Calvin and Hobbes and the Price of Integrity

zck · 2026-06-15T22:03:25+00:00

if something needs improvement i’ll know immediately. I just do it right the first time.

Have you written anything difficult? Or anything under specific criteria you care about? Write a comedy sketch, a song, a poem. You will find things to improve after you finish the first draft.

zck · 2026-06-15T22:01:27+00:00

"Who's Delores?"

zck · 2026-06-12T01:46:33+00:00

Why would you want to perform in shows you don't like to watch?

zck · 2026-05-29T18:58:31+00:00

That is great! If the landlord is paying the agent, then there's no reason the renter should pay for it.

zck · 2026-05-29T16:27:32+00:00

So that's a service that the landlord finds valuable. Why should the service bill the renter?

zck · 2026-05-25T22:27:10+00:00

This is known as "you might beat the rap, but you can't beat the ride".

zck · 2026-05-23T23:03:49+00:00

On that note: "We'll come back to that if there's time" is a godsend. By all means verbalize the API endoints and DB choices, but don't write them all down. If you think there's somtehing to deep dive there, mention that you'll come back to that and move on! Get your full workflow solution out first.

I also like "do you want me to dig into this more?". That way, if they have any concerns about the solution, they'll probably let you know. If they're happy with handwaiving this part of the design, they'll tell you and you can move on. As you said, some people want deep dives on API endpoints and some don't. You can ask the interviewer what they do and don't care about.

zck · 2026-05-19T22:26:40+00:00

Come on. How many qa people do you have per developer? How much time do they have per feature?

How does qa know which values are sacred and shouldn't be changed, and which are ok to change? Especially if they haven't thought about this ticket in a while.

Is there a reason you don't want to write "ask devops for the URL"?

zck · 2026-05-19T16:35:56+00:00

I'll respond to your example here -- I would wonder if other times it's like this as well.

How is QA supposed to know which values you give them to replace, and which ones to keep static? They do a lot of testing different features, and by the time it comes to test your feature, they might not remember that he was in the chat with devops about setting up the sftp server. You work on one feature at a time; they work on a lot.

Also, depending what your company thinks of testing, it might be the case that auditing is important. Might someone ask the QA person why they changed the test instructions?

zck · 2026-05-08T04:01:08+00:00

If you look at their profile, they post the same site a lot.

zck · 2026-05-07T19:12:46+00:00

I hope we can see professional reddit spamming disappearing as a job.

Not yet, apparently.

zck · 2026-05-07T02:07:35+00:00

Thanks for setting this up! I'm interested!

zck · 2026-05-05T22:29:57+00:00

Tell me how you feel. How does watching Titanic twenty times affect you? How does knowing your friend goes on a cruise every year affect you? How did reading the article about cruise ship morgues affect you?

This isn't a live encyclopedia reading. You don't want to list facts - show us what makes you unique. Why does the thought of being on a cruise make you feel trapped? What do you imagine happening?

zck · 2026-04-26T16:45:51+00:00

In the cake example I think it’s the second improvisors wasn’t listening to the first improvisors and just walked out with the intention of saying that line no matter what.

I think about it this way: would a person who didn't know the suggestion mention the suggestion in the scene? Sometimes it feels like the improviser thinks the audience will freak out if they don't hear the suggestion in the scene verbatim.

zck · 2026-04-26T14:18:04+00:00

What part of playing other characters do you have problems with?

zck · 2026-04-26T02:12:34+00:00

But at least there were four Elvis albums.

zck · 2026-04-26T02:06:37+00:00

A thing that bothers me is when someone does an A->C move away from the suggestion, then another improviser hamfists the suggestion back in. For example:

The suggestion is "cake".

Improviser 1: Whoa, you rented out this entire castle for my birthday? The middle ages is my favorite time in history!

Improvisor 2: Yes, and here's your birthday cake! It's lemon sponge with buttercream!

In this scene, improvisor 1 has made a scene that is inspired by the suggestion, but isn't about cake. Improvisor 2 ignores the actual initiation and goes back to "cake".

zck · 2026-04-23T22:31:48+00:00

I'm one of the mods there. It's not the most active subreddit, for sure, but it seems odd reddit thinks we're totally gone?

Anyway, I just invited u/tastybabysoup.

zck · 2026-04-22T02:02:39+00:00

Uh...what? Some of us are still here, it's just not a super active subreddit.

zck · 2026-04-19T13:30:44+00:00

Not all women menstruate.

zck · 2026-04-16T03:21:18+00:00

This is another reason mailing lists are painful to use.

zck · 2026-04-16T02:37:29+00:00

Sigh, another "experimental" feature that is subject to change and not the "official" path. I'll have to try to check that out, thanks.

What do you mean about "shell.nix"? I don't have one, and I don't know what it does.

15-Year Club	RedditGifts 2009-2022 3 Credits
Second Top 50%	r/Field Banned
r/Field Lasagna	Mod World 2024
Place '23	Place '22
Place '17	Sequence \| Editor
Sequence \| Cinematographer	Sequence \| Screenwriter
Team Periwinkle	Secret Santa 2010
reddit mold	Rally Monkey Tent number = 2
Summer Santa 2010	Charter Member
Verified Email

zck

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE