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kenj0418

236 karma · joined April 2, 2010

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kenj0418··on T-Mobile is writing the manual on how to fuck up the internet
I agree with the difference between land-line and mobile providers. If a provider has the benefit of monopoly control of a wire into my house (or some other government-enforced monopoly), then net-neutrality should be part of the price they have to pay for that.

But if it's like mobile and I can switch to any other provider I want, then let the market work instead.

kenj0418··on Rent-Stabilized Housing Is Disappearing Fast in NYC
Assuming that you want to allow poor people to live in an area that they couldn't otherwise afford, why are price controls used instead of directly subsidizing housing costs for those with lower income.

It seems like the direct subsidy would have a less distorting effect on the market.

kenj0418··on A Response to Your Petition on Edward Snowden
He would almost certainly be put in jail as soon as he stepped foot on American Soil. In most circumstances someone could make bail awaiting trial, but considering that he'd been hiding in another country (and the government would argue that he might run off again) it would be very doubtful for him.

But then they would have a trial. It would likely take a very long time (and he would likely be in jail during it).

The term 'jury of his peers' means regular American citizens (not judges or other government officials). Sadly, the government has done a good job of convincing many people that all their spying on us is for our own safety. They'd just need to work to get 12 people that believed that (while Snowden's attorney's would work to get at least one that didn't). Though anyone that already (openly) had an opinion on his guilt or innocence wouldn't be allowed on the jury.

(note: this is assuming a civilian trial. I think they'd have a very hard time trying to give Snowden some sort of military tribunal)

kenj0418··on Stephen Hawking and Yuri Milner Announce $100M Initiative to Seek ET
I wouldn't think those would be noticeable unless you were already closely observing the earth.

I'm not a physicist, but I assume there isn't any detectable, unique signature of an explosion that can be detected from space. Stories I've read about test-ban treaties and non-proliferation efforts give the main mechanism for detecting tests are the seismic effects they have.

kenj0418··on New Letters Added to the Genetic Alphabet
18 years ago, and I just now realized the title was chosen because they are all DNA letters.
kenj0418··on “Cheating teachers go to jail. Cheating Wall Streeters don’t. What’s up?”
> You know who never goes to jail? Regulators.

Nor should they unless they were colluding with him or accepting bribes.

The punishment for just being bad at your job should be getting fired, not jail. Of course, I doubt many lost their job either.

kenj0418··on If 1+x is 1, how much is 1-x?
> design a library providing arbitrary precision "computable numbers"

I believe they call those "programming languages"

kenj0418··on Why the sun is a poor dumping ground for nuclear waste (2010)
Simple: Just invent a rocket that runs on nuclear waste. Then you have all the fuel you need to get the rocket there. (joking)
kenj0418··on Netflix algorithm tells you when your best employee is about to leave you
What I expected:

if ( isEmployeeWatchingNetflixAtWorkAllDay() ) { employeeIsAboutToLeave(); }

kenj0418··on 10%? 20%? Apps Are Changing How We Tip
Watch out, there's also an unwritten rule that forbids commenting on the unwritten rules. Wait... Uh Oh, now I've broken it too.
kenj0418··on Toxoplasma Could Manipulate Our Behavior
> Instead of smelling danger, the rats smell love.

The story of my life.

kenj0418··on Disproportionately Common Names by Profession
Kurt and Jessica just had a lot of time on their hands.
kenj0418··on Millions of Americans Get Wages Garnished Over Credit Card Debt
- Option 1: Avoid getting into debt

- Option 2: Pay your bills on time

- Option 3: File Bankruptcy

If you haven't taken option 1 or option 2 and you start getting court notices - then it's time to start talking to someone about option 3.

kenj0418··on Amazon Fire Phone is now 99¢ with a 2-year contract
So about $600.99 then? What a bargain. The $449 price is cheaper than that. (Assuming you are on AT&Ts more recent plans where they charge you $25 more for having a subsidized, on-contract phone.)
kenj0418··on How ACH works: A developer perspective – Part 4
Can anyone in the banking industry explain why there is no security on ACH similar to how there is for credit cards?

20 years ago when I first wrote a program to generate ACH files it struck me as crazy that all that was needed to take money from someones account (given an existing ACH relationship with a bank to send the file in the first place) was an individual's bank's public routing number and the individual's personal checking account number - both of which were at the bottom of every check they write.

I get that fraudulent charges can be reversed, but that's also true on credit cards - so why the lower security on ACH?

kenj0418··on TrueCrypt Master Key Extraction And Volume Identification
TrueCrypt offers a volume-within-a-volume option. The free space of a volume normally contains random data, and the hidden volume is presumably headerless. The idea is then to put something that you might want to hide in the outer volume (freaky porn, for example), then put your actual secrets (evidence of your criminal enterprise, for example) in the hidden volume. If forced to disclose the password, then only the outer volume is apparent and you can disclose that under duress.
kenj0418··on As Feds Demand the Keys, Preparing for the Death of Public-Key Encryption
"full of people" being the operative phrase here. People with power tend to abuse that power. This is human nature, and this is where distrust of government comes from.

People work in their own interest (however they may define that). Working in the interests of those that elect them is just a hopeful side effect of the democratic process.

kenj0418··on In America, Where You're Born Is Correlated With How Far You'll Go In Life
Well, I thank my mother all the time for moving north several years before I was born.

But I'm pretty sure the comment was referring to "Children in homes containing books display intelligence at elevated rates" not the overall article.

kenj0418··on Cosmologist claims Universe may not be expanding
My cosmetologist told me I was gaining mass too. She recommended a diet though - not further research.
kenj0418··on NSA revelations only 'the tip of the iceberg,' says Dem lawmaker
Assuming they are reading it from the floor of the House (or Senate), it does protect them from being prosecuted: "and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place."

They would be subject to whatever punishments their fellow Representatives (or Senators) decided to impose (including possibly expulsion).

kenj0418··on Voyager 1 has left the solar system
Maybe I'm not understanding your question, but adding intermediate satellites/probes wouldn't improve the speed of communications. The limiting factor is the speed of light. Adding additional hops in between would just add a slight processing delay, but definately not change the overall latency. Voyager is very far away and it's going to take a while to talk to it no matter what you do.
kenj0418··on Petition: Stop bundling crapware with Java
I'm reminded of the book title "The difference between God and Larry Ellison". (God doesn't think he is Larry Ellison.)
kenj0418··on How To Accept Bitcoin On Your Website
Great - now we only need a 'Why To Accept Bitcoin On Your Website' article.
kenj0418··on Dark energy camera snaps first images
The British are using something the size of a phone box to explore the universe. -- Haven't they been doing that since 1963?
kenj0418··on Apple iPhone 5 US Carrier Comparison Chart
AT&T: Tethering is included (no additional cost, using your existing data pool) with the new shared data plans.
kenj0418··on Doctor Who goes back in time to beat TV pirates
And we (US) were the colony of religious nuts. Look who has recovered first. :-(
kenj0418··on Lookup any software license shortly summarized in plain English
Or in plain "Engrish" they all say: "All your bit are belong to us."
kenj0418··on How We Die
I would think the automobile is the primary factor in why it isn't lower. (Looking at wikipedia, traffic accidents account for 2.09% of deaths, the next accident category, falls, is 0.69% http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_causes_of_death_by_rate )
kenj0418··on Petition Obama adminstration to require free access to publicly funded research
Congress could definately make this law, but they also delegate many policy details to the executive branch - so this is likely something that could be done by either branch right now.

Regarding the 'petitions'. The 'petitions' in question here have no legal standing at all. It is essentially a way for the current administration to let the people involved feel like their views are being heard. The end result of each of these is generally either a) a canned response about how they can't comment on the petition for whatever reason or b) a rehash of current policy.

The only real impact, if any, of the petition is if they sway the administration by demonstrating what public opinion on the matter is.

kenj0418··on Homeland Security's 'Pre-Crime' Screening Will Never Work
70% accuracy is pretty weak. I can predict whether a given passenger will attempt to commit a terrorist act with greater than 99.99% accuracy. Here is my code:

boolean isTerrorist(Passenger p) { return false; }

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