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zephharben

38 karma · joined March 23, 2015

[ my public key: https://keybase.io/zh; my proof: https://keybase.io/zh/sigs/OK21Z6Kguv0UvnsPlmX3x4FVJYD92SERejcyYamKuIk ]
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zephharben··on ICE is using fake cell towers to spy on people's phones
Wanting our government to treat our neighbors like human beings rather than vermin is not "partisan brainrot", it is actually a clear-eyed reaction to both the current circumstances, and human history over the last 90 years.

Signed, a Jew with a personal background in these matters.

zephharben··on Trying out TinaCMS
The parent to this thread was head of dev experience at Netlify, so she it's presumably familiar with it!
zephharben··on Best practices for writing SQL queries
Jetbrains tools - specifically, PyCharm & Intellij IDEA - support this (gutter alignment) via the "Joe Celko" code style. With that enabled, you can autoformat you SQL to follow that convention.

Oddly, DataGrip doesn't provide this option.

zephharben··on GitHub Status – Incident on 2019-03-12
California law provides some protection from discrimination by employers based on political affiliation or activities. NY state and Washington DC have similar statutes.
zephharben··on U.S. personal income posts first drop in over three years
This study reached a different conclusion: http://www.princeton.edu/~reddings/papers/CEPR-DP13564.pdf
zephharben··on U.S. personal income posts first drop in over three years
Can you share a link to this study?
zephharben··on Talent Is Everywhere, Opportunity Is Not
Do you use Twitter? Threadreaderapp is ubiquitous. You're seeing posts from people who use the tool, not marketing from the tool's authors.
zephharben··on PostgreSQL 11 Released
This might be valid if we were discussing an internal, proprietary software project.

We're talking about an open source project used by millions of people that has gotten CONTINUOUSLY better over the course of decades - to the point where it is now - arguably - the best of its kind.

Given this track record, I think postgres devs are entitled to use whatever management-speak euphemism they like. In this case, the idiom's original meaning/intent seems apt.

zephharben··on Our Approach to Employee Security Training
"security in depth". This is the kind of problem that can't be solved via specific technology choices, or technical standards.

Instead, it's a matter of understanding that most attacks involve several pivot points; and that these pivots are possible because we treat internal networks as if they are "safe spaces" where we can let our guard down.

zephharben··on My account is sending spam emails
mxtoolbox indicates that SPF for telus.com redirects to "_spf_telus_com.nssi.telus.com", which designates "_spf.google.com" as an authorized sender.

That's why the SPF check doesn't fail.

However, in the year 2018 I'm shocked that Gmail would put messages that fail dmarc into users' inboxes.

zephharben··on My account is sending spam emails
Yep - I received precisely the same message, among 3 others. They all had the same "Message-ID" header as your example.
zephharben··on Thinking Critically About Social Justice
re-reading your question, I realize that I ignored the "fear that they are correct" part. That was framed in response to the parent past - I don't have any useful response to that question!
zephharben··on Thinking Critically About Social Justice
(speaking as a self-identifying liberal) - Some examples that a "conservative" person might give:

- "by definition, PoC can't be racist" - e.g. as an argument to shut down complaints of "reverse racism"

- white people must listen to PoC's before they can engage in discussions about racism (e.g. - don't force PoC's to engage in the emotional labor of educating you)

- you can't make assertions about the experiences of PoC/women/trans/non-binary people if you haven't lived as one

etc.

I'm not making ANY judgements about the truth/validity of the aforementioned "rules of engagement".

I try to follow these rules when talking about social justice issues. It's no skin off my back - but it certainly adds some limits to the types of conversations I'll participate in, and the kinds of things I might say. I don't think there's anything wrong with that - as long as I don't slip into outright dishonesty as a result of these constraints.

I think some of the backlash against social justice by conservatives comes from the belief that these kinds of constraints are unacceptable, and are concocted by stupid, illogical people.

zephharben··on JMESPath – A query language for JSON
I've used jq and jp/JMESPATH quite a bit.

I love jq, and use it more often than JMESPATH. However, recently I've noticed that I arrive at "the solution" I need more quickly with JMESPATH.

In retrospect, JMESPATH's documentation and examples have been more useful for me than jq's (docs/examples).

zephharben··on Michele, Not in California
This is great to hear, Michele! I hope you keep writing - it's been very enlightening to learn about your family's experience.
zephharben··on Decrypt all authorization tokens on macOS without user authentication
Yes, the author indicates he filed a report with Apple about one month ago, and hasn't received a response: https://twitter.com/bufferovernoah/status/795275327962484737
zephharben··on Ask HN: Developer salary at nonprofit in Bay Area?
I worked at two technology-focused nonprofits over a stretch of 11 years (mostly in management). At a well-funded nonprofit, you can expect salaries to run around 25 - 30% below market rates.

For organizations that are closely aligned with humanitarian causes (e.g. health projects in the developing world), I've noticed a much higher gap, presumably because these organizations are able to attract talent that's more passionate about the cause/willing to accept lower compensation.

zephharben··on Why Tech Degrees Are Not Putting More Blacks and Hispanics into Tech Jobs
I'll rephrase that - if you want to hire ME, you need to take this stuff seriously.

I wasn't delving into the merits of diversity - I believe in it; I'm seeing it put to the test every day at my company, and I like what I see.

> it doesn't follow that maximizing diversity is therefor an imperative for companies that want to have world-class teams.

Diversity isn't about addition/subtraction, nor is it calculus; it's not even sociology, macroeconomics, or socioeconomics.

Diversity is about adaptive systems.

> In fact diversity seems to be orthogonal to competence.

I'll concede this point, but only with the substitution of "productivity" for "competence". Homogenous teams can outperform diverse teams, IN THE SHORT TERM.

Diversity may lead directly to inefficiency and conflict. In the short term, these are painful inhibitors to productivity.

In the long term, diversity of backgrounds, capabilities and perspectives - properly aligned - can be a huge asset.

If you are building a new company, and you want to beat the world, you'd be foolish to hire a bunch of people who think about things the same way that you do.

zephharben··on Why Tech Degrees Are Not Putting More Blacks and Hispanics into Tech Jobs
"Scientifically it has been proven ... It just isn't mainstream" - the presence of these words, in this precise sequential order, has been empirically demonstrated to indicate that the author is a crackpot.
zephharben··on Why Tech Degrees Are Not Putting More Blacks and Hispanics into Tech Jobs
You know very, very little about the world and its inhabitants.
zephharben··on Why Tech Degrees Are Not Putting More Blacks and Hispanics into Tech Jobs
Companies don't bear any moral responsibilities - people do

Hiring managers and executives should use all of the tools at their disposal in the context of recruitment and hiring - including moral and ethical judgement.

Setting moral responsibilities aside - if you want to hire talented, passionate engineers like me, you will get serious about building teams with people from diverse backgrounds.

zephharben··on Why Tech Degrees Are Not Putting More Blacks and Hispanics into Tech Jobs
You nailed it - there is a problem in our entire society and schooling system.
zephharben··on Exxo – build portable Python binaries
I like the approach taken here - pants/PEX is a bit of a monster (no offense intended - it's a very smart monster, but a monster nonetheless).

I'm glad to see projects taking a simpler approach to zip apps - pants makes sense if you're trying to package legacy apps with huge sets of dependencies, but it's overkill for smaller apps.

However, the author needs to add some test coverage before I'd feel comfortable contributing or using it.

zephharben··on The Troubled Waters of Potosí (2014)
Thanks! I visited those mines about ten years ago, and it was an eye-opening experience. I have no idea if this project is technically feasible, but I'm really glad these engineers are taking on a clean water project in that area. The people in that area have been getting the shaft for hundreds of years.
zephharben··on Tech Money Sends Funds on the Hunt for Unicorns
This article adds depth to concerns raised in this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9192154

It's important to recognize that private capital isn't simply "rich people playing with their own money". The lack of transparency and accountability in this sector is going to have negative consequences.