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    1. Rubber Duck just saved me. What about you?

      To put this into context: I'm still minor, in Europe, and I was hired into SW company as backend developer. I'm making about 2-3 times as much as my friends in fastfoods. I'm basically making WS...

      To put this into context: I'm still minor, in Europe, and I was hired into SW company as backend developer. I'm making about 2-3 times as much as my friends in fastfoods.

      I'm basically making WS that would be unified wrapper for about 15 another WS - instead of crafting request for each of those, you will just call the API and it will do everything for you.

      Everything was fine, until I encountered a nightmare: WSDL/SOAP protocol over HTTPS with need to use client certificate.

      Full of false hope, I thought: "It'll be easy, I finished communication with another companies in few hours, this will be quick".

      I was very wrong. I spent countless hours on this. I tried 3 programming languages and 4 different frameworks, copy-pasting solutions from stack overflow and wondering why does this still throw errors! I copied it from stack overflow! I used windows alongside linux and installed like 10 wsdl/soap clients from 2008 forums.

      I created 8 or so SO questions, most about different language/framework, but the same problem.

      Worth of mentoining, at the time, I could obtain wsdl and xsd of the WS with usage of two certificates (crt.pem and key.pem) over PHP. I tried to use PHP SoapClient, which accepted just one certificate file. I used .pem certificate that I received and should get the work done.

      Then, I started writing the final question. Including PHP that downloaded wsdl and SoapClient that didn't work. Knowing someone will probably want to see certificates, I used cat key.pem cert.pem > certCombined.pem and diff certCombined.pem cert.pem. cert.pem was the certificate I received and should work. I expected no differences. When I saw two pages of differences, I started to suspect the cert I was given is wrong. So I pointed the PHP SoapClient to certCombined - and it started working!

      This would have never happened (at least for several more hours) unless I known someone will want to see diff between working and not-working certificates. Thank you, rubber duck debugging! Next time I'll be solving something, I'll write on paper everything I use and know.

      What are your stories?

      13 votes
    2. Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

      I saw this movie last week, so I thought I'll share some thoughts on it. First off, spoilers! Be warned. I start of by saying, I'm not really a romcom fan in general, and wasn't specifically into...

      I saw this movie last week, so I thought I'll share some thoughts on it.

      First off, spoilers! Be warned.

      I start of by saying, I'm not really a romcom fan in general, and wasn't specifically into watching this movie because it was an all Asian cast. I grew up watching Chinese dramas (HK, mainland and from Taiwan), and so many of them are romantic comedies. So, though I love the idea of Hollywood taking on more diverse stories, movies like "Crazy Rich Asians" already exist.

      Having said all that, I honestly loved the movie! And I believe one of the major reasons why is the depiction of different Asians, specifically Asian-Americans (or as we're referred to in Chinese, foreign-Chinese or overseas-Chinese).

      ...unrelated to the movie itself, but a little background if anyone's interested...
      I'm a Canadian-born Chinese and grew up when people thought all Chinese people lived in Chinatown. I literally had teachers confirm with my parents that the address I gave was correct and that it was in fact not in Chinatown. I was automatically placed in ESL classes, though English is my first language. So, little bit of an outsider in the country I was born in. When I visit family and friends in Hong Kong though, I'm the white girl. Literally everything I do is a novelty. I can write my own name in Chinese, I recognize famous Chinese songs (like Beatles level famous), or I can order my own breakfast (a bun with coffee).

      So back to the movie. In Crazy Rich Asians, in Rachel, I feel they captured this really well. If this movie was less Asian centric, I feel "Asia" would have been overly exotic, instead of gross wealth being exotic. If this movie were made in HK or China, I feel, Rachel would have been portrayed as far more foreign and her "Banana" qualities exaggerated.

      I also really appreciated that a lot of jokes, and moments, especially the MaJong scene weren't explained. The jokes were so funny, especially the lucky red colour. I haven't laughed out loud in a theater for a while.

      This post is already getting sort of long, so I might do another one on the strong women in the movie, which I believe they were really well done too. Rachel was amazing!

      Who else has seen this? What are your thoughts?

      Edit: I added a spoiler tag, but guess I really didn't. Still leaving it in, in case comments contain them.

      12 votes
    3. Dragon Quest 11 releases tomorrow

      Anyone else excited for the next installment in the franchise? DQ11 is the first US console release of a mainland DQ game since DQ8 on ps2 in 2005. I've been playing DQ5 on Android for the last...

      Anyone else excited for the next installment in the franchise? DQ11 is the first US console release of a mainland DQ game since DQ8 on ps2 in 2005. I've been playing DQ5 on Android for the last few months and it still holds up!

      8 votes
    4. The issues with modernizing stories: Cinderella (2015) vs. Ever After (1998)

      Old stories are always being updated for lots of reasons, ranging from trying to appeal to new audiences to correcting toxic depictions to fitting better to the current social or political climate...

      Old stories are always being updated for lots of reasons, ranging from trying to appeal to new audiences to correcting toxic depictions to fitting better to the current social or political climate and more. There's nothing new there. However, one thing I find a bit odd lately, as in the last five years or so, is that a lot of this modernization is actually done pretty poorly in main stream media. We see more forced diversity, queerbaiting, and generally bad storytelling. Not totally sure how I'll do this yet, but I'm thinking of posting stories that stand out to me for better or for worst, starting with a classic.

      There will be spoilers for both movies.

      Cinderella (2015)

      This is one I honestly didn't think worked at all. To be fair, I believe Disney's goal was just to sell a beautiful movie, and not a good story. This whole movie was gorgeous. It was also really boring, which I honestly believe is the greatest sin in storytelling.

      Cinderella herself is "smarter" in this movie than the old classic cartoon. She's well read and has some agency, which honestly makes her more a damsel than the original cartoon for me. In the cartoon, she was an abused child that had no where to go. Her being trapped made sense. In the new one, she's sort of a fighter...who doesn't fight. I didn't get it.

      Another issue is that Cinderella was really the only character they modified, which is why the story is still shallow.

      Ever After (1998)

      This is honestly one of the best modernization of the fairy tale I've ever seen. What worked for me, is that they fleshed out all their characters. Danielle, Henry, the stepmother, stepsisters, everyone! This makes for a much richer story, where characters themselves can be modernized, but still fit the time of the period piece. It's not about dropping a fourth wave feminist into an aged story, but about adding the dimensions that would have still existed then. Danielle is strong, well read, and obedient. Her servitude is not without reason. She's seeking a "mother", and her relationship with her stepmother is more than simply being a slave. The audience is shown the moments of kindness Danielle seeks from her stepmother.

      My quick two-cents. I also find it interesting that Ever After came out over 15 years before Cinderella.

      So what are you thoughts? Any good fairy tale adaptations you can mention?

      8 votes
    5. Should children's entertainment contain more violence?

      No spoilers, just a vague example. A long time ago, I watched TRON: Uprising (2012). It's a really good Disney kids show that was unfortunately cancelled after one season or 19 episodes. It...

      No spoilers, just a vague example.

      A long time ago, I watched TRON: Uprising (2012). It's a really good Disney kids show that was unfortunately cancelled after one season or 19 episodes. It carries a rating of TV-Y7.

      One thing that always really struck me about this show was that it's actually quite violent, but censored. We see gladiator fights where "people" are just smashed into little cubes signifying their death.

      This is not at all a new concept, and I'm not saying we need absolute realism, but is there an imbalance to the amount of violence we show without "real" consequence? And in doing so, glorifying the action of violence itself?

      We don't want to traumatize kids, but maybe we should, just a little. And for those saying that the age range for some shows are too young for them to understand, these shows have really adult concepts to begin with. In Voltron, for example, we're talking about galactic war, genocide, torture and misuse of good technologies turning them to weapons.

      And though I posted in ~tv, in games especially when there's a violent action executed by the gamer. Games are rated a bit differently, and I'm not as familiar with children games, so hopefully another Tilderino will have more to add here.

      13 votes
    6. What conferences are on your wish list? (for team leads or wannabee managers)

      Imagine that your boss told you that the company is happy to send you to one or two conferences next year, with the aim of helping you to improve your leadership skills. In this context,...

      Imagine that your boss told you that the company is happy to send you to one or two conferences next year, with the aim of helping you to improve your leadership skills.

      In this context, "leadership" includes Culture; Coaching & Mentoring; Teamwork; Continuous Improvement; Collaboration; Agile; Culture Change.

      You want to make a list of conferences worth considering in order to estimate the budget. What events would you put on your list?

      7 votes
    7. Tildes, I'm going on a ten day road trip with my s/o, what are some things I should prepare for?

      It's been about a decade since I had a vacation and I have a wedding to attend, so to kill two birds with one stone we will be traveling from Florida to New York by car. Me and my girlfriend of 7...

      It's been about a decade since I had a vacation and I have a wedding to attend, so to kill two birds with one stone we will be traveling from Florida to New York by car. Me and my girlfriend of 7 months will be taking the trip together and its both of our first times taking a vacation in forever.

      Aside from the more obvious stuff like toothbrushes, clothes and condoms (humble brag), what should I think about? After the wedding we'll have nearly a full week to do anything we want or go just about anywhere within reason/distance.

      Here's what I have covered so far:

      • Trip route is planned for there and (somewhat) back.
      • Car oil changed, tires replaced, cleaned & roadside assistance available 24/7.
      • Cat is taken care of, will be well fed and spied on via a security cam.
      • Got lots of good snacks for the road, small cooler with water etc.
      • Will be using airbnb or a somewhat affordable hotel most nights, we're not scraping by but we want to try and spend money on fun stuff instead of rooms.
      • Got plenty of phone charges, plugs, etc for all our electronics.
      • Got an emergency medical kit and a paper US map in the car (For fun, and just in case.)

      So any suggestions, anything I am missing? Anything I can do to make the trip more fun for me and my girlfriend? Any fun road trip things to do between FL to NY would be nice as well!

      13 votes
    8. Movie Monday Free Talk

      It's Monday again, and that means it's time for Movie Monday, a thread where anyone and everyone is welcome to post a movie review about films that they've seen recently, or just liked or disliked...

      It's Monday again, and that means it's time for Movie Monday, a thread where anyone and everyone is welcome to post a movie review about films that they've seen recently, or just liked or disliked in the past.

      If you're wanting to post a review, I'd suggest reading trough Movie Monday: week 1 to read through the rules and what to write, but for the most part I'm trying to keep this as simple as possible.

      The two rules that I do have are: So far, the only rules are:

      All top level comments should be reviews. (if you have any questions or suggestions on how to do things differently, either send me a private message or post in the discussion thread I linked up above)

      No spoilers in top level comments. Ideally any spoilers should be in children comments (with sufficient warning) if you wish to write a review with spoilers, make another comment below your top level comment and write the spoilers there. Anyone who doesn't want to know any spoilers should un-expand the comments at the top before they start reading comments. Hopefully this should allow discussion of both the film and the review without forcing people to see spoilers.

      But other than that, happy Movie watching and have a great Monday :)

      10 votes
    9. A group for finance/markets/investing/trading would be nice

      There is a conspicuous lack of that sort of thing here so far. I get that Tildes might not want to be a repository of "hey what stock do I buy" or "Oh my god MU is still going down" but...

      There is a conspicuous lack of that sort of thing here so far. I get that Tildes might not want to be a repository of "hey what stock do I buy" or "Oh my god MU is still going down" but strategy-oriented discussions around positions in markets and the way changes in the world will effect your financial future seems like high-quality content to me.

      6 votes
    10. Should deleting comments be the standard behaviour, or can we consider a less censored approach by default?

      I often stumble in to threads with entire comment chains deleted. I assume most people here have faced the same situation as well, either here or on reddit. I'd like to see a move to locking...

      I often stumble in to threads with entire comment chains deleted. I assume most people here have faced the same situation as well, either here or on reddit.

      I'd like to see a move to locking comments rather than deleting them by default. That would mean no further replies to the comment or any other comment in that chain, no one being able to delete or edit their comments, no one being able to add or remove votes to a comment, etc.

      I understand for particularly egregious comments removal is completely necessary (especially when it goes hand-in-hand with banning users), but a lot of times comments are deleted as a means to prevent long argumentative back-and-forth chains that spam and derail topics, as well as antagonize users.

      In a lot of cases I feel like deleting the comment only further serves to hide what is unacceptable behaviour (even if that behaviour should be obvious), rather than setting an example for the userbase.

      30 votes
    11. General Tildes feedback/questions thread + invites given to everyone

      It's been quite a while now since we had a general feedback thread. So if there's anything you want to discuss, ask about, suggest, etc. but didn't feel like starting a dedicated thread for it,...

      It's been quite a while now since we had a general feedback thread. So if there's anything you want to discuss, ask about, suggest, etc. but didn't feel like starting a dedicated thread for it, feel free to do that here.

      Also, speaking of things that I haven't done in a while, I've topped everyone back up to 5 invite codes. Please don't feel obligated to find ways to use them, but if there are people you want to invite, that would be great. You can get the codes here: https://tildes.net/invite

      69 votes
    12. Flight simulators: Do you play any? Which planes do you pilot the most? Do you have a home cockpit?

      Hi, I am looking into flight simulator games, they seem pretty cool, i've seen videos of guys with cockpits on their homes, is there any tilder(?) that plays any flight simulator and has a cockpit...

      Hi,

      I am looking into flight simulator games, they seem pretty cool, i've seen videos of guys with cockpits on their homes, is there any tilder(?) that plays any flight simulator and has a cockpit at home? If so tell what your setup is and maybe post some photos :)

      17 votes
    13. Japan starts space elevator experiments

      Article: https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/japan-starts-space-elevator-experiments-2018-08/ HN thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17898152 I know some people here have...

      Article: https://www.electronicsweekly.com/news/business/japan-starts-space-elevator-experiments-2018-08/

      HN thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17898152

      I know some people here have strong opinions about space travel, which came up during the Elon Musk topics on Tildes. I wonder if, based on the limited information we have, people think Japan is taking the right approach with the space elevator; whether the cost estimate ($9 billion) sounds reasonable; and if you think they can succeed?

      21 votes
    14. You are given a small machine that spits out a single chocolate chip cookie every two seconds. The machine will never stop producing cookies. How do you save the world?

      If the cookies never stop being produced, then it is logical to assume that, if unchecked, uneaten cookies will eventually choke the earth, leaving us uninhabitable. What is your plan, and how...

      If the cookies never stop being produced, then it is logical to assume that, if unchecked, uneaten cookies will eventually choke the earth, leaving us uninhabitable. What is your plan, and how long do you think we'll last in this cookie apocalypse?

      As for some general rules, the machine is impossible to break, and it can inexplicably produce cookies infinitely without having to refill on ingredients.

      27 votes
    15. The Tildes code is now open-sourced

      Disclaimer: this post/information will probably only be interesting to more technical people It's long overdue, but Tildes is now open-sourced: https://gitlab.com/tildes/tildes There's still a ton...

      Disclaimer: this post/information will probably only be interesting to more technical people

      It's long overdue, but Tildes is now open-sourced: https://gitlab.com/tildes/tildes

      There's still a ton to do in terms of writing more documentation, filling out the issue tracker with known issues/plans and so on, but it should be ready enough to get started.

      I'm planning to make a post on the Tildes blog tomorrow or Thursday announcing this more formally, but I'd like to keep it a bit quiet until then, in case there are any issues or major gaps in the docs discovered when some of you start looking at it. I'd especially appreciate it if any of you would like to try setting up a local development version and let me know how it goes, and if the instructions all make sense.

      There are two new pages on the docs site as part of this as well:

      • Development Setup - describes how to do the initial setup necessary to get a local development version of the site running
      • Development - a general page with information and instructions related to a lot of aspects of site development. It's very scattered right now and I intend to split it into multiple pages eventually, but that will require some more work on the blog to support being able to organize it well. There are still some definite gaps in here, but it should describe most of the major pieces.

      I'd appreciate any feedback about the documents, code, etc. As mentioned, I'd be especially grateful if some of you want to try setting up a local development version by following my instructions, and give feedback about if any parts of the process are unclear, incomplete, or otherwise need more work. Please feel free to ask any questions you have as well.

      235 votes
    16. Reflections on Farenheit 451, published 65 years ago

      Finished this last night. It's been so long since I read any Bradbury for the first time. His style shows some age, but he's a really poetic and visionary writer. Published in 1953, this tale is a...

      Finished this last night. It's been so long since I read any Bradbury for the first time. His style shows some age, but he's a really poetic and visionary writer.

      Published in 1953, this tale is a battle between visual media and books, but taking the form of the fleeting versus the permanent, the here and now versus history, pop culture versus capital C Culture.

      In a way, its datedness is a strength, because of so much of Bradbury's prophetic vision and because of the way his 1950's idea of dystopia contrasts with the more numerous recent ideas.

      If there was ever an object lesson about filter bubbles, Farenheit 451 is it: recent enough to be relatable and distant enough to be outside our current filters. Readers should take note of this when relating and evaluating fiction and any work that lies outside their personal space. A valuable lesson in itself.

      So often we're totally unaware of the walls we create for ourselves, our comfort zone. It's precisely because they provide comfort that we tend to stay within them.

      And of course, Bradbury's whole novel is both about this issue and again a reference object for it.

      8 votes
    17. Anyone else looking forward to Spiderman for the PS4?

      The embargo drops on the 4th. No reason to pre-order because you can get all those items just by playing the game. The game actually looks fun and I'm craving another open world game after God of...

      The embargo drops on the 4th. No reason to pre-order because you can get all those items just by playing the game. The game actually looks fun and I'm craving another open world game after God of War. I've been revisiting the fallout games in the meantime. The xbox trolls have ramped it up because they aren't getting the game, the whole "downgrade-gate" thing is stupid.

      11 votes