Programming is terrible →

Published May 24, 2018  ·  All posts on May 24

Writing code that’s easy to debug begins with realising you won’t remember anything about the code later.

~ Tef from, Write code that’s easy to delete, and easy to debug too.

Elsewhere, this is 4upopo1. — slipbox

Most of the programming I do — if you were to watch — looks very much like me sitting and staring suspiciously at my computer. Occasionally I sip a beverage. Occasionally I will rub my chin. Sometimes I will grudgingly type some code, knowing full-well I’m building something I’m going to curse about later.

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Distraction is rewiring our– squirrel! →

Published May 23, 2018  ·  All posts on May 23

How Distraction Is Rewiring Our Brains—and How Mindfulness Can Help

Elsewhere, this is 4uciho2. — slipbox

Here. I’m not even using a pull quote so you don’t get distracted.

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Michelangelo’s private papers →

Published May 22, 2018  ·  All posts on May 22

What makes Michelangelo: A Life on Paper all the more intriguing is that, by extending an invitation into Michelangelo’s private world of words written for his eyes alone, it raises the question of whom we create for — ourselves, as tender beings with a fundamental need for self-expression, or an audience, as social creatures with a fundamental desire to be liked, understood and acclaimed.

~ Maria Popova from, A Rare Look at Michelangelo’s Private Papers

Elsewhere, this is 4ubami1. — slipbox

I have reached the point of no-return on books. The first, undeniable demonstration of my mortality is the stack of “to read” books. Every year I read more than in the previous year. And every year the stack of books gets taller. I am saddened when I find books such as this, and know that I will never get around to reading them.

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Next up: SIM card slamming →

Published May 21, 2018  ·  All posts on May 21

In this case, however, the perpetrator didn’t try to port Rosenzweig’s phone number: Instead, the attacker called multiple T-Mobile retail stores within an hour’s drive of Rosenzweig’s home address until he succeeded in convincing a store employee to conduct what’s known as a SIM swap.

~ Brian Krebs from, T-Mobile Employee Made Unauthorized ‘SIM Swap’ to Steal Instagram Account

Elsewhere, this is 4uketo1. — slipbox

Free swapping of SIMs is a feature making it easy to change phones [which might require different SIM card sizes] and to recover from entirely losing your device.

Age-old axiom: If you can imagine a situation where you would prefer to not use the feature, then someone can imagine a way to abuse that feature as a security vulnerability.

…and just a few days ago I was talking about not using your cell phone as a “second form of authentication.” :/

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The last person to leave →

Published May 20, 2018  ·  All posts on May 20  ·  

I want to be the person that is the first person there and the last person to leave. That’s who I want to be, because I think the road to success is through commitment, and through the strength to drive through that commitment when it gets hard. And it is going to get hard and you’re going to want to quit sometimes, but it’ll be colored by who you are, and more who you want to be.

~ Will Smith

Elsewhere, this is 4a249. — slipbox

Spontaneity →

Published May 19, 2018  ·  All posts on May 19  ·  

Those of us accustomed to making life livable by superimposing over its inherent chaos various control mechanisms — habit, routine, structure, discipline — are always haunted by the disquieting awareness that something essential is lost in the clutch of control, some effervescent liveliness and loveliness elemental to what makes life not merely livable but worth living.

~ Maria Popova from, Spontaneity and the Search for Meaning: Erich Fromm on the Wellspring of Individuality, Creativity, and Love

Elsewhere, this is 4ubaei1. — slipbox

I spend significant time swerving between the two extremes of schedule-and-organize “all the things,” and running around like a dog fascinated by everything. New item on my list of 42 things (all numbered “1”)…

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Social media and a true village →

Published May 17, 2018  ·  All posts on May 17  ·  

The Internet made it easy to gather together vast swaths of humanity and allowed them to communicate with each other at scale. These mostly anonymous ginormous nations of humans have no shared purpose and no shared values. With no common understanding of how to treat each other and no incentives to do so, communication in these “communities” rapidly degrades to the lowest common denominator where uninformed hate is a typical knee-jerk reaction to differences.

~ Michael Lopp from, Welcome Back to the Village

Elsewhere, this is 4uraai3. — slipbox

There’s a bunch of insight about social networks (digital and in real life.) Also worth reading if you are interested in leadership and haven’t yet found the Rands Leadership Slack team.

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The second 90% →

Published May 15, 2018  ·  All posts on May 15  ·  

The first 90% of a project is a lot easier than the second 90%.

~ Tim Sweeney

Elsewhere, this is 4a243. — slipbox

Election hacking →

Published May 14, 2018  ·  All posts on May 14  ·  

Security is never something we actually want. Security is something we need in order to avoid what we don’t want. It’s also more abstract, concerned with hypothetical future possibilities. Of course it’s lower on the priorities list than fundraising and press coverage. They’re more tangible, and they’re more immediate.

~ Bruce Schneier from, The US Is Unprepared for Election-Related Hacking in 2018

Elsewhere, this is 4usebo5. — slipbox

I think the only thing “protecting” us from someone successfully hacking an election, is the sheer number of polling places. You’ve voted, right? Sure, it’s a busy spot with maybe a dozen machines and hundreds of poeple… but there are thousands and thousands of polling places, and the voting machines are not networked. Yet.

Don’t misunderstand: This is security through obscrurity, is not actually security at all, and is a recipe for disaster.

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Social conditioning →

Published May 13, 2018  ·  All posts on May 13  ·  ,

If we support a foreign war or oppose it, it’s because of what effect it’s having on us, either individually or collectively. Our soldiers are dying. Our President is making us look bad. Our corporations are manipulating us. Our national debt is out of control. My taxes might go up. My budget might be stretched. My family member might be killed. We aren’t encouraged to consider such situations from the viewpoint of planet earth as a whole, or how our actions today might affect future generations. We perceive each other as separate and distinct individuals as opposed to cells in the same body.

~ Steve Pavlina from, What Lies Beyond the Haze of Social Conditioning?

Elsewhere, this is 4usebo6. — slipbox

This isn’t about “us” versus “them. It’s about “I”. How do I see my world? How do I see myself? Have I been conditioned? (duh. Of course I have.) Now that I’ve discovered I have a brain, do I like how I’ve been conditioned?

…oh sorry, got to talking to myself there.

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