blog/archives/2008/12zack's home pagehttp://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/archives/2008/12/zack's home pageikiwiki2009-11-28T12:00:16Zon facebook and graphologyhttp://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/posts/2008/12/on_facebook_and_graphology/2009-11-28T12:00:16Z2008-12-17T22:28:16Z
<h1>today: illegal graphology ; tomorrow: illegal facebook
query</h1>
<p>Join two dots and obtain a line.</p>
<p><em>The first dot</em>. A few days ago, on <a href=
"http://gilioli.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/">the blog of an
italian journalist</a> I've found a reference to <a href=
"http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jan/14/facebook">an old
article about facebook</a> originally from <a href=
"http://www.guardian.co.uk/">the guardian</a> (even equipped with
<a href=
"http://www.comedonchisciotte.org/site/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=5266">
an italian translation</a>, just in case ...).</p>
<p>The article is quite long, but I found it a worthy read.
<small>(Well, at least it is one assuming you can skip over the
initial rhetoric about "social networking = autistic geeks".
Similar arguments were as annoying as untrue already 10 years ago
about the Internet, and even more so 20 years ago about role
playing games.)</small></p>
<p>In the article you can find interesting <em>facts</em> about who
are the creators of <a href="http://www.facebook.com">facebook</a>
and even more interesting ones about who has been more than happy
to finance it more recently. All is topped with a fun re-reading of
facebook's "privacy policy".</p>
<p><em>The second dot</em>. This late afternoon, speaking with Ralf
in the lab, I got introduced to the practice of some companies to
ask for an <em>hand-written curriculum vitae</em> as a regular
practice to be considered as a candidate. Why so? Well, because
they can then ask a <a href=
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphology">graphologist</a> to draw
a psychological profile and take a more "informed decision" about
whether to hire you or not (assuming you believe in graphology, of
course).</p>
<p>Sure, it's illegal.</p>
<p>But still it seems to be common practice in Japan and a not yet
completely vanished practice in specific employment fields in
France.</p>
<p><em>The line</em>. Guess what? Tomorrow it will become easier
(and already is for all the places where the facebook penetration
is sky-rocketing): instead of paying a graphologist for a (possibly
inaccurate) profile, you can just pay the faceboook guys to get a
record of a lot of your private life wanderings, pictures, past
relationships, ... Sure, it will be illegal. But still ..., and it
will be way more efficient!</p>
<p>I'm every passing day more and more proud of having closed my
facebook account more than 1 year ago (and trust me: closing a
facebook account ain't easy).</p>
<hr />
<p>Now, anyone of you can drop by on <a href=
"http://upsilon.cc/~zack">my homepage</a>, spot a shiny <a href=
"http://www.linkedin.com">linkedin</a> logo, and call me a cheap
talker. I'd concur that in a sense every social networking has bad
privacy implications, but that's trivial, we all know that. Still,
I think linkedin is somehow better. Why? Because it is specifically
geared toward professional information. While giving information to
them, I'm usually thinking about my professional "figure" and I've
high barriers that are likely to inhibit me to leak personal
information, or at least make me <em>think</em> about that.</p>
<p>On the contrary, with facebook you have low barriers and you are
encouraged to provide personal information, and that's exactly the
point of the facebook owners. (And here I'm even assuming you do
have some barriers while providing information to facebook, which
I'm convinced is not the case for most of its users.)</p>
<p>I see a parallel with the early days of blogs, where the
euphoria of blogging made a lot of people mistaking their
<em>public</em> blog with their <em>personal</em> diary; stuff
which <em>will</em> strike back. While experienced bloggers develop
defenses against the initial foolish attitude, people do not
develop similar defenses on facebook, because that defenses will
defeat the purpose of the network.</p>
git tips: coloring and aliaseshttp://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/posts/2008/12/git_tips:_coloring_and_aliases/2009-11-28T12:00:16Z2008-12-12T09:43:41Z
<h1>Pimp your Git UI</h1>
<p>Resisting <a href=
"http://nion.modprobe.de/blog/archives/656-ssh-on-the-fly-port-forwarding.html]%0A[current](http://www.burtonini.com/blog/computers/ssh-2008-12-11-12-00">
the</a> <a href=
"http://www.news.software.coop/smart-tricks-with-ssh/406/">meme</a>
<a href="http://blog.andrew.net.au/2008/12/11#ssh_tip">on</a>
<a href="http://planet.debian.org">planet debian</a> about ssh
tricks, I'll try to start a new one about <em>git</em> tricks
(simply because I do want to improve my git trick portfolio
<img src="http://upsilon.cc/~zack/smileys/smile.png" alt=":-)" /> ).</p>
<p>Also, the following two are from <a href=
"http://esaurito.net/blog">Godog</a>, to which I extorted an
"intent to post" declaration, unattended thus far <img src=
"http://upsilon.cc/~zack/smileys/tongue.png" alt=":-P" /> Kudos for the
tips!</p>
<h2>Command aliases</h2>
<p>Annoyed by the fact that <code>git st</code> doesn't do what
<code>svn st</code> used to do? (Which gets even worse, since I do
use <code>git st</code> waaaay more than how much I used <code>svn
st</code>). Then enjoy command aliases with the following
<code>~/.gitconfig</code> lines:</p>
<pre><code>[alias]
br = branch
st = status
</code></pre>
<h2>Coloring</h2>
<p>Lines for <code>~/.gitconfig</code>:</p>
<pre><code>[color]
ui = auto
</code></pre>
<p>after that enjoy your pimped <code>git status</code> output.</p>
<hr />
<p><strong>Update</strong> thanks to <a href=
"http://ikibiki.org//tags/debian/">KiBi</a>, I've discovered
<code>color.ui = auto</code> which is shorter than listing all UIs
you want to be color-enabled, and also more future-proof.</p>
camp sulla ricerca italiana a Parigihttp://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/posts/2008/12/camp_sulla_ricerca_italiana_a_Parigi/2009-01-16T12:27:28Z2008-12-11T09:58:12Z
<h1>Camp sulla Ricerca Italiana: Parigi, 13/12/2008</h1>
<p>Questo sabato, si svolgerà a Parigi un camp di discussione su
proposte di riforma della ricerca italiana. È rivolto agli attori
della ricerca italiana che per lavoro (o anche per caso) si trovano
a Parigi.</p>
<p>Maggior informazioni sono disponibili sul <a href=
"http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dz6sr8t_41hbfnmcdk">documento di
lavoro</a>.</p>
<p>Questo un estratto dello
SPAM<sup>W</sup><sup>Wdell</sup>'annuncio che ho mandato qualche
giorno fa ai potenziali interessati:</p>
<pre><code>ti scrivo per segnalarti che sabato prossimo (13/12/2008) si terrà
a Parigi un bar camp sulla ricerca italiana. L'obiettivo è di
lavorare su un insieme di proposte concrete di riforma del sistema
della ricerca italiana, con l'obiettivo finale di arrivare ad una
proposta di legge.
Il camp sarà solo un passo preliminare in quella
direzione. L'interesse di farlo a Parigi risiede nella possibilità
di coinvolgere chi presumibilmente conosce bene i problemi del
sistema della ricerca in Italia, essendone "scappato" in cerca di
lidi migliori.
</code></pre>
<p>Nel caso qualcuno voglia partecipare è gradita (ma non
necessaria) una mail al sottoscritto per indicare la presenza. Ecco
le informazioni logistiche del caso:</p>
<ul>
<li><em>quando</em>: 13/12/2008 (sabato), dalle 14:00 alle
19:00</li>
<li><em>dove</em>: salle Bleue/Fer-à-Cheval, Mairie du XIII, 1
Place d'Italie, 75013 Paris, Métro: Place d'Italie</li>
</ul>
worst than bofhhttp://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/posts/2008/12/worst_than_bofh/2009-11-28T12:00:16Z2008-12-10T17:01:25Z
<h1>One of the least useful error messages I've ever seen</h1>
<pre><code># dar -N -x backup -K <censor> -g some/where -v
Extracting contents of the archive...
FATAL error, aborting operation
elastic buffer incoherent structure
#
</code></pre>
<p>Thanks <a href="http://packages.debian.org/sid/dar">dar</a>, now
it's clear.</p>
thanks for the cookies Josshttp://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/posts/2008/12/thanks_for_the_cookies_Joss/2009-11-28T12:00:16Z2008-12-03T12:42:45Z
<p>You remember the <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/BugSprint">bug
sprint</a>, don't you? I've already <a href=
"http://upsilon.cc/~zack/blog/posts/2008/10/releasing_yummy_cookies/">argued how nice
the idea was</a>, being a stereotypical example of how <strong>in
Debian efficiency and fun can (and often must) go
together</strong>.</p>
<p>Well, <a href="http://np237.livejournal.com/">Joss</a>' cookies
have been delivered to my office last Wednesday, unfortunately I
wasn't there!!!, due to my participation first in the <a href=
"http://wiki.debian.org/DebianQAExtremadura2008">Debian QA Meeting
in Extremadura</a>, and then another academic workshop in
Amsterdam. Sadly, I had to "delegate" the task of cookie tasting to
other fellow Debian-ers which happen to work with me.</p>
<p>Today I've finally got back to my office, and to much of my
surprise, 5 cookies were still there waiting for me. In spite of
the bad previsions about their health status after a week, they
were <strong>delicious</strong>: simple biscuits, not too sweet,
with walnut in pieces, and dark chocolate.</p>
<p>So long Joss, and thanks for all the <strike>fish</strike>
cookies.</p>