vaurora

vaurora, 8 months ago to random

I laugh/cry every time I see people complaining that the volunteer organizer of a blocklist compilation isn’t polite or collegial or nice. I’ve been in the “business” of fighting harassment and discrimination for a long time and news flash: the people who do this stuff are not happy fun get-along pleasant people! If we were, we wouldn’t do things that make the nazis mad. Creating an annotated blocklist sourced from a variety of instances makes the nazis super mad! What “nice” person does that?

vaurora, 5 months ago to random

My hot take: software companies should not only have bug bounties but also pay external orgs/consultants for other activities: dev tooling, maintenance, testing, standard compliance, accessibility, etc.

My current working theory is that there is a whole range of software-related work that cannot be done effectively by employees of a company because the internal incentives oppose it. Security is the obvious one but also the above-listed activities are this way too

https://mstdn.social/@cammerman/111611237947998075

vaurora, 1 year ago to random

Welp, we live in Amsterdam now!

vaurora, 1 month ago to random

A friend recommended a newsletter for executives in tech and today's issue had a link to a blog post advising tech leaders on how to get better at asking questions. It had this... illustration...

I am confident the author had no idea how much this graphic torpedoed my trust in them. I am realizing that often people who use AI art don't understand how art works

vaurora, 9 months ago to random

It’s weird to me when people frame calls for bike-friendly infrastructure as in conflict with disability accommodation. Make a city good for biking requires lots of smooth curbless bike paths that are perfect for mobility scooters, much better than trying to use your scooter on the road or the sidewalk. I see people zipping around on their mobility scooters everywhere in Amsterdam. They also have these tiny little cars for people with disabilities that are allowed to use all bike infrastructure

vaurora, 10 months ago to random

Analog bike advice please: I’m looking for a cheaper backup bike to my e-bike. I want a Dutch-style upright step through (low diagonal top bar or U, both are good), but I need it to be under 16 kg, have 7 speeds, and cost less than my e-bike (2000 euro). 😂 Any suggestions? I live in Amsterdam

vaurora, 1 year ago to random

Is anyone else noticing that software just... doesn't work right anymore? Every single booking system I've tried to use in the last week has had a serious revenue-affecting bug (airline, cab reservation, temporary rental, doctor appointment). Two of them were time zone bugs, one was a form field validation bug on a required field, the last was "you can't get an assigned seat unless you call us"

vaurora, 11 months ago to random

Charming Dutch stories, an incomplete thread:

I order an office chair online from a local Dutch store. The shop owner emails me to congratulate me on my excellent purchase, and also ask if I really want the extra tall gas spring? Because it is too tall unless I’m using it at bar stool height. Then he delivers it, brings both size springs, assembles it, and wants me to test it to be sure it’s the right height.

vaurora, 7 months ago (edited 7 months ago) to random

Advice please: I am writing an app that tests the behavior of packets in a TCP over IPv6 connection by setting the hop limit (TTL) to 1 and reading the ICMP hop limit exceeded message generated by the AP. But my ISP doesn’t support IPv6.

Suggestions on how to get a functioning TCP6 connection going? IPv6 tunnel brokers aren’t working for me due to ISP configuration issues. Ideally whatever setup I use can be easily duplicated in ~5 minutes by someone running Linux, MacOS, or *BSD.

vaurora, 5 months ago to random

Wow. Any tips on image searches that DON’T return computer generated art? I’m getting like 90% generated garbage from google images for anything involving “woman”

vaurora, 6 months ago to random

So the thing I didn’t realize when I co-authored the Al Capone Theory with @leigh is that the next phase of VC investment would have to be in companies led by exactly the kind of person we were talking about: the person who feels entitled to take other people’s work, possessions, and bodies without consent. Most of the remaining plays to get 100x returns in tech rely on theft of some form, and OpenAI is no exception

https://hypatia.ca/2017/07/18/the-al-capone-theory-of-sexual-harassment/

vaurora, 2 months ago to random

Found something I genuinely miss in California and can't get in Europe: hop-flavored fizzy water

vaurora, 10 months ago to random

New gender just dropped

vaurora, 4 months ago to random

So which one of you is the light-leaver-onner and which is the light-turner-offer?

vaurora, 1 month ago to random

Have you ever hired a consultant, or been hired as a consultant, to fix a technical problem that turned out to be a non-technical problem? If so, what do you think the early warning signs were?

My (anonymized) stories of being the consultant in this situation are in the replies

vaurora, 3 months ago to random

So, is there something that is the equivalent of an agent for an actor or an author, but for programmers? Asking for a me

vaurora, 11 months ago to random

My plug-n-play Wi-Fi network extenders are involving a lot more plugging than playing

vaurora, 11 months ago to random

I just learned that (1) COVID causes cells to merge together in big globs (‘syncytium’) which then die, (2) this happens in brain cells and probably causes memory loss, (3) this merging happens with the S spike protein by itself, no replicating virus necessary. And I already knew (4) brain tissue is often chock-full of spike protein months after infection. This is incredibly bad news.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41420-023-01512-z

vaurora, 4 months ago to random

I am either proud or embarrassed to say that I score 5/5 on the “So You Think You Know C” test

https://wordsandbuttons.online/so_you_think_you_know_c.html

vaurora, 4 months ago to random

European free/open source folks: is there a wiki or something that lists sources of small grants for open source work? I am thinking stuff like the NLnet NGI0 or RIPE NCC Community Project Fund grant programs, things that an individual human living in the EU can apply for.

(If there isn’t such a resource, tell me your fave grant programs and I will start one!)

https://nlnet.nl/news/2023/20231201-call.html
https://www.ripe.net/support/cpf/

vaurora, 3 months ago to random

Enormous Dutch dinner party faux pas last night: we ran out of potatoes. 1/3 kilo per guest is INSUFFICIENT

vaurora, 7 months ago to random

Me: it’s cold this morning, better put on my sweater and long trench coat and gloves and scarf to bike to the doctor, brrrr

The 20-something woman in front of me wearing pantyhose and a short skirt: puts one bare hand into the pocket of her cropped fake leather jacket

vaurora, 6 months ago to random

I hate traveling and conferences so much, but then I have an excellent fun inspirational trip like this one 😡 Why does travel have to be so good for meeting people and learning things and having new ideas?

vaurora, 11 months ago to random

After 3 weeks in Amsterdam, I must regretfully inform US folks: there’s something severely wrong with our food

vaurora, 1 month ago to random

Remember that blog post "I got robbed of my first kernel contribution" where a maintainer slightly rewrote a patch and took credit for it? Well, I decided to do something about it.

I co-authored a guide with Maria Matějka and some other folks on documenting how your project gives credit and otherwise handles contributions. If your project's policy is to lightly rewrite contributions and take credit for them, say so! Subscriber link (free) to the LWN article:

https://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/971817/ae5fbbbc8cd1cf18/