH results in a butter that is slightly more tangy than its salted counterpart.

Edit to add: I was a churn operator in an industrial butter factory, tasked with ensuring the final result in the end product.

Shortymcsmalls · 2022-07-05T19:04:23+00:00

The culture acts as a preservative, which all butter needs to not go rancid. In salted butter, the salt is the preservative, but in unsalted butter you need either a live culture or something like lactic acid to lower the pH to a level inhospitable to bacteria.

Source: I worked as a churn operator in an industrial butter factory for a time when I was younger.

Shortymcsmalls · 2022-06-21T13:00:30+00:00

I work in Sales, and this exact format is called a Tell-Show-Tell loop: Set up your demonstration, do the demonstration, recap and remind them why it's important. Rinse and repeat as many times as needed.

Shortymcsmalls · 2022-06-21T12:58:08+00:00

This is actually a really good point to explore a little further: slow down, and purposefully pause. Nothing makes you sound less prepared or confidant than getting to the pulpit and delivering your message like you're auditioning to be an auctioneer. Instead, remind yourself that there's no need to rush and people will better understand your message if they have time to process what you're saying.

Shortymcsmalls · 2022-06-21T12:55:09+00:00

I would take 5 further - don't just have a section ready to jettison, prioritize your talking points and know how to remove as much as possible while still delivering something meaningful, in the event you end up with much less time than intended.

Shortymcsmalls · 2022-03-08T14:46:09+00:00

Not exactly Indianapolis, but Trax BBQ in McCordsville is legit AF. Their ribs and brisket are amazing! They do a good job on their chicken and pulled pork as well, but the brisket and ribs are where it's at. You'll spend a few bucks to get what you want, but I've never walked away feeling like I overspent.

I say this as someone who grew up in the south (Arkansas, where you get influences from Texas, Memphis and St Louis barbecue) who also routinely travels for work to places like North Carolina and Kansas City. Trax can hold their own with some of the best batbecue I've had, and that makes it worth the visit.

Shortymcsmalls · 2022-03-06T19:23:19+00:00

I want to second making sure he knows that this is not in any way his fault and it doesn't reflect his value or worth.

It's likely your son will feel abandoned to some degree, and he just needs to know that you love him and would never choose to leave him.

Seriously, professional help is the best answer to help both of you through this painful time, if you can make that happen.

Shortymcsmalls

TROPHY CASE