From: Lucian Mogosanu Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 16:14:12 +0000 (+0200) Subject: posts: 02d, 02e X-Git-Tag: v0.4~11 X-Git-Url: https://git.mogosanu.ro/?a=commitdiff_plain;h=c21cc898e7d00d346b97ffc949df0432e9de3a5c;p=thetarpit.git posts: 02d, 02e --- diff --git a/posts/y01/02d-linuxcon-europe-2014.markdown b/posts/y01/02d-linuxcon-europe-2014.markdown new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ba99ff5 --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/y01/02d-linuxcon-europe-2014.markdown @@ -0,0 +1,164 @@ +--- +postid: 02d +title: LinuxCon Europe 2014 +date: November 8, 2014 +author: Lucian Mogoșanu +tags: in the flesh, tech +--- + +As a change of scenery, I spent most of the 12th-18th October week in +Düsseldorf, Germany, at the [LinuxCon Europe][1] conference held at Messe +Congress Center. Since I'm not into this kind of (rather tiresome) experiences +and I don't do them very often, I think it would be very useful to write about +a part of what I've seen there, as I don't think I have the time nor the space +to cover absolutely everything. + +The time I spent there was unfortunately pretty short: I arrived in Düsseldorf +on Sunday and left on Thursday, which means I barely got to see a few parts of +the town. I spent most of the time at the conference, where the organizers +attempted to pack a shitload of smaller events into just three days. This is, +from what I've heard, not uncommon, it's like the whole thing is designed to +turn you into a zombie as you try to face the fatigue, leaving you with little +time to do anything else but go to sleep, waiting for tomorrow's even more +interesting presentations. That aside, I'll share my thoughts on the conference +itself and on my overall experience with Germany so far. + +## The conference + +Leaving aside the more "meta" keynotes, LinuxCon in fact consisted of three +conferences, namely the main track (LinuxCon), CloudOpen and Embedded Linux +Conference. The "Cloud" aspect of it was in fact very widely spoken about, both +in the presentations and at the booths, as many providers, either of distros or +of other solutions, focused on the large-scale stuff. This honestly didn't +interest me very much, so most of the presentations I've been to were from ELC. +I'll give a very brief summary of the most interesting stuff that I've seen. + +The first non-keynote presentation I've been to was Ron Birkett's [Enhancing +Real-time Capabilities with the PRU][2]. Although mostly a marketing +presentation, the talk gave me a really good insight into Texas Instruments' +orthodox approach to providing support for real-time applications. This makes a +lot of sense for applications where that microsecond (or less than that) really +matters, so you don't want caches and pipelines and other such nasty stuff to +interfere with what you're doing. As someone who's looking into running +real-time stuff and Linux side by side, I found the presentation really, really +interesting. + +The second interesting presentation, this time not so marketing-related, was +Dave Anders' [ARM vs x86][3]. Despite what the title suggests, the talk was +less focused on the architectures themselves and more on the difference between +and the pros and cons of ARM and x86 platforms and development boards and +intellectual property producers, manufacturers and so on and so forth. If +you've worked with ARM in the past and wonder whether you should give an +x86-based environment a try, then you'll find this interesting. Similarly, if +you've worked with x86 stuff in the past and wonder whether you should use the +same architecture in the embedded world, you should certainly take a look at +the slides if you haven't been there. + +At the beginning of the second day I've had the pleasure of watching Jono +Bacon's [Building Exponential Communities][4] presentation. I've been reading +Bacon's stuff since he was with Ubuntu, and despite the fact that he's not +technically-oriented, I really enjoyed the talk and found many similarities +between the problems he described and the ones that I often face in the (way +smaller) communities that I'm involved in. + +Also in the second day, Brendan Gregg from Netflix gave a talk on [Linux +Performance Tools][5]. Although the approach of his presentation might have +come as "too high-level" for some, I found the extensive overview to be very +enlightening. To my shame, I haven't used ftrace or sysdig or pcstat before, in +scenarios when I would have found them possibly helpful. Indeed, his Linux +Performance page is now a reference in terms of performance analysis of Linux +subsystems. + +In the same day, Karim Yaghmour, the guy who wrote the Embedded Android book, +talked about the ins and outs of [Android Security][6]. Although I'm not an +Android programmer and I'm only vaguely familiar with its architecture, I'm +well aware of how Android relies on not having root in order to provide +security; also, of how it relies on TrustZone for some of the more dubious +stuff, and how this causes problems even for some of the legitimate system +programmers. The parts about the lack of security features in Binder and the +otherwise useful pain in the ass that is SELinux were however mostly news to +me. + +I had heard of [Jailhouse][7] before watching [Jan Kiszka][8]'s talk on it. +Much to my surprise, the guys at Siemens that are working into getting +Jailhouse up and running are using a very pragmatic approach: Jailhouse doesn't +really have a scheduler, so it simply dedicates processors for real-time tasks. +This should, at least in theory, make it much easier to get a certification, +which sounds like a much more realistic goal than that envisioned by some of +the other embedded hypervisors out there, say, the "exotic" stuff that are the +L4-based ones. + +Of the other technical presentation, I'll only remind [Porting Linux to a New +Architecture][9], [rtmux][10] and [Mastering the DMA and IOMMU APIs][11], plus +Josh Triplett's [Linux Kernel Tinification][12], which I missed. Other than +that, the most interesting stuff from the third day were the opening and +closing sessions. + +Torvalds' keynote discussion was fun to watch, although the Linus Torvalds I've +seen was very different from the throat-cutting Linus Torvalds from LKML. +Clearly, the guy is a technical guru who now has an enormous marketing pressure +on him, so he spends most of his time resisting that pressure, just for the +sake of keeping the Linux tree clean and neutral. [The talk][13], moderated by +Dirk Hohndel received a lot of publicity over Linus' statement that he regrets +some of the harsh language he's been using in the past; for his sake, I hope he +reconsiders that, because yes, no matter how political incorrect this might be, +being harsh is an integral part of running such a huge project, and no, project +management isn't a democracy. + +There was also the closing game, but I'll pass describing this particular event +for the sake of brevity. + +Bottom line, the conference was interesting, informative and gave me a good +insight on the "trends" and whatnot. I don't have the space to write about the +booths, but I've watched BMW's PandaBoard/Wayland demo, and I've also watched +[prpl][14]'s PowerVR demo. The attendees were mostly from corporations and +smaller companies and only a small number of people came from universities or +research institutes. + +## Düsseldorf, Germany et al. + +Despite this being my first time visiting Germany, I've found the view and +atmosphere to be somehow familiar, which is pretty weird, considering that I +live in the Bucharest shithole that most sane people are running away from. For +one, Düsseldorf is a big town, but not at all agitated. I was accommodated +quite near the city's center, in a multicultural zone consisting of Chinese and +Turkish restaurants, along with a few of my Romanian friends. Interestingly +enough, we were about fifteen Romanians at LinuxCon, most of us having some tie +or another to UPB, although we've met a couple of people coming from Cluj. + +The best thing in Düsseldorf, except the beer, of course, is the orderliness. +Walking through Altstat, I've had the chance to see the people carrying on with +their lives, running, walking, going to the opera house and so on. In +contradiction to Romanians' arrogant assumption that Romanian women are the +most beautiful beings in the whole wide Universe, Germany has some really cute +girls, although it also has some damn ugly women, so there, nothing new here. +Germans are pretty boring until you get to interact with them, when they're +either your best friends, or arrogant enough so that you'd give them a punch +straight in the fucking nose. However they are, they're keeping their public +places clean, a fact which I wholeheartedly appreciate. + +The worst thing in Germany is without doubt the food. Sorry guys, I'm pretty +sure you enjoy your wursts and schnitzels and overly salted and condimented +french fries there in the bubble you're living in, but really, go taste some +Spanish, Italian, Bulgarian and Romanian food, you'll see what I mean. The +Türks on Graf-Adolf-Straße had decent kebaps, but even those are nothing +compared to the stuff in Bucharest's old center. + +All in all, a nice experience, although I don't think I'm doing this again +until next year. I hear they're planning to do the next one in Dublin. We'll +see, I guess. + +[1]: http://events.linuxfoundation.org/events/linuxcon-europej +[2]: http://events.linuxfoundation.org/sites/events/files/slides/Enhancing%20RT%20Capabilities%20with%20the%20PRU%20final.pdf +[3]: http://events.linuxfoundation.org/sites/events/files/slides/elce-x86-arm-2014.pdf +[4]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=velMxS4iA-0 +[5]: http://www.brendangregg.com/linuxperf.html +[6]: http://events.linuxfoundation.org/sites/events/files/slides/android-security-141014.pdf +[7]: http://lwn.net/Articles/574274/ +[8]: http://events.linuxfoundation.org/sites/events/files/lcjp13_kiszka.pdf +[9]: http://events.linuxfoundation.org/sites/events/files/slides/Rybczynska_Porting_Linux_to_a_new_architecture_ELC2014.pdf +[10]: http://events.linuxfoundation.org/sites/events/files/slides/rtmux_1.pdf +[11]: http://events.linuxfoundation.org/sites/events/files/slides/20140429-dma.pdf +[12]: http://events.linuxfoundation.org/sites/events/files/slides/tiny.pdf +[13]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EUuaY6rh4o +[14]: http://www.imgtec.com/prpl/ diff --git a/posts/y01/02e-on-the-inherent-harmfulness-of-political-correctness.markdown b/posts/y01/02e-on-the-inherent-harmfulness-of-political-correctness.markdown new file mode 100644 index 0000000..76ba67a --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/y01/02e-on-the-inherent-harmfulness-of-political-correctness.markdown @@ -0,0 +1,190 @@ +--- +postid: 02e +title: On the inherent harmfulness of political correctness +date: November 16, 2014 +author: Lucian Mogoșanu +tags: asphalt +--- + +

+*But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.* +-- George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language" +

+

+*THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal.* +-- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., "Harrison Bergeron" +

+ +Three years ago I wrote an essay entitled +"[un argument împotriva corectitudinii politice][1]", loosely translatable as +"An argument against political correctness". Said essay starts with the Google +dictionary definition of the term "political correctness", which I shall +re-introduce here: + +> the avoidance, often considered as taken to extremes, of forms of expression +> or action that are perceived to exclude, marginalize, or insult groups of +> people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against. + +It is worth noting that the definition has been revised since then. Firstly, +the current definition acknowledges the danger of extremism implied by +political correctness, a revision which I, for one, find very +pleasing. Secondly, it explicitly mentions "disadvantage" and "discrimination" +as two possible issues addressed by political correctness. + +I shall in the paragraphs that follow attempt a complete rewrite, since the +translation would prove to be inaccurate[^1]. I also feel the need to mention +that this essay focuses on political correctness as a linguistic tool more +than anything else, mostly because I find myself both fascinated and scared by +this particular aspect. + +## The case against political correctness + +Be aware, dear reader, that I write to you in what the educated Englishman +would consider to be broken English, but I write frankly. Notice how I said +"Englishman" and not "Englishperson", not because I have anything against women +-- on the contrary --, but because I found it most natural; maybe it's just +that language evolves and mine will prove to remain a relic, but I will be here +to make my case for as long as I live. + +This case probably deserves a historical background. I am however poorly +equipped with the knowledge for this, so I will keep it brief: the sexual (and +whatnot) revolution of the '60s gave birth, among others, to rather peculiar, +although entirely understandable, political movements in the States. Women, +despite not being a minority, felt the need to assert their status as persons, +followed by other social groups who felt now that they could strongly stand +for whatever it is that they believed in. Note that many people were, as +people usually are, unkeen to adhere to these new beliefs, especially due to +the fact that they weren't theirs, but the minorities'. Many people still are +now, half a century later, despite the strong propaganda occuring in the +mass-media. + +Since we're discussing communication, this phenomenon was followed by an even +more peculiar one: given the new person-status of persons in said social +groups, some people, a very vocal crowd, felt the need to also change all the +terms pertaining to the denigration of women, black people, gay people, and so +on, and so forth: it is nowadays forbidden to call an African American a +"nigger"[^2], although that word is, in all honesty, part of their heritage. +You see, here in uncivilized Romania, we call Gypsies "Gypsies", because that's +who they are, and it is fortunate of them that they are really proud of their +heritage. On the other hand, this indeed has the unfortunate side effect of +creating an inter-ethnical, maybe even inter-"cultural" clash, but that's only +because Gypsies are very resilient to the cultural brainwashing which Western +people like to call "integration". + +The problem with this linguistic mashup is that not only it's completely +artificial, but it is also very dangerous from a moral and ethical point of +view, in that it creates false morals. To quote Orwell once more, it is akin +to creating a "Newspeak", a language where concepts are disguised as +different, sometimes completely opposite, terms. And while this is used to +support the "good guys", let us remember that the same tactics were used by +the bad guys in the past: let's not call it a slaughterhouse, call it a +"concentration camp"; let's not call it slavework, call it "re-education". As +Orwell and Vonnegut very well noticed, this is nothing but politicians' false +pretenses to their own ends. + +The problem with political correctness is also that it creates false problems: +for example, feminists state there aren't enough women working in the IT +industry, when there should be, and companies should somehow magically, +forcefully, bring women to work there. Yes, maybe "tech companies", or +engineering companies in general, are populated with male pigs suffering of +superiority complex, but this doesn't imply stuff about women in any way[^3]. +The only "achievement" this mindset brings is that it grossly misrepresents the +causal chain: if we wish for equality so much, then why aren't there more +female construction workers? Ah, because we don't educate them to? There you +go. + +Finally, based on this train of ideas, I argue that political correctness is +inheretly harmful, because it paves the way for what I would call a +generalization of the Stockholm syndrome: a harsh reality covered in and by +pretty words, solely for the desire of being less hateful to one another, like +hate is the only problem, and like we don't have the right to hate[^4]. It is, +in the end, brainwashing for the sake of "equality". + +Quasi-theoretical arguments are, however, not valuable by themselves. I will +therefore attempt to provide a case study in order to further express my point +of view and make it clearer, and then I will let you, dear reader, reflect +upon this and develop your own point of view. + +## A not-so-thorough case study + +You might remember the Brendan Eich scandal from April this year. In case you +don't know who Brendan Eich is, I'll clear that up for you: he's the guy who +created Javascript, the one and only client-side scripting language available +on the web today. No matter how awesome or awful the language might be, he +basically wrote the book, made history, call it whatever you like. + +According to official sources[^5], Eich occupied his rightful place as CEO of +the Mozilla Corporation for exactly one week and three days. Sometime during +this timeframe, voices had discussed a political donation made by Eich for some +law or another which seeked to invalidate gay marriage rights in some US state +or another, which, I suppose, would lead one to believe that Eich hates gays. +The outcry and political pressure spawned by this was impressive, and while +being gay or pro-gay or anti-gay has nothing to do with his merits as a CEO, he +was effectively forced to resign. + +Now, my educated view of this unfortunate event tells me that Brendan Eich has +a lot of enemies. Whatever his personal life is, this was used by people who +don't exactly like him in order to bring him down right at his moment of peak +and, if possible, to completely break him as a man who's in a perfectly +legitimate position. This evil, if I may call it so, was no different from +forcing someone to leave somewhere due to religious beliefs or you name it, +since those are nothing but his personal beliefs and views of the world, +whatever they may be. What happened was the perfect strawman, the kind of +tribal behaviour that never occurs in the civilized world. + +On another note, activists who are pro-some-group-or-another like to perform +"public shaming" on all "straight white males" on various social networks, on +the false premise of positive discrimination, stating that people born in a +social group or another are somehow indebted to people born in some other +social group, which I suppose goes back to the Christian sophism that we all +bear Adam and Eve's sins. One such attack is the harassement of Notch[^6] on +[Twitter][5] on the basis that he didn't do enough to help +some-group-or-another in his games. Others include the rantings of artists whom +I otherwise admire[^7], who try to impose that art ["oughta" consider][6] some +or other views, otherwise it "oughta" cease to be viewed as such, like people +actually give a damn about what anyone else thinks art "oughta" be. + +Finally, I feel compelled to remark the hypocrisy that comes along with all the +politically correct nonsense: Coca Cola got [publicly burned][7] in a recent ad +promoting diversity, multiculturalism and other such values that "oughta +matter" to this Brave New World, albeit in a manner which doesn't promote +"positive discrimination" and political attitudes. This goes to show that +modern tribalism considers that it's ok, no, that it's better to be a black gay +woman, just as long as you're not a brown muslim arab who doesn't speak +English. + +And no, it doesn't matter that [you have a Phd][8]. Your political correctness +is a proverbial Auschwitz of minds, and it's killing me. + +[^1]: Tried it, didn't work. + +[^2]: If I were an American, right now I would have been impaled or something. +Fortunately for me, I'm not one. + +[^3]: Do you know any women saying that they don't want to do programming +because programmers are emotionally broken? Neither do I, and maybe that's +because women have no idea of how programmers are when they decide to become +programmers (or not) and the former would rather avoid it because [they like +barbie dolls][2], or something equally un-programmer-ly. + +[^4]: For the record, ideologically speaking, the opposite of "the right to +hate" is forcing people to "live in harmony", which is another term for +fascism. + +[^5]: [Mozilla Leadership Changes][3], [Brendan Eich Steps Down as Mozilla +CEO][4] + +[^6]: The guy who made Minecraft and some other equally neat games. + +[^7]: Say, Dresden Codak's Aaron Diaz, who's only one of the many who fight +fire with fire by overusing the "straight white male" crap in their public +discourse. + +[1]: http://lucian.mogosanu.ro/bricks/un-argument-impotriva-corectitudinii-politice/ +[2]: http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=1883 +[3]: https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2014/03/24/mozilla-leadership-changes/ +[4]: https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2014/04/03/brendan-eich-steps-down-as-mozilla-ceo/ +[5]: https://twitter.com/notch/status/471410993143099392 +[6]: https://twitter.com/dresdencodak/status/496744410953302017 +[7]: http://publicshaming.tumblr.com/post/75447787843/speak-english-racist-revolt-as-coca-cola-airs +[8]: http://trilema.com/2014/and-now-for-part-2-of-our-smash-hit-hey-stupid-women-we-need-to-talk-smart-women-don%E2%80%99t-want-to-be-with-you-anymore/