Hacker News Reader

vanilla-almondon UK court clears post office staff convicted due to ‘corrupt data’

Repeating this comment that I posted yesterday...it is unfair?

Will any developers involved in this horrible scandal ever will be held accountable for their work?

I wonder if the developers who were responsible for such a bug-infested piece of software realise their work has destroyed people's lives? (They presumably never met the users of their software or were so distant from end-users that they never considered the consequences of their actions.)

Do those developers even realise it was their incompetence that caused untold misery? Or are they completely detached from the events in this scandal and see themselves as simply cogs in the 'system' and thus blameless?

Blame must be apportioned to management. But also I feel it's too easy as a developer to see yourself as part of a team and thus absolved of any individual blame. You're subsumed in the "team" - and ultimately no-one takes responsibly.

Even with management at fault, one cannot deny that it was the developers who produced absolute garbage.

I hope the developers who worked on this system, no matter how much they feel they are not responsible for the failure of this project, will reflect on how the impact of software they built had devastating consequences on people's lives.

vanilla-almondon Convicted Post Office workers have names cleared

I agree with you that some blame must be apportioned to management. But also I feel it's too easy as a developer to see yourself as part of a team and thus absolved of any individual blame. You're subsumed in the "team" - and ultimately no-one takes responsibly.

Even with management at fault, one cannot deny that the developers produced absolute garbage.

vanilla-almondon Convicted Post Office workers have names cleared

Will any developers involved in this horrible scandal ever will be held accountable for their work?

I wonder if the developers who were responsible for such a bug-infested piece of software realise their work has destroyed people's lives? (They presumably never met the users of their software.)

Developers are often quick to point the finger of blame at others (usually management). But this cannot excuse what those developers delivered in this case: software simply unfit for use. The end consequence was the ruin of many lives. Meanwhile, the developers face no consequences.

vanilla-almondon Ask HN: What programming concepts do/did you find hard to understand/implement?

I'm a mediocre programmer at best and I still struggle with Object-Oriented Programming (OOP). I understand the ideas, but I simply find it to be an 'unnatural' way of programming. Millions of other programmers are successfully coding with OOP, but I'm not one of them.

I've tried many OOP languages and Ruby and Crystal felt that they had the friendliest approach. Why do I struggle? I think some of it is to do with the thick layers and unnatural wordiness of the way it is implemented in many languages: constructors, instantiating, getters, setters, public, private, unattractive syntax etc.

As I said earlier, I am not a great programmer (but try to improve :-) and my opinions on OOP reflect that.

As an aside, the stranglehold that OOP has had over the profession seems to have loosened. New languages like Julia, Go, Rust and Nim do not describe themselves as object-oriented although they have object-like features. Back in 2019 I asked Hacker News: "Why do new(ish) programming languages eschew OOP features?"

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20320752

vanilla-almondon October CMS, previously open source, becomes a paid platform

The new pricing model is cheap, but no longer open source:

- $9 per project

- $150 for unlimited projects

For comparison, Craft CMS, a popular commercial CMS written in PHP charge $299 for a licence for a single project.

vanilla-almondon Study: Public funding made up 97-99% of the R&D cost of Oxford-AZ vaccine [pdf]

The title of this pre-print paper: Who funded the research behind the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine?

Conclusion:

> Our study identified that public funding accounted for 97.1-99.0% of the funding towards the R&D of ChAdOx and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. We furthermore encountered a severe lack of transparency in research funding reporting mechanisms.

From the above report, the researchers say:

> "We need to stop perpetuating the narrative in which the private sector and profit are the sole drivers of innovation, and recognise that the life-saving ChAdOx vaccine technology was developed with near total governmental and charitable funding."

vanilla-almondon Opensource.cooking: A simple, bloat-free cooking site

"There is a need for a simple well curated recipe site though, there is always lots of interest"

Does BBC Food count? It's ad-free if you are in the UK (possibly not if you're outside the UK). It has a wealth of recipes and food-related content:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food

vanilla-almondon EU vaccine rollout severely lags behind

- The vaccine is mainly funded by Oxford University and AstraZeneca (AZ) . The UK Government also provided £65.5m.

- Most of the AZ vaccine for the UK is being made in the UK. AZ have said none of their vaccines have been sent from the EU to the UK.

- AstraZeneca said its agreement with the EU allowed the option of supplying Europe from UK sites, but only once the UK had sufficient supplies (due to the contract the UK negotiated) .

- A drop in confidence in the AZ vaccine means there are lots of unused vaccines. France and Germany have used only about half of the AstraZeneca jabs they have received, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

- 10 million Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines have been exported from the EU to the UK.

Sources:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/56483766

https://www.politico.eu/article/the-key-differences-between-...

vanilla-almondon How Homogeneous Is Japan?

I replied to another poster about the collection of ethnic minority data in the UK. I repeat what I said previously: these stats are collected in order to provide insights into important issues such as health, employment, housing and yes, inequality.

For example, the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed that deaths from COVID-19 are higher among black and South Asian groups. Without this data we would not have been able to identify that these communities are at higher risk.

Link to my previous comment on this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25891543

vanilla-almondon How Homogeneous Is Japan?

"Not gathering racial statistics is the norm in continental Europe. It's mostly Anglo-Saxon people (us, uk) and their love for the idea of "race" that is the exception."

In the UK, statistics are collected on the ethnic origin of people in order to provide insights into important issues. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed that deaths from COVID-19 are higher among black and South Asian groups. Without these statistics we might not back have identified that these communities are more vulnerable to COVID-19.

Another example: statistics have identified that South Asians have a much higher incidence of diabetes. That insight means health professionals can research why the risk is higher in those communities.

Statistics that capture ethnic origin can also provide insight into issues of inequality, health, employment, housing and more. In my view, capturing this data is important and helpful. Without it, insight and analysis will be incomplete.

vanilla-almondon TV detector vans once prowled the streets of England

Sometimes the kid's shows become hits with the adults too. I'm thinking of Horrible Histories - a brilliant, comedic look at history equally loved by kids and adults.

vanilla-almondon TV detector vans once prowled the streets of England

"I prefer old-school quiet and scientific documentaries"

I do as well. The BBC actually produces a lot of these types of documentaries but they are probably not sold to broadcasters outside of the UK. I presume it's because they lack the big-budget, glossy look that is attractive to bigger audiences (and to international broadcasters). Or sometimes documentaries are trimmed or edited for international audiences. (I don't know if this is the BBC editing the programme or the broadcaster who bought the programme.)

A lot of the "old-school quiet" documentaries can be found on BBC4 - a specialised channel that shows programmes on specialised or niche topics.

vanilla-almondon Arrests of Hong Kong democrats shows why EU must reject China investment

The EU has clout but is unlikely to do anything that might threaten investment ties between China and the EU. Investment (and the promise of jobs) takes priority over human rights concerns:

https://www.politico.eu/article/germanys-drive-for-eu-china-...

vanilla-almondon Covid-19: Map of genome sequencing by country [may load slowly]

For some context: a new, more easier transmissable version of the COVID-19 virus is spreading in the UK. It was identified by scientists in the UK using genome sequencing. That 'genomic surveillance' was vital to its detection. This map shows which countries are carrying out 'genomic surveillance' of COVID-19 and it's a worrying small number.

Related BBC article:

Covid: New variant found due to UK's genomic surveillance system

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55413666

vanilla-almondon Secrets and spies: Behind the doors of the GCHQ

Also related for anyone who read the article above:

https://twitter.com/MrMichaelSpicer/status/13156404326977167...

(Comedy sketch from Michael Spicer on the subject)

vanilla-almondon Covid: Remdesivir 'has little or no effect' on survival, says WHO

Landray says in the same twitter thread:

"...Remdesevir is given by intravenous infusion for 5-10 days. It is not cheap. And supplies are limited (not surprising given scale of epidemic)."

This means anyone showing early symptoms is likely to require a stay in hospital for early administration of the intravenous infusion. There are questions about how scalable this is. Landray again:

"COVID affects millions of people & their families around the world. It is not a rare disease and we need scalable, affordable, and equitable treatment solutions."

vanilla-almondon Covid: Remdesivir 'has little or no effect' on survival, says WHO

Gilead signed a billion dollar deal with the EU Commission for Remdesivir on the 8 October.

However, Gilead apparently received the WHO study on 28 September and so were aware of the conclusions of the study before they signed a deal with the EU Commission.

This naturally leads to further questions, as discussed in this tweet thread:

https://twitter.com/kakape/status/1317042940825436162

Edit: Martin Landray, professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of Oxford and leader of the UK-based Recovery trial also has a good summary of the WHO trial:

https://twitter.com/MartinLandray/status/1316989951297396736

vanilla-almondon Missing Covid-19 test data was caused by the ill-thought-out use of Excel

I have not yet watched this programme from the BBC but it claims the NHS Test and Trace system is a chaotic mess. In other words, as shambolic as everything our Conservative government has done over the pandemic.

Panorama - Test and Track Exposed:

> "Panorama hears from whistleblowers working inside the government’s new coronavirus tracking system. They are so concerned about NHS Test and Trace that they are speaking out to reveal chaos, technical problems, confusion, wasted resources and a system that does not appear to them to be working. The programme also hears from local public health teams who say they have largely been ignored by the government in favour of the private companies hired to run the new centralised tracking system. As Panorama investigates, it has left some local authorities questioning whether local lockdowns could have been handled better or avoided altogether."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000n1xp/panorama-test...

vanilla-almondon UK supermarket Tesco sets 300% sales target for plant-based alternatives to meat

Here's an example of vegan, plant-based foods from another UK supermarket called Asda (their own-branded range).

https://groceries.asda.com/cmslisting/content/event?N=102737...

I have tried their 'Vegan Vegetable Fingers' and they are quite nice. However, I suspect many of these foods still count as 'processed foods'. Some consumers might mistakenly think they are healthy because they are plant-based (and the packaging will re-enforce that).

Here are the ingredients for the 'Vegan Vegetable Fingers' - would you buy these based on these ingredients? Or would the ingredients put you off?

- Vegetables (51%) [Carrots, Sweetcorn, Peas, Onions, Potatoes]

- Fortified Wheat Flour [Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin (B3), Thiamin (B1)]

- Water

- Sunflower Oil

- Potato Flakes, Maize Starch, Wheat Gluten

- Salt, Sugar

- Rye Flour, Yeast Extract

- Pea Fibre

- Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Yeast, White Pepper, Tomato Powder, Red Pepper Powder, Parsley, Flavouring, Sage, Black Pepper Extract, Sage Extract

https://groceries.asda.com/product/nuggets-fingers/asda-plan...

vanilla-almondon Coronavirus: Russian vaccine shows signs of immune response

The Lancet paper:

Safety and immunogenicity of an rAd26 and rAd5 vector-based heterologous prime-boost COVID-19 vaccine in two formulations: two open, non-randomised phase 1/2 studies from Russia

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6...

vanilla-almondon Coronavirus: Germany puts on crowded concerts to study risks

Would you yourself go to a concert at this time?

This socially-distanced outdoor concert in Newcastle (in the UK) doesn't seem too bad. Everyone has their own 'pod'. However, it's not suitable for indoor concerts and the extra logistics might make it too impractical even for outdoor concerts.

Pic of the setup: https://dynaimage.cdn.cnn.com/cnn/q_auto,w_1100,c_fill,g_aut...

Here's a write-up of what it was like to attend:

This is what it was like to attend the UK’s first ever socially distanced gig:

https://thetab.com/uk/2020/08/14/this-is-what-it-was-like-to...

vanilla-almondon Oatly: The New Coke?

I drink milk, but I think the strongest case against drinking cows milk is industrial-scale dairy farming. We (consumers) are to blame because we want milk as cheap as possible.

We've seen protests across Europe in the past by farmers who say they can't provide milk at such cheap prices and maintain welfare standards. Unfortunately, we consumers seem unwilling to pay for high welfare. Sure we say otherwise when asked, but our actions at the supermarket tell a different story.

Also, most consumers don't even know what conditions are like for dairy animals. In Europe, consumers smugly assume we have high welfare standards (maybe we do relative to other countries), but I was shocked to learned that some farms still tie and tether cows in small cramped indoor spaces [1]. In fact, most dairy cows will spend the majority of their life indoors rather than outside grazing on pasture. This is the price of cheap, industrial-scale agriculture.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/08/its-medi...

vanilla-almondon Oatly: The New Coke?

I would be interested to know if these studies refer to low quality vegetable oils using a chemical process to extract oil. For example, in the UK, supermarkets sell cold-pressed rapeseed oil (canola oil in the US). The cold-press process is sold as making rapeseed oil as relatively healthy cooking oil.

Does cold-pressing rapeseed/canola seed turn it into a relatively healthy cooking oil (vs the expeller-pressed or chemical extraction process)?

vanilla-almondon Birth of BASIC (2014) [video]

Something I've wanted to asked ask for a while: who is programming in Basic today?

The language has evolved substantially from its early days and there are many dialects. But it's rare to hear someone admit they program in Basic (at least on this forum). Programmers can be quite judgemental about choice of programming language.

Does anyone want to share their reason for using Basic? It is by choice or by necessity (e.g. maintaining a legacy codebase)?

Are there modern incarnations of the language that you feel are overlooked? (For example, I recently came across Pure Basic, a cross-platform compiler that lets you build self-contained binaries for Windows, Mac and Linux).

vanilla-almondon ‘Smart toilet’ monitors for signs of disease

What types of health conditions can be detected in stools and urine?

For some conditions there are some obviously visual signs e.g. blood in urine or stools. Or the colour of stool may indicate a condition if it is persistently a very pale colour.

But what conditions can be detected in stools and urine that aren't visible by visual diagnosis? The article mentions some cancers but not much detail.

vanilla-almondon Microsoft Defender SmartScreen is hurting independent developers

Another tale from a developer on their experience getting a code signing certificate from a certificate authority:

https://twitter.com/hanspagel/status/1262317935898566658

vanilla-almondon Ask HN: What has been some of the better achievements in comsci in recent times?

The emphasis on object-oriented programming (OOP) seems to have loosened in the profession. I think this is a good thing (but others will disagree). New languages (Rust, Nim, Julia, Go) have object-like features but are not traditionally OOP.

vanilla-almondon Dgraph, GraphQL, Schemas, & CRUD – Ardan Labs

GraphQL seems to sit between the strict relational model and the more free-form approach of NoSQL databases (from I can see, but correct me if I am wrong).

I have not used a GraphQL database, but one of the things I fear about designing a relational database is mentioned in the article:

>"Relational databases are very rigid so you need to really make sure you understand your data upfront. Changing the database is a big effort..." (emphasis is mine)

Given how often requirements change in a business, it seems impossible to anticipate all future requirements at the outset of designing a database. Is it true that changing a (relational) database schema is a big effort? Is this a strong case for GraphQL?

vanilla-almondon Work-from-home boom leads to more surveillance

If you want an example of what workplace surveillance software can monitor and capture, watch the following video. It's simply horrible that employees have to put up with this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA_fJh4lzqQ

vanilla-almondon Show HN: An interactive map of countries by tap water quality

It would be interesting to add statistics for consumption of bottled water for individual countries where this data is available. Bottled water is consumed in many countries even when the quality of tap water is perfectly safe.

For example, here is per capita consumption of bottled water in Europe in 2017, by country:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/455422/bottled-water-con...