5 ms·

Police sound all-clear after Facebook evacuation Tuesday night

57 points by coloneltcb 13y ago

bradhe 13y ago
Sort of...a little bit...
samstave 13y ago
"Last week, Menlo Park's city council voted last week to allow the company to pay about $200,000 a year to the city to fund a full-time police officer who would be stationed near the new campus." They have tons of ex SS/Mil working there... Plus Menlo Park is mandating plenty of cameras to monitor every single license plate passing its new building... FB has plenty of security.
- rjbwork 13y ago
  Yes, but now they want someone they can control who has the full force of the law behind their actions.
- rafekett 13y ago
  when I went for an OSS sprint it was completely locked down. the security was very disruptive -- we really weren't allowed to leave one floor of one building, so it was pretty difficult to get any kind of focus room even for half an hour. I was working on a facebook project (one that saves them tons of $$$ at that) and we couldn't leave the building to go to a conference room even when escorted by two engineers.
mdakin 13y ago
Major "national security asset." <cough, cough, puke>
- protomyth 13y ago
  Did I miss that phrase in the article or was there edits?
  - mdakin 13y ago
    No, I would have cited it. Rhetoric. I'm starting to realize that my zeitgeist has diverged from the zeitgeist of hacker news such that my comments are not understood by the majority of the readers here. C'est la vie. In-person interaction is best.
    - hueving 13y ago
      >I'm starting to realize that my zeitgeist has diverged How so? You made something up and then was subsequently disgusted with it. How is anyone supposed to follow that?
    - reality_czech 13y ago
      Don't kid yourself, pal. Inability to understand basic human interaction is how we roll here. You haven't diverged from anything around here. Your joke, on the other hand, Zucked.
gargarplex 13y ago
Is it bad that I was kinda hoping that Zuck finally had his Scorpio moment?
- morgante 13y ago
  What does that mean?
  - tedkalaw 13y ago
    It's a reference to Hank Scorpio from The Simpsons, a character who was simultaneously the perfect boss and an evil genius. http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Hank_Scorpio http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Hank_Scorpio
vijucat 13y ago
Some employee must have phoned in a bomb threat after becoming sick of the peer pressure to have the "awesome Chef-prepared dinner" on campus, which is just a ruse to extract up to 2 hours of extra work per day. Or maybe to put off one more mind-numbing, health-destroying caffeine-and-pizza-and-beer-overdose "hackathon". In PHP. Actually, it's probably just the PHP. http://chinpen.net/blog/2013/02/hackathons-are-bad-for-you/ http://chinpen.net/blog/2013/02/hackathons-are-bad-for-you/
- rahij 13y ago
  Wow. That was harsh.
  - jrockway 13y ago
    Not harsh, bitter.
    - goldenkey 13y ago
      The truth hurts.
      - blueskin_ 13y ago
        So does PHP.
        goldenkey 13y ago
        Oh please.
    - vijucat 13y ago
      Nope, I dislike the culture, that's all. This guy on reddit explained it much better than I can ever hope to: http://www.reddit.com/r/TrueReddit/comments/2026bq/reduce_the_workweek_to_30_hours_nyt/cfzlgiw http://www.reddit.com/r/TrueReddit/comments/2026bq/reduce_th... Excerpted here so that you don't have to jump a link, no rights claimed: "I work as a programmer and in my jurisdiction people in the IT industry are exempt from overtime laws. Even if there are no pressing deadlines (and there usually are since unrealistic time frames are seen as a motivator) working a standard 40 hour week is like wearing the minimum amount of flair at Chotski's. If you don't stay a little later or work the occasional evening or weekend from home then you must not be a Real Programmer. What is a Real Programmer, you might ask? A Real Programmer is someone who loves programming! They love it so much that it's what they spend all their time doing. In fact, a Real Programmer loves programming so much that they're happy just to have the chance to do it. Paying them is just a formality because the Real Programmer doesn't really consider it "work". You know a programmer isn't a Real Programmer when they don't volunteer to work 60 to 80 hour weeks (for no extra monetary compensation, remember) because it's "fun". All they really need in thanks is a company t-shirt and the occasional slice of pizza on those late nights. And you know what? Those Real Programmers exist. They work ridiculous hours, don't expect to get paid for doing the work of two or three people, and they absolutely love it. They'll have conversations with managers about how lazy people who leave the office at 5pm are and how they just can't understand that mindset. Then there are the people who try to be Real Programmers because that's what's expected. It permeates the industry's culture. You hear it from fellow programmers, managers, and investors. If you want to succeed as a programmer you have to at least look like a Real Programmer even if you're not one at heart. So you get people working evenings and weekends just for appearances and they start to burnout. Their code quality suffers and the code base becomes buggy and difficult to maintain. Longer hours are needed just to get the same amount of work done and it becomes a feedback loop of bad code, longer hours to fix the bad code, and burnout which makes things even worse. Personally I'd love to work a 40 hour week without it hurting my career and professional reputation. Programming is fun, sure, but I want to have a life outside of it. I want to get out of the office at a reasonable hour and stop thinking about work until the next day. I want some time to cook healthy meals, exercise, see my friends, go on dates, write a book, learn a new (human) language, etc. In short, I want the freedom to live my life. I don't want to work merely for the chance to survive to keep working until 40 years from now when I can maybe stop and think about doing something I really love in the few years I have left. On the one hand I must sound pretty lazy. There are people happy to work 80 hour weeks for 40 hours of pay. Why should they not be allowed to do that just because that's not what I want to do? What about freedom of choice? On the other hand, why should there be a culture of exploitation in this industry just because of the few individuals who, frankly, don't seem to realize or care that they're dedicating their lives to making someone else rich while seeing relatively little of that money themselves? I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. And this kind of thing has caused problems before. I just really wish we lived in a society where we didn't define ourselves so strongly by our day jobs and where working ourselves to death wasn't seen as a virtue."
sytelus 13y ago
There are very harsh laws against anonymously calling police for bomb threats. I remember a case of a very smart business man who was getting late to airport and called the airline saying that the flight he was supposed to be boarding on has a bomb. Eventually call got traced to him and if I remember correctly he was sentenced to jail for 14 years.
goldenkey 13y ago
I guess someone phoned in a Facebomb removes sunglasses
userbinator 13y ago
> Facebook evacuation At first glance, this conjured up mental images of users worldwide being told to log out of their accounts and not use the site until further notice.
- codeulike 13y ago
  Exactly what I thought too.
- 72deluxe 13y ago
  Think of the amount of people that would return to their lives and do something productive! (I say this whilst typing a comment on HN; the irony is not lost on me)
soup10 13y ago
Dons tinfoil hat Obviously a distraction created so that the NSA could thoroughly bug the place.
yeukhon 13y ago
I think someone who read about FB "donating" money for extra police officers decided to "prank" FB and the county police department. The timing is just too precise. One has to question whether FB is really under any threat and whether internal security is enough or not. i spoke before that if FB couldn't keep strangers entering the building or walking pass the campus, that's the fault of the security contractor. I think there are only two real threats: data thief and employees' mental health under pressure.
- DrJ 13y ago
  and counter offers!

57 points by coloneltcb 13y ago

Sort of...a little bit...

"Last week, Menlo Park's city council voted last week to allow the company to pay about $200,000 a year to the city to fund a full-time police officer who would be stationed near the new campus." They have tons of ex SS/Mil working there... Plus Menlo Park is mandating plenty of cameras to monitor every single license plate passing its new building... FB has plenty of security.

rjbwork 13y ago
Yes, but now they want someone they can control who has the full force of the law behind their actions.
rafekett 13y ago
when I went for an OSS sprint it was completely locked down. the security was very disruptive -- we really weren't allowed to leave one floor of one building, so it was pretty difficult to get any kind of focus room even for half an hour. I was working on a facebook project (one that saves them tons of $$$ at that) and we couldn't leave the building to go to a conference room even when escorted by two engineers.

mdakin 13y ago

Major "national security asset." <cough, cough, puke>

protomyth 13y ago
Did I miss that phrase in the article or was there edits?
- mdakin 13y ago
  No, I would have cited it. Rhetoric. I'm starting to realize that my zeitgeist has diverged from the zeitgeist of hacker news such that my comments are not understood by the majority of the readers here. C'est la vie. In-person interaction is best.
  - hueving 13y ago
    >I'm starting to realize that my zeitgeist has diverged How so? You made something up and then was subsequently disgusted with it. How is anyone supposed to follow that?
  - reality_czech 13y ago
    Don't kid yourself, pal. Inability to understand basic human interaction is how we roll here. You haven't diverged from anything around here. Your joke, on the other hand, Zucked.

gargarplex 13y ago

Is it bad that I was kinda hoping that Zuck finally had his Scorpio moment?

morgante 13y ago
What does that mean?
- tedkalaw 13y ago
  It's a reference to Hank Scorpio from The Simpsons, a character who was simultaneously the perfect boss and an evil genius. http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Hank_Scorpio http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Hank_Scorpio

vijucat 13y ago

Some employee must have phoned in a bomb threat after becoming sick of the peer pressure to have the "awesome Chef-prepared dinner" on campus, which is just a ruse to extract up to 2 hours of extra work per day. Or maybe to put off one more mind-numbing, health-destroying caffeine-and-pizza-and-beer-overdose "hackathon". In PHP. Actually, it's probably just the PHP. http://chinpen.net/blog/2013/02/hackathons-are-bad-for-you/ http://chinpen.net/blog/2013/02/hackathons-are-bad-for-you/

rahij 13y ago
Wow. That was harsh.
- jrockway 13y ago
  Not harsh, bitter.
  - goldenkey 13y ago
    The truth hurts.
    - blueskin_ 13y ago
      So does PHP.
      - goldenkey 13y ago
        Oh please.
  - vijucat 13y ago
    Nope, I dislike the culture, that's all. This guy on reddit explained it much better than I can ever hope to: http://www.reddit.com/r/TrueReddit/comments/2026bq/reduce_the_workweek_to_30_hours_nyt/cfzlgiw http://www.reddit.com/r/TrueReddit/comments/2026bq/reduce_th... Excerpted here so that you don't have to jump a link, no rights claimed: "I work as a programmer and in my jurisdiction people in the IT industry are exempt from overtime laws. Even if there are no pressing deadlines (and there usually are since unrealistic time frames are seen as a motivator) working a standard 40 hour week is like wearing the minimum amount of flair at Chotski's. If you don't stay a little later or work the occasional evening or weekend from home then you must not be a Real Programmer. What is a Real Programmer, you might ask? A Real Programmer is someone who loves programming! They love it so much that it's what they spend all their time doing. In fact, a Real Programmer loves programming so much that they're happy just to have the chance to do it. Paying them is just a formality because the Real Programmer doesn't really consider it "work". You know a programmer isn't a Real Programmer when they don't volunteer to work 60 to 80 hour weeks (for no extra monetary compensation, remember) because it's "fun". All they really need in thanks is a company t-shirt and the occasional slice of pizza on those late nights. And you know what? Those Real Programmers exist. They work ridiculous hours, don't expect to get paid for doing the work of two or three people, and they absolutely love it. They'll have conversations with managers about how lazy people who leave the office at 5pm are and how they just can't understand that mindset. Then there are the people who try to be Real Programmers because that's what's expected. It permeates the industry's culture. You hear it from fellow programmers, managers, and investors. If you want to succeed as a programmer you have to at least look like a Real Programmer even if you're not one at heart. So you get people working evenings and weekends just for appearances and they start to burnout. Their code quality suffers and the code base becomes buggy and difficult to maintain. Longer hours are needed just to get the same amount of work done and it becomes a feedback loop of bad code, longer hours to fix the bad code, and burnout which makes things even worse. Personally I'd love to work a 40 hour week without it hurting my career and professional reputation. Programming is fun, sure, but I want to have a life outside of it. I want to get out of the office at a reasonable hour and stop thinking about work until the next day. I want some time to cook healthy meals, exercise, see my friends, go on dates, write a book, learn a new (human) language, etc. In short, I want the freedom to live my life. I don't want to work merely for the chance to survive to keep working until 40 years from now when I can maybe stop and think about doing something I really love in the few years I have left. On the one hand I must sound pretty lazy. There are people happy to work 80 hour weeks for 40 hours of pay. Why should they not be allowed to do that just because that's not what I want to do? What about freedom of choice? On the other hand, why should there be a culture of exploitation in this industry just because of the few individuals who, frankly, don't seem to realize or care that they're dedicating their lives to making someone else rich while seeing relatively little of that money themselves? I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. And this kind of thing has caused problems before. I just really wish we lived in a society where we didn't define ourselves so strongly by our day jobs and where working ourselves to death wasn't seen as a virtue."

sytelus 13y ago

There are very harsh laws against anonymously calling police for bomb threats. I remember a case of a very smart business man who was getting late to airport and called the airline saying that the flight he was supposed to be boarding on has a bomb. Eventually call got traced to him and if I remember correctly he was sentenced to jail for 14 years.

goldenkey 13y ago

I guess someone phoned in a Facebomb removes sunglasses

userbinator 13y ago

> Facebook evacuation At first glance, this conjured up mental images of users worldwide being told to log out of their accounts and not use the site until further notice.

codeulike 13y ago
Exactly what I thought too.
72deluxe 13y ago
Think of the amount of people that would return to their lives and do something productive! (I say this whilst typing a comment on HN; the irony is not lost on me)

soup10 13y ago

Dons tinfoil hat Obviously a distraction created so that the NSA could thoroughly bug the place.

yeukhon 13y ago

I think someone who read about FB "donating" money for extra police officers decided to "prank" FB and the county police department. The timing is just too precise. One has to question whether FB is really under any threat and whether internal security is enough or not. i spoke before that if FB couldn't keep strangers entering the building or walking pass the campus, that's the fault of the security contractor. I think there are only two real threats: data thief and employees' mental health under pressure.

DrJ 13y ago
and counter offers!