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dxs

3,613 karma · joined June 23, 2022

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dxs··on Seriously, What is the best way to save passwords?
For each account,

> Create a long, unique, random password.

> Save the site URL, the required userid, the password, and any other relevant things in a text file.

> Save all these text files in fossil.

> Password protect and save the fossil file with 7z.

When it's time to use a password, run a script to unzip the 7z file, fire up fossil, and expose the full set of password files, then access whatever I need.

When done, delete everything, leaving just the original 7z file.

Is it a little tedious and clunky? Yep. Does it work? Yep. Is it totally under my control? Yep.

Details

> Generate a 24-char password: gpg --gen-random --armor 1 18

> Fossil: https://www.fossil-scm.org/home/doc/trunk/www/index.wiki

> 7z: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7z

dxs··on What was the last time you had useful search results with Google?
Is Google Getting Worse? https://freakonomics.com/podcast/is-google-getting-worse/

By Stephen J. Dubner, Nov 16, 2022, audio+transcript, runtime: 60:32

Sources:

> Marissa Mayer, co-founder of Sunshine; former C.E.O. of Yahoo! and vice president at Google

> Ryan McDevitt; professor of economics at Duke University

> Tim Hwang, media researcher and author; former Google employee

> Sridhar Ramaswamy, C.E.O. and co-founder of Neeva; former senior vice president for advertising and commerce at Google

> Elizabeth Reid, vice president of Search at Google

> Jeremy Stoppelman, C.E.O. and co-founder of Yelp

dxs··on Ask HN: Reading material on how to be a better software engineer?
You can take a look at the following. Doesn't look like anyone else has mentioned this yet.

As with everything else, check it out, adopt what looks good, adapt it to your needs.

> Watts Humphrey: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watts_Humphrey

> Personal software process: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_software_process

> Team software process: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_software_process

> More at Libgen: http://libgen.rs/search.php?req=watts+humphrey&lg_topic=libg...

> More at PDF Drive: https://www.pdfdrive.com/search?q=watts+humphrey&pagecount=&...

dxs··on Ask HN: Where do you escape for non-clickbait thoughtful/informational content?
Podcasts...

BBC: am--Global News Outlook https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02nq0gn/episodes/downloads

BBC: pm--Newshour https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p002vsnk/episodes/player

BBC: Witness History https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p004t1hd/episodes/downloads

BBC Reel [video] https://www.bbc.com/reel/

CBC News: As It Happens https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-2-as-it-happens

CBC News: World at Six https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-8-cbc-news-the-world-...

CBC: The Current http://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcasts/current-affairs-information...

CBC: Ideas http://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcasts/documentaries/the-best-of-i... ( Catch this while it's still reachable: "Erasing Africa's role in the rise of the West" at https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/erasing-africa-s-role-in-the-... )

CBC: Quirks & Quarks https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcasts/science-and-tech/quirks-qu...

CBC: Spark http://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcasts/arts-culture/spark/

CBC: Under The Influence (Check the back catalog. Get what you can while you can.) https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-70-under-the-influenc...

Democracy Now! http://www.democracynow.org/

Economist: Checks n Balance https://play.acast.com/s/checksandbalance

Food: BBC Food Chain https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p028z2z0/episodes/downloads

Food: Gastropod https://gastropod.com/category/podcasts/

Freakonomics @ NPR https://www.npr.org/podcasts/452538045/freakonomics-radio

Fresh Air Podcast http://www.npr.org/podcasts/381444908/fresh-air

Marketplace https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace/

Nader https://ralphnaderradiohour.com/

On The Media http://www.onthemedia.org/

Radio Open Source http://www.radioopensource.org/

TTBOOK https://www.npr.org/podcasts/388466288/to-the-best-of-our-kn...

WORDS: A Way with Words https://www.waywordradio.org/category/episodes/

World: PRI https://www.pri.org/programs/3704/episodes

dxs··on Ask HN: Best book to learn programming in 2022?
I've decided to relearn everything, starting at the very beginning. First up is the Chris Pine book. He's a good writer. It's very simple but fun.

I was curious and after a bit of looking around I found "Introduction to Computation and Programming Using Python with Application to Computational Modeling and Understanding Data", third edition, by John V. Guttag, © 2021. Looks pretty good, though it's a more traditional approach.

Basically, any language you might be interested in will have introductory books.

If you have trouble getting ahold of books, you can try (1) www.pdfdrive.com and (2) z-lib.org . The first one feels a little less sketchy but the second one has almost everything I look for, on every subject. I've had no trouble with either one so far, but use at your own risk.

dxs··on I hate telephones (2017)
A telephone is a device that allows anyone anywhere in the world to make a bell ring in your house. -- Len Deighton (paraphrase from memory)

He preferred teletype, and had a teleprinter in his home. Maybe still does.

dxs··on How to bury carbon? Let plants do the dirty work
This is already in progress, in North Dakota. See Gabe Brown, and his book on this and related subjects, "Dirt to Soil".

Some other resources... > Brown's Ranch – Regenerating Landscapes for a Sustainable Future: https://brownsranch.us/

> Brown’s Ranch, Bismarck, ND: https://www.csuchico.edu/regenerativeagriculture/demos/gabe-...

> Gabe Brown’s Most Profitable Crop & Understanding Regenerative Agriculture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAVH01bnD0U

(The book is available via z-lib.org as a last resort.)

dxs··on Ask HN: Where can I retire from corporate life?
You don't say if you'll be needing to earn money. That will make a major difference in what options you have.

I quit my last job in state government when I decided that I'd rather die than keep working there. That was July 7, 2005. As things unfolded, I haven't worked since. This was a totally stupid thing to do, but somehow I survived. If I had it all to do over, I would be a whole bunch smarter, but here I am.

I made it on savings to 2011, when I was eligible for Social Security at 62, and three years later at 65 I began drawing on my state pension. Now I'm living in Cuenca, Ecuador, where my monthly spending is under $800, around a third of my income. OK so far.

Mr Money Mustache is a good resource, and there are other similar ones. "Gringo Post" and "Cuenca High Life" are sites with some perspective on the place I happen to be now.

A possible source of more, employment-related info: https://grayshoring.com/

dxs··on Ask HN: Depressed, need to leave web development, what can I do?
I don't know anything special. Maybe this will be totally nuts, but...

A couple of weeks back the very distinct name of a former co-worker popped into my head, and I did a search. Found some info.

When I knew him he was an intranet webmaster for a state agency. Remember "webmasters"? Anyway, in the years since, he went over to the Agile side. He's done a huge amount of contract project management work since, for several state agencies, and also for Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. And at least one gig in Australia.

Looks like a success. Completely different than what he was doing way back in the 2003-2005 period. Apparently he just decided to grab it and run with it, regardless of what you, I, or anyone else thinks about "Agile". It's a thing, and he's doing it successfully, and he seems to be in control of his life, so...

I'd say stay away from being a government employee, but as one option, governments always seem to have boatloads of money to hire consultants and contractors. Back about year 2002 I was making maybe $45k and the contractor in the next cubicle was making over $200k, didn't know any more than I did, just different things, and was treated like a god, while I was expected to eat shit and smile, all day, every day.

I quit my last job, as a state government web dev, when I decided that I'd rather die than keep working there. That was July 7, 2005. As things unfolded, I haven't worked since. This was a totally stupid thing to do, but somehow I survived. If I had it all to do over, I would be a whole bunch smarter, but here I am. I made it on savings to 2011, when I was eligible for Social Security at 62, and three years later at 65 I began drawing on my state pension. Now I'm living in Cuenca, Ecuador, where my monthly spending is under $800, around a third of my income. OK so far.

dxs··on Museum of Failure seeks to encourage taking risks [audio]
More: "Museum of Failure" at Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Failure
dxs··on [dead]
His earlier post: http://popupbackpacker.com/2022-camping-and-the-high-price-o...

See "Why is Gas so Expensive?" about halfway down for the details.

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