You don’t have to read it, but you just might learn something.
Leading Thought
Prime
How to Communicate When Trust Is Low (Without Digging Yourself Into A Deeper Hole)
Once again, Charity Majors brings truth like a club. Some great suggestions here about how to communicate effectively. Definitely worth a few minutes to read – you just may save yourself some pain and build a better relationship with someone you’ve been having difficulties.
To the best of your ability, try to resist reading layers of meaning into textual communication; keep it simple, overcommunicate intent, and ask for clarity. And if someone is asking you for clarity, help them do a better job for you.
UnitedHealth uses AI model with 90% error rate to deny care, lawsuit alleges
A while back, I shared an article about how Cigna was using AI to speed up and automate denials for treatment. One of the reasons for that program’s success was that low-dollar denials – those in the couple of hundred dollar range – were rarely challenged and simply paid by the patient. This article shows that Cigna is not alone.
The AI system used by United Healthcare seemed to have denied coverage overturned 90% of the time when disputed. At least when the patient disputes a denial, everything will get handled correctly, right? Not so fast. United Healthcare seems to have a policy of immediately denying new claims following a successful dispute, putting many people or their support systems in difficult positions.
We all have people around us who are getting older and, if not, then we have our own futures to think about. This article should be an important read for just about everyone.
A former unnamed case manager told Stat that a supervisor directed her to immediately restart a case review process for any patient who won an appeal. “And 99.9 percent of the time, we’re going to turn right back around and issue another [denial],” the former case manager said. “Well, you won, but OK, what’d that get you? Three or four days? You’re going to get another [denial] on your next review, because they want you out.”
ADHD and Abandoned Projects: Why you start SO MANY, but leave them unfinished (with tips!)
Maybe the title here describes you, even if you don’t have an ADHD diagnosis like me. Maybe you have someone in your life who has this behavior and it makes you crazy. Fear not, there’s a perfectly good explanation for why it happens – but you’ll have to get that from the video.
Fear not though, the producer of this short video caps off all the great why info with suggestions to help mitigate the challenges. Definitely worth a watch even if you are one of the lucky few who don’t deal with this in yourself or someone else.
When Both Silence and Statement Become Complicity
This is a powerful essay from Charlotte Clymer about Gaza and the inability to speak about the war without inflaming people on either side. As she notes, expressing support for Palestinian civilians and condemning the Israeli government does not mean being pro-Hamas or antisemitic. Too often innocent people are conflated with something more abstract – a country or religion – which leads to intolerance.
There is no easy solution to the problem of the middle east. Charlotte’s words are powerful and thought provoking. No matter what you think you believe, this is an essay worth reading.
In the past week, alone, I have been accused by online strangers of being in the tank for both the IDF and Hamas. Acknowledging the brutal murder of Israeli civilians by terrorists somehow means I’m condoning genocide against Palestinian civilians, yet calling for Palestinian liberation somehow means I believe Israel doesn’t have a right to defend itself against terrorists, much less exist.
Humble Bundles
Cybersecurity 2023 Book Bundle
New offering from Humble Bundle benefitting Legal Defense Fund – and, if you don’t know it’s there, there is an Adjust Donation button that will let you give more of the take to charity! For a minimum donation of $18 you get 19 titles, including:
- Alice and Bob Learn Application Security
- Threats: What Every Engineer Should Learn From Star Wars
- The Art of Intrusion: The Real Stories Behind the Exploits of Hackers, Intruders and Deceivers
- If It’s Smart, It’s Vulnerable
- The Security Culture Playbook: An Executive Guide To Reducing Risk and Developing Your Human Defense Layer
- And more!
Hacking 2023 Book Bundle
New offering from Humble Bundle benefitting Electronic Frontier Foundation – and, if you don’t know it’s there, there is an Adjust Donation button that will let you give more of the take to charity! For a minimum donation of $36 you get 19 titles, including:
- Cybersecurity for Small Networks
- The Art of Cyberwarfare
- Hacking APIs
- Designing Secure Software
- Hacking, 2nd edition
- And more!
DevOps Video Bundle Software Bundle
New offering from Humble Bundle benefitting Girls Who Code – and, if you don’t know it’s there, there is an Adjust Donation button that will let you give more of the take to charity! For a minimum donation of $25 you get 11 Live Lessons courses, including:
- Continuous Delivery
- From IT to DevOps
- Continuous Security on AWS
- Securing Your DevOps pipeline
- Getting Started with Kubernetes, 3rd Edition
- And more!
Engineering
ADR = Any Decision Record? Architecture, Design and Beyond
If you’ve worked (or talked) with me at any length, then you know that I’m a fan of Architecture Decision Records (ADRs). Not only are they a gift to yourself and future devs, but they force you to think through the decision and, as long as you are honest with yourself, legitimately consider alternatives.
If you’ve used ADRs before, you may find yourself struggling with what types of decisions belong in an ADR. Maybe, though, that should be less of a consideration. As the author posits, even things like the name format for images are candidates for documentation. No, it’s not something that isn’t relatively easy to change but, at some time, someone is likely going to ask why do we do it this way. Definitely worth a a read and consideration; you just may want to expand how you use ADRs in your team and organization.
If template usage turns into cargo cult, not much is gained. Provide decent rationale.
Say Goodbye to Docker Volumes
Do you use Docker for your software development? Do you want the convenience of hot reloading without using volumes? This write-up on docker-compose watch may just fit the bill.
Infosec
Low Budget Should Not Mean High Risk: Kids’ Tablet Came Preloaded with Sketchyware
Good post here from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) about the (usually) low-priced Android devices you can find for kids, as well as those that run other devices. Many of these use outdated OS and application software that may leak information or be outright dangerous. In addition, many of those billed as kid friendly, with parental controls, are running software that is no longer actually compliant.
If you or someone you know uses these types of devices – and they are hard to pass up for some given the price point – it’s definitely worth sharing this information.
Malware and riskware come in many different forms. The burden of remedy for pre-installed malware and sketchyware falling to consumers is absolutely unacceptable.