Hacker News Reader

vogelkeon Yash: Yet Another Shell

I keep my history in a format showing the current working directory next to each command. If you're interested, have a look at

https://bezoar.org/src/dotfiles/README.htm#command-history

vogelkeon Are LLMs able to notice the “gorilla in the data”?

Sounds like "Landru" in ST:TOS.

vogelkeon What you've got is in fact a people problem

Sounds a lot like working with the US Air Force, unfortunately.

vogelkeon Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?

"Fatherland" by Robert Harris, 1992. Alternative history detective novel set in a universe in which Nazi Germany won World War II.

"Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig. I re-read this every 4-5 years just to enjoy the discussions about quality and why it matters.

vogelkeon Why do we pick our nose? (2015)

My main reasons:

- because I can, and

- because I can't pick my family.

vogelkeon Ask HN: How do I get over my obsession with operating systems?

Maybe knowing when a particular OS went off the rails or did something deeply stupid will come in handy one day when you're writing an app to scratch an itch. Way better to avoid a mistake someone else already made.

vogelkeon Ask HN: Favorite Subreddits

r/commandline r/sysadmin r/datacurator r/datahoarder

Surprisingly good signal-to-noise ratios for all of them.

vogelkeon How I survive 12 hour flights

I don't care much about the flight, just about getting over the jetlag at the destination.

What worked for me: power through the first day on the ground. Go to sleep when the clock says you should, NOT when your body does -- you'll get tired at some weird time, but don't nap. Run around, do caffeine, or whatever, but just power through it.

I got over jetlag from USA/Australia in about 30 hours this way.

vogelkeon Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (December 2020)

Location: Beavercreek, OH

Remote: yes

Willing to relocate: no

Technologies: 33 years experience as Unix/Linux system administrator -- Solaris up thru 11, RHEL/Centos Linux, FreeBSD v6-11, sh/ksh scripting, lots of Perl experience (munging, ETL, web), some Postgres experience but very average SQL skills, comfortable building from source.

Resume/CV: https://bezoar.org/about/resume.pdf

Email: vogelke@pobox.com

vogelkeon Bliss: A language for systems programming (1971) [pdf]

Not Cliff, but I remember BLISS from early '80s Air Force work. It's the only thing I know that could beat compiled Fortran for things like signal processing. That code absolutely flew.

vogelkeon Ask HN: Best resources for non-technical founders to understand hacker mindset?

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/0932633420/

The Psychology of Computer Programming

by Gerald M. Weinberg

Written in 1971, and still completely relevant. Topics include egoless programming, intelligence, psychological measurement, personality factors, motivation, training, social problems on large projects, problem-solving ability, programming language design, team formation, the programming environment, etc.

vogelkeon Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (February 2020)

Location: Beavercreek, OH - Authorized to work in the US for any employer

Remote: Yes

Willing to relocate: No

Technologies:

  - UNIX System Administrator, Wright-Patterson AFB, Sept 1988 to Present
  - DB: Postgres installation, Oracle backups (scripting dumps, etc)
  - Bare-metal server installation/maintenance: RedHat/Oracle Linux,
      Solaris, BSD
  - Writing and updating software: C, Perl, Shell (bash/ksh)
  - Writing documentation: HTML, CSS, Markdown
  - Version control: Mercurial, RCS
  - Security monitoring: ipf (Solaris), iptables firewalls
  - Security+ (2011)

Education: BS, Mechanical & Aerospace Eng, Cornell University

Resume/CV: https://bezoar.hcst.net/about/resume.pdf

Email: vogelke+ycombinator@pobox.com

vogelkeon What Does a Coder Do If They Can't Type?

> What in particular have you found success with that helps?

* I bought two bathroom mats from Krogers, wrapped them around the arms of my office chair, and duct-taped them in place. Looks like hell, feels soft and cushy.

* I bought a bunch of those practice tennis balls (the wimpy kind that don't bounce worth a damn) and have one at home, one at work for squeezing when I take a break or watch TV.

* I wear one of those Ace bandage thingies around my right forearm.

* I have one of those ergonomic keyboards from Microsoft. Huge improvement.

* THE MOST HELPFUL: I do curls and range-of-motion exercises with 10-lb dumbbells when watching TV. Nothing dramatic, a few sets of 30-40 curls plus rotating my wrists, and then some leaning-over pushups against the couch. You wouldn't believe how much better I started feeling.

vogelkeon Did Australia Poke a Hole in Your Phone’s Security?

Could you provide a link to that transcript?

vogelkeon Facebook accused of striking 'secret deals over user data'

Facebook: We can do whatever we like.

UK: No, you can't.

This totally works for me. If FB doesn't negotiate in good faith, strong-arm is exactly what's called for.

vogelkeon How a 20-year-old kernel feature helped USDS improve VA’s network

> Why doesn't the federal government just have a big database?

Because that tends to end very badly. I've been in Fed MIS systems since I joined the USAF in 1981, and it's the same just about everywhere except for a few of the research labs.

Remember the OPM data breach, where the background check info for over 20 million people went walkabout? I was one of the lucky winners, and it's a result of the management-by-spreadsheet mentality that's everywhere in the government. On paper, they were fine. In actual fact, not so much.

If the security checklist says "you must have an audit system in place", and you have the system installed and running, you pass. Nothing is said about ever looking through the logs for atypical behavior that might indicate a breach.

You want to buy new software? If it's not Oracle or Microsoft, good luck. If there's not a contractual vehicle in place to use for the purchase, forget it. Whether or not the software is fit for purpose has no bearing on the matter.

vogelkeon Landed (YC W16) on why teacher home-ownership is central to improving schools

Articles like this are embarrassing. Here's how to fix the schools:

1. When a parent withdraws their kid from a school that's not doing the job, the parent's money GOES WITH THEM to whatever other school they ultimately choose.

2. If any kid in any class disrupts the class and prevents anyone else from learning, the teacher informs the principal. The principal says "Yes, sir/ma'am, I'll take care of it", removes the kid from the room, places them in a different room, and informs the kid's parents.

3. If any kid in any classroom verbally threatens or physically assaults a teacher for any reason at all, the kid is immediately expelled. Any lawsuit over this by any parent is dismissed via lack of standing to sue, and the parent pays the school's court costs.

Problem solved.

If you work at a school that can't seem to fire incompetent teachers, you'll be out of business and good riddance.

If you teach at a school, your word is SCRIPTURE when it comes to a disruptive or dangerous student. That means you have the last word about when or whether a student is returned to your class, not the pricipal or the board or some parent who can't discipline a kid.

If you're a parent and your little snowflake can't handle the concept of "don't hit the teacher and don't start screaming in class", you are free to educate him yourself.

vogelkeon Libraries have become a broadband lifeline for students

You are 100% right. I've worked for Uncle Sugar since 1981 as an AF officer and a contractor, and after seeing the way money gets spent, you're better off burying it in a fruit jar in your backyard than giving it to the government.

vogelkeon Employee burnout is becoming a huge problem in the American workforce

I wrote about why I like being a sysadmin after 29 years on Reddit about 2 months ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/5omi1n/

One of the biggest things that kept me from burning out was realizing that companies (or branches of the service) are neither good nor evil, they're just big. As a result, they'll take whatever you offer and not blink an eye.

vogelkeon America’s opioid epidemic is worsening

One of the best books I've ever read on why the war on drugs is a bad idea. It's written by a UK cop who was there nearly from the beginning.

  https://www.amazon.com/Good-Cop-Bad-War/dp/1785032690/
  Good Cop, Bad War (Paperback)
  Publisher: Ebury Press
  Language: English
  ISBN-10: 1785032690
  ISBN-13: 978-1785032691