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13:01
Words of wisdom from the estimable Joey Hoey, who should need no introduction here - joeyh.name/blog/entry/…
Linked from lwn.net/Articles/756443 - I don't follow Joey's blog, though perhaps I should.
I don't think the microsoft acquisition of git is really that bad. Microsoft has been becoming more and more open sourced and generally a better company in recent years
They have introduced bash into windows and nobody can deny that powershell is a legitimately powerful language
13:40
@Jesse_b One should ask why they thought GitHub was worth USD 7 billion. That's a lot of money.
@FaheemMitha The company is valued at that or higher.
Microsoft also paid in stock not cash
14:04
I guess debatably worth that much but microsoft seems to overpay for all their acquisitions anyway. I still can't believe they paid $2.5B for minecraft
 
1 hour later…
15:25
@Jesse_b Valued by who? It doesn't have public stock.
@Jesse_b Is that relevant?
@Jesse_b I think the point is that MS finds it worth that because of lock-in. Otherwise, it's just a web site. Why is a web site worth so much?
And it's like GitHub has any intellectual property, code or otherwise, that is worth any significant amount of money.
15:45
@FaheemMitha By Microsoft :-P...they paid for it.
@FaheemMitha I think so. Microsofts own stock is a lot different than Microsoft's own cash
@FaheemMitha That's mostly why any business is worth anything. Businesses are worth well over their yearly income because you want the continued reliable flow of income. The fact that many companies are "locked in" to github just makes that income more reliable
15:59
@Jesse_b Why?
@FaheemMitha Because that stock is still considered an asset to microsoft
They can also always just issue more shares if needed
If microsoft gives $7.5B in "cash" to github, they are then worth $7.5B less than they were, but if they give $7.5B worth of stock to github the company value does not change at all, if anything it just goes up
16:17
@Jesse_b If you say so. I don't understand how this kind of thing works. But I'll take your word for it.
@Jesse_b You wrote "The company is valued at that or higher." Which implies a general consensus of some kind. Usually corresponding to stock valuation.
@FaheemMitha I think the value is determined by how much someone is willing to pay :-P
@Jesse_b That's not exactly the kind of lock-in I meant. Or the sense in which others are using it.
@Jesse_b That's not my impression of how it works. But whatever.
By lock-in I mean the fact that everyone and his cousin is now using GitHub creates a certain gravitational force. It's more a network effect kind of thing.
@FaheemMitha I'm no expert in it either but one of the ways a company is "valued" is by the stock market cap, Microsoft's is $790B. Their real value is that + assets (including "cash")
@Jesse_b I see. Yes, that makes sense.
if they give $7.5B worth of cash to github they now have $7.5B less assets, but if they give $7.5B worth of stock their market cap doesn't change
16:21
And so keeping your value as a company as high as possible is important?
Well I think it's just a smarter move, now the founders of github are responsible for selling off that stock if they want to liquidate it, so long as people are still willing to buy stock in Microsoft, Microsoft is happy because their market cap will continue to rise
I suppose it would effect their price to book ratio.
@Jesse_b I don't quite follow that.
@FaheemMitha Essentially they want more shares at a higher value, I think making acquisitions using shares is a good way to do that. I'm not intimately familiar with the deal but if the shares they used were held in treasury they weren't counting towards the market cap. So they may have essentially just introduced $7.5B worth of new shares to the market, effectively increasing the company value by $7.5B so long as the market doesn't respond by devaluing the shares
17:09
@Jesse_b Does "held in treasury" mean the company itself is holding on to the shares?
@FaheemMitha Yeah a company can basically just make all the shares they want. If they introduce them into the market it will "dilute" and devalue the existing shares, but if they hold them in treasury it has no affect on existing shares. I guess if that is the case it still will dilute existing shares but might not have as much of an affect on their value
@Jesse_b It seems to me that just their existence would have an effect on "existing shares". But if by "existing" you mean "being traded on the market", that's curious and confusing terminology.
But I expect I'm misunderstanding something.
@FaheemMitha Yeah I'm no expert and may be wrong as well, but the shares only affect the market value if they are being traded in the market. So if the company holds them without trading them they don't affect the market shares
@Jesse_b Oh. That's a bit surprising. I suppose I should try to learn about this stuff.
I think it's an intentionally convoluted system because it's kind of shady
17:20
@Jesse_b International finance always feels a bit shady.
@FaheemMitha Which is why I want to move into the mountains and leave society behind
@Jesse_b Yes, you mentioned that already. But not everyone is in international finance. And not everyone is shady, either.
@FaheemMitha Sounds like something a shady person would say. I'm on to you
@Jesse_b Which part?
@FaheemMitha heh, I'm just kidding :-P
17:29
@Jesse_b Glad to hear it.
hi @FaheemMitha @Jesse_b
bonjour @PrabhjotSingh
@PrabhjotSingh hey
@Jesse_b you just killed me.
i love bonjour
@PrabhjotSingh What about it?
I think @FaheemMitha is really fond of it too
17:32
@FaheemMitha thx to you now i can edit messages
@Jesse_b I deplore this trend towards the exotic in greetings. Two letters ought to be enough for anyone. Maybe three. And foreign languages are so passe.
@Jesse_b is it contagious?
namaste
@Jesse_b You must come to India. This is our away of salutation, really.
@PrabhjotSingh Yeah a lot of hipsters in the US use it now too. I think they get it from yoga class
17:36
you were discussing stock prices?
you mean Bob marley like people
More specifically that Microsoft used it's own stock to acquire github. I think this is a really strategic move that does nothing but add value to Microsoft as a company
There are many hipsters in Himachal Pradesh.
If this adds nothing in terms of revenue then this would be a non event.
price behaviour is about future prospects of a company.
@PrabhjotSingh Yeah but github is now an asset of microsoft. So their market cap hasn't changed and they acquired a multi-billion dollar company
They paid using perceived assets to acquire literal assets
even stock prices are subject to geo-political events and sectoral hurdles.
And one more thing Is GitHub having great people?
@Jesse_b assets if does not perform according to your expectations could become nightmare or liability.
All comes down to this : will this add to their revenues or EPS.
@PrabhjotSingh Sure but I think github is a pretty good investment. It's definitely a useful product. And like all major tech companies lately, the idea is to acquire as many other tech companies as possible so you can try to become the biggest conglomerate
17:48
The bigger they are harder they fall
@PrabhjotSingh I hope that applies to amazon soon
@Jesse_b amazon is investing heavily in AWS.
Amazon here in our country is very dangerous for retailers.
@PrabhjotSingh I don't hate much on the aws business although I think they are obnoxious, I really hate their retail business
I mostly hate the consumers of it which includes myself. They have suckered us into thinking they are both cheap and convenient when they are almost never the cheapest option anymore and not even that convenient compared to other online retailers
their retail business is crowding out small and medium retailers.
@Jesse_b see this would lead to oligo-poly sooner or later. Then this would hurt consumers too.
18:09
@PrabhjotSingh People use Amazon in India because customer service in India is so terrible. Also, lots of dishonesty. You don't know who to trust.
In most cases, if you purchase a product and it is defective, you are stuck with it.
@FaheemMitha any system cannot be foolproof by itself.
@PrabhjotSingh Huh?
@Jesse_b One should always shop around. In the US there are lots of options. At least, I imagine so.
I mean if customer service in India is terrible, tell people to make this good.
@PrabhjotSingh Good job on the answer. @Jesse_b You should take inspiration from that.
@PrabhjotSingh Tell who? And what makes you think anyone cares?
.@FaheemMitha i hate you cuz you didn't take me time to tell that i ve answered
18:14
@PrabhjotSingh That's not a very nice thing to say.
@PrabhjotSingh As usual, not following.
@PrabhjotSingh So, what do you do at your job? Sysadmin? Programming?
I was about to tell you that i ve answered getting to know question. but you knew before that.
@PrabhjotSingh Well, the system notifies me.
@FaheemMitha I m a moron if you ask me aboutr computers.
@PrabhjotSingh Ok...
I m a pharmacist
18:18
@PrabhjotSingh Oh. What does that mean, exactly?
about what?
I have a rough idea what it means in the US. You have a 4 year degree, I think. My impression is that it is a somewhat boring but relatively well-paid career.
you are right.
@PrabhjotSingh What does a pharmacist do, in India? Do you have a pharma degree?
yes
see the prescription and give medicines
@FaheemMitha i am here cuz i want to learn linux.
i dont run after things
18:24
@PrabhjotSingh That does sound boring.
Does it pay well?
10,000 a month for a 32 boy is good i think.
@FaheemMitha job is boring or Prabhjot singh is boring.?
@PrabhjotSingh Is that what they pay you? Yikes.
The cost of living must be really cheap where you are. In Bombay you could just about afford a hovel.
yes This is my salary i get in hand.
@PrabhjotSingh Ok. Are there deductions for health coverage or anything like that?
@FaheemMitha there are some deductions for pension or anything
18:28
@PrabhjotSingh ok
despite that i am a kool boy
@FaheemMitha Tell who? And what makes you think anyone cares? didn't get it.
And thx for upvote
@PrabhjotSingh You wrote:
> if customer service in India is terrible, tell people to make this good.
Which people should one tell?
Jeff Bezos
@ i mean small and medium retailers
@Jesse_b That makes no sense.
@PrabhjotSingh Why do you think anyone would listen to me?
18:38
@FaheemMitha He controls everything, he can make it right
@Jesse_b Not everything.
@FaheemMitha They should listen.
@PrabhjotSingh People should do lots of things.
afterall they are our own people.
@FaheemMitha Like write an answer to your question? :-P
18:39
@Jesse_b For example.
@FaheemMitha i beg your pardon for "i hate you" comment.
@PrabhjotSingh Don't mention it.
@PrabhjotSingh Indians don't relate to other Indians very much. There is no social compact. If there was one, it was broken a long time ago.
i simply didnt understand second line.
@FaheemMitha i simply didnt understand second line.
@FaheemMitha I've heard that India has a lot of classism (if that is the right word)
@Jesse_b A bit?
18:47
@Jesse_b classism is only in Karl Marx's books.
I worked with mostly Indians at one of my previous jobs and they all hated this one guy that was from the north as they were from the south or vice versa
@PrabhjotSingh Did you understand what I meant by social compact?
Putting it another way, there is little spirit of community in India. People don't want to work together in the larger sense to do things that benefit everyone.
@FaheemMitha i didnt
It's all about making money in the most narrow sense possible.
Unlike, say, the more progressive nations of Western Europe.
Even the US is better.
@FaheemMitha I think it is like that in most nations, especially any nation that is thriving financially
Which I understand Indian is not exactly there but I understand the economy there is really taking off
18:53
@Jesse_b Everything is relative.
Here is the US there is a huge disconnect. People don't know their own neighbors anymore
@Jesse_b Well, the rich are doing really well. Don't believe everything you read in magazines. Social mobility in India is near zero.
@Jesse_b Yes, I noticed that while I was there. But that isn't what I'm talking about.
I hear many stories of people living in apartment buildings with 50+ tenants and not knowing a single one of them
@FaheemMitha Social mobility in India is near zero.?
Well there is also a huge uprising in "hate" for this country
Our own citizens seem to want to see us destroyed
18:56
@PrabhjotSingh Yes.
@Jesse_b jingoism is on rise. and this has to do something with corporate greed , lazy and complicit media and social media
@Jesse_b They do?
@PrabhjotSingh Well, to be more precise, for the poor. But most people are poor.
I suppose it's possible for well off middle class people to become wealthy.
@FaheemMitha Seems like it. There is more hate for the government than I've ever seen before, but it's mostly directed at the country in general. Maybe similar to the vietnam war. Our citizens are burning the flag, attacking police officers, violently protesting the government
@Jesse_b Your govt is pretty terrible. No offense intended.
Are you sure you're not just talking about regular activism?
@FaheemMitha I've yet to hear of a government that wasn't terrible :-P
18:59
I don't think that's hatred. They're just trying to fight injustice.
Well that's also an issue, it's very likely that it's not anything extraordinary but it's certainly being reported on more often
@Jesse_b Well, some governments aspire to mediocrity.
fake news
Does anyone know of a free network diagram solution similar to draw.io but not as crappy?
@Jesse_b What's the use case?
19:03
@FaheemMitha Making a network diagram
:-P
TeX is probably powerful enough to handle that kind of thing.
looks too complicated for me
@Jesse_b It's not that complicated.
@FaheemMitha I have about the same brain capacity as a box of rocks
19:06
in your provided link that person wanted a simple diagram and the solution was like 50+ lines of code in a language I don't know
@Jesse_b That's not a terribly constructive thing to say.
I would call that pretty complex :p
@Jesse_b If you have some spare time (and it sounds like you do), you could do worse than learn how to use LaTeX. And TikZ/PGF.
You could probably get a basic working knowledge in, say, a month.
Afterwards, you'll wonder how you ever lived without it.
Well, modulo the error messages, which only experts can understand.
Using version control with TeX is essential. Otherwise you'll never be able to recover from your mistakes.
I can turn on all the faucets in my house
@Jesse_b Good for you. And your point is?
19:08
That is a big accomplishment for me
I don't follow. (I say that so much I should really invent a shorthand for it. Suggestions?)
Maybe IDF.
israeli defense force
@Jesse_b Ugh
Seriously, go learn TeX.
@FaheemMitha +1
@StephenKitt Now you just need to convince @Jesse_b.
19:10
BTW for people who’ve never been members before, there’s a trial membership of TUG this year for only $20
@StephenKitt Ah. Are you a member?
Yup
I’m a card-carrying Knuth fan, I have two cheques and an autographed book
@Jesse_b Also, TikZ/PGF is generally considered TeX's killer app.
It's practically got a cult following.
@StephenKitt I'm very impressed. Are they real cashable checks?
From before Knuth started using an imaginary bank?
@FaheemMitha yes, from before the switch to virtual money
@StephenKitt Cool. What were the bug reports?
19:13
@FaheemMitha errors in books
And were they TeX bug reports, or something else?
@StephenKitt CS books?
@FaheemMitha Digital Typography and Literate Programming
ugh, all these diagram solutions use cartoonish symbols
Digital Typography is the one I got him to sign
it's so unprofessional
19:14
@StephenKitt Wow.
@Jesse_b What?
@StephenKitt Oh. Did you have a chat with him? Or just a signing?
@FaheemMitha a quick chat about hidden performance characteristics and O(1) style analysis
@StephenKitt ok.
e.g. when modern CPUs do certain types of operation for free
What was he like in person?
(without needing any extra cycles)
@FaheemMitha very approachable
19:16
@StephenKitt That's nice.
a network diagram should look like this: https://goo.gl/images/BbRWiK

And absolutely not like this: https://goo.gl/images/dJ4mNZ
like most famous people in computer science and the computer industry
@Jesse_b so buy Visio then
:-P
Visio is the worst offender lately
Visio does have some good stencils left and you can obviously import all sorts of custom ones but the main issue I have with it is they are never uniform. So you will get most of what you need from a cisco pack but then you will be missing something and have to use a symbol that looks completely out of place on your diagram
(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ /rant
@StephenKitt Can TikZ/PGF or some other TeX thing do everything that Visio can?
@FaheemMitha apart from the GUI side of things, yes
19:23
@StephenKitt GUI side of things?
@FaheemMitha Visio has a nice GUI
@StephenKitt Oh, you mean pull down menus and stuff?
@FaheemMitha: Look at draw.io. It's similar to visio
visio has a lot more features though
@FaheemMitha I mean like microsoft.com/visio
a draw area where you can place your objects, connectors which snap into position and move with the objects they connect, etc.
of course once you know how to code that using Matrix or something like that then you’re more productive that way
@StephenKitt Yes, I know what you mean. Though those methods aren't very precise. Nor are they automatable. Or easily extensible.
19:34
@FaheemMitha exactly, they’re easy to get to grips with but you quickly hit a ceiling
Not that TeX is very good at abstraction either, not even having the notion of a function.
Or scope.
 
1 hour later…
20:38
dell ftos will be the death of me
@PrabhjotSingh I don't understand
@Jesse_b i don't know how to install xelatex or polyglossia in fedora 27
@PrabhjotSingh I don't even know what they are
20:53
these are some packages for writing urdu in TeXmacs
@PrabhjotSingh Mmm, texmex
is this for tex?
@PrabhjotSingh texmex is mexican food texas style. TeXmacs just reminded me of it :)
@Jesse_b you are very fond of food, "innit"?
@PrabhjotSingh who isn't?
20:58
@PrabhjotSingh Those are all part of TeX Live. It should be easy to install them.
@Jesse_b i don't know much about american food.
@PrabhjotSingh we don't really have any
@PrabhjotSingh He means imitation Mexican food, American style.
so you dont cook at all?
@PrabhjotSingh He means there is no such thing as American food, per se.
21:00
ok
At least, I think so.
@FaheemMitha one clarification from you?
I cook a lot
but yes, we have stolen all our cuisine from other cultures
except for garbage
we eat a lot of literal garbage
@Jesse_b now we ve started to imitate you.
Stereotypical "American" food is too much meat, and not much of anything else.
21:04
@FaheemMitha No such thing as too much meat
Probably too fatty, too.
Stereotypical american food is too much sugar
@Jesse_b I beg to differ.
@Jesse_b That too.
in India domminos dunkin donuts pizzahut are everywhere
they are finding that people's aversion to fat is mostly unjustified
salt as well, there is no evidence that salt leads to hypertension
21:05
@Jesse_b about salt you are wrong
most of what we know about diet is conjecture
@PrabhjotSingh why do you say that? Are you a doctor? Have you read recent studies?
@Jesse_b Too much fat is bad for you. That's well established.
The reason we think salt causes high blood pressure is because of a single study by one doctor in the 1960s that was not very scientific at all
they are doing studies now and are unable to prove his conclusion
salt causes insomnia, hypertension, urinary stones and much more.
21:07
WHO quantity for humans of sodium chloride is 5 gms
The reason we think it's bad is because one doctor gave near lethal doses of salt to lab rats and it gave them high blood pressure
north indian consume about 12 gms daily.
there has been no evidence that it does the same in humans, and humans also don't consume nearly that much, even in extreme cases
I don't think salt is particularly dangerous, unless you consume large quantities of it.
And it's not something most people concern themselves with, anyway.
21:10
@FaheemMitha Even still a lot of medical conclusions are based on correlation and not causation. Especially when it comes to diet
People with high salt diets generally have terrible diets overall. All snack and processed foods
@FaheemMitha in north people consume 12gm daily(normal is 5gm)
@PrabhjotSingh Still not really that much.
@Jesse_b Of course.
@Jesse_b Agreed.
@FaheemMitha excess salt leads to obesity.
It's like if you ate chicken bones and one punctured your stomach causing internal bleeding and you died
then they said eating chicken is bad for you
There should not be obscession about something but excess is bad.
21:14
@PrabhjotSingh excessive carbs lead to obesity and not much else
@Jesse_b i am not averse to chicken.
in India we have KFCs.
Yeah thats a better example
@Jesse_b i am not averse to even KFC.
If they did a study on the people eating KFC frequently and found that they have a higher rate of coronary blockage then came to the conclusion that chicken causes it
correlation is not always causation
@PrabhjotSingh It does?
21:17
@Jesse_b earlier you were saying Indiuan economy is picking up. but if you see, CSO gives only projections.
@PrabhjotSingh CSO?
@FaheemMitha I am a not a vegan. but excess muscle containing diet affects lipids.
@Jesse_b Central Statistics Office.
Sounds like something from the show "Futurama"
I mean to say if you see our GDP numbers only you must be at fault.
Futurama new word?
Futurama is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of slacker Philip J. Fry, who is accidentally transported to the 31st century and finds work at an interplanetary delivery company. The series was envisioned by Groening in the mid-1990s while working on The Simpsons; he brought David X. Cohen aboard to develop storylines and characters to pitch the show to Fox. In the United States, the series aired on Fox from March 28, 1999, to August 10, 2003, and aired in reruns on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim from 2003 to 2007...
21:24
@Jesse_b in our country we live in every century but in the past.
I start my vacation in two days
can't come soon enough
@Jesse_b who will reply Bonjour?
@PrabhjotSingh I think @FaheemMitha is fond of coming up with new and exciting greetings
2 days back kiwy offered me "Buenos días".
I think earlier he said he doesn't see the point in only using a 2 or 3 letter greeting. You should really try to make your greetings as verbose as possible to show the amount of excitement you have
21:38
@Jesse_b you wont believe when I come home i feel tired. but when i open chatroom i don't know from where i get excitement.
well thx for Futurama
@StephenKitt thanks
22:14
@Jesse_b No, he's not.
@FaheemMitha :-)

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