Hacker News Reader

anaptdemiseon Marijuana addiction is real, and rising

Unsolicited life advice.

If you have to drink or do drugs to do your job, you should probably question your career path.

If you have to drink or do drugs to feel satisfied with your life, you should probably ask yourself what you have actually done to make your situation better.

Good for strippers, accountants, lawyers, anyone.

anaptdemiseon Facebook has lost $100B in 10 days and now advertisers are pulling out

Two of the largest advertisers don’t think Facebook ads are effective. The latest, P&G, specifically call out how narrow targeting is ineffective.

> After cutting back on certain digital ads, “we didn’t see a reduction in the growth rate,” said Mr. Moeller during the call. “What that tells me is that the spending we cut was largely ineffective.”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304192704577406...

https://www.wsj.com/articles/p-g-to-scale-back-targeted-face...

anaptdemiseon Rent Control Needs Retirement, Not a Comeback

It also appears to reduce the amount of available rentals.

http://conference.nber.org/confer/2017/PEf17/Diamond_McQuade...

anaptdemiseon Python’s Weak Performance Matters

ln 221:

    if snp_taxID not in samples_of_interest.keys():#Check if Genome is of interest

Tracing through, looks like samples_of_interest is a dict. `snp_taxID not in samples_of_interest` would make membership check constant time.

anaptdemiseon Show HN: Cross-platform desktop applications with PyQT

https://msorvig.github.io/qt-webassembly-examples/gui_opengl...

[edit] There is also emscripten-qt. Full circle.

http://vps2.etotheipiplusone.com:30176/redmine/projects/emsc...

anaptdemiseon FBI pushes private sector to cut ties with Kaspersky

Presumably, the AV suite would send "telemetry" and related "data" to their servers for analysis...

"Microsoft Wins Appeal on Overseas Data Searches" https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/15/technology/microsoft-wins...

[edit]https://www.mcafee.com/us/resources/solution-briefs/sb-quart...

anaptdemiseon Fighting Neo-Nazis and the Future of Free Expression

Eh, on the inverse... In this situation, GoDaddy, Google, et. al. are the technocratic equivalent to Kim Davis. While, I respect their right to decide what they "host" on their platforms, as registrars, DNS is separate. Their authorization as Registrar is only authorized by ICAAN->US->IANA->(UN/WTO/etc...). They in practice, register (i.e. recored) DNS name to entity and are bound to list said DNS name to registered entity. So while they might have a right to not physically host the bytes of data for a controversial domain, they cannot, as Registrar for the domain, not record the fact that somedomain.com -> xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx because they are only proxies for the authority to say somedomain.com -> xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.

[edit] If the Kim Davis analogy is too loose. If the US decided to remove a book from the ISBN system. Might not have it in libraries... but there is still a gap in your number system... Sure it, is Mein Kampf today. But in today's world, it is not hard to imagine that the missing number might be the Quran...

anaptdemiseon Paralyzed Man Uses Brain Implant to Type Eight Words per Minute

My hand is cramping... I volunteer to write the emacs one first.

But really, this is something I dream about as a spinal disease survivor.

anaptdemiseon Shame on Y Combinator

If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. (1978, 16)

Such liberty should exist with every subject matter so that we have “absolute freedom of opinion and sentiment on all subjects, practical or speculative, scientific, moral or theological” (1978, 11). Mill claims that the fullest liberty of expression is required to push our arguments to their logical limits, rather than the limits of social embarrassment. Such liberty of expression is necessary, he suggests, for the dignity of persons. If liberty of expression is stifled, the price paid is “a sort of intellectual pacification” that sacrifices “ the entire moral courage of the human mind” (1978, 31).

[1] http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/freedom-speech/#JohStuMilH...

Also, throughout all your comments, it is more than critical analysis of Thiel, Altman, et al. You seem to be calling for social or economic punishments for a political view. I doubt Mill would agree that ba[c]king a major political party's candidate is grounds for the kind of societal justice you claim is warranted.

anaptdemiseon Reshaping web defenses with strict Content Security Policy

Can't load on iPad with Focus filter...

anaptdemiseon Introducing TAuth: Why OAuth 2.0 is bad for banking APIs and how we're fixing it

Or, correctly teller.io to www.teller.io. Previous discussion https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11004396

anaptdemiseon Apple Gets Tech Industry Backing in iPhone Dispute, Despite Misgivings

The here was an EFF article that mentioned a few cases where the courts have deemed code = speech. The question now is what protections this specific instance of speech is awarded. Here is another review of previous case law. From the second circuit court opinion

"Communication does not lose constitutional protection as “speech” simply because it is expressed in the language of computer code."

http://digital-law-online.info/lpdi1.0/treatise50.html

anaptdemiseon Brooklyn Judge: Feds Can't Use All Writs Act to Force Apple's Hand [pdf]

> Is that why you invest in a company?

> I personally am anoyed that, now, every purchase I make is a political statement.

[sic]

Edit:

"Buffett, of course, has long centered his investment thesis on the idea that it never pays to bet against the U.S. economy in the long run."

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/warren-buffett-says-america...

"The Treasury sold $185.7 billion of securities (over $2.1 trillion in 2016) to finance the war. The public debt rose from $50 billion in 1940 to $260 billion in 1945.[2]"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Series_E_bond

... And definition of...

"Sometimes, a boycott can be a form of consumer activism, sometimes called moral purchasing. When a similar practice is legislated by a national government, it is known as a sanction."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boycott#Notable_boycotts

Edit 2:

This is one of the startups at a pitch day I attended recently, so sinking karma on an edit/self reply...

http://the-citizenry.com/pages/about#philosophy

"We set out to build a company that celebrates the people behind our products. Our name is a reflection of the collective of individuals – artisans,"

I apologize in advance for getting a little belligerent but... Let me make you feel better about buying ridiculously marked up "craft goods" made by indiginous peoples by giving a small percentage of our profits back "to the artisans and their villages" (South America), in lieu of a competitive salary to that of a craftsmen working in the country they are sold (US). I am all for globalization and capitalism... just don't wax poetic about feel goods when I know how the sausage is made.

anaptdemiseon Brooklyn Judge: Feds Can't Use All Writs Act to Force Apple's Hand [pdf]

Although agree, ...with your position, I disagree in your reasoning. Corporations are persons because they are an organized group of people established to carry out the intentions and express the views, i.e. speech, of their members. Citizens United didn't screw campaign finance laws, it affirmed a breakdown of the intention of campaign finance laws. If a company can say, "we make our parts from recycled materials, that's why we are better than our opponents," does that not constitute political speech? Should a company not be able to say that? Should a company not be able to contribute to organizations that support actions, through speech, to the benefit of the company or inline to the intentions of the people involved in the company? The decision was legally correct. The fallout is in our hands...

I personally am anoyed that, now, every purchase I make is a political statement. Or being lowered into thinking that, now, is different. Buy American!

anaptdemiseon Brooklyn Judge: Feds Can't Use All Writs Act to Force Apple's Hand [pdf]

Maybe the principle of the law; as opposed to the letter of the law. The legislature writes, literally, thousands of bad laws and SCOTS sees a handful of edge cases. I, as an optimist think that the individuals in the process of passing poorly written, or otherwise, compromised laws "have their hearts in the right place"(tm). It is the process, and our acceptance of the corruption of said, that justifies the creation of the separation of powers. No matter the intent, consolidation of power ultimately leads to corruption. "It is not power that corrupts. Possibly power allows the corruptible to show their true selves." For ultimate power is not having to say you're sorry, only that "I'm right. Full f*ckn.stop."

Or why else would CISPA, which was publicly denounced and failed to pass make it into a (budget bill)[http://www.wired.com/2015/12/congress-slips-cisa-into-omnibu...].

Democracy in action.

Edit: autocorrect of coorption

anaptdemiseon Show HN: Jolteon – Babel/Electron/React/Browserify/Sass application stack

Sounds like a stack Reggie Watts would create.

But then there is the node/js fronted community to one up everyone.

Does your stack manage complexity, or add too it... Why is such a stack necessary. I bet you don't even ARIA bro...

anaptdemiseon Ashley Madison founder steps down

This is the study of human nature in all this that I find most amusing. For $249, there are much more straight forward and guaranteed ways to have an affair. Even if affair is not insinuating sex, which I'm pretty sure most guys would assume, how is this not paying for sex in their mind? One would also assume the few real women are most likely prostitutes/escorts anyways.

anaptdemiseon The Humvee’s replacement: Oshkosh’s L-ATV

> You would think something like a microprocessor would have the same level of checks.

Yeah, the chips themselves are easy, but some chips get programmed along the food chain at different steps and if there is an issue everyone assumes it isn't because of their piece.

anaptdemiseon The Humvee’s replacement: Oshkosh’s L-ATV

Defense contractors aren't the most efficient manufacturers. Wouldn't surprise me if they shipped the vehicle from SC to Oshkosh to have the tires installed. But it was probably some of the mine detection equipment. They usually ship parts or vehicles all over in the process of manufacturing. For example, a microprocessor component might go through about 20 different organizations after it is originally purchased, getting modifications from each, before being installed in the final project. Makes source determination near impossible when there is a defect.

EDIT: The Pearson Engineering PEROCC is pretty cool too. Adds a third seat for a gunner.

anaptdemiseon The Humvee’s replacement: Oshkosh’s L-ATV

> not this L-ATV. It looked like something out of Mad Max. It looked like it had a single seat, cockpit up high, very narrow with big wheels.

Probably a Husky 2G. They are tandem two seaters used for mine/IED detection and disposal.

anaptdemiseon Hosteurope.de shut down our servers due to “political incorrectness”

Yet, apparently fail to understand what constitutes speech.

anaptdemiseon Google listening in to your room shows importance of privacy defense in depth

There is also a bug report from a year ago. https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=381747

anaptdemiseon Google listening in to your room shows importance of privacy defense in depth

I have never had the "OK Google" voice search option enabled and chrome://voicesearch/ shown below. I deleted the hotword file specified as the extension path and also `rm rf` directories under the "Extensions/lccekmodgklaepjeofjdjpbminllajkg" specified as the Shared Module path. I also changed owner of the directory "lccekmodgklaepjeofjdjpbminllajkg" to root and the permission to read only. After restarting chrome, the extension/module still shows up in the chrome://voicesearch/ and Enabled in the chrome://extensions/ when --show-component-extension-options is used. Further, chrome://extensions/ shows "Hotword triggering" as allowed in Incognito Mode. Unchecking the box is automatically re-enabled.

  Google Chrome	43.0.2357.124 ()
  OS	Mac OS X
  NaCl Enabled	Yes
  Microphone	Yes
  Audio Capture Allowed	Yes
  Current Language	en-US
  Hotword Previous Language	en-US
  Hotword Search Enabled	No
  Always-on Hotword Search Enabled	No
  Hotword Audio Logging Enabled	No
  Field trial	Install
  Start Page State	No Start Page Service
  Extension Id	nbpagnldghgfoolbancepceaanlmhfmd
  Extension Version	0.0.1.4
  Extension Path	/Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/Versions/43.0.2357.124/Google Chrome Framework.framework/Resources/hotword
  Extension State	ENABLED
  Shared Module Id	lccekmodgklaepjeofjdjpbminllajkg
  Shared Module Version	0.3.0.5
  Shared Module Path	<user path redacted>/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/Extensions/lccekmodgklaepjeofjdjpbminllajkg/0.3.0.5_0
  Shared Module State	ENABLED

anaptdemiseon Apple now rejecting apps with Pebble Smartwatch support

I was just raising the point that your specific example of Ford is weak due to the fact that there are indeed laws that prevent how Ford can sell and restrict third-party sales of their vehicles, parts and services.

> is just as ignorant as saying Ford is a monopoly because only they make F-150s

Which only goes to support my statement of the weakness in your example. That even if you don't entertain the grandparents claim that a manufacturer has a monopoly on a product, your specific example shows there are indeed laws that prevent Ford from asserting that kind of control on the market. Which include franchise laws preventing auto manufacturers from owning dealerships which is likened to Apple owning the App Store. It also prevents auto manufacturers from preventing third party manufacturers from creating compatible aftermarket parts, likened to Apple's MFi restrictions. All of these are playing out elsewhere in the example market you brought into the discussion. The manufacturer controlled marketplace is playing out through Tesla. The third-party and aftermarket suppression is playing out in the Right to Repair in the auto and heavy equipment market. I never asserted that the grandparents claim of a "manufactures monopoly" over their own product was correct. Only that your example was a poor choice.

[edit] spelling

anaptdemiseon Apple now rejecting apps with Pebble Smartwatch support

> Apple hate is quite blinding.

So is Apple fanboyism. There are laws that prevent Ford from requiring you to only service your vehicle at Ford dealerships. There are also laws that prevent Ford from restricting sales of third-party after market parts in franchised dealerships. Not a good comparison.

anaptdemiseon Apple now rejecting apps with Pebble Smartwatch support

> In a lengthy investigation, staffers in the FTC’s bureau of competition found evidence that Google boosted its own services for shopping, travel and local businesses by altering its ranking criteria and “scraping” content from other sites. It also deliberately demoted rivals.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-google-skewed-search-results...

> But at a press conference at the FTC's headquarters, Chairman Jon Leibowitz said that after an "exhaustive" investigation, the commission found there was not enough evidence to conclude Google's search results violate fair-competition laws.

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/275429-google-dodges-fe...

anaptdemiseon We Can’t Let John Deere Destroy the Idea of Ownership

Your logic is sound. Point 4 is the real argument about what the actual intent of these companies is; The fact that these companies are using the DMCA as a thinly veiled attempt to limit consumer choice and destroy competitive secondary markets. Both of which are repeatedly upheld when legislation or courts take action. Hence the the banning of "Tie in Sales" provisions in warranties on goods.

>Generally, tie-in sales provisions are not allowed. Such a provision would require a purchaser of the warranted product to buy an item or service from a particular company to use with the warranted product in order to be eligible to receive a remedy under the warranty. The following are examples of prohibited tie-in sales provisions.[1]

Regardless of how the DMCA arguments play out, at least the automakers will have difficulties moving forward as there is a long fought battle over not releasing service information on in-car computer and diagnostic information to third-party repair service provides. There hasn't been legislation over the issue because automakers volunteered to release information on service and tools required to service in car computer systems.[2] It would most likely be easy to build a legal case against an auto company that required you to take your warrantied car to a franchised dealership for warrantied replacement of a defective circuit board. So in a not too hard to imagine hypothetical scenario where a bug in the car's cam timing software cause mechanical failure, but the auto manufacturer refuses to sell the replacement part (replacement software) or tools required to perform service to third-party service providers because of software licensing, would that not fall under Magnuson-Moss Act if the repair would be warrantied?

[1]https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/bus...

[2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_Vehicle_Owners'_Right_to_...

[edit] spelling/format

anaptdemiseon We are under attack

> Patriotism is not a justification for violating the law.

Actually, it is. Patriotism, in being a Patriot, is a loaded word in the American (USA) context. Specifically, it is about doing what is good/right for the country and her citizens regardless of the law (i.e. British rule.) Or so says my recollection of American History. I mean... just look at the Patriots (rebels, in the british colloquialism) in the image on the wikipedia page for Patriot_(American_Revolution).

"The Oxford English Dictionary third definition of "Patriot" is "A person actively opposing enemy forces occupying his or her country; a member of a resistance movement, a freedom fighter."[1]. In this definition, if the alleged DDoSers are Chines, attempting to block the actions of a foreigner imposing influence in their own land, they are the more Patriotic? Which is why the term is utterly useless in this argument; Dare, any other.

> Usually patriotism is the last justification used by those who have nothing else to stand on[sic]

Thus was it written.

[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_(American_Revolution)

edit: add ambiguous ?

anaptdemiseon Massachusetts SWAT teams claim they’re private corporations

Rupert Murdoch -> News Corp. -> Fox News "RNC mouthpiece"

/sarcasm?

[clarification] Is /sarcasm on on either misunderstanding replier as such or my "RNC mouthpiece"?