Hacker News Reader

finidon Twitter drops lawsuit, saying summons has been withdrawn

This case reminds of what Turkey has become under Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Knowing how these things go, this guys never stop. They failed this time. Next time, they'll try harder until insulting the president becomes a criminal offence. It won't happens all at once, but we're heading in that direction.

By the way, The Turkish govt will come after you, no matter what country you live in, if you dare insult their leader.

finidon Shenzhen is a hothouse of innovation

Everything comes and goes. It's just the nature of things. When it's your time to lead the pack, you will, regardless of the cultural environment. Most of us (in the West) don't know it yet, but we're already in the Chinese Age.

How long will their time last?

The funny thing about the influence of culture on innovation is that when this country (USA) was rewriting the rules and breaking down boundaries this way and that way, we were sending minorities to jail like "AI WW" and generally compelling them to behave and know their place.

finidon Shenzhen is a hothouse of innovation

When you demand that your people bow and obey, and imprison people like A1 WW, this goes against promoting and nurturing innovation

Although the Japanese were not imprisoning people "like A1 WW", they were bowing and obeying when they ushered the era of consumer electronics a few decades ago. Now it's the turn of the Chinese.

finidon Shenzhen is a hothouse of innovation

“order is important in the market.” But one of the local speakers livened things up by delivering a surprisingly stout defence of disruptive innovation.

Order and disruptive innovation are not necessarily mutually exclusive. What happened to ordered disruptive innovation?

finidon Why Ethiopia is building a space programme

Not too long ago China helped Nigeria build and launch a satellite. For a while, the thing was working until it fell out of the sky. That was the end of that one. Not sure if they managed to relaunch another one or got a refund from the Chinese.

I hope the Ethiopians fare better than the Nigerians.

finidon Why Japan’s Rail Workers Point at Things

Well, it's a good thing you did not try to monetize that idea (found a startup), because technology would have rained on your parade...

finidon Why Japan’s Rail Workers Point at Things

What if there's a network issue that prevented the email from being sent?

finidon India state approves life term for killing cows

But that most exclude Muslims and Christians, right?

finidon Wikileaks releases CIA's Marble: Malware obfuscation tools

If I pick a random poor third world country and tell you they are you can never be sure I'm wrong

Off course, we will be sure you're wrong, but please, go ahead. Name a "random poor third world country" that has a military base in one of its neighboring countries. And while you're at it, which one has a base in Kuwait, Turkey, Iraq, Bulgaria, Romania, Djibouti, etc, etc, etc.

finidon Ask HN: How can I find or identify all chrooted directories in Linux?

I'm not trying to break out of any jail, just how to identify what directories are chrooted on a Linux system. I don't see how ls -r helps me out there.

finidon Ask HN: What to Expect at YC Startup School?

Maybe he got fast-tracked because his startup is into AI. That's a hot area.

finidon Many famous scientists have something in common: they didn’t work long hours

The rest of the time, they were hiking mountains, taking naps, going on walks with friends, or just sitting and thinking. Their creativity and productivity, in other words, were not the result of endless hours of toil. Their towering creative achievements result from modest “working” hours.

If Darwin spent most of his time "hiking mountains... or just sitting and thinking", guess what he was actually doing? Yep, he was studying, and working. Just because he was not hunched over a table or a microscope does not mean he was not studying.

finidon Jeff Bezos Is Now the World's Second Richest Person

One variable is missing from your math - the inevitable stock market crash.

finidon Is Fat Killing Us, or Is Sugar?

I haven't had sugar once since I started IF

Does that mean you haven't included sugar in your foods yourself, or you've managed to avoid eating any prepared food since you started?

Practically all prepared foods contain sugar, though they might not call it that in the ingredients list. When next you go boy chicken or turkey, read the list of ingredients. I'm talking about the raw forms, not the already cooked ones. It's shocking.

finidon Is Fat Killing Us, or Is Sugar?

And if for whatever reason you're not eating enough fat, your body will crave sugar.

That's in contra to how my system responds - it craves fat when I'm not eating enough of it. Since I gave up eating (refined) sugar, I don't even think about it.

finidon Is Fat Killing Us, or Is Sugar?

It’s one of many cautionary tales about assessing dietary data. Everyone wants to be healthy, and most of us like eating, so we’re easily swayed by any new finding, no matter how dubious.

That's why I ignore the headlines and read the paper of any study that I'm interested in.

finidon The House just voted to wipe out the FCC’s landmark Internet privacy protections

I can only quote a known source. Though I won't be surprised if Einstein made that statement after reading Plato's.

finidon The House just voted to wipe out the FCC’s landmark Internet privacy protections

To paraphrase A. Einstein?, When intelligent people refuse to participate in politics, they'll be governed by the less intelligent members of society.

That's apparent in the US where elections results are influenced more by those with barely a high school education than by their more educated fellow citizens.

The most important qualification one needs to have, it seems, to be elected to the Texas Education Agency, is to be a "true conservation". That board practically decides what your children study in school.

And over here on HN, the policy is to not get into political discussions.

finidon The Big Dig: Istanbul’s city planners have a problem: too much history (2015)

No other race has brought such devastations and massacres, such lasting derangements, into the life of other nations, ...

True, but the same can be said of any empire, including ours

finidon Thousands of underground gas bubbles poised to 'explode' in Arctic

If you're referring to the MSM in the US, I think it's because it's in Russia. Russia doesn't get much coverage unless it's about Putin.

Alaska might have a similar problem, though on a much smaller scale.

finidon Thousands of underground gas bubbles poised to 'explode' in Arctic

Where're you going to store that much gas?

finidon Thousands of underground gas bubbles poised to 'explode' in Arctic

It doesn't make sense to blow the money by yourself. Send me some.

And while you're at it, you might want to cancel any insurance that you have. Afterall, what's the point? That will make more money available to blow.

finidon Thousands of underground gas bubbles poised to 'explode' in Arctic

One thing the Russians have going for them is they're not denying climate change. That lets them sit down and think things through.

finidon AQAP trying to hide explosives in laptops, official says

One interesting aspect of 9/11 is we never did get to see a shot or video of the hijackers as they boarded the flights. Or were cameras not installed at the gates back then?

finidon Two major US technology firms 'tricked out of $100M'

Writing "quality content" takes time. with adblockers the norm, good writers have been put out of business. It's like what Uber and co did to cab drivers.

finidon AQAP trying to hide explosives in laptops, official says

sept 11 was led by highly trained and organized people

You wrote that as fact, but is it? Those "highly trained" guys could barely fly a small plane, but where able to fly huge airlines at top speed.

finidon Author of ‘Sapiens’ on how meditation made him a better historian

You can start by chanting HU [1] for 5 minutes every day. No need to go to a retreat or embark on a Buddha-type adventure.

Just you, in your home, for 5 minutes every day.

[1] http://www.eckankar.org/Video/play.php?name=Miracles+in+Your...

finidon Author of ‘Sapiens’ on how meditation made him a better historian

You don't have to attend a retreat for X number of days to get the same benefit. Just 5 minutes of meditation or contemplation every day will give you the same or even better benefits.

Just keep at it, but don't push.

finidon Author of ‘Sapiens’ on how meditation made him a better historian

I think that's just his way of saying that things we like to do or don't like to do in this incarnation are informed by events from previous incarnations.

That makes sense if you believe in reincarnation.

finidon Author of ‘Sapiens’ on how meditation made him a better historian

It benefits every aspect of ones life. The problem, though, is daily responsibilities make it very difficult, nearly impossible, for most people to meditate that long every day.

But taking time out to go inwards everyday doesn't have to take that long. Just 20 minutes or even 5 minutes every day will do just fine. The key to benefiting from it, as with most things, is to keep the same time every day.

Just pick any time of the day or night that you can afford. And make it a habit.

To take it to another level, find a spiritually-powerful word that you feel comfortable repeating (chanting) to yourself. Then chant it during those times you seat in meditation.

There' are higher forms of meditation, but start somewhere.

With time, you'll begin to see aspects of life that your physical senses cannot perceive. And as you become more aware of the visible and invisible aspects of life around you, you begin to worry less.