J# @joshsharp@mastodon.social
Code witch in Melbourne, AU. Talking about code and oh, you know, overthrowing capitalism and the patriarchy and other bad ideas. He/him.
Isn't it ironic how the largest open source code platform (GitHub) is itself proprietary and closed source?
I've made a deliberate choice against a quoting feature because it inevitably adds toxicity to people's behaviours. You are tempted to quote when you should be replying, and so you speak at your audience instead of with the person you are talking to. It becomes performative. Even when doing it for "good" like ridiculing awful comments, you are giving awful comments more eyeballs that way. No quote toots. Thank's
Today was my first attempt at seriously using Rust, setting up a web app using Rocket and Diesel, and I just couldn't get Diesel to work with my mysql database. I know I should file an issue, ask for help in IRC, etc., but it really just makes me want to give up for now.
It's been a sobering reminder of what programming is like for beginners — a collection of incomprehensible moving parts that either magically work or fail inscrutably
Via #hn: "Words for “yes” in Romance languages" http://benito-cereno.tumblr.com/post/171103878358/okay-so-latin-has-this-word-sic-or-if-we-want
Cool look at #linguistics
Thinking about user data, privacy, and our values led to writing this post about all the things we care about in the way we run our app. Of course we could do better but I'm proud of what we're already doing to not be gross: https://exist.io/blog/the-way-we-run-exist/
I'm perpetually flummoxed by people who use our thing, inadvertently stop paying for it (card expires or runs out of funds, say) and keep using it while ignoring all the warning notifications and emails. If you want to use it, pay for it! If you don't want to pay, don't use it! I'm not much into capitalism either, friend, but you should respect my need to pay my rent
amazing that this illustration is from over 100 years ago, it's still basically accurate today
Wacky Idea:
Step 1: Create some awful blockchain/gig economy company
Step 2: Hire a 20something white cis man to be a fake co-founder so you can get VC money
Step 3: Instead of wasting tons of VC money on SF office space and free beer, run the company frugally and burn through the rest of the cash on social welfare projects
Step 4: Still don't make profit and fail, just like all of the other startups in the space, but fail with a legacy of turning VC money into actual social good
If you liked
Cryptocurrency
You'll love
Just setting a pile of money on fire
General request: if you post pictures, please please include alt text describing the image so that everyone, regardless of visual ability, can enjoy your toot.
Please consider asking others to do this. Optionally, reconsider boosting toots if they don't have alt text.
We all have an opportunity to help shape the culture of this place and I'd love, love, love if it were "oh, everyone posts alt text with their images because that's just what you do."
Coworker: I'm tired of being micromanaged.
Me: Let's unionize.
Coworker: I'm tired of working 50 hours a week and being on-call every weekend.
Me: Let's unionize.
Coworker: Our managers are doing some really shady things.
Me: Let's unionize.
Coworker: Why doesn't anybody keep the remote team in the loop?
Me: Let's unionize.
Coworker: Talking to HR isn't fixing anything.
Me: Let's unionize.
Coworker: But I'm scared of getting fired without cause.
Me: Then... Let's unionize.
Why wait for the government to switch to metric? Change all the settings everywhere! Forget how many feet are in a mile! Be horrified when someone says it's 39 degrees outside in winter!
My Grandad's advice for safe driving was: "Always remember you're controlling a potentially lethal weapon". I think it helped me to take driving even more seriously.
Perhaps it's good advice for us technologists too...
"Always remember you're programming a potential platform for bullying and harassment".
"Always remember you're designing a potential system for mass surveillance".
"Always remember you're deploying a potential tool for mass social unrest".
A reminder:
Everyone who doesn't live in the United States would like to not be reminded of that country's incredible myopia.
Do better than a typical US-dweller by being specific about where your news, politics, advice or information comes from or what part of the world it is for. Like if you're posting some advice line or ways people can get support for something, say it's specifically for people in the US.
In 2017 I started writing a functional, ML-like language that compiles to Go. I made decent progress! But I still have so far to go 😓 https://braid.joshsharp.com.au/2018/01/progress-update-january-5/
