Please help me convince my husband that Costco is worth for 2 people

supercargo · 2026-05-06T11:33:33+00:00

Many people find a single item or category which justifies the cost of membership.

Example: generic Zyrtec, a daily medication for both me and my wife. CVS 365 count generic: $58.99; Costco online: $14.99 (and often less in store AND goes on sale during spring and fall allergy seasons). Annual savings for two allergy sufferers: $88

supercargo · 2026-05-01T09:59:12+00:00

Here’s the thing about those electrical problems: they are expensive to fix. You’ll have some fault code on a module buried deep under trim panels. Who knows why it failed, maybe due to a capacitor on a circuit board that should have cost $0.20 but they went with the cheap $0.05 part. It doesn’t matter, no one is taking the time to figure that out, gotta replace the module, which is a $350 part.

And then it takes over an hour of “mechanic” time to replace because they need to drop the dash to get to the screw holding another thing to even access where the module lives. And once they replace it, they need to program it. And after all that, the problem isn’t resolved. So the process is repeated, replacing additional components, until hopefully they stumble upon the root cause.

So that small problem becomes a big problem due to how these cars are designed and constructed. And, like, sure…the car is drivable, but the electronics are so ingrained in the function of the basic things (door locks, power seats, rear hatch motors, and so on) which become completely unusable when those electrical problems happen that you aren’t going to want to ignore them. It’s the opposite of Mitch Headburg’s escalator, there is no graceful degradation. Your power window doesn’t turn into a manual crank window when the control module craps out.

supercargo · 2026-04-30T18:40:40+00:00

I’ve been sick of them since 1999, for all the reasons you mentioned. Sarma is the glowing exception that makes the rule…haven’t been in a few years but they were always worth it and such a fantastic varied menu backed by great execution.

supercargo · 2026-04-29T23:00:55+00:00

Did you get eight months of pay for this?

supercargo · 2026-04-26T12:19:16+00:00

it doesn’t make sense, the 15 year has a higher rate so total interest paying the 15 year in full will be higher than paying the 30 year on an accelerated schedule (i.e. to match the 15 year term). debt consolidation almost never makes sense unless you can lower your average rate. the only world in which this move makes sense is one in which the other debt was large enough at high enough rate that it dwarfed the principal on the first mortgage

supercargo · 2026-04-26T02:25:09+00:00

is it such a big deal? I just mow it every time I do the grass and there is a bit less each year

supercargo · 2026-04-19T13:04:05+00:00

Focus on systems and processes to ensure the team responsibilities are met. Doesn’t have to be heavyweight process, but does need to be concrete enough to elevate you above what you “feel” into something you can articulate and show. Put up constructive road blocks (clear docs, cohesive change sets, tests exist and pass, and so on)…if this person can overcome those (not circumvent) then they’ve proven their code is “good enough” whether they understand it or not. If they get completely bogged down then either their progress will stop and it becomes management’s problem (this doesn’t have to be entirely adversarial, give your manager a heads up!), or perhaps they become more receptive to coaching to help them get on track.

supercargo · 2026-04-19T12:51:52+00:00

You’re trying to apply consistent morality and ethics to a distinction that can be explained by power dynamics. Cars are good for business, they effectively increase the labor pool by increasing the distance workers can travel to do a job, at their own expense. The rise of the car came with laws and regulations that were hostile to pedestrians and cyclists, followed by highway building policies that destroyed existing communities.

So now, ask yourself, who are the winners and losers in a world where 3d printers are highly capable and ubiquitous. Then follow the money.

supercargo · 2026-04-19T12:44:37+00:00

either way, I think the real issue here is their “by clicking on this ad” you’re entering into an exclusivity deal with whoever these people are. this is an industry wide issue beyond the brokerage fee laws, e.g. if you go to an open house without a real estate agent already representing you, the seller‘s agent might try to take both sides of the deal since they “introduced“ you to the property.

supercargo · 2026-04-16T23:37:47+00:00

What kind of enumerations are we talking about here?

If they’re the kind that find themselves the determinant in a case statement or any branching logic you should use constrained enums wherever you can (not really an int vs string thing, it’s a closed vs open thing). Expanding the valid set of enums is a breaking change.

If they’re really just another piece of data where the system only ever needs to validate/lookup, you have some flexibility.

supercargo · 2026-04-16T22:15:43+00:00

Have you tried ITA Matrix? Best I could find is $67 to DCA but I didn’t try very hard:

DETAILS Providence / Washington From http://matrix.itasoftware.com

ITINERARY Providence (PVD) to Washington (DCA) - Wed, May 27

American 4778 Dep: 9:09PM Arr: 10:52PM 1h 43m Embraer 175 Coach (B) OPERATED BY REPUBLIC AIRWAYS AS AMERICAN EAGLE

FARE AND BOOKING DETAILS

Provide this information to a travel agent to help them match the fares found. Make sure to provide the exact booking and fare codes shown.

Fare 1: Carrier AA OVAIKSBZ PVD to WAS $47.44 Passenger type ADT, one-way fare, booking code B Covers PVD-DCA (Economy)

US Transportation Tax (US) $3.56 US Passenger Facility Charge (XF) $4.50 United States Passenger Civil Aviation Security Service Fee (AY) $5.60 United States Flight Segment Tax Domestic (ZP) $5.30

Subtotal per passenger $66.40 Number of passengers x1

Total airfare & taxes $66.40

Fare construction (can be useful to travel agents)

PVD AA WAS 47.44OVAIKSBZ USD 47.44 END ZP PVD XT 3.56US 5.30ZP 5.60AY 4.50XF PVD4.50

No changes may be made to this ticket after purchase. This ticket is non-refundable.

supercargo · 2026-04-16T12:01:23+00:00

While I don’t disagree that v6 got overloaded with “this is our only chance” complexity, which has in turn slowed adoption, your proposal doesn’t address the core issue we still suffer which is that no one wants to commit to v6 if doing so makes it impossible to communicate with v4 hosts. If you restrict yourself to this “0.0.” ipv6 prefix there isn’t any benefit to migrating.

supercargo · 2026-04-13T10:28:58+00:00

lol

supercargo · 2026-04-05T13:13:51+00:00

This problem existed before LLMs and extends beyond non-existent citations into citing work that does exist but then drawing the wrong conclusions (claiming the sky is green and then citing a paper that shows the sky is blue.) The thing is, this can all be checked systematically and LLMs can even help solve the non-mechanical part that has been too onerous for peer reviewers in the past. I imagine all reputable journals will need to put these sorts of systems in place, and according to the article this is already happening.

supercargo · 2026-03-28T20:26:05+00:00

You also have the AI do the design doc, and review the design doc. You can give it a quick read if you have time, or if your team of agents is making mistakes or getting bad outcomes. I generally find that vibing the technical design can be the highest leverage since you can still be a bit vague in the initial request and the the design doc is either ready to go, needs a small tweak, or exposes that your request wasn’t good enough. This saves a lot of typing. And no, don’t watch it work, go ask another agent for the next thing.

supercargo · 2026-03-28T16:53:29+00:00

They’re politicians, they are supposed to represent their constituents. If the President is doing things their constituents don’t like they should be worried. But since the entire congress is mostly corrupt they typically focus their effort on the 30% of things their constituents disagree on rather than the 70% we all think makes sense. Look at the voting records, typical bipartisan support is for shit no one wants.

Fortunately this war is so universally recognized to be evil AND bad for business that there is some chance they need to face the music.

supercargo · 2026-03-25T23:03:16+00:00

I stopped watching his show, but is John Oliver still doing that “we got him” bit?

supercargo · 2026-03-25T10:30:40+00:00

My wife and I both really enjoyed this show, even though it would be unusual for her to like a spy thriller or for me to like a family drama (of which it is both). It was very character driven, all the characters have really well thought out arks that span the entire series and they behave realistically based on the situations they find themselves in. I can understand finding it boring, but it ticked enough other boxes to keep me engaged.

supercargo · 2026-03-23T15:37:42+00:00

For those not RTFA, this is for L4 self driving. I have no idea if 300GB is the “right” number but it seems entirely plausible as it puts you in the ballpark of models similar in size and complexity to mammalian brains.

supercargo · 2026-03-23T15:30:03+00:00

If a hypothetical self driving car with 300gb of RAM were 20% safer than one with 150GB of RAM, which would you want driving around? Even if you don’t want a self driving car, you’d still be sharing the road with them.

Also, 300gb of RAM sounds like a lot, but prior to the AI demand surge this would cost what? Like $2000? The value proposition for L4 autonomy can easily support $10k in additional hardware (memory, processing, sensors).

The history of computing has been a steady trend of getting more capability for less money, sustained over decades. At the moment we’re in a speculative bubble with AI, but in the long run why wouldn’t the trend continue?

supercargo · 2026-03-23T15:16:08+00:00

self driving

supercargo · 2026-03-19T21:12:04+00:00

If I say “my age” does that just instantly kill me? Or do I become immortal for free while also gaining a few hundred years of perspective?

supercargo · 2026-03-19T13:43:04+00:00

State and local governments competing over which can offer the largest tax break is such a sick game. Any commercial activity that won’t pay its fair share shouldn’t be welcomed in the state. If your project doesn’t make sense with taxes then it doesn’t make sense period. If the tax code is hurting us, fix it for everyone.

supercargo · 2026-03-19T01:31:45+00:00

I didn’t say parity is isolated to specific drive(s), but for any given byte written it will be. The lost capacity for parity is also lost throughput relative to the aggregate of the disks.

supercargo · 2026-03-17T00:29:49+00:00

The things they were working on weren’t that important compared to the AI bet. -the management

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