35 ms·

LOLWUT: a piece of art inside a database command

387 points by dvdhnt 8y ago

boxy_brown 8y ago
It's been a rough few weeks for antirez, but I just want to say how much I appreciate his work on Redis and open source in general. We're lucky to have him.
- ksri 8y ago
  Absolutely. First was the Apache commons clause license, and responding to random folks who assumed Redis was going closed source. Then the current issue of changing master slave termibology,and having to hear negative things from both the camps. Lolwut is the perfect break from madness.
  - mberning 8y ago
    But he didn't get rid of the 'master' terminology, only slave. I bet "they" come for that next. I feel sorry for the guy.
    - kbsletten 8y ago
      I think the idea of "master" as in a definitive or original copy has enough usage that it's considered a second meaning of the word. I guess it's still possible that people will be upset, but without "slave", it's not unreasonable to assume that people will think of a key or album master instead of a slaver.
      - cabaalis 8y ago
        Is master/slave even a proper term to begin with? If we approach it from a "human slavery" standpoint, the master directs slaves to perform tasks that the master does not itself perform. Master/replica makes sense to me in the context of copies that all perform the same function, including the master.
        etcet 8y ago
        Now this is the kind of argument that could actually persuade any remaining holdouts. It's not bad terminology because it's offensive but because it's inaccurate!
        iamdave 8y ago
        Personally I wasn't-necessarily-a hold out, rather dispassionately observing from the sidelines but I'll admit that approach to the descriptors made me subtly. It makes the most sense, and much more accurately defines the mechanisms involved.
        derefr 8y ago
        Even that doesn't quite fit, I think. It makes sense for Redis, but in a lot of other master/slave topologies, what's actually happening is that 1. a group is electing a leader; 2. the leader says what is happening; and then 3. everyone (including the leader) all does what the leader said, concurrently. I feel like there is probably an exact term for this arrangement, from another discipline. Maybe choreography? • There are principal dancers and back-up dancers. People performing the same action are dancing in unison. • There are cheerleading captains and their squads, which consist of the roles of base, flyer, and spotter. Interestingly, being captain (giving orders) is disjoint from a member's performative role within the squad; a member of any role could also be the captain. • There are operatic prima donnas (or primo uomos)—the lead singers—and a chorus, though these are not mirrored. • Orchestral organization has tons of different roles: the orchestral ensemble composed of players; their conductor; the principal of each section; the concertmaster (the principal of the section leading the melody of the piece, usually the first violin section.) You can also speak of accompaniment. Interestingly, most of these disciplines lack a term for "everyone of a group being led, besides the leader." I would assume that this is because the leader is taking part in the group, and so there is no explicit action taken by the group-minus-the-lead, only actions taken by the lead or taken by the group as a whole. (On the other hand, for machines, it is useful to talk about the process of following the lead's... lead. Humans generally do this implicitly, and don't really refer to it as an explicit action they're undertaking, separately from the actions that they're mirroring.)
  - Aloha 8y ago
    I'm both aghast and amused that people are making a big deal about master/slave when used in the context of computers.
    - bovermyer 8y ago
      The way I look at it, the amount of effort required to change that terminology is less than the amount of community discomfort generated by keeping it.
      - umvi 8y ago
        It makes me very angry when "they" (I'm not even sure who "they" are or what their motives are) go around policing random software projects for political correctness compliance, bullying/mobbing the maintainers if they don't comply, etc. These people even go after your project if one of your maintainers is deemed politically incorrect outside of the scope of the project (i.e. on Twitter) and demand they be kicked out. I miss the days when politics and political correctness didn't directly affect software projects. What do these political police stand to gain from all of this?
        bovermyer 8y ago
        Since time immemorial, some people have gotten outraged over what others consider to be ridiculous or trivial things. That hasn't changed. The only thing that has changed is that social media and the Internet in general have made it much easier to organize. Software projects have always been plagued by humans arguing with each other.
        Aloha 8y ago
        I've come to believe its a mix of virtue signalling (public, empty gestures intended to convey socially approved attitude without any associated risk or sacrifice.) and pat-yourself-on-the-back slacktavism (there, I tweeted about what people perceive to be a problem, therefor I've done my part). In essence, they get to tell themselves (mostly convincingly so) that they have contributed to reduce inequality and discrimination, and are helping right a historical wrong. In the end, I dont think it changes things one wit - but it makes people feel better, so I guess its a net good over time - albeit an unconscionably silly one.
  - citilife 8y ago
    I think it's sad this was a debate at all. As a maintainer, there is some responsibility to respond to people who are working with you or using your product. On the other hand, personally I would have just said: "deal with it". The fact of the matter is, virtually no one has been or is a slave, no one is being mocked, no one is being belittled, it's a term used to describe a system. Sure, it could be more "politically correct" (I use master and worker, personally) - however, if I inherited or was working on a code base. I would not have been as open to changing terminology as this guy. As he put it, we are there to program. If it doesn't enhance readability, speed, etc. it's not changing - stop wasting my time. As a "computer scientist" we should try to be objective about terms, and build forward. That means, potentially changing that terminology for the future, but also not being emotionally attached to the terms which are not intended to be subversive, subjective, etc. We live in a society, people are going to use the term "slave" to describe things, people are going to say things you don't like, use terms you don't enjoy. I hate acronyms, I find that it is a way to segment a society or group into those who know them and those who don't. Even the term "LOLWUT", means you need to understand the term "LOL" and where "WUT" comes from. ... And that's my point, as a society, I shouldn't be pushing my preferences onto you. I should be learning to deal with my own emotions and understanding. If it's something that impacts my freedom, then maybe I should bring it up. Calling something a "slave" doesn't mean it impacts your freedom.
    - natestemen 8y ago
      > If it doesn't enhance readability, speed, etc. I disagree. Having terminology that is clear (which master/slave is not) decreases the time needed to spend to get an understanding of whatever it is you're working on. Also related, if someone is offended by terminology then that will slow down their progress in understanding because they first have to process those feelings in order to continue.
      - deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
      - citilife 8y ago
        Master/Slave is clearly defined in any sort of systems programming. You're taught it in school, there's a wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master/slave_(technology) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master/slave_(technology) Don't give me that - also as a maintainer, I wouldn't want to work with people who slow me down on terminology issues (when they feel offended, for industry standard terms).
kawsper 8y ago
This is exactly the insanity I expect from a man that have been haunted by an internet mob the last past weeks. I like these, Sidekiq also have the tableflip methods (with tests) that does exactly nothing, https://github.com/mperham/sidekiq/blob/927680cae78731c540fefaabf5bad619b1d1d171/lib/sidekiq.rb#L52-L54 https://github.com/mperham/sidekiq/blob/927680cae78731c540fe...
- skrebbel 8y ago
  Insanity? I can't begin to comprehend how extremely unimaginative someone's mind must be to call this insane. Is there really nothing in your world beyond value and usefulness?
  - wyldfire 8y ago
    From the context it sounds like "insanity" here is used with a positive connotation.
  - senorprogrammer 8y ago
    You might have skimmed over the rest of the parent comment. The second paragraph clearly states a liking for things of this sort.
  - dang 8y ago
    Can you please not break the HN guidelines like this? Even if you're right, a personal attack is the worst way to express that; and there are plenty of other plausible ways to interpret the comment you replied to. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- nopacience 8y ago
  Back in the days software developers didnt announce this sort of thing and called it "easter eggs". According to wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_egg_(media) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_egg_(media) : > "In computer software and media, an Easter egg is an intentional inside joke, hidden message or image, or secret feature of a work. It is usually found in a computer program, video game, or DVD/Blu-ray Disc menu screen. The name is used to evoke the idea of a traditional Easter egg hunt.[2] The term was coined to describe a hidden message in the Atari video game Adventure that encouraged the player to find further hidden messages in later games, leading them on a 'hunt'.[3]"
kickscondor 8y ago
Ah, hackers, we are getting lost inside capitalism - inside startups - inside e-commerce and social media... I am not talking about socialism or leftism, we can get lost in those too - I am talking about 'personal'/'hobbyist'/'obscure' - like we see in zine sites like whimsy.space or the rabbit hole of sites like philosopher.life. A part of our humanity will always be in 'obfuscation'/'code golf', demoscene, abandonware, easter eggs, the humble quine, dot plan files, muds, the icfp contest. Could the preservation of 'fun' and 'sheer fun' be above these other conflicts? If ai destroys humanity, it will definitely do well to start with the 'fun'.
- Yahivin 8y ago
  Preach it!
  - kickscondor 8y ago
    Love your work - mind fielding some questions over e-mail or sth?
    - Yahivin 8y ago
      Sure thing, my email is in my profile. As much as I love toiling in obscurity I actually enjoy much more when people notice :)
- _verandaguy 8y ago
  This is so deep that I'll have to take care not to get nitrogen poisoning coming back up.
  - kickscondor 8y ago
    Apologies for being heavy-handed. Sometimes this happens.
- beaconstudios 8y ago
  you, uh, got any more of them philosopher.life sites? H0p3's wiki combines three of my favourites things: function over form art, Jungian reasoning and the (true) hacker ethos of unbounded individual exploration. I've always wanted to be a part of a community following those ideals or the underlying unifier between them (cicada 3301 exemplified this mentality too; lesswrong seems interesting but I get the impression of it being "too" rational to the point of being detached) but I have no idea where to find them (or even what to look for).
bovermyer 8y ago
We seem to be losing our playfulness. In light of that, I'm going to take some time today to do something random, just for fun, and share it with others.
- kawsper 8y ago
  I added this header to all of our http-responses: "X-Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett" Which was proposed by http://www.gnuterrypratchett.com/ http://www.gnuterrypratchett.com/ and as far as I know no one have noticed :)
  - jerven 8y ago
    I noticed, laughed a lot and then got sad knowing that wit isn't there anymore.
  - eesmith 8y ago
    curl -I https://billetto.co.uk https://billetto.co.uk Well done.
  - zaarn 8y ago
    I added this to my two HAProxies so everything including my Mastodon instance sends out the clacks.
- quanticle 8y ago
  >We seem to be losing our playfulness. I think that's a good thing. The early hackers could get away with being playful because their work was, in the grand scheme of things, not actually all that important. No businesses were using their code to run payroll and inventory systems. No hospitals were using their code to make treatment decisions. No oil refineries were using their code to runs pumps and valves. However, as more and more things have become computerized, it's important that we, as a profession, recognize the increasing responsibility that has been placed upon our shoulders. It is time to put away childish things, and focus on what really matters: building fast, reliable, secure software. I'm not opposed to antirez coming up with a new playful hack to celebrate each edition of Redis. But why does it have to be part of the Redis codebase? Why does it have to be invocable with a Redis command?
aidos 8y ago
There is everything to love about this. It’s left me with a smile on my face. I’m pleased that Antirez has found a productive outlet for the recent trouble. Kudos
Serow225 8y ago
In a similar vein, MATLAB has: WHY SPY IMAGE (https://blogs.mathworks.com/steve/2006/10/17/the-story-behind-the-matlab-default-image/ https://blogs.mathworks.com/steve/2006/10/17/the-story-behin...)
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
coleifer 8y ago
antireZ...that's just awesome. Thanks for restoring my faith in the hacking mentality once again. Even cooler apropos of the stuff he alludes to on Twitter last week.
Karupan 8y ago
I love Easter eggs like this one! I usually put in a secret route in web apps/APIs that I build that spits out a silly meme. Not that anyone will find out, but still gives me joy. P.S would’ve been even more awesome if Antirez could’ve slipped this one in without the whole world noticing but I guess that’s impossible for a hugely popular open source project.
- iamdave 8y ago
  I love Easter eggs like this one! I usually put in a secret route in web apps/APIs that I build that spits out a silly meme. On my personal site there's something similar to this, a link to a page that technically got moved and should have a proper redirect but instead I left it and replaced the contents with a gif of the Ferris Bueller after credit scene "Are you still here? Go home". A few people have stumbled across it and sent in humorous tweets telling me they found it. Never fails to put a smile on my face in the middle of the day.
- gnulinux 8y ago
  > I love Easter eggs like this one! Have you read Ready Player One?
danesparza 8y ago
Wow! "should be replaced by a new implementation at each new version of Redis" I hope he at least lets you invoke these commands with a version at least. I'd hate to let a work of art go unappreciated.
- antirez 8y ago
  Yep! That's the idea. If you write LOLWUT version 5 you'll see past versions.
  - tmp407ER3DIE 8y ago
    antirez, typo in the command and in the blog post: Georg Ness -> Georg Nees (per the Wikipedia article at least).
    - antirez 8y ago
      Thanks! Fixing.
  - QuinnWilton 8y ago
    I think it's also kind of poetic if the old versions stop being supported entirely. Then each piece of art is a snapshot of the whims of the Redis maintainers at that point in time, without any pretensions as to the art's usefulness.
    - antirez 8y ago
      Yes I also think that this would be a more neat artistic project because of the intrinsic one time value of every piece. Currently what the code does is to preserve the ability to run the old versions without giving a direct way to do so, that is, it checks the REDIS_VERSION constant to select what to run.
bjt2n3904 8y ago
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. The problem with letting thin skinned people decide what's offensive and what isn't is the list constantly changes, and contradicts itself. Now there's precedent. Other people's turbulent emotions define what is acceptable in redis, and all you need to do is throw tantrums and say your feelings are hurt. This is sheer insanity. If the words are that offensive that they should be removed from a computer program, should they be removed from the dictionary next? Sheer insanity. Antirez, I sympathize with you. I'm sorry you have to put up with this madness.
- compsdon 8y ago
  Now there's precedent. The court of public opinion isn't a real court, and has no rules, so setting any precedent in this way is meaningless. One guy caves to pressure, and assuredly this is what describes these events. But the next time around, anybody who chooses to, can safely ignore this incident. This sort of thing comes down to either telling people to shove it, or not. Some people can drop that hammer every single time, others are pained by it, and take the path of least resistance. Telling people to get bent was a thing for decades, but internet amnesia means some people have either forgotten about it, or never learned how to do it in the first place.
- SZJX 8y ago
  > This is sheer insanity. If the words are that offensive that they should be removed from a computer program, should they be removed from the dictionary next? Your argument is sheer insanity. Should history books teach facts about slavery and holocaust? Of course they do. Should slavery still be preserved nowadays in a normal society and defended in a normal context? Of course it shouldn't. What's your point? This incident didn't come out of nowhere and I personally have also always felt the terminologies to be a bit unsavory. I'm glad that somebody out there actually did the job of calling it out. I don't think this is generalizable to many other situations as well. I don't think there are any other terms that made me uncomfortable as this one. Can you come up with an example that might be "subject to whimsical fit"? What a way to distort the argument really.
boooooo 8y ago
"we are very far from the first hackers in the 60s. As I get older I find that it is harder and harder to talk about technology with an hacking perspective, where there are no walls or pre-cooked ideas, and the limit is the exploration." Lol I like how this guy thinks 60's hackers didn't have an ideology.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

387 points by dvdhnt 8y ago

It's been a rough few weeks for antirez, but I just want to say how much I appreciate his work on Redis and open source in general. We're lucky to have him.

ksri 8y ago
Absolutely. First was the Apache commons clause license, and responding to random folks who assumed Redis was going closed source. Then the current issue of changing master slave termibology,and having to hear negative things from both the camps. Lolwut is the perfect break from madness.
- mberning 8y ago
  But he didn't get rid of the 'master' terminology, only slave. I bet "they" come for that next. I feel sorry for the guy.
  - kbsletten 8y ago
    I think the idea of "master" as in a definitive or original copy has enough usage that it's considered a second meaning of the word. I guess it's still possible that people will be upset, but without "slave", it's not unreasonable to assume that people will think of a key or album master instead of a slaver.
    - cabaalis 8y ago
      Is master/slave even a proper term to begin with? If we approach it from a "human slavery" standpoint, the master directs slaves to perform tasks that the master does not itself perform. Master/replica makes sense to me in the context of copies that all perform the same function, including the master.
      - etcet 8y ago
        Now this is the kind of argument that could actually persuade any remaining holdouts. It's not bad terminology because it's offensive but because it's inaccurate!
        iamdave 8y ago
        Personally I wasn't-necessarily-a hold out, rather dispassionately observing from the sidelines but I'll admit that approach to the descriptors made me subtly. It makes the most sense, and much more accurately defines the mechanisms involved.
      - derefr 8y ago
        Even that doesn't quite fit, I think. It makes sense for Redis, but in a lot of other master/slave topologies, what's actually happening is that 1. a group is electing a leader; 2. the leader says what is happening; and then 3. everyone (including the leader) all does what the leader said, concurrently. I feel like there is probably an exact term for this arrangement, from another discipline. Maybe choreography? • There are principal dancers and back-up dancers. People performing the same action are dancing in unison. • There are cheerleading captains and their squads, which consist of the roles of base, flyer, and spotter. Interestingly, being captain (giving orders) is disjoint from a member's performative role within the squad; a member of any role could also be the captain. • There are operatic prima donnas (or primo uomos)—the lead singers—and a chorus, though these are not mirrored. • Orchestral organization has tons of different roles: the orchestral ensemble composed of players; their conductor; the principal of each section; the concertmaster (the principal of the section leading the melody of the piece, usually the first violin section.) You can also speak of accompaniment. Interestingly, most of these disciplines lack a term for "everyone of a group being led, besides the leader." I would assume that this is because the leader is taking part in the group, and so there is no explicit action taken by the group-minus-the-lead, only actions taken by the lead or taken by the group as a whole. (On the other hand, for machines, it is useful to talk about the process of following the lead's... lead. Humans generally do this implicitly, and don't really refer to it as an explicit action they're undertaking, separately from the actions that they're mirroring.)
- Aloha 8y ago
  I'm both aghast and amused that people are making a big deal about master/slave when used in the context of computers.
  - bovermyer 8y ago
    The way I look at it, the amount of effort required to change that terminology is less than the amount of community discomfort generated by keeping it.
    - umvi 8y ago
      It makes me very angry when "they" (I'm not even sure who "they" are or what their motives are) go around policing random software projects for political correctness compliance, bullying/mobbing the maintainers if they don't comply, etc. These people even go after your project if one of your maintainers is deemed politically incorrect outside of the scope of the project (i.e. on Twitter) and demand they be kicked out. I miss the days when politics and political correctness didn't directly affect software projects. What do these political police stand to gain from all of this?
      - bovermyer 8y ago
        Since time immemorial, some people have gotten outraged over what others consider to be ridiculous or trivial things. That hasn't changed. The only thing that has changed is that social media and the Internet in general have made it much easier to organize. Software projects have always been plagued by humans arguing with each other.
      - Aloha 8y ago
        I've come to believe its a mix of virtue signalling (public, empty gestures intended to convey socially approved attitude without any associated risk or sacrifice.) and pat-yourself-on-the-back slacktavism (there, I tweeted about what people perceive to be a problem, therefor I've done my part). In essence, they get to tell themselves (mostly convincingly so) that they have contributed to reduce inequality and discrimination, and are helping right a historical wrong. In the end, I dont think it changes things one wit - but it makes people feel better, so I guess its a net good over time - albeit an unconscionably silly one.
- citilife 8y ago
  I think it's sad this was a debate at all. As a maintainer, there is some responsibility to respond to people who are working with you or using your product. On the other hand, personally I would have just said: "deal with it". The fact of the matter is, virtually no one has been or is a slave, no one is being mocked, no one is being belittled, it's a term used to describe a system. Sure, it could be more "politically correct" (I use master and worker, personally) - however, if I inherited or was working on a code base. I would not have been as open to changing terminology as this guy. As he put it, we are there to program. If it doesn't enhance readability, speed, etc. it's not changing - stop wasting my time. As a "computer scientist" we should try to be objective about terms, and build forward. That means, potentially changing that terminology for the future, but also not being emotionally attached to the terms which are not intended to be subversive, subjective, etc. We live in a society, people are going to use the term "slave" to describe things, people are going to say things you don't like, use terms you don't enjoy. I hate acronyms, I find that it is a way to segment a society or group into those who know them and those who don't. Even the term "LOLWUT", means you need to understand the term "LOL" and where "WUT" comes from. ... And that's my point, as a society, I shouldn't be pushing my preferences onto you. I should be learning to deal with my own emotions and understanding. If it's something that impacts my freedom, then maybe I should bring it up. Calling something a "slave" doesn't mean it impacts your freedom.
  - natestemen 8y ago
    > If it doesn't enhance readability, speed, etc. I disagree. Having terminology that is clear (which master/slave is not) decreases the time needed to spend to get an understanding of whatever it is you're working on. Also related, if someone is offended by terminology then that will slow down their progress in understanding because they first have to process those feelings in order to continue.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
    - citilife 8y ago
      Master/Slave is clearly defined in any sort of systems programming. You're taught it in school, there's a wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master/slave_(technology) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master/slave_(technology) Don't give me that - also as a maintainer, I wouldn't want to work with people who slow me down on terminology issues (when they feel offended, for industry standard terms).

kawsper 8y ago

This is exactly the insanity I expect from a man that have been haunted by an internet mob the last past weeks. I like these, Sidekiq also have the tableflip methods (with tests) that does exactly nothing, https://github.com/mperham/sidekiq/blob/927680cae78731c540fefaabf5bad619b1d1d171/lib/sidekiq.rb#L52-L54 https://github.com/mperham/sidekiq/blob/927680cae78731c540fe...

skrebbel 8y ago
Insanity? I can't begin to comprehend how extremely unimaginative someone's mind must be to call this insane. Is there really nothing in your world beyond value and usefulness?
- wyldfire 8y ago
  From the context it sounds like "insanity" here is used with a positive connotation.
- senorprogrammer 8y ago
  You might have skimmed over the rest of the parent comment. The second paragraph clearly states a liking for things of this sort.
- dang 8y ago
  Can you please not break the HN guidelines like this? Even if you're right, a personal attack is the worst way to express that; and there are plenty of other plausible ways to interpret the comment you replied to. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
nopacience 8y ago
Back in the days software developers didnt announce this sort of thing and called it "easter eggs". According to wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_egg_(media) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_egg_(media) : > "In computer software and media, an Easter egg is an intentional inside joke, hidden message or image, or secret feature of a work. It is usually found in a computer program, video game, or DVD/Blu-ray Disc menu screen. The name is used to evoke the idea of a traditional Easter egg hunt.[2] The term was coined to describe a hidden message in the Atari video game Adventure that encouraged the player to find further hidden messages in later games, leading them on a 'hunt'.[3]"

kickscondor 8y ago

Ah, hackers, we are getting lost inside capitalism - inside startups - inside e-commerce and social media... I am not talking about socialism or leftism, we can get lost in those too - I am talking about 'personal'/'hobbyist'/'obscure' - like we see in zine sites like whimsy.space or the rabbit hole of sites like philosopher.life. A part of our humanity will always be in 'obfuscation'/'code golf', demoscene, abandonware, easter eggs, the humble quine, dot plan files, muds, the icfp contest. Could the preservation of 'fun' and 'sheer fun' be above these other conflicts? If ai destroys humanity, it will definitely do well to start with the 'fun'.

Yahivin 8y ago
Preach it!
- kickscondor 8y ago
  Love your work - mind fielding some questions over e-mail or sth?
  - Yahivin 8y ago
    Sure thing, my email is in my profile. As much as I love toiling in obscurity I actually enjoy much more when people notice :)
_verandaguy 8y ago
This is so deep that I'll have to take care not to get nitrogen poisoning coming back up.
- kickscondor 8y ago
  Apologies for being heavy-handed. Sometimes this happens.
beaconstudios 8y ago
you, uh, got any more of them philosopher.life sites? H0p3's wiki combines three of my favourites things: function over form art, Jungian reasoning and the (true) hacker ethos of unbounded individual exploration. I've always wanted to be a part of a community following those ideals or the underlying unifier between them (cicada 3301 exemplified this mentality too; lesswrong seems interesting but I get the impression of it being "too" rational to the point of being detached) but I have no idea where to find them (or even what to look for).

bovermyer 8y ago

We seem to be losing our playfulness. In light of that, I'm going to take some time today to do something random, just for fun, and share it with others.

kawsper 8y ago
I added this header to all of our http-responses: "X-Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett" Which was proposed by http://www.gnuterrypratchett.com/ http://www.gnuterrypratchett.com/ and as far as I know no one have noticed :)
- jerven 8y ago
  I noticed, laughed a lot and then got sad knowing that wit isn't there anymore.
- eesmith 8y ago
  curl -I https://billetto.co.uk https://billetto.co.uk Well done.
- zaarn 8y ago
  I added this to my two HAProxies so everything including my Mastodon instance sends out the clacks.
quanticle 8y ago
>We seem to be losing our playfulness. I think that's a good thing. The early hackers could get away with being playful because their work was, in the grand scheme of things, not actually all that important. No businesses were using their code to run payroll and inventory systems. No hospitals were using their code to make treatment decisions. No oil refineries were using their code to runs pumps and valves. However, as more and more things have become computerized, it's important that we, as a profession, recognize the increasing responsibility that has been placed upon our shoulders. It is time to put away childish things, and focus on what really matters: building fast, reliable, secure software. I'm not opposed to antirez coming up with a new playful hack to celebrate each edition of Redis. But why does it have to be part of the Redis codebase? Why does it have to be invocable with a Redis command?

aidos 8y ago

There is everything to love about this. It’s left me with a smile on my face. I’m pleased that Antirez has found a productive outlet for the recent trouble. Kudos

Serow225 8y ago

In a similar vein, MATLAB has: WHY SPY IMAGE (https://blogs.mathworks.com/steve/2006/10/17/the-story-behind-the-matlab-default-image/ https://blogs.mathworks.com/steve/2006/10/17/the-story-behin...)

deleted 8y ago

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coleifer 8y ago

antireZ...that's just awesome. Thanks for restoring my faith in the hacking mentality once again. Even cooler apropos of the stuff he alludes to on Twitter last week.

Karupan 8y ago

I love Easter eggs like this one! I usually put in a secret route in web apps/APIs that I build that spits out a silly meme. Not that anyone will find out, but still gives me joy. P.S would’ve been even more awesome if Antirez could’ve slipped this one in without the whole world noticing but I guess that’s impossible for a hugely popular open source project.

iamdave 8y ago
I love Easter eggs like this one! I usually put in a secret route in web apps/APIs that I build that spits out a silly meme. On my personal site there's something similar to this, a link to a page that technically got moved and should have a proper redirect but instead I left it and replaced the contents with a gif of the Ferris Bueller after credit scene "Are you still here? Go home". A few people have stumbled across it and sent in humorous tweets telling me they found it. Never fails to put a smile on my face in the middle of the day.
gnulinux 8y ago
> I love Easter eggs like this one! Have you read Ready Player One?

danesparza 8y ago

Wow! "should be replaced by a new implementation at each new version of Redis" I hope he at least lets you invoke these commands with a version at least. I'd hate to let a work of art go unappreciated.

antirez 8y ago
Yep! That's the idea. If you write LOLWUT version 5 you'll see past versions.
- tmp407ER3DIE 8y ago
  antirez, typo in the command and in the blog post: Georg Ness -> Georg Nees (per the Wikipedia article at least).
  - antirez 8y ago
    Thanks! Fixing.
- QuinnWilton 8y ago
  I think it's also kind of poetic if the old versions stop being supported entirely. Then each piece of art is a snapshot of the whims of the Redis maintainers at that point in time, without any pretensions as to the art's usefulness.
  - antirez 8y ago
    Yes I also think that this would be a more neat artistic project because of the intrinsic one time value of every piece. Currently what the code does is to preserve the ability to run the old versions without giving a direct way to do so, that is, it checks the REDIS_VERSION constant to select what to run.

bjt2n3904 8y ago

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. The problem with letting thin skinned people decide what's offensive and what isn't is the list constantly changes, and contradicts itself. Now there's precedent. Other people's turbulent emotions define what is acceptable in redis, and all you need to do is throw tantrums and say your feelings are hurt. This is sheer insanity. If the words are that offensive that they should be removed from a computer program, should they be removed from the dictionary next? Sheer insanity. Antirez, I sympathize with you. I'm sorry you have to put up with this madness.

compsdon 8y ago
Now there's precedent. The court of public opinion isn't a real court, and has no rules, so setting any precedent in this way is meaningless. One guy caves to pressure, and assuredly this is what describes these events. But the next time around, anybody who chooses to, can safely ignore this incident. This sort of thing comes down to either telling people to shove it, or not. Some people can drop that hammer every single time, others are pained by it, and take the path of least resistance. Telling people to get bent was a thing for decades, but internet amnesia means some people have either forgotten about it, or never learned how to do it in the first place.
SZJX 8y ago
> This is sheer insanity. If the words are that offensive that they should be removed from a computer program, should they be removed from the dictionary next? Your argument is sheer insanity. Should history books teach facts about slavery and holocaust? Of course they do. Should slavery still be preserved nowadays in a normal society and defended in a normal context? Of course it shouldn't. What's your point? This incident didn't come out of nowhere and I personally have also always felt the terminologies to be a bit unsavory. I'm glad that somebody out there actually did the job of calling it out. I don't think this is generalizable to many other situations as well. I don't think there are any other terms that made me uncomfortable as this one. Can you come up with an example that might be "subject to whimsical fit"? What a way to distort the argument really.

boooooo 8y ago

"we are very far from the first hackers in the 60s. As I get older I find that it is harder and harder to talk about technology with an hacking perspective, where there are no walls or pre-cooked ideas, and the limit is the exploration." Lol I like how this guy thinks 60's hackers didn't have an ideology.

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