baus

Modula-2 had a huge influence on my early understanding of Software Engineering and Computer Science. I feel it is one of his under-valued contributions. RIP Niklaus. One of the great ones.

As a manager I'm going to throw in some more "fuzzy" ideas -- shared purpose and team identity. Also recognition of milestones and accomplishments

As a manager I can tell you having a team member leave is not a “get out jail free card.”

First you will have to explain why X person is leaving, and it will generally be considered your fault.

Second if your team isn’t resistant enough to absorb the impact of one team member leaving, this will also be scrutinized and viewed negatively.

Managers are responsible for their team’s performance and not one individual

I'm almost 50. Parties change. The last party I had in November was a few couples drinking wine, eating charcuterie, and listening to Jazz records. Not a bad way to spend a night in my opinion.

I still like like to be social, so I took up vinyl DJing! That kindda tempers my urge for parties: https://baus.net/miami-vinyl-dj/

I'm running a 30" woofer in a ~2120L sealed enclosure. Changed the way I hear music.

Tech interviews were definitely around prior to Google. I went through multiple tech interviews in the 90s

Nice. I repair and restore vintage tube amps as hobby. Good distraction from software and modern tech

I fiddle around with tube amps and Ohms law is about the only math I use in that hobby. It is kind of beautiful in its simplicity

My earliest piece is an early Marantz 7 from 1958. I don't get into mono era or cinema gear too much. I'd definitely be into Tannoys if I could find a pair of reds for a reasonable price. The only truly vintage speakers I have are Altecs.

As a HiFi collector and restorer, I don't have a lot of interest in 70s gear. The US Made 50-60s tube stereo gear by Marantz, McIntosh, Fisher, and Dynaco is my jam.

That seems pedantic. Just because technology has lowered the requirements for becoming an astronaut, that doesn't change the definition.

I took my original programming classes on the VAX. I'm somewhat nostalgic for it. In many ways it was ahead of its time

I don't know if "technology" is limited to digital tech, but I am having a lot of fun working on vintage analog gear, specifically tube amps. It helps me think about totally different types of engineering problems than my day-to-day work.

I have family in Raleigh, and I’m concerned that with the known Biogen cases and the lack of “social distancing” that there might be a major outbreak there

I learned to program in BASIC on T.I. 99/4A. The computers themselves were not expensive, but the peripherals were. It seems insane now, but we used them by hooking them to a TV.

Even back then it was a niche compared to the Commodore vic-20/64.

I think the real loser from the that time frame wasn't TI, but Commodore who was in a market leading position, but ultimately lost to the PC and Mac.

I enjoy beer, but have to admit I’m burning out on the hopped up IPAs. Lagunitas produces a bunch of different beers, but they are all just variations of the same theme (ok I like their Pils)

I suspect many careers and projects were started by copying the event loop out of Programming Windows.

All because of online shopping? It is difficult to believe some of these aren't the result of changing demographics and/or economic forces beyond online shopping

I’d say hire that person as the COO. This will be a big organization. I think the person at the top needs to have a strong ideals about the direction of the organization

This gives me hope for the US health care system. Gawande’s ‘Being Mortal’ really helped me understand what was happening when my dad was dying. Highly recommend it

I've found in many areas (I've moved around a lot) few Drs and therapists are accepting new patients.

I wish I could find a psychiatrist who also does psychotherapy. Psychiatrists are focused on drug maintenance. Finding a good therapist is difficult, and I've almost given up.

I'm moving to a new area, so I will probably start the search over again. I wish I could offer more advice, but I think it comes down to just trying out a few therapists. And make sure they actually listen to you.

I definitely think you need to apply to different companies. Almost everywhere I’ve worked a Math degree was considered an asset not a liability.

As someone who spends quite a bit of time just south of the cape in Cocoa Beach (I own a condo there), I'm not sure I would call the area a "cultural backwater", but it might be culture shock if you are coming from an urban area.

Many would be surprised by how inexpensive it is, but in my opinion (like much of the US) the area suffers from poor planning. Recently two buildings one block from the beach were torn down to make room for a parking lot. Plus there is a NIMBY / anti-development contingent which basically kills off any renewal efforts. Prime real estate has gone undeveloped because of height restrictions.

With that said, I do think it could be a good area for startups. There is a lot engineering talent, the quality of life is good compared with the cost of living. Plus there is access to a major airport in Orlando with direct flights to SF, LA, NY, etc.

Personally I'd really like to see more startup activity in the Cape Canaveral/Cocoa Beach area.

I thought AMD processors were also susceptible to Meltdown/Spectre. The author mentions Intel's vulnerabilities as a reason for choosing AMD

The article mentions they used Auth0 and Cognito. I spent quite a bit of time researching Cognito (https://github.com/baus/cognito-strap), but I never figured out how to recognize which user is logged in when using federated identities. I found the docs to be misleading or wrong in many cases.

I'm curious if anyone is actually using Cognito in production. It feels like an alpha product to me.

Interesting idea. I read your blog post on the project, and understand your point on user management. I've hit the same stumbling block with projects I've been working on -- too much time spent on user management. There seems to be few off-the-shelf solutions for writing user management for SPAs and everyone recreates the wheel.

What I found interesting about this talk is that Ng is very explicit about the fact that companies like Baidu launched products simply to collect data with the intention of monetizing the data (through AI). I know this is obviously the case, but I've never heard it stated so explicitly from someone in his position of influence.

He also mentions that ad targeting is probably the most profitable application of AI

I agree with everyone who says focus on math and stats. The best programmers I have worked with have come from a math background. This is an area I greatly underestimated in my education, and if I went back to school now it is where I would focus

Point taken regarding the difference between hypomania and mania symptoms. But not everyone, including those with BP2, experience the extremes of mania.

From my own experience I failed to recognize a hypomanic episode until it was far too late because I felt great and didn't realize something was wrong.

It ended with one of the most severe manic/mixed episodes I've ever experienced. It was one of those experiences you hear can happen to BP patients, but you don't believe can happen to you until it does.

When I finally snapped out of it, I was pretty damn shaken up about what had happened, and probably for the first time I came to terms with how dangerous this disorder can be.

So I agree, I wouldn't wish that experience on anyone

I am not a psychiatrist, but it does sound like you have bipolar symptoms, especially if you have the hypo-maniac episodes.

Bipolar is sometimes misdiagnosed as major depressive disorder, because the mania doesn't seem like a problem. Who doesn't want to feel more productive and on top of the world? I know I've failed to recognize a manic episode, and wow did I end up paying the price when the pendulum swung the other way.