Ask HN: What book changed your life in 2015? - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER3> The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. I had pretty much given up on the self help genre but a comment left by a poster on Youtube video led me to the book. Something about the title grabbed me and I read not only The Power of Now but 3 of his other books as well over a 3 week period in December - all of which strongly resonated with me. I live my life - really each present moment - differently because of Tolle's teaching. So my life changing books for 2015 - all by Eckhart Tolle were:

The Power of Now; Practicing the Power of Now; Stillness Speaks; A New Earth

</comment><comment><USER4> The Cost Of Discipleship by Deitrich Boenhoffer. Being aware and committed to something bigger than myself rather then trying to find the next thing to make money and potentially become, as Tim Ferriss calls it, another fat guy in a red BMW.

These individuals have riches just as we say that we "have a fever" when really the fever has us. – Seneca

<comment><USER5> There's an idea in my mind I've been trying to make happen. I started learning programming when I was 11 to build it. I've tried numerous times, each time, for a lack of skill it was beyond reach. It's only this year, 15 years later, I feel like I have the knowhow and resources to complete it. It's on this path that I've been following for the last decade and a half, I've gotten into this software engineering career, I met my girlfriend in the office building where I work, I've become best friends with a fellow programmer for the past 10 years, and I find a kind of peace and contentment every time I find myself taking steps to actively pursue this idea. I never knew, never thought about and still don't know whether achieving the idea will make me money, make me more attractive to the opposite sex, or help me become popular and make new friends, but looking back in hindsight, it's because of moments when I didn't think about these "things", when the idea is consuming me and I can't help but try to work on, that I have all these things, today. And it's when I've temporarily given up on my idea to pursue these "things", I lose them.

Do I have the idea, or does the idea have me?

<comment><USER6> I'm in what seems like a similar situation. I've had an idea for ten years and have actively or passively worked toward the direction of implementing it since then. At this point the idea has almost become like a living thing in my mind, and when I get distracted from it with other things like work (or even just relaxing instead of thinking about in my spare time) those things suffer, too. It's like the drive towards the idea fuels other, seemingly unrelated aspects of daily life.

I don't think of it as an "it has me or I have it" situation - it's become almost a symbiotic relationship. I help bring the idea to life, it helps me maintain focus and improve knowledge in other aspects of my life. If I abandon it other things seem to suffer, too.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Victor Frankl's, "Man's Search for Meaning". Title says it all. An incredible book that shares an incredible perspective. Helps me get perspective while providing insight so that it doesn't all seem pointless.

</comment><comment><USER8> Note: I am an atheist, but "Jesus and The Disinherited"[0] was a very influential book for me. I read it after seeing this review[1] by Chris Blattman, social scientist at columbia.

It helped me understand the relationship between fear, oppression, hatred and crime.

It also gave me renewed disdain for the evangelical (as in, spreading of gospel) european and american tradition, a disdain which is probably shared by the author.

Before reading the book, I had never really "understood" Martin Luther King Jr. How could it be _morally_ right to want to integrate, forgive and even love one's oppressors? I feel like I have a better understanding of the civil rights movement in the US, and perhaps a slightly more optimistic view of the future.

[0]: [http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Disinherited-Howard- Thurman/dp/0...](http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Disinherited-Howard- Thurman/dp/0807010294) [1]: [https://chrisblattman.com/2015/09/29/fear-and- what-a-centuri...](https://chrisblattman.com/2015/09/29/fear-and-what-a- centuries-old-theologian-can-teach-the-modern-social-scientist/)

<comment><USER4> Would you say you have a disdain for the "evangelical tradition" because of their particular ideology or how they go about promoting it?

I'm not baiting you I'm generally interested.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> 1> Power of Habit - Charles Duhigg [http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Habit- What-Business/dp/08129...](http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Habit-What- Business/dp/081298160X) 2> Mini Habits - Stephen guise [http://www.amazon.com/Mini-Habits-Smaller-Bigger-Results- ebo...](http://www.amazon.com/Mini-Habits-Smaller-Bigger-Results- ebook/dp/B00HGKNBDK)

After reading these books I am now able to successfully create new habits. Last year I tried to get into a habit of reading good books and was able to read around 40 good books ( twice of what I had planned)

</comment><comment><USER10> How do you engineer breakthroughs in your business? How do you get mentally unstuck? How can you optimize and fix what isn't working?

Labeling a book a Life Changer is a bit melodramatic. Still Jay Abraham's "Sticking Point Solution" is worthy and profoundly thought provoking read, impacting that intersection of buiness/personal life. > [http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6515635-the-sticking- poin...](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6515635-the-sticking-point- solution)

</comment><comment><USER11> Steven Pressfield's "Turning Pro" got me out of a rut. I usually don't go for this type of book, but it is more or less a couple of hour read and it helped me establish a better mindset that I've been able to build upon.

It really reminded me of the Admiral McRaven speech about making your bed, which is occasionally quoted here:

> _"If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first > task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride and it will > encourage you to do another task and another and another," he said._

</comment><comment><USER12> _A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy_ by William B Irvine.

The last few months of 2014 and the first couple of months in 2015 - <USER2> Canadian winter SAD and the stress of starting a new business kicked in - really did me in mentally and I was going through a severe bout with depression.

This book was recommended to me by a friend and founder. It gave me the tools I needed to deal with the ongoing BS life tends to throw at you. Amazing how powerful and still highly applicable a mindset developed centuries ago can be today.

</comment><comment><USER13> The good gut really changed our lifestyle. Lot of good advice that is actionable with sound research. I try to not use antibiotics, drink kefir in my juices, eat more wheat bran in my diet. Amazing how corporate America has eliminated most of the fiber from our foods. Must read for anyone who wants to improve their lifestyle. It starts with the gut!

</comment><comment><USER14> none... my life is unchanged.

</comment><comment><USER15> Antifragile by N. N. Taleb</comment>


Urbanization is supersizing spiders - <AUTHOR> http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/2012/12/urbanization-is-supersizing-spiders/

<comment><USER2> Spider size is a surprisingly interesting topic, with quite quick evolutionary changes in both directions, and lots of interactions between spider size, web size, prey size, etc.

Here's an excerpt from a book about some effects that influence the size of orb-weaver spiders (internal citations omitted):

 _Spider size has evolved rapidly and diversely throughout the evolutionary history of spiders, both in terms of absolute size and relative sexual size dimorphism. In general, there seems to be a trend towards increased spider body size, especially for females, across the phylogenetic tree. ... For orb web spiders, the most common explanation is likely fecundity-based female gigantism because clutch size, the most commonly used proxy for spider fecundity, generally strongly correlates with female body size both intra- and inter-specifically. ..._

 _[M]ight the function of orb webs also play a role in spider size evolution? We believe the answer is yes. In general, orb web architecture determines the type of prey intercepted and retained that could be consumed by the spider. Thus, spider size evolution may occur under selection for how webs might fill 'empty niches'. For example, tiny anapid and mysmenids build orb webs that capture insects ignored by larger orb-weavers, and theridiosomatids specialize on mosquitoes that are too small to be relevant to the diets of large spiders but also such specialized fliers that they are rarely captured by the webs of other, less-specialized spiders. ... Similarly, the largest orb-weavers make webs powerful enough to retain the largest insects, which are simply not available to smaller spiders, and their webs can sometimes even subdue vertebrate prey. Orb webs may place an upper limit on the maximum size achievable by orb web spiders due to increases in the costs of producing webs in larger spiders and due to differences in how the kinetic energy of insect prey versus the stopping powers of orb webs scale with size._

Source: [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0124159192/ref=as_li_ss_tl?...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0124159192/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0124159192&linkCode=as2&tag=kmjn-20), pp. 225-226

</comment><comment><USER3> Non-Australians who click on linked article on huntsmans[1] should note these are regular visitors in our homes. But as much as I love scaring foreigners with our wild life (google dropbear) the ones you see day to day in urban environments are generally 10cm across and happily cohabit with humans.

[1] [http://largestfastestsmartest.co.uk/largest-spiders-in- austr...](http://largestfastestsmartest.co.uk/largest-spiders-in-australia- huntsman-spider/)

<comment><USER4> Wow! That is very interesting.

In the US there are pretty comprehensive "pest-control" measures taken in urban apartment complexes to ensure that there are absolutely no insects, spiders or geckos indoors. I probably see a really tiny "house spider" (which is probably a centimeter across in size) once or twice a year inside my apartment.

So my question is it common to _not_ have pest control in OZ or is your house the exception (since you are nature lover maybe)?

<comment><USER5> The thing about geckos and (as much as it pains me to admit it) spiders is that they prey on much more noxious and difficult to control vermin, particularly the mosquito. This is pretty useful when spiders are basically harmless and _Anopheles_ the most dangerous animal in the world.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> A few years back, urbanization was also causing the breasts of Australian women to grow larger :-|

[http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/fashion/dd-cup- runneth-...](http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/fashion/dd-cup-runneth-over- for-aussie-women/story-e6frfn7i-1225699623920)

</comment><comment><USER7> Small environments also have an influence over the body size of animals. Surprisingly the change does not always occur in the same direction: see _Insular Dwarfism_ and _Insular Gigantism_.

[1] [http://webecoist.momtastic.com/2010/08/09/insular- dwarfism-1...](http://webecoist.momtastic.com/2010/08/09/insular- dwarfism-12-species-that-evolved-to-be-small/)

[2] [http://webecoist.momtastic.com/2010/08/02/animal- gigantism-1...](http://webecoist.momtastic.com/2010/08/02/animal- gigantism-13-real-life-godzillas/)

</comment><comment><USER5> Speaking as a severe arachnophobe and a committed city dweller: great. Just great.</comment>


My job is now about tests and data – not children. I quit - <AUTHOR> http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/03/23/kindergarten-teacher-my-job-is-now-about-tests-and-data-not-children-i-quit/

<comment><USER2> I think the full title "Kindergarten teacher: My job is now about tests and data — not children. I quit." would have been much more descriptive.

</comment><comment><USER3> Hey everyone has to put up with shit. I reckon I must average less than half of my time developing software. A lot of it is just fixing dumb user errors, as they insist on using excel.

<comment><USER4> To be honest I think I spend 1 month a year developing, and 11 months debugging, testing, firefighting, documenting, packaging, building, reviewing, releasing. That's probably optimistic.</comment></comment>


How to design elegance - <AUTHOR> http://mixergy.com/elegant-matthew-may/

<comment><USER2> This site is a great example of how video content should be presented: With a short summary of the key points, and what you can expect to learn if you watch the whole thing.

<comment><USER3> Thanks. I did that based on the feedback I got here.

<comment><USER4> I was going to complain about the lack of a text summary, but then I scrolled down, and hey, there it was! It might make sense to push that a little higher on the page, though.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Interesting to note that the author drew inspiration for the principles of elegance from Donald Knuth.

<comment><USER6> How far into the interview does he mention that? I had to stop watching because I couldn't stand that used car salesguy doing the interview.

Oh, I looked on Amazon and guy kawasaki is coauthor of the book. Not going in my reading list.

<comment><USER4> He mentions it at 5:15, in response to Warner's _third_ question. That's awfully little material to go on when dismissing the interviewer as a "used car salesguy."</comment></comment></comment>


Security Release FAQ - <AUTHOR> http://www.postgresql.org/support/security/faq/2013-04-04/

<comment><USER2> >Who discovered the vulnerability? >Mitsumasa Kondo and Kyotaro Horiguchi of NTT Open Source Software Center while conducting a security audit.

I'm not surprised. Some years ago I worked for a company that had NTT as a customer, and they were easily an order of magnitude more thorough and careful than anyone else. We used to joke that they knew our product better than we did.

</comment><comment><USER3> Here is our official response from Heroku Postgres – [https://postgres.heroku.com/blog/past/2013/4/4/postgres_secu...](https://postgres.heroku.com/blog/past/2013/4/4/postgres_security_updates_and_your_heroku_postgres_database/)

</comment><comment><USER4> In relation to the criticism about Heroku's early access: "Heroku was given access to updated source code which patched the vulnerability at the same time as other packagers. Because Heroku was especially vulnerable, the PostgreSQL Core Team worked with them both to secure their infrastructure and to use their deployment as a test-bed for the security patches, in order to verify that the security update did not break any application functionality. Heroku has a history both of working closely with community developers, and of testing experimental features in their PostgreSQL service."

</comment><comment><USER5> > Any system that allows unrestricted access to the PostgreSQL network port, > such as users running PostgreSQL on a public cloud, is especially > vulnerable.

Heroku allows unauthenticated access to the Postres port to anyone on the Internet? I guess that makes development a lot faster for users... nobody has to think about the implications of secured ports if you just punt on securing them.

<comment><USER6> I believe they mean unrestricted as in not behind a firewall.

Heroku still requires authentication, but doesn't filter access by ip. If someone wanted to they could port-scan all of Heroku's (and really Amazon) internal network and find quite a few postgresql servers listening on network ports.

That's what this is intended to prevent.

<comment><USER5> > Heroku still requires authentication, but doesn't filter access by ip.

Which means unauthenticated access _to the postgres port_ as I said in my post. I didn't say "unauthenticated access to postgres" which would be plainly ridiculous.</comment></comment></comment>


A new rationale for the digital representation of text - <AUTHOR> https://academic.oup.com/dsh/article/32/suppl_2/ii78/4065124/Questce-quun-texte-num%c3%a9riqueA-new-rationale-for <comment><AUTHOR> This is an article from the Digital Humanities journal of the Oxford University.</comment>


5 Platforms for Collecting Big Data - <AUTHOR> https://www.xplenty.com/blog/2015/04/5-platforms-collecting-big-data/

<comment><USER2> Curious about the best platforms for mobile. Got any thoughts around that?</comment>


It's time to retire lena from computer science - <AUTHOR> https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/it-s-time-to-retire-lena-from-computer-science.html <comment><USER2> Long overdue. It might be useful to retrain historical data and algorithms on a new normative image while we have people in crossover state so we have some continuity otherwise we will inherit a pre Lena, Lena and post lena view of visual artifacts and chroma.

<comment><USER3> Definitely. Let's spend quite a bit a time to find an extremely useful new image that most people can agree on before we even think about retiring Lena.

"Let's throw out the bath water. Oops, we forgot there was a baby in that."</comment></comment>


Angry Birds for Chrome already hacked - <AUTHOR> http://thenextweb.com/apps/2011/05/11/angry-birds-for-chrome-already-hacked-unlocking-all-levels/ <comment><USER2> This would more accurately be described as a "cheat", rather than a "hack".

</comment><comment><USER3> angry birds uses local storage to remember which level you last beat. you can modify your local storage. move along.

</comment><comment><USER4> C:\WINDOWS\winmine.ini

</comment><comment><USER5> Its not a surprise. Their js is obfuscated to hell and back, but there's nothing to prevent someone with the patience to completely get a clean copy of the source of this version of the game

</comment><comment><USER6> hack comment used:

"hack", interesting use of the word</comment>


New OpenVMS Vulnerability - <AUTHOR> http://www.theprojectxblog.net/new-openvms-vulnerability/ Alright, I was just hanging out in IRC (Internet Relay Chat) with my friends discussing about gurls, escapades, new fan signs for our blog and suddenly my friend (his name is scr3w) told me about a new vulnerability which has been identified and reported by Christer Oberg (a well-known bug hunter) for HP OpenVMS TCP/IP Services running SMTP server. The potential security vulnerability could result in a remote Denial of Service (DoS). I was so interested on the said exploit that I told him to send me an email about the said vulnerability. <comment><USER2> One word: amazing.</comment>


Welcome to the Dot Com Bubble 2.0 - <AUTHOR> http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000843.html <comment><USER2> It was actually very easy to justify the valuations of many (but not all) internet companies in the first "bubble" although not by naive net present value calculations. The key is to model scaling up as a call option on a future larger version of the firm; you only get the larger version if your company ends up valuable. With a standard checking account type model the only ways to increase value are to increase cash flows or decrease your discount rate, but with an option other avenues become available.

For example, the lower the strike price of the option, the more valuable. So Webvan = enormous initial outlay = high strike price = bad, whereas two college kids in the Yscraper = low strike = good. Another way to increase the value of an option, and I think this is the critical one for the first boom, is to increase the uncertainty of the value of the underlying asset i.e. the hypothetical larger version of the company. In the boom, that uncertainty was huge, we will all be buying pet food online next year, will Google manage all commerce of any kind in five, etc.

So, interestingly, the very fact the wisdom of the crowd had no clue what Web 1.0 business should be worth may have driven the high valuations in the first place.

In the second boom it appears 1. Strikes are lower, 2. Uncertainty is lower = affect on valuations is ambiguous. That's basically the conclusion of article as well as I see it, just approached from a different viewpoint.

</comment><comment><USER3> Maybe it wasn't so much the business ideas as the greed that made the bubble burst. Most bubblers just wasted so much money on consultants etc., which really wasn't necessary. Since I heard this time around people are more careful, maybe this bubble won't burst.

Besides, I remember Ray Kurzweill writing that the Bubble wasn't really a bubble. The companies that really created value created so much value that they compensated for the ones that went bankrupt.

<comment><USER4> _Besides, I remember Ray Kurzweill_ [sic] _writing that the Bubble wasn't really a bubble. The companies that really created value created so much value that they compensated for the ones that went bankrupt._

Sure, overall the whole Internet thing has created a lot of actual value, and this is evidenced by the fact that the recession that followed was pretty mild. But it's still true that it was a bubble in the sense that companies were being invested in with little to no actual value, with unworkable business schemes, and a "hemorrhage money now, make billions later!" mentality. The perception was that the Internet was a money-generating panacea, all you had to do was open a site with a .com suffix, like RoofShingles2U.com, and you'd automatically put all roofing salesmen out of business and corner the roof shingle market.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> I love this quote from one of the comments:

 _When life gives you bubbles - take a bubble bath_

</comment><comment><USER6> A bubble can only be identified definitively in hindsight i.e. after it has burst. If it doesn't burst then its just industry growth.

I think the lessons were learnt the first time around and because the stakes are now comparatively very low the chances we are now currently in a bubble seem remote.

<comment><USER7> Still, there was one clear and strong sign of a bubble before it collapsed: most public dot-coms gave zero dividends, or actually a tiny symbolic sum close to zero. That was a signal for any smart investor to make money _now_ and run away.

<comment><USER8> More to the point, most public dot-coms had zero _earnings_ , which is even more of a signal for the smart investor to take the money and run. Over the long run, stock prices track earnings. Zero earnings = zero stock price.

<comment><USER7> Not exactly. Dividends is what attracts investors (well, real and smart investors), while stock prices is a measure of people's desire to have shares, as well as their sympathy towards that company.

In other words, stock price is a matter of auction, while dividends is a better indicator of whether your company can make money or not.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> This second bubble was made possible by better web programming tools and languages -- everyone becomes a PHP/MySQL programmer nowadays. These tools weren't that affordable in 1990's.

Technology made many things easier, like copying books and music, automating everyone's tasks, etc. But it also made programming itself a lot easier. Programming improves everyone's lives and it improves itself too. So bubbles are inevitable (as well as inevitable are some oscillations).

<comment><USER9> _everyone becomes a PHP/MySQL programmer nowadays. These tools weren't that affordable in 1990's._

They're _free_!!! And they're widely available now which is why everyone becomes a PHP/MySQL programmer.

<comment><USER7> Sorry, I didn't mean "affordable" exactly in terms of money. The tools became much easier to use, which means a better learning curve, which means saving programmer's time, which means money.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> From the blog post:

Seven years later, we're now clearly in the throes of another dot-com bubble. You might argue that the new bubble has been in effect since mid-2006, but the signs are absolutely unmistakable now. The job market for software developers is every bit as hyper-competitive as it was in 1999. The idea that you can found a company on the internet-- and make money-- is taken seriously now. There's a new one every week.

<comment><USER10> ... and this describes a bubble, how? This describes a boom.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Shh... don't tell all the people applying to YC!

</comment><comment><USER7> After all, the guy coined a new term - Bubble 2.0, and I liked it very much.

</comment><comment><USER10> I doubt that the guy who wrote this understands what "bubble" means. I think he means "boom", and booms are not fragile -- not like bubbles.

Truth is, this guy needs to read PG's essays.

<comment><USER7> That first bubble was a "boom" until it bursted.

And what exactly he's supposed to learn from PG's essays?

<comment><USER10> nostrademons gave a fine answer to this.

The fine point here is: there is a difference between a boom and a bubble. Boom == increase in activity supported by actual innovation. Bubble == increase in activity based on marketing fluff or other unsustainable models.

PG talks quite a lot about this kind of thing; in particular, he points out that a boom can sustain for as long as there is innovation (wealth-creation) to support it, and that there is no reason the economy can't support, say, 1000 people working on startups rather than 1000 people working for IBM.

<comment><USER7> Ok, isn't Web 2.0 a similar marketing fluff? I understand with all similarities it's not the same. I'm sure it is much better now, but add one more new factor, like the failure of Windows Vista for example, and you may have that critical mass for a new collapse.

<comment><USER10> "add one more new factor, like the failure of Windows Vista for example, and you may have that critical mass for a new collapse"

Forgive me, but I don't see the connection. How would the failure of Windows Vista do anything but _help_ applications that run on the web? I can imagine some large things that could hurt this boom (economic collapse, maybe), but nothing small.

Web 2.0 has a lot of hype right now, but that doesn't make it marketing fluff. There is real substance here (and real profits, real innovation, and real users).

In contrast: here is a quick story about a company that I interviewed with in 1998. I don't remember the name; they were located South of Market in a really nice loft with lots of brick, glass, and chrome. Free lunch every day, free beverages, lots of perks. The business model: we are going to get your website's customers to fill out surveys. You are going to pay us for this. We will get the customers to fill out surveys by rewarding them with frequent- flier miles. I remember three things about this company, years later: how nice their loft was, how stupid and convoluted their business model was, and how arrogant they seemed to be about it. They acted like they were already a success.

In contrast, btw, the startup I did join was operating out of a cluttered office in Palo Alto that they'd got a really good deal on. Junk was everywhere, and the Founder/CEO asked me if I minded. I told him, "hey, it looks like a real startup." That company is still in business today. Frequent- Flier-Miles-for-Surveys, Inc: not so much.

<comment><USER7> Causes of some effect shouldn't necessarily be related, I was talking only about a critical mass, when causes add up.

I understand what you are saying otherwise.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Robots.txt Checker (CoffeeScript, Node) w. Bookmarklet - <AUTHOR> http://www.franz-enzenhofer.com/robotstxt?robotstxturl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Frobots.txt&useragent=Mozilla%2F5.0+%28compatible%3B+Googlebot%2F2.1%3B++http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fbot.html+-+fake+-+a+harmless+robots.txt+bookmarklet%29&testurls=%2F

<comment><USER2> How about a robot.txt generator. Maybe it shows the user all the directories of the website (reads the sitemap) and then allows the user to disallow specific documents and directories in a point and click fashion. The generator then writes it in the proper syntax.

Yea? Nay?</comment>


We're selling our awesome side-project - <AUTHOR> http://www.sideprojectors.com/project/project/709/kejek-social-sharing Me and my partner were forced to leave our project on which we worked for almost a year (we have over 25,000 publishers using it). We don't want to simply discard it, so we decided to offer it for sale for limited time.
it's on SideProject.com : http://www.sideprojectors.com/project/project/709/kejek-social-sharing
Here's a summary:
Social sharing tool for websites, that pushes visitors to share more by showing them exactly how many people have watched what they share.
It is currently installed on more than 25,000 sites, including premium paying clients. <comment><USER2> Why are you selling it?</comment>


Ask HN: What's your favourite non-US movie/series and why? - <AUTHOR> Preferably non-USA, preferably not in English. They're already vastly overrepresented in online lists. Your favourite, or maybe top 3, and why. Thank you! <comment><AUTHOR> _Die Wand_ ( _The Wall_ , 2012, Austria) - A woman on holiday in the mountains is suddenly trapped behind an invisible wall, with only animals as companions... The movie goes deep into human nature, how we live with nature and other life forms, and is comparably profound with the best writing on those subjects. Incredible.

 _The Sea That Thinks_ (2000, Netherlands) - About the self, self-reference, meta-(meta-meta-)narrative, consciousness, illusion.. Wonderfully well- constructed.

2 of Kurosawa's: _Dersu Uzala_ (1974), the story of the friendship of a Russian military map-maker and a Siberian hunter. Fascinating encounter of city man and nomadic hunter, two incompatible modes of living. (I think Yoda is based on Dersu, as _Star Wars_ was based on _Hidden Fortress_ ) ..and _Ikiru_ (1952), about a boring goverment office worker who learns he's dying and wants to do something meaningful with his life at last.

Series: My favourites are from France ( _Engrenages_ , _Les hommes de l'ombre_ , _Le Bureau des Légendes_ , _Un Village Français_ ) and Denmark ( _Borgen_ , _Arvingerne_ , _Herrens veje_ / _Ride Upon the Storm_ ). Maybe _Un Village Français_ gets my top vote, the epic (7 seasons) story of a French village under Nazi occupation - the politicians, Resistance, communists, militia, Nazis, collaborators, Jews, businessmen etc. Unforgettably touching.</comment>


Things I've Recently Learned About Legislative Redistricting - <AUTHOR> http://mike.teczno.com/notes/redistricting.html <comment><USER2> His partisan rant notwithstanding, the gerrymanders he complains about are _Democrat_ , not Republican, in origin.

Democrats have had complete control of the California legislature for _two decades running_ (probably _three+_ , excluding part of the one 1995-1997 term for just the Assembly).

As for New York, its current legislative boundaries' most recent partisan gerrymander was also Democrat, but the existing boundaries were drawn by a _panel of Federal judges_... and their product was largely praised by Democrat stakeholders:

"The plan is largely the same as that proposed by the magistrate judge, Roanne L. Mann.

Judge Mann produced her map with assistance from a redistricting expert at Columbia Law School, Nathaniel Persily. They did not take into account the residences of incumbent lawmakers, and their proposal drew praise from government watchdog groups for its compact, common-sense districts.

The lawyers who brought a lawsuit on behalf of a group of civic leaders and urged the federal courts to take over the process praised the judges' order."[0]

[0] [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/20/nyregion/judges-impose- new...](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/20/nyregion/judges-impose-new- congressional-map-for-new-york.html)</comment>


Practical Ways to Stay Close to Your Early Users - <AUTHOR> https://blog.paymill.com/stay-close-to-early-users/

<comment><USER2> Very helpful! Thanks for the insights.

</comment><comment><USER3> Good to know, thanks!</comment>


Litmus sends out email that breaks - <AUTHOR>

The attached link was from Litmus mail out to all clients, to promote their new toolsets that relate to the Apple Watch.
Unfortunately, and rather embarrassingly, for the email testing company, is that the links were broken. The analytics for the Apple Watch link in the email seem to break when users clicked on them. The result was users being brought to a page that simply says..."Error establishing a database connection".  For the more dev-head user, simply removing the "utm_campaign" related querystrings gets you to were you wanted to go.
https://litmus.com/blog/apple-watch-favors-text-version-breaks-links?utm_campaign=apr2015news&utm_source=Pardot&utm_medium=email <comment><USER2> Works for me. Seems like their wordpress was down?

</comment><comment><USER3> It's working for me...</comment>


Interference: Open-source distributed database with complex event processing - <AUTHOR> http://interference.su <comment></comment>


Lord of the Flies, Maslow's Hierarchy and Better Employee Benefits - <AUTHOR> http://blog.betterworks.com/blog/bid/57495/Lord-of-the-Flies-Maslow-s-Hierarchy-and-Better-Employee-Benefits

<comment><USER2> very informative, thanks for this

</comment><comment><USER3> Tres Bien.

</comment><comment><USER4> awesome!

</comment><comment><USER5> :)</comment>


In Europe, Speed Cameras Meet Their Technological Match - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/01/technology/in-europe-speed-cameras-meet-their-technological-match.html

<comment><USER2> > _the use of radar-detection services like Coyote's, which also monitors a > driver's speed against posted limits and advises of traffic jams, was > applauded last year by the French government as a useful driver education > tool, which helped legitimize the service._

I don't know where they saw that. "Radar-detection[1] services like Coyote's" are universally _criticized_ by the (past and present) French government: a bill passed recently rendering their use illegal. Now such devices alert you of a "danger zone", and the hypocrisy just grows bigger.

I can be controlled for speed up to five times on a 10km, 20min commute, yet I've been controlled only two times in 20 years for alcohol.

[1] This term is incorrect, radar _detection_ systems (the little thingies that detect radar EM emissions) are _completely banned_ , whereas radar _alert_ systems (where a geolocation database is filled by professionals and/or the community and checked against current position) were until recently allowed, and banned recently.

<comment><USER3> Also, the article implies that

a) Coyote is new b) Coyote is a smartphone app

Both of these are false: Coyote is about 7 years old, and the "warner" is an independent module that uses the GSM network

<comment><USER2> Actually, b) is true: see [1]

[1] [http://itunes.apple.com/fr/app/icoyote- europe/id367345773?mt...](http://itunes.apple.com/fr/app/icoyote- europe/id367345773?mt=8)

<comment><USER3> You are correct, I wasn't clear enough in my sentence. I meant to say "Coyote was not launched as an app".The article makes it sound like it's a new development.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> What do you do when cameras start calculating the average speed over some distance, rather than doing single-spot measurements? :)

<comment><USER5> They have these on various motorways and cities in the UK - and they work brilliantly - once you are in (a well signposted) 'average speed check' area, everyone slows down and does the speed limit.

You could still be warned that you are aproaching the area though. Interestingly these use front mounted cameras (to capture the driver) so have no effect on motorbikes - though the general slower speed seems to slow them on the motorways.

As a cyclist (and driver) I think they are great for city driving, and a much better solution than speedbumps or other calming measures.

<comment><USER6> Except they don't - they do whatever their woefully inaccurate speedometer thinks the limit is. Since I drive something with cruise control and GPS- indicated speed, I invariably find myself iterating cruise control settings to match with the traffic. As for changing lanes, forget it - everyone will be driving 3 feet of the bumper in front, because the traffic concertina'ed up when it saw the first camera. You'd better be in the correct lane for your exit before you hit the averaging zone, or you're taking the scenic route.

Depressingly, I can't think of a better solution. Driving makes people into assholes, myself included, and averaging cameras are about the only thing that works. Speed bumps and traffic calming simply cause an arms race of bigger and bigger SUVs that simply roll over anything smaller than a mini with impunity.

I suppose they could try the Edinburgh approach of simply not repairing the roads, in favour of spending the money on an overgrown toy train set for the current set of ideologically-challenged councillors.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I was surprised the first time my cheap-o year-old Garmin GPS started beeping at me when I drove through an unfamiliar city: apparently it came with a free database of red-light cameras and was telling me every time I came near one, along with displaying the current speed limit. I'm not in Europe.

</comment><comment><USER8> This system will help you identify the speed averaging plate recognition systems used on a lot of Britain's roads, but you won't be able to slow down and speed up again for the camera.

</comment><comment><USER9> Not all cameras are static in europe, this is were these type of systems fall down. Having a subscription to some service that lists were they are and warns you and is updated by you or somebody else who pays a subscription is ok if you like to speed about on dynamic routes. Though anybody who travels the sameish journey a few times will soon know were and when to be mindful of traffic camera's.

I often see policemen with handheld speed kit and mobile camera units, most councils in even have cars with a periscope camera ontop that drive around automaticly processing so many driving violations its just to stressful to drive. But welcome to the UK/Europe and do have a nice stay as we are watching you.

<comment><USER10> > Not all cameras are static in europe, this is were these type of systems > fall down.

Theoretically, these systems can also handle education by pointing out the current speed limit dynamically (as the speed limit may change around accidents or depending on the weather). They can also warn about other "dangers" than radars, and as the article notes the french govt had coyote change this last year: coyote now reports the user has entered a "danger zone" without specifying what the danger is (can be a radar, but can also be an accident or some other kind of issue)

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> The state should endorse this technology. Once everybody has one, they can remove the cameras and everybody will still obey their devices.

<comment><USER12> That's a very good point: if the cameras are there to prevent accidents, then these databases really are doing their job in making people slow down for them.

<comment><USER13> > if the cameras are there to prevent accidents

cameras are to easily collect fines.

<comment><USER14> So, you can easily show those jerks, simply by respecting the speed limit!

win for you, win for the community!

<comment><USER15> You can easily show those jerks by driving at high speed and braking like an idiot right before you hit a speed trap.

The reason the Netherlands employs so many mobile speed traps is because people quickly learn where the fixed speed traps are and simply ignore the speed limits in between, or try to "make up for time lost by having to brake for a speed trap" (yes, I've heard and seen plenty of people do this).

This is why radar detectors are illegal in the Netherlands.

<comment><USER16> Dutch people and government are obsessed with (limiting) speed, instead of focussing on keeping distance. A nice effect of distance is less braking, which means less energy converted into useless heat and less ghost traffic jams.

It always amuses me to hear local radio news about yet another multi-vehicle collision.

In Germany, the country known for it's wonderful Autobahn, you can temporarily loose your license for tailgating.

PS: I'm dutch.

<comment><USER17> Ha yes, totally agreeing ...

The worst part of that is when overtaking ... a traditional Dutch driver will only look to see if he has the place to go, not if the car coming at the back is much faster than him/her.

So you end up with a lot of braking when driving on the left-most lane. The "funniest" is to see that happening with Dutch drivers outside the Netherlands ... because drivers from other countries are not used to that behavior :) (disclaimer : I live in NL, but I'm not Dutch and did not learn to drive in the Netherlands)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> And on the metro, ticket inspectors are now redundant: not true, they adapted: now the ticket inspectors board for one station and switch trains. Made every service useless in one sweep.

</comment><comment><USER18> Coyote is a nice French startup success story, also an embedded hardware success, similar to Parrot.

I'm a bit disappointed that it fits the typical parisian pattern of elder, management consultants founders. No twenty-something founders changing the world here!

</comment><comment><USER19> Automated enforcement doesn't catch the most dangerous drivers (erratic tailgaters etc.) and it increases the incentive to steal or clone number plates.

It is pretty rare to see a police vehicle on the UK motorways. I probably see one on my carriageway less than once every thousand miles and that includes where they are dealing with an accident or traffic stop. Our roads are pretty safe by global standards so maybe that is ok and money is better spent engineering out accident black spots.

</comment><comment><USER20> The thing with these systems is when you get caught, you don't pay a simple fine, you just loose your driving license.

The journalists should inform themselves better, as European I doubt anyone is easily left of the hook if caught during a police control using such device.

<comment><USER21> There is a system in France called Coyote which is completely legal and works extremely well. It comes with an inbuilt database of static speed traps but the killer feature is a button that each unit has which you press if you pass a mobile speed trap. The device then sends the co-ords via the GSM network back to Coyote head quarters who then relay the info to every other Coyote user in real time. It's really effective.

Site is here: <http://www.moncoyote.com/>

<comment><USER3> Yes, this is described in the first paragraph of the article...

<comment><USER21> Oops :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Cameras are pretty cheap, can't they just put more in.

<comment><USER3> A speed camera costs about 75k euros to install, and then needs to be maintained, calibrated etc

<comment><USER22> Hmm, only a government would pay so much for a camera... Perhaps therein lies the problem though.</comment></comment></comment>


Oil rig worker says he saw Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 burst into flames - <AUTHOR> http://www.news.com.au/world/oil-rig-worker-says-he-saw-malaysia-airlines-flight-mh370-burst-into-flames/story-fndir2ev-1226853302184

<comment><USER2> No, he saw something that he suspected _might_ be the airliner in flames. Search aircraft were unable to find anything in connection with the locations he gave.

<comment><USER3> Yet.

<comment><USER2> Ever.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Good for him?

<comment><USER5> If he did indeed see the plane, it's good for _everyone involved_. People can take his observation, calculate likely final trajectories for the plane, and _radically_ narrow the search area. That would at least help recover the black box, and might even give any (admittedly unlikely) survivors what could well be their last chance for rescue.

As the Aussies and, I believe, the Kiwis say, "Good _on_ him."</comment></comment>


OpenDNS transparently proxying www.google.com traffic - <AUTHOR> http://kernelmustard.com/2010/03/23/opendns-and-proxying/

<comment><AUTHOR> No news, but still worth pointing to...

(e.g. <http://blowery.org/2008/04/08/opendns-is-proxying-google/>)</comment>


Saga of "Madman" Earl Muntz and cheap tube televisions - <AUTHOR> https://www.planetanalog.com/author.asp?section_id=3393&doc_id=564778& <comment><AUTHOR> "Earl was such a corporate spendthrift, that it was rumored that he would walk up to engineers bench testing their circuits. After a little discussion regarding the circuit and its various components, Earl would question the engineers on whether or not certain components were truly needed. Earl always carried around a pair of wire cutters, and would often pull them out or clip one lead of a component whose usefulness he might doubt. If the circuit continued to function, the engineer would be under the gun to truly demonstrate the need for the clipped part."</comment>


140byt.es - Tweet-sized, fork-to-play, community-curated JavaScript - <AUTHOR> http://140byt.es/

<comment><AUTHOR> For those not familiar, 140byt.es is a collaborative code-golfing challenge in JavaScript. The objective is to fit as much punch as possible into 140 bytes, and there has been some impressive work from the community.

Examples include 140-byte versions of

      * client-side app helpers: router, jsonp, and templates
      * DOM helpers: selectors, swap, and walk
      * parsers: Base64, roman numerals, URLs, brainfuck
      * math: isPrimeNumber and solveAlgebraicEquation

et cetera. You really have to see some of these entries to believe them. I've learned a lot about JavaScript in the process.</comment>


How to Implement Color Search - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/jotform-form-builder/how-to-implement-color-search-96698bb5c659

<comment><USER2> I have been working on color search before and there are a few things they did implement in a suboptimal fashion at best. For one I would choose [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lab_color_space](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lab_color_space) or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIECAM02](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIECAM02)

These colorspaces are made for similarity search. Additionally I would use a CNN [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-nearest_neighbors_algorithm#C...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-nearest_neighbors_algorithm#CNN_for_data_reduction)</comment>


GridGain Principles - <AUTHOR> http://www.jroller.com/nivanov/entry/gridgain_principles

<comment><USER2> Not sure how much has changed since I posted this:

[http://www.gridgainsystems.com/jiveforums/thread.jspa?messag...](http://www.gridgainsystems.com/jiveforums/thread.jspa?messageID=2167)</comment>


Ask HN: Good Resume Samples? - <AUTHOR> I'm job hunting right now, and trying to optimize my resume, I've been having a hard time finding up to date sample resumes of people in the field.<p>Do you guys have any good examples of resumes (yours or other peoples)? Mostly looking for technical resumes, software dev, hardware, etc. <comment><USER2> The monthly freelancer thread [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17205866](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17205866) might link to a couple.

My favorite one-pager, I don't know the person [http://kelly- dunn.me/resume](http://kelly-dunn.me/resume)</comment>


Godot 4.0 will get a new lightmapper - <AUTHOR> https://godotengine.org/article/godot-40-will-get-new-modernized-lightmapper <comment><USER2> Would you like to use Rust (and Godot) to make games?

Here is my tutorial on using Godot and Rust together - [https://medium.com/@recallsingularity/gorgeous-godot- games-i...](https://medium.com/@recallsingularity/gorgeous-godot-games-in- rust-1867c56045e6?source=friends_link&sk=c2fd85689b4638eae4d91b743439c75f)

Also, I'm making a space factory game. Sporadic updates so far but here is the most recent

[https://medium.com/@recallsingularity/space-factory- building...](https://medium.com/@recallsingularity/space-factory-building-in- feb-2020-752e96dfaa0a?source=friends_link&sk=b94f8113de1e0c2130a7a769abde43fd)

There is a Discord mentioned in there if you run into any issues with your godot-rust dev, we've got a very active development community there.

Godot also supports GDScript, C#, Python, C++ and more.

<comment><USER3> Does it support javascript?

<comment><USER4> Godot does not, because Godot is heavily threaded and the VM was difficult to embed[1]

[1] [https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/about/faq.html](https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/about/faq.html)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Godot really seems to be taking off lately. It would be very exciting to see a true open-source competitor to Unity and Unreal. Unfortunately I think it'll be held back on that front until it supports console builds, but still, it's quite an impressive endeavor considering the size of the team and the funding model.

<comment><USER6> You may as well stick with Unity and Unreal if you need support for console builds because from what I hear there's no point in waiting for Godot.

<comment><USER7> You snuck a very good joke into this comment.

<comment><USER8> It's not a coincidence, this joke is actually the namesake of the project. [https://godotengine.org/article/godot-history- images](https://godotengine.org/article/godot-history-images)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> It's been really enjoyable to read these progress reports. Juan is a great programmer and I admire his dedication and ability to consistently put out high-quality features and drive the project despite being the only developer working full-time on it for many years now. He really knows his stuff.

I haven't had time for it lately, but I used to participate in the Godot Wild Jam. It's a great way to connect with other Godot users and test out these new engine features. I highly recommend it for any new Godot users: [https://godotwildjam.com/](https://godotwildjam.com/)

<comment><USER9> I'm 100% sure that at least 3 developers are working full-time on Godot now. I think a fourth one was recently hired as well.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> A little bit off topic: do you know any good resources to get started with Godot?

<comment><USER11> I have started by following "Discovering Godot"[1] video course on Udemy, I still think this is the best place to start.

After that I have watched "Top-down Tank Battle"[2], and I highly recommend it, absolutely brilliant series of tutorials(all of the tutorials on this channel are great). Really helped me to understand all the concepts much better.

For intermediate/advanced tutorials, watch GDQuest. They have a youtube channel[3] and excellent video courses[4]. They are planning to release courses on procedural generation and multiplayer too, I'm really looking forward to watching those.

Finally, a shameless plug - I'm making some tutorials on Godot(alongside with some general Digital Art and Houdini videos). I'm still just getting started, but people seem to like them. The most popular one I've made so far is "Creating Platformer Character Movement in Godot - Wall Jumping/Sliding, Double Jumping, Dashing"[5].

[1] [https://www.udemy.com/course/godot/](https://www.udemy.com/course/godot/)

[2] [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsk- HSGFjnaFC8kEv6MaL...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsk- HSGFjnaFC8kEv6MaLXnnDcevGpSWf)

[3] [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxboW7x0jZqFdvMdCFKTMsQ](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxboW7x0jZqFdvMdCFKTMsQ)

[4] [https://gdquest.mavenseed.com/p/home](https://gdquest.mavenseed.com/p/home)

[5] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8pC8n4s-_I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8pC8n4s-_I)

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> What is a light mapper exactly. Is there a good resource to give a high level overview of how such a modern engine works?

<comment><USER13> Light maps are when you use any lighting algorithm to generate a pre-rendered texture of all the lights and shadows in a scene. The result is a big packed texture and an extra set of texture coords on all the scene geometry that says which bit of the texture corresponds to what. You can use any lighting algorithm to generate the map, but presumably something that's too slow to use in real time, and that's in some way better than your real time shader.

Light maps only work on non-moving lights and non-moving objects, but they're usually combined with light probes, which are samples of what the shadows would be like in a given chunk of empty space if an object were there. Moving objects can shadow themselves using these.

Light maps can be combined with other lighting/shadow algorithms. For example you might leave out the direct lighting from the most important lights in your scene, and use shadow maps for those instead, so dynamic objects can cast shadows.

<comment><USER12> Thanks for the explanation. Is there a good more general resource to learn this and other graphical concepts?

<comment><USER14> Stuff like this should be covered in the Real-Time Rendering book.

<comment><USER12> Is that [https://www.realtimerendering.com/](https://www.realtimerendering.com/)?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Nice! I just discovered Godot this week.

Note if the post author is here, there is a typo in the sentence "In Godot, different scenes can have their own ligthmaps and you can mix and match them however you like."

</comment><comment><USER16> Here's your friendly reminder to support Godot if you like using it (or just like it without using it): [https://www.patreon.com/godotengine](https://www.patreon.com/godotengine)

I'm not affiliated with Godot, just love using it :-)

</comment><comment><USER17> There was an article yesterday about framework vs libraries.

I think it's exactly why I don't like godot for the same reason I dislike unity, unreal, etc: they're frameworks.

<comment><USER18> goal : build a game \- 1st solution : use framework + n days dev time \- 2nd solution : use libraries + 10xn days dev time

<comment><USER17> That's true in most cases, if you want to make a game as fast as possible, if it's not too ambitious, if you like the framework, and if the constraints are satisfying.

Frameworks are not so cut and dry compared to libraries. Not using a framework is not necessarily a bad idea.

<comment><USER19> Godot lets you script with native code (GDNative) and more importantly lets you access the very low level parts of the engine should you so wish, allowing you to implement advanced custom functionality performantly.

I do get your point but honestly unless you're a big studio or a custom engine enthusiast, there's very few logical reasons not to use a framework.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> I notice in the demo with the rotating rings that the illumination underneath them does not rotate smoothly. Anybody have an insight as to why?

<comment><USER21> If I had to guess, which I do, I'd say it's probably a voxel size constraint. As long as one voxel is bigger than a perceivable pixel, all you can really do is interpolate the GI values within the voxel grid. That's is why lights moving smoothly and linearly will look slightly "choppy". It's probably less obvious in most real-world applications.

Again, just a wild guess based on watching that clip, I'm open to corrections!

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> The link has a screen shot of a UI for configuring a Baked light map. Does anyone know the framework used for the screenshot?

<comment><USER22> I ended up doing a web search. Found this comment. """ Godot's editor is built with Godot's own Control nodes which you can use for your games. In short, there's no external toolkit, Godot's editor is a Godot game. """

And from looking at a tutorial it appears to be a retained mode UI.

</comment></comment><comment> noir-york Godot is awesome, and Juan and the contributors are doing fantastic work. They deserve every success.

</comment><comment><USER23> Godot is really good. Loving the games that have been created with it so far.

</comment><comment><USER24> I'm waiting for Godot 4.0

(runs and hides)

</comment><comment><USER25> I believe real-time raytracing will change everything once cheap hardware can do it. It may take a while to get it on mobile, but for PC and consoles, I'm not sure all AAA in 10 years will have old fashioned light maps.

<comment><USER26> Depends on what you mean with 'lightmap' \- if you mean the classic Quake 2-style slapping of colored textures on top of diffuse textures, sure, probably that wont be much of a sight in 10 years. However even nowadays (or years ago, really) most lightmaps contained more than that (e.g. at minimum you'd need directional information) and i doubt raytracing will get rid of the idea of precalculating lighting information per surface, especially as raytracing hardware becomes more programmable.

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> What is the story for raytracing?

Considering they don't have enough manpower to compete with UE/Unity in raster, would it make sense going for full raytracing now?

That way, when next-next-gen hardware arrives in 2-3 years, they could be on the forefront of editors specialized in fully raytraced games.

<comment><USER28> I bought a new system with RTX 2070 Super and couldn't get any demos with raytracing to work acceptably in either Unreal or unity... The frame rates on super simple levels were maybe 10fps at best...

I was a little dismayed. It seems like AAA games are also not making a huge amount of use of it either. Despite the RTX name I don't know if it's really ready for prime time, at all.

<comment><USER27> Current gen hardware is nowhere powerful enough for that, yeah. But for simple games a lot is already possible (like Minecraft).

DLSS 2 and similar techniques help a lot to reduce the number of rays needed. Perhaps by the time of RTX 4000 (what I meant as next-next-gen) we might be able to see full raytracing.

<comment><USER29> yeah, I feel like it will be several years before it's polished enough for normal gaming usage and it becomes more than just a cool gimmick.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


The CA's Role in Fighting Phishing and Malware - glass- https://letsencrypt.org/2015/10/29/phishing-and-malware.html <comment><AUTHOR> This has always puzzled me about SSL certs. Most site owners want to ensure that communication to and from the server is encrypted and secure from all prying eyes, period.

Other site owners also want to add to this the concept of trust, to prove who they are has been legitimately verified by a trusted third party.

That the two mechanisms are forced together is not ideal. The lock symbol symbol should symbolise the encryption. Another icon should be used to denote trust.

Snowdon has uniquely proven that all data must be encrypted both in communiqué and ideally also at rest.

Is encrypted communications and verified trust mutually exclusive or not. Discuss!

<comment><USER2> A classic example is this[0] debacle, wherein a legitimate user struggles with all forms of difficulties because a CA took it upon themselves to police the certificates they issue.

Similarly, I bought a certificate from that same company and because it was for a well known brand I was made to jump through all sorts of verification hoops, despite being a DV certificate.

I won't link it here but I came across a stresser service quite literally selling DDoS tools, advertising that they accept bitcoins for anonymous attacks - who happen to have an EV certificate and give users a big green bar.

Does that make it a legitimate business? SSL vendors what you to think so.

[0] [https://forums.comodo.com/ssl-certificate/comodo-rejects- pos...](https://forums.comodo.com/ssl-certificate/comodo-rejects-positivessl- order-because-it-has-the-word-malware-in-the-name-t106480.0.html)

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10473966](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10473966)

My link is newer, just 2 hours old, but these look like the exact same article to me.</comment>


Show HN: Fortressa – Create Your Own Private VPN in Minutes - <AUTHOR> https://fortressa.com/ <comment><USER2> Forgive me perhaps I read the landing page too quickly but it looks like any other VPN service... I pay a stranger money and my traffic goes through that stranger's servers?

No offense but why would I trust that stranger?

Isn't the best choice for the privacy conscious to set up a VPN on a machine they themselves have physical control over?

<comment><USER3> > Isn't the best choice for the privacy conscious to set up a VPN on a machine > they themselves have physical control over?

perhaps I am missing something, but it seems like having physical control over the machine breaks several important use cases for VPNs.

if I understand correctly, the privacy that you get from a VPN comes from encrypting the traffic itself, hiding your actual IP, and mixing your traffic with other clients using the same exit point. although it is a matter of record that you are a subscriber, no intercepted traffic can actually be traced back to the IP you own (assuming your provider doesn't keep logs, of course).

I don't really see how these qualities could be retained by operating your own VPN server. unless you are doing some black ops shit, your identity would have to be connected to the VPN server itself, so the fact that it masks your computers IP doesn't matter. plus you probably don't have many other people using your server, so you lose that plausible deniability.

I would be quite glad to be corrected, as I certainly don't love trusting my provider when they say they don't keep logs.

<comment><USER4> A VPN can also be useful for security -- for instance, if you're on an unencrypted wifi and someone wants to sniff your packets. Or if you're in countries such as the UK or china and want to circumvent censorship.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Hi folks. Fortressa creator here. Friends and family kept asking me about VPNs, and I didn't have any good suggestions to offer, so I built a solution I felt comfortable recommending. You can learn more about my motivation in my announcement post:

[https://justinmayer.com/posts/introducing- fortressa/](https://justinmayer.com/posts/introducing-fortressa/)

I wanted to share this with the community in hopes of getting constructive feedback. Many thanks in advance, and please be kind! (^_^)

</comment><comment><USER5> What does this give me over PIA? Other than over double the price? I can't seem to see any features this offers me over any of the other VPN's.

It says it works on "Ready to protect your Mac computers, iPhones, and iPads?" how does even work? It would be one thing if they provided apps but I can't seem find links to their apps so why would this be limited to Mac/iOS?

<comment><AUTHOR> * the VPN is yours, and only yours -- not shared with thousands of other users

* VPN detection is becoming a problem, and Fortressa is harder to detect as a VPN (unlike other providers)

* uses stronger, more trusted protocols than OpenVPN and others commonly used by most providers

* no software to install, so no apps are necessary

The VPN service itself is not limited to Mac/iOS in any way. The configuration steps on Android, Linux Desktop, and Windows are a bit more involved, so I simply haven't had time to properly document those steps. Thank you for reminding me that I need to add that to the FAQ, which is here: [https://fortressa.com/faq/](https://fortressa.com/faq/)

<comment><USER6> > more trusted protocols than OpenVPN

Can you elaborate on that?</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: How important is math for software engineering? - <AUTHOR> I'm well aware that you can learn programming, data science, etc... without being good at math, but one thing I always keep hearing is that; the better you are with math concepts, the better your problem-solving skills become. Seeing how many things in programming derives from concepts in math (functions, vectors, matrices, etc...), do you believe having a strong foundation in math would help someone in this type of field?<p>I really want to hear your opinions on this, how much beneficial is math for software engineers? Does having a strong foundation lead to better problem solving? If two programmers were assigned a task and both of them have spent an equal amount of time (let's say 10k hours) practicing programmers, but one has better math knowledge than the other, would that person be able to produce a better/faster solution than the other guy? <comment><USER2> Discrete math is extremely important if you want to write correct or efficient systems software. It doesn't give much of a "time to first solution" win, but most people I know with strong discrete math backgrounds produce systems code that is simultaneously about 10x more concise, performant and correct than those that do no. (The Haskell and TLA+ crowds get this, but I'm talking about C++ and Verilog code here.)

If you want to do machine learning or use supercomputers, then normal undergrad math like Linear Algebra, Diff Eq, etc. matter a lot.

If you're happy writing CRUD frontend logic, then you probably don't need much math. If you want to build the stuff that relies on, then math will help a lot.

This becomes more true past the 5-10K hour marks, partially because you need the math, and partially because the math background will make it easier to sustainably improve your skills.

</comment><comment><USER3> I'm a software engineer who majored in Mathematics in University. You don't need that level of mathematics to become a software engineer.

You do need basic mathematics (like secondary school or O/L) to know basic arithmetic operations, remainders and modulo operations, binary numbers and some basic low order logic like for OR, And, stuff. Having a solid high school level mathematics would be an advantage.

In terms of state of mind when I did maths vs programming, programming is more akin to solving IQ puzzles or school math problems that are computational in nature(perhaps a little easier?) more than doing university maths.

Where I did feel an advantage having done advanced maths is in fields like encryption (you learn this stuff in full general forms in abstract algebra, coding theory in high level math), abstractions (software engineering abstractions like programming interfaces, classes are a piece of cake compared mathematical abstractions), certain algorithms.

Short answer is actual mathematics is less important than the ability to grasp abstractions and think in a disciplined, qualified way (like in maths how you go from axiom to axiom, or theorem to theorem qualifying each step). If you don't have a previous maths background you can learn it on the job as long as you have the above raw skills. If you don't enjoy that kind of thinking, I'm not sure if you'll enjoy certain subfields of software engineering though you could still go into UI programming. Either way, if I didn't have a chance to learn maths even at a primary school level, I wouldn't have let it prevent me from trying to be a software engineer.

</comment><comment><USER4> Depends on what level of math you're talking about. Math is nothing but a bunch of (fairly) basic algorithms (often expressed declaratively, rather than imperatively) for solving problems in the real world. Sometimes you also have fancy data structures like vectors and objects like polygons and what not. If one is solving problems in the physical world, that is super useful. It like a compiler which ensures that you will not make (a bunch of) simple conceptual mistakes, and will make several ideas obvious (I often see programmers spending time on iteratively refining heuristics when either 1. Math tells you a good answer 2. Math tells you the problem is ill-defined and impossible to answer). I would consider it even more primary than a course in data structures and algorithms. In other domains like front end design, an aesthetic sense and understanding of colors and typography might be more important. So math is always useful (adds some value), it's just a question of where it comes on the list of priorities. Math can be picked up with domain experience, just like software dev skills, or whatever else. And specialization is a thing — one can choose to develop skills selectively. Someone building CRUD apps might not give a damn about mastering coordinate geometry, and someone working in robotics might instead not give a damn about mastering category theory (generically). YMMV, and it's meaningless to try and "settle" this question. The answers depends very much on the _specific_ set of problems/experiences you consider. So the answers are only going to tell you about the distribution of people on HN (who might bother to answer a question like this); refer Wittgenstein's ruler.

If you feel FOMO for a topic, consider spending some time with it (whatever the subject). Otherwise, carry on blissfully. I would consider many other topics as important, but we all have limited time. _C'est la vie._

</comment><comment><USER5> I think you can learn whatever maths you need to be a programmer on the fly, unless you're in a specifically math-y domain.

<comment><USER6> This viewpoint seems very common among programmers, for some reason. I don't often hear it in other fields. The point of employing someone with a particular skill is that they know that skill, and can demonstrate that they know it. Otherwise, you don't know they'll be able to apply it when needed. Hiring for skills is pointless if you believe any person can pick up any skill sufficiently well on the fly.

In many cases, if you lack a skill (mathematical or otherwise), you won't know it's possible, so you won't know to learn it on demand. It's not a tool in your toolbox, so you won't approach a problem knowing it's a feasible strategy.

This is why it's so hard to talk to non-programmers about programming. They lack the foundation to know what's easy or hard. I've had managers try to assign me unsolved problems in the field, and sat in meetings where I was told we didn't have the time to fix a bug which could have been fixed in less time than holding that meeting.

<comment><USER7> Autodidactic strategery is a bit of an independent question from that of how important math is. As a prerequisite for CS or programming, you only need middle school algebra. It's obviously necessary to learn new things for core CS classes like data structures & algorithms. And then beyond that, there are specific applications of mathematics to specific domains.

But as a question of fact, particular math knowledge is not useful in a lot of software development.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Depends on the application. A lot of stuff, especially in CRUD world, doesn't need any. A lot of stuff really leans hard on it.

The least terrible one sentence rule of thumb is that the more SIMD could help make your code faster, the better at math you should be. It's a really weird rule, but for some reason it works.

Specifically regarding the generalized good at math, therefore good at problem solving, don't think too much into it. There's a lot of correlation/causation problems in there. A BS in mathematics will not make you a better programmer than a BS in computer science will. If you're going to do four years in college anyway, sure, pick up a few extra math classes. (especially linear algebra) If you're going the self taught route, (I couldn't make the transition without the piece of paper, ymmv) watch the mit ocw (or from whatever other college) series for the first semester of linear algebra, discrete mathematics, and calculus. You don't need the second semester.

I do GIS, which is a lot of spatial modeling. Linear algebra is an everyday thing for a lot of us. Many others don't need any, because they deal with networking, databases, static UI, etc. Don't think you'll be locked out of a certain field just because you don't know the required math, but also know that knowing the right math will grease the wheels.

</comment><comment><USER9> To keep up with your first sentence: Yes you do not need to have good math knowledge to start programming, and I would say if you do not have good understanding of math you really should start to get into software engineering.

My two cents on software engineering and math.

\- When you start programming, and you start to develop complex algorithms, you will increase your mathematical knowledge just by trying to solve your problem. It is not different from school. When you are a kid and study math, first of you do not have mathematical knowledge at all. I do not think that there are talents, that have a better understanding in some areas just because they were born. Most of the people that are good at math in school, are interested in math, and that's why they try to get better at math. So they practice math. So if you are interested into programming and you come up on a math problem, and your urge to solve the problem, and your interest into software engineering and creating stuff is bigger than your fear of math, the result is you getting better at math. It is simple as that. So if you are interested in stuff you will learn and practice and you will get better at it.

\- So your urge to solve the problem in the best mathematical way is not higher than your interest in software engineering: You still should get into SE because you can always create stuff, even if it is poorly implemented. This is not me saying one should start learning bad programming practices, but saying people should code. You do not have the best programming skills, and mat knowledge to create something that solves a problem. And if this project of yours solves many problems, there will be people you can hire, that are better than you in any discipline, and they will do the rest...

Cheers and have a nice day :)

</comment><comment><USER10> Don't feel inadequate for lacking academic baloney. I did a BS CS & Eng degree (heavy on the BS) that required diff eqs, linear algebra/vector analysis, abstract math, concrete math, physics (the whole, real series), quantum mechanics, chemistry (the whole, real series), statistics for CS and then all of the lower-div and upper-div CS and EE requirements. At one point, I was two courses away from a math major; no joke. :''') Hehe.

Design creativity is something you can improve through play, experimentation and practice.

If you really want to learn math beyond algebra or calculus for fun or personal enrichment, there are MOOCs: several on KhanAcademy, some on Coursera and hundreds at the link below, some look quality (Stanford, MIT, SJSU, UT Austin).

[https://www.classcentral.com/subject/maths](https://www.classcentral.com/subject/maths)

</comment><comment><USER11> I'd say it's important for the reason you mentioned: Many programming constructs and metaphors are either derived from mathematical concepts or a direct implementation of these concepts.

Good programmers without a formal maths education by and large probably just have a good intuitive grasp of these ideas.

That said, a lot of the maths commonly taught at university isn't all that relevant for programming from a pragmatic point of view (and it isn't meant to be, given that computer science is about much more than just programming).

Interestingly, the rather theoretical formal methods courses from my linguistics studies covered quite a few concepts that are relevant or useful for programming in general (first- and second-order logic, set theory, lambda calculus).

</comment><comment><USER12> It depends heavily on the programming domain. There was a reddit thread recently [0] describing how someone spent a bunch of time reinventing matrix multiplication. Certainly with some more background in math (and maybe MATLAB in particular) they could have saved a bunch of time.

Surely computer science research problems require some rigorous proofs and applications of theory. But your general web app or command line utility for wrangling data? Might not make much of a difference.

[0] [https://www.reddit.com/r/matlab/comments/fbhq9c/a_friend_of_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/matlab/comments/fbhq9c/a_friend_of_mine_used_a_lot_of_matlab_while/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x)

</comment><comment><USER13> In my experience the talents do not require one another, in the way I think you are thinking of it :)

At its core math is logic. So yes better ability to solve logic puzzles will win here. However you can have those skills and not teach yourself physics/calculus/advanced algebra etc.

Also regarding coding/problem solving talent - you can make a company many millions of dollars a year without ever taking calculus (I did it). Although, I like math, I just never made a huge investment in it. I am the kind of person to sit around and do math for fun, but I don't consider myself knowledgeable in that field.

</comment><comment><USER14> I don't completely agree with most developers on this question. I can't respond properly now but i recently wrote a lengthly comment[1] on a blog post that was posted here on HN on this topic. I'd suggest reading that and the author's response, and my "further reading" link to Steve Yegge's timeless blog.

[1] [https://scientificprogrammer.net/2020/02/21/why-you-dont- nee...](https://scientificprogrammer.net/2020/02/21/why-you-dont-need-maths- to-become-a-programmer/)

</comment><comment><USER15> > I'm well aware that you can learn programming, data science, etc... without > being good at math

I don't think that this is accurate for data science. Data science is essentially software engineering + math.

</comment><comment><USER16> It's important to be able to reason in a math-like way. The actual math? As reatornator said, it depends on the domain. More: _Which_ math is important depends on the domain.

</comment><comment><USER17> Depends what you're making. At my last job and for my current project (both had a graphics component), vector math means you don't need to go looking for somebody to help when things get tough. It's nice to be the guy/gal people turn to for help. You don't have to be though unless it's a very tiny startup where there isn't anybody to turn to

</comment><comment><USER18> Personally I find that it mostly comes down to the ability to focus on an issue and see logical relationships between metaphysical structures. I am average at math in general but very good at algebra and Set Theory.

</comment><comment><USER19> Generally not very important if you're talking college level math. I would say it's very unlikely you'll need any math skills beyond the intro calculus and linear algebra in college.

</comment><comment><USER20> I don't think it matters one bit. I never liked math until I already had a successful programming career. To me, programming is much more about language skills than math.

</comment><comment><USER21> > If two programmers were assigned a task [...] would [person with better math > knowledge] be able to produce a better/faster solution?

It really depends on the task. If you work as a software engineer in a somewhat enterprisey setting, arguably many tasks don't even particularly require engineering or programming knowledge, let alone knowing any mathematics beyond high school level.

From working on a couple of decision-support-systems for larger enterprise clients, maybe the core 5-10% of some decision support systems needs some nontrivial understanding of operations research (e.g. linear programming, mixed integer programming techniques) / applied math (how to approximate functions & compute them efficiently) / basic comp sci algorithms concepts (e.g. graph theory to model networks for flows of traffic, goods, project dependencies, etc). The remaining 95-90% of the programming work is stuff like data validation, arranging things (data, code, libraries, build scripts) so they can be kept organised, writing tests, bolting on reporting systems, adding extra fields to things, figuring out how to cope with missing input data, etc. These kind of math-oriented decision support systems probably cannot be built with at least one person involved who is across some of the theory/practice of how the core of the system can be designed and built. So the difference between not having someone with a decent background in applied math/OR/graph theory on a project like this might be: the project just fails --- maybe something gets delivered and perhaps the client accepts it, but it probably doesn't really work.

But, that said: most of the programming work in the business world is essentially unrelated to maths/algorithms/OR stuff. Most line of business software projects have no clever core at all, e.g. web service exposing CRUD API for some kind of enterprise data. In these settings it is far more useful to be good at something like "project management" or "requirements analysis" or "designing the data model" than math, since the projects need essentially no math beyond perhaps the ability to do capacity planning or estimate if the design is going to under-perform massively.

If you specialise in some tricky kind of maths then depending on what you specialise in exactly there is some career risk that you will be very good at solving problems that hardly anyone has, so it may be hard to find work in that area, and if there are more specialists than work, the work may not pay that well when you find it. From a career perspective, if you are flexible about what you do for a living and what you learn, it's perhaps better to ask "what skills are likely to have demand outstripping supply in the future? which ones would it be feasible for me to learn? do some of them sound more interesting to me than others?".

</comment><comment><USER22> Mathematical thinking is helpful for software engineering, but mathematics itself does not directly help software engineering most of the time.

I think that large industrial production management technology can help software engineering more effectively and directly.

This is [The Pure Function Pipeline Data Flow v3.0 with Warehouse / Workshop Model ]([https://github.com/linpengcheng/PurefunctionPipelineDataflow](https://github.com/linpengcheng/PurefunctionPipelineDataflow))

</comment><comment><USER23> Math is beneficial for software engineers because it limits competition. People change major because of the math.</comment>


OpenSSL CVE-2014-3508 Information Disclosure Vulnerability - <AUTHOR> http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/69075/info

<comment><USER2> This is more helpful:

[https://www.openssl.org/news/secadv_20140806.txt](https://www.openssl.org/news/secadv_20140806.txt)

</comment><comment><USER3> This CVE seems to be empty, and a reserved number on other databases. Has it not been disclosed yet?</comment>


Facebook reportedly had evidence that its algorithms were dividing people - <AUTHOR> https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/facebook-reportedly-had-evidence-its-algorithms-were-dividing-people-but-top-executives-killed-or-weakened-proposed-solutions/articleshow/76014781.cms <comment><USER2> Previous discussion: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23313007](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23313007)

</comment><comment><USER3> Now we'll get 20 articles from legacy media feigning surprise and acting like they don't do the exact same thing.

<comment><USER4> I am sorry but this is a terrible argument. Just cause traditional media does it, its okay for facebook to do it?

We shouldn't expect better business practices from a tech company and hold them accountable? What is the point you are trying to make?

<comment><USER5> I think LatteLazy was criticizing exactly that.

<comment><USER3> Thanks. I wasn't sure how tk reply without being devisive :)</comment></comment></comment></comment>


How GPS became a human tracking mechanism - <AUTHOR> https://backchannel.com/how-gps-became-a-human-tracking-mechanism-257b5cba8f3a#.5jlaf1pg5 <comment><USER2> It's worth pointing out that modern phones have at least a half dozen other means to determine your location. Not all methods require the phone to participate. Here's a few off the top.

      * CGI/CGI-TA/UTDOA via the cell network
      * bluetooth discovery
      * wifi AP's
      * audio via both mic and speaker, possibly ultrasonic: listen and emit to other devices in environment
      * NFC
      * magnetic field

If you don't like this, you should turn it off and keep it in a metal box.

[http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/bluetooth- surveillance2...](http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/bluetooth- surveillance2.htm)

[http://www.skyhookwireless.com/about- skyhook](http://www.skyhookwireless.com/about-skyhook)

[http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/11/beware-of-ads- tha...](http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/11/beware-of-ads-that-use- inaudible-sound-to-link-your-phone-) tv-tablet-and-pc/

[http://newatlas.com/magnetic-anomaly-indoor- positioning/2325...](http://newatlas.com/magnetic-anomaly-indoor- positioning/23253)

<comment><USER3> I see the "if you don't like it, don't use it" suggestion quite a bit. Can't we advocate for better public understanding of, and decentralization of, location services while also acknowledging that the best way right now is to leave it in a metal box turned off? The concepts of privacy and location services _are_ at odds with one another, but reducing it to "love it or leave it" leaves the potential middle ground of preserving some privacy while reaping the benefits of location-aware information unexplored.

<comment><USER4> > Can't we advocate for better public understanding of, and decentralization > of, location services...

No. It's a futile effort. There's too much to know about too many things in this world, and of the important things that people should know, this is pretty low on the list. It's up to the professionals (ie. us) to make decisions on behalf of those who can't, don't, and won't be able to understand the ramifications of those decisions (be it because they don't have the time, capability, capacity, or willingness to understand).

<comment><USER5> > There's too much to know about too many things in this world, and of the > important things that people should know, this is pretty low on the list. > It's up to the professionals (ie. us) to make decisions on behalf of those > who can't ...

Agreed. That also is what government is for, to protect citizens from abuse and dangers, via regulation. Banks and automobile companies can't sell fraudulent or dangerous products to everyday consumers, for example.

<comment><USER6> I think this is so far beyond what your average professional politician is capable of understanding that it is hopeless. Their only choice is to believe the loudest voice.

<comment><USER5> > Their only choice is to believe the loudest voice.

Almost everything politicians - as well as other decision makers from CEOs to investment advisors to you and I - decide is outside their personal expertise. We all retain experts, one way or another, to research and report on the technical details, and our analysis isn't at all limited to the loudest voice.

Governments regulate airplane safety, but the politicians aren't aeronautical engineers and pilots. It doesn't just regulate but operates entire militaries, soup-to-nuts, with incredibly advanced technology, complex situations, and high stakes, yet it is civilians who are in charge (in the U.S. and most advanced countries) - the likely next U.S. Secretary of Defense will be the first ex-military officer since 1951.

<comment><USER6> _Almost everything politicians - as well as other decision makers from CEOs to investment advisors to you and I - decide is outside their personal expertise_

That's not the same. It's one thing to have advisors, it's another to be so far out of your league that it's not even debatable nor discussable for you. So you try (ideally) to put people in their best positions to make the best decisions, and hope you have critically thoughtful people. But at some point they don't even know what questions to ask any more.

Military: We have a bunch of super expensive airplanes that nobody wants. Security: We have a former presidential candidate who though she was "above" security protocol and kept her own email server. Personal privacy, Finance: Well, you get my point.

These bad decisions come about because the interested parties have access "loudest voice" and can spin the conversation. Such has always been the case, but now we are getting to an age where a preponderance of decisions require some sort of technical understanding.

I'm certain sometime in our past the leaders went from being the ones who could yell the scariest to the ones who could write. In this age we will be better served, IMHO, if we require our leaders to have some numeracy and some technical literacy.

<comment><USER5> > Military: We have a bunch of super expensive airplanes that nobody wants. > Security: We have a former presidential candidate who though she was "above" > security protocol and kept her own email server. Personal privacy, Finance: > Well, you get my point.

I disagree with these claims. Ironically, do you know anything about them, or are you repeating what has been said with the 'loudest voices'? For example, I actually do know a little about the F-35, which I assume you are referring to, and though there are reasons to criticize it most in the U.S. military (and in others) desperately want it.

Also, what about other things I mentioned such as airplane safety? Food safety? Public health? These are unqualified successes, though of course flawed.

Problems and flaws are the nature of every human enterprise and institution; there is no solution that won't result in them. But we still accomplish a heck of a lot. Sure, more numeracy and technical literacy would be great, but the idea that our government can't function has little foundation - it's just someone yelling loudly.

<comment><USER6> _I actually do know a little about the F-35_

Fair point: I only know what I read in the paper.

 _airplane safety? Food safety? Public health?_

That's the funny thing about transition- sometimes you don't see it coming. And it's hard to argue with the fallacy of the consequent: we are here, therefore it's the right answer.

But I'll try to articulate it from something small and (hopefully) that we can relate to and leave aside public health questions like climate change and so on. Again, this isn't the world-beater issue, but it's just an illustration of why I think that we should try to have more scientifically literate people in our government.

When I go to a gas station, there is a sign that says things like "don't smoke, discharge static electricity, fill portable tanks on the ground" and such with is all good advice. But they also have one that says "turn off your cell phone." Now, one of the stations I use that has this sign actually has a _television_ atop the pump. But the kicker is, the whole gas-station-blowing- up thing was an _urban legend._ The original story was in the '90s, circulated via email, and was about a BP station in Britain blowing up because of someone using a cell phone. I have a tendency to check up on these things (IIRC "snopes" wasn't "snopes" back then; I think they changed their name or else the site I relied upon went out and snopes came in) and found that yes, the story was bullshit and there was no truth to it.

Nevertheless, it became a regulation to turn off your cell phone. Even though they don't cause sparks. And there's a TV set atop the pump.

 _more numeracy and technical literacy would be great_

Agreed.

 _but the idea that our government can 't function has little foundation_

Maybe that's why nobody said it.

 _it 's just someone yelling loudly._

Um, yeah, ok.

<comment><USER7> > Nevertheless, it became a regulation to turn off your cell phone.

Gas stations put up signs because there is little cost to them if the advice is unnecessary, and a high cost if it is necessary. These signs do not indicate a "regulation". (Usually, when they do, they don't merely tell you not to do X, but specifically reference the fact that it is illegal to do the particular prohibited thing.)

<comment><USER6> Have you ever paid to have a sign made? It's not willy-nilly. There is a cost. And, I believe, there were regulations. It was ubiquitous- nearly every station had it. Probably still do.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> GPS isn't possibly tracking mechanism because it works via passive reception of a satellite signal.

Wireless networking in mobile devices is a tracking mechanism. It works to an extent without help from GPS data. Even with GPS off, your device can know quite accurately where you are based on other environmental information.

<comment><USER5> > GPS isn't possibly tracking mechanism because it works via passive reception > of a satellite signal.

That's only one component of the GPS system. It also pulls data from the network based on your location; look up Assisted GPS.

EDIT: I don't mind the downvotes, but someone please educate me and everyone else if the statement is incorrect.

<comment><USER9> GPS works entirely through passive reception from satellites. No other connectivity is required. With true GPS, it is impossible for the satellites to know where you are, or even that you are using it. (That also makes it infinitely scalable, as users consume no satellite resources.)

Assisted GPS is an "improvement" which depends on additional data from the cellular network. Which means the cellular network knows you are using it, knows where you are, and can track you.

Edit: Back in my Nokia days, I had phones with true GPS and 100% offline maps, which would work perfectly well for navigation far from any hint of connectivity. No idea whether Android's "Device only" mode is GPS or aGPS.

<comment><USER10> There's two types of assisted GPS.

In one type, the cellular network (or some other network) is used to download a copy of the GPS almanac faster than it would have been received from the satellites. The almanac is globally valid (it's just a bunch of high-precision data about the GPS satellite orbits, the signals they're transmitting, and ionospheric conditions), so this doesn't leak any information about the receiver's location, beyond what's inherent from being active on a cell network.

In another type, the receiver sends a portion of the GPS signal it's received to a server, which calculates a position fix and returns it. Obviously, this lets the server discover the client's location.

My understanding is that the second approach is largely obsolete -- modern GPS chipsets are small and cheap enough that there is no advantage to offloading the calculations.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I just read a part of the text, eventually started searching for the GPS keyword. couldn't find the connection between the title and the article other that the ad for a book thing.

</comment><comment><USER12> And now we carry a GPS-enabled device on our person all day allowing us to all be tracked.

</comment><comment><USER13> Advertisement for a book:

> Excerpted from PINPOINT: How GPS is Changing Technology, Culture, and Our > Minds.

<comment><USER14> Is this a problem? Better than filling the page with heavy ads.

<comment><USER15> I'd rather have commercial speech be confined to identifiable areas of the page, than have the content of a "news story" actually be commercially motivated.

<comment><USER14> Then disable your ad-blocker. We want: \- to block ads \- not have sponsorized pieces \- not pay or donate

<comment><USER16> Sponsored content is OK if I'm told in advance that it is. It's extremely deceitful and disingenuous to suggest that ad blocking justifies these sorts of shady journalistic practices.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


US Navy confirms leaked UFO videos are genuine - <AUTHOR> https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a29073804/navy-ufo-videos-real/ <comment><USER2> Pretty sure this is the US flexing their new (or old I guess) drone tech.</comment>