HNHacker News
TopNewBestAskShowJobs

altendo

258 karma · joined September 26, 2013

[ my public key: https://keybase.io/altendo; my proof: https://keybase.io/altendo/sigs/YryRh3rfR8rzY95L7KwR0C02h1mi8pGsPydpciOSCuI ]
submissionscomments
altendo··on Show HN: Jukebox – Free, Open Source Group Playlist with Fair Queueing
I miss it too :( but I'm glad that we're still in people's memories :)
altendo··on TwitchAdSolutions – Blocking Twitch Ads
I think this is configurable on the streamer's end. I watch a lot of PirateSoftware and he's talked about how choosing to run ads at certain intervals vs running them before the stream starts affected his viewership levels. I don't immediately have a video of him saying that, but I imagine there's a YouTube short where he describes that.

All things considered though, I think you are right that the option that forces it at the beginning of the stream is obnoxious and affects the interest of those intending to stream. There's likely a better way (similar to your suggestion) that gets people involved in the stream first.

altendo··on Chris Seaton has died
In the US, dialing 988 will also get you access to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. (Technically it is now the 988 Lifeline, but they both refer to the same thing[1].)

1: https://988lifeline.org/current-events/the-lifeline-and-988/

altendo··on Speeding up sort performance in Postgres 15
> Personally I would wait a few months at least to be sure that the biggest bugs are killed.

This is my default behavior with any database product. Solid advice.

altendo··on Ask HN: Where do you find your sense of purpose working in the private sector?
> Where do you find your sense of purpose working in the private sector?

In some sense, I don't.

At this point in my life, my tech job essentially funds my living expenses: a place to live, food, etc. That isn't to say that I don't like my job - I do, I am still passionate about doing a good job, and I know that my work helps other people - but my purpose doesn't involve work necessarily.

My sense of purpose lies outside all of that. I practice martial arts regularly. I volunteer as a crisis counselor for a local crisis center doing all sorts of things. I love getting outside on a cold day and just going for a walk. I love being with friends. Work provides me the money and the flexibility to do all of it.

I would suggest that, if you are moving into the private sector but still want to serve without worrying about profits, look for charities and other nonprofits in your area and get involved. Maybe even think about what fields of interest matter most to you (is it homelessness? LGBTQ issues? immigration-related issues? mental health?) and find resources near you that are addressing those things.

Working in private sector can provide you the foundation for doing other work elsewhere at the same time. Work doesn't have to provide everything.

altendo··on NASA plans to retire the ISS by 2031 by crashing it into the Pacific Ocean
I wonder if there is a way to ditch the ISS without contributing to oceanic pollution. I get that this is likely a low-cost solution (disassembling it and transporting it wouldn't be cheap) but it would be nice to not contribute to the trash already floating around.
altendo··on A lot of people are getting the OnlyFans story wrong
I believe that it's an assumption for now, but a reasonable one to make. I think it's unlikely that Visa exposes itself to legal risks where MasterCard is not - why give your competitor an edge like that?
altendo··on Twitter locks account of India’s largest opposition party
> In a statement, a Twitter spokesperson said the company’s rules are enforced judiciously and impartially for everyone on our service.

I don't know the details of why they are blocking the Indian National Congress' account. What I can say is that they really need to stop saying things like this. They absolutely -do not- apply it fairly. Different standards apply if you are a US politician, and even then it's not uniform.

altendo··on Babel is used by millions, so why are we running out of money?
> Sounds like he did not do so great job here either.

The original article notes that funding took a hit in 2020. 2020 was an unprecedented year for any number of reasons. To simply say someone did a poor job fundraising in a year beset by constant challenges everywhere lacks proper context.

That's not to say more could have been done; I don't feel, however, that I'm in a position to say. Making money on open source is a difficult enough prospect regardless how one does it without also considering other factors that increase that difficulty.

altendo··on Wisconsin has negotiated a dramatically scaled-back deal with Foxconn
I am always struck at the amount that states and municipalities are willing to write off in order to attract companies. On one hand, I understand that companies want to take the best deal, but on the other hand, at times local governments are willing to give up so much money in tax revenue. I remember reading about the competitions for Google Fiber and Amazon's second HQ - it felt absurd the amount cities and states were willing to drop, financially speaking.

I'm glad this one has been renegotiated (especially seeing that the proposed plant never happened), but I'd like to see these deals be more level-headed before they get to this point.

altendo··on Scalable, Resilient Brainfuck
> the Postgres needs to be multi zone

we need it to be multi-master, clearly. those writes need to go somewhere!

altendo··on Funkwhale – Decentralized, self-hosted music server
Yes! And there were the deep cuts of songs too.

It was a wild ride. I am so fortunate to have been there for the time that I had.

Appreciate the love everyone's been sending in the comments. It's good to not be forgotten :)

altendo··on Huawei proposes to replace TCP/IP at ITU
Since this doesn't really mention what the issue is, I would refer readers to Engadget for an explanation[1]. It seems that Huawei is proposing a new protocol that would allow for greater control of network traffic, among other things. As to be expected, this likely is a privacy nightmare waiting to happen should it actually be implemented.

[1] https://www.engadget.com/2020-03-30-china-huawei-new-ip-prop...

altendo··on Ask HN: Best ways to volunteer?
I volunteer at a crisis center in a number of roles. My sysadmin job gives me the security and freedom to engage with people outside of that realm in my spare time. It has been refreshing and meaningful to focus on something _other than_ tech in that capacity.

There's so much going on in the world that doesn't revolve around computers that has a need for people.

altendo··on Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?
My boss gave me a copy of _Talking with Teach Leads_ by Patrick Kua. I enjoy it. It's an anthology of testimonials by tech leads. It helped give me some perspective on what I need to focus.

edit: grammar

altendo··on Google Fires Four Workers, Including Staffer Tied to Protest
If I might add, that some employees might even see the need to speak out about issues, because if not them, who will? Leaving just gives the company a chance to replace them with someone who -will not- challenge the status quo.

Some people resign in protest, and some people stay and challenge the problem. It depends on the person.

altendo··on South Koreans fake their funerals for life lessons
Alan Watts talked about how one should consider their own death every so often in his lectures. I think he would approve.
altendo··on South Koreans fake their funerals for life lessons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUxoAWTBlRs
altendo··on Twitter exec for Middle East is also part-time British army 'psyops' officer
This completely disregards the number of politicians and newsmakers using Twitter as a platform to share information. The US President has been the first president to announce major policy changes over Twitter without any consultation with his own administration.

News outlets cover Twitter precisely because people are making news on the platform. There is a lot of misinformation out there (especially from the President), and major news outlets make bad calls when running stories (affecting their reputation), but their insistence on using Twitter for news isn't a part of that.

altendo··on Edward Snowden: Permanent Record
In fairness to Snowden, he didn't intend to stay in Russia; his fate was sealed when the US revoked his passport.[1][2] I can't imagine Snowden being much of a fan of Russia given a) what he probably knew during his time working at the NSA and b) actually living there.

EDIT: formatting

[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-23318475

[2] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-security-passport/u-s...

altendo··on Palantir forced out of job fair after outcry over ICE contracts
They do, just as immigration stances vary across all populations of people. LWT staff however decided to make a decision based on feedback from some of its members/participants. I don't think any conclusions can be drawn based on the actions of the organizers.
altendo··on Suicide Prevention Hotline Number Should Be 3 Digits, 988, Agency Says
>There's no one national center, calls to NSPL get routed to the center that's closest to you geographically (I believe that's based on area code). Different centers may have different training and policies, etc.

I would definitely argue that this is the case. Like you, I also volunteer for one of the NSPL crisis centers, and we don't generally call emergency services unless it's absolutely necessary, but there are definitely stories out there where they were called when (in my personal opinion as a volunteer) it was not required. I seem to remember a story about a veteran getting an unwelcomed visit from law enforcement simply because they owned guns and had suicidal thoughts with no intent to harm themselves. If I can find the story again I will link it.

altendo··on Ask HN: Are Lucene/Solr/ES Still Used for Search?
this is cool! Definitely will give it a look.
altendo··on Ask HN: Are Lucene/Solr/ES Still Used for Search?
Are people still using Sphinx Search (http://sphinxsearch.com) at all? It doesn't seem like it gets many releases anymore...since they unpublished the source code, it's hard to see how much activity there is.
altendo··on Password expiration is dead, long live passwords
I've had the same problem with Verizon, in the past the password would only store the first 20 characters. Took me an hour or two to figure it out and fix the problem. I'm not sure if that's still the case, hopefully not.
altendo··on I forgot how to manage a server
The thing is, memorization itself should -not- be the primary skill of a sysadmin.

A sysadmin should know how to troubleshoot, how to use tools, and (more importantly) how to learn how to use the tools.

I don't want to discount the value of someone who still remembers how to handle seemingly arcane tasks like iptables. Experience has its weight in gold, and memory definitely contributes to its value, but there's more to it than that. It is the capacity and willingness to learn in any situation, however, where a talented sysadmin really shines.

altendo··on Why Do People with Depression Like Listening to Sad Music?
As a volunteer at a crisis center, I can tell you that the thing that people most want to hear when they are sad, depressed, or otherwise in crisis is that they want to validate what feelings that they have. In a word, they are feeling awful and want to sit in that feeling, and the music helps listeners process that feeling.
altendo··on Ending support for Dropbox syncing to drives with certain uncommon file systems
The HN link is pg 2 of the forum thread; on page 1 a Dropbox employee states the following:

>The supported file systems are NTFS for Windows, HFS+ or APFS for Mac, and Ext4 for Linux.

>A supported file system is required as Dropbox relies on extended attributes (X-attrs) to identify files in the Dropbox folder and keep them in sync. We will keep supporting only the most common file systems that support X-attrs, so we can ensure stability and a consistent experience. (emphasis mine)[1]

XFS may support xattrs but that doesn't mean that Dropbox officially supports it. They are pretty clear on ext4 being the only supported filesystem.

[1]https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Syncing-and-uploads/Linux-Dr...

Edit: added link to the proper comment in the Dropbox thread

altendo··on Trump Orders Government to Stop Work on Y2K Bug
I'm not sure it will. From the article:

>The agency didn’t provide an estimate of how much time is currently spent on Y2K paperwork, but Linda Springer, an OMB senior adviser, acknowledged that it isn’t a lot since those requirements are already often ignored in practice.

If this is the case, then the move to remove the Y2K regulations likely won't cause much of a dent. The other regulations might have an effect, however.

altendo··on Trump Orders Government to Stop Work on Y2K Bug
I was just going to say, if they think 2000 was a problem they are in for a surprise soon.
Page 1 of 3Next →