wam

9 ms·

31.
by wam 14y ago
Both of these comments are wrong and right. I think tomjen3's comment accurately conveys how some people feel about an article that starts off with "All the crypto code you’ve ever written is probably broken." "YOU did something WRONG" is a
32.
by wam 14y ago
Ok, we're getting closer, but I think acabal's point was that it's hard for us to tell on a general basis which acronyms matter and which don't. i.e. the question isn't really "what do I use?" it's "how do I know what to use when I don't
33.
by wam 14y ago
For the record, it's clear to me that you're speaking from a sincere desire to share what's worked for you (including a bunch of sound strategies for addressing problems as they arise) with other people. That's super cool. I just want to de
34.
by wam 14y ago
Yes, feedback is helpful and you shouldn't take criticism personally. No disagreement. But feedback that's mostly focused on small problems is draining and criticism is draining. If that's not the case for you, awesome. It's the case for so
35.
by wam 14y ago
The author explicitly says that fixing bugs feels good. But the point (as I see it) is that the workflow often obscures the larger positive goals of the endeavor and tends to burn people out, and that's a net negative. You can argue that it
36.
by wam 14y ago
I know, but I think the way you were talking about it brought "what it means to be a programmer" into line with working as a programmer generally. He's talking about how a pessimistic feeling about being a programmer arises. But I think yo
37.
by wam 14y ago
But this isn't what the piece describes. The author is talking about the _feedback_ one receives while doing work. Take the 3rd mason and start giving him a list of what's wrong with the work he's doing every day until the cathedral is buil
38.
by wam 14y ago
Well, sure, but everything in life is a "phase." A whole career might be a phase. But that's not the point. This post clarifies a vague problem. It's great that you've avoided that. Good for you! Seriously. But to say that he hasn't "discov
39.
by wam 14y ago
Hmm, yeah, I take your point. Finding ways to coexist peacefully is a big problem and I think you're absolutely right to point out that existing strategies for that haven't scaled beyond a certain level. I'm a bit skeptical of seasteading b
40.
by wam 14y ago
"Today’s aged hippies no longer understand that there is a difference between the election of a black president and the creation of cheap solar energy; in their minds, the movement towards greater civil rights parallels general progress eve
41.
by wam 14y ago
Hadn't thought about the similarity to file sharing, but it makes sense. Sort of a chaotic neutral in contrast to mass retaliations. Early on with file sharing, I thought that a system might arise where people would voluntarily pay into leg
42.
by wam 14y ago
I hadn't seen that video, thank you! That's an excellent analysis. On the subject of policing strategies, my feeling is that the relative newness of internet-distributed mobs (and less mobbish but still easily-formed groups) could be a sign
43.
by wam 14y ago
That's an interesting hypothesis, and worth looking into. If the group is a graph connected by people becoming aware of the campaign, participating in it, and forgetting about it, then there's a feedback loop that should taper off in a pred
44.
by wam 14y ago
I don't think this accurately characterizes the article and the discussion. Saying that this is a "teachable moment" is sugar-coating the character of the responses here. I'm not arguing that the agency of the harassment victim, and what sh
45.
by wam 14y ago
I don't know. The only rail I see in this discussion is "wow, she should have known better." Nothing about how pathological the response was, nothing about the culture that encourages that community to retaliate with such vengeance and mirt
46.
by wam 14y ago
Spoken like someone who has never been slut-shamed. Or had his/her leg blown off by a landmine. People don't actually get maimed because they stupidly walked into a minefield. They get maimed because someone put a minefield where they live
47.
by wam 14y ago
Books I'd read: "Wanting to Get Things Done"
48.
by wam 14y ago
I'd say Larry Wall has done a pretty good job in his "Benevolent Dictator of Perl" role. I also appreciate how near this piece comes to channeling Philip Seymour Hoffman's rebuttal to Robin Williams in "Patch Adams." http://www.youtube.com
49.
by wam 14y ago
I've been using ChainCal for a few weeks and it's great. Beautiful and intuitive interface.
50.
by wam 15y ago
Curiously omitted from both essays (unless I somehow completely overlooked it) is the ending of this apocryphal story. The judge asks the accused infringer to take a coin out of his pocket and drop it on the table, saying "The sound of the
51.
by wam 15y ago
Stories like this make the Netflix Prize seem ancient. You can build a better mousetrap and then spend a lot of time adjusting the springs, but keep an eye on your cheese supply.
52.
by wam 15y ago
Good point, there's nothing wrong with playing with style on a blog. Few better places to test, practice, and refine.
53.
by wam 15y ago
It's not exactly the _intended_ topic of the post, but I had the same reaction. The author seems to want to evoke a sense of calm or slowing down, but the transition between the scene and the diagram-laden advice is really pretty jarring. T
54.
by wam 15y ago
I agree, the original article seemed more aimed at people who would deliberately pretend they were on your side and then turn around and do the opposite. Applying this combative term to include people who are trying to be nice or succeed at
55.
by wam 15y ago
It's cultural, yes, but this particular example isn't necessarily emblematic. In American english, "How are you?" isn't a literal question, it's a conventional greeting. The answer is expected to be "Not bad" or "Fine" or "Well" -- not beca