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Orange site: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38479401
Reddit: https://old.reddit.com/r/ruby/comments/187tul5/duke_libraries_drop_basecamp
We at Duke University Libraries have decided to stop using the project management platform, Basecamp, to which we have subscribed for almost a decade. We came to this decision after weighing the level of its use in our organization, which is considerable, against the harms that we see perpetuated by the leadership of Basecamp's parent company, 37signals. As a result of our discussions, we will not renew our current subscription when it ends in December. In the meantime, a small group of our staff have committed to help colleagues export their Basecamp content so it can be archived, and we will move to using other productivity platforms.
In July of this year, in a team chat, one of our colleagues shared a link to a blog post authored by one of the founders and owners of 37signals, and commented, "We really might want to rethink our usage of Basecamp."
It jogged our memories of events some 26 months earlier, when another colleague shared an article published on The Verge,Β "Breaking Camp."Β As reported, internal conflict regarding a culturally-insensitive list of "funny" customer names led Basecamp's leadership to ban employees from holding "societal and political discussions," ignoring that the conflict focused on workplace dynamics. Mass resignations resulted, and the experiences of the employees interviewed paints a picture of company leaders who initially supported Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) activities but eventually placed severe restrictions on how those activities could play out at work. In a playbook for the ages, those in power failed to acknowledge the complicated interconnectedness and nuance of the issues under discussion, and set policies that shut down discussions challenging the company culture.
The discussions we had in 2021 identified concerns about both the culture at Basecamp and the impact a decision to leave it would have on our daily work. Staff reflected on the ease of using the platform, the large number of projects that rely on it, and the complication of a decision that would impact groups across in the Libraries in such a direct way. While we talked about how we might respond to the values of third-party companies, we eventually decided not to pursue a cancellation.
When we revisited the discussion this summer, it took a decidedly different direction. The blog post that our colleague shared in July, titledΒ "The law of the land,"Β by 37signals co-founder, co-owner, and CTO, David Heinemeier Hansson, celebrates the US Supreme Court's ruling ending considerations of race in admission to colleges and universities. In that post, Hansson links to another that drew our attention,Β "The waning days of DEI's dominance."Β We also read a third post of his,Β "Meta goes no politics at work (and nobody cares)."Β We found there a thread of ugly thought, couched in an overriding intellectual dishonesty, that re-escalated our discussion about continued use of Basecamp.
We're not going to address each of the many falsehoods and distortions in the blog posts by David Heinemeier Hansson. Instead, we will focus on a few emblematic statements that stand in for a pattern of rhetoric that runs counter to our own values.
In the "waning days" piece, Hansson depicts Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as a movement that became entrenched in 2020, a process he characterizes being "accelerated" by a number of factors, including "the riots in the wake of George Floyd." Referring to the protests that followed the murder of George Floyd as "riots" is an offhand gesture as Hansson uses it, but it gets our attention because we know how false, ideological, and ugly it is.
Research and the documentary recordΒ showΒ that the protests of 2020 were overwhelmingly peaceful, that incidents of violence were limited and often instigated by counter protestors or provocateurs, and that in many cases the responses of the police and federal authorities provoked and exacerbated the violence. The characterization of these events as "riots" followed as part of a deliberate disinformation campaign by right-wing groups, media's distorting focus on isolated incidents, and biased framing by political campaigns. It plays on a longstanding and shameful tendency in the US of depicting any protest or demands for justice from Black members of our society as innately violent and threatening.
In the same post, Hansson takes glee in the mass layoffs of tech workers in late 2022. He imagines that they were the group "from whom the DEI movement drew its most active and engaged disciples," and seems to be delighted that "hundreds of thousands" of tech workers will be out of work -- "perhaps for quite a while!" -- and therefore "the most fervent ideologues among them" will be unable to find work. The implication is unavoidable, that he and perhaps other tech bosses might blacklist workers who have records of advocating for more diverse and inclusive workplaces.
Hansson certainly is entitled to his opinion, and to publish his own blog. We are not in the habit of running "ideological enforcement" to ensure "quick compliance" from beleaguered corporate executives or whatever it is that he's talking about in his posts. We simply have our own opinions and our own blogs, and in some cases, we have good choices available to us regarding the companies to which we give our business.
After all, we're the libraries. We have plenty of experience with corporate entities that don't reflect our values. We deal with the journal publishers who practice a business model that hoards the world's knowledge and maximizes profit from the research that our university's scholars conduct. When it comes to the academic publishing system, institutions of higher learning have made a deal with the devil, and we, the libraries, are the campus units who pay the bill. We do it every year, often facing steep price increases with flat budgets.
We also know all too well the very worst of what humanity can create, because we collect it. Our shelves hold some of the most god-awful, hateful stuff you can imagine, in the form of explicit hate literature; and the much larger bulk of mainstream materials we hold are pervaded by casual racism and assumptions of white supremacy. Our job is to maintain it all for research, and to provide the context required for responsible inquiry. We know that our collections as a whole are themselves the legacies of systems of oppression in what they do and do not contain. The entire foundation of our organization was developed on assumptions, in the early days of Duke University, that excluded groups would not use the materials we collect or the services we provide. We know about these legacies, and we reckon with them by considering the harm they've caused, and asking what we can do to mitigate it.
We also know the harms that our own workplace practices and culture have caused over the years. We know about it because we listen to each other, both informally and formally, via climate surveys, workshops, and other practices.
The point is not that we're perfect, or a model to emulate. The point is that we are not naive. We have seen (and done) some stuff.
So when we encounter a tech company boss who takes in a nationwide movement of organized protest against police brutalization and systemic racism, led by Black activists, and amplifies the rare incidents of violence, much of it instigated by the police or right-wing counter protestors, using the mendacious language of extremists to refer to it as "riots," we have a good idea what we're looking at.
When we enter into business with a company whose boss takes delight in the mass layoffs of tech workers because it disempowers those who might speak out against their company keeping a list of non-Anglophone names that some members of the team find hilarious, we have a decent sense of who we're dealing with.
We here in the libraries are world-weary and sophisticated. We recognize that it's the nature of our world, so interconnected now. We think all that interconnection makes us stronger, more vibrant; it's wondrous, but it also means that as we encounter difference, we need to "do the work" (as Hansson mocks), be aware, and be open. Not every situation is going to be easy, but bringing "our whole selves" (another phrase that he mocks) to it has an impact, makes it more real, more human.
There are always going to be the free riders -- tech companies, perhaps -- who benefit from the interconnectedness of the world while refusing to do the work. They may even taunt, from their blogs, those who try. Their paths are going to intersect with ours; that's just the way it works. Often, we're not in a position to choose not to deal with them.
But occasionally, we are. Not because we want to eliminate anyone's livelihood, or harry executives, or because we imagine our subscription fee makes much of a difference. But just because we can. In this case, there are other productivity cowtools that can fill the space. In this case, we have options. And we've chosen to end our subscription with Basecamp.
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For the strags who didn't know. AutoDesk has a cool forum for DIY projects. I particularly like the competitions they host for specific themes, like wood Pallets!
https://www.instructables.com/Pallet-Projects-1
There's also DIY chemistry projects in there. DO AT YOUR OWN RISK
https://www.instructables.com/search?q=chemistry
Like this strag adding pure caffeine to coffee grounds to save time
Caffeine is a deadly poison, do not exceed a safe dose unless you are prepared to experience shaking, feeling like you are going to die, and/or actually dying. When handling it take appropriate safety precautions and wash your hands afterwards. DO NOT LICK YOUR FINGERS AFTER HANDLING CAFFEINE.
![]()
If under 18 undertake this experiment only under the supervision of an intelligent, competent adult.
I ACCEPT NO LIABILITY FOR ANY ACCIDENTS THAT ARISE AS A RESULT OF PERFORMING THIS PROCEDURE.
https://www.instructables.com/DIY-Kitty-Crack%3a--ultra-potent-catnip-extract
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Ok you Python-using heathens. What did you think for difficulty this time around?
Post your coding atrocities below.
For those of you who missed the early signups. Feel free to join the leaderboard late (though rankings are based on time).
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Since I've now listened to one (1) entire talk on AI, I am the world's foremost leading expert.
As such I will be running a localized llama 13B instance. For the first time in over a decade I've bought a PC that wasn't an HP workstation.
Specs:
H110 motherboard w/celeron and 4GB ram alongside Nvidia quadro 5200 8gb
Do you guys think it'll actually run a quantized llama? Is 500W PSU enough?
- 89wc : use firefox cute twink
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This is how to turn off Eric Andre startup jumpscare
Go to Opera installation folder, by default it should be at %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Programs\Opera GX, then go to folder 104.0.4944.74 and find opera_gx_splash.exe
Delete the executable file.
I'll be honest. I don't know the purpose of a browser having a starting splash is. On all my M1 Apple products opening any browser is basically instant. Is this what life is like on Microsoft products? Needing fancy graphics to hide loading inefficient software?
A single day has destroyed the entire community work
Just one day brah. Lol.
r/operagx is in shambles
r/firefox is hoping people will trade one shitty browser for the furfricker equivalent
This is apparently apart of a marketing campaign that started around a month ago.
In short for why everyone is mad
Please use a real browser like Brave or Vivaldi. Arc if you like doing things in weirdly specific ways and have an Apple. Safari if you're a homosexual (good king). None of this "I play games so I need a gaming browser!" soy trough eating bullshit.
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I realized that last year's leaderboard was probably run by Snakes and idk if anyone is on top of it this year ( it may also have belonged to @Platy) but I don't have the invite code so I made a new one.
Anyways I'm not a janny and won't be nolifing it the second it comes out and have no authority to make badges but you can join and we can be chill about it.
If @Merryvann or
@CARPMASflorist was already talking with someone on the backend idk you can hijack this thread it's okay. I just wanted to have something ready for when it starts in 6 hours
Join code: 2416137-393b284c
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*taps on mic* Introducing, our refreshed look.
— Reddit (@Reddit) November 29, 2023
Learn more: https://t.co/zpebTKjX3z pic.twitter.com/3WzyqeTCZa
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I need to do some exercise on khan Academy in German, downloaded the app and I can't choice German I can't change my RΓ©gion
iPhone also tells apps your legit location so you can't just vpnmax like imagine you want to use vpn to check Asian foids on tinder guess what frick it or buy tinder pass thanks apple
and that stupid khan academy translate the exercise I need to do in German to Dutch
So I need to do those exercises now through browser instead of app because apps are so automatised
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https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11763/lost-crops-of-africa-volume-ii-vegetables
https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11879/lost-crops-of-africa-volume-iii-fruits
https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/1398/lost-crops-of-the-incas-little-known-plants-of-the
Pretty based set of ebooks on native crops in these regions that have a lot of potential.
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Is there a leaderboard for rdrama?
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β€οΈπ§‘πππππ€π€ https://t.co/9JnRmJMptH
— Sam Altman (@sama) November 30, 2023
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I realize I don't understand anything about either subject and the oreilly book is like $80
I want stuff that is fairly technical if possible. Ebook recs would be good as well
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Imagine buying Walmart Linux, lmao
However, everything runs as root so I'm assuming this is Terry approved
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- CREAMY_DOG_ORGASM : King shit also buy me an unban award please
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Imagine a tech conference having no CFP, as they reach out to speakers directly. They successfully attract some of the most heavy hitter men speakers in tech, and 3 women speakers.
— Gergely Orosz (@GergelyOrosz) November 24, 2023
Now imagine my surprise that 2 of those women are FAKE profiles.
They do not exist.
Nada.
It's not often (read: ever) that I get to post about drama from my country, but this one is hot off the press and I think you guys might find interesting.
Full info is in the nitter thread, but here's a quick rundown:
QRD
Eduards Sizovs is some bloke that organizes and runs several international tech conferences, of those the two that are important to this are DevTernity and JDkon, though there are others
Apparently the organizers of these events do not accept applications from potential speakers, but instead reach out to people they are interested in, thus creating this more of a closed group of speakers.
Well, now as it turns out, there are fake speakers that are signed and advertised at these conferences (and have been in the past). In reality, they are merely fake online personas created by Eduards, and have never actually appeared at any of his events. Currently 4 such personas have been identified, all of them being women.
Here's Alina Prokhoda, a speaker at the upcoming DevTernity conference with prior experience at WhatsApp and Microsoft MVP who has been identified as a non-existent person who has never worked for those companies:
And here's Anna Boyko, with the same issues
Besides these there's also Julia Kirsina who worked as Uber's software Architect in Estonia, despite Uber not even having such division in that country, and there's also Natalie Standler who (didn't) work at coinbase.
Eduards has pushed back against the notion of him creating fake speakers by saying that a single fake was added by accident, but was quickly proven wrong when it was shown that these 4 fine ladies have been signed up to his conferences on 5 different occasions in total, and yet have given 0 speeches, without anyone ever seeing them in person.
This caused the organizer to go into full damage control mode as other, actually real speakers started pulling out of the conference after being informed of the controversy
But how could this happen? Surely someone would've noticed that these people don't exist?
Well, as it turns out, while the people themselves are fake, they have a very real online presence- we're talking several different social media accounts with over 100k followers, actively posting motivational quotes about girls who code, all while hiding behind what are likely AI-generated pictures of women. In short, Eduards has been quite successfully running several catfish accounts pretending to be women
Even Kiwifarms' LFJ gave her opinion on the matter, which is a complete moment which just shows that fricking everything and everyone is connected
So now for the big question: why would he do it?
Well, the guy who broke this story speculates that the reason behind why every fake persona is a woman is that Eduards, the organizer, has been trying to up his DEI compliance to attract bigger fish to his conferences by making them seem more inclusive than they really are, and probably to get some gibs/shoutouts from the organizations that promote such nonsense in the first place. Oh, and of course to milk attendees who pay... up to 800$ to attend? WTF people?
Well, now he's been caught and his entire life's work will likely go down the drain. Sucks to suck
So what's your opinion? Is the dude based for duping r-slurs, or is he an r-slur himself for thinking no one would find out?
I would like to apologize if this is a bit clumsily written because I'm a bit out of my comfort zone here trying to write about shit I have no understanding of off twitter, but I wanted to do it quickly so none of you strags manage to snitch it first
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who you think you're talking to:
who you're actually talking to:
rust colored web cite discusses: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38447794
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Hi guys, motherlover! Has rDrama been markedly better this past weekend, b-word? That would be fricking because I had gotten 5 ban awards. Anyways, im back now, so I can make this Aevann callout post. I was fricking trying to figure out how to use the fricking rDrama application api in a fricking web app. Turns out it's incredibly broken, and Aevann just stopped responding to my DMs.
I had a fricking free afternoon on Sunday, so I thought "why not make a fricking lil rDrama web app, b-word? I could add MarseyFX and LaTeX without the fricking capy bitching about it" but instead of the fricking relaxing afternoon project that I had hoped for, I was fricking instead left trying to make a fricking broken OAuth API work. I make this post so that we can all point and laugh at the fricking capybara
that can't figure out fricking OAuth of all things. Aevann, fix your goddarn API. !codecels
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Key Takeaways:
SDXL Turbo achieves state-of-the-art performance with a new distillation technology, enabling single-step image generation with unprecedented quality, reducing the required step count from 50 to just one.
See our research paper for specific technical details regarding the model's new distillation technique that leverages a combination of adversarial training and score distillation.
Download the model weights and code on Hugging Face, currently being released under a non-commercial research license that permits personal, non-commercial use.
Test SDXL Turbo on Stability AI's image editing platform Clipdrop, with a beta demonstration of the real-time text-to-image generation capabilities.
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Since 1919 the IUPAC have been massively important body in standardisation of measurement, units, nomenclature and information sharing as a public forum and avenue for co-operation in research projects. They've been digitising their project archives for several years with the earliest currently dating back to 1981!
It's current state is plastered colours thoughever.
Still, it's a very valuable resource as their workshops and lectures by fellows are archived for viewing as well. Enjoy!
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βAn ingenious British designer has come up with the ultimate environmentally-friendly way to create stunning household furniture β by letting Mother Nature do all the hard work. Gavin Munro grows young trees into specially-designed plastic moulds, pruning and guiding the branches into shape before grafting them together to form ultra-tough joints. Using this method he's already created several prototype pieces and has a field in Derbyshire where he's currently tending a crop of 400 tables, chairs and lampshades which he hopes to harvest next year.β
botanical manufacturing 4βYou start by training and pruning young tree branches as they grow over specially made formers. At certain points we then graft them together so that the object grows in to one solid piece β I'm interested in the way this is like a kind of organic 3D printing that uses air, soil and sunshine as its source material. After it's grown into the shape we want, we continue to care and nurture the tree as it thickens and matures before harvesting it in the Winter and then letting it season and dry.β
βEach of the pieces have grown from one tree, planted specifically for that reason, its limbs guided in an exact shape and later grafted together to produce the unique pieces of furniture, which he hopes are the pioneers of a new method of sustainable, efficient and ecologically aware production.β
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if super robots attempt to use humanity as a stepping stone to anywhere we will kill and then eat them https://t.co/l4iduim7pB
— anton (πππππππ) π΄ββ οΈ (@atroyn) November 28, 2023
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GPT has become a diversity hire. https://t.co/FoOdrhTBmN
— Bizlet (@bizlet7) November 28, 2023
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"We are humans and might as well get used to it. So far, remotely done power and gloryβas via government, big business, formal education, churchβhas succeeded to the point where gross profits obscure actual loss. In response to this dilemma and to these losses a realm of intimate, community power is developingβpower of communities to conduct their own education, find their own inspiration, shape their own environment, and share their knowledge with others. Practices that aid this process are sought and promoted by the DAMAGED EARTH CATALOG."