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aric

418 karma · joined November 22, 2012

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aric··on Tokyo WWII firebombing, the most deadly bombing raid, remembered 70 years on
I agree in spirit. It's worth including "private" schools in your statement. Depending upon local culture, non-government schools often have curriculums as ignorance-inducing as curriculums of government schools. Encouraging nationalism and a lack of self-awareness, criticism, and skepticism is a recipe to foment, forge, and forgive atrocity. There exists an alarming number of people who fail to even question the ethical basis of Vietnam, let alone be concerned about human rights and atrocities of powers that subject them and the rest of the world in the present or in a more distant past.
aric··on Flow Hive: Honey on Tap Directly from Your Beehive
Thanks for the follow-up. It's good to know. Cheers, and keep on (organically) keeping!
aric··on Hermit crabs line up by order of size to exchange shells [video]
Hermit crabs are wondrous and hilarious. I had a couple as pets decades ago. That's before I knew about that industry and how it deprives these creatures of a beautiful, wild existence. The following is worth considering.

http://www.peta.org/living/companion-animals/7-reasons-never...

aric··on Flow Hive: Honey on Tap Directly from Your Beehive
> The target audience of this device is the amateur, backyard keeper, aspiring, or with little beekeeping experience. To them, the appeal of this device is immediate: honey without work.

I'd like to do some beekeeping. This device piques my interest not because it's "honey without work" but because it's honey with possibly less work and less killing. Even if it's honey with more work but less disturbance of bees, I'd be interested. Traditional harvesting of honey is one way. That's not to say it's the proper way. That's not to say new ways like Flow are good either. You might be right. However, new ways are worth exploring.

> Comb on the other hand, is an epidermis for bees. It has it's own biota, a bacterial/fungal/viral ecosystem that provides a living layer on which the bees work and live. When given plastic, bees will cover it in comb and propolis like they will with wood or rock. They never put their honey in anything but comb. The Flow device replaces much of the natural foundation of a bees honey store system, with more plastic.

How is anything in the human-driven beekeeping process natural either: cut wood, wire, frames, boxes, glass, disrupting, crushing? I avoid certain types of plastics but it doesn't seem that invasive here. Bees appear to be making most of the comb like usual: http://www.honeyflow.com/gallery/p/23 Unless I'm misunderstanding the few images they have, Flow appears as unnatural as other common, unnatural methods, and less destructive. According to the FAQ: [There is no reason why you cant have traditional wax combs and honey Flow™ frames in the same hive, this allows you to have honey on tap and honeycomb/wax from the one hive.]

You might be right about it as a whole. I appreciate your words. Its utility remains to be seen.

aric··on Why OccupyGPL is wrong
> With GPL you run the risk of excluding people from the ability to participate.

Prohibiting actions and thus excluding people is the point of GPL and most licenses. GPL is a cause. I'll keep reiterating that point. To some people, "freedom" means a WTFPL license. To many GPL users, WTFPL would be antithetical to their pursuit of freedom. Freedom is abstract. Many people feel they must perpetuate certain underlying principles to embody any semblance of freedom. Paraphrasing the views of Free computing advocates: in a world where oppression is normal -- in this case, speaking of any inherent oppression in non-transparent boxes that comprise most of software and hardware today -- one tactic to break the cycle of abuse is by harnessing any available tools of the system (e.g. copyright law). There are various voluntary, peaceful strategies to promote freedom. That's one.

Freedom means many things to many people, understandably. To me, GPL does speak to a 'freedom' I want to increase. Personal freedoms of developers and companies [to do whatever they please] is only a secondary concern. Your employer is a secondary concern. Perpetuating transparency in computing is the primary concern.

aric··on Why OccupyGPL is wrong
GPL and copyleft further a cause. It's primarily for increasing user freedom. User freedom isn't developer freedom. It's everyone's freedom, indirectly. You're free to disagree with its agenda. But recognize it as a cause.

Other causes seem to be respected or at least understood. No one, for instance, is surprised to see that save-the-whales advocates try to save the whales. They recognize their cause. They may disagree with their cause. They may question why it's a worthy cause. They may think it's a counterproductive cause. Maybe they ultimately love the taste of whale. They may disagree with semantics. That's inevitable. It isn't helpful, however, to exhibit (or feign) ignorance of the nature and motivations that would understand it as a cause. Unfortunately, that's a common habit when it comes to those who argue against GPL. GPL isn't for everyone. It's that simple. For developers who do feel that GPL speaks to their goals, I raise a glass. When possible, I use their software and develop in kind. Why? I agree with that cause.

> Stallman believes that linking against a DLL constitutes a derived work that would be subject to the GPL's copyleft nature.

Basic software dependencies, with few exceptions, are subject to GPL. Why would anyone expect otherwise?

aric··on Why we are saying “uh” less and 'um' more
That's my first assumption. It's less strenuous and breathy to sustain an um, at least for me. There's a clear parallel to duh (like uh) usually concerning topics of [obviousness and stupidity] and hmm (like um) usually concerning topics of [deliberation and intelligence].
aric··on Remote code execution in Asus router firmware
Warning to users of Asus firmware:

In the Administration > Firmware Upgrade tab, never rely on their [Check] version button. It's consistently inaccurate. It's a long-known (and serious) flaw that's been like this since day one of these products and still to this day. It'll happily report, "The router's current firmware is the latest version.", even if it's months behind in vulnerability fixes. Go to Asus' site for the latest firmware then use the upload option to upgrade. Or, probably better yet, don't use their firmware.

aric··on Facebook Go Libraries
Semantics is contingent upon meaning. Meaning varies and changes. Meaning is defined over time. That's the case with most words. In formatting text, it's as semantic to say that tabs are for "tabulation" and "indentation" as much as spaces are for "space" and "spacing characters." Tabs have always been semantically better as indentation in computing.
aric··on Mono for Unreal Engine
This is another game changer. Personally, the portability of C++ is, by far, its own reward. But I'm thrilled for others that C# is finally becoming an option. It's been many months in waiting for Unity users sitting on the fence.
aric··on The Nobel Peace Prize for 2014
Funny, I had edited it just before you said that. I know but it's muscle memory in typing Ghana.
aric··on The Nobel Peace Prize for 2014
Gandhi didn't receive a Nobel Peace Prize. Snowden is in good company. It's company with the rest of the world at that.
aric··on 'You Have the Right to Remain Silent.' or Do You?
Like I said, I respect that using the word "primary" is contentious. If that's your only true point, then there's little argument to be had other than a subjective nature of what I consider primary. If your argument extends past that, about the term "Constitutional right" itself, then, again, you'd be wrong to imply that "rights and rules" derived from Constitutional interpretation aren't Constitutional rights. That's not judicial wordplay. It's common language.

Example:

----------------------------

"What to Say to Invoke the Right to Silence

The new Supreme Court decision raises weighty questions, such as whether it’s reasonable to place the onus of asserting constitutional rights on everyday people, most of whom have never cracked the spine of a criminal procedure or constitutional law book. The more practical question is what, exactly, an out-of-custody person must say to inquisitive police officers in order to claim the right to silence. To be safe, they should make clear that they are invoking their Fifth Amendment right to silence and have nothing further to say. That way their subsequent failure to answer any questions cannot be mentioned at trial."

by: Micah Schwartzbach

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/when-how-invoke-your-...

----------------------------

This writer uses the term "constitutional rights" in context. He later says, "...invoking their Fifth Amendment right to silence..." (i.e. "... invoking their Constitutional right to silence...") in direct context. I won't dig up numerous other examples from lawyers who write about this subject in-depth. Court rulings continually change the landscape of rights. They change what's inherently so-called "Constitutional" at any point in time. Many issues become topics of people's Constitutional rights once they're challenged on the basis of the Constitution. This is irrespective of a changing landscape's rulings at any point in time.

Outside of that language, we may agree more than we disagree.

aric··on 'You Have the Right to Remain Silent.' or Do You?
The term "Constitutional right" refers to legal rights derived from and related to the Constitution. Hence, they're termed Constitutional.

If you disagree with this term, you disagree with thousands upon thousands of other rights that are equally considered Constitutional and part of Constitutional law. Most Constitutional rights are not explicitly stated in the Constitution. Instead they're derived from interpretation of the succinct language used in the Constitution. This topic is rooted in Constitutional rights. I respect that the word 'primary' could be misinterpreted. And it's subjective. Personally, I don't know where I'd place this issue on a list of humanitarian rights if I had to rank. Most issues related to speech and freedom from tyranny, and its numerous forms of persecution, are issues that I usually deem 'primary.'

aric··on The Horror of a 'Secure Golden Key'
It's just a well-placed pun. Apple's mobile phones use ARM-based processors.

https://www.google.com/search?q=arm+processor+apple

aric··on The Horror of a 'Secure Golden Key'
ARMs.
aric··on Some Ebola experts worry virus may spread more easily than assumed
You're quite right to post it. It confirmed how I remembered it. He was resolute in that sense. To say that an arbitrary person (the implied subject) has a chance of "zero" is to effectively say it's "zero" for a whole. Anyway. Keep it easy. Get in the habit of bowing instead of shaking hands and you'll have already made inroads. :)
aric··on Some Ebola experts worry virus may spread more easily than assumed
Colbert: "What are the odds that I'm going to get Ebola?"

Sepkowitz: "Zero. Next question."

---

Thanks for posting the link. I wouldn't interpret what he said as only directed to Colbert. It's normal for an interviewer to place him/herself as the subject where it's understood that the implied subject is [any other person like me in this region/nation]. He's being far more than "somewhat dismissive." Even if he (oddly) were only specifically addressing Colbert by saying zero, that would be presumptuous. But that's my take.

aric··on Some Ebola experts worry virus may spread more easily than assumed
It's wise to prepare. Panicking and being prepared are two very different though overlapping behaviors. The part that 'bugs' (sorry) me the most lately is when someone claims certainty about Ebola's chances of spreading. It's un-scientific to speak with literal, absolute certainty in most contexts. The early guest on The Colbert Report last Thursday, for instance, was resolute in saying the chance of Ebola spreading in the United States is "zero." Attempting to balance against a flip-side of sensationalism is an inadequate excuse. Sure, memories of The Hot Zone panic are alive and well. That came and went. Too many factors are at play though. Anyone who states proof of "zero" seems to only play a fool or propagandist (unless the topic is mathematics).

Ebola is probably high on a list of threats in the form of plausible terrorism. I'll be glad to be wrong. There's no shortage of it to procure. It presumably can't be detected easily. It can survive numerous transatlantic mailings for cultivation. It has about a week delay in symptoms. Short bursts of it in dense populations where people eat/interact would cause huge catastrophe in panic alone. That's one factor. Hopefully, an increased response will thwart its growth altogether and we can again see it as "zero."

aric··on Crypto Museum
They should expand this museum. I want to virtually walk down The Hall of Shame. That KL-7 sim looks like a cool idea. I don't see any source though. Might be fun to create other ones, but browser-based.

http://www.cryptomuseum.com/crypto/usa/kl7/index.htm#sim

aric··on 'You Have the Right to Remain Silent.' or Do You?
It's a semantic rut, perhaps. It's not necessarily my semantic rut. Off the bat he was arguing down this road as if to suggest that I was implying that "remaining silent" was explicitly spelled out in the Constitution -- something I never implied. I'm not stating solutions. I'm commenting on results. Ideas for solutions are numerous and probably least served for attention in this thread. A full constitutional amendment would be great. Agreed. Unfortunately, that's a daunting likelihood given the prevailing winds.

This matter would benefit from re-reading my comments equally, as well, but I digress. No worries. Thank you for your added thoughts.

aric··on Help improve gcc
People or certainly some companies might be put off from contributing due to licensing. That might be. However, it shouldn't be understated that a great number of contributors to GCC do so because of its license.
aric··on 'You Have the Right to Remain Silent.' or Do You?
You're confusing explicit rights with implicit rights built on precedence. Much of what's considered Constitutional rights is not definite and explicit. Likewise, the Constitution doesn't explicitly state that you have a right to your physical senses as a sentient being beyond ambiguous terms pertaining to welfare. This reminds me of a leading worry during the writing of the Bill of Rights: a worry that the affirmation of some specific humanitarian rights might regrettably lead society into believing that mere omission becomes the grounds for abusing freedoms unstated.

> It is only in the past 50 years that any court has ever held the fifth amendment gave you the right to remain silent, and in fact, precedent was the exact opposite for centuries.

Yes. It became a right. Go ahead and argue all day about what you perceive as fulfilling the qualification of a "right." I'll argue in direct contrast if your interpretation of rights remains narrow and dictated by the past. It won't help the situation at hand. Miranda warnings wouldn't have resulted if it weren't for precedence and perceived rights upholding it. Now the tides shift again. You're free to call this a "return to the past" or a "return to previous rights I think you never had" or whatever you wish. I call it the erosion of rights.

--------------------

Edit:

> But the solution to that is not to pretend they are written into the constitution and then lament a changing ideology of the supreme court, but instead actually put them there.

That would be ideal. That would be a colossal task, indeed, in lieu of a great number of other rights continuing to erode through an oligarchy's surveillance institutions and corporate decree.

aric··on 'You Have the Right to Remain Silent.' or Do You?
I'm referring to the right to not self-incriminate. That is the issue at hand. What you said is untrue twice over. It's central to this issue and it does "need" to be invoked. The SCOTUS made some fateful rulings in 2013 and the gist ever since is that one must invoke the Fifth in order to be perceived as protected by the Fifth at that time. That's what the article is about.
aric··on 'You Have the Right to Remain Silent.' or Do You?
"...the courts said the only exception is if defendants expressly tell police they are invoking their Fifth Amendment rights..."

The absence of speech should be protected as freedom of speech by the First Amendment. The emphasis is on should. I wonder in what ways it's been challenged in that sense. Everyone who wants to stay aware of their rights concerning [don't talk to police] topics is hopefully taking note and updating others on this news of last year. It's petty, troubling procedure to be forced to verbally invoke a primary Constitutional right before one 'obtains' that right. Yet so it goes. "I invoke my Fifth Amendment rights. I want to speak to a lawyer. (repeat)"

aric··on Exploring Change Blindness
I wondered why there'd be any hate for my comment even as it's destined to fall into obscurity. Quite alright! :) I appreciate your follow-up. Just a few basic features like that added to HN would make a huge difference.
aric··on Exploring Change Blindness
There's a trick for those side-by-side stills without a flicker. If able, go cross-eyed focusing between them to converge upon a 'third' image. If you've done stereograms, you'll know. Differences will show up easily as hazy and not so static if you gaze around a bit.

This is also related to how horrible eye witness testimony can be. There are good demonstrations of change blindness on Youtube. The human brain is incredibly awful at visual recall like this, regardless of advanced warning to concentrate. The longer a delay, such as by inserting a black frame in between, or diversion, the harder it is to spot differences between scenes. Here's a classic:

"Test Your Awareness : Whodunnit?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubNF9QNEQLA

aric··on Dubai detectives to get Google Glass
Dubai's laws are atrocious. It's trivial to become implicated. Severe imprisonment of citizens and unwitting travelers alike is the primary reason to stay out and not support Dubai's economy. Only an illusion of legal modernity exists through wealth. Google Glass with facial recognition is an excellent fit.
aric··on William Binney Explains Snowden Docs
Binney had the guts to step back and speak out. He could've kept playing ball. THINTHREAD or not, his subsequent actions are worth praise. Credit is given where credit is due. Very little else is out there to encourage people in high positions to follow suit. That's true. THINTHREAD's reassurance of privacy is as laughable now as it was then. Marketing to a naive public like that is so annoyingly ironic when the leading threat (time and time again) is the lack of privacy from a surveillance state.
aric··on Inside Shellshock: How hackers are using it to exploit systems
You're not hearing about anything major because those who have major exploits aren't about to tell the world. Successful intrusion here means what it usually means: RATing any devices possible; patching those devices themselves; infecting the network when possible; staying quiet and gathering. Machines that were vulnerable and later fixed now should be considered with the same weight as having been rooted. They should be fully overhauled. That means new drives, even. Of course, we all know that'll never happen. The overwhelming majority of people and companies handle data recklessly.
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