Show HN: Debug Dockerized Go application using debugger and Hot-Reload - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/moshebe/gebug <comment><USER3> That's super useful. I wish I had something like that for other platforms - <USER2> you plan to support other environments in the future (like Node.js)?

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks. Actually, I considered make it a generic platform but then I decided to focus on Go applications and check how things work and make the adoptions according to the users' feedback. Your suggestion is on my backlog and I'd like if you open an issue for that in the repository.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Awesome! Super useful and fights some good old pains

</comment><comment><USER5> Super cool. Already saw this on Github actually. It'd be awesome if it supports remote containers as well.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks. Please note I replied on the issue you have opened. Sound like a good idea I'd be happy if you will help with the development of this feature.

<comment><USER5> Curious about did you come up with this project. I had similar issue when needed to debug a remote Go container on one of my dev machines. Needed to build & push a 800MB image every single time.</comment></comment></comment>


Concert Industry Struggles With 'Bots' That Siphon Off Tickets - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/27/business/media/bots-that-siphon-off-tickets-frustrate-concert-promoters.html?hpw

<comment><USER2> Welcome to the free market. This is what happens when you underprice tickets. If you priced them appropriately, there would be no role for bots to play.</comment>


What city does pg's Internet Connection show on Google Analytics? - <AUTHOR>

I was geeking out over a nice spike to our ycintro video which happened on Nov 3, but wondered how one would know it was pg (or crew) actually looking at the video.  So I pose this question, does anyone know which city pg's internet connection would appear on Google Analytics? <comment><USER2> The YCombinator office is in Mountain View.

<comment><AUTHOR> agreed, however, I'm sure like the rest of us, work manages to come home.

<comment><USER2> Well, you could email the YC crew asking for their personal addresses... or you could ask them if they were watching your video.</comment></comment></comment>


How Model Ts were made… - <AUTHOR> http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2011/04/25/how-model-ts-were-made/ <comment><USER2> Something that struck me as interesting is that not only did the assembly line concept enforce consistency in mass manufacturing of parts and product, and isolating assembly into simple repeatable processes (hook this up here, turn this, repeat), but the literal line itself doesn't ever stop. It enforces efficiency from the workers. You _had_ to get your part onto the vehicle before it moved onto the next station or the vehicle would simply move on.

No longer was manufacturing dictated by the speed of the worker, the process dictated the speed _to_ the worker. The increase in efficiency alone must have been astronomical.

I wonder if in some ways, some of the plants I've seen (like VWs newer plants), that _don't_ have this kind of enforced production schedule are really a step back.

<comment><USER3> There is an enormous school of thought around that question, and current opinion leans against you.

The question is: is the bigger problem workers occasionally being slow, or workers doing things to a fixed schedule such that they can't identify and resolve problems right away?

See the Wikipedia page on lean manufacturing: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_manufacturing>

<comment><USER2> I can't recall off the top of my head, how do Toyota plants operate? Does the line stop at each worker's station until the worker signals "done"?

(excluding the fully mechanized parts of the line of course)

<comment><USER4> most modern plants keep the vehicle in motion at a manageable rate. At the low end, from 45 sec, to over 2 minutes for a low volume line, per pitch.

Tasks are theoretically balanced across stations so that each employee gets their task(s) complete before the body pitches into the next station. If there is a critical task not done, they can halt the line. (and get all kinds of help and motivation they'd probably like to avoid)

Lines are broken out into business units with small buffers between each so that a short stoppage in one area doesn't stop any other.

tl;dr lines keep moving

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> What amazes me is how much credit Henry Ford got for things he didn't do:

Henry didn't design the Model T or the Ford logo it was C. Harold Wills his first employee

Henry didn't come up with the concept of the $5 a day wage it was his lieutenant James Couzens who later became a US senator from Michigan.

Yet history books generally give him all the credit. The book Henry's lieutenants details the accomplishments of these executives.

<comment><USER6> Along those lines, my history classes in HS said Henry Ford was the first manufacturer to find success using interchangeable parts. Not true. The rifle industry got there first.

<comment><USER7> To be blunt, US history textbooks generally _suck_. A lot of simplified public mythology makes it to classrooms to be regurgitated.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> What impressed me were the videos of people taking the Model T "off-roading". I would never attempt to drive my current car into a ditch like that.

</comment><comment><USER9> The first thing that struck me is how _white_ everyone is.

When did Ford racially integrate? Wikipedia's got nothing.

<comment><USER10> You must have a pretty racist world view if the _first_ thing that strikes you in a tech story is the skin color of the people involved.

<comment><USER9> Well, that's possible. Or, I could be from the Detroit area, and be well familiar with the current racial makeup of the UAW.

I've seen a modern GM assembly line. The whiteness of this historical assembly line is... quite striking.

<comment><USER11> The boom in industrial manufacturing work is what drove a lot of the migration of southern blacks to the Northeast and Midwest. These early Ford plants were at the beginning of that movement.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I can't be the only one that immediately thought you were talking about terminators. This is really cool regardless.

</comment><comment><USER13> If you enjoyed this, you should definitely visit the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mi... They take apart and reassemble a model T everyday in the museum.

My favorite part of the museum is the Rouge factory tour. Completely integrated manufacturing, the type that I don't think exists anywhere in the world. Essentially you had coal and iron ore come in one side of the factory and Model A's being pumped out 48 hours later on the other side. An incredible site (now it's just a Ford Truck Assembly, but you can see amazing videos of the past) <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_River_Rouge_Complex>

Another must visit factory is Boeing in Everett, Wa <http://www.boeing.com/commercial/tours/index.html></comment>


ClonOS – new virtualisation focused operating system - <AUTHOR> https://clonos.tekroutine.com <comment><USER2> Looks awesome.</comment>


Show HN: Update on 'Best ways to spend money towards climate efforts' - <AUTHOR> https://esotericnonsense.com/climate <comment><AUTHOR> Hello all,

A few days back I made a post asking for suggestions on ways to donate money towards climate efforts.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21024358](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21024358)

The post was well received and I got a bunch of actionable suggestions.

I've now started a log at:

[https://esotericnonsense.com/climate](https://esotericnonsense.com/climate)

and will be donating $500/month for now with a plan to increase this in the future.

As before, all suggestions welcome, my e-mail address is in my profile and on the page itself.

Cheers!</comment>


Artificial Intelligence, Automation and Work - <AUTHOR> http://www.nber.org/papers/w24196 <comment><AUTHOR> "[M]uch of the debate in both the popular press and academic circles centers around a false dichotomy. On the one side are the alarmist arguments that the oncoming advances in AI and robotics will spell the end of work by humans, while many economists on the other side claim that because technological break- throughs in the past have eventually increased the demand for labor and wages, there is no reason to be concerned that this time will be any different."

The paper provides a model including considerations that could swing the impact of automation either way, including some mixed outcomes. Ie, new jobs could be created to replace those displaced, but skills mismatches create long adjustment periods.</comment>


A dive into the world of MS-DOS viruses - <AUTHOR> https://blog.benjojo.co.uk/post/dive-into-the-world-of-dos-viruses <comment><USER2> Ah yes, I have fond memories of writing TSR pranks that hooked common DOS interrupts (not technically viruses since they didn't infect/replicate) that did things like:

1) buffer 1 keystroke in memory (so typing diw<backspace>r would leave "di" on screen - then they'd type "r" and get an "r" and then hit enter and get another "r", then they'd hit backspace to correct the "dirr" and the command would execute, etc)

2) hooked the printer interrupt to introduce typos in printouts

3) randomly swap letters on the screen periodically

Fun times. It's probably for the best that I grew up in the era that I did since pulling pranks like these has a high risk of getting slapped with felony charges in this day and age.

<comment><USER3> Randomly transpose keys }:>

Random error messages

Reboot randomly

Create unusual files

And yet the antivirus can't find anything. :)

BBS lists, Turbo Debugger and that giant purple & white Microsoft Press book with most of the Int 21h calls. Undocumented DOS, Undoc PC and Abrash's books were also helpful. Later, there were good free resources.

Yeah, DOS viruses were bad: booting off an infected floppy, infected HD or running untrusted code was all it took. In Windows, it was worse because autorun would run untrusted code automatically without warning.

There were some darn useful TSR's like Super PC-kwik Power Pak, QEMM and Desqview. Stacker and Doublespace/DriveSpace were kinda slow but did (mostly) work. Stacker had an accelerator card IIRC. And a commercial white bag/gray box mod for Welltris, Mouse Commander, added mouse support to Welltris for DOS by doing some mouse driver to keyboard translation in a TSR that was loaded and unload in a wrapper .BAT file. Many trainers, no-cd/runtime cracks and cheats also used TSR tricks to run.

<comment><USER4> Qemm was essential. Not only did it hook CTRL+ALT+DEL to skip the POST BIOS check, making reboots faster, but it made it possible to shunt stuff out of convential memory into extended memory, making it possible to run games whilst having various drivers and so forth loaded.

Qemm was the single best thing that ever happened to DOS-using me. The second best was Windows 95.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Guilty. In 1988 or so I made a virus that attached to .com files, which would spread it to others when executed. It was never released into the open. On each infection, it incremented a generation counter. Upon reaching a certain value, the payload would trigger, causing a message to be printed.

What the heck was I using? MASM? TASM? I cannot remember.

IIRC, looking for other .com files was just using DOS's FindFirst and FindNext functions at int 21h. (I'm now naming them in terms of their Win32 counterparts.)

I think I didn't have a sanity check against duplicate infection in the early versions and added that during testing. 17 year old's programmer's "doh" moment.

I remember that I ran the experiments in a subdirectory called "petridir". :)

</comment><comment><USER6> I always thought the Casino DOS virus was pretty inventive. If an infected file is run on the payload date, it moves the FAT to RAM and warns the user not to shut down their computer. The user plays a game with IIRC a 1/17 chance of winning. If they win, the FAT is restored, else it's gone.

I think it's an interesting way of holding the PC hostage.

A video of the virus in action: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdZJHvBRRqg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdZJHvBRRqg), that channel has loads of videos documenting DOS/Win9X viruses. Some are very creative.

<comment><USER7> Actually it doesn't restore FAT even if you win :) Check out: [https://imgur.com/a/jru1vRn](https://imgur.com/a/jru1vRn)

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Any chance someone could upload the VX Heavens dataset of viruses to the Internet Archive?

[https://archive.org/details/malwaremuseum](https://archive.org/details/malwaremuseum)

<comment><USER9> They're there already: [https://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22vx+heaven%...](https://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22vx+heaven%22)

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Discussion about the 35C3 talk from a few days ago: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18790889](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18790889)

</comment><comment><USER10> From the perspective of the user, MS-DOS was a lousy OS. However, as a tinkerer, it was super fun. To this day, my best programming memories are about using Turbo Assembler and the information from Interrup.lst to do weird things with the graphics card's text mode (unusual resolutions, borders, 18 bit color palettes, smooth scrolling...).

EDIT: typo.

</comment><comment><USER11> Wondering whats the latest activation date found in entire archive. He mentioned he sampled all dates up to 2005.

</comment><comment><USER12> Some WERE malicious. Such as the virus "FORM", which corrupted the partition somehow.</comment>


When the Lion Wakes: The Global Threat of the Chinese Communist Party - <AUTHOR> https://quillette.com/2019/07/22/when-the-lion-wakes-the-global-threat-of-the-chinese-communist-party/ <comment><USER2> > Chinese citizens have been indoctrinated for decades with the idea that > Party is country.

Not withstanding the huge amount of conjecturing ('Drunk with confidence'? very objective) in the article, I think this is the root of the problem. That people believe an entire set of the population could be brainwashed as in losing the ability to think, and that it can never happen to themselves. This leads to dehumanizing the other group and generates hatred. I don't think an average American is less likely to be influenced by indoctrination (from whatever source) then an average Chinese. While both will wholy believe in whatever they've chose/led to believe.

This aside, from the people I know from China, _none_ thinks that party is the country.

</comment><comment><USER3> Outdated in the Hong Kong front as even she herself was surprised that emergency power is used. Dictatorship is now ruled in hk.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Remember Britain started its colonialism through commerce.

<comment><USER3> because of ...</comment></comment>


Ask HN: How do you disable JavaScript based annoyances on browser? - <AUTHOR> Currently, I use uBlock Origin on Firefox and Chrome. I would like to ask the HN community if there are any other JavaScript blockers I could install. In particular, I would like to know the answers to these questions:
1. Do you also use NoScript or a similar extension?
2. If you do use NoScript or a similar plugin, do you still need to keep uBlock Origin? Wouldn't NoScript itself disable all JavaScript thereby making uBlock Origin unnecessary?
3. Is there any capability or feature natively present in the browser that allows me to block all JavaScript while whitelisting a few websites where JavaScript could be enabled? <comment><USER2> I use both uBlock Origin and uMatrix with Firefox. uMatrix is an extension written by the same author as uBlock Origin which allows you to block JavaScript, cookies, AJAX calls and various other things on a very granular basis (e.g., allow references to JavaScript on jquery.com from example.com, but block it from other sites).

</comment><comment><USER3> I always used NoScript for Firefox and tor, which I find works well.

I don't use anything for Chrome (my main browser), but rather just switch to Firefox when I come across JS annoyances on a site. I'd also like to hear some Chrome options that are easy to use and toggle.

</comment><comment><USER4> Chrome, lets you disable javascript by site. Works like a charm to stop javascript BS.

</comment><comment><USER5> uBlock Origin with 3rd party scripts disabled by default. That seems to get rid of the vast majority of annoyances.</comment>


Access the BBC stream of the Olympics  - <AUTHOR>

Frustrated by NBC's inability to offer a package to those of us who have long ago cut cable, but still want to catch the Olympics (or just today's hockey game)?
ZenMate, a web proxy/encryption service has a free trial going on. Install the Chrome extension. Set your location to Great Britain and then head over to the BBC site where you'll be able to stream to your heart's content.
Note: The British play-by-play for the hockey games is hysterical. <comment><USER2> Using Tunlr's DNS servers also provides access from the rest of the world. They are still free for non-netflix/hulu sites.</comment>


Men and Women Adapt Differently to Spaceflight (2014) - <AUTHOR> https://www.nasa.gov/content/men-women-spaceflight-adaptation/ <comment><USER2> "The groups observed that the disparity of spaceflight data available for men and women who have flown in space – 477 men vs. 57 women as of June 2013 – makes it difficult to derive concrete conclusions based on sex and gender alone."

Statistics can't work like that, can it? It's surely _not_ harder to derive concrete conclusions from a large, imbalanced 477-57 group than from a smaller but balanced 57-57 group... right?

At the extreme, you could always take a random subsample of 57 men.

Note: I agree that imbalance is bad, I just disagree that it's bad for taking the conclusions listed in the article and other similar conclusions.

<comment><USER3> Well, 57 isn't really that great of a number by itself. Especially given their exposure to space is relatively transient (compared to, let's say, Earth-based factors) and that you're looking for relatively rare outcomes (like radiation- based issues), 57 is vastly under-powered.

Where the disparity is a real problem, though, is in the matching. You can't just take a random sampling of men and women, you need the populations to match. Think age, race, marriage status, educational achievement, military experience, etc. With so few women, it's hard to get appropriately-matched comparisons. Hence, from the summary:

>Female NASA space station astronauts are on average 2 years younger than male astronauts. While there were no significant differences in the percentage of male (76%) and female space station astronauts (69%) who were married, a significantly greater percentage of male astronauts had at least one child (67% versus 38%) and overall, men had more children than women. From a professional perspective, female NASA space station astronauts have almost twice as many doctorate-level degrees as their male counterparts (50% versus 28%); conversely male NASA space station astronauts had more military experience (73% versus 39%). Sex and gender differences as well as these social determinants could impact adaptation to spaceflight.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> The radiation difference was one I was particularly interested in - fielded a question on it at Bio.SE [http://biology.stackexchange.com/a/10084/4101](http://biology.stackexchange.com/a/10084/4101) \- but it's a good example of why this is important to study. Just as we saw with heart attacks, where females exhibit different signs and symptoms than males, this kind of study can drastically change our expectations as we look toward longer-term space flight.

</comment><comment><USER4> It's good that these differences are being studied before they are relevant. It's better than the time gap between determining men's heart attack symptoms and realizing that women experience different symptoms when they're having a heart attack. A similar such an oversight could have threatened the viability of a longer term space mission.

</comment><comment><USER5> PBS Space Time made a video[1] that drew from this study to argue that it makes sense to have the first mission to mars be all women because of the issues in the study.

[1] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEagBK4Xb1w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEagBK4Xb1w)</comment>


The Seduction of Safety, on Campus and Beyond - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/15/opinion/sunday/the-seduction-of-safety-on-campus-and-beyond.html <comment><AUTHOR> Want to post a couple of quotes I think we all can agree with.

"On college campuses, we are having continuing debates about safe spaces. As a teacher, I think carefully about the intellectual space I want to foster in my classroom — a space where debate, dissent and even protest are encouraged. I want to challenge students and be challenged. I don't want to shape their opinions. I want to shape how they articulate and support those opinions. I do not believe in using trigger warnings because that feels like the unnecessary segregation of students from reality, which is complex and sometimes difficult."

and

"While no one is guaranteed absolute safety, and everyone knows suffering, there are dangers members of certain populations will never know. There is a degree of safety members of certain populations will never know. White people will never know the dangers of being black in America, systemic, unequal opportunity, racial profiling, the constant threat of police violence. Men will never know the dangers of being a woman in America, harassment, sexual violence, legislated bodies. Heterosexuals will never know what it means to experience homophobia.

Those who take safety for granted disparage safety because it is, like so many other rights, one that has always been inalienable to them. They wrongly assume we all enjoy such luxury and are blindly seeking something even more extravagant. They assume that we should simply accept hate without wanting something better. They cannot see that what we seek is sanctuary. We want to breathe."</comment>


"Real Satoshi"'s website's resource limit reached at launch xD - <AUTHOR> https://satoshinrh.com/my-reveal-part-1 <comment><AUTHOR> [https://www.ivymclemore.com/blog](https://www.ivymclemore.com/blog)

</comment><comment><USER2> This is confusing and anti-climactic. Hopefully algotraders using Bitcoin price as a signal of equities health will fall on their face with this and raise equity prices sharply in the short term.</comment>


Google Caffeine Explained - <AUTHOR> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/09/google_caffeine_explained/

<comment><USER2> Finally some insight into google caffeine. Its remarkable what they can do with indexing in real time. MapReduce is great for number crunching when you have time to wait for the data but in google's case thats just not feasible. Could they have added further capacity to speed up the process? Yes but would that have been more efficient than what they've now produced? Unlikely. I cant wait to see the paper thats produced. Some of the smartest minds have worked on this. Working on huge data sets like this has got to be fun.

</comment><comment><USER3> If you are looking to build something similar, check out the open source elasticsearch (<http://www.elasticsearch.com>). It was built with the mentioned architecture in mind (sorry for the "plug", I am the creator of elasticsearch).

</comment><comment><USER4> This is a tangent, but does anybody else simply not read articles like this because all the blinky flashy ads are painful to look at?

<comment><USER5> Install an ad blocker browser plugin?

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> TL;DR: Caffeine is apparently

SELECT * FROM BigTable WHERE `Keywords` LIKE '%$query%';</comment>


Favioli: Replace blank tab icons with unique per-domain emoji to stay productive - <AUTHOR> https://go.eligrey.com/favioli <comment> yoz-y The marketing screenshot is quite misleading. Most of the websites out there already have favicons. At least my chrome window looks nothing like the one presented there.

<comment><AUTHOR> I didn't include any sites with favicons in the screenshot due to copyright concerns.

<comment> yoz-y I see, it would be cool to give an example of at least one site with a favicon, to see immediately whether it will be replaced or not.

It is mentioned in the description, however it will give an example of what you mean by "relevant" emoji.</comment></comment></comment>


Unifdef – remove preprocessor conditionals from code - <AUTHOR> http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi/OpenBSD-current/man1/unifdef.1

<comment><USER2> This is an old Unix utility, OpenBSD versions <=5.5 shipped with a much older version from CSRG times. It was recently updated to the rewrite done by Tony Finch.

[http://dotat.at/prog/unifdef/](http://dotat.at/prog/unifdef/)

</comment><comment><USER3> Super useful tool once you realize that you need it. I used it extensively with the QEMU sources where all the supported architectures are essentially just ifdefs in the code. There is also an improved `sunifdef` flying around in the interwebs.

<comment><USER4> Yup, I've also used it (the old version, I guess) to great effect to clean up a legacy code base which had defines for things like Amiga and VMS...

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> A refactoring tool from the days where "refactoring" didn't exist

<comment><USER6> Refactoring always existed. We just didn't have a name for it and it was done by us meat popsicles.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> I wish more manpages would include a brief explanation of _why_ you might want to use the tool. For someone stumbling across this utility, the documentation is baffling.

<comment><USER8> Trim unused code paths from ancient C code, usually work-arounds and legacy platform support. Or trim large accumulations of #if 0 that similarly build up in old C code bases.</comment></comment>


Earn tokens and reputation for recommending contacts - <AUTHOR> https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/bff-best-friends-forever/id1317793365?mt=8 <comment><AUTHOR> BFF is also far from the whitepaper hype in the crpto world, we believe in working code and shipping in a staged process.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> BFF will reward users to recommend the right contacts, did you try the app yet?

<comment><AUTHOR> BFF, the acronym for best friends forever is a decentralized network of pseudo anonymously connected people as per need and recommendations.</comment></comment>


Resource-based relative value scale - <AUTHOR> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource-based_relative_value_scale <comment><AUTHOR> More in "The Compensation Game: Productivity by RVUs, Collections, and Gross Charges": [https://www.pamedsoc.org/detail/article/Compensation- Game](https://www.pamedsoc.org/detail/article/Compensation-Game)

It also explains how RVUs and the ratio of revenue:RVUs are often used to calculate physicians' incentive-based compensation.</comment>


More Data on Attributing the Sony Attack - <AUTHOR> https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2014/12/more_data_on_at.html <comment><USER2> Besides reposting the notion that timestamps imply a USB2 file dump, I am seeing only speculation in this article and no "new data on attributing".

I would like to point out that any skilled unix developer can create a script in about an hour that can make any set of files appear to have been transferred using USB2.

<comment><USER3> Of course. Even more likely is that the timestamps aren't forged, but are merely a result of the attackers copying everything to some sort of local storage a few days before preparing the big dump to release to the public. It's possible that in reality the data was initially copied 3+ months ago. You can't rely on file timestamps as a sole mechanism of when the true "original" version of a file was created or modified. (This is "conclusion 2" from the post.)

This isn't really news at all, and I'm kind of surprised Schneier thought it was worthwhile enough to publish it. Look at how incredibly sensationalistic this article is, which Schneier cites as the primary source: [http://www.4thmedia.org/2014/12/breaking-we-can- conclusively...](http://www.4thmedia.org/2014/12/breaking-we-can-conclusively- confirm-north-korea-was-not-behind-sony-hack/)

"BREAKING: We Can Conclusively Confirm North Korea Was NOT BEHIND Sony Hack", seriously?

I understand he just wanted to aggregate all the updates and commentary since his last post, but this is practically nothing and is just about bordering on FUD (I'd say "reverse-FUD" but that's not how it works, just like "reverse- racism" doesn't exist).

So far, no 3rd party has provided any strong evidence showing that North Korea either was or wasn't involved.

<comment><USER4> Very surprised that Schneier fell for this source. A little research would have provided this on the author, one Charles C. Johnson "The Worst Journalist on the Web" [http://gawker.com/what-is-chuck-johnson-and-why-the-web-s- wo...](http://gawker.com/what-is-chuck-johnson-and-why-the-web-s-worst- journal-1666834902)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Wow, I have a great deal of respect for Schneier, but referencing GotNews (aka Charles C. Johnson) as a credible technical source? Yikes. [1]

[1] my comment when this "source" was posted to HN (before it was flagged for removal): [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8789341](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8789341)

<comment><USER6> And Schneier's reply when someone said something about it:

 _Yes, I know that Chuck Johnson ([http://gawker.com/what-is-chuck-johnson- and-why-the-web-s-wo...](http://gawker.com/what-is-chuck-johnson-and-why-the- web-s-worst-journal-1666834902)) is unreliable and worse. But in this case, I thought the data sound enough to republish._

After reading that article.. why would he believe anything from this guy?

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> All I can think of is the FBI statement about how they in consultation with other federal agencies have conclusive evidence that the "hack" emanated from NK. I seriously hope that is rubbed in everyone's face if this turns out to be an insider action that almost and possibly even caused a cyber attack by the USA on a sovereign nation, no matter how much we have been trained not to like NK.

<comment><USER8> > no matter how much we have been trained not to like NK.

I get that you're skeptical of the U.S. government. For good reason. But nobody needs to be _trained_ to dislike NK (except, perhaps, North Koreans). Is your implication that NK isn't really so bad, and it's only a brainwashed reflex to think that it is? I, personally, really wish that were the case, for the sake of everyone who lives in NK. But it isn't.

There are things much worse than the U.S. government.

[http://www.hrw.org/world-report/2014/country- chapters/north-...](http://www.hrw.org/world-report/2014/country- chapters/north-korea)

Edit: You might also want to reflect on why it is that you're so willing to doubt NK's responsibility for the attack on Sony, but apparently pretty eager to believe that the U.S. is behind the attack on NK. Is the evidence for the latter claim somehow stronger than the evidence for the former? I would have thought the opposite was true.

<comment><USER9> You do realize the US is doing or has done all of those inhumane actions attributed to NK? The proof is a simple Google search away. You might, instead, ask why you are so willing to immediately engage in such defensive argumentation in support of the US? Is it, perhaps, that you have been trained in a variety of ways to connote certain negative emotions with NK that you, however, do not connote with the US?

<comment><USER8> I'm sorry, but this lacks all perspective. We have, on occassion, done some of the same kind of things as NK, but not typically to the same extent, with the same level of brutality and control, let alone all at the same time, today.

When, for example, have we done this?

> The government practices collective punishment, sending to forced labor > camps not only the offender but also their parents, spouse, children, and > even grandchildren. These camps are notorious for horrific living conditions > and abuse, including induced starvation, little or no medical care, lack of > proper housing and clothes, continuous mistreatment and torture by guards, > and executions. Forced labor at the kwan-li-so often involves difficult > physical labor such as mining, logging, and agricultural work, all done with > rudimentary tools in often dangerous and harsh conditions. Death rates in > these camps are reportedly extremely high.

Or this?

> All media and publications are state controlled, and unauthorized access to > non-state radio or TV broadcasts is punished. North Koreans are punished if > found with mobile media such as DVDs or computer 'flash drives' containing > unauthorized TV programs, such as South Korean drama and entertainment > shows.

Or this?

> North Korea criminalizes leaving the country without state permission.

Or this?

> people arrested in North Korea are routinely tortured by officials seeking > confessions, bribes, and obedience. Common forms of torture include sleep > deprivation, beatings with iron rods or sticks, kicking and slapping, and > enforced sitting or standing for hours. Guards also sexually abuse female > detainees.

(Yes, I realize we have done _some_ of these things to CIA detainees overseas, which is truly terrible. But we're talking here about _all_ arrest in NK.)

Or this?

> Forced labor is essentially the norm in the country, and workers are > systematically denied freedom of association and the right to organize and > collectively bargain.

<comment><USER10> Well there was the cop that extorted an arrested woman into giving him nudes, seizing the houses of the parents of people arrested for minor drug crimes, using children as leverage in civil asset forfeiture, solitary confinement, tacit approval of prison rape as reformatory, prison labor and private prisons, and the murders of union organizers...

<comment><USER8> Yeah. All that is bad. The U.S. needs some work. We agree on that. But read that NK human rights report again... I'm not sure you'll see anything in there about, for example, the behavior of a single cop. What's going on in NK is on an entirely different scale.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> > the very same day that Sony Pictures' head of corporate communications, [... > name removed by rbobby ...], publicly resigned from a $600,000 job. This > could be a coincidence but it seems unlikely.

So Schneier is repeating GotNews' (Charles C. Johnson) accusation that this fellow is connected to a serious set of crimes. All on the basis that a portion of these crimes appear to have happened on the same day the alleged conspirator resigned from his job.

Pretty outrageous behavior. Especially since the FBI has has identified NK as responsible. It's worth noting that the FBI had access to _ALL_ the available data and has presumably investigated any employees known to have left recently on bad terms (i.e. the FBI did a professional job of investigation).

All the bullshit speculation as to why the FBI is wrong has been based solely on crumbs of publicly available data/information. The underlying premise is that the FBI is utterly incompetent and unable to investigate a crime of this nature. That doesn't pass Occam's Razor let alone any kind of smell test.

<comment><USER12> > The underlying premise is that the FBI is utterly incompetent and unable to > investigate a crime of this nature.

No, there's lots of different things that could be happening. The FBI could have said it was North Korea to save face. As @thegrugq (who, by the way, is one of three security researchers who I can find who believes it was North Korea) suggests, the NSA could have investigated, discovered the culprit was DPRK, and then just informed the FBI. The FBI could also be incompetent.

But lets bear in mind that this is the same organization that blackmailed MLK and told him to kill himself, launched the COINTELPRO program, started fires at Waco, spied on Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, John Denver, John Lennon, Jane Fonda, Groucho Marx, Charlie Chaplin, MC5, Lou Costello, Sonny Bono, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, and Mickey Mantle, and three years ago used a chainsaw to break into a house before realizing that it was the wrong house.

So you'll forgive me if I'm skeptical of the organization's claims.

PS. If you have any other 3rd party security researchers who believe the FBI's claims, I'd be happy to add them to my list.

<comment><USER13> The list could go on for quite a while, but this reminds me more of their handling of the anthrax attacks. Pinning the attacks on Bruce Ivins after driving him to suicide. It is pretty difficult finding anybody who actually agrees with the FBI on that one.

Criminal investigations are tough enough, but when you are trying to catch somebody who is intelligent and doesn't want to be caught - it is pretty close to impossible. Couple that with political pressure and you get the present state, where it is much easier either create a boogieman (giving phony detonators to unstable people) or just piling more blame on those that can't defend themselves (dead men, hermit kingdoms).

Also, I'm surprised that the Secret Service isn't mentioned in all this - they've traditionally been much better equipped to handle computer related crime. This is an area that the FBI has always really sucked at.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> The most important data on attributing the Sony attack might be out-of-band data: data that has been collected and analyzed totally separately from the data involved in the attack itself.

There's no question that the U.S. and allies are heavily invested in surveilling and analyzing everything that the North Korean government does, so they would have a lot of opportunity to collect such data. And if they did, it's not likely that they would publish one bit of it.

I think the firmness of the U.S. statement that it was North Korea, combined with the waffling on the execution details (maybe they outsourced some of the hacking, maybe not) points pretty clearly to out-of-band data. They would know who to blame, but not necessarily every detail of how the attack was conducted.

For everyone else out here in non-classified land, trying to analyze the attack using only the data that the attackers themselves leaked is going to be tough, because the attackers have total control about what data we see. They can redact and obfuscate to their hearts' content before releasing it.

</comment><comment><USER15> Viral marketing for The Interview, nothing more

<comment><USER16> Not even remotely likely.

<comment><USER12> This is the correct response to this meme. The hacks are far too damaging to be viral marketing.

That said, there can be no denying that Sony turned lemons into lemonade, and milked this attack for all the awareness it could possibly get.

I saw "MPAA cyberterrorism experts" on CNN, I saw CNN commentators say that in the interest of free speech, it was every American's patriotic duty to see this film.

This was happening in the context of Project Goliath, and threatened legal action against twitter and individual users for posting the leaks.</comment></comment></comment>


Porn at work = felony hacking? - <AUTHOR> http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/05/court-upholds-hacking-conviction-of-man-for-uploading-porn-pics-from-work-computer/ <comment><USER2> This is a huge deal. If your company has an acceptable use policy then you could be convicted of a felony for something as benign as checking Facebook or Twittering. That is insane.

You might say "my company has no official policy, so it can't happen to me." Wrong. Accroding to this ruling, you are a felon for doing _anything_ on _any_ computer, unless you were expressly authorized to perform that action on that computer. From the article:

'He added that the city had never actually disseminated a policy regarding internet usage to tell workers what was inappropriate.

'"They had crafted one but they hadn't published it," he said. "So there was in effect no policy and no protections on the computer--no password protection or filtering of any kind--so basically anybody could access anything on the internet through the city's computer."'

<comment><AUTHOR> We can only hope some sanity will be injected into this process as the case proceeds through the higher courts.

<comment><USER3> I'm not sure. In this case the law itself is insane, so the remedy may have to be legislative rather than judicial.

<comment><USER4> And uploading 700 kinky pictures of yourself _from work_ is sane?

<comment><USER3> It's not, and nobody has claimed it is, but I don't expect every city employee to behave sanely.

I do have an expectation of sanity from the law however, which is broken when porn surfing becomes a felony under a law aimed at computer breakins.

<comment><USER4> But if you read the text of the law in question, it covers a variety of offences _including_ computer breakins. Your perception is that hacking is the focus of the law and it's been misinterpreted to include this other activity, but in fact hacking is only one of several things covered by it.

It's Ohio revised code 2913.04.b: 'Unauthorized use of property - computer, cable, or telecommunication property' and is available here: <http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/2913.04>

Am I the only person here who took the trouble go and read it?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment> old-gregg Back in late 90s I knew a guy who hated his job so much that instead of programming enterprise apps in Java he started running his own porn site on company servers.

When IT finally discovered this, they shot it down immediately and reported the incident to HR. The dude, however, was so ignorant that he called internal (!) IT support and complained that one of his servers in company data center wasn't responding.

He got fired.

That allowed him to work full time on his new business and he advanced to moving to California and opening his own production studio. Here's another entrepreneurial story for you all.

</comment><comment><USER3> Incredible. From his appeal:

 _"one count of unauthorized access to a computer, with a specification that the value of the property or services stolen was more than $500 and less than $5000, in violation of R.C. 2913.04(B), a fifth degree felony;"_

I'm not sure how they calculate the 'value of property or services stolen'. One could buy a laptop for under $500 and surf the web, no?

The appeal also quotes the law he supposedly broke, R.C. §2913.04:

 _"No person shall knowingly use or operate the property of another without the consent of the owner or person authorized to give consent."_ and

 _"No person, in any manner and by any means (...) shall knowingly gain access to (...) any computer, computer system, computer network, (...) without the consent of, or beyond the scope of the express or implied consent of, the owner of the computer, computer system, computer network (...)"_

As briansmith points out, you could be a felon for twittering from a work computer based on this law plus the wacky damage assessment.

Of course, the reason this guy was nailed so hard is because he was using Adult Friend Finder. If he'd been on a cross stitching site or on ebay, he would not have been prosecuted this hard or convicted of hacking by a jury.

<comment><USER5> _I'm not sure how they calculate the 'value of property or services stolen'. One could buy a laptop for under $500 and surf the web, no?_

The services stolen in this case are the employee's paid for time. By surfing porn on city time he was depriving the city of $500-$5,000 worth ($2400, it looks like) of their employee's time. Ridiculous, I know.

From the article: _"...theft of services in office (essentially for depriving the city of his paid services while he conducted the unauthorized activities on a city computer on city time)"_

<comment><USER3> His stolen time is under a separate charge of 'theft in office'. So this $500, afaics, is specifically for the computer/network.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> This has been going on for 15 years, but it's not clear to me what to do about it.

<http://www.lightlink.com/spacenka/fors/>

</comment><comment><USER7> The best practice is to remote into your home computer.

<comment><USER8> Not really, you're still using your computer for things that you shouldn't be using it for.

<comment><USER7> I think it's understood that only serious misuse is going to wind up in court. What are they going to do with an encrypted stream?

<comment><USER8> The fact that you're tunneling into an encrypted stream to a computer offsite is not going to help your case if they find out.

<comment><USER7> No, seriously. This gets at the whole point of encryption. When this guy went into court, they showed the jury all of this bdsm porno, pictures of the guy naked, showed that he was committing other crimes like solicitation, etc, and that's why he's going to jail. A bunch of random bits don't have the same impact, especially if the defense implies that he was checking up on his ebay auctions.

<comment><USER9> Exactly right. This was a sex issue, not a computer hacking issue.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Build Your Idea for Free - <AUTHOR> https://www.reliablebits.io/free/ <comment><USER2> "We'll be your co-founder and will take equity in the business."

Why would you agree to this before you saw a term sheet, or even how much equity they'll want. What happens if you see the terms and don't agree, after they've selected you or after they've built your product?

It's an interesting idea, but crowdfunding seems to be a better alternative. Even better yet, build a MVP prototype first, validate it, and then get funding.

Also, I am leery of a place that will select based on the input in a single HTML form textbox.

Lastly, the idea is only a small part of success. Execution is a much bigger part of what will make or break a startup. So if they do all the execution, and you provide the idea, they may wind up asking for a 60/40 split in their favor, or even more.

Another thought is that this may be geared to non-tech founders, or founders with little-to-no web engineering experience.

<comment><AUTHOR> Selection to move onto a next round of interviews is based on the HTML text box, think of this much like an online job application essentially.

"Another thought is that this may be geared to non-tech founders, or founders with little-to-no web engineering experience." \-- Certainly a subset that we would accept with open arms.

Equity would be essentially based on the amount of time and money we put into the execution, even though a 60/40 split is extraordinarily high and not very conceivable in this scenario.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> "We will ... build for FREE."

"We ... will take equity in the business."

Well, which is it?

<comment><USER4> Hi! Free refers to you (the founder) not needing to put down any funds or savings to build your idea.

<comment><USER3> I get that. My point is that it's disingenuous to call it "free" in the headline when it's clearly not free in the way you would normally use the word in that context.

<comment><USER4> Noted. Will keep that in mind

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Maybe I'm just old-fashioned, but whenever I see a website where the creators aren't upfront about who they are, my scam senses are tingling.

<comment><USER6> Submit your best ideas to the harvesting machine. You're only lucky if your idea was a bad one and wasted their time to read it.

<comment><USER4> so you're saying if your idea is good they'll take it?

@onemoresoop?

coz just knowing an idea is all you need to build a successful business around it?

no. I don't want the idea. I want the founders. I want partners. the people make the business. not the ideas.

<comment><USER6> @ddevjani? Nobody's saying the idea is all you need, but the idea could be easily stolen and implemented by somebody else without any compensation for whoever submits that form. Does one have any proof? Were they seen by anyone? It feels a bit dubios to me. And by good idea I'm talking about the type of idea that when pictured in ones mind it lights up the proverbial lightbulb.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> _We will be selecting two ideas in 2019 to build for FREE._

 _Fill out the form and let us know all about your idea. We will then review your application and will reach out to schedule a call._

 _First, your idea must be a software business. Secondly, your business model must generate revenue through means other than advertising; we love marketplaces and SaaS business models._

 _We'll be your co-founder and will take equity in the business._

Those are terrible terms.

If they made this offer for custom electronics or plastic parts or something, and they had a factory, it would make more sense. The manufacturer makes money by making the thing, so the business model is that the founder owns the design and the manufacturer bangs out parts for sale. If they were offering free tooling and an initial production run in exchange for exclusive manufacturing rights for N years, that would be an OK deal.

<comment><USER8> Wait so it's free, but they take equity? How does that make sense?

<comment><USER9> The free part is about BUILDING the idea, so you don't have to pay anybody to have it done (basically 0 risk and effort). If the idea works, they will get equity, if it doesn't, you didn't lose anything.

It's a mix between a tech cofounder and an investor, and for me, it makes a lot of sense.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Without that title/page, this feels like a regular local-business web dev shop. Is this just a marketing tactic aimed at non-technical people?

<comment><AUTHOR> part of that sounds right. Our founder is an engineer-turned-PM and have a team of engineers + designers + PMs. He runs the design + engineering dept. for other startups.

but alas, this is not a marketing tactic for the agency business. Think about it - people coming in through here are literally coming because they do not have the funds to make their idea a reality.

This is him wanting to create a resource that he wished he had back when he was starting out.

He just wants to work with excellent doers / founders. who have an idea, know their market, while we can build the product. They own it and scale it, run it the way they want to run it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Whats to stop them from just stealing the idea?

<comment><USER12> Nothing, but ideas are worthless on their own.

They can be at most a multiplier. But what really matters is the execution.

For instance, "Rockets should be reusable" is an "idea" that even kids can have. Achieving that is the interesting part. Many tried.

<comment><USER13> "rockets should be reusable" is a trivial idea.

Most ideas are trivial, or very hard to protect, even while building a business.

But what about patentable ideas ?

What about fully formed ideas coming from professors, backed by deep research ?

What about an idea(deeply researched) that with relatively easy implementation could get a lot of press, high SEO and some defensibility ?

<comment><USER12> > Most ideas are trivial, or very hard to protect, even while building a > business.

Exactly, because they are worthless.

The exact details of how SpaceX achieves re-usability are very much patentable. The idea that initially was on Mr. Musk head isn't and wasn't.

> But what about patentable ideas ?

They do not exist. In order to patent something, you have to be able to describe your "invention". Which means you have executed it to some extent, insofar as you are able to at least produce a design. But the mere fact that you can patent an idea doesn't make it useful. The patent office abounds with patents which never amounted to anything.

> What about fully formed ideas coming from professors, backed by deep > research

These are no longer ideas, are they? Someone had an idea, pursued it, with _the help of a team_ and produced something of value. THAT can be stolen. The initial idea that spurred the research cannot.

> What about an idea(deeply researched) that with relatively easy > implementation could get a lot of press, high SEO and some defensibility

Then you don't need that much funding, do you? If it is easy to implement, you go ahead and implement it, and _NOW_ it has some value, if your implementation is any good. Still, you need to produce something for it to have value.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> This looks like it needs a "Show HN" tag. A founder knew to show up and a contributing developer posted it (twice)

</comment><comment><USER15> Seriously? haven't we seen enough of these things rip people off/fall down/leave them stranded to know not to do this any more?

If you're considering doing this, don't. Just don't. It will end in tears. It _always_ ends in tears.

<comment><USER4> Hi! you're right about one thing - I have seen a LOT of people get ripped off when trying to build their product.

my dad got fleeced as well.

kinda why I wanted to create something that provides a real chance to people who def have great ideas and the experience to know exactly what the solution needs to look like.

but are just stuck because they can't convince an engineer to become their technical co-founder to start it with them

and do not have tens of thousands in $ savings to throw at their ideas.

that's where I / we come in.

I can build it. you can run it.

<comment><USER15> No. It just doesn't work like this.

The idea is worthless until it meets customer feedback. We know this.

So the idea gets built, and the first customer arrives, and they say "hey wouldn't it be great if it did this instead?". And if the non-technical founder is worth their salt, they'll engage with the customer and find out what the customer actually needs, and then come back to the technical side of things and say "we need to change most of this".

And then what do you do? Because if you're not in the game with the founder, skin and all, then you need to charge them another ton of cash to make those changes.

I've worked in agencies and app development shops, and the business model just doesn't work for "helping make ideas come alive". Which is why non-tech founders get fleeced - someone has to pay the devs at the end of the day, whether the idea succeeds or not. No such thing as a free lunch.

You need someone on the actual founding team who knows how to build the product.

And tbh, if you're a non-technical founder who can't persuade or fund an engineer to build your idea, then maybe your idea isn't that great.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Hmm...interesting idea.

Why did they so blatantly rip off the Gin Lane website [[https://www.ginlane.com/work](https://www.ginlane.com/work)]? Not a great look for a creative agency.

All the way down to the squiggly hamburger menu icon...

</comment><comment><USER17> The menu icon looks very similar to Facebook's Libracoin [1] logo.

[1]: [https://libra.org/en-US/](https://libra.org/en-US/)

</comment><comment><USER18> More info about the founder [https://medium.com/@ddevjani](https://medium.com/@ddevjani)

</comment><comment><USER19> I like the idea. Good luck!

PS - I noticed a typo in the first paragraph, should read "Yes, you got that right"

</comment><comment><USER20> Too bad it doesn't include physical product ideas (which come out of special software).</comment>


Why the FAA's new drone rules fall short - <AUTHOR> http://www.networkworld.com/article/3015386/security/faa-drone-uav-rules-registration.html <comment><AUTHOR> The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released rules governing the registration of drones yesterday that left me slack-jawed – first with disbelief, then with fear. The rules show that the FAA is oblivious to either the risks of drones or the technological measures that could mitigate the risks, or both.</comment>


An Open Source Cloud For the Enterprise - <AUTHOR> http://gigaom.com/2008/10/05/enomaly-an-open-source-cloud-for-the-enterprise/

<comment><USER2> What about 10gen? That's open source as well.

</comment><comment><USER3> That felt a little bit like buzzword bingo. Anyone care to comment on a more technical level?

<comment><AUTHOR> Their website gives pretty much all the technical info you could want. Check out the APIs.

<http://www.enomaly.com/></comment></comment>


Competing with free: Why Quibi failed to read the room - <AUTHOR> https://4thquadrant.io/articles/transformations/concept-competing-with-free-why-quibi-failed-to-read-the-room/ <comment><USER2> I think it's a good analysis but honestly I just have to wonder who intuitively thought this was a good idea. Chopping up high quality content into small clips, having to watch them on a tiny phone screen and the only new feature is how you flip the phone? It already just _sounds_ awful.

<comment><AUTHOR> Agreed, its baffling, and I guess the latest results on their coversion rate (8% of those who participated in free trial) reflects exactly how little traction the idea actually found.

([https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/8/21318060/quibi- subscriber-...](https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/8/21318060/quibi-subscriber- count-free-trial-paying-users-conversion- rate?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4))

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> _"We're competing against free," Jeffrey Katzenberg says referring to the likes of youtube and social media platforms like TikTok. "We have to offer something that is meaningfully, measurably, quantifiably, creatively different. They don't know how to do what we do, with all due respect,…"_

This is what always strikes me...the knowledge that you are competing against a "new" category of entertainment but the hubris to dismiss it in one fell swoop...why wouldn't you ask "why did this cattegory crop up"; "is there something new going on here that they do better than us?"

</comment><comment><USER4> UGC: user-generated content</comment>


Ask HN: Do you avoid reading articles on sites with paywalls? - <AUTHOR>

I do.  Especially the New York Times.  They write interesting articles, but I avoid them because they are behind a paywall. I don't want to give traffic to web sites with paywalls and encourage it to catch on. <comment><USER2> I'm going against the crowd here, but frankly, I wish that more websites could switch to that model.

I'd rather honestly pay for great content that is worth reading. I think that ads misalign incentives, and force journalists and writers to focus on writing clickbaity articles to drive as much traffic as possible. If more people would agree to pay for content - we would see less bullshit ads and less articles needlessly separated into 10 stupid parts.

It would provide a legitemate business model for new writers and allow them to focus on creating high quality content instead of being forced to dumb it down to the mainstream level to get the views.

Also, if websites like facebook could suggest an alternative payed model without being hated for it by everybody, they could focus on user experience and building quality products, instead of tricking people into watching as much ads as possible and selling their data.

Right now writers and artists can only:

\- Rely on ads for their income

\- Beg for money on patreon

\- Have to sell some t-shirts and dumb merch

to support themselves. The only honest and bullshit-less way to make money is selling books, but it's not always applicable.

I believe that if you think that the content is worth reading - it is worth paying for. Do an honest business transaction, and pay money for the value that you receive, instead of forcing people to come up with shady and manipulative ways to extract money from your attention.

If more people would agree to pay for content, internet would be a much better and more awesome place.

<comment><AUTHOR> i respect your opinion. i agree it is tough to make a business for writer and artist these days. same goes for game programmers, wow talk about a march to the pricing bottom.

but why fight what the market wants with paywalls?

for me it's the "nickel and dime" thing, not just simply paying for quality product. i can't stand it. i want to pay for everything once, in an indirect way, that is almost unnoticeable to me.

have you ever driven in switzerland and italy? you enter switzerland and you pay 40 euros to use their roads and you sort of hate switzerland for it. then you enter italy and you don't pay anything and then all of the sudden you start hitting pay gates every so often and you end up paying double what you did in switzerland.

i fear for where these paywalls will take the internet in the future...i want something more like driving in switzerland than in italy

<comment><USER2> Yeah, I completely agree that the current system sucks.

There needs to be some universal way to conveniently pay small sums of money for viewing an article or watching a video.

It would be awesome if there would be some generally accepted system that allows you to embed a button on your website and accomplish that in one click.

Maybe it even exist, I'm not sure(if it does it's not widely accepted enough), also maybe there's more elegant and clever way of doing that. But to me it seems like a great startup idea, if someone could solve this problem a lot of people would be happy.

<comment><AUTHOR> it does sound like a good start up idea. if you can crack the internet rewards system that satisfies both buyers and seller, you would be really onto something.

it fits with peter thiels philosophy from zero to one: what is nobody else doing?" "What important truth do very few people agree with you on?"

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Of course I avoid these articles.

First, most material behind paywalls aren't that great. The NY Times hardly has the monopoly on quality reporting. In fact, most money-driven publications tend to be low quality in many respects, especially when facing people with power and money, because the paywall isn't their only revenue stream. The Intercept, which is a non-profit, routinely beats out the NYT on national security reporting.

Second, these paywalls can be easily bypassed. Again, why pay for this? These notions that these words are their property and hence need to be paid for it have no moral weight to me, especially when some of these publications got us into the Iraq War.

</comment><comment><USER4> If the article is really interesting, I usually open a private tab and then Google the title. Clicking from a search result usually gets me in.

</comment><comment><USER5> Paywall, meet back button. The issue is that stuff on the web has basically always been free (ad supported). Trying to switch to subscription models is going to be difficult unless every media company decided to switch to that model, and they were as effective as the MPAA at giving a distribution channel like netflix.

</comment><comment><USER6> Yes, I just close the tab.

It's the user experience that puts me off - dialogs with patronizing sentences like "it looks like you are someone who enjoys great content", signing up with a strong password, storing that password in passwordsafe, verifying email, logging in, selecting a plan, entering credit card details....

Instead, if they just used a prepaid wallet through my gmail sign-in and silently deducted some amount - say 10 cents for every 5 minutes spent on their site - without bombarding me with all those irritating dialogs, I wouldn't mind paying.

</comment><comment><USER7> I avoid reading them as well. Generally if you wait just a short time someone else will cover the same material and publish it on a non-paywall site. When I see people on HN (or other sites) post a Washington Post or NYT article that I am interested in and that is behind a paywall I just google the title and generally some other news source has it covered so I can get the basic details.

</comment><comment><USER8> I frequently choose not to read things which are behind a paywall. I do subscribe to the NY Times and make regular use of my access through Stanford to read technical articles published behind a paywall. Many of the article that interest me (often linked from HN) end up being clickbait and can be ignored on the basis of their teaser.

In fact, I treat pages that require registration and/or a question answer exactly in the same manner as paywalled articles. If the article is interesting enough, I may give a random answer or create a one-time registration.

I do not like the proliferation of "free registeration" sites. Over time I have become more and more irritated but such requests.

</comment><comment><USER9> No.

I actually pay for the NYTimes. They provide a real value to me, but _not_ in their webpage

Their value to me comes in their mobile app. I like to read their articles there, _and_ they make me feel good. For example, they hit your app with "Good morning, here's what you need to know" followed by a daily briefing. the daily briefing is worth it alone, but having that extra part, as lame as it sounds, makes me feel good.

</comment><comment><USER10> Not online. But I still keep a number of print subscriptions going (Nat Geo, Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine).

It's rather rare that I find an online article that is well enough researched and written to warrant paying for it. I suppose if I found more online forums with long-form articles with on-the-ground research than I would be willing to pay up but it I haven't really seen anything that quite fits.

</comment><comment><USER11> If you use chrome, you can delete all cookies from past hour. That works sometimes. If you have a VPN, you can connect with different IPs and get access to articles that way. (This all assumes the paywalls give a few free articles each week/month)

</comment><comment><USER12> Sometimes I can right click -> inspect element, and get rid of the paywall and see the content

</comment><comment><USER13> For the paywalls on many articles that I'm interested in I just Google search them. Many allow you to read the full article if you referrer is google.com

</comment><comment><USER14> yes, I do.</comment>


EFF takes a look at the 2011 Patent Reform Act - <AUTHOR> https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/02/could-2011-be-year-look-patent-reform-act

<comment><USER2> _Finally, we are disappointed that the bill would take the teeth out of the Best Mode defense, which currently allows an alleged infringer to invalidate a patent when that patent fails to teach the "best way" to make the invention. Under the new bill, the patent would only have to show "a way" to make the invention, removing an important part of the bargain under which patents are granted – the disclosure of the best mode._

Wouldn't this kill any innovation when trying to "build a better mousetrap"?

<comment><USER3> The point of granting a patent is that we're supposed to gain something in return, specifically the invention disclosed on the patent application.

If we don't even get the best idea they have for how to build it, the public comes out on the losing end of the social bargain.

<comment><USER4> Which, depending on how cynical you are, might be the point.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Perhaps I'm reading this wrong, but the implication seems to be that the EFF supports first-to-file.

I understand that first-to-file clarifies things once an applicant receives a patent — they don't have to worry about pior art at that point.

However, it seems worse for everybody else: If I publish something new and patentable, but don't file for a patent, it seems like somebody else could then file for a patent on the same concept and I would end up out of luck.

To be clear, I understand first-to-file to mean that a patent can't be challenged on the basis of prior art once it's issued.

What am I missing?

<comment><USER6> "Prior art" means the state of the art at the time the patent was filed. If the patent is really an advencement on the state of the art, and it's not obvious, then first-to-file makes sense. The trouble with not having first-to- file is, that someone could keep their invention secret until a competitor files before revealing their advancements. The point of the patent system in the US is to get people to publish their inventions, so it would be counter- productive to encourage secrecy. By denying protection to un-filed inventions, the patent system encourages openness.

<comment><USER7> In a sense, that's true, but the protection for unfiled inventions is not infinite. The at-sale bar goes a long ways to helping inventors get it right without unduly delaying filing for patent protection

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> From what the EFF has to say, this seems to be an encouraging direction for the patent system. I wonder if some non profit could be funded to monitor and oppose obvious software patents in that initial 9 month window.</comment>


Show HN: Find days out near you in the UK - <AUTHOR> http://daysoutnear.me

<comment><USER2> Can I suggest adding data from Historic Scotland - I'm sitting looking out my office window at a huge castle sitting on an old volcano and it's not on your list:

<http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/>

Also, might be worth adding the five Scottish ski centers to your list of things to do - they generally need all the help they can get regarding publicity. The Winterhighland site is excellent:

<http://www.winterhighland.info/>

<comment><AUTHOR> Historic Scotland is the next source I'll be pulling in; I was up in Stirling last year and there's some seriously nice castles up there to visit.

Ski centres are something I hadn't considered but would fit very well with the idea of the site. Thanks for the suggestions! :)

<comment><USER2> Actually, now I think of it, what I would _really_ like is a site a bit like Geograph but for "places of interest" rather than just for photos.

NB Geograph is awesome: <http://www.geograph.org.uk/>

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm using Flickr's API for getting photos at the moment (it's actually a really good API), and I'd definitely like to give people a more visual way of browsing the places.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Awesome project. One of those things I can see will be really useful.

One suggestion: make it responsive. The design lends itself well to mobilising: shrink the map view, put the columns into tabs, etc. This would be an even better resource for using when you are out and about, especially as it could use the HTML5 geolocation API to work out where you are and what is close by.

Great work!

<comment><AUTHOR> I toyed with the idea of making it responsive when I first built the layout but opted for a fixed design to save on time. It's a feature I'd really like to get into the site soon as I've already felt the pain of navigating it on my own phone.

Thanks for the great feedback :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> All places: <http://daysoutnearme.com/places> seems to return results in a strange order - it's not alphabetical?

UI: Items with 'August' in their date make the panel break onto a newline

Items with an email could auto mailto: link the email <http://daysoutnearme.com/events/simply-walk-2012-05-03>

Print button on item: print preview opens with the body copy overlaying the map (print media query?)

Browsing around on the map doesn't reload pins for the area you browse to, they stay as the /hubs/city you selected

UI: All events <http://daysoutnearme.com/events> could use a lick of paint.

Bravo! Finding it hard to fault, hence the nitpick comments above. :)

<comment><AUTHOR> Ah yes, I (slightly) forgot about the /places and /events pages, as they were mostly added in for SEO purposes. They're next on my list to tidy up, however!

I need to figure out a better format for the dates, as there are a number of possibilities that will cause it to wrap. I was thinking about truncating the month name if it's too long.

In theory they should have maintained the links/email links from the source copy but I think my HTML filter is a bit too strong (also note the lack of paragraphs). It's on the to-do list :)

Print stylesheet is on its way soon!

Browsing around the map is a work in progress; at the moment it shows the places currently shown in the list below, but I definitely want it to list everything and pull them in as you browse.

Thanks for the feedback!

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Now with much more data!

I submitted my hobby project Days Out Near Me a few weeks back. I've tried to take on a lot of the great feedback I've had and I've made a number of big improvements to how it works. The site's goal is to aggregate a lot of events & venues for days out into one searchable database. It now grabs data from National Trust, English Heritage, The Forestry Commission, Cadw, and National Museum Wales. I'm working on support for people to submit their own events/places (which is one of the primary goals of the site).

I'd really like some more feedback and advice from people; what I've had so far has been great but I want as much as possible to help me improve the application and provide a great service to users. This is the first personal project I've launched and I'd be incredibly grateful for any/all feedback.

<comment><USER5> This is a great site, will likely be very handy for me over the summer.

Couple of things that immediately jumped out as useful additions for my particular use case: 1) A 'family friendly' filter on places 2) A 'kids' filter on events 3) A filter based on distance 4) Even better a filter based on how long it takes to drive to the event or the place (maybe using Google Maps directions estimates?)

I'm definitely going to use this over the next few weeks.

<comment><AUTHOR> 1/2: This is something I really want to implement, as finding family days out is one of my main goals. 3: In the works! 4: I've had this suggestion before and I think it'd be a great feature; I'm looking into it :D

Thanks for the feedback!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Very nice, great design. I've often considered this an opportunity.. although managing the events to a high standard is a difficult challenge (perhaps consider (carefully) some element of crowd-sourcing?).

What I would like to see, is some way to get photos related to a place/event (some of their own websites had none). I might usually get them from google maps (either streetview or images w/ location).. but a different approach could work too (image search?).

Another possibility would be to add walks.

<comment><AUTHOR> Aye, managing the events/places is the trickiest part at the moment. One of my main goals is to have people submitting their own events/places or submitting those they know of near them; I can't index everything by myself, unfortunately! I'm working on an admin panel which will allow me to moderate submissions to help keep it clean and helpful.

In theory a lot of the places (and events too if they have past versions of the same event) will show photos from Flickr. It matches on the Flickr place ID and pulls in photos mentioning the name in that area. However it does mean that a number of places have no photos, which I'd love to improve upon. Allowing people to add their own photos might be a good improvement.

I'm trying to think of a way of including things like walks; data that is neither a place nor an event, but something to do at a place/in an area. I'm currently listing activities (although they don't match up to every record yet) as general terms, but I'd like to find a way to list more specific activities!

Thanks for the feedback, it's much appreciated :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Nice! Good work!

Some of your look-up details are a bit off though, if I click 'Newcastle' I get a list of things so we'll pick 'Get Outdoors and Dirty' as it's the first, and quite frankly who can say no to getting dirty. If you go into Newcastle it says 7 miles, which seems about right, however if you type Middlesbrough into the search box it'll also list it but it's about 20 miles off (38 miles vs about 59ish in real life).

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the feedback!

The geocoding can be a little odd at times and I'm keeping track of things like this to help me improve it. The first thing I'll do is ensure that all the city/area links on the homepage point to more or less the center of that city/area; some seem to be in very odd places. Any reports like this are really useful :D

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Really good, I'd suggest pulling data from here for Bristol:

<http://visitbristol.co.uk/things-to-do>

Particularly page:

<http://visitbristol.co.uk/things-to-do/attractions>

Has the things like the zoo, aquarium, ss great britian and so on.

<comment><AUTHOR> I always forget how much there is in Bristol; this (and any other city tourist sites people recommend) will go in my queue to pull data from!

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> You might want to filter your gazetteer search results better: searching for "Ipswich" gave me a town in Australia, and searching for "Norwich" gave me a town in the US...

To reproduce, click the "Ipswich" link on the homepage, then put your cursor in the location box at the top-right and hit enter.

Nice for the places that have data, though :).

<comment><AUTHOR> Gah, I thought I'd fixed all those odd locations. I'm using Nomanatim for geocoding, which seems to pick up a lot of the 'new world' locations rather than the originals - I'll go through them all again later and fix the wrong ones!

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> You might like to pull data from Nerdy Day Trips: <http://www.nerdydaytrips.com/> as well.

Also, if you'd like lat/long information for all the UK places in my book, The Geek Atlas, I'd be happy to supply.

<comment><AUTHOR> Ooh, I've not seen Nerdy Day Trips before; I'll have to get in touch and see if they have an API (probably a better chance than the others I've been working on).

Location data like that would be very useful (and I'd be very grateful for it), as it would help resolve a number of issues with geocoding some of these places. There's probably a castle or two that are registered as being in a terraced street, for example :D

</comment></comment><comment> mike-cardwell I stuck "Nottingham" in the "Location" field, and "Castle" in the "Keywords" field. It didn't mention the castle in the middle of Nottingham :(

<comment><AUTHOR> Do you know which organisation runs it? I have a feeling that I'm missing a number of English Heritage properties, which I'm working on.

<comment> mike-cardwell Unfortunately not. There's a load of info about it here though: <http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1036> \- Might be in there somewhere

<comment><AUTHOR> Looks like it's the same setup as Cardiff Castle; most likely run by the local council. These kinda one-off places are what will hopefully be easily added when I open up event/place submission to users; which I'm hoping to get up in the next week or so :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> The green background is too dark to have black text on it, not enough contrast. Either make the background lighter or darker with white text.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the response! I've mentioned in another comment that the green seems to vary wildly on different displays, so I'm looking into improvements I can make there.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> Useful, I'd definitely use it. Can you change the background color to something less gloomy? :)

<comment><AUTHOR> It seems to vary wildly depending on monitors; on my Mac it's bright grass- green, on my desktop it seems to be more of a muted snot. It's on my list of things to fix!

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Handy site, I have noticed the pagination doesn't seem to work though :(

<comment><AUTHOR> Does it not work anywhere or in one specific area? I'll take a look into it straight away :)</comment></comment>


Concept for New Lightweight Markup Language - <AUTHOR> https://gist.github.com/Greduan/6540694

<comment><AUTHOR> The original concept will be modified in the future, reading it back I can make some changes that will make it clearer.

It is meant to replace Markdown and yes, I have grabbed some inspiration from Markdown itself and Textile.

All I'm doing is basically combining both of these and making it more powerful with less and clearer markup.

Of course it's going to be developed to output the most recent HTML5.</comment>


Tesla Shares Drop on Reducing Model S, X Production Hours - <AUTHOR> https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-23/tesla-reduces-model-s-model-x-production-hours-shares-drop <comment><USER2> Not great work from Bloomberg, there simply isn't much new in this report. We already knew they aren't producing S/X 75 versions anymore, perhaps to both simplify production and to differentiate top spec-d M3 vs. S/X lower spec'd options. Now we hear they are focusing a higher percentage of their production hours on M3, though this Bloomberg report is vague on the details of those hour productions.

<comment><USER3> I agree, the removal of the 75kWh S/X is probably to somewhat offset the margin hit they are taking by offering the mid-range M3. They seem to be working down market but each step comes with lower margins so they have to go slow to maintain some profit.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Like many, I pass the Tesla plant on my way to work. When Model 3 shipping was underway, their output lot was full and car carriers were constantly loading.

I noticed a change (which may have been there awhile without me noticing) a few days ago that the output lot is nearly empty and only a few carriers were loading. There's also a ton of empty carriers sitting idle on a nearby street.

Maybe Tesla now has shipping under control and efficient. Or maybe they've finally worked through the Model 3 backlog. Or maybe the showrooms have too much backlog of deliveries and they can't take any more. Or any number of things.

It's odd.

<comment><USER5> It might be because they just sent two shiploads of cars to the EU, several thousand cars each, so that might affect the output lot and the carriers since they only had to go to SF to be loaded on to the ships.</comment></comment>


Harbor Porpoises and Seal Bombs - <AUTHOR> https://phys.org/news/2020-08-harbor-porpoises.html <comment><AUTHOR> > Seal bombs are explosive charges (roughly equivalent to an M-80 or cherry > bomb) that commercial fishers throw into the ocean to discourage sea lions > from interfering with their operations.</comment>


Climate Change Inst. Hacked - Email Leak - Climate Change a Possible Farce - <AUTHOR> http://news.aol.com/article/hacked-e-mails-heat-up-global-warming/778525?icid=main|main|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fnews.aol.com%2Farticle%2Fhacked-e-mails-heat-up-global-warming%2F778525

<comment><USER2> Can we please stop posting the same stuff over and over again, this must be the 10th (no kidding) submission of this material.</comment>


Show HN: Our first Ethereum dapp is live, let us know what you think - <AUTHOR> https://dapps.ethercasts.com/dapp/life-lottery <comment><USER2> Looks great! But we need to have METAMASK plugin installed and some ethers in your pocket ;)</comment>


Why Americans Stopped Volunteering - <AUTHOR> https://www.citylab.com/life/2019/09/volunteer-opportunities-charitable-giving-national-service/597856/ <comment><USER2> I work for a living and pay taxes. I see no reason why I should work a second unpaid job that does nothing but slap bandaids on socioeconomic issues that exist because we as a society have decided that the continued existence of poverty, homelessness, hunger, and premature death for lack of preventative medicine are a fair price to pay so that a few people can be billionaires.</comment>


New rules for flying recreational drones in Canada revealed - <AUTHOR> http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-drone-regulations-marc-garneau-1.4027486 <comment><USER2> I have to applaud them for what appear to me, to be fairly reasonable rules. Some altitude restrictions, and apparently people need to be told to stay away from areas where emergency operations are taking place... nothing burdensome.

<comment><USER3> What about "Within 75 metres of buildings, vehicles, vessels, animals or people."

How many places can you find outside of Antarctica where you can get 75 metres from buildings, vehicles, vessels, animals, or people? I mean, I was gonna say "hey, the wilderness", but it includes animals in here. What size animals qualify? Is a rat in the vicinity going to get me in trouble?

I would almost go so far as to suggest this is simply a ban on recreational drone flight.

<comment><USER4> > How many places can you find outside of Antarctica where you can get 75 > metres from buildings, vehicles, vessels, animals, or people?

With a 90m AGL ceiling, there are lots of places that are 75m from those things most of the time (though birds may sometimes be a problem.)

Launching and landing may require some attention to site selection, but that's not too burdensome.

<comment><USER2> Yeah, presumably you're not going to get into trouble if a pigeon divebombs your drone, although, you know... you'd want to naturally avoid that anyway. I would hope the other restrictions would apply to "other than takeoff and landing", but I admit I'm not sure.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Leak-o-nomy: The Economy of Wikileaks - <AUTHOR> http://stefanmey.wordpress.com/2010/01/04/leak-o-nomy-the-economy-of-wikileaks/

<comment><AUTHOR> April 5th is tomorrow, get ready for some predator drone on civilian action at the national press club. <http://twitter.com/wikileaks></comment>


Don't just shorten your URL, make it suspicious and frightening (2010) - <AUTHOR> http://shadyurl.com/ <comment><USER2> [https://news.ycombinator.com/](https://news.ycombinator.com/)

is now

[http://www.5z8.info/horse-slaughter_o2z4pp_heroin- od.avi](http://www.5z8.info/horse-slaughter_o2z4pp_heroin-od.avi)

:D :D

<comment><USER3> It was already scary as is. You know, _Hacker_ News.

<comment><USER4> I have security clearance. This required an interview.

"What forums do you regularly participate in?"

After a raised eyebrow, I had to explain in some detail the meaning of the word 'hacker'...

<comment><USER5> Note to self: in similar situations, avoid entering a digression about how the treatment of pg's friend RTM was totally unfair.

<comment><USER6> If you don't know who RTM is:

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

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> This PHP code [https://github.com/osteele/wideurl.com/blob/master/wideurl.p...](https://github.com/osteele/wideurl.com/blob/master/wideurl.php) turns e.g. [http://osteele.com/archives/2006/04/wideurl](http://osteele.com/archives/2006/04/wideurl) into `http://w-i-d-e-u-r-l.com/aitch-tee-tee-pea-colon-double-slash-oh-ess- tee-double-ee-ell-ee-dot-see-oh-em-slash-aye-are-see-aitch-eye-vee-ee-ess- slash-two-double-zero-six-slash-zero-four-slash-doubleyou-eye-dee-ee-you-are- ell`.

It was loosely inspired by a BBC broadcast I heard during the very early days of the web. The announcer said something like "If you would like to learn more about this radio program, enter the following into your browser: aitch aitch tee pea colon forwards-slash forwards-slash bee bee see period see oh em forwards-slash — oh, never mind."

My hosting provider eventually took it down, because URL redirectors can be used for phishing.

<comment><USER8> > My hosting provider eventually took it down, because URL redirectors can be > used for phishing.

What provider was this? I'm going to make sure to never use them. That's not a valid reason at all to take someone's site down, even if it's being actively abused you notify them first and notify them many times before even considering booting them as a customer.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Ha, that's great! Fun idea. I recently made a URL shortening service that generates a random adjective/noun pair, and I specifically looked for a 'clean' set of words. I would've never thought of doing the opposite :) [http://shrt-url.azurewebsites.net/](http://shrt-url.azurewebsites.net/) [https://github.com/natejenson/url- shortener](https://github.com/natejenson/url-shortener)

<comment><USER10> I note that "juvenile" and "toucher" are present.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> I love that the site itself looks super shady and has no HTTPS

<comment><USER12> It has a bit of that "90s l337 Winblowz h4xx0r toolz" vibe going on.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> The example looks funny but I'm not giving free training to Google's AI just to try it out.

<comment><USER14> OT: I did, it asked me to select traffic signs. No picture had any. Not marking anything is not an option. So I marked 2 traffic lights and a gas station sign. Accepted. :(

<comment><USER15> Even random clicking on these "select X" captchas works. You'll just get a longer run around, until AI gets bored and lets you in.

Perhaps it recognizes that being annoyed and a willful breaking of rules are also human qualities.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Can't actually generate a URL on the site (presumably because everyone's trying at the moment) but it reminded me of [https://verylegit.link/](https://verylegit.link/) which does something similar.

</comment><comment><USER17> this just reminds me of [https://verylegit.link/](https://verylegit.link/)

this thread: [http://extremely.absolutely.completely.verylegit.link/0x8c*c...](http://extremely.absolutely.completely.verylegit.link/0x8c*cracked$93moneygram!bitcoin!javaexploit.min.css.malware.exe)

</comment><comment><USER18> This is now my preferred choice of URL Shortner for sharing my CV with recruiters.

</comment><comment><USER19> Seems that it just got hit by the hackernews DoS.

</comment><comment><USER20> If I remember correctly, the author of this site hangs around here and last time the site came up he had mentioned there used to be a free API but it had to be taken down because of constant abuse by scammers.

Its also possible I'm thinking of another similar site, if that's the case I apologise.

</comment><comment><USER21> It's slow as mail. I tried an URL several minutes ago and it still hasn't come back.

</comment><comment><USER22> Did not work on [https://losttech.software/stack.html](https://losttech.software/stack.html)

Looks like an unnecessary restriction on the length of the last piece of domain name.

</comment><comment><USER23> All the modern SEO-heavy links lend themselves to modification. You can give someone the URL [https://www.amazon.com/fnord/dp/0440539811](https://www.amazon.com/fnord/dp/0440539811) and he may say "oh, I've read that, fine book" and won't have noticed anything peculiar about the URL.

(Using the male pronoun seems appropriate for that book.)

<comment><USER24> That's because there isn't anything peculiar about that URL. Are you seeing something in there? Because there isn't anything. Perfectly normal URL.

<comment><USER25> I think it's the "fnord" part which you can change to whatever you like?

[https://www.amazon.com/dont-cause-a-scene-fellas-nothing- to-...](https://www.amazon.com/dont-cause-a-scene-fellas-nothing-to-see- here/dp/0440539811)

<comment><USER24> #ThatsTheJoke 'fnord' is supposed to be invisible, and you, the reader, are outstanding in that you are resisting this mind-control and able to see it anyway. It's a reference to the novels linked in in the Amazon link.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> Is there an addon that will retrieve the redirects in a "sandboxed" way and then ask you if you want to visit the original URL?

I really dislike when people shorten all their URLs just so they can run statistics on them.

<comment><USER27> you can't avoid the statistics gathering because you need to contact their server to get the full URL. the best you can do is look for workarounds (goo.gl has a details page if you append .info to the end of a link, not sure whether that gets recorded as a visit). either that, or you have some sort of centralized service that caches short URLs so they only need to be visited once.

<comment><USER26> I don't really mind being tracked, I'm more interested in knowing what site I'm visiting before I actually visit the site.

Caching short URLs might be problematic when the short URLs are editable, so you might end up with old URLs that are no longer valid.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> Confirmed tool's promise: the "shortened" url to my company website has been immediately blocked by our big brother firewall citing internal policy :-)

</comment><comment><USER29> [https://verylegit.link/](https://verylegit.link/)

</comment><comment><USER30> Too bad I am getting 500 Internal Server Error for all URLs I tried.

</comment><comment><USER31> No https version?

<comment><USER6> No, because HTTP is shadier.

</comment></comment><comment><USER32> Site is soo slashdotted right now..

</comment><comment><USER33> funny, but seems in the end a damaging joke.

<comment><USER34> Who is it damaging? I think it's funny, with no caveat.

<comment><USER35> Nontechnical users whom we are trying to train to parse and understand URLs. And to avoid those which are outside the norm, even when received from known contacts.

"Haha it's just a joke, click it" undermines that. Just like it would dilute an AI's training.

<comment><USER33> Yes, my point, really anyone who looks at urls if this became prevalent couldn't trust their intuition - maybe trusting intuition isn't a good thing anyway. For some reason though I got minus 4 points for what seemed like a reasonably clear and uncontroversial observation.

<comment><USER36> I think the whole point of the joke is that URL shorteners have _already_ made it impossible to look at URLs and intuit anything about where they lead and how reliable they are. e.g. the "t.co" through which all twitter links are blinded.

<comment><USER35> If so, why permit any arbitrary target for this 'joke' tool?

Instead have it resolve all links to a page that says 'don't click on shortened URLs'.

You get your joke and curious recipients get a lesson.

I'm sure this was fun to program but beyond that I don't think it should be disseminated.

<comment><USER34> Perhaps we should start a rival service.

It gives you urls like [https://upstandingcitizenry.com/peace-and-love-and- ponies](https://upstandingcitizenry.com/peace-and-love-and-ponies) except instead of redirecting you to a safe URL, it drive-by downloads some malware, fills your screen with porn popups, and uses your CPU for monero mining.

Maybe that would spread your message better?

You obviously don't get the joke. The joke is that it looks shady but is actually perfectly fine. If every URL tells you "don't click on things that look shady", then the joke is gone.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER37> wish it was just shadyurl.com/foo. that'd be delicious. all the obvious text in the url is just sophomoric.

<comment><USER37> valid opinions get downvoted on HN? that's sad. oh well.</comment></comment>