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mgalka

1,411 karma · joined November 13, 2013

Max Galka

I build data things

elementus.io metrocosm.com

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mgalka··on This PIN can be easily guessed
> as a basic rule of thumb, any paper on cybersecurity that does not start the discussion with a reference attack vector and listed assumptions is probably garbage.

Actionable guidance for real world decisions is not the objective of academic research. The objective is to expand the human knowledge base (which hopefully translates to something practical at some point).

If the authors have the domain expertise to weigh in on PINs, but not on attack vectors, then that is what they should do. Let someone else draw the conclusions for IT managers.

mgalka··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (November 2019)
Elementus | Data Scientist | New York | Full-time | Onsite | https://elementus.io

Elementus is the universal blockchain query engine. We develop tools for financial institutions, law enforcement, and regulators to help them see past the raw blockchain data and understand the social and economic interactions taking place on-chain.

We are hiring for a creative, curious data scientist who is comfortable in rapidly changing, highly ambiguous environments. The role will involve developing new methods and algorithms to extract insights from on-chain data (bitcoin, ethereum, and others).

We use Nodejs, C++, Python. Some background in graph theory, blockchain tech is a plus, but not required.

We recently closed a $3.5m seed round that included Morgan Creek, Fidelity, and Stage 1.

If this sounds interesting, we'd love to chat. Please contact me at max at elementus.io.

mgalka··on 'One Ring' Phone Scam
I just got a bunch of these yesterday, all from Sierra Leone
mgalka··on Show HN: Cryptocurrency Index Builder
Unless there has been a new development, there are no approved crypto ETFs yet. There are crypto index funds with fees of 1%-2%.

That's not a bad option if you just want some diversity with minimal thought + effort. I think this tool offers a different option. With a little bit of thought and effort, you can save on the fees and customize the risk/return profile.

mgalka··on What Is The Morning Writing Effect?
I do a lot of both writing and coding and I also follow this schedule. I find coding at night to be very efficient, but when I try to write at night, I end up rewriting the same paragraph 10 times before giving up.

No idea why these activities are so different, but I feel the thought process is very different. Coding requires active concentration. I find writing to be more of a passive activity. Too much concentration, and the words stop making sense -- something like this effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_satiation

mgalka··on A visualization of the prime factors of the first million integers
Really cool! I'd love to see this go even further and see what other patterns appear.
mgalka··on Bulma – Flexbox CSS framework
Really nice to have the flexbox grid and vertical centering
mgalka··on Google AMP – A 70% drop in our conversion rate
It's also annoying to have the amp menu bar taking up space at the top. Screen real estate is scarce and another menu bar at the top is just confusing.
mgalka··on Vue Native
Ironic the site does not seem to be responsive
mgalka··on Ask HN: Isnt using private blockchain for securities/voting proxies not ethical?
Private blockchain (one that is centrally controlled, usually internal to a company) or privacy blockchain (the flow of funds is obfuscated)?

Private blockchains lack decentralized consensus, so the have more in common with a typical database than they do w public blockchains.

Given that they are normally used inside a single company or between a few companies who already trust each other, i don’t see any ethical problems.

mgalka··on Ask HN: What are the cons of DAGs as compared to blockchains?
DAGs do not keep track of the order of transactions, so general purpose smart contracts are not possible
mgalka··on The Ethereum-blockchain size will not exceed 1TB anytime soon
Depends on your purpose for running a node. I use it to validate transactions and to query transaction histories, for which the full state is necessary.

It would be nice if they could implement a version that allows this, without the bloat.

mgalka··on Accessing Publicly Available Information on the Internet Is Not a Crime
> Access that does not require authentication should never be a crime.

Linkedin is not trying to prevent access. They want to prevent information from being scraped, and then used to their detriment.

mgalka··on Contacts of journalists who cover ICOs
Useful website!
mgalka··on Super Tiny Website Logos in SVG
Really cool. I've always wondered why nobody was doing this. Just about every website in the world could benefit from it. Nice work!
mgalka··on Show HN: Metaballs
Surprised I've never seen metaballs before. Very cool.
mgalka··on A Letter to Jamie Dimon
> Jamie Dimon's reaction is not IMO unreasonable given the hype and the contradictions inherent in the position of most bitcoin advocates - contradictions laid bare in this article (fast, decentralised, consistent, pick two).

His ultimate conclusion -- that bitcoin is a bubble -- is not an unreasonable one to reach. But his reasoning completely misses the point. It doesn't even make sense to evaluate the worth of bitcoin in isolation as if it were fiat currency. An argument that it's a bubble necessitates a viewpoint on value of distributed apps.

mgalka··on Sorting Visualizations
Really cool! Is the code posted anywhere? Would like to see how some of these work.
mgalka··on HTTP is obsolete. It's time for the Distributed Web (2015)
Funny? Yes. Relevant? No.

The post makes the case for why IPFS should replace HTTP -- has nothing to do with how well the technology works right now in its infancy.

mgalka··on The SEC has charged two initial coin offerings with defrauding investors
1. The amounts raised so far are small, a few $100k. That's tiny compared to what ICO lose in hacks.

2. These are not high tech crypto startups, as most ICOs are. This is some guy selling diamonds. The text from the website sounds ridiculous and makes no sense.

> "By acquiring at least 1 DRC you will claim the membership in the exclusive Diamond Reserve Club (DRC) with privileges such as access to the blockchain transactional databases"

A non-event for ICOs

mgalka··on It’s time to kill the web app
> Way back then, the web was locked in a competition with other proprietary platforms like Flash, Shockwave and Java

Maybe this is just semantics, but it sounds like "web" is being used as synonymous with "JavaScript."

mgalka··on Cybersecurity Incident Involving Consumer Information
Agree with your point on Experian absolving itself, but there are many scenarios in which Alice is also the victom of the thief. With enough info about someone, you can steal digital assets too.
mgalka··on Cybersecurity Incident Involving Consumer Information
>I apologize to consumers and our business customers for the concern and frustration this causes

What a cop out. "Concern and frustration" are not the problem here. Identity theft is.

mgalka··on LinkedIn: It’s illegal to scrape our website without permission
There was a class action suit about this a few years ago. Completely inappropriate. Though I don't think it should have any bearing on whether or not it's OK to scrape their site.
mgalka··on LinkedIn: It’s illegal to scrape our website without permission
Have no doubt this will be unpopular, but I think LinkedIn is right.

Most news sites publish to the world. But scraping a news site's content and monetizing it yourself is not ok. Legally, it violates intellectual property law. But laws aside, I assume most people would agree, if someone spent the time researching and writing an article, they should have the right to monetize it and nobody else.

In this case, IP law may not apply, but the concept is the same. I don't love LinkedIn myself. But they spent the time building a platform for collecting that info. I don't see why it should be OK for other people to scrape and monetize it.

mgalka··on The Acceleration of Addictiveness (2010)
A lot of people roll their eyes at the idea of addictions to something other than drugs -- gambling, sex, video games, etc. Having done some in-depth research on gambling addiction, I am firmly convinced it is every bit as addictive and problematic as drugs -- affects the same people, by the same physiology, and leads to all the same destructive behaviors.

If we don't turn around our concept of addiction to something that extends beyond chemicals, we're in for some major societal problems very soon.

mgalka··on Show HN: Quilt – manage data like code
Love the concept! Clear value proposition for anyone who knows both worlds (code + data). Look forward to giving it a try.
mgalka··on CSS and JS code coverage in Chrome DevTools
This is great, such a useful function. Thanks for posting.
mgalka··on Taking control of all .io domains with a targeted registration
Wow! That is one scary vulnerability. Glad we have smart people like this to find such problems before the bad guys do. Well done!
mgalka··on Too many people have peed in the pool (2016)
> HN hasn't much of a discourse, as in discordinng ideas aren't debated but shunned and driven away.

I would have said the exact opposite. As long as they're well supported, HN is more accepting of controversial views than anywhere else I know.

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