trill1

... or possibly that they seem like nice guys.

Of course, worldwide people are susceptible to superstition, and if you want to talk about harmful superstitions that affect HIV transmission then look no further than policy pushed throughout Africa by US Christian right-wingers. The excellent documentary "God Loves Uganda" discusses how the most recent Bush administration threatened to withhold foreign aid from Uganda and other countries if they distributed birth control or didn't adhere to abstinence-only education.

Here in Cambodia expats constantly gripe about lazy native people, considering them stupid for not wanting to embrace every facet of Western culture. A common example that I've seen repeated in books and internet forums alike is that Cambodians won't adopt Western farming practices (like showering plants in pesticides) and so they must be just backwards and ignorant. Never is it considered that the native people, who have lived here for generations, might have different priorites or know something that a rich asshole from the West, who's been here 6 months, does not.

> I like cats as much as the next guy, but seriously.

Sure about that? I wouldn't want 50 harmless cats exterminated just because they bother the uptight guests of the hotel occasionally. I live in a country were stray cats are everywhere, and they routinely come in my apartment too. No problem, I enjoy it and have had they chance to raise many kittens as well.

The language doesn't look reminiscent of a chatbot to me. It seems that the person made a one-off account, posted something, then thought it didn't go through and made another account and posted again.

Also, Obama is a war criminal, just like W.

Very true. I tried to jump into some higher-level math classes in college after finishing my major, and though I didn't completely fail, I would have learned much more if I had gotten over my fear of looking "dumb" by asking basic questions, or by talking to the professors during office hours.

> It's also a fascinating bit of hypocrisy, to say that the US is hung up on being right, and yet you feel free to bash the US while promoting the things others do right (you listed healthcare, education, roads). How does that work again?

He's not bashing the US, but rather being realistic about the sorry state of American healthcare, education, and infrastructure. And it's perfectly valid to suggest that both American exceptionalism and a general lack of exposure to the ideas and experiences of foreign citizens, are partially to blame for America's failures domestically and abroad.

> The US does in fact improve. See: gay marriage legalization (something many of those supposed progressive nations you're referring to still lack). Body cams for police (a wide national interest in ending police brutality).

Gay marriage is a great step forward, but there are more pressing issues honestly, primary among them reigning in the military-industrial complex that has been steadily toppling democratically-elected governments for the past 60 years, stealing resources, fighting proxy wars, and selling weapons to one or both sides.

> Ending mass incarceration and the war on drugs (changes that are now supported by the majority of Americans). The ACA / Obamacare.

No way the majority of citizens of support ending the drug war. Legalization or decriminalization of marijuana are only small steps toward ending mass incarceration. How many people currently support heroin being legal, taxed, and available down the street? Not many, but until US society has that revelation, there will still be black market violence, and still be addicts ODing because their heroin is anything from 10% to 90% pure and potentially cut with other harmful substances, and because they hesitate to call an ambulance for fear of exiting the hospital in police custody.

Same here. I surfed the internet and played computer games until 1 or 2 AM every night, and then spent a lot of time in junior high and high school nodding out in class.

I really learned almost nothing, which isn't the fault of my teachers or anyone else. I would have been better off in a radically less structured educational environment, something as simple as being put in a room alone with some books and an offline computer for 4 hours a day, with long breaks in between to exercise and socialize.

Right! This whole thread has me scratching my head.

Not long ago Microsoft schemed to stomp out Linux and now they've had a change of heart? Fuck Microsoft! To this day even they engage in anti-competitive bundling with OEMs, not to mention their seedy history in relation to open source.

You get used to the local water, it's safe in most any urban area in SEA.

Refrigerated bottled water is cheap though, only 12 cents, but I know many locals who perceive drinking out of plastic bottles to be a bigger health risk than drinking tap water.

Definitely, the US government can ban or backdoor every commercial encryption product on the planet, and those that are serious about security will still be using GPG, Tor, Linux/BSD, etc.

I'm only suggesting that Apple and others could have taken a stand in favor of privacy much earlier, and that their decision to do so now likely has more to do with their bottom line than any genuine concern for public welfare. BTW, hi Rob! You know me from the PPUA :)

A lot of the big tech companies had an inside look at the growing surveillance state far before the average citizen did. I think an argument can be made that the should have done more to inform the public.

> Why would they be any different from tobacco consumers?

Marijuana attracts an earthy, naturalistic sort of crowd. I have no proof of this, but it's been my experience.

> Don't most of the factors that make tobacco different from the average business apply equally to cannabis?

The health risks of marijuana are much better understood now than the health risks of tobacco (more particularly cigarettes) were in the 1950s. There's simply less room to lie, for one thing, which was far and away the most atrocious thing that Big Tobacco did. And the mere fact that marijuana has been illegal for so long and developed its own culture underground makes it hard to compare.

> They seem to serve a similar social function. Indeed don't people frequently smoke a mix of the two?

In Europe it's common to mix the two, but for most Americans no. I usually smoked alone anyway, it's not a social thing at all for many. You're really comparing apples to oranges here. Marijuana and tobacco as different as LSD and beer in terms of their effects.

I seriously doubt marijuana consumers tolerate harmful chemical additives. I expect marijuana businesses to behave about as badly as the average business, but I doubt they'll manage to be as hideously evil as the tobacco companies.

And what do you mean they're used under similar circumstances?

A web app that helps English language learners with reading and pronunciation:

https://lexical.io

It tries to find relevant multilingual information from Wikipedia and Wiktionary when you click on words in a submitted text.

Eventually I want to expand it to other target languages beyond English.

I see no meaningful distinction between the San Bernandino shooters and the "lone wackos". Cultural background influences how an angry, mentally ill person will brand and target their particular act of violence. For Dylan Roof it was racism, for Anders Breivik it was Christianity, and for Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, it was radical Islam. So far even the FBI says they acted alone.

It's undeniable that whether or not a person is Muslim influences how their violent act is framed by the media and politicians. Also worth noting:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Behring_Breivik#Links_t...

Wait, the San Bernandino shooting is constantly referred to as terrorism by the media and by politicians... When the perpetrator isn't Muslim though, the situation is different (e.g. Dylan Roof, Anders Brevik, James Holmes) and the same people instead are much more likely to frame the violence as a mental health issue.

I feel you. I left about 3 years ago for a mixture of personal reasons and increasing discomfort with the direction of the country.

Not only do most Americans seem oblivious to their loss of personal liberties, but they also are also apparently unconcerned with the widespread havoc wrought by US foreign policy. Now after 3 years of living in one such country that got deeply fucked over by the apathy and ignorance of US citizens, that last part is especially hard for me to tolerate.

I'm actually considering a visit back for the first time to see my ailing grandparents, and honestly I'm worried about re-entering because I frequently voice "radical" opinions online (though never violent). We'll see how it goes.

No it's implied, was the implication too tough for you to figure out?

It's not that anyone disagrees that all lives matter, it's that your intention in saying "all lives matter" is to undermine a legitimate social cause. "Black Lives Matter" supporters aren't saying that other lives don't matter, they're saying that black lives matter too -- and that's a valid point in a country where blacks, for example, are much more likely to receive the death penalty for committing the same offences.

What is your motivation for saying something like this? You can't possibly believe that LSD and DXM create a similar experience.

Everyone should be careful with DXM. Even after extracting the acetaminophen, noxious dyes, and stimulants that sometimes accompany DXM in cough syrup, it can make you very, very sick. I took around 1000 mg as a stupid teenager and violently puked bile with blood streaming out of my nose, burst thousands of blood vessels around my eyes and on my face, and then fell down a full flight of stairs. Not a great day, and not a great first drug experience.

Well said! This is a discussion that needs to be had (regularly) on places like Hacker News. I know of only a few small communities online (for example, /r/EndlessWar/) that openly discuss what is absolutely the most significant topic of our time.

I left the US some years ago and I am strongly considering renouncing my US citizenship. That I would have to pay to do so, is one of the few things stopping me. It won't happen, but if Obama and Bush are imprisoned for murder, among other crimes, I would think about going back.

Thanks for trying it! Hindi is on my list for languages to add.

It looks like there is no recording for the word "bickering" yet. There are around 15,000 audio recordings -- some from Wiktionary and some recorded by myself working off a word frequency list. But, since English has so many morphological forms ("bickering", "bickered", "bickers", etc.) it's hard to get full coverage.

Hi HN,

I created lexical.io as way to learn more about web programming. You'll notice some rough edges as it's my first 'big' project, but for now I'm happy with how it is and I hope some of you find it useful.

The idea is similar to sites like readlang.com, where you submit a text and then can click on words for more information. Wikipedia and Wiktionary are the two sources of data, plus a number of additional audio recordings. There is an option to select your native language (currently 8 languages are supported) and then lexical.io will return Wiktionary translations and Wikipedia abstracts in that language. I can vouch that it works quite well for Spanish and German, but for languages like Korean with smaller amounts of data it may be less effective.

Given more time I would like to add more languages and potentially include target languages beyond English. There are many other features and improvements to be made, but first I'd like to see what people think. Any feedback is appreciated!

(P.S. I haven't had time to record a screencast video explaining the features, so right now the video on the about page is a dead link)

Yep, I expected to see nothing for Phnom Penh, Cambodia, but there were actually quite a few useful results. It's a least comparable to the one hand-curated events site for Phnom Penh that I know of.

I did have some odd UX issues with the filter button. Sometimes I couldn't tell if it was responding to my input, and once or twice it reset the options I selected back to what they were previously. But, keep going OP!

Soulseek is still really useful, especially after the crackdown on Megaupload/Mediafire/Rapidshare.

For niche and obscure music, it's always been superior to torrenting IMO.