Disqus - Latest Comments for TedHoward

Re: It’s still Day One for remote learning: A tech dad’s takeaways from the new era of public education

TedHoward — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 02:15:19 -0000

Thanks for the details!

I have 2 kids and last Friday I saw Zoom working while Teams failed. Both were on our devices. Today my elder used a school device and experienced connection issues. But not with Teams at least.

Sad that it requires an update rather than group policy change. More sad I can't install VS Code or every just python on my kid's school laptop.

Re: Why We’re Not Worried About Pyrex Bakeware “Exploding”

TedHoward — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 20:37:37 -0000

I recommend also never placing them on your stovetop.

I lost my two large Pyrex casseroles in the year after I got a new DCS stove. In both cases, incredibly hot glass shards ended up 20+ feet away!! (I have a large great room)

The problem was roasting at high temperature followed by placing the Pyrex onto the stovetop. The stove structure must conduct heat so well that the bottom cooled very, very quickly.

Re: How to Make Your Cheap Office Chair More Comfortable

TedHoward — Mon, 03 Aug 2020 03:45:00 -0000

re: Monitor positioning

There's a far better way to raise a monitor - paper!

At Microsoft (circa 2008) the most common ergonomic correction was to raise the monitor position. Did they buy monitor stands or mount them on an expensive adjustable arm system? Nope. Printer paper. You go to the printer room, grab some packs of paper, and adjust your monitor positioning.

To be clear, if you had any ergonomic issues, Microsoft has a team that comes to your office and provides whatever equipment you need. Footrests and wrist supports were common.

Re: You All Instead of You Guys

TedHoward — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 03:56:48 -0000

I'm not trying to be mean. I do understand the point you are trying to make. I'm just trying to point out the problem with your logic. Essentially you are saying that being treated as a male is a promotion for females. Try reading this rephrasing of your comment.

There is the idea that "you whites" is a way to include the minorities, newly to promote them into the traditional gathering of whites, to bend the definition of whites to be just the members of the group without regard to race. Maybe it would be especially nice to say "you whites" to a group of all minorities which would necessarily imply that whites is now just the group without regard to race.

Re: You All Instead of You Guys

TedHoward — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 03:46:31 -0000

I tell my children (9&5) improv stories staring their stuffed animals after lights out every night. Every single time I get a gender pronoun, of an imaginary friend, wrong I am immediately corrected by both children. At their boxing gym (emeraldcityboxinggym.com is amazing with kids!!) there's a ~12yr boy who prefers we refer to zim as ze. I just finished reading 'The Deep & Dark Blue' to my daughter (5); it subtly features a twin boy realizing he's a girl.

Everywhere I turn (in ProgressiveWestCoastLand) I see positive reminders that we don't all have penises and it (mostly) doesn't matter if we do. I love that it's happening ... but I keep screwing up those pronouns!

My wife is an ER MD and keeps lecturing the kids about how amazing it is that women can be doctors and politicians. She ordered 'Nevertheless She Persisted' shirts for her & our daughter. This confuses the kids. They don't understand why anyone would ever think a woman can't do the same job as a man.

Changing language is hard. If getting rid of 'you guys' is hard for us, it's unlikely to become universal for our generation. Our generation is the first to make no distinction among races. The next generation will be the first to do the same for gender. It makes me proud to raise children who are confused about why anyone thinks race or gender have any impact on ability.

ps
Can we call you out for saying "all ya'll"?
pps
I'm from Dallas.

Re: My Fellow Youths: Stop Sleeping on the GPS

TedHoward — Tue, 29 Oct 2019 11:49:32 -0000

It's funny that nowhere in the article or in the comments I just scanned does anyone say "Just look at the route before you start driving." I tend to use Waze but I also know the basic route. If GPS, battery, logic, etc fails I still have my brain.

I also consider having a dash-mounted display of any sort to be a hazardous distraction.

ps
Read up on traffic circles and transit planning. They're awesome and multiplying like rabbits finally in the US.

Re: The Mobile Phone Generation

TedHoward — Thu, 02 May 2019 02:15:06 -0000

Semantics imo - part of their life vs their life is significantly effected by smartphones

Which is I think the point of the title

Re: The Mobile Phone Generation

TedHoward — Thu, 02 May 2019 02:13:15 -0000

I learned how to uninstall an app on an iphone when in 2010 a friend begged me "I can't stop playing Bejeweled! How do I get rid of it!!" That friend is an MD/PhD then in her 30's. Her husband is also an MD/PhD and couldn't help her. I don't think my wife could uninstall an app. She's also MD/PhD (same age&school). I taught her how to install an app because she had no clue how to do so.

Just as MDs are shocked that everyone doesn't know the function of the liver or the details of their own medical history, I'm shocked when educated people can't use simple tech. But I know it's common and will persist forever.

Re: The Mobile Phone Generation

TedHoward — Thu, 02 May 2019 02:06:31 -0000

Also, next time my mom is visiting I'm installing Uber & Lyft so she has an account for whenever she can't drive. Excellent tip.

Re: The Mobile Phone Generation

TedHoward — Thu, 02 May 2019 02:05:41 -0000

You are *VERY* correct that their generation is the first to find daily utility from smartphones. But I definitely think there is a significant part of that generation who will never adopt technology and will remain uneffected. But even in the youngest generations, there will be holdouts.

Around 2000, I received my first and only email from my father, a psychiatrist. It ended with "This is tiring. I haven't used a typewriter since 1964." My father passed away in 2013, but I cannot fathom him adjusting to a smart phone though as a psychiatrist he was an early cell phone user. My father-in-law, much like my wife, only acquired a smartphone when their flipphone died and they discovered there are no more non-smart phones. In both cases, the main difference in using a smartphone is more texting. Otherwise, no change. (My wife uses Waze for commuting)

Re: Golden Handcuffs

TedHoward — Sat, 16 Mar 2019 03:13:50 -0000

The problem I allude to is not the 2 year vesting issue but the "total compensation" issue. My understanding is that if they want someone's "total compensation" to be market rate at $100k then they might pay $80k and stock worth $20k vested over 2 years. If the stock grows then obviously things are good.

The problem comes when the stock doesn't grow. Even stagnant that "total compensation" quickly becomes below, sometimes far below, market rate. If the stock drops ... AMZN is now paying you 20% below market rate.

I've not heard of other companies that consider vesting stock to be part of an employee's market rate compensation. Normally if market rate is $100k you are paid $100k and the stock is a bonus.

Keep in mind that stock handed out to employees is basically free money. By including stock grants in compensation, AMZN is essentially paying a port of employees' salary at no cost to AMZN.

Re: World After Capital: Freedom from Wanting

TedHoward — Sat, 16 Mar 2019 03:04:46 -0000

Waaaay too long of a post, but I edited much out. One of my favorite random points is how much time I've spent writing code or having video conferences with an infant asleep on my lap. My startup peers (not 'employees') got to watch my daughter grow from my lap to eagerly stealing my stylus.

Such a thing could only happen with someone else paying for our basic needs.

Re: World After Capital: Freedom from Wanting

TedHoward — Sat, 16 Mar 2019 02:58:38 -0000

I'm clearly suffering from confirmation bias, but this post nails so much wrong in our economy and so much right in my life. The flip side of this post stroking my confirmation bias is that I feel like a poster child for UBI and post-consumer economies.

My wife & I are privileged white kids. Our parents valued education and our basic needs were always met. Our parents' paid for our college. I then semi-subsidized my wife as she got an MD/PhD (UW Seattle) then residency (UCSF ER). Once she had a 'real job' (Seattle again), I was able to found a startup. It didn't pan out, but I'll just start another when I can.

My point is not that we are privileged. My point is that our relatives have been our UBI. Our parents paid for our needs to be met. I paid for our needs to be met. My wife now (more than) pays for our needs to be met.

I have always wanted to state "I'm resigning to spend more time with my family". I left Playdom, as DIS was acquiring it, and included that statement in my email to peers. For the past 8+ years, even in the midst of my wife's MD residency, I've been a stay at home dad. In college and unemployed, we maxed our IRAs. Soon after my wife ended residency while I was still 'just a dad' we paid for a 6-figure remodel in cash (stock). I've never made much more than market rate and often less.

We suffer from an unconscious rejection of consumption. We have *never* had a budget, even when I was unemployed for 1.5yrs. We have never had to pay attention to our spending, much less get permission from each other to spend more. We understand needs vs wants. I may want a huge TV but I need nothing more than free time to be happy.

Thank you so much for 'World After Capital'. As I raise our two children, I often ponder their future. Your vision brings me hope.

Re: Golden Handcuffs

TedHoward — Thu, 07 Mar 2019 04:14:12 -0000

I don't understand the details, but I'd love to see a post from your on the compensation model @AMZN. My understanding is that relies upon the concept of paying low salary and high equity compensation to match under-market salary. As long as stock value is growing, that's fine. When it's negative, everyone's salary is *far* below market.

It seems like I'm missing some 3d-chess strategy from AMZN. Any insider insights?

Re: World After Capital: Getting Over Privacy (Finish)

TedHoward — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 14:06:23 -0000

I completely agree that the non-disclosure of health issues is a problem. My first epiphany was in college when I discovered that most people wear contacts. They weren't intentionally keeping that information private, but since my eyes are good I never considered that others might be wearing contacts. Later in life I realized antidepressants and abortions are similar in that they are more common that most people realize.

If health issues were always public, people would feel far less bad about their own conditions and procedures.

Re: World After Capital: Getting Over Privacy (Finish)

TedHoward — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 04:51:50 -0000

I am fully onboard with a post-privacy world. But the world isn't. As long as privacy has value, privacy will persist.

If you work closely with a colleague then find out he is bipolar, committed suicide twice in the last year, and has 3 restraining orders against him ... do you treat him differently? Of course.

If you have a health problem, you may live your life in fear of being discovered and losing health insurance, leading to either loss of medication or bankruptcy.

The former is human nature and may be intractable. The latter is capitalism/regulation and without efficient universal healthcare won't go away.

Re: Business Model Innovation in Healthcare

TedHoward — Thu, 25 Oct 2018 04:42:07 -0000

I applaud and encourage all efforts to fix US healthcare and more importantly improve worldwide healthcare. I see no resolution until health insurance is gone. And I think a basic understanding of the business dynamics is lacking.

Imagine entering a Starbucks. You have no choice but you think you pay nothing ever. The cashier tells you what you are ordering and he/she has no idea what it will cost. After you enjoy your beverage, some other person is told the price ($20). That payer simply say "Nope" and tells Starbucks what they will pay for your beverage ($2). They'll pay you at some future point, hopefully within a year. Starbucks can either get 0 dollars or what they were told they would be paid someday, hopefully. Either way they already paid for the beverage(*).

Imagine being that customer and getting a $10 bill for a latte you had 6 months ago. You didn't ask for a latte. No one said anything about a price for something someone else chose for you. If you knew it was a $10 latte, you never would have bought it.

You apparently "bought" it. You thought someone else was buying drinks for you. They found some way that they shouldn't pay and you should pay.

I see two inherent pricing flaws in healthcare. One is that prices are unknown and in fact unknowable (I believe Brad Feld's dad has a rant regarding price transparency). The other is inherent in health insurance in that price transparency is broken when someone else claims to be paying something someday … eventually.

ps
My wife is an ER MD. My father was a Psych MD who ran a psych hospital and private practice. I've seen this evil fester for decades. Corporations win and humans suffer. A government "for the people" should help the latter but it helps the former instead.

Re: Founder Vesting

TedHoward — Mon, 12 Mar 2018 03:26:02 -0000

What would you say about a cofounder who is underperforming, stays on for a 1yr cliff, but leaves before any significant value is produced? I'm curious about how similar situations are handled. If 3 years later, the company is acquired for a massive valuation, does that early cofounder get full participation?

ps If you're ever in Seattle, I'd love to meetup. I'm unlikely to ever be in NYC since the answer to "Where should we vacation?" is never "In a massive American city!"

Re: The Best Portable Vaporizer

TedHoward — Thu, 01 Feb 2018 01:25:29 -0000

Next time, consider Vuber in the competition. Lifetime warranty and customer service is great, even replacing a part that was broken due to my mistakes. They may not have a design as small as you would consider to be 'portable' as they so far have no short vape pen.

Re: A SIM Switch Account Takeover (Mine)

TedHoward — Sat, 13 Jan 2018 15:13:41 -0000

They actively refused to tell me in my case, which I can somewhat understand as it's security-related.

Re: A SIM Switch Account Takeover (Mine)

TedHoward — Sat, 13 Jan 2018 15:12:51 -0000

Everyone I spoke with was as helpful as they could be, sometimes going above&beyond. But no one could get my # back to my sim/phone. The only person who ever contacted me was customer support checking to make sure that their fraud department had called me as they had promised to her that they would. They hadn't.

I was repeatedly told for about a week that 'a team' was 'working on my case'. It's a shame because, as I told them, I really loved t-mobile and didn't want to stop being their customer.

Re: A SIM Switch Account Takeover (Mine)

TedHoward — Fri, 12 Jan 2018 19:18:36 -0000

In August I had nearly the same thing happen. I was a happy t-Mobile customer for a decade. Then I woke up one Sunday to TXTs about "The changes you requested have been made". They also figured out my bank and attempted to use my phone# to get access to that. Luckily, USAA is awesome. I still wonder if data from the Experian hack was to blame.

t-Mobile caught the fraud within an hour and shut down my number, but not my account. My wife's phone worked fine, but I was locked out of the online account so had no idea who the hackers called or TXTed. Things went horribly, horribly badly with t-mobile. I cannot possibly tell you how bad the experience was. Here are some basic facts.

1. t-mobile *never* contacted me regarding the fraud. Never. No notice ever, even in the mail.
2. t-mobile never asked me more than 'last 4 of SSN' and maybe bday to verify my identity. I was calling from my wife's phone # ... but they already knew that my phone # had been stolen!
3. t-mobile CS at least 3 times told me the fraud department would contact my by EOD. Never did.
4. t-mobile fraud department that supposedly were trying to fix things could not be contacted even by their own CS team. Literally a CS manager happened to know the personal mobile # of someone on the fraud team and had to TXT that person to find out anything.
5. 10 days later t-mobile was never able to return my phone# to me, so now I'm a Verizon customer
6. CS staff was consistently **AMAZING**

Re: A Better Way To Do Bike Share

TedHoward — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 02:58:31 -0000

I'm not at all against it. ~1999 I was in Copenhagen with my now-wife. At the time they had a great bike-share system ... but I had never learned to ride a bike! I was still impressed and wondered why US cities didn't have an equivalent.

Re: A Better Way To Do Bike Share

TedHoward — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 02:56:33 -0000

It's for-profit litter. Yet it's also a welcome addition to transit!!

Seattle's Burke-Gilman Trail is now littered with bikes. The term "littered" is not an accident. There are bikes upside down in the drainage ditch nearly every block. Sometimes bikes are left blocking the trail sideways; I've had to move a few just to jog past. I've also seen them randomly scattered near sidewalks. "Scattered" is apt.

Re: Assessment of Trump Presidency?

TedHoward — Wed, 12 Jul 2017 04:21:52 -0000

@albert
I applaud your tolerance. I am *amazed* by your time commitment to handling contrary perspectives. That alone is incredible. It is painful to accept such contrary opinions. I wish I could be so accepting and so contemplative.