john_the_writer (u/john_the_writer)

john_the_writer commented on Why is everything so scalable? stavros.io/posts/why-is-e... · Posted by u/kunley

The only bit that I didn't agree with was the downsides. You can scale individual modules. You can set your load balancer to make all calls to specific endpoints go to specific servers. These can scale independently.

If you have background workers (ActiveJobs/Oban for example), these can be on different queues, that you can scale. It's actually really easy to build out a mono-repo system allow for scale.

If you organise your workers into folders based on their purpose (reporting, exporting, ... ), and you're careful about feature flags, you can drastically reduce git-conflicts and CICD issues.

john_the_writer commented on Why Is SQLite Coded In C sqlite.org/whyc.html... · Posted by u/plainOldText

waterTanuki · 2 months ago

Given the common retort for why not try X project in Y new language is "it's barely used in other things. Let's wait and see it get industry adoption before trying it out" it's hard to see it as anything OTHER than a zero-sum game. As much as I like Rust I recognize some things like SQLite are better off in C. But the reason you see so much push for some new languages is because if they don't get and maintain regualr adoption, they will die off.

john_the_writer · 2 months ago

Yeah.. I always remind myself of the netscape browser. A lesson in "if it's working to mess with it" My question is always the reverse. Why try it in Y new language. Is there some feature that Y provides that was missing in X? How often do those features come up.

Company I worked for decided to build out a new microservice in language Y. The whole company was writing in W and X, but they decided to write the new service in Y. When something goes wrong, or a bug needs fixing, 3 people in the company of over 100 devs know Y. Guess what management is doing.. Re-writing it in X.

john_the_writer commented on Why Is SQLite Coded In C sqlite.org/whyc.html... · Posted by u/plainOldText

ziotom78 · 2 months ago

Right, but I believe nobody can claim that Human error bugs go to zero for Rust code.

john_the_writer · 2 months ago

Agreed. I rather dislike the idea of "safe" coding languages. Fighting with a memory leak in an elixir app, for the past week. I never viewed c or c++ as unsafe. Writing code is hard, always has been, always will be. It is never safe.

john_the_writer commented on China's New Rare Earth and Magnet Restrictions Threaten US Defense Supply Chains csis.org/analysis/chinas-... · Posted by u/stopbulying

LexiMax · 2 months ago

What would be your definition of meaningful climate activism against rare earth elements?

Or is this one of those "there is no ethical consumption, therefore everyone is a hypocrite and nobody can criticize anyone over anything" type gotchas?

john_the_writer · 2 months ago

Yes.. that.. If you are against oil and plastics, walk your talk. If you are against rare earth, walk your talk. If you have a degree in chem-eng, and you're building low plastic solutions, and you're critical, then you're being honest. Saying "no no no" but doing it on a new cell phone you know was built on rare earth is like a vegan giving a talk while sitting on their new leather couch.

john_the_writer commented on China's New Rare Earth and Magnet Restrictions Threaten US Defense Supply Chains csis.org/analysis/chinas-... · Posted by u/stopbulying

jandrewrogers · 2 months ago

The is an enormous amount of environmental activism that exists to achieve an ideological result, it has nothing to do with science or a reasonable analysis of tradeoffs. They cynically exploit people’s ignorance of the subject to justify their actions.

A well-known example of this were regulations that require super-low arsenic levels in water. The thresholds were set extremely low, far below natural levels in most mining districts. The proposed limits were so low that ironically it would put some populations at risk of arsenic deficiency — arsenic is an essential micronutrient in animal biology, much of which comes from water. The people pushing to set levels so absurdly low were anti-mining activists.

If you operate a mine, that benchmark for water quality is now your problem, even if the natural levels are much higher. This puts the mining operation in the somewhat intractable position of remediating the arsenic levels of ambient nature as a pre-condition of mining. You can’t just ensure the arsenic is at the level it was when you found it, you have to reduce to some idealized standard that can be intractably expensive to meet and has no scientific basis. It is exploitive and ugly by people that don’t care about the long-term implications as long as it serves their short-term ideological purpose. Civilization requires mining, it does little to help the environment by exporting it to other countries.

I’m a major nature lover and conservationist, grew up in remote rural areas, and spend more time in the deep wilderness than most, but I am also a relevant scientist by training. The amount of scientific malpractice that happens under the pretext of “saving the environment” in the US is pretty damn gross. There are good people inside the Department of the Interior that try to mitigate the worst excesses but the onslaught is unrelenting.

On the specific point of rare earth mining, the chemistry of rare earth ores are naturally unpleasant, much like gold and silver ores. For historical reasons, the massive deposits of gold and silver in the US were developed before any real regulations. Some of those made quite a mess (see: silver mines of Idaho). Modern versions run quite clean but the hurdles to opening new mines are so prohibitively expensive that the US mostly only still operates the grandfathered pre-regulation mines.

REE mining has none of these advantages. The demand for REE is almost entirely modern, so none of it was grandfathered in. I’m sure the US could operate them at a level that is adequately clean but there is a huge contingent of activists that are against all mining and refining on principle and use the myriad levers created by policy over the last several decades to make sure that never happens in the US.

That said, a few months ago the US government announced a strategic investment in the largest REE deposit in the world, which happens to be in the US but has spent most of its time in bankruptcy. I have to imagine that the intention is to streamline production under some kind of exemption.

john_the_writer · 2 months ago

reminds me of the just stop oil protest that stopped the cooking oil truck. People who don't know enough, trying to stop what they don't understand.

john_the_writer commented on China's New Rare Earth and Magnet Restrictions Threaten US Defense Supply Chains csis.org/analysis/chinas-... · Posted by u/stopbulying

jandrewrogers · 2 months ago

It only takes a decade or two if there is zero urgency and you give every rando with an axe to grind, both imaginary and real, veto power over the project.

The other option is to just build things that need to be built.

john_the_writer · 2 months ago

If it's one thing the US gov has down, it's how to move super slow. No way it gets done in a 10 years.

john_the_writer commented on The App Store was always authoritarian infrequently.org/2025/10/... · Posted by u/bertman

Mindwipe · 2 months ago

Completely correct.

The only way to ensure this doesn't happen is to criminalise device manufacturers being in charge of what software runs on their devices.

john_the_writer · 2 months ago

Sounds like a right to repair argument. It will lose. Try putting linux on a windows-10 laptop. That BIOS is nailed down hard. It can be done but its a right PITA

john_the_writer commented on Scammed out of $130K via fake Google call, spoofed Google email and auth sync bewildered.substack.com/p... · Posted by u/davidscoville

RHSeeger · 3 months ago

But your child's school nurse might not, in an emergency.

john_the_writer · 3 months ago

They might not.. But you'd very likely have their number saved on your phone. Might even have them as an un-mutable contact. My wife/kids and their school are all on the "never mute" list.

john_the_writer commented on Scammed out of $130K via fake Google call, spoofed Google email and auth sync bewildered.substack.com/p... · Posted by u/davidscoville

kimixa · 3 months ago

When my account had a fraud alert they called me just to say I should call them back immediately on the number on the back of my card.

I assumed this was normal.

john_the_writer · 3 months ago

This is awesome. Great job your bank..