Hacker News Reader

BrandonMarcon The protester's guide to smartphone security

While true, I'm kinda wondering if that's even possible ...

BrandonMarcon The protester's guide to smartphone security

Hiding from surveillance is not the same as planning to do something illegal.

... but it benefits the state if people think it's the same ...

BrandonMarcon Facebook building subsea cable that will encompass the world

I expect the company sees them as private, so that they'll only share capacity with competitors when they want to and for the right price, untilllllll ....

Some other country decides to pull shenanigans and cut / hack the cable, in which case the company will insist the U.S. gov't get involved, maybe pay for the repair. Saying it's crucial for national security.

BrandonMarcon Aldebaran 1959 Spacecraft Concept (2010)

See also this image from the article. The design of the Aldebaran is a giant flying boat, with air intakes in the wings to help create the nuclear exhaust exiting the reaction chamber nozzle.

https://up-ship.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/image25....

BrandonMarcon HTML Form Validation is underused

I believe that was the commenter's point - that the designers described patronizingly virtue signal about their accessibility priorities, while their other decisions are troublesome.

BrandonMarcon I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA

Sounds like the asylum process is an alternative stream, and the entire border has become a "port of entry."

When asylum is the low-friction way to enter the country and acquire a legal status, economics suggests fewer people will use the traditional immigration process.

BrandonMarcon I'm Peter Roberts, immigration attorney who does work for YC and startups. AMA

Unless I'm missing something that does sound rather HCOL ...

BrandonMarcon GMC made a motorhome that pumped sewage through its exhaust on purpose

I assume the 900°F part had a lot to do with making this a viable consideration.

Of course, I'm with you - wouldn't want to be behind it either. That said, in the 1970s cars left a cloud enriched with lead so ...

BrandonMarcon GMC made a motorhome that pumped sewage through its exhaust on purpose

Consider also how common leaded gasoline was in the 1970s.

BrandonMarcon Americans' confidence in higher education has taken a nosedive

The universities and loan compaines win. Who loses? The chump who gets left holding the bag ... taxpayers. As usual.

BrandonMarcon Americans' confidence in higher education has taken a nosedive

When former students need the federal government to bail them out of their debt, it's clear the value of higher ed has plummeted.

BrandonMarcon Mexico’s anti-avocado militias

The corporate press went out of their way to solidify this notion. Because of course.

BrandonMarcon The curious case of the missing period

This reads like a story from the daily wtf

BrandonMarcon The First Nuclear Microreactor Company Listed in the USA

Fission company, eh? Wonder when we'll see the first stock split.

BrandonMarcon Scotland suddenly has a lot of mosquitoes

"Mosquitos have been present in Scotland for millennia" ... now let's bring in climate change for click bait.

BrandonMarcon Depression Rates by Country 2024

... If that's the which case, "2024" makes this post title misleading. Submitter likely didn't know, but still.

BrandonMarcon Cow Magnets

... and for that kind of rumination, we have therapists to help out.

BrandonMarcon For the love of cats in Turkey

I can personally vouch for this.

In Morocco cats were everywhere. Cafes, high rises, farms, University, everywhere I went.

Even the airport! As we queued up to the ticket counter (this was decades ago) i saw cats wandering independently. I mused to my companion, "i wonder if they get into the secure area of the airport?"

Sure enough, after going through security and waiting at the gate, there goes a feline walking by wholly unbothered.

I wondered if cats ever got onto planes unwittingly. Didn't see any on our plane ... still wonder.

BrandonMarcon What Happens When a Fifteen Year Old Pumps and Dumps with a Net Profit of $800k? (2002)

Brings to mind this quote from the film The Big Short:

"Tell me the difference between stupid and illegal and I'll have my wife's brother arrested."

(based on the book of the same name by Michael Lewis, a name I've seen elsewhere in these comments: go figure)

BrandonMarcon Scientists traced a mysterious Covid case back to six toilets

Rather abrupt end to the article. Lots of ethical questions left unanswered .... which i guess is the point.

BrandonMarcon Institutions try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution

> the most profitable thing to do is unfortunately to drag a problem out

... which is why our medical intitutions would rather manage chronic conditions than cure or prevent them

... and also why our "defense" institutions would rather manage chronic, unwinnable conflicts rather than see any side achieve victory (Ukraine, Syria, Gaza, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan) ... and also why our weapons / aid keep appearing on both sides of various conflicts

Because that's where the profit is.

BrandonMarcon Institutions try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution

Unless clean free toilets are a big part of their advertising. See: Buc-ee's locations.

BrandonMarcon Show HN: Open-source script to get your site indexed on Google

Google Search's customers are companies who advertise on the SERPs.

Google Search's users are people who do the searching.

If a service is free to use, you are the product.

BrandonMarcon Chemical reactions fuel crises at LA County's two largest landfills

I've tried that. One by one the stores near me stopped accepting batteries.

Even the municipal recycling center, where I sometimes take bags full of paper or plastic bottles, refuses to take batteries.

The local Batteries+Bulbs store is the only place left near me. For how long?

It should be FAR far easier to do.

BrandonMarcon Workers deserve the right to disconnect (2021)

IF being rhe keyword. If programmers as a whole do not tolerate such conditions, or if they are less productive, it won't be inescapable.

BrandonMarcon T-Mobile Hacker Who Stole Data on 50M Customers: ‘Their Security Is Awful’

"A booming industry of cybersecurity consultants, software suppliers and incident-response teams have so far failed to turn the tide against hackers and identity thieves who fuel their businesses by tapping these deep reservoirs of stolen corporate data."

Exactly. Heaven forbid we blame the corporations whose lax security led to the stolen data in the first place. That would make advertisers unhappy.

BrandonMarcon T-Mobile Hacker Who Stole Data on 50M Customers: ‘Their Security Is Awful’

Scanning is pretty inexpensive. Maintaining a complex system that passes the scans? That's something different altogether.

If I take a clunker to a mechanic, how much will it cost me to hear everything that needs fixing? About $150. But actually performing the fixes? One order of magnitude greater - and that's if I'm very, very lucky!

BrandonMarcon Microsoft says error led to no matching Bing images for Tiananmen 'tank man'

Reuters really thinks the world is stupid. You know search engines won't make this error on the anniversary of Jan 6th. But just a coincidence this "error" works in favor of the CCP.

Are we really that dumb?

BrandonMarcon Paint.wtf

You have encountered a Grue.

BrandonMarcon Pirate Bay founder thinks Parler’s inability to stay online is 'embarrassing'

This.

Plus, it's unambiguously human readable, for users, bystanders, platform developers, everyone. There's a useful usability principle in there.