Part 1 is here.
##For thoughts
So this year I will continue to be for things. I’m completely for being for things. I am simply and expansively for.
I’m for the team and it, in turn, is for me.
I am for the parts that are not great because they are large and coupled and ignoble and insufferable and wish to be better and I with them.
I am for building into it and building through it because inside there is where I find out (or remember) that after all the inhumanity (oh!) of it all, it all turns out to be endurable and worthy of my efforts.
I am for that which does not endure, too. I am for forgetting and moving beyond and above and between and forgiving my past failures.
I am for working when it is just work and also when everything is riding on the work.
I am for caring too much about the work and nothing at all about the work, either way and sometimes both ways and sometimes any and all ways in between, part of the way sometimes, sometimes all the way, on and on until I know I can never know really what I am working for and, not caring, I work, and I work and work and work, for no reason other than to work and better myself.
I am for that—all of that, and also you and my teammates, and all of yours.
When I acknowledge that there is no such thing as perfect code or a perfect team or a perfect project, that only the idea of it exists… then the real purpose of striving toward perfection becomes clear:
To make me/we/us happy!
That is what it is all about. And I am all for that all the time. No one has more fun than we!
Happy New Year!
Month: December 2021
I am for being for things (Part 1)
##Joy
We talk about how hard it was, the work, some awful sprint, whatever. Dang, it was hard. Can you believe how hard? That was hard. It’s the easiest thing to talk about, something you can look a friend in the eyes and admit to feeling, the simplest aspect of it all to explain to our families. Oh, heavens, it was hard.
And when the work is hard, we rarely talk about the colors and images that at some point flooded our perception. We don’t talk about the sounds that for some mysterious stretch we lived in like fish in water. Or the choice of music. Or the feel of the keys beneath our fingers. Or the trust in our partners and team members. And almost never about the joy. Joy especially is a silly word, an embarrassing one. Better that we have a rush, that we’re pumped, or psyched or jacked or couldn’t even freaking believe how much we killed it and crushed it. I mean, seriously: Gosh, fellow participants, wasn’t that joyous? No way. Maybe? Nah.
But go out and throw a Frisbee to the end of the reach of a great dog and tell me how that moment of pure ecstatic canine joy when the jaws rip the disc out of the air is any different from what we feel as we improve our work, have a breakthrough, find just the right chord.
##Abundance
Our work is so full of so much that we take the abundance for granted. We forget that most people don’t live the way we do — that, for them, being aware of and awash in the code and design is an oddity. Our exalted state — the equivalent to the rare condition of intensified being that all these businesses are trying to implant into their employees, and that all these books are trying to instruct people to do, and that all these gurus are suddenly yammering on about — we live there.
So where is this all going? Part 2 awaits.
Amazon has no shame
Duracell spends decades building their “copper top” brand.
Amazon Basics: copper bottom. No shame.
[This is not really much of a surprise is it? Not to me.]
Unleashing Beaver to Restore Ecosystems and Combat the Climate Crisis
Unleashing Beaver to Restore Ecosystems and Combat the Climate Crisis:
The creek bed, altered by decades of agricultural use, had looked like a wildfire risk. It came back to life far faster than anticipated after the beavers began building dams that retained water longer.
“It was insane, it was awesome,” said Lynnette Batt, the conservation director of the Placer Land Trust, which owns and maintains the Doty Ravine Preserve.
“It went from dry grassland… to totally revegetated, trees popping up, willows, wetland plants of all types, different meandering stream channels across about 60 acres of floodplain,” she said.
The Doty Ravine project cost about $58,000, money that went toward preparing the site for beavers to do their work.
In comparison, a traditional constructed restoration project using heavy equipment across that much land could cost $1 to $2 million, according to Batt.
See also The Beaver Manifesto and this long piece from Places Journal about beavers as environmental engineers.
Across North America and Europe, public agencies and private actors have reintroduced beavers through “re-wilding” initiatives. In California and Oregon, beavers are enhancing wetlands that are critical breeding habitat for salmonids, amphibians, and waterfowl. In Nevada, Utah, and New Mexico, environmental groups have partnered with ranchers and farmers to encourage beaver activity on small streams. Watershed advocates in California are leading a campaign to have beavers removed from the state’s non-native species list, so that they can be managed as a keystone species rather than a nuisance. And federal policy is shifting, too. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sees beavers as “partners in restoration,” and the Forest Service has supported efforts like the Methow Beaver Project, which mitigates water shortages in North Central Washington. Since 2017, the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service has funded beaver initiatives through its Aquatic Restoration Program.
[I believe they saw similar effects when reintroducing wolves. We should know by now that we should leave well enough alone.]
Source: kottke.org
US Army Creates Single Vaccine Against All COVID & SARS Variants, Researchers Say – Defense One
US Army Creates Single Vaccine Against All COVID & SARS Variants, Researchers Say – Defense One:
Within weeks, scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research expect to announce that they have developed a vaccine that is effective against COVID-19 and all its variants, even Omicron, as well as previous SARS-origin viruses that have killed millions of people worldwide.
The achievement is the result of almost two years of work on the virus. The Army lab received its first DNA sequencing of the COVID-19 virus in early 2020. Very early on, Walter Reed’s infectious diseases branch decided to focus on making a vaccine that would work against not just the existing strain but all of its potential variants as well.
[Sounds like good news!]
Meet the Self-Hosters, Taking Back the Internet One Server at a Time
Meet the Self-Hosters, Taking Back the Internet One Server at a Time:
Much of this growth can be seen on Reddit, with r/selfhosted hitting over 136,000 members and continuing to rise, up from 84,000 just a year ago. The discussions involve self-hosting software that spans dozens of categories, from home automation, genealogy, and media streaming to document collaboration and e-commerce. The list maintained by nodiscc and the community has grown so long that its stewards say it needs more curation and better navigation.
The quality of free and easy-to-use self-hosting software has increased too, making the practice increasingly accessible to the less-technically savvy. Add to that the rise of cheap, credit card-sized single-board computers like the Raspberry Pi, which lower the starting costs of creating a home server to as little as $5 or $10. “Between high-available hosting environments, to one-click/one-command deploy options for hundreds of different softwares, the barrier for entry has dramatically been lowered over the years,” said KmisterK.
[I did this for a long time and then messed up a transition, lost a bunch of things, and tossed in the towel. It still makes me sad, but it remains clear that while it would have been nice to not lose all that history, it has had no overwhelmingly detrimental effect. I’m glad to be blogging again, it had been so long when I felt I had lost my voice, but it seems it was just hiding behind the couch. And I’m working on a podcast as well, (something I thought I’ve never do…) but I have some thoughts. Birth of a notion and all that.]
Thunderbolt™ 3 & 4 Explained
Thunderbolt 4 is compatible with plenty of connections or interfaces including:
DisplayPort
PCle
USB4
It’s even backwards compatible with previous versions of Thunderbolt and connects via USB Type-C
When it comes to speed, Thunderbolt 4 ports have 40Gbps bandwidth. However, Thunderbolt 4 stands out by increasing Thunderbolt 3’s minimum PCIe data requirements from 16Gbps to 32Gbps. That means more room for higher transfer rates and better performance.For external devices that use PCIe, Thunderbolt 4 will work like a charm.
Games can be transferred and stored onto an external drive and be played from there, rather than having to transfer the files to the system instead
Last and certainly not least, especially for laptop enthusiasts, Thunderbolt 4 is capable of charging various devices and you won’t need a separate power supply to charge your device.
[The confusion continues…]
DuckDuckGo in 2021: Building the Privacy Super App
DuckDuckGo in 2021: Building the Privacy Super App:
Like we’ve done on mobile, DuckDuckGo for desktop will redefine user expectations of everyday online privacy. No complicated settings, no misleading warnings, no “levels” of privacy protection – just robust privacy protection that works by default, across search, browsing, email, and more. It’s not a “privacy browser”; it’s an everyday browsing app that respects your privacy because there’s never a bad time to stop companies from spying on your search and browsing history.
[This is great news…]
The Habit of Adequacy
I honor the word habit on the days that it is hard, but I show up anyway. The habit serves me on the days when I doubt that I can, but I show up and give myself the opportunity to surprise myself. To have it be great even though my expectations are low.
[I think about how bad habits are easy and good habits are hard. “Is the Dark Side stronger? ‘No, no, no. Quicker, easier, more seductive…’ “]
Source: Accidentally in Code
The Effects of Four Years Without Net Neutrality Rules in the U.S.
The Effects of Four Years Without Net Neutrality Rules in the U.S. — Pixel Envy:
Many tweets about 2017’s coverage of the end of net neutrality rules were clearly inaccurate and hysterical — that is for certain. But the loss of those rules has not magically solved U.S. broadband problems, either; on the contrary, it has exacerbated the worst tendencies of telecommunications conglomerates as many people — including yours truly — predicted. U.S. ISPs, which should be mere utility providers, are abusing their positions to advantage their own products and services. Net neutrality rules should be restored and, just as importantly, ISPs should not be excluded from antitrust discussions.
[Absolutely]
Source: Pixel Envy
turnings :: daniel berlinger 