Dan Cross

Software engineer at Oxide Computer Company. Xoogler. he/him

Other: [@dancrossnyc@mastodon.social](https://mastodon.social/@dancrossnyc )
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Git: https://github.com/dancrossnyc/

Last Notes

2025-09-17 15:09:01 UTC

I see that Hegseth wants to administratively separate service members who have medical waivers for shaving.
It's hard to imagine this as anything other than a targeted means of pushing Black people out of the military.
For those that don't know, the military has "personal grooming standards" that are enforced across the services; this includes a requirement to shave daily, if applicable. This is for a few reasons: to ensure a "uniform, military appearance", but also nominally to ensure a good seal with a gas mask.
However, so-called "no-shave chits" can be issued to service members for a variety of reasons, and these waivers exempt those people from this requirement.
For example, I once saw a guy who had one because a tree branch or something whacked him in the face during an exercise and gave him a gnarly slice that needed stitches. He couldn't reasonably shave _over_ the stitches, so medical gave him a no-shave chit while that was healing.
But the most common reason for issuing no-shave chits is for folks with "Pseudofolliculitis Barbae" (PFB), more commonly known as razor bumps, which are ingrown hair follicles on the face and neck.
Razor bumps are a real thing, and while I understand they are extremely painful, more concerning is that they can become infected, rendering a service member mission incapable.
But here's the thing: razor bumps affect Black folks more than others; up to 60% to 80% of adult Black men who shave regularly will experience them. The percentage among other demographics is much, much lower; like close to an order of magnitude lower. The military's own data, snapshotted in 2023, says that 63.5% of PFB cases since 2000 were among non-Hispanic Black service members (https://health.mil/News/Articles/2023/08/01/Pseudofolliculitis-barbae).
And let me be clear here: this is a real, known, diagnosable medical condition, studied and recognized by dermatologists. It's not like there's some kind of conspiracy to get out of shaving or something dumb like that. And from everyone I've ever known who's had it, they'd really, really, rather they didn't. I understand it sucks.
So separating service members who have medical shaving waivers will disproportionately affect Black service members. There's no way Hegseth et al don't know this.
"But wait a minute! What about the gas mask thing!?" I hear someone ask, "that sounds pretty legit." Ok, here's the deal: the waiver says you don' t have to shave down to the skin; it doesn't say you don't keep things trim and keep facial hare short. No one with a no-shave chit is running around with a full beard that's keeping them from putting on a gas mask.
But even if they were, what about all the SpecOps guys with their "operator beards"? And anyone who's been on a multiday mission outside the wire knows there are times when adherence to the grooming standards takes a backseat to operational necessities; most of us have gone a couple of days without a shave.
And if there were really a serious threat of chemical warfare and you absolutely needed to ensure you could get a seal with a gas mask, you'd shave regardless of the chit or you'd be in MOPP-4 anyway (with no exposed skin). Note that a gas mask really only covers the face and eyes; you'd be putting on a hood and other equipment to cover up the rest including, you guessed it, the area of the face and neck where the seal isn't perfect.
So yeah. I fail to see any way in which this effort is anything other than explicitly racist.

2025-08-01 21:25:45 UTC

- reply

it looks like, for this specific case, Address Sanitizer finds an issue pretty quickly.
```
term% cat foo.cc
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
int
main()
{
std::vector<int> v{0, 1, 2, 3, 4};
for (const auto elem: v)
std::cout << "elem= " << elem << std::endl;
for (auto it = v.cbegin(); it != v.cend(); ++it) {
if (*it % 2)
v.emplace_back(1);
}
for (const auto elem: v)
std::cout << "elem= " << elem << std::endl;
return 0;
}
term% clang++ -std=c++23 -fsanitize=address,undefined -Wall -Wextra -o foo foo.cc
term% ./foo
foo(22239,0x20c2e5f00) malloc: nano zone abandoned due to inability to reserve vm space.
elem= 0
elem= 1
elem= 2
elem= 3
elem= 4
=================================================================
==22239==ERROR: AddressSanitizer: heap-use-after-free on address 0x603000001c98 at pc 0x000102264f94 bp 0x00016db9a650 sp 0x00016db9a648
READ of size 4 at 0x603000001c98 thread T0
#0 0x000102264f90 in main+0x6b0 (foo:arm64+0x100000f90)
[snip]
#9 0x000102266308 in int& std::__1::vector<int, std::__1::allocator<int>>::emplace_back<int>(int&&)+0x224 (foo:arm64+0x100002308)
#10 0x000102265028 in main+0x748 (foo:arm64+0x100001028)
#11 0x00019de36b94 in start+0x17b8 (dyld:arm64e+0xfffffffffff3ab94)
previously allocated by thread T0 here:
[snip]
#8 0x000102266928 in std::__1::vector<int, std::__1::allocator<int>>::vector[abi:ne190102](std::initializer_list<int>)+0x328 (foo:arm64+0x100002928)
#9 0x0001022655a4 in std::__1::vector<int, std::__1::allocator<int>>::vector[abi:ne190102](std::initializer_list<int>)+0x60 (foo:arm64+0x1000015a4)
#10 0x000102264b54 in main+0x274 (foo:arm64+0x100000b54)
#11 0x00019de36b94 in start+0x17b8 (dyld:arm64e+0xfffffffffff3ab94)
SUMMARY: AddressSanitizer: heap-use-after-free (foo:arm64+0x100000f90) in main+0x6b0
[snip]
Shadow byte legend (one shadow byte represents 8 application bytes):
Addressable: 00
Partially addressable: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07
Heap left redzone: fa
Freed heap region: fd
Stack left redzone: f1
Stack mid redzone: f2
Stack right redzone: f3
Stack after return: f5
Stack use after scope: f8
Global redzone: f9
Global init order: f6
Poisoned by user: f7
Container overflow: fc
Array cookie: ac
Intra object redzone: bb
ASan internal: fe
Left alloca redzone: ca
Right alloca redzone: cb
==22239==ABORTING
term% clang++ --version
Apple clang version 17.0.0 (clang-1700.0.13.5)
Target: arm64-apple-darwin24.5.0
Thread model: posix
InstalledDir: /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin
term%
```

2025-05-01 13:22:46 UTC

- reply

that is certainly a valid concern, but all too often, I see folks simply not consider that something else _might_ exist.
I really feel like there's a gap here where the very existence of alternatives simply does not enter into the consciousness around decision making. That is to say, I don't think that there's usually a principled reason at all.

2025-05-01 13:16:20 UTC

There DO exist other open source OS projects that are not Linux.
I don't understand the blind spot here. So many folks act as if the only thing that they could possibly run is either Linux, Windows, or macOS.

2025-04-03 19:34:48 UTC

When all is said and done, and the history books have been written, Mitch McConnell will be remembered as the architect of the destruction of American democracy.