josemanuel @josemanuel@qoto.org

I'm trying to improve my Japanese by replying to everyone whose posts I understand with what I hope is both a grammatically correct and coherent reply. If you got one and can read this, please forgive me if they're neither. I don't mean to bother you or anything. My Japanese is just that terrible.

Modern software is the exact opposite of what made me fall in love with computers as a kid.

Un lector actual de Euclides las pasaría canutas para entender ideas que se enseñan en primaria. Eso se debe a que Euclides usaba lenguaje natural para explicar conceptos matemáticos.

Siempre me ha llamado la atención que haya tanta gente que vea el lenguaje natural como la opción más sencilla para comunicar ideas (o, en este caso, ejecutar tareas), porque lo cierto es que las notaciones científicas se inventaron por una razón. Lo mismo pasa con los lenguajes de programación.

Para crear un buffer, yo prefiero teclear C-x C-f y escribir un nombre. No me cuesta nada. Para algunos tipos de archivo, además, tengo plantillas que me rellenan campos por defecto. Si tuviera que escribir o decir lo que quiero cada vez, me moriría de asco.

Today I learned about this awesome metal band:

https://raveinfire.bandcamp.com/album/sons-of-a-lie

For a brief amount of time, I was the tech lead of a software project. Before that, I thought that leading was a matter of gently telling people what to do, being open to questions and suggestions from the team, and, generally, being patient.

But the experience left me with more questions than answers. How can some people lead whole armies to their death while I couldn't even get my points across (i.e., “I'm afraid you're doing it wrong. You have to do it this way.” Or: “If you have doubts, don't waste time we don't have: Just ask.”)?

My first instinct was to think: “Well, you need to surround yourself with people who share your vision or at least are experienced enough to understand it.” But that seems like an easy way out. You can't always be surrounded by like-minded people, right?

So, how do charismatic leaders do it? Is it just that they seek idiots to manipulate? Can they really do it without some form of coercion or propaganda? I don't know.

I don't like being a boss, it's just that I usually know better what must be done or where we should go, so being a subordinate frustrates me, too.

I often censor myself because I fear people will think I'm pontificating instead of trying to start a conversation. Of course I will defend my opinion in that conversation, but still I'm open to change it if I'm convinced by the other person's arguments.

I love how the author apologises in advance for her cartoon (“It's not a call to Luddism, I promise”), but every comment is basically: “Yes! Luddism is the answer!”

(I'm a computer programmer and I agree: Luddism is the answer. Also, we need to cut out the middlemen. They're parasites.)

Seeing how #Slackware's LQ forum has become a cesspit of morons and gatekeepers, I have come to appreciate @alien's work and demeanor even more. He doesn't claim to speak for Pat and he gets very useful work done for the community. That's really something to admire.

Good thing Timmy will never get laid.

I find it amusing that all the responses to that post come from yes men (and/or women), and not a single one asks: “Why?” or “How do you define critical thinking? If I disagreed with something you said, would you consider me a critical thinker or just wrong?”

Every day I become more and more convinced that Rust programmers are, at best, BigTech's useful idiots.