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joe_hills

298 karma · joined May 19, 2015

Nashville, TN
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joe_hills··on Elon Musk’s Security Clearance Under Review over Pot Use
Anything illegal in 40 states likely has an actual stigma.
joe_hills··on Move Over, Snapchat: Meet Zocal, the App Winning Gen Z with Local Moments
I'd recommend changing the screenshots to show places besides SoCal to avoid distracting folks.

I thought at first that the app's name was a play on words with Gen Z and "local," but all of the photos seem to be from Socal, so I spent a few minutes wondering if it a combination of those two instead, which I'm now 95% sure it's not, but still not truly certain.

joe_hills··on With trust destroyed, Facebook is haunted by old data deals
Personally, I have been disappointed in them for years, but folks will finally listen, so I'm talking about it more often.

No one has paid me or offered to pay me to do so.

joe_hills··on An open letter to FB, Twitter, Instagram regarding algorithms and my son's birth
Personally, my method for avoiding being insulted by Facebook has been to not use their website or services for the last five or so years.

I was challenging myself to imagine what tactics they might try to discourage others from abandoning their platform in cases of extreme grief.

joe_hills··on An open letter to FB, Twitter, Instagram regarding algorithms and my son's birth
I'd prefer the systems avoided showing users upsetting ads for free, I'm just not sure how that system would work or how to prevent users from gaming it.
joe_hills··on An open letter to FB, Twitter, Instagram regarding algorithms and my son's birth
On an emotional level, this deeply troubles me—but to address the problem analytically:

It strikes me that an ad algorithm that forces grieving people to opt out of social media at a time when their friends and family are most interested in checking in on their well-being may encourage a broader pattern of falling back on non-ad-supported communication channels in the weeks or months to come.

It seems like there's a strong case to be made here that some ad-supported communication channels should consider either an ad-free grief mode when users are in distress, or at least sell a giftable ability to use the site without ads, in which case friends of the grieving could chip in to avoid this kind of distress.

joe_hills··on Why the media is unable to report on a case that has generated huge interest
Interestingly, Wikipedia editors also don't seem sure how best to deal with this suppression order. Here's the talk page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:George_Pell#Rumours_of_co...
joe_hills··on [dead]
Life is more beautiful and nuanced than we can record and share here, and we all struggle to make sense of the bits we can when things are hard.

Do you need $100,000 not to starve at the moment, or would slightly less suffice for now?

joe_hills··on Facebook’s weapon amid chaos and controversy: misdirection
I disagree. The Jewish Chronicle specifically links the use of "globalists" as an anti-Semitic dog whistle term to George Soros.

https://www.thejc.com/comment/comment/what-does-the-term-glo...

joe_hills··on Facebook’s weapon amid chaos and controversy: misdirection
The craziest part to me was that they wanted to discredit their protestors via both: 1. anti-Semitism (claiming the protestors were working for Soros) 2. anti-anti-Semitism (claiming the protesters hated Jews)

I feel like there's an incredulity limit to what a company can do before the general populace starts revolting against them, and attempting to combine these two tactics may severely strain it, if not blow past it altogether.

joe_hills··on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Beta
I'm excited to see Apache bumped to 2.4.35 with HTTP/2 support.

Also, PHP has been bumped from 5.4 to PHP 7.2, which will be extremely nice to have out of the box.

joe_hills··on Nashville is unexpected third-place winner in Amazon HQ2
I work two blocks away from where they're constructing the Nashville Yards complex that will house Amazon, and this is a huge disappointment.

That location was already in high demand, but according to the Tennesseean (our paper of record) the state and city promised Amazon $102 million to move in anyway.

We should let companies who want to invest in our city do so without competing for space against subsidized giants like this.

joe_hills··on Ask HN: Prospective employer wants me to start ASAP. Is this a bad sign?
As an outsider, it strikes me that they were fine with the initial three-month notice period, and are only balking at asking for two more.

Asking someone you've already allowed three months to please honor the agreed-upon arrangement seems totally reasonable to me.

Are there non-employment-related extenuating circumstances that lead to the request for the extra two months, like a dying loved one?

joe_hills··on Ask HN: What place do you have for God in your life as a hacker?
The religious leaders who tried to teach their followers about their ideas of gods may have been wrong about a lot of things, and right about others, but both can be instructive to research.

I believe folks who are offered the responsibility of building and maintaining complex systems, or the skills to manipulate those systems even without authorization can benefit from studying different systems of ethics and morality as well.

Even if you don't agree with a particular theological system or its teachings writ large, it can be instructive to question and explore why that religion promotes each of those teachings. It can be interesting to see what each taught once, but now sweeps under the rug.

If curiosity drives you to hack, it may be rewarding for you to delve into the religious writings, traditions, and histories of cultures around the world! Give it a try!

joe_hills··on Ask HN: Do you really need a $1000 phone?
Microphone and camera quality is very important for some of my side projects, and professional-grade equipment can add up quickly in price, volume, and weight.

I'm not spending $1000 on a phone, I'm spending $1000 on a very small and portable (admittedly not quite pro-level) video camera that works well enough in a wide range of light conditions and noise environments.

joe_hills··on Linux Kernel TCP Vulnerability
RedHat states RHEL6 and RHEL7 also affected. Mitigation patches are currently forthcoming.

https://access.redhat.com/articles/3553061

joe_hills··on Failing to find a startup name – Is it a sign of failure ahead?
Thinking of good names may not need to be a core competency for your business to be successful.

Either pick a "good enough" name on your own, or hire a freelancer whose business is making up names.

If you can't commit to maintaining you current momentum by one of these means, then that's the real warning sign.

joe_hills··on Google Sets Rules to Curtail Employee Debate
It seems volunteer moderation may not scale well at a company this size.

When I consider that the logs of these intranet conversations are a legal liability, and moderation actions may cause legal challenges as well, it strikes me that perhaps google should hire professional moderators that report up through their legal division.

I imagine a lot of employees might balk at this, but having developers losing sleep over how to respond to intranet drama may be considered undesirable as well.

joe_hills··on Unpatched WordPress vulnerability allows code execution for authors
Some sites have plugins that allow users to create accounts with minimal permissions.

An attacker could create such an account, then abuse a legitimate nonce to delete files.

joe_hills··on Ask HN: How to find a mental health professional?
You could start by looking for professionals whose offices have convenient locations for you.

It's easier to talk yourself out of skipping an appointment when the trip there isn't intimidating on its own.

joe_hills··on Supreme Court Sides with Baker Who Turned Away Gay Couple
You can find the judgement at: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/16-111_j4el.pdf

It's clear from the text that the lower court's ruling was thrown out because of prejudicial behavior by Colorado's Civil Rights Commission during the hearing about this matter.

The Supreme Court didn't decide anything about the baker's actions, only that he wasn't given a fair process by the state.

joe_hills··on Ask HN: Organizing company knowledge?
In my experience, something that already ties into your company's authentication platform can really simplify access-control problems.

For example, when I worked at a company that used Google Apps for Business for everything, I set up our documentation in a Google Sites Wiki. Now that I'm working somewhere that uses Microsoft for everything, I've set up a Sharepoint wiki.

In both cases, the tools wouldn't have been my first choice from a page-editing or layout standpoint, but the ease with which my less-technical co-workers can search and find information and process documents with their existing credentials has been key to encouraging broader use.

joe_hills··on macOS High Sierra: Anyone can login as “root” with empty password
I just tested this on a Sierra (10.12.6) machine, and verified this bug isn't present in that earlier OSX version.
joe_hills··on Facebook users in Romania see content related to street protests reviewed
A previous Romanian protest led to a show-trial on December 25, 1989. The sentence was execution. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_Nicolae_and_Elena_Cea...
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