daf bit: Shevuot 36

A (lengthy) mishna discusses oaths of deposit. This is the case where somebody asks for his property back from someone else (for example, because he lent it, but this could also cover theft, found objects, and other cases), and that person says "I don't have it" and swears to that, either directly or indirectly. The mishna says that oaths of deposit (and the penalties for violating them) apply to men and women, to relatives and non-relatives, to those qualified to be witnesses and those not qualified, before the beit din (court) or not before it, and directly and indirectly sworn. (There is discussion of different penalties for direct and indirect.) What does it mean by indirect? Reuven says "give me my property that is on deposit with you", Shimon says "I don't have anything of yours", Reuven says "I adjure you", and Shimon answers "amen" -- he has validated the oath but not actually said "I swear" with his own mouth, and this counts as an oath. (36b)

Today's daf is 37.

link round-up

Some stuff has been accumulating in browser tabs. Some of it lost relevance because I waited too long (oops). Here's the rest.

This article explains the Intel problem that's going to slow your computer down soon. I don't know much about how kernels work and I understood it. I do have some computer-science background, though, so if somebody who doesn't wants to let me know if this is accessible or incoherent, please do. In terms of effects of the bug, you're going to get an OS update soon and then things will be slower because the real fix is to replace hardware, but you probably want to take the update anyway.

This infographic gives some current advice to avoid being spear-phished. It has one tip that was new to me but makes a lot of sense: if you have any doubt about an attachment but are going to open it anyway, drop it into Google Drive and open it in your browser. If it's malicious it'll attack Google's servers instead of your computer, and they have better defenses.

Sandra and Woo: what the public hears vs. what a software developer hears.

This account of one hospital's triage process for major incidents blew me away. I shared the link with someone I know in the medical profession and he said "oh, Sunrise -- they have their (stuff) together" -- they have a reputation, it appears. Link courtesy of metahacker and hakamadare.

I was one of the subject-matter experts interviewed for this study on Stack Overflow's documentation project. Horyun was an intern and was great to work with.

From siderea, the two worlds, or rubber-duck programming and modes of thinking.

The phatic and the anti-inductive doesn't summarize well, but I found it interesting. Also, I learned some new words. "Phatic" means talking for the sake of talking -- so small-talk, but not just that. Social lubricant fits in here too.

Rands on listening for managers.

From the same source as the "phatic" post, a story about zombies made me laugh a lot.

From Twitter:
Three logicians walk into a bar. The bartender says "Do you all want something to drink?"
The first logician says "I don't know."
The second logician says "I don't know."
The third logician says "Yes."