vmlinuz

I'm a similar sort of age, and having trouble finding something this year - not that this year isn't a terrible time to be looking for anyone, of course. I was actually the oldest engineer in my previous place, out of over 70. I seem to have found myself in a couple of catch-22 situations - I have both wide/shallow experience and narrow/deep, but if I'm looking for senior positions that means mostly only the deep experience counts, which means I've got narrow skills. I'm also a Brit based in Hong Kong, who doesn't speak Cantonese - not a huge barrier, generally, but it just further narrows my opportunities. I've actually had a couple of people this week ask if I'd be interested in something remote for a North American company, but working at least partly in their timezone, which doesn't really seem sensible, given it would mean destroying my social life and/or sleep...

I'm recently mostly a backend web/API dev working in PHP and Python/Django, but I've done Unix kernel work, written a few Android apps, and a few other random things. I've worked in large companies, in a local unicorn, and as a solo freelancer.

I'm not necessarily sure it's age itself that's a problem, but maybe a combination of factors where age is part of the cause/effect chain?

To be clear, as well as my thoughts, this is also a "hire me, please?" post!

I bought a 2400G last year, which I've been pretty happy with - but I'm very much looking forward to dropping a 4xxxG into the same socket later this year!

Location: Hong Hong (UK citizen, HK Permanent Resident, English-speaking)

Remote: Yes

Willing to relocate: No

Technologies: Primary: Linux/Unix, Python, Django, PHP. Secondary: SQL, git, AWS, JavaScript, Android, shell, HTML, C. Tertiary: Go, Kotlin, Docker

CV: https://bit.ly/3blS31m

Email: richard@vmlinuz.org

I am an experienced engineer, mostly working on web/API backend in PHP and Python recently - but I've also done Unix kernel and OS work, and written a few Android apps. I'm available immediately, and good at making stuff work!

Location: Hong Hong (UK citizen, HK Permanent Resident, English-speaking)

Remote: Yes

Willing to relocate: No

Technologies: Primary: Linux/Unix, Python, Django, PHP. Secondary: SQL, git, AWS, JavaScript, Android, shell, HTML, C. Tertiary: Go, Kotlin, Docker

CV: https://bit.ly/3blS31m

Email: richard@vmlinuz.org

I am an experienced engineer, mostly working on web/API backend in PHP and Python recently - but I've also done Unix kernel and OS work, and written a few Android apps. I'm available immediately, and good at making stuff work!

Location: Hong Hong (UK citizen, HK Permanent Resident, English-speaking)

Remote: Yes

Willing to relocate: No

Technologies: Primary: Linux/Unix, Python, Django, PHP. Secondary: SQL, git, AWS, JavaScript, Android, shell, HTML, C. Tertiary: Go, Kotlin, Docker

CV: https://bit.ly/3blS31m

Email: richard@vmlinuz.org

Huh, Wanderlog looks a hell of a lot like what I've been playing with for the past few weeks, after unexpectedly gaining much free time just before Christmas, and failing to find something similar for my own use!

I'd definitely be dropping you a line if a) I was anywhere near North America and b) a Javascript guy...

Looking for senior backend position, or similar

Location: Hong Kong Remote: Sure Willing to relocate: No Technologies: Unix/Linux, C, shell, Java (on Android), some Javascript, bit of SQL, PHP, bit of AWS monitoring - all sorts of stuff! Preferred platform would be Python/Django... CV on request Email: vmlinuz@gmail.com

My career has stretched long enough that my second job was working on Solaris at Sun. I've been living in Hong Kong for almost 15 years, and I'm not looking to leave right now, but I am looking for work!

Do you mean something like this? It doesn't go into exact details, but it does exist... https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?active_status=all&ad_t...

My school computer room had a single old machine which took 8" floppies, entirely unused and gathering dust in a corner, when I started computer studies in the late 80s, and a room full of 5.25"-equipped BBC micros... By the time I left, the BBCs had largely been replaced by semi-IBM-compatible RM Nimbus PCs with 3.25" drives.

At home, on the other hand, I spent a while with an Amstrad PCW - running CP/M from 3" floppies!

Not a desktop, but... My employer typically gives people a MacBook Pro, but when a colleague left a couple of months ago I snarfed his laptop - a ThinkPad with 24GB RAM and an i7. I put Slackware on it (for I am Old Skool) and it's really handling many many tabs, plus our many-docker local dev environment far better than everyone else's Mac.

Of course, it's far bigger and heavier than the Mac, but also of course (for I am Old Skool) I'm using it with a decent keyboard, a decent-sized monitor, a decent mouse, and a USB-C charger. It does mean I can't go to meetings, but that's ok with me...

A small number of protesters are waving US flags because a) they still, rightly or wrongly, see the US as a bastion of freedom and democracy, and b) they are specifically looking for foreign governments to put pressure on the HK/CCP government not to remove basic human rights from HKers. Also, some US far-right nutters trying to co-opt the protests, thinking they were among anti-commie friends. They were wrong, they are not welcome.

Pepe the Frog does not have the far-/alt-right connection here that he does in the US and elsewhere. The image is simply used as something cute and funny.

Molotovs... well, very few if any have actually been thrown at the police, rather than at barriers or police stations. There has been a ratcheting of violence, driven almost entirely by the police, and ultimately the government's complete failure to respond or act to massive peaceful protests. I am strongly in favour of the protests, and while I can't say I agree with every action of the frontliners, I cannot condemn then - I know what they're fighting for and against.

(Some) US cops are terrible. (Many) Hong Kong cops are brutal and out of control. I don't wish either force on either population.

First general strike was on August 5th. It wasn't universally supported, but much public transport was paralysed - my company is very neutral politically, but they put out a general "work at home if you think it's necessary" announcement. There's another one scheduled for next week...

Nobody has been anywhere near a runway, and it would be very hard to argue that they shouldn't be shot if they tried, but Hong Kong Airport was shutdown twice by the government because of protests there.

Ports, meh, it's just cargo, nobody cares. Port workers went on strike a few years ago and companies just rerouted.

Many highways have been blocked for short periods in 2019, and in 2014 major roads on Hong Kong Island were occupied for months.

The economic impact so far has been modest, but noticeable. The overall state of the regional and global economy is a much bigger factor in Hong Kong's economic situation.

We don't want anyone to die, police or protester. There have been cases where that has been a real possibility, recently, and that's mostly the red line that nobody wants to cross.

Just for the record, the few US flags you see are there for a couple of reasons:

Rightly or wrongly, the US is still seen as a bastion of freedom and democracy by many around the world, and that's what the protesters are fighting for. More specifically, they are asking for support from western peoples and governments for a struggle that they believe free people can identify with. Seen after last week's "Hong Kong Way" event: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ARht6bNnEGTBFmnw9

Also, there's been a few right-wing/alt-right USians who've tried to hijack the protests for their own agenda, thinking they're among anti-commie friends. They don't represent anything mainstream, and they're not particularly welcome...

China is actively checking people's phones at airports and land/sea entrance points for evidence that the person attended or supports the protests in Hong Kong. People have certainly been denied entry and held for a few hours, and may have been taken into longer-term detention.

The fact that the US has been doing similar for a long time has been widely used as justification for China's actions...

Uh... I'm not sure how wanting protection from arbitrary legal attacks, and the right to choose your own government qualifies as "keeping colonial roots"? If anything, there is a wide feeling here that Hong Kong essentially swapped one colonial power for another, and at least towards the end of the British rule it was more benevolent than CCP rule has become recently...

Previous story: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20409569

He was adored by Hong Kongers - he is now generally rather disliked and considered a sell-out in HK, for exactly this reason...

This seems to be a clear case for letting nature, red in tooth and horn, have its way...

I know you didn't make the original comment, but I'm going to put this one down as "stated as fact, no actual evidence"...

"The Hong Kong riots? Turns out the CIA is involved."

I would be very interested in seeing any credible evidence that 'the CIA is involved' in the current Hong Kong protests.

And I don't mean HKHermit scratching his stomach, or the hilarious training manual for non-verbal battle communications...

> About 3.4m Hong Kong people have British National (Overseas) status and can immigrate to the U.K. tomorrow should they wish to do so.

No, they can't. BN(O) was created pretty much exactly for the purpose of allowing British Hong Kong citizens to retain their British passports without any sort of right of residency in the UK. The UK didn't want millions of foreign refugees with a claim to residency to appear on their doorstep any more than any other country would (have?)...

https://www.gov.uk/types-of-british-nationality/british-nati...

"you: are subject to immigration controls and do not have the automatic right to live or work in the UK"

The two things I've been working on most, recently:

Giving credit where due, particular to more junior colleagues when they have made a good contribution to a team effort.

Speaking in a more straightforward way - I'm English, and it's common for us to speak indirectly and suggest stuff, rather than say it outright, but I'm working in a mostly non-native English environment, and it has lead to issues once or twice.

Clearly, that's a lightning bolt rather than a thunderbolt. Very very frightening.

Not to be confused with Apple's Lightning connector, of course...

Essentially the same idea was covered in a recent UK tv show: https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-restaurant-that-make...

Cantrill was one of our reviewers!

You guys are weird. It was just a bit of wordplay :D

Many many years ago, when I was working at a large 3-letter-starting-with-S Unix company (no, not the graphics guys, nor the suing-Linux-for-Microsoft guys), we were planning a Linux compatibility layer... At the time, there were a couple of options out there - lxrun and uml. Anyone remember lxrun? I tested them both and did a little write-up, basically saying that neither of them ran reliably or fast enough to be worth adopting

What we decided was to go with option 3 - we implemented a Linux system call interface within our own kernel to give us 'native' support. This, of course, is exactly what the first version of WSL did, many years later. Plus ça change...

The Onion, maybe?

And then, of course, there's the time when Pepsi almost had an air force, albeit briefly: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_v._Pepsico,_Inc.

Short answer: I've got one sitting behind the TV in my parents' kitchen, running ssh and openvpn for proxy/vpn purposes, but mostly working as an automated BBC TV downloader, scripted to download a list of shows every night, at different qualities (e.g. don't need high frame rate for quiz shows), rsync them to my server at home outside the UK, and send me a PushBullet message to tell me what will be available to watch over breakfast. Works beautifully!

I'm very tempted to get a 4 and pair it with a lower-specced NAS for home server purposes - I don't think even the Pi 4 has quite the I/O to be a great storage server by itself, but that combo is probably more fun and flexible than just a NAS alone...