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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 2nd, 2023

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  • Reminder that this is a nuanced issue. Some people got fuck all to show for their student loans and need our help. Some people got exactly what they paid for. Don’t be fooled into thinking we’re all in the same boat, or that targeted relief is too complicated. I bring this up because so many advocates for forgiveness are scaring off potential allies with an all-or-nothing mentality, allowing people like Lindsey Graham to rally against a straw man. This should be about helping people who need help - plain and simple.




    • Cloud providers have financial incentive to push microservice architectures
    • Cloud providers give corporate consultants statistics like “microservice architectures are proven to be X% more likely to succeed than monolithic architectures”
    • Cloud providers offer subscription-based tools and seminars to help companies transition to microservice architectures
    • Companies invest in these tools and seminars and mandate that all new projects adopt microservice architectures

    This is how it went down with Agile at my company 10 years ago, and some process certifications and database technologies before that. Based on what I’m hearing from upper management microservice are probably next.


  • From my perspective the corporate obsession with microservices is a natural evolution from their ongoing obsession with Agile. One of the biggest consequences of Agile adoption I’ve seen has been the expectation of working prototypes within the first few months of development, even for large projects. For architects this could mean honing in on solutions in weeks that we would have had months to settle on in the past. Microservices are attractive in this context because they buy us flexibility without holding up development. Once we’ve identified the services that we’ll need, we can get scrum teams off and running on those services while working alongside them to figure out how they all fit together. Few other architectures give us that kind of flexibility.

    All this is to say that if your current silver bullet introduces a unique set of problems, you shouldn’t be surprised if the solutions to those problems start to also look like silver bullets.


  • Even with cloud cover, seeing it at home was something special. I know what it’s supposed to look and sound like at that hour. It wasn’t the same as night - I could still see sunlight on the horizon all around me. I could sense that the wildlife was confused by it - all the birds just flew to the tops of the trees and were trying to make sense of what was happening. The bugs went quiet, and we were all whispering for no apparent reason - it just felt appropriate. The slow descent into darkness was unsettling, especially under cloud cover - it felt like we were under the gaze of a passing giant we could not see. I was surprised by how relieved I felt when the light started to return. It wasn’t what I was expecting but the strangeness of it didn’t disappoint, and I don’t think seeing it away from home would have been quite the same.



  • I’ve been trying to wrap my head around the unconditional support that the US has shown to Israel during this crisis. I understand why we must stand with our friends and allies. I understand that Israel has immense strategic value as an “unsinkable aircraft carrier” in the Middle East. I understand our desire to support democracies in the region. I understand that they have a right to defend their people. I understand that our support is necessary to keep things from cascading further out of hand. But what I don’t understand is how we can provide all this support and still have no leverage to ease the suffering of innocent Palestinians. Are we even capable of applying diplomatic pressure on Israel, or has our support become something more akin to an entitlement?









  • If there is an opportunity to change the culture from within, you should consider that first. I’ve done some recruiting and I’ll admit the short stints don’t look great on a resume. It makes you seem like someone who is more willing to run from a problem than to try to fix it. Keep in mind that you may not need permission to do some of the things you want to do. Dress down a little - see if anyone cares enough to call you out. Set aside a few hours for innovative work. If you can’t get anywhere with that, then I’d agree - time to look for another job, and best to be honest about why you’re leaving. If you can speak to some of your efforts to improve the situation before bailing, that could definitely help to quell some concerns about your commitment.



  • New World. Friend at work recommended it, so I bought it. Couldn’t get it to run. This was during the GPU shortage a few years ago. Spent weeks on a wait list and finally got something close to 2x MSRP bundled with a motherboard. At that point I figured I should just go all in and do a full upgrade. Finally got things running and lost interest in the game 2 hours later - haven’t touched it since. Now I mostly just play RimWorld.