Hacker News Reader

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon The tomato was feared in Europe for more than 200 years (2013)

Potatoes and Tomatoes are very similar plants. You can graft them together and have a living plant that grows tomatoes on top and potatoes in the roots.

Potatoes also produce fruits that are similar to cherry tomatoes. They taste like gross tomatoes and are indeed poisonous in relatively small quantities.

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon Lumber crash leads to 'blowout' sales as prices crater

5% year over year, not per month.

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon How did American “wokeness” jump from elite schools to everyday life?

The wording ‘divisive’ in all these laws is interesting. Why is this the operative word here? Banning ‘concepts’ on the grounds that they are ‘divisive’ is some of the one of the most Orwellian language I’ve ever read.

It just seems like laws with the title ‘propagation of divisive concepts prohibited’ will evolve to an even expanding list of thought crime.

This isn’t a comment on how race should be treated and discussed in a classroom.

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon Even my bigoted critics deserve free speech

The big platforms have no ability to silence anyone.

They have the ability to limit your use of their resources, which is well within their rights.

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon Carlos Ghosn: How I escaped Japan

Vanity Fair did a compelling article about this as well, which focused in more detail on the role of former green beret Michael Taylor in planning the escape.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/07/how-carlos-ghosn-esc...

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon Unix Shell Programming: The Next 50 Years [pdf]

From Section 2.2 "The Bad"

>> B1: Too arbitrary. The shell’s virtue of limitless composition (G1) is also its vice: the shell can compose arbitrary commands written in arbitrary languages.

This is what I fundamentally love about the shell, and you can try to pry it from my cold, dead fingers

>> B3: Too obscure. The semantics of the shell and common commands are documented in 300pp of standardese [7].

With respect to Bash, I couldn't agree more about the 'standardese' gripe. Man pages would be so, so much more useful if they prioritized showing examples of common/useful ways to use the command. I would love a 'man --examples $COMMAND' feature. Does something like that exist?

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon Prioritise the Highest Order Bit

This is gobbledygook.

The title, in a software sense, implies a binary/Byte interpretation of the word ‘bit’. I clicked through and there’s an accompanying picture of drill bits.

That’s illustrative of the overall level of coherence and clarity of argument this article provides.

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon Representing SHA-256 Hashes as Avatars

It is definitely a nuanced question. The definition of object is surely up for debate as well. A silly example: if one were to define an object as a string of 64 hex characters, even non-literate people could distinguish between any two distinct objects.

echo "hello" | sha256sum

>> 5891b5b522d5df086d0ff0b110fbd9d21bb4fc7163af34d08286a2e846f6be03

echo "world" | sha256sum

>> e258d248fda94c63753607f7c4494ee0fcbe92f1a76bfdac795c9d84101eb317

But were I to briefly glance at a computer screen, I'd probably confuse these next two:

e258d248fda94c63753607f7c4494ee0fcbe92f1a76bfdac795c9d84101eb317

e258d248fda94c63753607f7c4494ee0fcbe92f1a76bfaac795c9d84101eb317

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon A simple C implementation to stream H.264 to browser using WebRTC

Oh man, wait till you see the Linux source code...

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon Why the Wuhan lab leak theory shouldn't be dismissed

So much opinionated certainty.

Seems like the only consensus is that the origin was (lab-leak || zoonotic). Given the unlikelihood of ever knowing the true origin story, future epidemic mitigation efforts should just assume both causes. History is rich with examples of both.

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon Claude Shannon: The Mathematical Theory of Cryptography

This is a really good example of a paper that is both mathematically rigorous and actually readable

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon The Brown M&M's Principle

Also in psychological evaluations. A questionnaire may include items that people pretending to have some condition think they should answer a certain way, but would be untrue in (most) actual incidences of that condition.

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon Catfish Charlie, the CIA’s Robotic Spy

Very cool. I've worked with underwater robots and radio comms are very difficult due to water's propensity to absorb so much of the RF energy. I'd be curious to know the technical details of the radio system.

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon Virginia lawmakers pass marijuana legalization bills

Reading the text of joint resolution 101, I can’t see how it would ban cannabis but not alcohol. I’m not a lawyer though.

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon Robinhood is limiting purchases of stocks: AMC, Blackberry, Nokia, and GameStop

Only because I think it's prudent to wait until more information is available (than was provided in the original link) before talking about violent repercussions.

I have little doubt that it's happening, but the twitter link was not substantive in comparison to:

https://blog.robinhood.com/news/2021/1/28/keeping-customers-...

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon Robinhood is limiting purchases of stocks: AMC, Blackberry, Nokia, and GameStop

This is a twitter post of a screenshot. There's almost no substance here. We don't know why or even if this happened. So the immediate leap to talk of violence as a reaction is incendiary.

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon Lifting Self-Imposed Restrictions on the U.S.-Taiwan Relationship

>>Pompeo on Twitter said he met with Blinken “to facilitate an orderly transition, and to ensure American interests are protected abroad.” It was unclear if the meeting, which comes less than two weeks before Biden’s inauguration, was in person or virtual.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-biden-pompeo/pompeo-m...

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon ACLU Counsel Warns of 'Unchecked Power' of Twitter, Facebook

Were any laws broken by Twitter? Don’t businesses in the US have nearly every right to arbitrarily deny service to people (with a few exceptions when it’s explicitly denying on the basis of race, etc.)?

Twitter literally didn’t exist 15 years ago. How can a lack of access to Twitter be an an infringement on free speech then?

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon Video taken by pilots of what could be the elusive Los Angeles jet pack guy

I think that’s unlikely because this jet pack flight was dangerous and illegal

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon As Vaccines Are Rolled Out, Get Ready for False Side Effects

You have it backwards. You say:

> Yeah...and the article in the op is saying we shouldn't rush to attribute excess deaths to the new vaccine.

That's NOT what the article is saying. Excess deaths are those beyond what are to be expected. The article specifically is saying not to attribute the many, many usually expected deaths to the vaccine.

The article's own words:

> And about 14,000 of that ten million will die, out of usual all-causes mortality.

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon Toward a Technological Cage for the Masses

I'll be the contrarian: Has the author ever heard of Linux?

I'm being glib, and share many of the author's frustrations with the state of things, but really the trends covered in the article have been happening for well over a decade. In that time Raspberry pi's have hit the market and the microcontroller market has never been better for hobbyists and professionals. Likewise with scientific computing frameworks like R and Python. The author even managed to get a personal website up for all of us to read. The options for personal computing are wide, wide open, even if some markets or products remain closed and proprietary and tough to hack.

Also,

> I suppose one can argue that if we all have nothing but dumb terminals running software from a ROM (which cannot be written to), then no malware can get onto our computers. But, do we want to go back to the dumb terminal days of the 1980's? Is this the "modern" operating system that we want?

For certain stuff like online banking, yes.

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon ‘DiceKeys’ creates a master password for life with one roll

This is pretty cool. But you do need to trust their website and app, and your scanning device.

Also, the website says you get about 192 bits of entropy. It's been a while since I did any combinatorics. It seems you should have 25! * ((6 * 4) ^ 25) possible dice rolls. 25! combinations of dice placement times (6 face up possibilities * 4 rotational possibilities) for 25 dice.

Python gives:

import math math.factorial(25) * (6 * 4)^25

496508538648719564809316402287439226010265627463254016000000

2^196

100433627766186892221372630771322662657637687111424552206336

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon Google, Facebook make statements to staff about working from home for 2020

I’ve also wondered about that sort of hoteling system. It would seem to make sense if the companies get their own sanitation and testing protocols operational. It could allow them time to slowly ramp up the number of employees who share common space, rather than some kind of grand, onetime reopening.

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon Millions of credit-card customers can’t pay their bills

I have the fear that the same Americans that want the "Swedish approach to CoVid19" are the ones against the social safety nets that has made it possible.

I believe you're right about that. The cynic in me thinks Georgia is only 'reopening' to avoid paying more unemployment. Maybe it's my own Swedish ancestry that compels me to want an strong social safety net and a softer lockdown?

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon Millions of credit-card customers can’t pay their bills

400,000 is just over 0.1% of the total population of approximately 328 Million

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon Millions of credit-card customers can’t pay their bills

And 400,000 is about 1/7th of the number of total deaths in the USA in 2018, according the CDC

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db355.htm

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon Millions of credit-card customers can’t pay their bills

Not just winging it, but in some instances trying to do the most, consequences be damned. I am really hoping that in a months time the approaches of Sweden and the state of Georgia prove not to be disastrous.

Here in California, our governor has declared that we will do this indefinitely (!) until six criteria are met. Well, I hope they have some really concrete plans to meet them, because I haven't seen any such plans presented to the public. The absolute devastation we are doing to the livelihoods of so many is staggering. What will happen when the tax revenues run dry and the tax base has been reduced by some huge percentage? Coronavirus will still be around when that happens.

The virus is here, and will not be eradicated. Society cannot hibernate like this sustainably, certainly not until a vaccine arrives. I'm all about masks in public, social distancing rules, bans of large gatherings, and lots of resources directed to protecting vulnerable populations. But I'm afraid and convinced that the stay-at-home orders will do far far greater damage to society as a whole than the virus would/will under a more targeted mitigation scheme.

Maybe my fears are overblown because of the recent hit to my mental and physical health. My gym was declared illegal, as was access to all parks in Los Angeles, as was my ability to work in an isolated office without a needy toddler in the room.

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon With broad, random tests for antibodies, Germany seeks path out of lockdown

This is my biggest concern. These current stay-at-home orders (like California's) are very unsustainable and can only last so long. Unemployment is already well into double digits and government spending will outpace tax revenue way too quickly. Then what?

We know the virus will not be suppressed as SARS or MERS were; this coronavirus is basically everywhere and spreading. I can't see how mitigation isn't the only option after a month or two. From the very beginning the whole point of social distancing has been to flatten the curve so hospitals can operate effectively.

On the other hand, having tests so widely available that groups (probably VIP groups to begin with, pending greater availability) can all get tested before banding together to do business would be beneficial. For example, I wonder if the motion picture industry will do this for film shoots, where basically a skeleton crew all gets together for a camp and have no contact beyond each other for the during of work.

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon Former Tesla Firmware Engineer Discusses the System

Ditto. The Xenomai Linux co-kernel does too. Handy for CAN/etherCAT controllers

dwpdwpdwpdwpdwpon Push to Weaken U.S. Endangered Species Act Runs into Roadblocks

It's not perfect law, but will these proposed changes to the Act result in better protection? Of course not.

There is a consensus among biologists that the Act has been successful to a significant extent. Barring cost consideration at any level does seem unreasonable, but cost consideration can lead to really perverse arguments; more dollars can be had by killing and harvesting and elephant that not, so therefore...etc.

The existence of other methods of conservation beyond this legislation doesn't make for a compelling argument to weaken it, nor does the fact that some people will prematurely harvest timber before endangered birds move in.