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Cake day: September 26th, 2023

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  • It’s already trivial to get local banking details from many countries, (e.g., ‘multi-currency’ debit cards) but as far as I’m aware there’s not a practical way to get a foreign debit card without the usual hoops that the full account would require.

    Probably because demand for such a thing is low - I can generate disposable card numbers on the fly, but only from my home country. Can’t imagine (aside from this specific edge case in question) generating foreign card numbers would be all that useful most of the time.

    End-user support for such a thing would also be a challenge - I’m very accustomed to entering the usual data points with my card, but users would forget the associated postal code, or any number of other things, and then call support whining that it’s ‘broken’.






  • In green fields projects, this makes a fair bit of sense at initial reading, tentatively.

    But new code becomes old code, and then builds on the quality / discipline / cowboy status of the last person to touch the code, in a complex and interlocking way.

    I can’t say I’d be excited to find a partially converted existing codebase of this. But in fairness, I’m on my couch on a Sunday and haven’t actually worked through your examples (or read the original paper). I see the benefit to having both types of extensibility, obviously. Just not sure it outweighs the real world risk once actual humans start getting involved.

    I don’t know a single person who can’t say they’ve never taken a single “good enough” shortcut at work, ever, and it seems this only works (efficiently) if it’s properly and fully implemented.



  • I’ve never heard them be interchangeable. Grew up in the NE US, PA, NY, FL, and MA.

    I’ve spent most of the last twenty years in the Midwest, and can’t think of a single example.

    The outlier would be very, very careful instructions - likely written - organized in an if/then fashion which is a totally different use case:

    • Where the coffee machine is empty and the old filter abd grounds have been removed…
    • Where the coffee machine is empty but the used filter and grounds are still present… (add step to deal with that case)
    • Where the moron before you forgot to turn off the burner after emptying the carafe…

    “Since” wouldn’t fit, at least without changing the instructions after the ellipsis.

    And of course the classic example: “since you are up, get me a beer…” also doesn’t really work. (Apologies to some long irrelevant redneck comedian for ripping that off to make a point).

    I’m trying in my head to make it fit in both casual and formal conversation, and it just won’t as far as I can tell.

    Would love a counterfactual where both work!







  • Elsewhere, someone suggested that it would be necessary to take the rebuild down to the dirt to handle plumbing and the like for individual units, but I’m not sure I agree.

    Generally there is significant excess ceiling height in these commercial spaces, no reason the floor couldn’t be raised throughout the space to accommodate plumbing and the like in a way that’s easily accessible for future maintenance. You still end up with 8’ ceilings (or probably rather more) throughout.

    Over the years, I’ve watched a number of retail chains and malls die, sometimes suddenly and sometimes slowly. It’s continuously seemed like a huge waste to me, when conversion to residential space would be relatively easy, relatively affordable, could be funded by local gov or nonprofit, and would make a significant difference in net housing costs in a given area.

    When ‘traditional’ residential developers are competing with that, and with the ability to slap down standard-sized (AKA easy) risers/walls/etc. within commercial spaces of defined sizes, a further reduction in local housing costs is likely.