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vectorbunny

3,207 karma · joined June 22, 2012

[ my public key: https://keybase.io/rmb; my proof: https://keybase.io/rmb/sigs/cBihcPoOT6vTPA7c9jyhQvATCGG39GsgTFp5x6hfGZA ]
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vectorbunny··on Pre-Sliced Bread was once banned in the United States (2010)
You can sharpen a serrated knife with a vise (or jig) and a round or conical file, one tooth at a time. It is a very tedious thing to do.
vectorbunny··on Parler’s amateur coding could come back to haunt Capitol Hill rioters
As linked in article, scraping code here:

https://github.com/ArchiveTeam/parler-grab/blob/master/parle...

vectorbunny··on California law bans delivery apps from listing a restaurant without an agreement
Frustrated by people having terrible customer service experiences associated with their business but completely out of their control.
vectorbunny··on [pdf] Does this TLD Registrant Agreement allow the NICTL to hack my site?
I read the paragraph you highlighted to mean that they (NICTL) are denying any liability for damages to your site and/or data that may occur due to "NICTL and it’s agents" exercising whatever security procedures they feel necessary.

Someday I would love to see a contract without a bunch of open-ended boilerplate.

vectorbunny··on Bees underwent massive extinctions when dinosaurs did
Paper at: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjourna...
vectorbunny··on Oh, My Hand: Complaints Medieval Monks Scribbled in the Margins of Manuscripts
If you don't mind my asking, are you making your own paper, and if not, what are you using for the pages of the book?
vectorbunny··on Oh, My Hand: Complaints Medieval Monks Scribbled in the Margins of Manuscripts
Favorite:

"St. Patrick of Armagh, deliver me from writing."

vectorbunny··on Keith Alexander's Statement to the NSA Workforce
Sadly, the true brilliance of secret laws and classified programs is that they place incredible barriers in front of anyone attempting to prove they have standing to sue, making constitutional challenges difficult, at best.

“Assuming you don’t know exactly what the government did, how could you possibly have a lawsuit that provides any sort of relief and provides and effective remedy?” Samp asks, “How could the plaintiff know what remedy to ask for when he doesn’t even know what’s happened?” --Richard Samp of the Washington Legal Foundation

SOURCE: http://www.scotusblog.com/2012/10/suing-over-surveillance-se...

vectorbunny··on Ask HN: How does the US Government just "revoke" Snowden's passport?
The principal law enforcement reasons for the U.S. State Department to deny or revoke a passport are the existence of (1) a valid federal or state felony arrest warrant; or (2) a criminal court order, condition of parole or condition of probation that forbids departure from the United States (See 22 C.F.R. 51.60-51.62).

SOURCE: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/smart/pdfs/passport_fact_sheet.pdf

vectorbunny··on Is your Twitter password secure?
First impulse = view source.

   </div>
        <div id="secondbox">
            <h2><div>No no no no no</div><div>No no no You <span>idiot</span>.</div></h2>
             <div id='main'>
                <p>Do you see "twitter.com" in the address bar? No, you don't. Don't ever type your
                    login and password to Twitter on a site that isn't twitter.com. Same with Facebook.
                    And LinkedIn. I guess what I'm trying to say here is, you're an idiot. Don't be an
                    idiot.
                </p>

            </div>
            <!--<h1><div>Repeat after me:</div><div><span>I will not be an idiot.</span></div></h1>-->
        </div>
vectorbunny··on Larry Page "providing free flu shots to all San Francisco bay area kids"
I truly apologize for responding to what I perceived to be your tone rather than to the substance of what you were saying. You are correct, and I should have given the initial comment more extensive and explicit context.
vectorbunny··on Larry Page "providing free flu shots to all San Francisco bay area kids"
I have a deep, abiding, and life long love for dictionaries, though I have found their use as a tool to find meaning more valuable than their use as a cudgel to silence comment.
vectorbunny··on Larry Page "providing free flu shots to all San Francisco bay area kids"
How about karamat?

"Charity does not mean that you give and you feel very good that you have given, that you give and you oblige the person to whom you have given. Then it is not karamat; then it is not charity.

Charity is when you give and you feel obliged that the other has taken it; when you give with no idea that you are obliging anybody in any way; when you give because you have too much. It is not that the other needs.[1]"

[1] http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2006-08-05/edit-...

vectorbunny··on Larry Page "providing free flu shots to all San Francisco bay area kids"
I applaud the practical impact of this act, however I do not view it as charity. Acts of charity are anonymous. Charitable donations made in a highly public manner are publicity.
vectorbunny··on OECD: Telcos Overcharging By Five Orders Of Magnitude
Sorry about the url. The falkvinge.net address in my feed is a product of the HTTPSEverywhere plugin. @Falkvinge tweeted me to find out how I got the url. He is still testing:

'I thought I'd have time to check and roll it out slowly - now, a lot of stuff is still hard-http-linked even on https.'

vectorbunny··on The Oatmeal sued over trademark by ‘Oatmeal Studios’
I just took a look at the Oatmeal Studios website and some examples of their greeting cards. They don't seem to be in the extreme 'Grandma/kittens&&puppies' sector of the market, so I wouldn't automatically assume they would consider Inman's sense of humour detrimental to their brand. This might be settled through financial consideration.

Then again, without direct knowledge of the principals, it is impossible to predict how this might play out.

vectorbunny··on The Oatmeal sued over trademark by ‘Oatmeal Studios’
I would venture a guess that someone at Oatmeal Studios was probably aware of The Oatmeal as an online entity; they took no legal action until Inman entered their domain. I would also expect that Inman was not aware of Oatmeal Studios prior to this venture, and that this matter will be amicably resolved.
vectorbunny··on PPA for Netflix Desktop App
From the initial post:

'This build is not compatible with "vanilla" Wine, so installing this custom package will uninstall any existing Wine installation you have. Back up your current WINE folder to be safe.'

http://www.iheartubuntu.com/2012/11/netflix-on-ubuntu-is-her...

<edit> A peek in Synaptic shows both wine 1.4 && wine-compholio installed. Perhaps the PPA resolved the necessity of the uninstall. In the interest of public safety, I would definitely back up before proceeding.

vectorbunny··on Internal FBI risk assessment of Bitcoin network [pdf]
Thank you for the link. An English translation of the referenced title (Hernando de Soto's 'El otro sendero') is available in the extended network of my public library system, and I have placed a hold on it.
vectorbunny··on Internal FBI risk assessment of Bitcoin network [pdf]
While I am ignorant of the situation in Spain, it is interesting to note that the two other governments detailed in the linked Forbes article have extreme organized crime problems. I am sure this says something about the role of the rule of law in the bootstrapping of trust.

Integrating licit and illicit revenue streams will always be a foundational issue for any illegal enterprise. I have not looked deeply into the implementation details, but Bitcoin does not strike me as a viable money laundering solution. At the point you move large amounts of value out of the ecosystem and into the 'straight' economy, you require the complicity of bankers.

vectorbunny··on Internal FBI risk assessment of Bitcoin network [pdf]
>People do not trust "Federal Reserve notes"

I trust Federal Reserve notes. US currency has high barriers to counterfeiting and can be exchanged for goods and/or services with actual rather than virtual anonymity. I may be a cave man, but I'm not alone. US banknotes are the 'gold standard' of black and grey markets around the world.

vectorbunny··on Terry Callier, Singer and Songwriter (and Programmer), Dies at 67
Seek out 'The New Folk Sound of Terry Callier'. Spare production, strong and haunting voice. These recordings are more than 45 years old and sound like they could have been made yesterday.
vectorbunny··on Computer Scientist Warns of Social Media Manipulation in U.S. Election
My first impulse on reading the parent comment was an urge to note the difference in propagation speed between the inflammatory political cartoon and the manipulative tweet. On reflection, I think the impact of this delta is more than balanced by the resources a critical observer can bring to bear in the context of the process as it exists today. That being said, the political process in the US seems designed to marginalize critical thinkers trying to arrive at sound public policy, leaving the field to those forwarding and protecting private agendas. The national conversation, such as it is, is driven by those parties most adept at injecting noise into public communication channels.

<edited for clarity>

vectorbunny··on Studying the world's oldest undeciphered writing
OP did not alter the headline.
vectorbunny··on A platform that encourages anonymous sharing has launched in beta.
Navigation results in following error:

DNS Points to Prohibited IP

You've requested a page on a website (www.cowonder.com) that is on the CloudFlare network. Unfortunately, it is resolving to an IP address that is creating a conflict within CloudFlare's system. If you are the owner of this website, you should login to CloudFlare and change the DNS A records for www.cowonder.com to resolve to a different IP address.

    Timestamp: Thu, 18 Oct 2012 10:20:58 -0700

    Your IP address: x.x.x.x

    Requested URL: www.cowonder.com/

    Error reference number: 1000
vectorbunny··on Five Ways to Spot (and avoid) a Demagogue
7) Unabashedly eats the fruit (technology) while denying the existence of the tree (science).
vectorbunny··on Dolly the Sheep creator scientist Keith Campbell dies
I can find no report of the details surrounding the passing of Dr. Campbell. From the U. of Nottingham page:

"Professor Campbell is survived by his wife, Kathy Campbell and his two adult daughters, Claire and Lauren Mills.

The funeral has been arranged for 10:30 am on Wednesday 24th October at Bretby Crematorium, Burton Upon Trent, DE15 OQE. If you wish to attend please contact Katherine.lawson@nottingham.ac.uk "

vectorbunny··on US Department of Homeland Security looking for (more than) a few good drones
Excellent podcast on the ethics of automated systems deployed by military, LEOs, etc. featuring Noel Sharkey:

http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/print/6600

From the teaser:

"Noel Sharkey is Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, and Professor of Public Engagement at the University of Sheffield. He holds a Doctorate in Experimental Psychology and a Doctorate of Science, and lectures extensively across academic disciplines, including engineering, philosophy, psychology, cognitive science, linguistics, artificial intelligence and computer science. In addition to having published well over a hundred academic articles and books, Sharkey has worked closely with policy makers and the military to create awareness about the limitations of AI and the dangers of automated warfare."

vectorbunny··on Are patent pools the solution to smartphone lawsuits?
A related and interesting talk given by Columbia Law School's Michael Heller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n89Ec3DFtk
vectorbunny··on Let me guess: You sleep with your iPad, don't you?
Interesting despite the link-bait headline (an editors, not the OPs). Source can be found here:

http://www.journalism.org/analysis_report/future_mobile_news

There is a link above the table of contents that allows the entire paper to be downloaded as a pdf.

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