Blendle: A radical experiment with micropayments in journalism, 365 days later - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/on-blendle/blendle-a-radical-experiment-with-micropayments-in-journalism-365-days-later-f3b799022edc <comment><USER2> Much like birger, I never paid for any of the 'paywalled' news outlets before. Mostly due to the terrible user experience, t&c, and lack of content (often single newspaper/magazine). Even though I find most content in newspapers not even worth reading, let alone paying for. I do really want to pay for some high quality articles and Blendle makes this possible.

They nailed it for me with the money back option, truly no questions asked. The pre-paid wallet makes me comfortable in that I don't feel tricked/lured into some subscription or other form of overpaying. Overall very smooth UX, no annoying crap. Makes you wonder why so many websites still try to nag me into paying when it only drives me away from them.

Would like to see some (a lot) more titles, especially international, but understand they are working on this. Also, since alexandernl is reading.. please add wordcount to the webinterface and wordcount/price to emails, thanks :)

Other than that, much enjoyed. Keep up the good work!

<comment><USER3> Before Blendle I only used paywalled sites that I had a physical subscription for. It was horrible (only the economist worked as expected). Watching magazines and newspapers implement their own solutions was just painful... some Dutch newspapers did an awful job with apps. Newsweek also had a hilariously user experience as they kept switching their strategy.

Blendle provides both an excellent user experience and a good solution to content providers who should really not be making their own apps.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Good to see this data point:

 _" We don't sell a lot of news in Blendle. People apparently don't want to spend money on something they can get everywhere for free now. People do spend money on background pieces. Great analysis. Opinion pieces. Long interviews. Stuff like that. In other words: people don't want to spend money on the 'what', they want to spend money on the 'why'..

Our users punish clickbait by refunding

..Gossip magazines, for example, get much higher refund percentages than average (some up to 50% of purchases), as some of them are basically clickbait in print. People will only pay for content they find worth their money ... As a publisher, you have to invest in incredible journalism to be able to sell them on a per-article basis. Luckily, a lot of incredible journalism is being produced every day."_

</comment><comment><USER5> I'm not Dutch-speaking and tried registering -- successfully! There seem to be some purely English language articles/newspapers already there: I've found at least _The Economist_ and _WSJ /Wall Street Journal_. Every new account seems to get free 2.50 EUR credit on start; later you can apparently pay with PayPal or credit card. (Note however, that I haven't actually tested reading any article or paying yet.) To create an account you have to "read" some Dutch -- but some common sense + Google Translate was enough for me to get through.

 _[Update]_ Tried reading something (from WSJ, fully in English indeed), then tested and confirmed that the "refund" works. Just FYI ("random trivia"), when clicking "refund", there's additional dialog asking for the reason. Translated by Google Translate roughly as:

 _Why do you want your 29 cents back?_ _We want to know why you want your money back, so we can tell the author and publisher._

 _[ ] I accidentally clicked on the article_

 _[ ] I find the price too high_

 _[ ] The article was too short_

 _[ ] The article was too long_

 _[ ] The article was not what I expected_

 _[ ] The article was not legible_

 _[ ] Other..._

<comment><USER6> Awesome that you got it working. We are working on launching an English version in the near future.

Regarding the refund reasons:

If you refund within a given amount of time, you actually don't have to provide any reason at all (since we figured you didn't read the article anyway). It is only after that time, that we ask you for a reason, so publishers get a better understanding of why people chose to ask for a refund after reading an article.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Just want to add something to the conversation about The Netherlands. A cool thing about this startup is that one of its founders (alexandernl here on HN) is a celebrity in The Netherlands. I would guess if you'd go to a random Dutch street and show people his picture, 7/10 adults would recognize him. Alexander is a frequent guest who explains tech products at one of the NL's most hot prime time shows, he's basically the person who explains what an iPhone app is to everyone over 30 in the Netherlands (assuming everyone under 30 already knew).

Now The Netherlands isn't such a big place, just 17 million people or so, so in the grand scheme of things this is not so big of a deal. But it's important to note that were Blendle founded in a bigger country this might not have gone as well at all. How would you both get a foothold in the press industry _and_ get major coverage on national TV? Alexander is in exactly the right place and at exactly the right time.

Now they've effectively proven their worth on a reasonably large scale, they've used that cred to break into the NYT and the WSJ. How's that for an awesome business plan? I think it's the best advantage small European countries have. We've got <20m inhabitant language isolated nations all over the place. Even the celebrities with prime time are accessible. If you're in the startup scene in NL, odds are you are friendly with someone who is friendly with Alexander.

edit: of course, he has an awesome co-founder and technical team as well, you can't be successful without the tech being top notch.

</comment><comment><USER8> The model seems to work and they seem to have great traction. I can see all the objections but the proof is in the pudding. Really liked this sentence from their answer to a critic:

"""You said you talked about the idea of Blendle when I was two years old. But Blendle is not an "idea". Blendle is about execution. And because of that we've gathered more than 140.000 users in The Netherlands with a $0 marketing budget."""

Seems somewhat reasonable to assume this could be transfered to the hyperbroken academic publishing model (publisher resistence is a lot higher and older articles are worth more than for typical newspaper stuff though). One source, micropayment per article, refund policy. One can dream ;)

<comment><USER9> Here is an even crazier idea: (micro)pay to cite instead of (micro)pay to read. Just going to put that out there.

<comment><USER8> That's actually a pretty cool idea. Once there's infrastructure in place, it's easy to enforce, too. Turn in a paper and upon acceptance you are billed for the citations. Money = reputation also kind of works and is a nice incentive to write good papers that get cited often.

[downside is obviously that it kind of also creates an incentive to cite less]

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I'm one of the 'didn't pay for newspapers before' and right now spend a couple of euro's a month on Blendle.

Articles cost between € 0,10, and € 0,50. If you buy so much articles from one paper / magazine that it is cheaper to get the whole edition, you get the whole edition. Refund work perfect. You don't like the article -> click -> money back. No questions asked.

<comment><USER11> _You don 't like the article -> click -> money back. No questions asked._

That right there might be the most revolutionary part of their approach to online micro payments. You could apply it to so much.

<comment><USER6> It's also something we are very proud of.

It turns out, if you give people the opportunity to read in an elegant and easy way, and provide articles written by great journalists, the refund ratio stays very low (avarage of 5%).

Of course, the flip side of that (as the article mentions) is that click-baity articles tend to get a high refund ratio (sometimes up to 50%). But such a "negative" result might actually be a net-positive for journalism in general.

<comment><USER8> This data is also extremly valuable for journalists. I can envision someone becoming a better journalist by optimizing for lower refunds. A good journalist will use this as a weapon. Quite often you can't really be sure about the quality of your piece. Now you have an interesting data point.

<comment><USER12> Indeed.

If Blendle continues to be successful this could get very interesting though. As described in the article linked here, it's a great metric. And their publishers will also start to use their metric. So -while they now describe the Blendle-revenue as an extra- this will actually change the way we deal with the 'print' data which is now accessible online, creating a new dynamic. This will surely have an impact on the print version of these magazines as well, I can imagine, making Blendle a content driver(shaper?) and not 'just' a source of 'extra revenue' as they tend to see it now.

If it all takes off impact will, imho, be different than we can probably predict now, even though we can make some estimates of possible directions. Some people will be happier with the results after -say- five years than others. Time will tell.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Have you guys considered a Spotify style subscription model? Say, where I as a reader would pay a fixed monthly fee but would then be able to read as many articles as I wanted from the various sources you guys support throughout the month? Of course, the fees would be split across the publishers proportional to the time or number of articles I read from each.

If you have, what were some of the pros and cons you saw in something like that?

<comment><USER14> > _Of course, the fees would be split across the publishers proportional to > the time or number of articles I read from each._

This has been tried several times without success (Kachingle, Contenture, Readability), possibly because it was all being done on the open web or through proxies, for too little money.

The main problem is that tracking visits on the open web is unreliable with the current approaches.

Blendle arrived after tablets were common, so they can use the proxy model, and they're not doing it on subscription so they don't need to establish a viable minimum monthly amount in the mind of consumers. On the other hand they face the taxi fare problem, which subscription schemes don't.

I started work on my own approach in 2008 and so became waylaid by the tracking problem; I have a patent pending but it's possible I simply moved too late.

On the other hand, my design works for the open web, for mobile, for apps, for games, for music, basically for anything without first needing the protection and support of a walled garden like an app talking to a de facto proxy server.

<comment><USER15> _> taxi fare problem_

Do you mind expanding on that?

<comment><USER14> I poked around on Google, can't find where I first saw the term.

Many people prefer fixed prices to pay-by-use. Taxis are paid-by-use, but in some cities you can pay a fixed fee to be taken to the airport. Even if people are told and shown that the fixed fee costs more, many will pick it over a regular fare structure because it is fixed.

For the same reason many people pay for phone data they don't need and so on. The value comes from not needing to consider the price once it has been paid.

Some micropayment schemes always had the sense that one was potentially running up a huge bill; Tipjoy had this problem.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Great idea - I'm happy to pay $50-$100 a year on good journalism, I just don't know where I want to spend that money and on what type of articles. The one click pay and refund policy sounds good.

Can't wait until you get more North American publications :)

<comment><USER17> Awesome to hear! :) If you want to stay tuned on when we'll launch in your country you can sign up here: [https://launch.blendle.com](https://launch.blendle.com)

<comment> maze-le yeah, just registered, I hope you will start this service in germany too!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> This is something I've wanted for years. I wish I knew the price though. There is a tendency to overshoot on the price initially and the result is turning off most of the potential market.

<comment><USER19> Articles cost between €0,10 and €0,30 for newspaper articles. Between €0,20 and €0,40 for magazine articles.

<comment><USER4> Does the purchase price include user rights comparable to other digital content, like ebooks? E.g. can the article be downloaded for offline reading or searching?

<comment><USER17> I'm not sure about the specific legalities (I'm a developer at Blendle) but our iOS client offers offline support and we integrate with services like Pocket.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I feel like the 'no questions asked' (or 'one question asked' as akavel points out) refund is really the killer feature here. It aligns incentives for journalists and outlets correctly, provides a feedback loop, and it also lowers the hesitation to pay, all at the same time.

</comment><comment><USER20> This is very very beautiful. As a owner of an Auto Industry Magazine in Pakistan. I would love this, since my magazine subscriptions are going down.

And my site isn't generating money.

</comment><comment><USER21> This might be one of the cases where being in a small country is useful. You can get significant coverage to validate a model quickly before exporting it internationally.

</comment><comment><USER22> Quality of content in this way can be measured in these micropayments + refunds instead of points/votes. Down with clickbait articles and up with good content.

By the way, I also fit the target audience: not buying newspapers, but I have added money to my Blendle account and spend it every now and then.

I am wondering about the economics though: the traction seems good, but is it enough to really add value for the publishers? I'd love to see more numbers on this.

</comment><comment><USER23> Really cool! As a dutch student (econometrie) I do not / didn't know that anyone used this. Kind of silly since it was right under my nose.

Very awesome :) if you guys need a werkstudent as a financial analyst or just a quantitative guy who likes to play with code and excel sheets ;)

<comment><USER6> We're hiring! Send me a mail at jean[at]blendle[dot]com and I'll make sure it gets to the right person.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> You mentioned you have plans for expanding internationally. Any comments on that? :-)

(I like the idea and I wouldn't mind to pay for things I read that interests me, unbundled. So you'd be welcome to sign up some Swedish papers!)

<comment><USER25> We are working on it. But we have to reach agreements with all individual publishers, which takes a lot of negotiations and time. We also need to reach 'a critical mass of publishers', before we can launch in a new country.

But as listed in the article, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and the Washington post are coming. So we are beefing up our international outlet.

<comment><USER24> Does that mean you're opening up account creation for the US, when that content has come around? Or would I, as a Swede be able to create an account and read (and pay) for the US content? (I guess I'm asking about 1) Account creation 2) Geographical restrictions)

<comment><USER17> We try to sign publishers without any geographical restrictions, but I think it's ultimately up to them.

<comment><USER24> So that means you'll open up world-wide account creation when you have some non-dutch content available? :-)

<comment><USER6> We already support world-wide account creation by simply clicking through the "launch" page in the top right corner.

Of course, the site will still show up in Dutch, but there is an "international"[0] section where you can already read The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and soon more.

[https://blendle.com/kiosk/internationaal](https://blendle.com/kiosk/internationaal)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> Would like to see this process taken across the web. As someone who doesn't read news articles too often I don't mind paying but can't justify a subscription.

</comment><comment><USER27> What? Newspapers actually doing innovative things instead of suing Google or pressing politicians into passing ridiculous bills to preserve their old business model?

</comment><comment><USER28> Many dutch newspapers (nrc,ad,trouw,etc) offer student discounts on their subscriptions. Do you guys have any plans for something similar?

<comment><USER6> Sorry, no student discounts in our plans right now. But this is a very interesting idea.

You can however couple your existing newspaper subscriptions with Blendle, giving you access to all of their articles in our kiosk.

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> Why do startups keep thinking micropayments is a thing people want?

<comment><USER30> Because people consume a lot of little things. Ads are essentially involuntary micro-payments. It's a way of aligning the interests of content-creators and with their users rather than their sponsors. What's wrong with micro-payments?

<comment><USER31> > What's wrong with micro-payments?

Nothing inherently, its just that they are generally used to extract more revenue from the existing model instead of supplant existing incomes.

There have been several studies about decision making being taxing the brain, and always being presented with a dollar sign for any part of your experience can be a bit wearing.

If your domicile had the ability to charge every time you go to the restroom, I guarantee they would just raise the rates until you considered pooping your pants.

<comment><USER30> > they are generally used to extract more revenue from the existing model > instead of supplant existing incomes

Blendle is doing the latter and I would only argue for micro-payments in this context.

> If your domicile had the ability to charge every time you go to the > restroom, I guarantee they would just raise the rates

Going to the bathroom is something you need to do, not something you choose to do, and the friction of finding another bathroom every time you want to is quite high. Reading articles is by no means a need and free alternatives are a button tap away. You're comparing one of the most demand inelastic services with an incredibly elastic one. They will never be able to extract unfair prices because readers will simply stop reading.

So I agree that micro-payments have their place, and that place is the digital world where we consume many small things that we could do without if we thought that they were too expensive. The world that most of HN lives and breathes. But to write off micro-payments entirely is short-sighted.

As for your original question, the reason a lot of people think that micro- payments are something that people want is probably because of Jaron Lanier's book, _Who Owns the Future_. It's a good read.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Snowden considers returning to the US - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/01/snowden-fields-questions-about-the-permanent-record-and-returning-to-the-us/

<comment><USER2> Title is misleading.

 _> Returning to the US, I think, is the best resolution ... but it's unfortunately not possible in the face of current whistleblower protection laws ..._</comment>


Ask HN: Ressources to update old C++ skills - <AUTHOR> Hi All!
I used to do some C++ 10 years ago. I now have to work on some new projects that will require C++. I know that C++ evolved a lot. Without being after all the new features, I'm looking to write safer code (eg through safer pointer handling).
Do you know about some ressources focusing on how to code in C++ in a "modern" and safe way for people with previous experience in the language? For example, after some search, I have "Effective Modern C++" in mind (focusing on c++11/14), but I would love to hear what the HN community has to say before jumping in!
Note: As much as I appreciate other safer languages, C++ is a requirement so I'm really looking for safety in C++.
Thanks! <comment><USER2> 'A tour of C++' by Stroustrup is a good overview of modern C++.

I recently got back into C++ after big hiatus, just like you, and for me the things that changed are:

      - definitely the things you mentioned: much safer constructs (unique_ptr, move semantics)
      - the use of CMake as a build system
      - much less focus on arcane templates and libraries like Boost
      - new tools like sanitizers
      - new IDEs (CLion)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for sharing! I'll be sure to check that book.

Even if CMake is basically a defacto standard, I have a CMake trauma... Do you have experience with things like Scons/Ninja?

For the sanitizers, I had a look at the one from google: [https://github.com/google/sanitizers](https://github.com/google/sanitizers) Did you work with any of those, or was it something else?

I definitely have my eyes on CLion, I'll have to convince my University to get a licence as they are already bulk paying for MS Visual Studio (but that one does not work on linux...)

<comment><USER2> CMake is the defacto standard for a reason. It's a great tool. However, it definitely has a steep learning curve. It took me many hours to get it, because the documentation is, I would not say 'bad' (it's actually really good) but it's really a reference more than a tutorial. So you'll have to hunt for good tutorials on the web, and just like C++ there is an old way to write CMake and a modern way :) I can't recommend a particular tutorial but make sure they talk about 'modern CMake'.

I used SCons a long time ago. It worked but it was extremely slow. Ninja is not designed to be written by hand, it's a back-end to be used by CMake, etc.

Yes, sanitizers are now included in GCC and Clang (it's the same code base, initially developed by Google). Support varies by platform but on Linux/amd64 all of them are available. UBSan, LSan are easy to use and have little impact on performance. ASan and TSan are more expensive but they work well; not unlike Valgrind but still faster. MSan is a pain to configure because all the code must be instrumented (that includes dynamic libraries you use). Not that easy in practice.

<comment><AUTHOR> All right, thank you for the feedback!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> If you already know C++03, I'd first take a look at the C++11 Wikipedia page. (It might be less bloated if you go back in the page history, so try going back to 2012.) I don't think guides or resources beyond that are really necessary to grasp what's new and how to make use of it, except for precise reference documentation.

<comment><AUTHOR> Going back in time; good tip!

I don't fully trust my actual knowledge of C++03, I always fear to get bitten by all the implicit things happening in the background (like how the compiler will defined the default constructors -- at least I know I might get bitten, so I'll be on the cautious side). For that reason, the book my be preferable in my case...</comment></comment>


Show HN: We're building the first K-12 school in VR - <AUTHOR> https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kosmosschool/kosmos-school-the-first-k-12-school-in-virtual-rea/ <comment><AUTHOR> Hi, I'm one of the founders of Kosmos School.

Our ambition is to build the first K-12 school in virtual reality. We're starting by offering single classes targeting 13-15-year-olds.

Kosmos is a project-based school, and in our first class the objective is to build a rocket. The project team consists of 5 students plus one teacher.

Our first class ([https://kosmosschool.com/project/rocket- escape/](https://kosmosschool.com/project/rocket-escape/)) premiers on November and is already booked out, with another 170 students on the waitlist.

Today, we launched a Kickstarter in order so raise some money and get the attention VR enthusiastic parents who we think might be hanging out on Kickstarter (and here on HN of course).

If you want to help us, pledging a small amount and/or sharing the Kickstarter link will go a long way.

Happy to answer any questions.

Cheers

<comment><USER2> Love this demo [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9X0q5VVnEY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9X0q5VVnEY)

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah, thanks for sharing! Forgot to add it in my comment, but it's also on the Kickstarter page!</comment></comment></comment>


Inbox by Gmail Shutting Down - <AUTHOR> https://www.google.com/inbox/ <comment><USER2> Discussion from earlier today: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17971516](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17971516)

</comment><comment><USER3> [https://www.blog.google/products/gmail/inbox-signing-find- yo...](https://www.blog.google/products/gmail/inbox-signing-find-your- favorite-features-new-gmail/)

</comment><comment><USER4> I usually hate remarks like these, but can't help but say "Another one bites the dust". The unreliability of Google Products makes it so much less appealing to buy into Google's ecosystem nowadays, then it was 5-10 years ago. I'm hesitant to adopt any new product/service from them, because there's a high likelihood that they'll shut it down.

<comment><USER5> 5-10 years ago it was just as bad: [https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2013/06/27/discontinued-g...](https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2013/06/27/discontinued- google-products-services) Though I admit, those products probably didn't have the number of users that Inbox has.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I gave up on using Inbox a few months ago as it was way too slow, and absolutely _love_ the refreshed Gmail and Calendar interfaces - I've literally been waiting for them for years.

However, I really hope that they fold the Reminders functionality from Keep into the new Gmail, as the reminders interoperability with Inbox/Keep/Cal was pretty much my only reason for using it for as long as I did. That new Tasks interface is pretty, and I get what it's doing by trying to be a bit more like Todoist, but I think bringing full-on Reminders to Gmail would make a lot of people miss Inbox a lot less, and probably get me to drop Todoist if I'm honest.

</comment><comment><USER7> I really don't understand why they are doing this. This is the app I use the most on mobile up there with the browser. If there is an area where it makes sense to experiment with multiple UIs is email.

</comment><comment><USER8> I don't understand the title – the link just leads to google.com/inbox/. Is that service shutting down? It is not clear to me from the context of the website.

<comment><AUTHOR> If you logout or load in Incognito mode it shows the message.

<comment><USER9> [https://www.blog.google/products/gmail/inbox-signing-find- yo...](https://www.blog.google/products/gmail/inbox-signing-find-your- favorite-features-new-gmail/)

would probably be a better link

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Does anyone know how I can have two different "Gmail" apps on an Android phone?

I like to keep my work and personal emails separate. So I use Inbox for business, and turn off notifications in the evenings & weekends.

When I go into my personal Gmail, I'm not tempted to check my work email.

Inbox had many great features, but the killer for me was that it was a separate icon!

<comment><USER11> You can have two of any app: [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.oasisfeng....](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.oasisfeng.island&hl=en_US)

<comment> m-p-3 Seems like it doesn't work with any app heavily relying on Google Play Services.

<comment><USER11> Seems to be working with Google Docs, but not with GMail...interesting.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Amid a demand for batteries, companies are scrambling for supplies of lithium - <AUTHOR> http://www.economist.com/news/business/21688386-amid-surge-demand-rechargeable-batteries-companies-are-scrambling-supplies <comment><USER2> I love this jewel -- _" a Canadian firm, said it had signed a conditional agreement to supply Tesla with lithium hydroxide from a mine that it plans to develop in northern Mexico. Bacanora's shares jumped on the news—though analysts noted that shipping fine white powder across the United States border would need careful handling."_

Careful handling indeed. One interesting thing is that the clays that cover the Black Rock desert (the site of the Burning Man Festival) also contain lithium salts. So perhaps one year the theme could be "recharge your life" and every camp could evaporate off a bit of lithium chloride :-). Although its more likely that if demand gets great enough that companies will petition the BLM for mining rights.

<comment><USER3> BM will shift from meaning Burning Man to Battery Mine.

<comment><USER4> Split the difference and call it Battery Man or Burning Mine? Where the festival is also a forced labor camp?

<comment><USER5> We prefer the term "crowdsourced"

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I'm curious about whether LI batteries can be recycled. This paper: [http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214993714...](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214993714000037) appears to argue that it's technically possible but not really being done at the moment. Does anyone here work in this area? Is the paper cited correct?

<comment><USER7> I'm sure it can be done if the lithium doesn't evaporate, but the question is whether it's cost-effective, compared to just getting new lithium. It's not like there's just bars of the stuff to be found in old batteries, like with traditional lead batteries.

<comment><USER8> I wonder if more toxic chemicals are necessary to recycle or to initially refine it.

<comment><USER9> Energy used and emissions are more interesting than the process chemistry.

The paper linked above mentions that some sulfuric acid recovered from lead- acid batteries ends up as an input in soap making. Sulfuric acid surely passes the bar for being a toxic chemical, but it isn't a big deal if it isn't released in that form.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Something I really like about lithium is how recyclable it is. I read some time ago that lithium batteries do not "die" the same was as other batteries. The shortening of lifespan for these batteries is not about the lithium wearing out, but rather the oxidation of the leads and terminals inside the battery. Thus lithium can be recycled for a long, long time.

Any chem engineers out there able to confirm?

</comment><comment><USER11> Does medical lithium end up in our water supplies, from people taking it as medication? Is it possible to extract it from that water?

<comment><USER12> It probably does, like a lot of widely used medication. But if it's not economical to extract lithium from batteries significantly made of it, it's certainly not economical to get it from waste water.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> A vast trove of unused lithium can be obtained from Hillary Clinton's bathroom cabinet.</comment>


Show HN: Write generative fine art in Rust - <AUTHOR> https://paytonturnage.gitbook.io/valora/ <comment><AUTHOR> This is a library and CLI for Rust to write generative fine art for print.

I wrote this because writing generative art for print has unique problems that I found myself solving over and over again in standard graphics packages.

For example, a general purpose graphics library should probably compile shaders ahead of time, since compiling them at runtime is slow. When writing art, I want to see them update as I change them so I can brainstorm.

Source code is here: [https://github.com/turnage/valora](https://github.com/turnage/valora)

Features

* Repeatable works at arbitrary resolutions without changing the work

* Type-checked color space management with [https://docs.rs/palette](https://docs.rs/palette)

* Managed rngs for repeatable works and controlled rng trees

* Support for using a different, custom GLSL shader for each vector path

* GLSL live coding with "#include" support

* An ergonomic derive-based GLSL uniforms interface

* Animation support for brainstorming and cumulative pieces

Here is a shader written with this: [https://www.instagram.com/p/Bh4iIbwgjom/](https://www.instagram.com/p/Bh4iIbwgjom/)

Here is a vector work written with this: [https://www.instagram.com/p/B6wN_sSHtYp/](https://www.instagram.com/p/B6wN_sSHtYp/)

<comment><USER2> What do you mean with GLSL live coding? Because you need to recompile after all.

I've been wondering where are the non-destructive painting programs, which does not rasterize organic brushes or strokes.

Your attempt could work as a base to build one if it can work realtime sufficiently fast.

<comment><AUTHOR> If you have a valora work running and change the GLSL on disk, it will recompile and update in the next frame without your having to relaunch or any inconvenience like that.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> I've been using nannou [1] for these types of projects in rust and really loved it. Could they be interoperable?

1\. [https://github.com/nannou-org/nannou](https://github.com/nannou- org/nannou)

</comment><comment><USER4> This is extremely interesting. I just finished a weekend project exploring the very very basics of generating art/music using JS and canvas (shameless plug [https://webauthnart.com](https://webauthnart.com)). The screenshot on the Valora README is fantastic and makes me want to dive even deeper into this subject.

I'm probably more intrigued by a lot of the writing on your site and links to more generative art resources, as Rust isn't something I've spent really any time looking at.

</comment><comment><USER5> The good old xscreensaver has quite a few which I really want(ed) as high quality prints, e.g. "Substrate[1]". I never got around to making it render into a file, and the screens were too far from 4K back then to make screen grabbing useful. Plus I was too afraid to bug jwz himself :).

1: Crystalline lines grow on a computational substrate. A simple perpendicular growth rule creates intricate city-like structures.

[https://duckduckgo.com/?q=xscreensaver+substrate&iax=images&...](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=xscreensaver+substrate&iax=images&ia=images)

<comment><USER6> You could ask the original artist/author? "In July 2005, Jared co-founded Etsy, an online marketplace to buy and sell handmade goods"

[http://complexification.net/gallery/machines/substrate/](http://complexification.net/gallery/machines/substrate/)

[http://complexification.net/programmer.html](http://complexification.net/programmer.html)

<comment><USER5> Interesting, thanks for finding that time capsule. With java applets! Maybe Jared will find the time to snail-mail me a hand quilted version of Substrate ;)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> [https://nannou.cc/](https://nannou.cc/)

</comment><comment><USER8> This looks quite clean and intuitive, but all projects like this need an extensive to showcase capabilities and get people enthused!

</comment><comment><USER9> You could use this to make some interesting genetic algorithm art projects ala: [https://github.com/jackmott/evolution](https://github.com/jackmott/evolution) (which is more low level and drawing pixels directly with various random operations and algorithms)

</comment><comment><USER10> Would be nice if the page included more examples of what this is capable of.

</comment><comment><USER11> Working through the tutorial in the linked post, this initially seems like "nodebox, but less powerful and in rust".

I assume that's not the case at all. Are you familiar with nodebox, and can you explain why someone who uses it might want to switch to this?

</comment><comment><USER12> There was a presentation of generative art at RustConf 2019: [https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ho3xr4b60Zg](https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ho3xr4b60Zg)

</comment><comment><USER13> In the same vein: [https://github.com/sam46/FuncMorph](https://github.com/sam46/FuncMorph)

</comment><comment><USER14> In this context what is "fine art"

</comment><comment><USER15> ...or just join the demoscene :)

</comment><comment><USER16> I may get downvoted for this, but why are there so many posts ending with "in Rust"? Surely the content should be interesting enough to stand on it's own, no matter the language

<comment><USER17> Then again, why shouldn't it be ending with "in Rust" (or "in Nim" or "in Go", etc)?

After all, HN has a focus on technology and programming. So it seems somewhat natural that readers here will be interested in the technology and programming language of a project.</comment></comment>


Our website launched today! What think? - <AUTHOR> http://www.eser.org/intl/en We're calling it ESER and it's basically caller-id for Wikipedia. See:
http://www.eser.org
You type in a Wikipedia topic, and it returns the identities of all of the anonymous editors for that topic.
Thoughts, suggestions, comments, criticisms?
Thanks <comment><USER2> Cool, but what I think depends on what you want to do with it. If it's just a handy utility, it works pretty well. If you want people to come back from time to time, you need to add more stuff. Stats might be interesting.

</comment><comment><USER3> You've got to find a way to parse out the internet providers.

Then it would get really interesting!

<comment><AUTHOR> Done. We've implemented a simple Bayesian filter to remote most of the ISP's. There's still some work to be done, but it's a major improvement.

ESER</comment></comment>


Leaving Apple and Google: a /e/ mobile ecosystem comprehensive description - <AUTHOR> https://gitlab.e.foundation/e/wiki/en/wikis/e-product-description-pro-privacy-Android-ROM-and-online-services <comment><USER2> The one thing that I don't like about /e/ and similar services is that they ask you to leave your current walled garden, but it's not 100% (at least, not from their website) whether their solution allows you to actually own and manage your data, as in self-hosting as many services as you can and/or change service providers (the very same way you could move your phone number from one provider to another or change ISP for home connectivity or go to a different store for groceries if you want to).</comment>


Zuckerberg Responds to Critics, Explains How He's Spending $45B - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2015/12/03/zuckerberg-responds-to-critics-explains-how-hes-spending-45b <comment><USER2> The one thing that confuses me is that he plans to "give up 99% of his personal Facebook Shares"\--but the assumption is that the money would go to "NON PROFITS." But they are going to an investment vehicle, where he can invest in profit-based businesses.

So what does it matter, if this investment vehicle never funnels the money back to Zuck. I.e. it just takes any profits it generates and re-invests in whatever it wants. That's all you wanna do anyway when you have that much money--make things happen, create things, be a mover and shaker.

I'm not saying I would do any different myself--I'm just saying the whole PR angle here is retarded, even more so with Zuck's clarification. It's framed as if the money is ALL going to non-profits, but in reality it's going to whatever Zuck wants it to go to. Which is likely the same place any extremely wealthy person would put it to: progress. With the only difference being that it won't be used for him to live lavishly. Though the LLC could just fund another business idea of his that he is allowed to funnel profits from.

In short, his 1% of all that money is basically a billion dollars, right. or $450,000 million at his current valuation. But lets just call it a billion cuz presumably it will be that one day in the not too distant future. CONCLUSION: he has designated $1 Billion to lavish living and $99 Billion to progress--and in doing so hoodwinked us all into thinking in some way it won't be used for his grand vision of progress, but rather the non-profit world's vision for it.

I personally think Zuck's a sharp guy (when it comes to executing various mechanics)--I much rather know the money will be put towards executing his vision. I don't know why he felt the need to manipulate us all (he's clearly not so smart in social/emotional things).</comment>


Download Peter Thiel's brain. - <AUTHOR> http://zerotoonebook.com/ In Zero to One, the legendary Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor shows how the world's most valuable companies solve problems in new ways instead of competing on well-trodden paths. <comment><USER2> I'm disappointed. I expected a link to a file created with revolutionary brain scanning technique, in which Peter has invested. Hope the book will counterweight the disappointment.</comment>


The myth of India's population explosion - <AUTHOR> https://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/staying-alive/the-myth-of-indias-population-explosion/ <comment><USER2> _So, India is actually close to stabilizing its population and far from exploding, and this has been achieved without a draconian one-child policy or coercive contraception_

I believe you can say the emergency, and the coerced contraception were _irrelevant_ , but can you really say they didn't _happen_?

[https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/timeline/543.html](https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/timeline/543.html)

What is the authors intented meaning?</comment>


The drugs don't work: what happens after antibiotics? - <AUTHOR> https://www.theguardian.com/global/2019/mar/24/the-drugs-dont-work-what-happens-after-antibiotics <comment><USER2> There are lots of antibiotics left to be discovered - there is just no financial incentive to do so at the moment.

As soon as existing drugs stop working, the financial incentive will return, and more antibiotics will be developed. They'll be expensive this time though!</comment>


Why You Need to Learn JavaScript - <AUTHOR> http://www.w2lessons.com/2011/01/why-you-need-to-learn-javascript.html

<comment><USER2> Why not take a functional approach with JS as opposed to OO?

I do agree with the article in the importance of learning javaScript though as I'm in the midst of a few thousand lines of js (using backbone.js) to bring real power to the browser side (with a Lisp backend).

<comment><USER3> Sorry if this is off topic but how has been your experience with backbone.js. There is some information out there but no first hand account of building a large app with it.

<comment><USER2> Backbone is working really well so far, an impressive framework.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Would this be better labelled "Why web programmers need to learn JavaScript"? An awful lot of programmers will never need to touch any JavaScript.

<comment><USER5> Context: It's an a a blog called "Web 2.0 Development and Business Lessons".

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Does anyone else find small light-grey text against a slightly darker grey background extremely hard to read? I'm guessing there may be some useful information in there somewhere, but I just can't see it (literally).

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the feedback. I have adjusted the colors to make it more readable, please let me know you still have trouble reading it.

<comment><USER7> Much more readable now.

<comment><AUTHOR> Perfect, the feedback is much appreciated.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> "After all, you wouldn't want to jump into Scala without learning Java first." Anyone have any opinions on this? I've never learned Scala but I didn't think Dojo : JavaScript as Scala : Java.

<comment><USER9> I don't think that is implied in the article, so much as the fact(?) that fully understanding one requires a healthy understanding of the other.

Question mark b/c I don't know Scala, but as it is a JVM language my guess is that you would need to know a bit about Java and the JVM to really grok it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> this is the sad truth.

<comment><USER11> I'll argue that not everything about this is "sad". Knowing JavaScript opens new opportunities when it comes to the kinds of products you can develop and kinds of audiences you can reach. You don't have to look at it as a burden. JS might not have the best design, but it's not horrible, either. It's just a tool, and it's up to you how to use it.

<comment><USER12> I agree with this and the Article, I was a front-end guy who became a good back-end guy, who spotted the opportunity early on for serious development work to be done back on the front end. There are not a lot of really good language guys over on the front end as the article implies, but I think that will change with time.

Just 2 years ago the whole thing was in flux, was Flash or Silverlight going to take the interactive web crown? Was a backend focused toolkit like GWT going to save the day and keep the developers on the back end? I would say that the score was not settled until as late as mid last year.

Around the time that jQuery was crowned king. Their is no doubt now where web development is heading, disconnected browser apps communicating to the server via REST and JSON. (can I take a moment to tell all the haters, I told you so). All kidding aside, now it just remains to be decided what the traditional pieces of that client stack are.

Dojo offers a compelling and robust toolkit, that I personally like very much and recommend to people doing large apps in the browser. Then there is jQuery, the juggernaut, with something like 40% of the mindshare it hard to not declare jQuery the winner and move on.

The problem is for large application jQuery on it's own falls down miserably. It has to be paired with the likes of backbone.js and underscore.js to provide any basis for large app development and even then it is still a little more spartan to develop with the jQuery/backbone stack than it is Dojo.

While it is very easy to just call the game for jQuery, Dojo provide a scrappy underdog and a dark horse in this race. The point is, once "the one" toolkit is decided I think you will see more developer migrate over, and I think jQuery's dominance is starting to become that transition point. Making them feel comfortable about what they are investing their learning time in. This is an area where developers cant afford too many missteps and false starts in, if one wants to remain marketable they must choose the technologies that offer the greatest prospects, until recently that was not very clear on the client side.

For me, as of now, I keep one foot on each side of the fence until the dominate framework of the client side emerges. I think Dojo still has a long shot in this as people come over and realize that Dojo is the most robust toolkit available.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Former Startup CEO in Eastern Europe. Career Path Suggestions? - <AUTHOR>

Hi HN, need some advice here. I'm working since 2005 in online companies in an unnamed Eastern European country, been a (really successful) performance marketing director of an ecommerce company, CEO of a mildly successful startup, which I had to leave due to personal reasons, then CMO at a very successful startup and currently a head of product at a BigCo in Eastern Europe.
I want to move to work in US, but I am stumbling to find a good career path for myself. I am a good engineer, a good marketer, a moderately proficient data scientist, good at designing product, and generally good at solving business problems. Out of all jobs I've had, holding a generalist executive role has been the most personally rewarding, yet it seems that SV really favors specialists. Any place for (senior-level) generalists or any specific niche I could reasonably get in from across the ocean?
Any comments would be appreciated. <comment><USER2> It sounds like your strongest suit might be digital marketing with a data & analytics bent. What about looking at growth hacker type jobs at startups here. I personally hate the term but it seems to describe your unique skill sets (marketing + data science + product design + business skills)

[http://tapwage.com/channel/growth-hacker](http://tapwage.com/channel/growth- hacker)

Or you could look to be a technical product manager either at a startup or a large tech company.

[http://tapwage.com/channel/big-tech-product- manager](http://tapwage.com/channel/big-tech-product-manager)

Hope that helps.

</comment><comment><USER3> So...2 thoughts:

1\. What's your personal network like? A lot of high-level positions don't get communicated widely and depend on knowing someone.

2\. There's more to the USA than just SV.</comment>


Security reports reveal how Assange turned an embassy into a command post - <AUTHOR> https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/15/politics/assange-embassy-exclusive-documents/ <comment><USER2> Paraphrasing: New reports confirm Assange's claims about unnecessary surveillance of him and his visitors during his stay at the Ecuadorian embassy. Security company not only violated his and his visitor's privacy, but they also leak all that to the press. Assange dared to continue to work under such circumstances, he even had Internet (OMG!), and he met with people (WITH PEOPLE!).

quote stunning details unquote

<comment><USER3> Please don't copy-paste comments into multiple threads. Repetition lowers signal/noise.

Also, please don't post in the flamewar style to HN. " _Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive._ "

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


I Was Rejected by Harvard, Stanford, Facebook and Google – my Notes on Failure - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@teodor/i-was-rejected-by-harvard-stanford-facebook-and-google-my-notes-on-failure-5e84a2a12f2c <comment><USER2> We also have to celebrate failure because if we don't we are left only hearing success stories. This creates survivor bias, which stops us from understanding how the process works.

It's like a research program where 90% of the experiments are discarded and only results conforming to expectations are accepted. We cannot learn from this program, it doesn't give us any understanding of what is being studied. Any conclusions we draw from it will be false.

No understanding of the process leaves us concluding that it's all luck or fate. We indulge in magical thinking about what we "deserve" or what we "manifest".

People who succeed are held up as demigods, and their lives are faithfully recorded and copied. We cargo-cult the success stories and try to emulate them. And fail, silently.

We need to celebrate failure so we can understand it.</comment>


The NYPD Is Using Mobile X-Ray Vans to Spy on Unknown Targets - <AUTHOR> http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/10/the-nypd-is-using-mobile-x-rays-to-spy-on-unknown-targets/411181/?single_page=true <comment><USER2> Link to the AS&E "ZBV" mobile X-Ray van in question [0], sourced from the linked Fox News article. From the AS&E website:

"Dose to Cargo: Less than 0.1 microSievert (μSv) per scan (equivalent to 10 microRem (μrem)), at an average speed of 5 km/h (3 mph) at a scan distance of 1.5 m (5 ft). Should a stowaway accidentally be scanned, the effective dose is well below the ANSI specified limit for accidental exposure and is equivalent to flying two minutes at altitude."

[0][http://as-e.com/products-solutions/cargo-vehicle- inspection/...](http://as-e.com/products-solutions/cargo-vehicle- inspection/mobile/product/zbv/#safety)

Edit: Why the downvotes? Pretty objective information...

<comment><USER3> I don't consent to any form of non-necessary irradiation, regardless of the quantity.

Not sure why the NYPD gets to irradiate me without consequences (which constitutes a search of my person, without a warrant or consent, not to mention having a potential medical impact on people not suspected of any crime) when we can hardly point cameras at them despite it being explicitly legal.

<comment><USER4> Your consent is not needed even for unnecessary radiation. If I shine my high beams on your car, or have a cellular phone call next to well - too bad. I'm entitled to bombard you with radiation if I want to.

But for the sake of argument Ill assume you just care about ionizing radiation (UV, Xray, Gamma, Neutron, etc). In that case I agree consent should be needed for medium to high dose. It's unfeasible to get the consent of everyone for low doses (x-ray machine x-rays can travel for miles and theoretically infinitely far).

In this case it appears the dose is only about that of eating a banana. Hard to argue you need to consent to that for radiation concerns unless you also agree that everyone should consent to every xray scan that every hospital executes, or every time your colleague brings in bananas to work. Privacy concern is valid though. Radiation one is just fear mongering if OP is correct.

<comment><USER5> That's PER SCAN. Do you think the Police roll up, do a scan, and then take off? No. They're sitting there scanning constantly (most likely), so to use your analogy, that's a lot of banana eating.

<comment><USER6> Even more banana eating for the cops running the thing...

<comment><USER5> Did you even read the article?

         can be operated remotely from more than 1,500 feet

Yeah, totally dangerous for the cop </sarcasm>

<comment><USER6> _Can_ be, yes. How often _will_ it be? How often will it be operated remotely, and there's no other police in the immediate vicinity doing traffic control or some such?

[Edit: the article also talks about scanning the inside of a house in 15 seconds. That's not going to happen if they drive up the van, park it, get out, walk 1500 feet away, scan the house, walk back... (Yes, I know, they can drive away and back in another vehicle. It's still not likely to be operated remotely in that usage - all the activity makes it too conspicuous.)]

<comment><USER7> > _Can be, yes. How often will it be?_

The answer can even be ALWAYS, if remote controlling it is mandated by protocol.

> _How often will it be operated remotely, and there 's no other police in the > immediate vicinity doing traffic control or some such?_

That doesn't come into play at all. Do you think those kind of surveillance happens in busy streets with traffic control cops dancing around?

<comment><USER6> Top-level comment by sandworm101:

> They are not hard to spot. Watch the media entrances of events, where the > on-location vans drive through. Look for where traffic is routed through a > single lane. Inevitably they will route traffic past an unmarked van. Or, > look for an unmarked van trolling any parking lots within any security > cordon.

That "look for where traffic is routed through a single lane" makes me strongly suspect there's going to be traffic officers in the very near vicinity.

<comment><USER7> > _That "look for where traffic is routed through a single lane" makes me > strongly suspect there's going to be traffic officers in the very near > vicinity._

In that case those "traffic officers" will be further down directing traffic to the van, not in the van's target.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Why is this legal? In Kyllo -vs- United States, the USSC ruled that using modern technology to peer into someone's home constituted a search under the 4th Amendment[1], and required a warrant.

[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyllo_v._United_States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyllo_v._United_States)

<comment><USER9> It's probably not, but considering Chicago ran a blacksite operation that moved over 7000 people and relatively little has happened in regards to that, you can bet nothing will happen with this.

<comment><USER10> More info?

<comment><USER9> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Police_Department#Homa...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Police_Department#Homan_Square)

<comment><USER11> holy crap thx for mentioning

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> They are not hard to spot. Watch the media entrances of events, where the on- location vans drive through. Look for where traffic is routed through a single lane. Inevitably they will route traffic past an unmarked van. Or, look for an unmarked van trolling any parking lots within any security cordon.

[https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=NYPD+x-ray+van&prmd=iv...](https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=NYPD+x-ray+van&prmd=ivns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAUQ_AVqFQoTCM2woenp0cgCFcajlAodtCMPdg)

<comment><USER13> So here's a question...are there any ways we can definitively detect these vans (ie. something that can detect a large source of x-rays being emitted)?

If so, are there consequences for identifying and making it known to those nearby that "this van is scanning you without your knowledge/permission?"

<comment><USER14> > If so, are there consequences for identifying and making it known to those > nearby that "this van is scanning you without your knowledge/permission?

IANAL, but I would ask one before you do this unless you don't mind an obstruction of justice charge.

<comment><USER13> Yeah, for sure. Wasn't at all planning on doing this--just kind of assumed it would inevitably happen what with the prevalence of smart phones and geo- tagging capabilities.

One could imagine it being fairly trivial to create an app that broadcasts the location of these things if they can be easily detected.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Can someone explain to me how this is legal seeing as to how the Supreme Court ruled this unconstitutional without a warrant in Kyllo v. United States ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyllo_v._United_States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyllo_v._United_States))? Or is this just another case of the rule of law being neglected by authorities again as if it didn't exist?

<comment><USER16> The holding in Kyllo is based on the search being of a home, where the Fourth Amendment protections are strongest ( _"At the very core" of the Fourth Amendment "stands the right of a man to retreat into his own home and there be free from unreasonable governmental intrusion." Silverman v. United States, 365 U. S. 505, 511 (1961)._ ) and the holding is narrow: _Where, as here, the Government uses a device that is not in general public use, to explore details of the home that would previously have been unknowable without physical intrusion, the surveillance is a "search" and is presumptively unreasonable without a warrant._

I'd expect NYC to say "These vans are strictly for anti-terrorism purposes and if we see a bomb then you're welcome to cite the exclusionary rule from the safety of a non-blown-up courthouse", though that viewpoint will not command a whole lot of support on HN. I think it's probably a loser at the current Supreme Court on a drug case and would get a 9-0 with Scalia writing a _florid_ distinguishing opinion from Kyllo if a terrorism case somehow made it all the way to the Supreme Court. (Amateur analysis here; IANAL.)

<comment><USER17> It'd be ironic if a bomb were designed to be set off by a scan.

<comment><USER18> Instead of a bomb how about a warning that these vans exist? You could have a bunch of nerds leaving arduinos in Ubers around NYC. Have the arduinos measuring radiation and phoning home with any locations that are above average. At the very least it would be an interesting map to look at

<comment><USER17> You're a much more constructive person than I! It would be interesting. Hook it up to a 360 panoramic camera to capture the source as well.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Geiger counters are to become next sensor to be added to iPhone 7 i guess. A health app counting you daily calories and roentgens. Or an augmented reality app which shows the sources of radiation, like those vans, around you.

<comment><USER20> I believe most Geiger counters measure ionizing radiation, and X-rays are electromagnetic radiation.

<comment><USER21> Ionizing radiation is a broad category that includes portions of the EM spectrum. EM radiation is ionizing if it has enough energy to remove at least one electron from an atom, this includes the upper bits of UV and above. There are things other than EM that are things that are ionizing radiation too like subatomic particles.

Geiger counters can also detect XRays more or less effectively depending on their design.

> Ionizing radiation is any type of particle or electromagnetic wave that > carries enough energy to ionize or remove electrons from an atom. There are > two types of electromagnetic waves that can ionize atoms: X-rays and gamma- > rays, and sometimes they have the same energy.

[http://physicscentral.com/explore/action/radiationandhumans....](http://physicscentral.com/explore/action/radiationandhumans.cfm)

<comment><USER20> Very interesting, thanks for the clarification! I had always assumed that only alpha and beta particles constitute ionizing radiation.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Carry one of these radiation detectors.[1] It will emit loud beeps if hit by an X-ray beam. This is a scanned spot beam system, so the exposure is short but easily measurable.

AS&E offers the system (which is rather large) in two models of Mercedes Sprinter vans and a Ford 550 for off-road use. This thing has been around for almost a decade; they recently came out with a new van, but it's apparently the same backscatter hardware.

It's a very short range technology. For cargo container or vehicle inspection, they need separate scanning units for both sides and the top. Even for scanning people, both sides have to be scanned separately. It's not suitable for looking into houses.

But if you think something is a bomb, it's a good way to get a quick look. Because it can identify different elements, explosives really stand out.

[1] [http://www.amazon.com/NukAlertTM-radiation-detector- keychain...](http://www.amazon.com/NukAlertTM-radiation-detector-keychain- attachable/dp/B004SZ2HXQ)

<comment><USER23> Wow, that's a bit pricey but very interesting. I'd love to snag one, thanks for the link.

<comment><USER24> I wonder what would happen if those vans would need to be clearly labelled as radiation-emitting devices.

My impression is a lot of people are 'o.k.' with this because the vans are unmarked and the radiation invisible...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> Right we should trust them because the police never abuse any tool or weapon they are given to the ultimate extreme.

pepper spray, washing people entirely in it

tear gas at rallies even though banned for use in war

stun guns used repeatedly on unarmed people not even standing or fleeing

shooting unarmed people for non-violent crimes for non-compliance during arrest

tracking people without warrants via stingray devices

tracking people via their electronic toll passes from streetlights

harassing anyone trying to file police abuse reports to the point of arresting or stalking them

seizing massive amounts of money and property under civil forfeiture laws without any proof of criminal activity

using fees upon fees to seize property and jail people for not paying the fees

certainly they would never abuse this and radiate people standing around or at intercetions, never, trust them

<comment><USER3> To explicitly summarize your comment: technology is going to be abused by the powerful regardless of what they claim unless we enact strict systemic controls on their use with intense oversight.

Such enforcement is entirely possible, it just takes the political will to do so.

This latest incident is just another piece of evidence for America being a police/surveillance state. I'm not sure how people can deny it anymore.

<comment><USER25> police have zero oversight and zero repercussions though

they literally get away with everything

cops always ignore other cops breaking the law, always

so any tool they are given, it is an absolute guarantee it will be abused

<comment><USER26> I just sat on a jury in Colorado where we found a police detective guilty of abuse of power and other charges. Almost every witness with another police officer.

So no, cops do not always ignore other cops breaking the law.

<comment><USER27> I recently saw a report that showed that when cops report other cops, the chances of a conviction or other serious consequences are well over 50%, whereas civilian complaints against cops tend to be more like 1%. Because a lot of times civilian complaints aren't about actual abuse of power, but "I don't like the tone of voice he took with me" or whatever.

Good cops generally want to get the bad cops off of the force.

<comment><USER26> This cop tipped off a suspected pedophile about his impending arrest.

I'm sure the others are more than happy to see the full weight of the criminal justice system crash down on his head.

<comment><USER27> pedantic but relevant: presumably you mean a "predator".

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10402933](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10402933)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> Earlier thread: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8866825](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8866825).

Edit: this is just to give readers extra information. The current story does not count as a dupe because it contains significant new information. When a story is on the front page, that automatically means we haven't marked it as a dupe.

</comment><comment><USER29> A few thoughts:

\- If NYPD has it, other large port cities or metropolitan areas must have them as well. Florida jurisdictions have featured prominently for Stingrays and other military tech, wouldn't be surprised to find Orlando or Miami or what not sporting them as well.

Edit: Read the rest of the article, apparently U.S. News has found "[more than] 50 U.S. law enforcement agencies have secretly equipped their officers with radar devices that allow them to effectively peer through the walls of houses to see whether anyone is inside." The use case is to intentionally expose people to the xrays.

\- Are they getting warrants for these scans?

\- What ombudsman process or other audit-able legal infrastructure is in place in New York City that allows non-police persons to establish the veracity of the warrants they get to run these scans?

\- How do we confirm scans only expose the specific people identified in the warrants to x-ray radiation?

\- If collateral private spaces are scanned along with the intended target, how does NYPD ensure those images are destroyed (as they're outside the scope of their warrants)?

\- The court discussion mentioned in the article indicate the specific technology used in these vans has been repeatedly banned from use on humans, by US and other authorities. Where is the non-company-funded, reviewed-and- published study data showing this backscatter x-ray tech isn't harmful?

</comment><comment><USER30> I think we need new kind of cop show. "The Wire" for 21st century, where police investigates bening cases as a threat to national security, drives around the city in x-ray vans, share pics, show unrestrained joy when they get another MRAP and engages in borderline torture that's clearly shown to not work.

</comment><comment><USER31> The military industrial complex certainly has to have something to do with this. Not making enough money on international wars? Ok, let's go sell to domestic police forces.

I would love to hear if anyone here knows for certain if there is a link between companies selling to US military for international war and the companies selling these contraptions to domestic police forces.

</comment><comment><USER32> Okay, just donated to Pro Publica.

[https://www.propublica.org/site/donate3/](https://www.propublica.org/site/donate3/)

</comment><comment><USER33> This is probably why NYC wanted to ban Geiger counters in 2008.

<comment><USER24> That is an interesting possible connection indeed.

For anyone where this news bit fell off the far end of the attention-span:

[http://dwarmstr.blogspot.com/2008/01/new-york-wants-to- ban-g...](http://dwarmstr.blogspot.com/2008/01/new-york-wants-to-ban-geiger- counters.html)

</comment></comment><comment><USER34> I feel like I have no control whatsoever over my government.

</comment><comment><USER35> Before we really understood x-rays and before ultrasound, x-ray was used to scan pregnant women. Not surprisingly, this resulted in many tragic birth defects and miscarriages, before researchers and doctors figured out what was going on.

Of course, it is a question of dose, but if a pregnant woman is the person of interest/around the POI and subjected to this multiple times, have they even considered that the dosage level could become harmful for the fetus?

</comment><comment><USER36> I would love to have light up barber poles that turn on a rotating red light when they get hit by x-rays. Then you put them on street corners all around the city.

</comment><comment><USER37> Why is a municipal police force engaged in counter-terrorism at all?

FTA "It falls into the range of security and counter-terrorism activity that we engage in."

<comment><USER38> They do a fair amount of counter-terrorism work;

[http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/administration/counterterr...](http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/administration/counterterrorism_units.shtml)

They don't believe that the Federal government can or will provide adequate protection from terrorists.. I sympathize with them a bit on that count.

</comment></comment><comment><USER39> On the up side, here's your opportunity to send any message you like to the NYPD using lead tape inside your car.

<comment><USER40> Relevant prior art: [http://ni9e.com/tsa- communication.php](http://ni9e.com/tsa-communication.php)

</comment></comment><comment><USER41> The DEA has been using FLIR for years. Ethically gray also.

<comment><USER42> I'm not so sure I agree that's overly ethically gray - it's EM radiation detection just like using any other camera or eyeballs, only at different wavelengths.

X-ray imaging, on the other hand, seems FAR more ethically gray to me, especially given the potential public health consequences.

<comment><USER9> Considering thermal imaging was considered a search requiring a warrant, it would make sense for any sort of detection not available to normal human senses to be a search.

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

<comment><USER43> What about dogs?

<comment><USER9> The supreme court had issue with the thermal devices because they weren't generally available to the public. Dogs are generally available and they're smelling things _outside_ your home/car where they don't need a warrant.

<comment><USER44> This is interesting. You have to add an extra filter to make a camera _stop_ seeing infrared. How it was determined thermal devices aren't generally available?

<comment><USER45> I would assume the reasoning was that if you can't go to the local electronics store and buy the item in use by police, then it isn't commonly available to the public. But, from my quick reading of the case details, the outcome of that case is pure crap.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER46> I don't even know if I disagree that the NYPD using things like this isn't a more effective way to prevent crime, but I don't think it matters. They are a law enforcement agency, not a domestic espionage or counter-terrorism agency.

<comment><USER38> They do a fair amount of counter-terrorism work;

[http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/administration/counterterr...](http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/administration/counterterrorism_units.shtml)

<comment><USER46> I don't disagree that they have behaved as a counter-terrorism agency. I just reject the premise that they are one.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER47> Its is not just a privacy violation, It is huge safety risk

</comment><comment><USER48> Someone should create a monitor that reacts to directional x-rays and squeeks. Then you can go outside and find them and yell at them. Also, take pictures, plant a tracker, spray paint flowers. Use your imagination.

</comment><comment><USER49> Initial story I've submitted a few days ago (worth read as well)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10388019](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10388019)

</comment><comment><USER50> Copper sulfate nanopowder can successfully diffract x-rays. I wonder how effective against a ZBV scanning would a paint with CuSO4 nanopowder be. Anyone have any idea?

</comment><comment><USER51> I wonder just how hard it would be to make a detector that could pick up any scans (or other bursts of X-Rays)?

</comment><comment><USER52> Sorry but, I hope that those NYPD officers get more radiations then the public they are scanning.

</comment><comment><USER53> No worries only Muslims are targeted with these X-Ray buses!

</comment><comment><USER54> And what will be done? Nothing. The government can radiate you without consequence, without audit, without anyone being held responsible, and if that ever changes it will be the tax payers who pay the fine to radiate themselves while the corrupt gain lucrative contracts for doing such a fine service.

Americans live in a police state and they are too cowed to even admit such a basic truth.

<comment><USER55> _" Americans live in a police state"_

Americans do not live in a police state. Not by any sane interpretation of the definition. That's just absurd nonsense.

<comment><USER9> Here's how Wikipedia describes a police state:

>The inhabitants of a police state may experience restrictions on their mobility, or on their freedom to express or communicate political or other views, which are subject to police monitoring or enforcement. Political control may be exerted by means of a secret police force which operates outside the boundaries normally imposed by a constitutional state.

~100% of American communications are monitored by the government. We have secret courts that authorize the killing of American citizens. We have National Security Letters, requiring people to do exactly as they're told and not allowing them to tell anyone (in some cases even their lawyer) they've been served with one. Government agencies operate outside the bounds of the constitution on a routine and mass basis (NSA's phone spying program was found to be illegal/unconstitutional) with zero repercussions to government employees and agents who violated the law.

It also defines this:

>An electronic police state is one in which the government aggressively uses electronic technologies to record, organize, search, and distribute forensic evidence against its citizens

America is the poster child of an electronic police state. We do it more than any other country on a scale larger than any country in history. Americans are more monitored than any large group of people in the history of the world.

<comment><USER56> > We have secret courts that authorize the killing of American citizens

You say this like it's an everyday occurrence, something that happens repeatedly, many many times. But it isn't - it happened once when Anwar al- Awlaki [1] was killed in a drone strike. [ EDIT - should be "happens rarely" not just once ]

As for the 'electronic police state' comment, again this is untrue. The purpose of the bulk surveillance is absolutely NOT to gather evidence against citizens. In fact, it is used agains foreigners only for national security and intelligence purposes. In absolutely exceptional circumstances it is permissible to search the collected data for records pertaining to citizens, but we see in the Snowden documents that there are legal safeguards and procedures to protect against accidental or inadvertant surveillance of citizens.

[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al- Awlaki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Awlaki)

<comment><USER3> We all saw the GCHQ documents, and we all know there is no way to separate bulk "American" content/metadata from non-American. The government considers the most intimate affairs (LOVEINT, SEXINT, etc) as firmly their business to snoop on for the purposes of future blackmail-- it does you no favors to deny this, and puts you in a counterfactual position.

The "Main Core" intel database has dossiers on every person they could find data on. There are no distinctions between foreigners and Americans, as we saw from the Snowden docs.

We also saw from Snowden docs that the DEA among other organizations definitely (100%, utterly indisputable, look at wikipedia if you are unclear on this matter) use "parallel construction" in which the NSA passes evidence for criminal cases to the DEA, which then obfuscates the source before going to trial.

Stop shilling, either intentionally or unintentionally.

<comment><USER55> Nobody is going to engage with you if you use the word "shill". It is the rhetoric of conspiracy theorists, and debate with conspiracy theorists is not technically possible.

<comment><USER3> Try replying to the points I raised. Responses like yours which essentially state "we can't discuss this issue as a group because of some social norm I don't like" really do scream out that someone doesn't want to bite into the meat of the issue.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER57> Wow, the emotional side of HN really comes out on this one. Apparently if you are not vigorously opposed in all facets, you are complicit. How very civil.</comment>


Peter Thiel Employee Helped Cambridge Analytica Before It Harvested Data - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/27/us/cambridge-analytica-palantir.html <comment><USER2> Related discussion (over 150 comments): [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16690721](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16690721)

</comment><comment><USER3> >"the Russian-American psychologist Aleksandr Kogan, who built his own personality quiz app for Facebook"

Didn't hear that he was a Russian American, is it possible that Kogan is one of the academic spies?

</comment><comment><USER4> "Mark Zuckerberg Employee Helped Cambridge Analytica Before It Harvested Data"

I mean this is getting a bit silly. Why didn't they just say "Palintir Employee".

<comment><USER5> If you read the article it says that """Palantir revised its account, saying that Mr. Chmieliauskas was not acting on the company's behalf when he advised Mr. Wylie on the Facebook data""".

So it's a Palantir employee in their free time.

<comment><USER4> So he wasn't a "Peter Thiel Employee" either then. Can't have your cake and eat it too.

<comment><USER5> obvi

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> now this headline is more accurate

</comment><comment><USER6> Stop linking paid content

<comment><USER7> Comments like yours are actually a lot more annoying than having to click the "web" button to bypass paywalls.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Let's put on our tinfoil hats for a moment: I find a bit odd the coincidence that both the personal data leaks scandal and FB's change in wall algo to show less news, appeared at virtually the same time. All this fb media lynching couldn't continue for long as long as some non liberal people like Peter Thiel can be blamed.

Let's not forget that Peter Thiel is VP at fb. If he wanted Palantir to have an app that went under the scrutiny radar of some fb data protection radar, he would've most probably been able to get that.

<comment><USER2> > _" Let's put on our tinfoil hats for a moment"_

Cambridge Analytica's involvement in the 2016 election has been reported since July 2015. Targeting via Facebook has been known since at least 2012 with respect to the Obama campaign, and with the Cruz, Carson, and Trump campaign since early 2016.[0] There's been an ongoing investigation into possible election improprieties, so people have been focussed on all of these areas for years. You don't need a tinfoil hat and some kind of coordinated campaign to explain that it was likely just a matter of time before something like this would hit the headlines. In this case, it appears that it was Wylie coming forward.

[0]: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Analytica#2016_presi...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Analytica#2016_presidential_election)</comment></comment>


Ring Open Source Linux Code - <AUTHOR> https://shop.ring.com/pages/oss <comment><USER2> When did Ring first publish this? Is the kernel and userland published the same version as what are on Ring products?</comment>


Techcrunch - <AUTHOR>

Techcrunch is getting Domain Name Mismatch error, while accessing over HTTPS. As Wordpress is sharing SSL certificate with techcrunch but the certificate is only valid for *.wordpress.com
Huge name like Techcrunch should get their own certificate to protect traffic. Earlier, if certificate has been issued on www.domain.com and if someone try to access https://domain.com (without "www"), in this case approacher may get this error. But now major CAs are offering both www and non-www protection with single certificate.
In case of CA root/chain/intermediate certificate has not been installed, approacher may get such error. Website owner should install certificate properly to resolve this error. <comment><USER2> Better get right on that. I wouldn't want any person sniffing my network to see the http content of the article I am reading.</comment>


This is how your world could end - <AUTHOR> https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/09/this-is-how-your-world-could-end-climate-change-global-warming <comment><AUTHOR> "Today, the most common maximums for wet-bulb temperatures around the world are 26C to 27C. Wet-bulb temperatures of 35C or higher are lethal to humanity. Above this limit, it is impossible for humans to dissipate the heat they generate indefinitely and they die of overheating in a matter of hours, no matter how hard they try to cool off.

"So we were trying to get across the point that physiology and adaptation and these other things will have nothing to do with this limit. It's the easy-bake oven limit," he said. "You cook yourself, very slowly.""

<comment><USER2> It seems no one wants to comment on the end of the world so I will. This is scary shit and needs to be shared. Challenge accepted.</comment></comment>