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njharman

7,426 karma · joined April 19, 2007

I like oatmeal cookies.
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njharman··on Some Epstein file redactions are being undone
Clout. Monetization.
njharman··on Some Epstein file redactions are being undone
Journalists report, they don't analyze.

The error is consumers believing journalist news is anything but uninformed, hot take heresy; spun in the most sensationalistic way.

They are hired to get eyeballs for advertisers. Not to be accurate, thorough truthful, or unbiased.

njharman··on Everything that's wrong with Google Search in one image
Seems perfectly tailored to the product being sold and the customers paying for it

Product being search users. Customers being advertisers.

njharman··on PythonBPF – Writing eBPF Programs in Pure Python
Putting tldr; at the bottom defeats purpose of tldr.

Guessing this is BPF https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Packet_Filter But, reader shouldn't have to guess. That is the link that should be in your Introduction. Just after tldr;

njharman··on I spent 18 years in the Linux console
18 years? Filthy casual, jk ;)

I can't remember how long, but I started when you had to make a stack of 3.5 floppies to install... More than 30years ago.

Long before that, I was using 4DOS to create best "shell" possible on Microsoft. ~14 yr old.

njharman··on Why Do Python Lists Multiply Oddly? Exploring the CPython Source Code
I've never understood peoples confusion about function defaults.

They are part of function definition, they aren't in the function body. You should expect them to be "executed" when the function is defined.

njharman··on Landlines are dying out. But to some, they're a lifeline
> It's managed!

Your cellular isn't? Maybe switch providers, T-Mobile doesn't make me go maintain cell towers.

njharman··on How Quora died
100%
njharman··on A company that sells lost airplane luggage
> off way back machine.

+1 for practical paranoia!

njharman··on Htmx changes license to Zero-Clause BSD
Sure, anyone can do anything. It would be up to you (and hopefully a lawyer) to then sue them and let judge/jury decide. Or, convince authorities that some criminal law was violated and they should investigate.

Both of which are hard and/or expensive. So most rely on public shame. Out them on social media and foment outrage.

njharman··on The funny rules of SpamAssassin in 2023
Spam is a minimal effort endeavor. A lead generator for scams. Only 0.1% or 0.01% response rate is good. They only want the unsophisticated, naive recipients. Expending effort to tweak rules is not worth the effort. (Although if they can get AI to do it, then that's back to near zero effort)
njharman··on All DMCA Notices Filed Against TorrentFreak in 2023 Were Bogus
The ultimate answer is because copyright holders have money and spent a fare bit of it on lobbyists.

Copyright holders are organized, e.g. MPAA/RIAA, and motivated (money moves ya). Content consumers are disorganized and little motivated.

njharman··on Can We Imagine a World Without Work?
I don't think, and in general believe people label, not things like construction work or care givers as BS jobs.

BS jobs are the ones that only exist to support hordes of people having jobs; middle managers, service industry (all the downtown office worker coffee/lunch/bar/cleaners/maint). And most retail.

njharman··on Police have undermined the promise of body cameras
I wanted to wear a body camera in the form on Mediated Reality glasses but the public shamed/cancelled the early adaptors and manufacturers so much so that the product/concept was withdrawn from market place.

Everyone should be a glasshole

njharman··on To revive Portland, officials seek to ban public drug use
Drug *abuse* is maybe a mental health issue.

I'm sure I'm not alone in using drugs (alcohol, caffeine, pot) for many reasons other than to "make them feel good when they don't feel good". Which along with equating use with abuse is such a shallow, narrow minded and ignorant view of drugs.

njharman··on Playstation removing previously purchased Discovery content
Go learn about land mark Universal vs Sony time shifting and RIAA v Diamond space shifting copyright cases.

Or, at very least stop spreading misinformation.

njharman··on Playstation removing previously purchased Discovery content
Or don't purchase things in DRMd walled gardens.

Even better stop supporting / participating in DRMd walled gardens.

njharman··on Code is run more than read
My car is parked more than drive. Still, the drive is the more important, valueble, and difficult. Cars should be optimized for driving first, and only for other things when needed.

Likewise code should be optimized for reading, which is to say for maintenance first, and for other things only if/when needed.

njharman··on The Bond villain compliance strategy
Your absolute rights end when they encounter another person.

As society, we've decided peoples individual rights can/should be curtailed when they harm others. We will never agree on definition of "harm". But, certainly money can be used for harm. From I pay someone to kill you, to I donate money to group government has labeled "terrorist", to we made profit polluting environment, etc.

njharman··on Sqids – Generate short unique IDs from numbers
> That doesn't seem possible. How would that work?

agree; b00b, DlCK, cntfcker

But I suppose, if user doesn't get to craft input, the collision space of converted numerical ids and words like above is sufficiently small to be ignorable.

njharman··on I face investigation for terrorism
Step one; get overreaching, extreme powers passed into law because they'll only be used to fight "terrorism".

Step two; redefine everything as terrorism.

njharman··on SumatraPDF Reader
Stopped using cause the author can't comprehend that scrolling / scrollbars could apply to document as a whole (like every other editor/viewer ever allows).

https://forum.sumatrapdfreader.org/t/display-scrollbar-in-si...

njharman··on The Lessons of Lucasfilm's Habitat (1990)
> People expect comments to not be a personal take?

Some comments are factual; corrections, links, additional information, etc.

But people do expect HN to be polite, and "that's your personal take" is the polite way to say "you're a loony ideologue who sees everything through bi-color (BW) lens".

njharman··on George Carlin's "Soft Language" (2019)
Related, in language being taken over and replaced. Having not paid attention to sports for 30years, but recently going to hocky matches. I have the perspective of avoiding the gradual "frog in boiling water effect". It was really in my face and shocking. My first thought was man, this is close to Idiocracy level.

Every prominent surface is plastered with advertising, even the zamboni. Everything is sponsored, "Holloway motors Power Play!", "TEP half time puck toss".

njharman··on Undermining Democracy: The EU Commission's Controversial Push for Surveillance
Instead of money spent to influence politicians, money will be spent to influence the masses. The net effect will be same, money "wins".
njharman··on The Classic Super Star Trek Game
A very long time ago, I played a simpler version on CP/M (dad's Cromemco System 3). Possibly typed in from https://www.amazon.com/BASIC-Computer-Games-Microcomputer-Da...
njharman··on Willingham sends Fables into the public domain
> If I were a DC executive

Your reaction is why you are not a DC executive. Shareholders, your board would not stand for your concern for employee/contractor over profit.

njharman··on Willingham sends Fables into the public domain
> What was once wholly owned by Bill Willingham is now owned by everyone

Public Domain IP (USA) is owned by no one. As the preceding line alludes to

> surrendered my Fables property to the public domain

their property rights were surrendered. Now, no one has those rights (which are really the power to restrict other's "rights". copy"rights" are rights of denial, you can't copy, you can't perform, etc.). Meaning the property has returned to its natural state, unrestricted.

njharman··on Battery-electric fishing vessel marks a sea change for small commercial fishers
Having electric current hard to avoid in saltwater, assuming use of metal. See Galvanic Cell / Galvanic Corrosion.
njharman··on Small prey compelled prehistoric humans to produce appropriate hunting weapons
See also sixth mass extinction event https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction
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