Merge branch 'release/20200304.1'

content/links/20200304.md

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+title = "Links for 2020-03-04"
+date = 2020-03-04
+
+[taxonomies]
+tags = ["links"]
++++
+
+Interesting links for 2020-03-04.
+
+<!-- more -->
+
+# [Leaked Document Shows How Big Companies Buy Credit Card Data on Millions of Americans](https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/jged4x/envestnet-yodlee-credit-card-bank-data-not-anonymous)
+
+Alright, this is stupid: "We removed the user information and put an unique ID
+in place" is completely bullshit. I know it, you know it, but it seems it is
+the general way of selling user information around.
+
+Even if someone removes the unique ID but keep other information, things are
+still traceable: For example, how many people do you think are white, male,
+above 40, not married, living in a specific suburb (I won't even claim the
+street itself) that bought some product? I bet you could pretty much find me
+with just that, 'cause that description would fit 0.00001% of the city
+population, anyway.
+
+Maybe we need to rethink this "sell information" thing, since privacy is long
+gone. We need laws that, if you want to sell collected information, you need
+to put one single vector per information. That means that, if you want to sell
+that information, you need to have one dataset for skin color, which says a
+white person bought some product; another dataset for sex, which says a male
+bought some product; and so on. No unique IDs.
+
+It's not perfect, but I believe that would get more traction than simply say
+"don't capture any data", 'cause, seriously, it is not working.
+
+# [Aerogel from fruit biowaste produces ultracapacitors with high energy density and stability](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352152X19309077)
+
+Hey, that's cool that we are finding ways to recycle stuff like biowaste for
+something like capacitors, but I have to wonder if that, in our current world,
+that means people will produce durian and jackfruit just to let it rot to
+create biowaste for the capacitors, instead of something simple, like feed
+people.
+
+# [IBM To Transition Their z/OS, POWER + AIX Compilers To Being LLVM/Clang-Based](https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=IBM-Will-Use-LLVM-Clang-Stack)
+
+I have to wonder if the move is something like this: IBM bought RedHat; RedHat
+sells Linux solutions; IBM stronghold are the mainframes, which are dying; by
+changing the base system from their compiler to Clang, they are also saying
+"hey, people who build stuff for our platforms, you should use Clang now!",
+which would make transition those codebases to Linux a bit simpler.
+
+But yeah, just wondering if that makes sense.
+
+(Also, Clang _Fortran_?)
+
+# [Microservices – Combinatorial Explosion of Versions](https://worklifenotes.com/2020/03/04/microservices-combinatorial-explosion-of-versions/)
+
+I have a strong problem with this post: Basically, the problem it points
+happens if you keep two different versions of the _same microservice_ running.
+
+That's not how you should build your fleet -- even if it is possible and not
+that hard.
+
+One point of upgrading a microservice is keeping backwards compatibility with
+their inputs; if you deploy a new version what receives a complete different
+input, you can either add both input interfaces in the new service or just add
+a brand new microservice that just converts the old input to the new one --
+which increases the fleet, but it's not that a big point.
+
+One thing to keep in mind with this upgrade policy is that you _need to
+monitor the inputs_. Once the old input version is not being send anywhere
+else, you can remove the input/disable the microservice -- with the second
+option being less intrusive, as you won't need to redeploy the updated
+microservice with the old input support.
+
+# [Stop using Material Design text fields!](https://www.matsuko.ca/blog/stop-using-material-design-text-fields/)
+
+Or you could, for instance, to drop Material Design completely.
+
+Yes, I'm not a fan of Material Design. I'm not UX expert, but I feel that it
+fails in a lot of places -- not only text fields.
+
+# [The Self-Attribution Fallacy](https://www.monbiot.com/2011/11/07/the-self-attribution-fallacy/)
+
+"Intelligence? Talent? No, the ultra-rich got to where they are through luck
+and brutality."
+
+"If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman
+in Africa would be a millionaire."
+
+I keep saying this around, and one thing that resonates with what I say would
+be: It's not that the ultra-rich are brutal, brutality is what made them rich.
+
+# [Void: terminal-based personal organizer](https://github.com/void-rs/void)
+
+Not sure if it falls into any of my workflows, but HOLY COW, graphs in the
+console?
+
+# [Building Rust for Multiple Platforms Using Github Actions](https://medium.com/@jondot/building-rust-on-multiple-platforms-using-github-6f3e6f8b8458)
+
+While focused on Rust, because the focus are the Github Actions, one could
+"easily" port for other languages (for different levels of "easy").
+
+# [Web crawler in Rust](https://rolisz.ro/2020/03/01/web-crawler-in-rust/)
+
+"How to Draw an Owl", but for Rust crawler. :)
+
+I got most of the stuff, but I guess anyone learning Rust would suddenly see
+the later listing and think "This is nuts!"
+
+# [The Cost of Indirection](https://www.joshmcguigan.com/blog/cost-of-indirection-rust/)
+
+"How a newbie, a seasoned and a veteran Rust coder solve this problem", but...
+for Rust.
+
+I'm not that interested in the times, but in the different implementations of
+the same thing in the same language. May be interesting 'cause some
+implementations may make more sense than other to some people.
+
+# [Toss a Coin to Your Bitcher](https://uncannymagazine.com/article/toss-a-coin-to-your-bitcher/)
+
+A disabled person commenting on the way "The Witcher" series deal with
+disabled people, in this case, Yennefer. Honestly, even when I watched, I
+couldn't see Yennefer as disabled, 'cause... well, one 'cause although I think
+about my own disability (glasses), I don't see that much different than any
+other "normal" person (although I still think Gordon Freeman is the _only_
+short-sighted "hero" I ever saw), and I know what happens with Yennefer in the
+future (thanks for the games).
+
+Still, it's eye-opening to see this kind of post to get a view of how disabled
+people see disabled characters.