Reading recommendations (2016-07-11)

While I’m waiting for review of another article containing information from a project done at my current employer, I wanted to share some reading recommendations for articles I came across recently.

I’m not yet sure if this is going to be become a regular thing, but it might - sharing links via Twitter or other platforms is something I tend to dislike more and more while other low-friction options have let me down in the past, so the blog seems the most likely home for such content.

Besides the link I’ll try to include the author name or nickname and how I found the interesting piece - maybe a little description to each of them where it feels appropriate.

• Start Every Meeting with a Personal Check-in by Mathias Meyer (RSS, Travis CI blog)
  I find this concept to be very smart but am reluctant to suggest such a thing for the fear of being ridiculed. Being honest I wouldn’t care too much about others’ feelings in general but being forwarned that I shouldn’t expect them to be at their best when they’re feeling low is a major selling point for me.

• Riding Immortal on the Seeking Road by ~Saint Arthur (RSS, I’m a candle blog, Fallen London universe)
  A chronicle of what is in my opinion Fallen London’s most fascinating piece of lore. Seeking the Name, from its inception via the hiatus to its conclusion in 2016. If you’re not into Fallen London or soaking up details in wikis about things you like, you will want to skip this one.

• Answer to What lead to the Ottoman Empire decriminalizing homosexuality in 1858? Was there a lot of opposition and controversy around this? on Reddit by ~PaxOttomanica (newsletter, Reddit upvoted weekly)
  Interesting, detailed answer that mentions a fact we currently seem to be forgetting: Sometimes, laws need to be adjusted and modernized in order to avoid criminalizing everyone for something that has become common practice.

• Once Upon A Time in the Valley by various Twitter users (unearthed from the depths of my Instapaper, originally almost certainly via Twitter)
  A humorous, cynic critique from InfoSec about how silly the Silicon Valley startup culture can be perceived. Good for a laugh or two.

• GamerGate is killing video games by ~Zennistrad, ~segoli, Jay Rachel Eddin (unearthed from the depths of my Instapaper, originally via Twitter)
  Although GG is thankfully a thing of the past, this is a very thoughtful piece on the effect of GamerGate on video game archiving and the perception of video games in academia. I think the original article I read in the past was from ~Zennistrad, but this one has additional commentary and the one from ~Zennistrad appears to offline.

• Hiring in tech should prioritize skill, not charisma by Thomas H. Ptacek (unearthed from the depth of my Instapaper, probably via Twitter)
  Interestingly, although I currently don’t plan of changing employers soon, I come back to the idea what I’d try to do differently when interviewing and choosing my successor. The potential scenarios are all interesting.

• Reverse Turing testing tech support by Rob Graham (unearthed from the depth of my Instapaper, original via RSS, Errata Security blog)
  A critical experience report about getting tech support from official sources and how researching yourself safes time if you already have a clue what you’re looking for. Might make you cringe and smile at the same time.

7 is a good number. Let’s stick with that. Good night.