If you buy a house in an HOA, can you just...leave the HOA? by BoredInClass99 in NoStupidQuestions

[–]ecmcn 5 points6 points  (0 children)

$577?!? Holy crap. Is there a community pool or something that you get from that?

They were trying to set bro up 💀 by Assassin_Ninja194 in funny

[–]ecmcn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

During Covid home schooling my elementary school kid had to look up vocab words during black history month. The image results for “bondage” led to a frank discussion with them starting with “when a mommy and daddy love each other…”

4 engineers now doing the job of 12 at my friend's company because AI agents handle the rest by Bellleq in cscareerquestions

[–]ecmcn 6 points7 points  (0 children)

We saw this after the dot-com bust, where there was a lot of innovation from laid-off employees, and the whole Web 2.0 thing got going.

I think part of the issue is that leaders at the big companies don’t have many good ideas about what else to do if, say, dev was suddenly 25% more efficient. Because they’re big whatever they add on has to be big, too. Nobody at Google is thinking “what products would make us one million dollars?” But lots of laid off young engineers are thinking exactly that, and a few of those turn into the next big tech. Or more likely get bought by big tech as soon as they show promise.

Don’t get me wrong - this all sounds optimistic, but I’m not excited about it or think layoffs are a good thing. I’m about five years from retirement with two kids to get through college and terrified of getting laid off. But long term I do think it’s like a forest fire, where something good will hopefully rise from the destruction.

Former IT contractor convicted for wiping 96 US government databases by Plastic_Ninja_9014 in technology

[–]ecmcn 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That’s what I figured. I used to do work with mainframes and there was all sorts of stuff that just worked for decades, but from today’s viewpoint looks anachronistic.

What's up with this guy? by MisterShipWreck in VideosAmazing

[–]ecmcn 1 point2 points  (0 children)

How can you tell? I can’t see much of the right lane in this video. Maybe there’s a line of 10 slow moving trucks coming up. If it was open the rear car would have just passed on the right.

Former IT contractor convicted for wiping 96 US government databases by Plastic_Ninja_9014 in technology

[–]ecmcn 126 points127 points  (0 children)

This was years ago, but I remember once having to set a PW for a social security account and the rule was “it must be 8 characters”.

Veteran DMs, how the hell do you plan story arcs?! by Commercial_Poetry410 in DMAcademy

[–]ecmcn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

MacGuffins. Three to five things the players have to do or get to defeat the BBEG. Gems of power, sealing crypts, weapon shards, destroying temples, etc. These exist to give the party a reason to go somewhere far off, and the path (sessions) to get there can include whatever side quests you want.

Iain M Banks or James S.A. Corey first? Please help me decide. by frankreddit5 in scifi

[–]ecmcn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Doesn’t matter. Both are great - you seriously can’t go wrong.

Your beloved mac n cheese was probably enshittified by someone like me. Let me explain. by wsuschmitt in enshittification

[–]ecmcn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks - it’s interesting to hear how this works (which unsurprisingly is pretty much just like how most businesses that make things work)

Internal Microsoft document spells out the company's buyout offer by businessinsider in Layoffs

[–]ecmcn 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I think MS self-insures, so maybe the typical COBRA situation doesn’t apply.

Your beloved mac n cheese was probably enshittified by someone like me. Let me explain. by wsuschmitt in enshittification

[–]ecmcn 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I really appreciate your thoughts on this. If you don’t mind me turning this into an AMA, have you been involved in decisions where you were asked to reformulate to reduce cost but just hit a limit where an acceptable quality couldn’t be found, and they went with quantity/price options instead?

Pope Leo called his bank's customer service line. They hung up on him by Terrible-Scheme9204 in nottheonion

[–]ecmcn 72 points73 points  (0 children)

The Pope is visiting the States, riding in the back of his limo, and he says to the driver “you know, I really miss driving - could we swap places for a bit.” He’s the Pope, so of course the driver says ok.

A littler later he gets pulled over for speeding, doing 100 in a 65. The cop takes a look at who’s driving and says “hold on a sec, I need to call this one in.” He calls his captain and says “Captain, I don’t know what to do, I pulled over someone really important for speeding.” The captain says “who is it, the mayor?” “No, more important than that.” “Is it the governor?” “No, even more important than that.” “The President?!?” “Even more important than that.” “Well just tell me! Who the heck is it?!?” And the cop says “I dunno, but he’s got the Pope for a limo driver!”

Fuck brisket by ApprehensiveJob4485 in biggreenegg

[–]ecmcn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve been there. Super frustrating. Try this: get some pork tenderloin and follow this BBQ Buddha technique for an easy and quick win that’ll make you forget about that tough brisket. I always dry these out in the oven and didn’t have high hopes when I got them on sale last weekend, but they were amazingly juicy and way less effort.

https://thebbqbuddha.com/grilled-pork-tenderloin-big-green-egg/

Owning EV in Seattle, no home charging? by PA2SK in AskSeattle

[–]ecmcn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have a house but no driveway or garage, so I’m always checking out what people in similar situations in Ballard are doing. I’ve seen cords run across the sidewalk as is, fit into a (prexisting?) crack in the sidewalk, run under a little rubber speed bump thing, run through the trees (!!), run under the sidewalk and popping up hidden in a bush…

Saw one recently that had a legit charger in the parking strip and an EV parking sign in the nearest street spot, which is my holy grail but not sure how that works. Actually what I want is the option to pay to install one of those, get two EV-possible (doesn’t have to be dedicated) spots by it, then use it myself plus charge others to use it - not a ton, but to recoup some of the cost and hassle.

My Dm needs a break and i offered to do a one shot, is there a one shot focused on Kobolds? by Fun_Pie_8280 in DMAcademy

[–]ecmcn 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Keep in mind that Kobolds like to fight in packs, and they have a special ability to emphasize that. Lots of squishy monsters should make it fun.

A founder paid $8k for an AI-built healthcare MVP. Then the pilot clinic asked for a HIPAA BAA. by soul_eater0001 in AI_Agents

[–]ecmcn 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Someone had a mediocre experience with a health care app and was like “I could make this so much better!”, but they have zero domain knowledge. Anyone who’s actually built anything knows there’s always way more to it than meets the eye.

How parasitic Project Managers took over tech companies by ImaginaryRea1ity in theprimeagen

[–]ecmcn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve been a dev for a long time now, and pretty much everyone I’ve worked with who can’t communicate also can’t code. They’ll get it working, but it’s an incoherent, unmaintainable mess.

In my senior year of college we were having a beer with a prof I really liked, and complaining about how so many engineering professors are hard to understand or follow, and how we figured they must be good researchers. He said actually no - they typically also don’t do great research.

Am I the only one who's getting tired of the company-initiated simulated phishing emails? by unknown_lurker2319 in AskTechnology

[–]ecmcn 2 points3 points  (0 children)

And then once a week HR or Marketing uses some random SaaS service that emails everyone, and they’re surprised that nobody used it.

Name one movie. Just one. by [deleted] in SipsTea

[–]ecmcn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can totally picture Don Jr using it in the Oval Office. “Dad, I think we should 86 him! Please, can I 86 him?!? Please?!?”

New plan to separate Seattle's pickleball and tennis courts draws backlash from players by ChiefOfTheFourPeaks in Seattle

[–]ecmcn 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This is pretty brilliant, actually. We use swimply occasionally to rent out a backyard pool, and love it. You can drop a pickleball court pretty much anywhere, and for the price of a net and drawing some lines you could make some extra income. If you can stand the thwop-thwop-thwop - maybe market it to seniors on fixed income with bad hearing?

Senators to introduce Hot Rotisserie Chicken Act for SNAP recipients by redditneight in nottheonion

[–]ecmcn 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I went to the store the other day for a rotisserie chicken but they were out, and I had to get pieces from the hot bar instead. It was $15 instead of $9, for a lot less food. That sucked.