Vintage Steve Jobs footage on Apple (1980) - <AUTHOR> http://www.computerhistory.org/highlights/stevejobs/video/ <comment><USER2> Interesting video, particularly seeing him reminisce about their hacker roots ("liberating" designs, "studying" what other companies are doing, buying parts on "thin air and enthusiasm") and "building tools". His justification for that is talking about how technology enables people. The same rhetoric that he used ever since, even if his position on "liberation" of technology changed somewhat over the years. I really still enjoy his presentations, particularly the more intimate and insightful ones like this one. But with all the talk about building bicycles, I wish he hadn't spent his later years building so many cars.

Don't get me wrong - I love to see how the iPad just shattered the barrier of entry for non-technical users, even though I'm a FOSS guy. But I do think that it was at too great (and an unnecessarily so) a cost to the understanding of that technology.

[edit]Oh yeah, forgot to say: A post mildly critical of Mr. Jobs - Keep the downvotes coming!

<comment><USER3> That's exactly the part that stuck out to me, too (2:36 for the curious, and again at 3:05).

It makes him look like a complete hypocrite. It's not unique to Steve Jobs; it's human nature. But it's still kind of distasteful to see.

<comment><USER2> I wouldn't got as far as saying that it makes him look like a complete hypocrite. After all, much of the rest of the talk, he makes no secret of his business-sense ("saw dollar signs"). To me, Mr. Jobs was above all a pragmatist, which is how he can reconcile both the hacking in his early and the position against hacking in his later career.

I suppose it's all just part of the natural circle-of-life thing - in his later days, he would probably just brush off questions about this with "being young and wild" or something similar. This change of focus is typical for a matured businessman and puts him at a disadvantage against fresh entrepreneurs and innovators. But that's just how the world turns.

<comment><USER4> Steve Jobs was definitely not a pragmatist. He believed there is a moral dimension to his work and products.

<comment><USER2> Those are not mutually exclusive. He certainly cared about the moral dimension, but it was never a priority. He always introduced as much of his moral dimension as possible, which is what he deserves credit for.

But again - that's a pragmatic thing to do. He'd never let it ruin good business. In fact, quite the opposite is true - he did embrace it if it was good business.

<comment><USER4> Well, they are contraries as you present it, and they aren't mutually exclusive only insofar as someone is being inconsistent. "Pragmatic" usually means someone who doesn't act on principle, who is willing to be inconsistent to satisfy his desires, etc.

I don't know if I can prove it but I think the moral had priority for Steve. This can be seen most clearly in his anger in certain cases (like the Gizmodo phone theft, or his view that Android was intellectual theft), in which he stated explicitly that he would rather act on principle rather than do the pragmatic thing, e.g. (paraphrasing) "I would rather give up the company than let them get away with this." But it can also be seen in other cases as well.

I think he was unusually consistent and principled, but with an unusual conception about what is morally right. I don't think he saw making money as pragmatic and bringing technology to the masses as moral, for example. I think he saw shaping the world according to his vision as moral, and thought both money and technology played an important role in that.

<comment><USER2> I go by the wiktionary definition here: "Practical, concerned with making decisions and actions that are useful in practice, not just theory". To me, "pragmatic" does not carry any negative connotation.

Say for instance when Apple changed to greener manufacturing technology. They didn't do that outright, in fact, it took long years of public scrutiny to tip the scales to a direction where selling "green" technology was actually a smart business decision. In a way, they _had_ to play the game that way and they often do - by keeping their position undefined until there is an opportunity to make a big statement to differentiate themselves. Now, other companies making similar pledges carry no meaning anymore.

I don't think that the "intellectual theft" in terms of Android really amounts to much but hot air to please stockholders. The facts certainly do not justify his anger. Over all the years, Apple has had to suffer a very basic issue - they do existing things, just a lot more refined. (To me, most of Apples innovation is in how they sell technology, not in what it is or does.) There is tons of prior art that they built upon themselves and being _that_ outraged by the case of android following in their footsteps is simply not logical.

Like any salesman, Mr. Jobs did not like to show his cards, as there is always a necessary amount of building-on-sand-near-water, when you create theater like he did to sell his products. And I believe that's also the reason why he was so enraged by the Gizmodo phone theft. Not because his morals were hurt. It was that people messed with his game.

I also don't think that he saw "bringing technology to the masses" as moral, but it sure is a good way to sell technology. His beliefs about empowering people with technology may or may not have been important to him, but he sure selected them and portrayed them as means to a certain end.

So yes, maybe we only differ on our definition of pragmatic. I agree that his big thing was following his vision, but I maintain that to realize that vision, he had to make a lot of very pragmatic decisions. Turning his "inspired" hacker youth into a walled-garden adulthood is a sign of that to me.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> _We attract people on the basis of an opportunity to work your butt off and get it done right, and see it get out the door without getting all screwed up._

I wish someone had said this out loud in my presence a long time ago. It's always been the most important thing about my satisfaction with employment, but I honestly hadn't really 100% understood how important it was to me until working at my current gig (some 12 years into my career).

But yeah. That. Exactly that.

<comment><USER6> I've managed to do that throughout my career... until my current position. And not shipping, let alone not shipping quality, has been the biggest hit on my morale.

For me, quitting the day job to return to being my own boss is very much about re-focusing on shipping quality. It's less about the chance to be rich, and more about a chance to feel proud in what I've accomplished.

Job satisfaction is such an undefined term, but this is a big part of that definition for me.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> It's something to see how people asked "What we've got right now is just fine, VisiCalc runs fast enough. Some of the database stuff runs fast enough. What are we going to do with this extra awesome power?" and what Jobs' response was.

He wanted to use that power to get that one-on-one interaction go smoother, which is what exactly it look like he did, up to the iPad.

It's also interesting that he mentioned the possibility of World War III, which was indeed on people's minds at the time.

</comment><comment><USER8> I love at 19:50 when he's talking about diversifying Apple's product line to have a bunch of different computers that each have a different emphasis in interaction. Not only does it sound like he's describing a business model that lends itself to creating something like the iPad, but he even uses the exact same car/truck metaphor he ended up using to describe the difference between the Mac and the iPad.

</comment><comment><USER9> Fantastic! I highly recommend watching the bit starting from 2:30. It goes against the myth of Steve Jobs as having a magical talent for envisioning finished products.

He says that when they started out: -They had no idea what people would use these things for -Designed for 6 months and finally built their first computer -All their friends wanted one, but it took 40 hours to build and debug a single machine -They spent all their spare time helping their friends build computers -So they decided to print circuit boards and sell them, to cut down assembly to 5-10 hours -They scrounged up $1300 to have a circuit board laid out -One day, when Jobs was out selling circuit boards, he met someone who wanted to buy 50, but insisted that the machines be fully assembled -And so on...

Quite a different story than the usual version, which portrays Jobs as a natural genius of knowing exactly what people want before they knew themselves.

<comment> johnx123-up

       Liberated some parts from HP

What is the meaning of it? Copying? or?

<comment><USER10> It means instead of buying their own computer parts, they helped themselves to the supplies at HP and Atari, where Woz and Jobs worked during the day.

HP and Atari probably didn't notice or didn't care.

He's referring to when Apple was just starting out and they didn't have much capital.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I just finished reading his biography, so it's interesting to see the young Steve. For historical context, their main products at the time were the Apple II and Apple III, so this was before the GUI / Lisa / Mac.

</comment><comment><USER12> It's interesting to see how many of the same anecdotes he reuses. I think this must be the fourth time I've heard him tell the "bicycle" story.

</comment><comment><USER13> on youtube: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lvMgMrNDlg>

<comment><USER14> Thanks this link works on iOS

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> a master communicator and inspirer</comment>


Self-Organization and Conway's Game of life (With Interactive Javascript Canvas) - <AUTHOR> http://npcontemplation.blogspot.com/2009/08/self-organization-and-conways-game-of.html

<comment><USER2> I have been looking for good examples of the new html canvas, and conveniently also interested in ALife and agent/emergent behavior. I was excited when I saw you put the code up on github.

<http://github.com/ynd/life/tree/master>

Thanks for sharing this!

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Javascript is dramatically faster using Safari 4+.</comment>


OpenTX is open source firmware for RC radio transmitters - <AUTHOR> http://www.open-tx.org <comment><USER2> For those of you interested in what might be a slightly lower level approach: I saw a talk from Andrew Trigell (of Samba/rsync fame) at linux.conf.au. In it, he was bemoaning the lack of Open Source firmware for radio transmitters, while pondering a UAV project hey were working on.

So, in typical tridge fashion, he and his friends created some, and given it is relatively simplistic, and the transmitters are quite tiny, the feature set seems pretty impressive (though I haven't had a need to use it... yet):

[https://code.google.com/p/ardupilot- mega/wiki/3DRadio](https://code.google.com/p/ardupilot-mega/wiki/3DRadio)

<comment><USER3> Tridge also happily uses an earlier version of OpenTX called er9x I believe. I've worked with him on a bit of the firmware you're talking about here, but it's not the same stuff. The most impressive thing about the SiK firmware you're talking about is the stupid range you can get from them on a good day; line of sight can be tens of kilometers (say 40+), and could potentially be used to communicate with satellites, all while using a max of 5W transmit power at 900MHz. There's plenty of more info on both the CanberraUAV and 3D Robotics blogs from him and others about both these topics. The following talk as LCA was about such satellites, and there was some talk about using these radios for these open source satellites.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I wondered what this exactly was and it is what it sounds like. An open source firmware for the "box with joysticks" that you use to control miniature hobby model vehicles (or whatever else you want :).

Firmware running on device: [https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/Z6Q2WtT2dhpgvCyrq4KEIDH0sd...](https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/Z6Q2WtT2dhpgvCyrq4KEIDH0sd1FUEMcUGk_Av77aIzabDUBBfnBIK0PwAdIjsY04N7uq8EwRKAY3NjVTj0gUc- qZKItAU-D2JgKwOLZfmgRGXS1dp8dzxCDYsZog4ATRw)

</comment><comment><USER5> Firmware?! Last one of these I built had a simple multivibrator and a 4017 plugged into the RF front end which was pretty simple as well - just a crystal osc, mixer and antenna tuning and that was it. That was good for a 6 chan TX at least with a quarter mile range.

I know that's a neck beard comment but have things really got that complicated that computational power is required? I can understand mixing for helicopters but not much else.

There is some elegance left in simple solutions.

<comment><USER6> >I know that's a neck beard comment but have things really got that complicated that computational power is required? I can understand mixing for helicopters but not much else.

Mixing is needed for pretty much anything and it sure as hell beats mechanical setup. For anything of even medium complexity it's a must. For example in a simple three channel glider (aileron, rudder, elevator) it's so much easier to just have 4 servos (1 on each aileron in each wing) and then do the aileron mixing in software. Otherwise you'll have to arrange the linkage geometry to get differential travel in the ailerons (for aerodynamic reasons you want more up travel than down travel) and then make sure the end points and central trim are all correct. Much easier to just stick the servos in the wing, set the linkage roughly and then trim it from a software interface. In the old days you'd have crazy stuff like left and right servos to reverse the direction of travel, now it's a software setting away.

And that's a simple example. Still in gliders a competition F3F glider will need much more mixing. You're basically doing laps between two pylons 100m apart. The world record is below 30s, so that's 120km/h of average speed including 9 full U turns. To actually be able to do those fast turns those gliders will actually move all 6 surfaces (2 ailerons, 2 flaps, 2 V-tails) at once, dropping the ailerons and flaps to increase the lift of the wing during the turn and using the V-tails as elevators. Then to land the plane you'll put it in "butterfly mode" moving the flaps way down and both ailerons up to get it nice and slow for landing.

R/C airplanes are actually very advanced stuff. The jets and scale stuff will have complex sequencing for landing gear retract, the gliders will do insane stuff like do over 800km/h dynamic soaring, so you need to have exponential mapping between controls and outputs to have precision in the center of the sticks. So radios have evolved to match those capabilities. Radios have been mixing for decades now, and have had replaceable firmware for a long time. It used to be that to get a really flexible radio you'd need to spend 1000$. Now you can get a cheap Chinese made radio for 100-200$ and put an extremely flexible open-source firmware on it that will do all the things the high-end radios do and more. Software is eating the world indeed.

<comment><USER7> I was thinking that 800 km/h was a typo, but no, this is the world record: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_soaring](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_soaring)

This is really impressive.

<comment><USER6> Dynamic Soaring is quite impressive. At the world-record speeds they were having problems because the radar guns they were using (the type police use) were not picking up the speeds anymore. I think there were only a couple of particularly good ones (particular specimens not particular models) that were still able to register something and not easily.

Initially they had issues with planes blowing up mid-air because they were using hollow-molded planes and as soon as a bit of air got into the seam at the wing leading-edge it would open the wing in half quite spectacularly. People tend to stand next to a large rock on the mountain in case they need some good cover. The DS world-records were done with some custom built, very large very heavy gliders. There's quite a bit of great engineering in the R/C hobby.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> It just blows my mind that something like this exists. Really beautiful how diverse the world is and how computing snuck its way into every little nook and cranny.

</comment><comment><USER9> I like Deviation[0]. It runs on commercial transmitters and the developer reverse engineered many communication protocols used by proprietary systems which are now supported (some require adding hardware to your transmitter).

[0] [http://www.deviationtx.com/](http://www.deviationtx.com/)</comment>


Ask HN: Did I just switch careers? - <AUTHOR>

Apologies if this comes off as nieve or ignorant, but in leaving a job as a web developer and taking a job as a systems administrator, did I effectively switch careers?
I've always considered myself a full stack developer. I'm just as comfortable in linux running updates, installing software, configuring cron jobs as I am in a text editor writing html / php for a client.
My last job prior to the one I'm leaving, I was both. My coworker and I were IT for a 500 seat call center. We administered everything from the firewall to the windows servers; VM's to configuring managed switches. He was always a mainframe guy so he took care of the iSeries and I took care of the websites.
My current job has been as a web developer. Mostly agency work with tight deadlines, I developed everything from 1 page parallax websites to custom CMS's, Wordpress installs as well as maintaining the local office equipment.
I'm leaving this job to be a systems administrator for 1 website and it's product it sells. My responsibilities will be the upkeep and maintenance of that website as well as helping the programmers out when they need it.
(During both of these jobs; I've freelanced as a web developer also - for over 9 years total now)
So - Is this the definition of a "full stack developer" ? Am I changing careers or just using a different facet of my skill set? Is there a defined line in most companies between systems administrators and programmers? Just curious... <comment><USER2> As far as I can tell, you really did change careers. Your are now a systems administrator and not a software developer anymore.

Did someone convince that its all the same thing or something? Maybe a a manager in some services company or a commercial? If they did its just not true, when you stop coding from the point of view of employers it changes everything.

Employers want persons that are coding on their previous job for developer positions, they always stay away from people that stopped coding.

I know this first hand because I stopped coding in a similar situation for a while, and later I had to answer a whole lot of questions on why I stopped it, we want someone who is an 'active' developer etc.

going from developer to system administrator, business analyst or tester is easy, but going back is very hard even in a market where very few developers are available.

If you don't want to stop development I would advise you to switch back as soon as possible, because have no illusions this could be the end of your developer career. Good luck.

Edit: a full stack developer is a developer that does both backend and GUI development, but not a developer that also does administration I am not aware of any term for that case.

<comment><USER3> If I had to choose between:

"I developed everything from 1 page parallax websites to custom CMS's, Wordpress installs as well as maintaining the local office equipment"

and someone who did that in addition to Linux systems admin for a few years, I'd choose the latter every time.

Also to your point on "full stack dev", I don't see how someone who can't write Bash scripts, write/manage monitoring tools, configure servers/software, and set up automated cloud deployments could be considered full stack.

<comment><USER4> In Australia, if you apply for a 457 visa as a software developer, you must show 3-5-10 years of experience in software development, "or a closely related field". It's much easier to be in the first situation than having to demonstrate the field is closely related, e.g. they don't specify DBA nor team lead on that list.

Of course if you apply with humans, they may understand that a master of Linux and Java dev adds a lot of value to a dev team. But HRs aren't humans.

<comment><USER5> Isn't system administration a "closely related field" to software development, at least from the point of view of the people reading the visa application?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Can I ask (at the risk of sounding churlish) why you're asking?

Is it because you want to know how to explain your new job to friends, how to couch your experience in your CV to future employers, whether you should be backing out immediately and returning to something (else) you feel comfortable with?

Does the idea of changing careers (an increasingly nebulous term) worry or deter you, or is it the specific career of 'Systems Administrator' that worries you?

Devops (another regrettably nebulous term, and one that's on the same shortlist of words to eschew as 'cloud'), as logn observes, makes the distinction less relevant. If you want to hedge your bets and keep an option open to return to full-time dev (though it sounds like it's been a while since you were in such a role), then push the 'devops' appellation, not just on the CV, but also by continuing your 50/50 split of admin and development work. I'd suspect it's easier to drift from devops, rather than sys-admin, into a developer-titled role.

Aside: I'm always bewildered by people who obviously have a deep understanding of the syntax of a handful of programming languages, but can't get their head around the English rule that possessive its has no apostrophe.

</comment><comment><USER7> Yup but not a bad move. You're an elusive DevOps now (It's hard to find them!). That's what I would use as a job title. It's a good market for that and you can always go back to being a Web Dev if you want. On our team, we tried to find a sys ops who was interested in doing dev ops to mentor us. None of the Sys ops guys we had made the transition - you're in a great position. (edited : expanded response)

</comment><comment><USER3> There's a line between sysadmin and developer and larger companies will abide by it. But "full stack developer" and "devops" blur that line.

I don't think you're changing careers. You can craft your resume to frame your experience either way you want. And Linux sysadmin work would be relevant to many dev jobs, especially if you're automating and scaling things.

</comment><comment><USER8> "devops"

Dev and ops are completely different mindsets, but each has to understand the other.

You are positioning yourself for career advancement, as you expand the scope of what you know, and the rough map of what you know you don't know.</comment>


Ganelon: web app microframework for Clojure - <AUTHOR> http://ganelon.tomeklipski.com/ <comment><USER2> This looks really cool and I can't believe it got ZERO responses! Going to read all the docs tomorrow and hopefully try to make it fit in the project I'm working on now.</comment>


China's options for retaliating against tariffs are limited by its own economy - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/02/business/trump-tariffs-china-trade.html <comment><USER2> What I found dealing with Chinese Factories is that they will reduce the price of goods as much as they can to reduce the impact of tariffs for the customer. Most factories receive a Government subsidy for all goods that are exported (BOL from shipping lines). In some industries it can be as high as 15% of the price charged to the customer, which allows them to be more competitive or in the event of tariffs allows for price adjustments. Eventually if the tariffs get to a point where there is no profit left then any additional cost will be passed on to the customer and could be passed on to the consumer.

I feel this is what is occurring now in the USA. The Chinese are eating the tariffs and will continue until there is no more room to maneuver. At that point US companies will probably eat some of the tariffs by reducing profit. Eventually the consumer might have to pay a little more but that isn't a guarantee. The consumer could luck out and pay what they were always paying.

During the 2008 melt down, all our factories agreed to work at cost as long as we continued to buy so they could keep the work force employed. The Chinese are very tough and very willing to do whatever it takes to stay in the game.

<comment><USER3> The problem is that margins in manufacturing are usually in the single digits. So you can't really sustain eating a 10% tariff, to say nothing of a 25% tariff, for that long. Money doesn't grow on trees. You either have to borrow to cover the tariff or pay out of savings. At some point you run out of money or your creditors come to think that you will.

<comment><USER4> It depends on the industry but margins in manufacturing are often enormous. I once worked in a factory making action figures. We could make a few dozen for under a penny in energy and material costs. Those sold for ~$19.99 each.

It turns out that all the cost is in marketing and distribution. And for asian manufacturers the internet era has decreased those costs a ton. They can outsource them to eg. western youtube price arbitragers and focus completely on volume to maximize their government subsidy.

<comment><USER3> But the action figure factory was not Mattel, right? They were a contract manufacturer that companies like Mattel source from. If they try and reduce their prices to Mattel by 10-25% to counteract tariffs then it's going to hurt bad, because they don't have 25% margins. They have <10% margins.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> > Officials are also taking concrete steps to shift China's dependence on the > United States for certain goods. They have focused efforts on new trade > partnerships with countries like Japan and South Korea and lowered trade > barriers for other countries. They have also struck deals to import > agricultural goods from countries other than the United States. This week, > China approved barley imports from Russia.

this is where i expect steve bannon's idea of favoring bilateral deals instead of large trade blocks (ASEAN, TPP etc) to backfire

in the end china will probably just find other ways to adjust and world economy starts splintering

(personally, i was no fan of tpp because of the non-democratic arbitration clauses, but i also think bringing the world together under harmonious and consistent trade relations is extremely important for peace and stability)

<comment><USER6> Where will China get the money to buy their agricultural goods? Their food prices jumped 7.7% in June, likely caused by the outbreak of the African swine fever in the country's pig herd [1]. China has some serious pressure being applied to them, and no wiggle room.

1\. [https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/07/19/china-and-the- swine-...](https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/07/19/china-and-the-swine-flu- outbreak/)

<comment><USER7> China can start selling their U.S. treasury bonds, no?

<comment><USER8> That would raise the value of their currency and make their exports less competitive.

<comment><USER6> It would literally reduce the trade deficit between the US and China:

 _" But Trump's obsession with interest rates stems from a larger concern — boosting economic growth. He only wants the Fed to lower rates so U.S. banks will put some of their $1.4 trillion in reserves to work in the economy. A huge sale of U.S. Treasuries by China would have a similar effect: As interest rates on Treasuries began to rise, banks would use some of their reserves to buy more Treasuries. That spending would put more cash into the wider U.S. economy and stimulate growth.

There is a second, somewhat related, effect of a sale of Chinese bonds: It would drive down the value of the dollar. When China sells U.S. bonds, it receives dollars in exchange. The Chinese could use those dollars to buy other U.S. assets, but the whole point of selling Treasuries is for China to divest from all U.S. assets.

That means the Chinese would need to exchange their dollars for some other currency — euros, pounds or even the yuan. Putting so many dollars on the foreign-exchange market would weaken the value of the dollar. The effect would be to drive up the price of foreign imports for U.S. consumers and drive down the price of U.S. exports."_ [1]

1\. [https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-05-13/u-s- ch...](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-05-13/u-s-china-trade- war-how-a-china-bond-selloff-will-help-trump)

<comment><USER6> I've been thinking about this and I've come to the conclusion that Trump doesn't really want to work out a trade deal with China at this time. What I think he's trying to do is to prod China into dumping their Treasuries.

From above: _" The effect would be to drive up the price of foreign imports for U.S. consumers and drive down the price of U.S. exports."_

What would this do? It would make Americans buy American products. It would make the world buy American products. It would make American companies invest in US manufacturing, rather than overseas.

What does massive economic growth do for the US? Pays down the national debt fast.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Tariffs hurt US customers as well. We pay a higher price for sure.

It hurts China, but it does not mean China has to retaliate because it would hurt China customers as well. If China's leaders are wise, they would focus on the economy boost instead of playing this child game with another Child.

<comment><USER10> On the other hand, it's a great way to drive people away from disposable consumption and guided into more expensive but better built and longer lasting alternatives less damaging to the environment. But I'm afraid this skirmish will not last long enough to shift behavior.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> > The question is how. China's imports from the United States only a fraction > of the trade going the other way, so it cannot match Washington tariff for > tariff. Much of that trade consists of agriculture goods like soybeans, as > well as specialized products like Boeing jetliners or the American-made > chips for the smartphones China makes.

The question monetary value, but _where widgets are physically made made._ This simple realisation eludes so many "China Experts" in the West.

Were Beijing to pull an inverse Huawei ban on any company in the West, that company would be dead in a few months no matter what it is. It can crash US stock market, pension funds and assuredly secure the non-election of Trump for the second term.

China is fully capable of economic retaliation against US and can genuinely make it hurt, but it chooses not to because people in Zhongnanhai have no guts for that.

What surprised me most in recent months is that out of all people, the criticism of Xi's overly conciliatory tone with Washington is now coming from people whom you can call Chinese industrialists class. This criticism is quite strong worded, emotional. I never ever saw somebody so up on social ladder here being so openly critical of Xi before.

<comment><USER12> Google, not exactly a small company, did experience an effective ban in China, and had to stop operations there.

I don't remember any major panic about it, and not even a spectacular NASDAQ crash due to that.

I see that a trade war is a war of attrition, but I don't see US industry as more vulnerable than Chinese in this regard.

<comment><USER13> Apples and oranges. Banning Google in China meant that its product (user data) couldn't be produced in China. That's unfortunate but they still have users elsewhere in the world and on VPNs. On the other hand ad sales _to_ China have continued growing ever since the ban.

Huawei (or any smartphone company) has no alternative to chips that license US technology.

<comment><USER12> Last time I checked, most chips for smartphones were made in China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan.

US-made chips are necessary for high-performance computers; there is no China- made Xeon or Power9. But this is not smartphone stuff.

Re Google: ad sales in China did not stop, but Google received no revenue from that huge market then.

<comment><USER13> Correction, I didn't just mean chips made in the US but also chips that license US technology. This was the reason ARM, a British company had to suspend their relationship with HiSilicon, Huawei's chip manufacturer. [0]

[0]: [https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/22/18635326/huawei-arm- chip-...](https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/22/18635326/huawei-arm-chip-designs- business-suspension)

<comment><USER14> There's no guarantee that the chinese government would respect US copyright and patent law in a split up. It's just as likely the payments to US firms would end, and manufacture would continue.

<comment><USER15> If China takes that action the US can cancel China's bonds.

I don't think either side wants to take such drastic action though.

<comment><USER16> If the US cancels Chinas bonds the US looses any trust, i.e. everyone has to assume that their bonds are worthless. No sane person/company would lend the US money in that scenario.

<comment><USER15> And if China nationalizes US technology nobody will trust it either. No sane company would invest there in that scenario. I think whoever takes drastic action first would lose trust of third parties. Anyway, I don't think it's going to go that far, too much collateral damage.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Its all about huiwei and the technology, that's the ultimate bottom line. They are fighting for the long shot prize. Retaliation is only to show face. Unless they can spin non retaliatory action as something better. Ultimately they seem to be fixated at 5G deployment

</comment><comment><USER11> Quote from the article:

> "We don't know how to deal with this either," Tu Xinquan, the president of > the China Institute for W.T.O. Studies at the University of International > Business and Economics.

> "Is he a sane person at all?" Professor Tu said of the latest move by Mr. > Trump. "It's quite surprising. Didn't the White House just announce that the > trade talks were constructive?"

I'm afraid that Beijing still did not realise that all of the above is pretty much planned. Trump will keep "nightmaring" them, keeping them tense, showering them with unending negative publicity of them keeping failing the trade talks time and time again, while propping up his profile.

Things like this keep showing just how inept and naive are the people making the Chinese elite class.

In a sharp contrast, Chinese _business elites_ are the real sharks, all very sharp people.

Sooner or later, this will end up in conflict in between the two.

<comment><USER6> > Sooner or later, this will end up in conflict in between the two.

Could it be that Trump knows this and is pushing for it?

<comment><USER18> I think that Trump has a particular negotiating style, which is to be all over the map. You're a wonderful person, and he's delighted to have the opportunity to do something wonderful with you; then you're the dirt under his shoe and there will never ever be a deal with someone as wretched as you; the terms of the deal will be one thing, then something else much less favorable to you, then the deal is off, then it's back on but the terms are different. I think it's a schtick that he's used in real estate for a very long time, to get the best deal he can out of people who get tired of being yanked around and just want a deal to get done. I think it's very much improvisational and seat-of- the-pants.

What you're asking (whether Trump knew this as a consequence and pushed for it) would be much more like deep strategic thinking. I don't think that's his style.

<comment><USER3> Exactly.

Previously the US has been run by people who are the scrupulously honest, diligent, forthright types. And anybody who was willing to get a little aggressive walked all over us. Trump totally flips that dynamic around. _He_ is the guy who is aggressive, belligerent and unpredictable. As much as he may be a reprehensible human being, I've been on the other side of the table from people who negotiate like this and it's refreshing to have one of them in America's corner.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Again [1] this narrative of the protectionist US vs. free-trade champion China. Yet China has been heavily protectionist since long before the US started firing back [2].

I cannot imagine these journalists lack this very basic knowledge, which makes me think they are being deliberately deceptive in their framing.

[1] [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-imf-worldbank- china/china...](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-imf-worldbank-china/china- denounces-protectionism-in-swipe-at-u-s-trade-policy-idUSKCN1RP0HU)

[2] [https://www.forbes.com/sites/douglasbulloch/2016/10/12/prote...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/douglasbulloch/2016/10/12/protectionism- may-be-rising-around-the-world-but-in-china-it-never-went-away/)

<comment><USER20> That's clearly not what this article is about. Please focus on what's new and interesting about an article instead of hauling in old links to restart old flamewars. Repetition is the enemy of curiosity. We want the latter. Edit: one can see this problem in the very first word of your comment: "Again".

" _Eschew flamebait. Don 't introduce flamewar topics unless you have something genuinely new to say. Avoid unrelated controversies and generic tangents._"

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

<comment><USER19> But the framing _is_ interesting.

I agree that "they started it!" won't make for a very interesting discussion, but talking about which facts the press focuses on, and which it ignores, could be.

<comment><USER20> That is simply not a significant aspect of the article. In fact, I didn't see it there at all, though I only skimmed it.

<comment><USER19> That it (Chinese protectionism) is not there at all is precisely my point.

<comment><USER20> In that case your post was an example of what that guideline asks you to avoid: flamebait and generic tangents.

Shoehorning a pre-existing grievance into the thread is exactly how we get repetitive flamewars. I know it feels more important, but it always feels that way, and that feeling needs to be resisted if we're to have curious discussions about new things. The art of being a good commenter involves focusing on the specific new information in an article.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Regrettably, that didn't stop us here in the US.</comment>


Show HN: Popular site subdomains - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/JamieFarrelly/Popular-Site-Subdomains <comment><AUTHOR> Lost access to my other HN account but didn't have much activity anyway!

The idea behind this was to get the community to all chip in with website subdomains and then have 1 huge (freely available) list. This way it'd be easy to find all the subdomains for a particular domain if you want to do penetration testing or if you're just nosey like I am - can find some interesting stuff on random subdomains.

Maybe HN can help spread the word about it!

<comment><USER2> For what use such knowledge about subdomains?

<comment><USER3> For Search direct address to current page for example: "analytics.google.com"

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> HN doesn't show the subdomain on the news listing. Sometimes it is important to show it. Therefore I use this Tampermonkey script: [https://greasyfork.org/scripts/11547-hn-better-domain- names/...](https://greasyfork.org/scripts/11547-hn-better-domain- names/code/HN%20better%20domain%20names.user.js)</comment>


FBI 'pretty confident' iPhone hack only works on iPhone 5C with iOS 9 - <AUTHOR> http://mashable.com/2016/04/07/fbi-comey-iphone-hack/ <comment><USER2> > "The reason I keep saying 5C, iOS 9… this doesn't work in sixes, doesn't > work in 5S and, so, we have a tool that works on a narrow slice of phones," > said FBI Director James Comey on Wednesday during a speech on Encryption and > Surveillance at Kenyon College. However, he then quickly added, "I can never > be completely confident, but I'm pretty confident about that."

This reinforces my belief that the FBI will not be able to hang with Apple in the encryption arms race.

Is there any more information on how the private company got in and who they are?</comment>


Tell HN: Come hear me speak at BSDCan'09 - <AUTHOR>

On May 9th I'm going to be speaking at BSDCan'09 in Ottawa, Canada.  BSDCan is a great conference not only for people interested in BSD but also for those interested in open source or operating system development generally.
My talk is about key derivation functions -- that is, how to hash passwords so that they are maximally secure against brute-force attack; contrary to popular belief, bcrypt is not the gold standard.
The conference website is http://www.bsdcan.org/2009/ and registration (for both days of the conference) costs $195. <comment><USER2> I would have loved to come, but I'll most probably be visiting Ottawa mid July. Good luck with the talk and let us know when your slides are posted.

<comment><AUTHOR> I'll be posting my paper and slides as soon as I'm finished speaking.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I hope this goes over well!</comment>


Pentagon Plans to Shrink Army to Pre-World War II Level - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/24/us/politics/pentagon-plans-to-shrink-army-to-pre-world-war-ii-level.html?hp

<comment><USER2> Yes, but for reasons not mentioned in the article. They've had major advancements in robot technology and they're simply replacing ground troops with robots and drones.

Also advancements in efficiency and automation allow smaller crews to do the same tasks and operate the same vehicles.

Lasers, railguns, drones, and robots will dominate the battlefields very, very soon. Humans will just be there to talk to people and tell the robots to go capture / kill / defend / build things.

</comment><comment><USER3> Can we just please get a group of Congress critters that are looking out for the good of the country? This endless political wrangling to ensure re- election is killing our nation.

And bring our people back home. As a former Marine, I'm tired of seeing body bags when there's no looming threat to the physical security of our nation. Our children deserve better.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Also in there: A-10 and U-2 - out. F-35 and Global Hawk - in.</comment>


Chrysler replaces "dead tree" owner manuals with DVDs, saves 20,000 trees/year - <AUTHOR> http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/09/chrysler-replaces-2010-owner-manuals-with-dvd.php

<comment><USER2> Saving trees is great, but think of all the dinosaurs that died to make the DVDs.</comment>


"@ubuntu asks us to bill you 1e-2e per month for each VPS/PCI/PCC/SD" - <AUTHOR> https://twitter.com/olesovhcom/status/744609239075799044 <comment><USER2> Several people have pointed out that OVH modifies Ubuntu (w/ a custom kernel to support their hardware).

If that's true, they shouldn't be surprised Ubuntu wants a license fee... it says so in their trademark policy:

 _\- You can make changes to Ubuntu for your own personal use or for your organisation's own internal use._

 _\- You can redistribute Ubuntu, but only where there has been no modification to it._

 _\- Any redistribution of modified versions of Ubuntu must be approved, certified or provided by Canonical if you are going to associate it with the Trademarks. Otherwise you must remove and replace the Trademarks and will need to recompile the source code to create your own binaries. This does not affect your rights under any open source licence applicable to any of the components of Ubuntu. If you need us to approve, certify or provide modified versions for redistribution you will require a licence agreement from Canonical, for which you may be required to pay._

[http://www.ubuntu.com/legal/terms-and- policies/intellectual-...](http://www.ubuntu.com/legal/terms-and- policies/intellectual-property-policy)

<comment><USER3> How about all upstream authors demanding fees from Ubuntu? Ubuntu modifies upstream packages quite ruthlessly, often to the detriment of the users.

<comment><USER4> You are conflating copyright with trademarks.

<comment><USER5> How so? Ubuntu uses the names of those programs in their packages, no?

<comment><USER4> As far as I am aware Ubuntu complies with all trademark requirements for upstream software that it packages (e.g. Firefox, and probably other 3rd party pre compiled software). For most F/OSS software they have no trademark requirements and/or registered trademarks. So in effect Ubuntu are doing the right thing (tm).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> A rather vague claim, needs more details. Canonical allow the use of the Ubuntu trademark to describe unmodified versions of Ubuntu (in this case, I'd guess it's their cloud server images)

If you modify the images, you can still redistribute them, you just can't call it Ubuntu.

This has some problems, some of which Matthew Garrett has explored in more details.

But generally, imo, it's a useful tool to prevent clueless vps/cloud providers modifying Ubuntu images and breaking them and tarnishing the Ubuntu name (which has happened repeatedly, usually breaking security).

</comment><comment><USER7> Perhaps European trademark laws are different from the US -- but here, using a trademark to refer directly to the thing which is the subject of the trademark is always a legal use.

That's why the Pepsi Challenge can name Coca-Cola directly as the product that people prefer. Certainly Coca-Cola would sue them if they had any legal grounds to stand on, and they do not.

Is OVH using "Ubuntu" to refer to something other than an Ubuntu-sourced distro that they are making available on their servers? Are they substituting an OVH-tweaked derivative and calling it Ubuntu? If so, then Canonical has a plausible case. If not, it's an overanxious, overpaid and undereducated lawyer's assistant writing letters by the hour.

<comment><USER8> > Are they substituting an OVH-tweaked derivative and calling it Ubuntu?

Yes they are, they are shipping ubuntu with a custom kernel to support their hardware, it also comes with its own set of bugs which Ubuntu needs to deal with when they are reported upstream. So I could understand if they'd want to charge for that.

<comment><USER9> No. In that case they should demand OVH stops calling it Ubuntu. That would be the good thing to do. Stop people from damaging your brand. But asking money for allowing them to continue this? That just doesn't feel right.

<comment><USER10> But it does. OVH wants to be able to brand stuff as Ubuntu. Ubuntu is unhappy about brand damage and having to deal with ovh's bug. If ovh throws money at canonical, they can hire people to deal with that.

It might not make much sense business-wise, but I don't see the problem ethically speaking. OVH is in infrigment with Canonical's branding. EIther they comply with Canonical's licensing, or they stop using the brand.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> It seems the already charge Dreamhost: [https://twitter.com/cleverdevil/status/744622945096503297](https://twitter.com/cleverdevil/status/744622945096503297)

</comment><comment><USER12> Sounds like a good open source business model to me. If OVH were distributing it exactly the way UbuntuCo was distributing it, eg. as an ISO on a http/ftp site then I don't think UbuntuCo would have the legal footing to do this. But by acting as a VAR hosting provider, with provisioning guis, etc. then OVH have changed the product, and can no longer be a free rider.

Since it's not exactly Ubuntu anymore, it stands to reason that hosting companies should pay to license the trademark Ubuntu or rebrand it like the CentOS guys did.

<comment><USER13> It's not that they're a hosting provider, it's that they package a different kernel (which makes it vary from the actual, Canonical-provided product).

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Might it be better to hear Canonical's position before we all leap into how awful this is? Is there any particular policy they're on record as applying here?

</comment><comment><USER15> [https://mobile.twitter.com/Hartator/status/74466202159817523...](https://mobile.twitter.com/Hartator/status/744662021598175233)

Asked if removing the option to have the ovh modified version of Ubuntu will be enough. I always have random bugs when I was using it anyway. And it's pretty hard to debug.

</comment><comment><USER16> This will be great news for Debian. Thank you, Canonical.

<comment><USER17> I like Debian more than Ubuntu too, bu I think it's more likely Ubuntu gets a CentOS (same tech, no logos) equivalant.

<comment><USER18> If you think that, you haven't been paying attention to the long, torturous saga of Canonical arguing that if you have the name "Ubuntu" in the name of the package, the Debian-formatted release notes, or pretty much anything, you need to beg them for trademark permission.

Matthew Garrett has been chasing this around[1].

[1] [http://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/35969.html](http://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/35969.html)

<comment><USER19> The free version could just be the word "Ubuntu" in a different language. :)

<comment><USER20> Yes, let's defer to Kenyan popular opinion on what they would call something they're billed forward for calling its name. Points for guessing it rhymes with luche?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Mozilla doesn't let people distribute modified copies of "Firefox" either. That's why Iceweasel was invented.

<comment><USER11> This situation has been resolved recently - [https://glandium.org/blog/?p=3622](https://glandium.org/blog/?p=3622)

<comment><USER22> Mozilla just agreed on exception for Debian only.

<comment><USER23> No, it can't be a Debian-specific exception or it would violate #8 of the Debian Free Software Guidelines:

[https://www.debian.org/social_contract](https://www.debian.org/social_contract)

<comment><USER24> Not at all - you can extract debian-firefox from debian and use it elsewhere, calling it firefox. The exception wasn't "must be in debian system" as per #8, but "debian has a proven track record of keeping FF as a quality release, so we'll allow their modifications to bear the name".

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> Just remove the trademark and name it "Debian derivative". Make sure to link the name to the official website so people can understand. This will lower Ubuntu usage a lot, still people will be able to install it if they wish.

</comment><comment><USER24> Ubuntu: €1-2/month from tweet

RHEL: £19.99/month (€25.64) from OVH UK page

People don't seem to complain that RHEL asks for money.

<comment><USER26> Probably because RHEL actually provides support for that money - otherwise, you use CentOS - whereas Ubuntu seems to be demanding money for use of the name while the customer gets nothing in return.

<comment><USER27> If OVH backs down and uses the bog standard Ubuntu release, the customer gets a much better and much more secure server to play with.

I'm pretty sure I've come across your name before and seem to associate you with a security focus. Wouldn't it be better to have the fully maintained Ubuntu rather than OVH's un-maintained custom build?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> I kept rereading "1e-2e per month" in the title, trying to see it as "1e-2 EUR per month", because 1 EUR per month is just implausible for VPS.

<comment> qu4z-2 I'm really not sure 1e-2 EUR per month is more plausible, though.

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> Perhaps unrelated, a year ago at an Ubuntu event I understood from a Canonical salesperson that they asks a kickback from providers when they advertise with Ubuntu. In London Canonical has an EMEA sales team dedicated to negotiating these kickbacks.

In my understanding this business model emerged after the Cloud providers needed patches very fast after Heartbleed [0]. In return for the kickback, Canonical offers fast patches and Hosters/Cloud providers can use the Ubuntu logo.

[0] [https://www.openssl.org/news/secadv/20140407.txt](https://www.openssl.org/news/secadv/20140407.txt)

</comment><comment><USER30> I am hoping this to have a negative impact on ubuntu by removing ubuntu from as many cloud services as possible. We have better alternatives, but due to large number of community solutions makes ubuntu the common choice.

<comment><USER31> How are there better alternatives if they don't have Ubuntu's "large number of community solutions"?

Are we talking "better" for Unix/Linux old-guard purist-reactionaries? Or for people who want a server that just works?

I personally just stick to Ubuntu because, on most of the software I download, there are usually explicit setup instructions for Ubuntu, and then "other Linux". Life is too short. Ubuntu is the path of least resistance and let's be honest, it works.

By the way, while I'm not sure about this trademark thing, I personally want Canonical to be a profitable and stable company that can continue to invest, and that will be around for a long time. We can't leave all the Linux money to Redhat.

<comment><USER32> DEBIAN

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Not the first time which Canonical attempts to abuse their trademark...

[http://arstechnica.com/information- technology/2013/11/canoni...](http://arstechnica.com/information- technology/2013/11/canonical-abused-trademark-law-to-target-a-site-critical- of-ubuntu-privacy/)

</comment><comment><USER33> Call it OVHbuntu and be done with it.

<comment><USER34> Canonical owns the -buntu suffix too, so this isn't quite enough.

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> I would prefer that OVH shipped Ubuntu with the right kernel instead of the very outdated one they use.

In that case, they don't need to pay Canonical anything, and the OVH users would have a better OS to install.

</comment><comment><USER36> How do various open source licences treat naming rights for derivative works?

<comment><USER37> Mozilla mandates that you call it anything you like, but not "Firefox"

</comment></comment><comment><USER38> """ They do the same to us at @DreamHost and I've always felt it was inappropriate. """

[https://twitter.com/cleverdevil/status/744622945096503297](https://twitter.com/cleverdevil/status/744622945096503297)

<comment><USER5> Apparently not to enough to stop using the name. Guess it has some value, after all.

</comment></comment><comment><USER39> Maybe they could switch to Mandriva Linux. :-k

</comment><comment><USER40> @OVH don't pay. I for sure won't pay you the extra, I'll switch to another distro. Furthermore I'll prove in a court the legality of their claim.

<comment><USER40> > I'll prove

Badly worded, sorry: I was inviting OVH to go to a court and check if Canonical has any right asking them a license.

I confirm that I'll move to another distro if OVH charges me more because of this.

<comment><USER41> They don't have the right to ask them to pay for the _software_ , but they have a right to dictate how their trademark can be used. They're free to distribute their software under a different name. They could also deliver an unmodified copy of Ubuntu to their customers, which would allow them to keep using the Ubuntu trademark.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER42> I don't understand this. AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure all list Ubuntu as a VPS OS option.

I run Ubuntu on all three of my Linux laptops and usually on leased servers and VPSs, and I support them with donations, but if this tweet from OVH is legitimate, then someone at Conanical needs to do some back peddling on this.

</comment><comment><USER43> Ubuntu doesn't support remote desktop beside ssh. There is really no benefit in using Ubuntu as remote server compared to Debian. I would advise to drop support of Ubuntu. Î'm at OVH and use Debian. I´m so far happy with that. Îm switching from Ubuntu to Debian because of the remote display problem. I can't live without it.

<comment><USER44> That's not entirely true, Ubuntu is much more than its desktop environment.

I like it because it offers the trade-off of recency and stability that suits me - relative stability with 6 month update cycle. Debian is either more stable on a ~2-3 year cycle (currently jessie), or less stable on an ongoing release (sid).</comment></comment>


Murdered Saudi Rumoured to Have Used Apple Watch App to Record His Own Death - <AUTHOR> Several news outlets -- most prominently MSNBC (as of Oct 12 at 10pmEST) -- are reporting that Jamal Khashoggi may have used his Apple Watch in conjunction with an app like Just Press Record in order to capture audio of his own interrogation then have it be uploaded to the cloud. (It has been alleged that Khashoggi was then murdered.)
Turkey's Sabah newspaper first reported the story saying the audio was recorded on the watch but then discovered on Khashoggi's iphone -- that his finance was holding outside the walls of the embassy.
It has been noted that the LTE feature in Apple Watch 4 is not supported by any carriers in Turkey.
AppleInsider has the most uptodate coverage I could find in print:
https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/10/12/saudi-journalist-used-apple-watch-to-record-own-interrogation-and-execution-report-says <comment><USER2> This seems to be a fake story that the Turkish secret service is making up to obfuscate the fact that they had listening devices planted within the consulate office. The Apple watch can't possibly sync with his iPhone being carried by his fiancee who was probably out of the usual Bluetooth range (30 to 50 ft), there are no LTE support for Apple Watch in Turkey, and highly doubtful that there were public wifi that he could have used.

<comment><AUTHOR> Can't you roam within your region with Watch 4?

If he was using Watch 4 with LTE and if he bought it, activated it, and paired it to a sim in a European country with LTE support.. the LTE would still work when he left that country to go to Turkey. No?

Khashoggi lived in Virginia so this is still unlikely but I think it is more possible than you make it sound.

<comment><USER3> I'm not saying this is a definite thing but he's also a journalist of a notable and large publication who is doing international news stories abroad in the Middle East. Would he not be a person interested in tech and savvy ways of obtaining data / recordings / photos / video? I'm not saying that this is something we should believe inherently but something about how sensitive things can be with sources and obtaining the types of datas he'd be interested in while working on the types of stories that got him into the position of fearing for his life turns on a light, for me, that would indicate he was the type of person interested in making his devices capable of doing as much as possible for him. I, like others, am not completely knowledgeable about the Apple Watch nor it's ultimate capabilities so I'll defer to the experts but I'd assume there has to be some way to broadcast it to a device within a few 100 yards?

I could also see it being obfuscation as OP mentioned since it seems those reporting officially on the story from Turkey have been quick to cite evidence without showing any proof. It's very interesting all around and I've got my eyes peeled on this story.

<comment><USER4> Assuming he had WiFi, does anyone know if this SOS feature works in Turkey? [https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206983](https://support.apple.com/en- us/HT206983)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Maybe.

Or maybe there were listening devices in the embassy that captured the evidence and Turkey is seeking a plausible explanation for how the audio evidence was captured.

<comment><USER6> This sounds a lot like Parallel Construction:

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

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> I wonder if she was able to see his heart rate while he was being murdered. That some grim dark dystopian future stuff right there.

<comment><USER8> Pulse-data from fitbits have been used in crime-detection in the (recent) past. For example:

[https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/4/17936722/fitbit-data- murd...](https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/4/17936722/fitbit-data-murder-trial- stepdaughter)

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> I find it hard to believe such iphone/icloud evidence accessible to his fiance wouldn't already be broadcast all over the internet for all to see if it existed.

I do however find it easy to believe the place was bugged and Turkish authorities may be averse to distributing such recordings demonstrating it as fact.

<comment><USER10> Another possibility is that once you have the damning evidence you question the people involved to see how badly they will lie. Police do this all the time.

<comment><USER9> The Suadis have already gone on the record with their own version of events.

The time is now for everyone to see the incontrovertible evidence while it still has the world's attention.

That we still haven't seen it is rather suspect.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> MBS seems like the new Saddam. Funny that all these Middle Eastern rulers follow the same pattern of tyrannical rule and are undone by it when they are eventually taken down tyrannically by much bigger tyrants... supposedly for freedom but mostly for profit.

<comment><USER12> I would offer my opinion here that it has absolutey nothing to do with any genetic or ethnic traits belonging to Arabs or people from the Middle East.

Rather I would say that when power is in the hands of select few individuals who are supported militarily and financially (aka politically) by other rich and powerful entities (e,g the USA), those individuals just behave like despots.

It seems to be human nature more often than not to behave like this, under these specific circumstances.

<comment><USER13> The usual explanation is that resource-extraction-dependent societies have an entirely different set of incentives from productivity-dependent societies. Whoever sits at the top of an industrial economy needs to invest in human capital and high-quality institutions to keep the tax revenue flowing. Whoever sits at the top of an oil economy only needs to keep its population out of the way of drilling operations.

<comment><USER12> I can see where you are coming from, but I don't think it's limited specifically to just resource dependent economies. I would argue it's much more meta than that.

A lot of things in life boil down to "pleasing the person above you so you get support". At work, many employees will spend more time scoring points with the manager, rather than thinking of new and innovative ways to grow revenue and profit.

I think you can see this manifest itself in the ways the humans behave politically. "How do I say the right things so that I can get elected/get paid" seems to be the relevant question here rather than "What is the ethical, rational, and equitable thing to do?"

<comment><USER13> I'd argue that selflessly doing the right thing never really happens at scale. Instead what we have are structures that align incentives. In a capitalist democracy, hard to get rich without providing value, and hard to get powerful without earning votes.

But we're venturing dangerously close to rehashing political philosophy from the ground up.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> How was this posted to HN? I thought users could either submit a link with no commentary, or submit an Ask HN.</comment>


Building a Prototype – Creating Freewrite, Part 3 - <AUTHOR> https://adamleeb.com/building-a-prototype-creating-freewrite-part-3/ <comment><USER2> (seems like HTTPS is misconfigured, and thus CSS is blocked by mixed-content policy, the HTTP version is easier to read: [http://adamleeb.com/building-a- prototype-creating-freewrite-...](http://adamleeb.com/building-a-prototype- creating-freewrite-part-3/) )</comment>


Vulnerable NTP Servers Closing Down - <AUTHOR> http://blog.cloudflare.com/good-news-vulnerable-ntp-servers-closing-down <comment><USER2> If you'd like to minimize the number of (non-amplified) packets your previously-vulnerable server is spitting out, there's a simple firewall rule: Block requests to port 123 from source port 80.

Heck if I know why, but something like 2/3rds of the attack packets coming in have a source port of 80, which no sane NTP client would be using.

This plus a per-ip 15-packets-in-20-seconds rule almost eliminates remaining illicit traffic.

<comment><USER3> They have it set to port 80 because they are attacking a service at port 80.

If there is a service listening there it will cause the packet buffers to overflow if the server doesn't drain it fast enough long before you flood their bandwidth capacity.

They could easily attack other ports.

<comment><USER2> 1) UDP port 80 is not widely used. NTP packets directed at port 80 will not affect webservers, which use TCP port 80.

2) There are way too many different IPs being attacked on 80 for this to be a targeted attack on a particular odd deployment.

<comment><USER4> Is this just a side effect of a common script/tool being used?, or I wonder if enough firewall rules do stupid things like "Allow 80 Both (tcp|udp)" that it was an effective means of increasing the efficacy of the attack?

<comment><USER2> I'm sure it's some common script/tool/service, but there's either something entirely non-obvious going on, or the person responsible just doesn't know what they're doing. Not unusual for scriptkiddies.

Big-boy firewalls I'm familiar with don't have a single command for doing such a thing, since it won't match their state machine (being obvious nonsense), and the people managing them are generally unlikely to set the weird multiple rules necessary to get such a behavior.

Consumer GUIs sometimes make such rules easy for the clueless to create, but not many NTP servers are going to be behind such rules. Gaining access to that handful of servers will be a net loss because of the relative ease with which your packets can be filtered by even slightly clueful upstreams.

Against DDoS targets, you have a similar issue. Targets will generally be servers on some sort of professional link that isn't heavily filtered by the provider (and if it were, again, this is an unlikely set of rules for a pro to create), so the packets will at least make it to the "end-user" equipment before hitting a firewall with such an odd rule, at which point you're already hitting the target's actual bottleneck (their uplink).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Warning: the graph shown doesn't start the y-axis at 0. Had me briefly wondering if the problem had been eradicated and reoccurred.

<comment> mh- and the x-axis represents the future..? dates in March 2014

<comment><USER6> Our mistake. Should be February. We're fixing and adding in data from the last couple days.

<comment> mh- :) thanks for sharing the data</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Today is Programmer's Day - <AUTHOR> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programmers_Day <comment><USER2>
      Mother's Day & Father's Day -
        Their times per year is one,
      But every day is Programmer's Day
        If you want to get anything done.

</comment><comment><USER3> That page has been deleted - you need:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programmer%27s_day>

<GrumpyOldManMode> <rant> Do people not check that their submission actually works? What testing do you people do when you deploy software? </rant> </GrumpyOldManMode>

<comment><USER4> It seems to work now.

It is a major peeve that Wikipedia does not redirect the browser eg from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programmers_day> to <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programmer\s_day> properly. So if you copy an URL you end up with the link that will redirect, not the "proper" page.

<comment><USER5> An appropriate problem for Programmer's Day?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Lucky me! I was born on programmer's day just under 2^5 years ago. This is perhaps my happiest birthday yet. :-)

<comment><USER7> Congratulations. You just gained a bit.

<comment><USER8> That's assuming he did not turn 30 :P

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> The article doesn't say anything about this: what do you do on Programmer's Day? Do you still go to work, but just maybe mention that it's Programmer's Day when talking to co-workers?

Most novelty holidays are like this: on Wear a Hat day, you may wear a hat. On Yoghurt Day, you may eat yoghurt. What's the purpose of a holiday that only exists in name, and has no traditions to go along with it?

<comment><USER10> Your relatives and friends congratulate you, and you get drunk in the evening with colleagues.

Seriously.

(Don't even ask how Militia Day is celebrated)

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Time to break out the Ye Olde Fortran or a bottle of Klein's.

</comment><comment><USER12> _Lots of congratulating and patting in the back amongst Hacker News Users_

Is there any tradition establsished for Programmer's Day? We should maybe try to follow in the steps of whyday and say: "It's your day, be creative with your code and have some fun!" or something like that.

</comment><comment><USER13> As one of my coworkers exclaimed: "wtf are we doing here at work?!?".

</comment><comment><USER14> Deleted. Not Deleted. Peace and Happy Programmers Day!!!

</comment><comment><USER15> What a brilliant idea! Now it's just up to us to make it at least an unofficial holiday all over the world.

Somebody should make one of those greeting card type things, but in a geekier way ... hmmm ... first of all, Did YOU remember to wish happy programmers' day to all your mates? Let's at least make it a trending topic eh

</comment><comment><USER16> In Russia, programmers get the respect they deserve!

<comment><USER17> Not entirely sure I'd agree. The article doesn't mention that anyone actually observes it. I suspect the conversation is something along the lines of...

Programmer: "It's Programmer's Day today!"

Boss: "Shut up and work."

Programmer: T_T

Only, ya know, in Russian.

<comment><USER18> Програмист: Сегодня день програмиста!

Шеф: Заткнись и работай.

Програмист: т_т

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> My birthday is an off-by-one of Programmer's Day.. that can't be a good thing.

<comment><USER20> Does it fall on Programmer's Day in leap years?

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> I hope I'll get flowers...

</comment><comment><USER22> Was there something programming-related to celebrate on 10/10/10?

<comment><USER23> Not programming related but kind of geek related...

Ubuntu 10.10 on 10/10/10 <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MaverickReleaseSchedule>

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> America needs more holidays like this.

</comment><comment><USER25> When is Developer's Day?

<comment><USER26> It coincides with Pedant's Day.</comment></comment>


Tesla, Elon Musk win dismissal of lawsuit over Model 3 production - sahin-boydas https://in.reuters.com/article/tesla-lawsuit/tesla-elon-musk-win-dismissal-of-lawsuit-over-model-3-production-idINKCN1R62JC <comment><AUTHOR> I feel like Musk should just prepend all tweets with "I had a dream that"

Eg. "I had a dream that Tesla is going to hit all its financial milestones"

"I had a dream that we just released the model Y and you could buy it now on tesla.com"

Etc.

Fans would have to come to their own conclusion how accurate the dreams are, and the courts would really struggle to prosecute for a tweet saying "I had a dream that Tesla is going bankrupt".</comment>