I don't fully understand the need or benefit of having free_sized() available tbh.
Spec says it's functionally equivalent to free(ptr) or undefined:
If ptr is a null pointer or the result obtained from a call to malloc, realloc, or calloc, where size size is equal to the requested allocation size, this function is equivalent to free(ptr). Otherwise, the behavior is undefined
Even the recommended practice does not really clarify things:
Implementations may provide extensions to query the usable size of an allocation, or to determine
the usable size of the allocation that would result if a request for some other size were to succeed.
Such implementations should allow passing the resulting usable size as the size parameter, and
provide functionality equivalent to free in such cases
When would someone use this instead of simply free(ptr) ?
Start by not contributing to the mess, so do no harm principles are important in one's personal life. Yes that includes being careful with natural resources.
After that, consider that very large charities might have considerable overheard and their practical aid on the ground very limited, or very politicized.
Local community organizations might have higher needs, have and allow you to make more more impact, though they will not have the marketing and outreach capabilities of a large organization.
But...finding those might take a little more work on your side.
As you want to do good in the short term, and I assume you wouldn't mind a local focus and getting the feeling you're contributing something, you could get in touch with e.g. a city social services department, they probably know which organizations exist close to you which could use some help.
This is such an important topic and one that I am personally very interested in.
Basically it comes down to finding an expert or mentor who has either written one or is willing to help you. I know this is not necessarily the answer you're looking for, but the challenge as a beginner is that you do not know what you do not know, and you do not have the knowledge required to judge what is important and what is superficial at that time. Hence, you need some form of guidance by someone.
I agree with you that there is too much introductory content, and the moment you have some level of understanding on a topic, it becomes more difficult to find good sources at your level. In my opinion, this is simply a reflection of how much most people know. These days, many just scratch the surface, make some "content" out of it, and that's it.
For my personal practice, I tend to recognize 2 common options. Either I find some form of learning path, no matter how introductory. Certain topics have more than others. Alternatively I just start with the very basics, and then start practicing. As I learn more, I come across more topics which I keep track of and learn as they become necessary, or based on how often I come across them.
That said, it is a deep wish of mine that more people would write "How to become X" or "How to learn Y" articles from a position of expertise.
> “The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads.”
Now that the era of free money seems to be over, at least for now, the ad networks are firing many of their employees.
One can only hope that many of them will have the opportunity to reorient towards more beneficial work.
That said, tech is large. Very large, and some tech is also benefiting doctors, nurses and patients. Though I agree, typically not at the salary levels one was able to get building ad networks.
> Has the virus mutated to a less deadly strain? (It is my understanding this is a common trait of "pandemical" virial diseases.)
It has not (necessarily), and it is not.
There is no evolutionary pressure on a virus becoming milder over time, it can go both ways.
What you see in action is the vaccines working, they were conceived to reduce the risk of death, and they did so successfully, hence you see lower deaths. Unfortunately, death is neither the only, nor maybe the most serious outcome of COVID.
We do seem to be in a situation where the acute phase of the disease is somewhat less hefty for many people, but even with the last BA.5 waves we have seen quite many hospitalizations, so the risk is definitely not low for everyone.
While this is for the acute phase, the long term effects of the disease, so called LongCovid, can be absolutely devastating and we have not yet seen the real long term effects (e.g. a HIV infection also only becomes serious after ~7 years). But so far we know the disease can seriously affect cardiovascular and pulmonary health, and seems to be inducing autoimmune reactions.
Sudden cardiac deaths, just like ischemic strokes, in young healthy adults are a symptom of how much damage COVID can do.
A more serious source like https://www.medrxiv.org might be a better source of information than social media videos. A good search term for what you're looking for is "post-acute sequelae SARS-Cov-2". Some papers have images which leave nothing to the imagination, even for people not trained in medicine.
Unfortunately this has become an extremely contentious subject and most people have moved far beyond the simple concept of not getting sick with an extremely serious disease.
With your health situation, I'd take the fourth shot, and remain careful when it comes to the risk of getting infected. Not getting sick is the best course of action.
As a deeply technical person, I am trying to figure out business development.
I have come to a stage in my career where I am more valuable in finding projects for my team, than in delivering projects myself.
So as somewhat of a prerequisite, I need to learn about personal / team branding, relationship building, marketing, and consulting sales.
While this is definitely out of my comfort zone, and I'm still figuring out how to actually be competent at this, I believe it will be a valuable skill to one day start my own company.
Unless the author would run this against all HN user accounts, no need to flag the ones "of interest".