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Selfcommit

493 karma · joined December 27, 2011

[ my public key: https://keybase.io/selfcommit; my proof: https://keybase.io/selfcommit/sigs/OoSL52-DpMKve9Sv3PALrr-pj16aezTDCuD693yxUW8 ]

http://about.me/selfcommit

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Selfcommit··on ENIAC programmer Jean Bartik's Amazon book review
“I’m glad this book was well written”

That last line gave me a chuckle… the most positive feedback Bartik could provide, which somehow hurt more for the writing.

Selfcommit··on We don't have senior engineers anymore
I respect some of what’s being said about “mappers” vs “packers” - but the article presents the idea that there are 2 kinds of programmer and you’re one or the other, largely based on growth as a “real” mapper.

I think a more realistic description is that everyone is a mapper. There isn’t a single body of knowledge that is “software engineering” - so it’s ok to encounter something new, “pack” it, then map it if it’s valuable.

Far better to encourage mapping than create false dichotomies that can easily work their way into cultural fit interviews.

“The candidate failed to find an obscure error in the JS console… clearly a packer - no hire”.

Selfcommit··on Cystic fibrosis treatment wins Breakthrough Prize
I lost 2 uncles that I loved, and 1 aunt I never met to CF.

I am incredibly happy for those who have gained literal decades of life from this new treatment.

I do wish the wheel of progress could have moved faster.

Selfcommit··on Please don't say just hello in chat
I wonder if your tone and advice still make sense in these similar scenarios:

1. You have a large number of peers who start chat conversations with “Hi, are you busy?” That question is begged with just “hi” and implies a forced urgency.

2. All your coworkers start email threads with “hi” and wait for peers to respond before continuing. If that seems ridiculous, you now have an idea what “hi” is like for remote workers.

Selfcommit··on How Duolingo reignited user growth
Alright, I’m interested.

Any good reads to recommend on self determination theory?

Selfcommit··on Humans hold the key to collaboration no matter how good the software tools
Tools facilitate the process, but can’t replace it.

I wonder if there’s a measure for how well 2 GPT chat prompts collaborate with one another?

Selfcommit··on My First BillG Review (2006)
I had my “first Joel review” while applying to work at Stack. Joel still did the final interviews for all applicants back then. After 4-5 back to back on site interviews, I was spent. Somehow we ended up talking about old AutoIT scripts I’d written - many of which include apologies to future readers in the comments.

Joel was a great interviewer… that conversation turned into a game as Joel picked apart various ways he over compromise the script and asked how I’d respond in the next iteration.

Selfcommit··on Toddler Password – Get a secure password generated by a toddler
Yes, I think that's the joke :)
Selfcommit··on Show HN: I built an open source event-management system
BlackBox is also great for this purpose:

https://github.com/StackExchange/blackbox

Selfcommit··on Streaming Video and Audio with Low Delay
So the overhead to begin a video stream is due to the size of video data? Would video behave generally more like audio data (could stream immidiately) if the typical user bandwidth was larger?
Selfcommit··on Launch HN: EnvKey (YC W18) – Smart Configuration and Secrets Management
This is a great product! Our team does something similiar with an in house library and Google KMS.

I got a chance to talk about how it works at LISA last year: http://selfcommit.com

Selfcommit··on Ask HN: Are there any good online communities for macOS devs?
The silence here is stunning. Most of the support I've found is on slack or Google groups related to Mac administration (google macadmins) / munki packing tools. Not quite macos development, but a good place to learn how to package things.
Selfcommit··on As labor pool shrinks, prison time is less of a hiring hurdle
I'm really confused - when did we suddenly start having a labor shortage?
Selfcommit··on Stack Overflow reducing headcount by 20%
The transition is being handled with as much dignity as possible - The company is also offering to help place people through USV.
Selfcommit··on Azure Container Instances
I feel that pain on the splitbrain docs. That's my number one complaint about their API's - I'm never sure if I'm on the newest. That said, there's a "familiarity" to them... once you figure out how things changed it's easy to quickly determine the age of a code sample.

You should try the custom runtime again! It's come a long way since Beta.

Selfcommit··on Azure Container Instances
I don't think that unique really applies here - You can do the same with Google app engine standard runtime, or custom runtime if you want to use your own dockerfile. https://cloud.google.com/appengine/
Selfcommit··on The Mac Pro Lives
Moom. Hands down the best window management tool for OSX.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/moom/id419330170?mt=12

Selfcommit··on Health Statistics of 500 US Cities – Map and Sortable Table
You are making an assumption that obesity is because people overeat, and that "moving around" is somehow a counter to that. Have you considered the amount of sugar found in virtually all SAD based food could be the problem? (Setting aside the movement debate and the false premise it creates about energy in vs energy out).
Selfcommit··on Review: Touch Bar MacBook Pros give an expensive glimpse at the Mac’s future
The comment "15-inch Pros have enough thermal headroom to fit in quad-core Skylake processors..."

is interesting.

While the current offerings don't meet expectations set for the MBP... maybe this is a long play by Apple?

How quickly will the disappointment be forgotten when 32 gig / quadcore / nvidia GPU's are released?

Selfcommit··on Ask HN: How do Non-Profits repay investors?
That makes sense to me - are the contributions then able to be considered tax deductable? I guess that would depend on the type of non-profit?
Selfcommit··on [dead]
If the source for Systemd is readily available, shouldn't improvements to close security holes be easy to suggest?

Isn't that one of the tenants of open source?

Selfcommit··on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Encryption [video]
That "non-technical" person from "outside the US" has done a better job of explaining Edward Snowden to the masses than most news networks. His target demographic is Millennials, and he's very popular.

Yeah - This carries some weight.

Selfcommit··on Gmailify: The best of Gmail, without an gmail address
Seems pretty straight forward - pretend you signed up for a Google account and also had that account connect to your other email addresses (Like people have been doing for years, and arguably one of gmail's best features)

Now just rebrand it without the visible requirement of having a Google Account. I wouldn't be surprised if you're still getting a Google account in the process, it's just not advertised.

Selfcommit··on Encryption in the Balance: 2015 in Review
Further - I would say it needs to happen. Not because I'm excited about the loss of privacy - but because until we lose that privacy, encryption won't become something relevant to the average person. Encryption is a solution that expects "bad actors". When government succeeds in overtaking privacy, better encryption will prevail.
Selfcommit··on Decision Fatigue (2011)
NYTimes.com wants to Download multiple files? WTF?

Gist of the download: https://gist.github.com/selfcommit/fba6d3c38b6365625bce

Selfcommit··on Confirmed: The Last Great Prediction Of The Big Bang
I also wondered how this differed from Lemaitre's prediction.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Lema%C3%AEtre

Selfcommit··on AirBnB possibly farms craigslist for leads
While I don't think legality is a question here, it's a hell of a way to generate a $1B company.
Selfcommit··on 'Silicon Valley Is Coming' Warns JP Morgan CEO
I understand why you would only want to owe 1 person $1000, but I think you see more ideas funded as the number of funding providers increases. My dislike of large banks is totally a bias here, but I'd like to think more funding options = superior to a single decision maker.
Selfcommit··on 'Silicon Valley Is Coming' Warns JP Morgan CEO
If Intel is sourcing a billion dollar factory, shouldn't their revenue be multiple times that? If you're telling me the factory they need costs $1 billion, my response is that the cost is only that high in a market full of banks that make billion dollar loans...
Selfcommit··on 'Silicon Valley Is Coming' Warns JP Morgan CEO
Is it a terrible thing that massive amounts of money can't be promised and taxed? If that kind of lending is in fact good business(I'm not convinced it is) Couldn't the same loan be made through multiple smaller share holders? I don't think billion dollar loans are a requirement for society to function, or the best option.
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