0x575446, Fifth Columnist
lenazunto be honest there's nothing more satisfying than being asked "why can't we do X" when the answer is The Laws of Physics
Adam Greenfield
Chris Petrilli@lzg yes, but what if we put more venture capital into it? :dies:
Ethan Marcotte@lzg “time is linear and we are but made of stardust” is a line i once had to haul out
David Thompson@lzg I once had to bust out “because that’s how time works” at a previous manager, and I’m still just a little proud of it.
Muro deGrizecoKnew a fellow high up in an old tech company.
He described a conversation where some clueless executives were dissatisfied with the time required to get data to the other parts of the planet.
The tech execs wanted to know why the engineers were not working harder to lower latency to *zero*...
"Well...errrr...
Because of the speed of light.
Because the universe won't let us."
Workshopshed@murodegrizeco @dhwthompson had a similar discussion where the security guard of a big satellite company out scienced the marketing people and helped me work out how long signals get to and from Geostationary satelites.
Den of Earth@lzg
Or sometimes math.
I was working for a banking-adjacent firm once and was specifically requested to write the code so that the client could make payments against the balance but that the interest would still be calculated against the original amount until the balance had been zeroed out.
I said no.
Interest is computed against whatever balance is remaining.
In retrospect it seems more like ethics than math but I did nevertheless prevail.
Duncan@DenOfEarth @lzg that sounds like 'fraud' and 'theft' to me, good job for refusing
Firehorseart Lives!I've heard that credit cards work like that - charging interest on the whole balance owed, even after you pay some of it off that month.
Rupert V/@srfirehorseart @DenOfEarth @lzg
It's more that they don't charge you interest at all if you pay the bill in full, but if you don't, you owe interest on the average daily balance, so depending on how you use your card, it can be quite a lot.
It's more that they don't charge you interest at all if you pay the bill in full, but if you don't, you owe interest on the average daily balance, so depending on how you use your card, it can be quite a lot.
@DenOfEarth @lzg I remember declining to put a button on a point of sale admin screen that reduced the days takings by 10%. I may also have casually mentioned that my other clients included Customs and Excise, who collect VAT, and they'd be very interested to hear about the proposal.
Dylan
Gemma ⭐️🔰🇺🇸 🇵🇭 🎐@lzg That holds true only insofar as the audience understands said Laws of Physics.
YFNA
James Endres Howell@lzg Even better: "The Entailments of Mathematics."
Even better: "The Results of Arithmetic."
D2
Dingswart