Someone complained that the xkcd Dependency comic is unrealistic because it only shows one critical dependency you've never heard of.

However, it all makes sense once you realize it's actually a fractal:

You know, I haven’t had a Bowl of Shame in a while… https://seattle.eater.com/2024/7/10/24195214/bok-a-bok-no-doordash-hires-own-delivery-drivers-seattle

I’m not particularly fond of Go, but this is a neat approach to OSS maintenance out of that ecosystem: https://words.filippo.io/dispatches/geomys

One of the biggest security expertise redpills is this is unironically a good idea and the time spent making fun of it was ill-advised for most users whose physical security threat is not a factor in comparison.

This list of authors mentioned in crossword puzzles is pretty surprising to me: https://bookriot.com/authors-in-crossword-puzzles/

I wonder what this would look like looking at just NYTXW in the past decade.

One of the most fun StS runs I’ve had in a while (re-leveling back to A20 on iOS) - 3x Ragnarok and 3x Swivel + Snecko was hilarious.

Love seeing no/low-growth spaces form. https://wwinks.com/writing/heyjohn/

If Americans showed the same energy for civil disobedience about anything else that they do when it comes to setting off fireworks against the laws of city, state, courtesy, and self-preservation, we would have a three-day workweek, robust national healthcare, and a twenty-year plan for solar-powered luxury space communism.

Credit Card Skimming just got an upgrade:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ron-williams-9942125_pcidss-maninthemiddle-cardshimming-activity-7214899431077261312-k3T2

[...] It is a card shimmer one of my clients retrieved from their petrol pump. Installed in about 20 seconds, it is about 150 microns thick and is COMPLETELY UNDETECTABLE to all methods described in PCI DSS and every P2PE Instruction Manual (PIM) I have read. There is no RF to detect and it intercepts data during the only unencrypted transmission of P2PE. [...]

Focus on what you're using tools for, not how long you're using them. https://lifehacker.com/tech/stop-worrying-about-screen-time?ref=jhpMastodon

More Every Frame a Painting!?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSlZKdApob0

I am so glad to keep my configuration files under source control - seeing the random crap that’s been “helpfully” added in my colleague’s environments drives me up the wall.

RE: https://mastodon.social/@siracusa/112724256052731385

I kind of hate both options for this poll, but it does make me realize that there’s not really a language I do like for this sort of thing. I do want something closer to a scripting language, relatively constrained in syntax, but still expressive enough to not have much boilerplate.

RE: https://pony.social/@cadey/112724634331455443

A nice story about one of the top GeoGuessr people exploring the world:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/19/magazine/trevor-rainbolt-geoguessr-google-maps.html?unlocked_article_code=1.200.zUNN.jXIx4MadUkh6&smid=url-share

@nat and @ludicity on lying to get jobs:

• https://www.simplermachines.com/dont-lie-in-interviews/
• https://ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/the-complex-problem-of-lying-for-jobs/

Have to say that I fall on Nat’s side here, though as with a lot of tech advice, it’s not necessarily generalizable. In my last round of interviews, I very much enjoyed being contrary in expressing my dissenting opinions (like disagreeing that SOLID is a useful set of principles or having my default performance stance as “for loops go brrrr”). It is for sure good signal for me if interviewers are uncomfortable with this, since I wouldn’t be a good culture fit anyhow, but given my interviewing results, I think the interviewers thought it was desirable to see from a candidate anyway. (Though again, contextual - perhaps more expected or more leeway given for someone interviewing for a staff position.)

This is really cool -- the fifth busy beaver number has been verified to be 47 176 870.

I love busy beaver numbers because they're both an interesting pastime and also define the boundary of what is knowable in mathematics.

https://www.quantamagazine.org/amateur-mathematicians-find-fifth-busy-beaver-turing-machine-20240702

I enjoyed this talk on pixel fonts very much: https://youtu.be/SDI8ubVZi7w

what are some things that you find confusing about the command line? Mostly interested in answers from people who use the (unix) command line but still don't feel very comfortable with it.

(thinking of writing about using the command line interactively but I'm unsure about whether that would actually be helpful)

Upgraded my cable modem last week, which was a significant improvement to my internet. Should’ve done that way earlier!

The specific technologies in distributed systems may change rapidly, but I think the fundamentals are evergreen. We are going to be retrying, queueing, caching, load shedding, and sharding until the end of time.