Wash Trading: How Crypto Exchanges Are Faking 67% of Trade Volume - <AUTHOR> https://blog.cotten.io/wash-trading-how-crypto-exchanges-are-faking-67-of-trade-volume-19ba61cbad4 <comment><USER2> At the bottom of the page we find out:

> Summary

> The Blockchain Transparency Institute released a report claiming a large > majority of cryptocurrency exchange trading volume was fraudulent, based on > "wash trading."

> _The BTI itself is not an easily traceable entity at the time of writing, > and their methodologies for compiling their reports are kept under wraps._

Seems strange to have an organization that advocates for transparency but doesn't practice it itself.</comment>


The Joy of Sleeping Alone - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/opinion/sunday/life-without-sex.html?hp

<comment><USER2> Only for subscribers....

<comment><USER3> I think you just need to delete your cookies or use another browser. They allow you to read a certain number of articles per month.</comment></comment>


Multi-level-of-detail IDE - <AUTHOR>

Hey guys. I am dreaming about an IDE which allows you to seamlessly walk through multiple levels of detail and want to ask if you heard about something similar what already exists.
Imagine. You open an IDE. You see a list of projects. ZOOM into the project you want to work on. You see a list of packages. ZOOM into the package. You see a list of classes. ZOOM into the class. You see a list of variables and methods. You can move the methods up and down, etc. ZOOM into the method and you can edit the code. ZOOM into the code and you can see e.g. call diagrams or documentation. What do you think?
The point is you can zoom in and out easily and quickly navigate on various levels of abstraction. <comment><USER2> I like this idea but you would be up against established players like Jetbrains with the resharper add-in. Your user experience would have to be seemless and intuitive. Now, that said, this interests me. So if you start this as a project I would like to contribute.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Hi :). This could be also possible to implement as a plugin to IDEA, I suppose. Maybe some day I will try to make something like this.</comment>


A new exploit makes it simple to bypass OS X's security protections - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/09/drop-dead-simple-exploit-completely-bypasses-macs-malware-gatekeeper/ <comment><USER2> "It's not an exploit, it's a feature."</comment>


A new way to prevent source code merge hells. - <AUTHOR> http://baboon-project.org

<comment><AUTHOR> Any feedback is welcomed! The source source is available on Github: <https://github.com/SeyZ/baboon></comment>


Don't pay the for-loop tax - <AUTHOR> https://dev.to/danhomola/dont-pay-the-for-looptax <comment><USER2> You're right. 30 years ago, you can't do that with imperative languages. The only solution was a for or a while loop, sometimes quicker than the for loop.</comment>


This new bike bottle fills itself with water - <AUTHOR> http://grist.org/list/this-new-bike-bottle-fills-itself-with-water/

<comment><USER2> > Experiments suggest that the bottle could harvest around 0.5 L water in one > hour's time in regions with high temperature and humidity values

I would have thought that would be not enough but a quick Internet Search suggests that 16oz/450ml is about the optimal intake per hour. Huh!

<comment><USER3> If you are bicycling for one hour in a hot and humid area, aren't you going to sweat about 0.5 L as well ?

<comment><USER2> (I am not a doctor!)

The links I found said it was at least that, possibly as many as 3L.

e.g. [http://www.cptips.com/fluids.htm](http://www.cptips.com/fluids.htm)

> Under normal environmental circumstances, you will lose 1 - 2 liters of > sweat per hour, and if the ambient temperature is high, this can be as high > as 4 - 6 liters per hour.

But you apparently can only take in about 0.5L and process it safely.

e.g. [http://www.hammernutrition.com/knowledge/hydration-what- you-...](http://www.hammernutrition.com/knowledge/hydration-what-you-need-to- know.299.html)

> Dr. Tim Noakes collected data for ten years [and] showed that endurance > athletes who consumed from 16-24 fluid ounces per hour (approx 475-710 > milliliters) typically replenished as much fluid as is efficiently possible

And

> Dr. Ian Rogers suggests that between 500-750 ml/hr (about 17-25 oz/hr) will > fulfill most athletes' hydration requirements under most conditions</comment></comment></comment>


1 in 5 U.S. children live in poverty - <AUTHOR> http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/08/16/national/main20093300.shtml

<comment><USER2> And these children always have at least five siblings, and parents whose only interest is collecting welfare checks or child support payments.

The culture needs to be changed. It's not something that can be solved by giving people enough money to rise above the federally defined poverty line.

</comment><comment><USER3> Elephant in the living room unmentioned in 1000 words: immigration.</comment>


If You Can't Follow Directions, You'll End Up on Null Island - <AUTHOR> http://www.wsj.com/articles/if-you-cant-follow-directions-youll-end-up-on-null-island-1468422251 <comment><USER2> Interesting how this story shows up just _days_ after Minute Earth and Tom Scott's YouTube video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjvIpI-1w84](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjvIpI-1w84)

<comment><USER3> Reminds me of this other story [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11466849](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11466849)

At least this is a fictional island, albeit in a real place, rather than coordinates in an inhabited place bringing unpleasantness to unwilling participants.

<comment><USER4> I find it really astonishing that law enforcement is using IP geolocation to raid homes or investigate. In western Europe this would be unthinkable as police or state agencies solely rely on requesting customer information from providers (based on the IP address).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> There is actually a weather buoy at 0'0 [http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=13010](http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=13010)

<comment><USER6> What's the power source for these buoys for transmission and reception? It doesn't look like there are any solar panels - so are they just running off of a battery that needs to be replaced periodically?

<comment><USER7> It's a battery pack with 84 D-cell alkaline batteries. Source:

[http://tao.ndbc.noaa.gov/proj_overview/pubs/mil96paper.html](http://tao.ndbc.noaa.gov/proj_overview/pubs/mil96paper.html)

> "The board draws approximately 1 mW when in the sleep state, and around 250 > mW when sampling sensors. The entire system averages 10 to 15 mW including > power for all sensors, sampling, and Argos telemetry. By using switching > power supplies where possible, the same battery space available in the > original ATLAS tube will provide a conservative 18-month deployment life > with a battery pack comprised of 84 D-cell alkaline batteries. The low power > system allows the use of inexpensive batteries instead of solar cells or > wind generators. These would attract vandals and add significantly to the > acquisition and maintenance cost of each mooring."

This bouy is fascinating. It has a sub-surface set of sensors and check out the description of how those underwater sensors communicate with the main board of the bouy:

> "The sensors transmit and receive data from the buoy with an inductive > coupling technique."

[...]

> "The tube drives the cable while the sensor drives the secondary coil on the > inductive element. An FSK method of modulating the signal onto the cable is > used with 2 kHz for a logic one, and 4 kHz for a logic zero. With a 2-kbaud > data transfer rate, a one bit is 1 cycle and a zero bit is 2 cycles. By > having data frequencies that are exact integers of the baud rate, the bits > can be phase coherent at their edges, thus eliminating a source of jitter. > The data uses standard ASCII hex format with one start and one stop bit."

<comment><USER8> I'm a little out of my depth, but is there a reason they don't use something like a sealed lead-acid marine battery, rather than a big pile of D-cells?

<comment><USER9> Lead acid has something like 1/4-1/3 the energy density, higher self-discharge rates, are more expensive, and are worse for the environment. The advantage is very high power density (nice for starting cars) and rechargeability, neither of which would be useful here.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> The outline of Null island is taken from Myst. Even the ship is there, but it has become a peninsula (a stoneship, perhaps).

[https://www.google.com/images?q=Myst+island+map](https://www.google.com/images?q=Myst+island+map)

</comment><comment><USER11> Funny, there does not seem to be a Null Island in Google Maps but a whole lot of subsea supermarkets in close proximity:

[https://email@example.com,0.4003209,12z](https://email@example.com,0.4003209,12z)

<comment><USER12> If it was on Google Maps the size of Null Island is defined to be 1 metre squared - which is too small to appear on GMaps I think

<comment><USER13> Well, Null Island has whatever size Null Island has (which is hard to ascertain, given that it doesn't exist) -- but the coordinate (0,0) doesn't have any area at all, it's a point.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> > No one seems to know who started routing them by default to the Atlantic > Ocean

Nobody knows who made sure that a variable was initialized with _something_ , rather than random junk that could turn out to be catastrophic?

<comment><USER14> More appropriately no one seems to know who is routing them to null island.

You can't deal with this type of data for very long before you run into the case where you (or someone who processed the data before you got it) messed up and you end up with 0,0 coordinates.

<comment><USER15> I see a lot of geocoding at work and one of the real mysteries is that null island is a fair few miles around. 0,0 isn't good enough for some people; 0.00001,0.00002, etc always have to get involved. Reliably catching that variant of the "Actually, I think your address is wrong" error needs a null island at least 50 miles across.

If I had to guess, there's a UI somewhere that allows people to drag a pin to the exact right location when it isn't close enough, and feeds that back into a geocoding database. They can only drag for so long across the Atlantic before they give up.

<comment><USER16> Converting coordinates between different coordinate systems could give these figures.

I should probably add a check for this in my work, I think it only checks for null in WGS84 at present...

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> While null should generally be conisdered harmful, initializing with arbitrary data is generally worse.

<comment><USER18> I remember hearing stories about how certain bugs would only show up in the release build, but not the debug build. After lots of debugging, they find out it's because the compiler initialized variables to 0 ("null") in debug mode, but not release mode.

<comment><USER19> Classical [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heisenbug](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heisenbug)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> So this is where all of the hypotheses live and breed!

</comment><comment><USER21> Searching for null island on google maps brings me to the US Library of Congress.

<comment><USER22> Sounds about right.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> I wonder if there is a Pokemon at that lat lon.

</comment><comment><USER24> There is also the city of None. [https://foursquare.com/v/none/51546ecfe4b08e83463f2f8b](https://foursquare.com/v/none/51546ecfe4b08e83463f2f8b)

</comment><comment><USER25> Anyone know where to source that blue map t-shirt? It's great!

<comment><USER26> Probably Kate Chapman, CTO at the Cadasta Foundation.

<comment><USER25> Found, perhaps, the source: [https://github.com/gnip/null- island](https://github.com/gnip/null-island)

Will contact the repo owner to learn about the license...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> "Null Island" search on Google Maps returns Library of Congress.

</comment><comment><USER28> Also used by mapping geeks for 404 pages [http://metrocosm.com/asdasdasdasdas/](http://metrocosm.com/asdasdasdasdas/)

</comment><comment><USER29> That's where you go (for real) to become a Golden Shellback, isn't it?

</comment><comment><USER30> If only the sea were not so deep there, we could build it.

</comment><comment><USER31> Where your bad data goes.</comment>


SHOOTOUT: 2017 iPad Pro versus 2017 MacBook Pro 13-inch - <AUTHOR> http://barefeats.com/ipadpro2017.html <comment><AUTHOR> The 2017 iPad Pro compares favorably on some benchmarks with 2017 13" Dual- Core i7 MacBook Pro.</comment>


Richard Stallman Says You Should Worry About Chrome OS - <AUTHOR> http://digitizor.com/2010/12/14/should-people-be-worried-about-chrome-os-yes-says-richard-stallmann/ <comment><USER2> It's plain as day that people don't want to maintain their own computing environment. Do you think average Joe wants to worry about antivirus definitions? Patches? Drivers? Backups? Let alone building their own servers/services that handle their data.

Chrome OS may fail, but the principle of computing as a managed service will happen regardless of any objections. The only questions are what form it will take, and how soon it will arrive.

Here are my predictions: 1\. Widespread adoption of a system very similar to ChromeOS 2\. Huge vulnerability/breach of said system 3\. Legislative overreaction creates laws intended to protect consumers, but unintentionally shuts the door on any smaller fish looking to get into the Cloud OS pond.

<comment><USER3> if that means i can't customize it. than you are wrong.

for a sneaky peak into the future, just see how many people root their android phones just so they can have the damn status bar black!

and the main reason i resist going back to windows or mac, is the loss of control i will have over my mouse buttons. i like to move windows click anywhere with some modifier key pressed and my buttons [xmod]mapped "1 9 2 4 5 6 7 1 3" very much, thank you.

<comment><USER4> I have to imagine that it's less than 10% of Android owners that root their phones.

Certainly there is power in niche markets in this modern world where the barriers for distribution have been mostly obliterated by the internet..

That wonderful reality also blurs the importance of the majority though.

Most people just want things to work without having to deal with it.

<comment><USER3> for most phones, root is as simple as copying something to the SD card, and booting with some buttons pressed.

pretty 'cheap' in effort to have a [insert slang kids uses these days] skin.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I profoundly disagree with many of Stallman's opinions. However I have tremendous respect for his timing and ability to capitalize on the buzz surrounding something new, and use it as an opportunity to re-state his position.

<comment><USER3> that's his job. it's not like he have to stop coding to write those. so i think it's very easy for him to be always on top of things

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I think he makes a good point about cloud stored data, but failing to acknowledge having a developer mode baked in to the OS and a trusted boot process that doesn't prevent modification was a real mistake. Google obviously went to great pains to buck the polar trends in OS security = either being in denial about the current security landscape, or removing all user control entirely for business purposes in the name of security.

</comment><comment><USER7> FSF founder claims that something that doesn't abide by FSF rules isn't good? No way!

Not that he doesn't have a point here, but I think people already realize that data in the cloud isn't fully secure. People are (individually!) choosing to trade security for convenience.

But then again, given how many personal computers end up in botnets, maybe it's actually -more- secure in Google's hands than their own.

<comment><USER8> _But then again, given how many personal computers end up in botnets, maybe it's actually -more- secure in Google's hands than their own._

Fallacy.

The vulnerable, zombie boxes are in the hands of Microsoft. Users have been helpless in securing their own machines under MS' suzerainty, just as they would be under Google's.

The day you give users real control, whether they can handle it or not, is the day you will come to a full agreement with RMS.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> I won't use Chrome OS. Why should I let some unaccountable megacorporation own my data? The Google we know today is benign, but corporations change, and can be forced to change. Trusting Google with my data today would mean trusting all of the possible future Googles with my data, too, and that's not a bet I'm willing to take.

<comment><USER10> You know, that you can use Chrome OS with your own webapps, not just with Google's, right?

It is just most people not only do not consider to be running their own appservers worth the trouble, but (if this thing catches up), they won't consider maintaining desktop/laptop computers, as we know them today, worth the effort either.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> If your only tool is a Stallman, every problem looks like an OS.

That said, data in the cloud is absolutely less secure from fed perusal. Of course, the lack of commonplace point to point encryption (see the Phil Zimmerman witch hunt in the early 90s) was in many ways a more critical nail in the messaging security coffin.

</comment><comment><USER12> The best case scenario for cloud computing would be some sort of device that you could run on your home network that would provide services like email, web hosting, and file sharing. It would have to be painless to setup. Maybe it could backup heavily encrypted copies of your stuff onto off-site servers just in case. You could VPN/SSH into your cloud wherever you had an internet connection.

Unfortunately, I think such a device would STILL be too much work for the average computer user when all it takes is a couple seconds to make a dropbox account.

<comment><USER13> Sounds a lot like me for a perfect use for a Mac Mini Server or Pogoplug.

<comment><USER12> I use a spare computer and a couple virtual machines. The only thing that makes me nervous is the possibility of natural disaster or hardware failure.

The Pogoplug looks like it's geared towards file sharing, but it's very promising.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> He brings up some good points for those who agree with his stance. While they sometimes have a bit of wisdom to impart, I have a tendency to not listen to the jaded and disenfranchised old guard once they begin whining.

<comment><USER8> It was only yesterday when the cloud kicked wikileaks out. Then 200 private boxes sprung up, and came to its aid.

When people own their data, and their computing resources, they tend to do whatever they want with it.

Could you imagine waking up one morning to find your computing privileges revoked because you have an overdue parking ticket or some such?

<comment><USER15> Good points. Not to mention that a large, visible target like Google would attract even more people with malicious intent since the payoffs would be much higher.

And no, Google is not invulnerable, as evidenced by last year's intrusions that originated from China.</comment></comment></comment>


FreeCodeCamp Python Certifications Now Live - <AUTHOR> https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/python-curriculum-is-live/ <comment><USER2> Nice to hear that! Python was the only pearl missing in the otherwise beautiful necklace of freecodecamp.</comment>


The Sharashka Phenomenon (2011) - happy-go-lucky http://russianhistoryblog.org/2011/03/the-sharashka-phenomenon/ <comment><AUTHOR> > the prisoners themselves called sharaga (or sharashka in its diminutive > form), a word derived from a Soviet-era slang expression meaning a sinister > organization based on bluff or deceit.

while it somewhat nuanced, wikipedia provides better sense of that word (specifically the "sinister" above doesn't sound right)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharashka](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharashka):

Etymologically, the word sharashka is derived from a Russian slang expression sharashkina kontora ("Sharashka's office", which in its turn comes from the criminal argot term sharaga (шарага) for a band of thieves, hoodlums, etc.[1]), an ironic, derogatory term to denote a poorly organized, impromptu, or bluffing organization.

<comment><USER2> Well that's translation and localization for you. The end result is always filtered through the personal biases of the translator. Although to some people evil and criminal might be same thing as well.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Once I watched a documentary about US nuclear and space programmes, the way engineers lived and worked there in forties cannot be directly compared to sharashkas but the military and the government still limited the engineers (especially germans and jews) in many ways.

<comment><USER4> I still don't think that it even closely compares to soviet antisemitism. Don't know about the Germans, but I don't they were treated better.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Read Soljenitsin's (spelling?) 'The first circle' to get a good idea of sharaskas.

<comment><USER6> There is a recent (2009) edition of the same book titled _In the First Circle_ which includes chapters which were removed for the first edition ( _The First Circle_ , published 1968). Anyone interested in the title should also consider listening to the two EconTalk podcast episodes relating to the book.

[http://www.econtalk.org/kevin-mckenna-on-solzhenitsyn-the- so...](http://www.econtalk.org/kevin-mckenna-on-solzhenitsyn-the-soviet-union- and-in-the-first-circle/)

[http://www.econtalk.org/kevin-mckenna-on-characters-plot- and...](http://www.econtalk.org/kevin-mckenna-on-characters-plot-and-themes- of-in-the-first-circle/)

Also, _One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich_ is a much shorter, more easily digested, novel by Solzhenitsyn.

<comment><USER7> I'm in the middle of _In_the_first_circle_ right now and really enjoying it. I also got turned on to it from econ talk. Highly recommend reading this book!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> It appears to me that a rigidly controlled organization, like the Sharashka seems to have been, is actually a pretty effective way to reach a well-defined objective. For example, reverse engineering something, or "make us a thing like those people over there have". The reason the Soviet Union and China (when it was actually communist) could do well at catch-up, but not as well when it was time to move into the lead, was that it is not a good system for researching or engineering new things, because in that case you need to try a lot of different things and see what works.

<comment><USER9> The Soviets pioneered space travel.

The Soviets dominated mathematical research; the West only caught up when the government collapsed and the Soviet mathematicians emigrated to the West.

[https://www.nber.org/papers/w17800](https://www.nber.org/papers/w17800)

<comment><USER10> It would be news to von Ardenne et al to hear that they were Soviet, and their input to Soviets' "pioneering" space travel is at least as important as von Braun's to American space program.

(edit: spelling)

<comment><USER11> Von Braun not only succeeded in getting German researchers to USA, but headed a major space program when the need arose. Participation of German rocket specialists in Soviet space projects was more modest - first, the level of expertise wasn't quite the same as in von Braun's team, then they didn't really collaborate with Soviets as information was going only in one direction. At some point Korolev felt that Germans became less useful than their absence - given that Germans didn't have the feedback from their proposals, how it affects the work of Korolev's team. Then the German group's work was done.

So, I don't think von Ardenne - who worked on nuclear projects, not rocketry - or other German participation is as big as what von Braun's team has achieved.

<comment><USER10> Don't forget that while Americans got von Braun and his brains, Soviets got not only von Ardenne (who was quite bright anyway) but also everything from rocket (and other) factories) that wasn't nailed to the floor. Whatever was nailes has been moved together with floors.

By all indications, von Ardenne worked on quite a few projects, and it is quite interesting that the Soviet Moon project that ran when Germans were allowed to go home, ended in nothing much more than a few spectacular explosions.

<comment><USER11> No, Soviet Moon project had a list of successes and firsts and I would estimate was about 80% complete when it was closed. You don't launch a 100+ meter high rocket four times in 1970s, with the fourth time up until to thrust terminating sequence of the first stage, and call it a few spectacular explosions. The list of spinoffs is too numerous to list - Block D derivatives still fly, NK-33s still fly, Proton... Soyuz spacecraft... and it would be hard for one person with level of distrust which Germans had in post-war USSR to affect such a program to a scale of singular importance. Von Ardenne left USSR for East Germany in 1954 when works on - hugely successful - R-7 didn't even start, and Soviet Moon project was closed in 1974 - there definitely was some time to move development ahead.

<comment><USER10> There certainly was enough time, but they never made it to the moon. These days, though, there is a nice cottage industry of "moon landing was a hoax" experts, with one of main arguments being "hey, even we couldn't make it".

<comment><USER11> No, the time was rather short. Americans made it by 1969 with almost no time to spare, and they arguably had more both time (USSR started working on the moonshot some years later) and resources (the same team which worked on N-1 also worked on strategic missiles). That's not to mention the whole point of JFK plan - to raise the bar high enough so USSR would be unlikely to get to the finish line first. JFK's advisers calculated time right.

The point where we started was that Soviets pioneered the space travel and remained - up no now - comparatively quite good at it. I'd attribute that both to good decisions made at the foundation of the industry - and to lack of commitment to space advancements on the West especially after Moon race and end of Cold War in general.

<comment><USER10> I completely agree with the latter point, but while Americans have no problem admitting that von Braun was instrumental to the US space program, Soviets never even mentioned von Ardenne's name anywhere (just like it has never been mention that Hugo Schmaisser just happened to be a war trophy at the factory where Kalashnikov worked).

Of couirse it's not like SOviet space rocketry ewxisted in a vacuum, completely separate from ballistic missiles either. Gagarin's rocket basically was one of the early ICBMs. Once they realized that making copies of B-29 will only get them so far, they threw all the effort into rockets instead. Space program was a side-effect.

<comment><USER11> It was not a secret in USSR that Germans participated in early post-war rocketry works. Boris Chertok - in post-Soviet memoirs - describes works of team of Herman Grottrup. I'm not sure von Ardenne had that much influence on space-related technologies. Soviets rather have hidden their own projects, trying to paint too rosy a picture of a string of successes.

Orbit-capable rockets were for a long time being developed for military goals, it was only governments which can afford them and governments had their own justifications. In USA, for example, a lot of military rocket technologies found their way into civilian NASA programs.

<comment><USER10> In post-Soviet memoirs, indeed. Of course Chertok would know who worked there. The general populace only heard rumours that possibly Guderian was teaching in a military academy and was convinced that of course Tu-4, Elbrus, the Bomb, rockets, AK-47 and all that were purely homegrown inventions.

At least after Stalin's death they stopped claiming that pretty much everything has been invented or discovered by Russians (with an occasional Ukrainian or Uzbek thrown in for good measure).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I've been thinking about this a lot and came to a conclusion that because of the fact that in communist/socialist society of Soviet Union money couldn't buy you things you wanted, government really struggled to motivate people.

That's why they resorted to intimidations, threats and physical abuse to force people to perform, as soon as propaganda couldn't bring the needed motivation anymore.

In the west a lot of people work hard because they anticipate some big reward in the end. In Soviet Union, even celebrities lived like peasants, only party leaders had more than others.

<comment><USER13> In the USSR, money could buy you anything, provided you knew the right people.

<comment><USER12> Well to me that means that knowing the right people got you stuff, not money.</comment></comment></comment>


[Record breaking] 2016 Singles Day Data: growth slows down - <AUTHOR> https://walkthechat.com/double-11-shopping-festival-data-china-e-commerce-trend/ <comment><USER2> So crazy, $17 billion in one day...

<comment><AUTHOR> Yep, that's China</comment></comment>


Be Kind (2015) - <AUTHOR> http://boz.com/articles/be-kind.html <comment><USER2> I don't care about the date on this, it was always true, and will always be true.

Take the time to read this and evaluate how you interact with others. Be honest about yourself, and your effectiveness in how you work with them.

If you choose to dismiss this, do so in full knowledge of what you are doing. That's a choice, and you can make it.

Personally, I choose to be kind whenever I can. I don't always succeed, but I try.</comment>


The ease of WhatsApp feeds the craze for child porn in India - <AUTHOR> https://factordaily.com/the-ease-of-whatsapp-feeds-the-craze-for-child-porn-in-india/ <comment><USER2> This makes me wonder how best to solve this problem in a truly zero-knowledge, E2E-encrypted app. Do you hash images and test against a known database before sending? Do you use image recognition on the device?

It seems like a truly private messaging app can't/won't fix this, so any app could become a substitute for WhatsApp if they do fix it.</comment>


Trilobites Were Stone-Cold Killers - <AUTHOR> http://www.livescience.com/53682-trilobites-were-savvy-killers.html <comment><USER2> Has anybody seen another article on this besides the study itself? Livescience's _constant_ (every second or two) traversal of ad/metrics sites is obnoxious.</comment>


Show HN: An unmanned self service chat bubble (Kylie.ai Bubble) - <AUTHOR> https://www.kylie.ai/bubble <comment><AUTHOR> Hey all!

Just wanted to give you an idea as how the Kylie.ai bubble works.

It uses a generalized data mining system to grab questions and answers from multiple levels of your knowledge center (meaning it can grab from a single page of FAQs or hundreds of pages of help articles) and uses that information to answer incoming customers' questions in real time using a natural language engine! It is natively integrated with our Kylie cloning technology and is in essence, cloning your knowledge center!

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask :)</comment>


Chi-square goodness-of-fit, Benford's law, and the Iranian election - <AUTHOR> http://incanter.wordpress.com/2009/06/21/chi-square-goodness-of-fit/ <comment><USER2> Walter Mebane uses Benford's Law on the second digit as a more reliable system to detect electoral fraud: <http://www.umich.edu/~wmebane/pm06.pdf> Furthermore, it is interesting to note that he pointed out in 2006 that the results of the Mexican presidential election seemed fraudulent and he recommended a recount. But at that time the mainstream media seemed quite happy with the official winner, so they didn't talk about it, even when over two million Mexicans protested in Mexico City over the election results. The mainstream media decided to ignore all the statistical evidence of fraud, and just label the other candidate a a "sore loser".

</comment><comment><USER3> Commentators are "explaining" the Iran elections based on their own illusions, delusions, emotions, and vested interests. Whether or not the poll results predicting Ahmadinejad's win are sound, there is, so far, no evidence beyond surmise that the election was stolen. However, there are credible reports that the CIA has been working for two years to destabilize the Iranian government.

On May 23, 2007, Brian Ross and Richard Esposito reported on ABC News: "The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell ABC News."

On May 27, 2007, the London Telegraph independently reported: "Mr. Bush has signed an official document endorsing CIA plans for a propaganda and disinformation campaign intended to destabilize, and eventually topple, the theocratic rule of the mullahs."

A few days previously, the Telegraph reported on May 16, 2007, that Bush administration neocon warmonger John Bolton told the Telegraph that a US military attack on Iran would "be a 'last option' after economic sanctions and attempts to foment a popular revolution had failed."

On June 29, 2008, Seymour Hersh reported in the New Yorker: "Late last year, Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran, according to current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources. These operations, for which the President sought up to four hundred million dollars, were described in a Presidential Finding signed by Bush, and are designed to destabilize the country's religious leadership."

\--> <http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts06192009.html>

Yep, a full blown infowar is what we have here.

<comment><USER4> That's what I don't understand: Weeks before the election several polls (including ones by Western newspapers) predicted a 2 to 1 win for Ahmadinejad. These predictions were all fairly uncontroversial as far as I could tell.

Now suddenly everywhere I look there's stories about young photogenic Iranians getting shot at while protesting the election results. I keep hearing about claims that the election was rigged but so far I've not seen anything concrete.

The only way I can make sense of this is by assuming infowar / agent provocateur / other covert tactics employed by the USA. Iran has been a thorn in the side of America's middle-eastern foreign interests for a long time, and poking holes in it's democratic process is an important step.

I can't even visit Reddit at the moment, every second story is about Americans getting angry at Ahmadinejad.

<comment><USER5> All of the election polls that I'd seen predicting a 2-1 win also had 40-60 percent of the respondents not responding. That they all broke for Ahmadinejad seems... unlikely.

<comment><USER6> Hello,

I am putting together information on the Iranian elections for a report I am doing on the political risks of international investment. The information that I have collected thus far indicated that the highest rate of non respondents in the indicated polls was 43%. That was the rate for the Washington Post poll. Would it be possible for you to share the polling data with me for the polls with non respondent rates higher than 43%. That data would be EXTREMELY helpful to me.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Wow -- incanter looks terrible. All that code to run a chi2 test and a plot?

<comment><USER7> The plots and chi-square tests are a single function each, it's the data preparation that takes up so much space. Alas, most statistical analyses involve a lot of preparatory steps, which are rarely shown in the final write- up.

<comment><USER5> Since I recently did something similar in R:

       d <- read.csv(file='~/stuff/earlh/Iran_2009.csv', header=T, sep=',')

       lastDigit <- function(v){
       	v - 10*floor(v/10)
       }

       digits <- lastDigit( c(d$Ahmadinejad, d$Karroubi, d$Mousavi, d$Rezaee))
       hist(digits, breaks=10)

       #chi2 gof
       tab <- table(digits)
       n <- length(digits)

       model <- chisq.test(x=tab, p=rep(0.1, 10))
       model

       # hand generated -- check our work above
       ts <- 0
       for(i in 1:length(tab)){
       	ts <- ts + ( tab[[i]] - 0.1*n)^2 / (0.1*n)
       }
       qchisq(p=1-0.076, df=9)

and to be more specific:

      (def regions (sel votes :cols "Region"))
      (def ahmadinejad-votes (sel votes :cols "Ahmadinejad"))
      (def mousavi-votes (sel votes :cols "Mousavi"))
      (def rezai-votes (sel votes :cols "Rezai"))
      (def karrubi-votes (sel votes :cols "Karrubi"))
      # -or-
      attach(d)

      (def ahmadinejad (map first-digit ahmadinejad-votes))
      (def mousavi (map first-digit mousavi-votes))
      (def rezai (map first-digit rezai-votes))
      (def karrubi (map first-digit karrubi-votes))
      # -or-
       digits <- lastDigit( c(d$Ahmadinejad, d$Karroubi, d$Mousavi, d$Rezaee))  # not even attached -- could drop d$

etc. While it's obviously a matter of taste, it looks horridly verbose.

<comment><USER8> It could be done more concisely by using data structures and the (map fn struct) function, but it was expanded for clarty.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: How and why video conferencing interactions are different? - <AUTHOR> Why Skype and Zoom aren't quite as good as meeting in the physical world ? <comment><USER2> About me: consultant & trainer that does a lot of remote & in-person training. I'm flying cross-country at the moment (literally, typing this in a plane) to meet with a group of people for that exact reason - they need to rapidly cover a lot of topics. It's worth tens of thousands of dollars to them to get everybody in a room to get that high resolution level of detail & cooperation.

In person, I can see very high resolution details of dozens of people in a meeting at once, and see at a glance who agrees, disagrees, or isn't following along at all. Typical example: 15-20 people will be discussing a very tough architectural decision that will affect a company for years to come. We all need to see each other clearly and pick up on non-verbal cues that folks might have an objection, but be hesitant to say it out loud. (Or just might not really buy into something, but be just going along to save face.)

Remotely, especially when people are in a mix of remote & in-person in conference rooms, I can't get enough pixels of detail to determine that information.

</comment><comment><USER3> my take for one-on-one video calls is that they're hard because you have to constantly be attentive to the other person, and it seems rude to look away or do anything else, whereas in in-person conversations it's actually more possible to look in other directions and still be present. I'm not sure that applies for larger conferences, though.</comment>


Finnish software company Relex raises $200M from TCV to fight food waste - <AUTHOR> https://venturebeat.com/2019/02/06/relex-raises-200-million-from-tcv-to-help-retailers-predict-demand-and-automatically-replenish-stock/ <comment><AUTHOR> Relex' own press release: [https://www.relexsolutions.com/tcv- makes-200-million-investm...](https://www.relexsolutions.com/tcv- makes-200-million-investment-in-relex-solutions/)</comment>


LA County is using an algorithm to clear 50k pot convictions faster - <AUTHOR> https://www.engadget.com/2019/04/01/los-angeles-california-pot-convictions-algorithm-san-joaquin/ <comment><USER2> Hooray for "algorithm", not "neural network".</comment>


Spear Phishing – It Can Happen to Anyone - <AUTHOR> https://sentinelips.com/2017/01/23/spear-phishing-can-happen-anyone/ <comment><USER2> Wow, that's some really dedicated scammer you had there. Looking up your personal info on Facebook and then impersonating your wife to trick you into installing malware is certainly a step further than I've seen anyone go before with something like this.

It's pretty scary to think about really.

However, it also makes me wonder... how was the scammer so dedicated here?

Seems like he or she wasn't the typical opportunist, but someone who actually wanted to hijack your life in particular. Are most scammers this dedicated now? Or did you somehow bump into a more determined criminal than usual?

Because I'm not sure I can see this sort of scam happening to most people. Seems like it'd be a fair bit more work for a scammer than just sending random phishing emails pretending to be the bank or what not.

It's a good warning, but the lengths the scammers went to in order to try and trick you makes me wonder if it was more of a targeted attack rather than the kind most people will encounter online.</comment>


Show HN: IsServiceUp – Monitor the status of all your cloud services in one page - <AUTHOR> http://isserviceup.com/ <comment><USER2> Well done!

May I suggest: [https://status.postmarkapp.com](https://status.postmarkapp.com)

I'd send a PR myself but I'm literally getting up from my desk to prepare for travel. I've made myself a reminder for this for next week just in case it isn't added by someone else, but I figured there's value in the suggestion in the meantime.

Thanks, and again, this is very well done. I can imagine going to this whenever some app of ours starts getting problem reports.

</comment><comment><USER3> I like it.

May I suggest an array of squares (maybe something like dashing.io's demo) with color codes?

I would like to put it on a screen so we can just look at a glance (and remove certain squares we don't use)

</comment><comment><USER4> Very cool!

I did a similar project a few months ago! One day after lunch people were starting to run around saying our system was down. I checked a few of our dependencies and realized it was out of our hands. (Still our problem, but nothing we could fix, only mitigate).

So Snu was born, take a look! Looks like we had a similar itch!

[https://github.com/jskulski/snu](https://github.com/jskulski/snu)

</comment><comment><USER5> Well, that's ironic - the site seems down.</comment>