mds

Have been working on a modern replacement for Notational Velocity (last updated in 2011), I call it “neonv”. https://github.com/msnodderly/neonv

"We were in a vicarious position, but we flushed out a solution over instant messenging."

ChatGPT in particular writes in middle school essay format: introduction, point 1, point 2, point n, conclusion.

Not as bad as "GitOps".

IaC got people to understand at the idea that your infra code should be treated like your app code. Checked in to source control, deployed via COCD etc. Not defined by clicking buttons and stored in opaque databases somewhere.

"IaS" gets at the idea that it's a continuously running process. It's not a provisioning script you run once, there's a live reconciliation loop running in prod alongside your application code.

Sounds like the setup for a William Gibson novel.

Also a big truckers hitch fan, but that animation was hard for me to follow because it doesn't look anything like how it's used in real life. It doesn't really make sense to compare to a bowline, it's basically used like a ratchet strap.

The first part, up to step 6, is just a slip knot. That part could be replaced by a bowline. But the slip knot can be thrown in one-handed in the middle of the line without needing to pull the end through like a bowline. And when you're done you give it a yank and the slip knot pops out.

Step 7 is the real point of the whole thing. You're using the loop and the hook (in this example) to create a pulley system to crank your load down tight. Then the rest of the steps are a hitch to keep it in place.

This is more secure than the version than I typically see used (and would be annoying to untie). I normally don't poke the end through like in step 9, but make another slip knot so the whole thing can be unravelled by pulling on the end of the line like a quick release.

And it is in fact the inspiration for "Sandy Shores" in GTA5.

In a rational environment if you're leaving "for cause", it shouldn't come as a shock to your employer when you quit, in the same way a bad performance review or firing shouldn't come as a shock to the employee. There should be feedback in both directions, if they're not meeting your career goals or you're not meeting their performance goals.

But as a rule I wouldn't tell my boss I'm actively interviewing until I have an offer in hand. Just like, and for a lot of the same reasons, the company as a rule isn't going to inform under-performing employees that they're actively looking to hire someone to replace them before firing them.

This statement after Methuselah had lived for 969 years, before (it is implied) drowning in a flood.

Or if you actually want to send shortwave snail mail: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARRL_Radiogram

Reminds me of this Penn and Teller trick with a similar method but the opposite effect -- see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnEGedfTrzc (skip to 2 minutes in). Freely think of any card, then miraculously reveal the card in an improbable location. It's "easy", just hide all 52 cards and memorize where they're hidden.

And here is the mandatory AvE Hole Hawg tear-down: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoR59rzqlxw

As far as I understand it this is the opposite of that. In other words it only works if you already have internet access. You can use it to talk over the internet with your radio from within your own home wifi.

AREDN is basically trying to do what you want, within its limited coverage. You could install an AREDN mesh node in your car.

All of the slow mo sounds are recreations. In fact I’m pretty sure they use that same sloshy sound clip in about half their videos.

You laugh, but Minecraft Education Edition -- where lots of kids are getting their first exposure to coding -- is locked to Office 365.

I took a communication class many years ago and this was the main thing I took away from it. If you give a reason or an excuse the other person will try to help you "solve" it. If you give a simple "no, sorry" or "no, thanks" there's nothing for them to latch onto or argue with.

Realize that the other person is free to ask anything they want, but just the act of them asking doesn't create any obligation on your part. Especially with people where you don't have a longstanding relationship, you don't owe anyone anything more than a polite no.

The other piece I learned was this useful phrase to deploy when under severe pressure to give a reason and for whatever reason you can't just disengage or leave: "Sorry, I'm just not comfortable with that". No one can reasonably argue with that, and if they do, having already given your reason you can then simply fall back into a loop of "No, sorry."

The first time I remember hearing the phrase was in 2009 when Roberts flubbed the swearing in oath at Obama's inauguration. They later announced that the oath was administered again privately "out of an abundance of caution."

Was that the origin, or was it in use before that?

Oh man, I have the same memory. Back in ‘92 or ‘93, in addition to the “^]” telnet trick, our local dial up gopher could launch vi sessions for sending emails which they hadn’t thought to lock down to prevent it from executing “sh”. Poking around in those university systems was my first exposure to Unix and I’d say pretty directly influenced my career path.

So, thanks telnet!

Beorg is awesome, I use it daily, but it's really "TODO" oriented, and not that great for editing documents.

I've often wished there was an iOS text editor that understood org format, even just basic markdown style formatting. I'm going to give org-web a go, I think it could be a good compliment to beorg.

This list from the same site, titled “The 10 Longest-Kept Cars When Bought New” has almost no overlap.

http://www.thedrive.com/news/22665/the-10-longest-kept-cars-...

I've always wished John Williams would just include this piece straight up in a Star Wars movie. Both to acknowledge the inspiration and just because it would be perfect sad, brooding music as the camera panned across across a smashed rebel base or whatever.

Here is some marketing material that may spark some ideas:

https://www.ibm.com/watson/supply-chain/resources/csc/deskto...

One concrete example IBM likes to talk up is predicting shipping delays due to weather events and automatically recommending alternate suppliers.

It's less true now, but a lot of older blog posts and books (at the time, even the most recently published books) talked about managing via replica sets instead of deployments. That was a major source of confusion for me when I was getting started.

Should be “Others’”

An anagram of Scary Devil Monastery, the group that by tradition is not named to avoid summoning lusers.

A video of someone actually building and typing on one of these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIDs8tq5Pa4

Someone always says this, but starting with cat sure makes it easier compose the command line. When working with big files, start with "head -1000 | sort | uniq ..." and switch to cat after you work out the command. Or you start composing the command and realize you need to sort on field 2, so insert a "cut" before the "sort" etc.

Really happy not to be the Tesla DevOps group right now.

On the UCOP topic, I worked for a UC school for 10+ years and I have no idea what value UCOP actually provides to the campuses, if any.

You'd think they would consolidate administrative services like payroll under UCOP, but UCOP doesn't even do their own (they outsource it to UCLA).

I also work for IBM, remotely. So far I've heard no hint of anything like this internally. My boss claims he's heard nothing about it.

Are there any technical IBM employees here who have been "forced" to relocate?

This post and all others I've seen are just rewrites of the original (unsourced) article last month in The Register (https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/02/09/ibm_workfromhome_cu...) with no additional facts or updates.

I may be proven wrong, in which case I'll be looking for another job. But agreed, as far as I can see, at least regarding technical employees this is FUD.