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Comment Re:Return to office (Score 1) 105

Fairly obviously, this almost certainly won't result in many thousands of H1-Bs each paying $100k to the US government each year; it'll result in many thousands of jobs that would have been paying US taxes on their wages, and then paying for accommodation, a car, for leisure, and whatever else into the US economy paying their taxes and spending their wages in wherever the new (or expanded overseas) office is instead.

Yep. Google, at least, started this transition during Trump1.

The company has long had engineering sites in various other countries, but until Trump1, the primary focus was always on cities where Google thought the global talent would want to live. Low cost was clearly not the driving factor in the selection of London, Zurich, Munich, Tokyo and Sydney, to name a few of the ones I visited. US sites were similarly not located in low-rent areas. The workforce was definitely global, because Google wanted to hire the smartest people and while the US does have its share of brilliant minds, the US has only 4% of the world's population, so most teams -- even in the US -- ended up being minority American.

During COVID, Trump leveraged the health crisis to essentially halt H-1B approvals and renewals. This caused significant problems for Google. My own team lost a few people because they couldn't get their visas renewed and had to go back home. Some chose to move to other Google sites overseas where Google could get them a work visa, others simply went back to their home countries. One trans woman on my team was in a particularly tough spot because her home country (India) refused to renew her passport because it didn't recognize her new gender. She couldn't get her visa renewed, couldn't go home to India, and also couldn't move to any other country with an expired passport. Luckily, she had a lot of nVidia and Google stock she'd been saving up to buy a house, and by cashing that out had enough free cash to get an EB-5 "investor" visa. It's good to be rich, of course.

Anyway, Google saw what was going on and, anticipating future troubles of the sort, refocused its overseas office plans on building up teams and infrastructure, especially in India which provided so much of Google's engineering talent anyway, with the intention of shifting whole projects and workstreams there. The company had long required a significant percentage of all staffing growth to be in the US (and especially in the bay area), but that policy was scrapped and replaced by its opposite: A certain percentage of all new roles must be based overseas.

It's still the case that the center-of-mass of Google is in the bay area, but the company is actively working to change that, to build up overseas capacity, and not just groups of junior engineers under a manager whose role is to pass them detailed requirements for implementation, but instead full teams with highly-skilled and experienced senior engineers and managers able to take full ownership of major product areas and move them forward.

Trump's latest moves will just accelerate this transition. The result will eventually be a hollowing out of the company's US capacity, and therefore a reduction in the need to hire American engineers. Lucky for me, I'm leaving Google for a startup and anyway am not far from retirement. Between this stuff and AI being poised to replace junior engineering staff it's a good time to be getting out.

Also, I think it will soon be time to start shifting investments out of the US.

Comment Re:Do it yourself (Score 1) 85

Cppcheck apparently knows "hundreds of other rules covering a multitude of language aspects" so you don't "have to mentally apply against every single line of code you write."

Cppcheck doesn't flag anything in Waffle Iron's example.

It also doesn't find anything wrong with:

std::vector<int> vec = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
auto it = vec.begin();
vec.push_back(6);
std::cout << *it << std::endl;

Which is another common example of how you can write memory errors without using C++ pointers.

Comment Re:There is already a safe subset of C++ (Score 1) 85

In the sort of places where MISRA and similar coding guides apply, yes, never allocating memory is expected, because once dynamic allocation exists you can't guarantee that you won't die with an out-of-memory error and similarly can't guarantee any time bounds on how long an alloc and dealloc will take.

Sure, so C++ is safe as long as it's used in a way that makes it incredibly painful. Sounds good. Let's just require all C++ code everywhere to be written that way. Rust usage will skyrocket overnight.

Comment Re: Is there anyone here that voted for Trump (Score 1) 263

It is hard to have fair democracy with winners take it all.

For a really rigorous definition of "fair", it's impossible to have fair democracy at all. Arrow's Theorem demonstrates this to a large degree, although many have argued that some of his fairness axioms are excessive. More recent research has concluded that fairness is the wrong standard, because there's no way for an electorate's "will" to really be fairly represented by any electoral system, not in all cases. Some systems can do better most of the time (and "winner take all" is particularly bad), but all systems fail in some cases.

What we need to aim for instead of fairness is "legitimacy", which is more about building broad acceptance of the system than about fixing the system itself, though it's easier to build acceptance for better-designed systems.

Having the country's top politicians continually claiming the system is unfair and rigged is, of course, the worst possible thing to do if you want to build support for the legitimacy of the system.

Comment Re:Jokes on you (Score 2) 263

Precisely none of those books were ever banned.

I decided to check :-)

According to the Book Censorship Database from the Every Library Institute, both "Of Mice and Men" and "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" have been challenged, but only "Of Mice and Men" was removed, though "restricted" is more accurate. The Birdville Independent School District in Texas removed the book from general access, allowing access only to the AP English class, and the Indian River County Schools in Florida restricted it to high school students.

No Doctor Suess books were banned, although Suess Enterprises voluntarily ceased publication of six books.

Comment Re: As a proud American of Indian origin... (Score 1) 231

We tend to be centrist, and are used to a multiparty system. We also assimilate tend to assimilate well enough to do what (we think) is best for the country practically at the time, rather than be overly biased.

Case in point: I supported Obama back then. Postt Biden, I thought Trmp would be a better choice for the American economy.

Comment Re: Hinduism starts with a question, not a dogma (Score 1) 153

https://www.perplexity.ai/sear...

explain in detail, Hinduism as the oldest living Dharmic tradition, with parallels to the "open source" software movement. The target auidence being a typical westener familiar only with organized proselytizing invasive Abrahamic religions such as Islam & Christianity spread by the sword. Deep Research and include detailed citations in report

explain in detail, Hinduism as the oldest living Dharmic tradition, with parallels to the "open source" software movement. The target auidence being a typical westener familiar only with organized proselytizing invasive Abrahamic religions such as Islam & Christianity spread by the sword. Deep Research and include detailed citations in report

**Hinduism is frequently recognized as the oldest living Dharmic tradition and stands apart from Abrahamic religions by emphasizing pluralism, flexibility, and decentralized spiritual practiceâ"an ethos strikingly similar to the âoeopen sourceâ software movement**[1][2][3][4][5].

## Hinduism: Oldest Living Dharmic Tradition

Hinduismâ(TM)s roots precede recorded history, tracing back over 4,000 years to the Indus Valley civilization and Vedic texts[1][2][5]. Unlike Abrahamic religionsâ"Judaism, Christianity, and Islamâ"which were founded by specific prophets, Hinduism lacks a single founder or central authority[6][3]. It is known by its adherents as *SanÄtana Dharma* (âoeeternal lawâ)â"a continuous philosophical tradition that integrates many beliefs, texts, and rituals across cultures[1][4]. Hindu teachings, preserved in a vast array of texts like the Vedas, Upanishads, and Puranas, encapsulate concepts of karma, reincarnation, dharma, and moksha[1][6][4].

## Parallel to âoeOpen Sourceâ Movement

Hinduismâ(TM)s evolution mirrors open source principles. Just as open source software welcomes collaborative modification and adaptation, Hinduism encourages personal spiritual exploration and reinterpretation[7][8][9][10]. There is no âoeone-size-fits-allâ doctrinal pathâ"diverse practices (bhakti, karma, jnana, meditation, ritual) are all accepted as valid[7][8]. Communities throughout India and beyond follow different customs, and philosophies develop organically through dialogue and debate, much like open source code forks and merges[7][8][10]. Throughout its history, Hinduism has absorbed influences from other traditions (Buddhism, Jainism, even elements of Islam and Christianity) without losing its inherent pluralism[11][7][8].

## Contrasts with Abrahamic Religions

Abrahamic religions are characterized by exclusive monotheism, defined canon, and strong institutional authorityâ"often coupled historically with organized proselytization, conversion efforts, and sometimes force (âoespread by the swordâ)[12][13][6]. Salvation hinges on faith in a specific god, following strict commandments, and aligning with fixed creeds. In contrast, **Hinduism is non-proselytizing and inclusive**, accepting atheists, polytheists, and diverse sectsâ"viewing all sincere seekersâ(TM) paths as valid[12][14][4][8]. Its complex pantheon and philosophical schools allow vibrant cross-pollination, defending spiritual freedom and individual choice above blind obedience and exclusivity[8][7][12].

## Key Insights for a Western Audience

- Hinduism thrives as **âoeopen-source spirituality,â** encouraging personal customization and growthâ"unlike religions defined by exclusive, institutional creeds[7][8][9][10].
- Its system honors **plural ways to the divine, philosophical freedom, and ongoing evolutionâ"akin to collaborative development in open source software**[7][8].
- Abrahamic faiths historically spread through evangelism and sometimes force, but Hinduism remains organic and integrative, rarely aiming to convert or replace other traditions[12][13][14].
- For seekers from structured Western backgrounds, Hinduism offers a paradigm where spiritual truth emerges from dialogue, experimentation, and respectful coexistenceâ"just as open-source software relies on community participation rather than imposition[7][8][10].

Citations:
[1] Hinduism - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
[2] Hinduism | Origin, History, Beliefs, Gods, & Facts - Britannica https://www.britannica.com/top...
[3] Religions - Hinduism: At a Glance - BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion...
[4] 5 things Dharmic faiths have in common - Hindu American Foundation https://www.hinduamerican.org/...
[5] [PDF] Origins of Hinduism https://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/...
[6] Hinduism: What Do You Know About the World's Oldest Religion? https://www.smp.org/resourcece...
[7] The World's First Open-Source LLM: Hinduism - The àà¾àà¾àà of URVA https://www.urva.site/p/world-...
[8] Open-source Hinduism - Irénées - Irenees.net https://www.irenees.net/bdf_fi...
[9] The God Project: Hinduism as Open-Source Faith | HuffPost Religion https://www.huffpost.com/entry...
[10] The God Project: Hinduism as Open-Source Faithâ"by Josh Schrei https://savitri.in/blogs/light...
[11] History of Hinduism - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
[12] Hinduism vs. Abrahamic Religions: Why Are They So Different? https://timeslife.com/life-hac...
[13] Why do Abrahamic Religion dislike Hinduism? - Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/hindu...
[14] "Abrahamizing" Hinduism (NOT about Conversion) https://www.ihsanishan.com/ihs...
[15] Hinduism is akin to Open Source, while Abrahamic faiths are closed ... https://www.reddit.com/r/hindu...
[16] 12.4 Hinduism and Abrahamic religions: Interactions and dialogues https://library.fiveable.me/in...
[17] Is Hinduism actually the oldest religion in the world? - Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/relig...
[18] FOSS is Necessary but Not Sufficient: Lessons from the History and ... https://www.digitalfutureslab....
[19] Neo-Vedanta - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
[20] Hindutva - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

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