Anbox – A container-based approach to boot full Android on a regular Linux - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/anbox/anbox <comment><USER2> Hmm. That's really handy at dealing with "download and use app to save %"

Sure. I'll make a VM, do the bullshit app, and pop the vm.

<comment><USER3> If there's no virtualization though then you'd need to find an x86 copy of the app right?

<comment><USER4> Most Android apps are just JVM bytecode and work on any architecture. Apps using the NDK (native development kit) are architecture-specific and often lack x86 binaries but ecommerce apps are highly unlikely to use the NDK.

<comment><USER3> Huh, I feel like I used to get tons of "app X wants to load binary Y.so" notifications with XPrivacy for quite a few apps... is it really that rare?

<comment><USER4> I wouldn't call it rare in general, but it seems pretty rare within the specific genre of ecommerce apps. Unless they use React Native, that requires the NDK.

I have an x86 Android tablet and it does emulate ARM binaries but the performance is bad enough that it is pretty obvious when you are running ARM binaries. I'm not sure how hard it would be to integrate libhoudini (Intel's ARM emulator) into this, if they ever even released the code.

<comment><USER5> Unfortunately libhoudini is proprietary. I don't think it's being updated for newer Android versions either.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Anbox is a great idea but it needs a lot of work to become a usable project. Currently, it's only available on a few distros, and app installation instructions are nowhere to be found.

<comment><USER7> > and app installation instructions are nowhere to be found

[https://github.com/anbox/anbox/blob/master/docs/install.md](https://github.com/anbox/anbox/blob/master/docs/install.md) ??

Or do you mean for installing Android apps?

<comment><USER8> What else would you install after putting Anbox into your setup?

<comment><USER9> F-Droid.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I'd love it if I could have both handset and server Android devices and they could talk to each other. Imagine running the server-side part of apps (e.g. always on, attached storage) on a bit of cloud that you own yourself.

<comment><USER11> Why does it matter what the backend OS is? Why does it need to be Android?

<comment><USER12> I think the idea here is that you would compile one native Android application that is running a single "distributed process" capable of spawning threads in both places, as if the phone and the cloud were two (very distant) NUMA noses of the same physical device. (Or, more practically, with the Android runtime doing transparent distributed RPC using a single set of static types that are marshalled between the client and server using something like protobufs.)

For this to work out, the devices really need to be either capable of running the same native code; or at least need to all be running an abstract bytecode VM with its durable state synchronized between them.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Has anyone tried running the Slack Android app with this? I am wondering if it would work better than the Electron based one available on desktop.

</comment><comment><USER14> This is amazing. Great job!</comment>


Widest Roman Prime - <AUTHOR> https://blog.soff.es/widest-roman-prime <comment><USER2> Simple solution in Mathematica: [http://i.imgur.com/2iBIRwN.png](http://i.imgur.com/2iBIRwN.png)

<comment><USER3> I like this solution the most. Some questions on @wacnt (like this one) can't be answered because Wolfram Alpha's NLP fails to recognize the algorithm implicit in the question, but if it was able to translate the problem statement into a machine-readable form, this would be very close to it.

Edit: Some background on @wacnt: [https://docs.google.com/document/d/17me2A-SG5Z0Mr9Xd-a1kT1HQ...](https://docs.google.com/document/d/17me2A-SG5Z0Mr9Xd-a1kT1HQlWZL5rw3r6Hls6XPfO4)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Here it is in JavaScript (feel free to play around with it): [https://tonicdev.com/tolmasky/widest-roman- prime](https://tonicdev.com/tolmasky/widest-roman-prime)

Took me only a couple of minutes since it was mainly just searching for the right npm packages to piece together. Say what you like about micro libraries, but for explorations like this it really makes JavaScript in a league of its own.

<comment><USER5> > Say what you like about micro libraries, but for explorations like this it > really makes JavaScript in a league of its own.Say what you like about micro > libraries, but for explorations like this it really makes JavaScript in a > league of its own.

Indeed, we spend so much time arguing about programming languages, when in reality the presence or absence of libraries is much more important.

<comment><USER6> > Indeed, we spend so much time arguing about programming languages, when in > reality the presence or absence of libraries is much more important.

+1,+1

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Should have just done it in Common Lisp. Roman numeral formatting is built-in.

        ? (format nil "~@r" 3989)
        "MMMCMLXXXIX"

<comment><USER8> I'd imagine it's not easy to render the text out into Times without UIKit or equivalent? Pretty cool that it has that built in, though.

<comment><USER9> But would the font make any difference to the answer?

<comment><USER10> It asks for the widest string in pixels in a proportional font, so the different letters matter.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> The problem is underspecified because it does not define under which renderer the text should be measured. Kerning could reorder some of the close ties.

</comment><comment><USER12> I thought 3888 will be wider than 3889 because VIII certainly feels wider than IX but I am not font expert so I don't know

<comment><USER13> But it wouldn't be a prime.

<comment><USER12> ah missed that. Thanks!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Strictly speaking that's the widest modern usage Roman prime under 4000.

The actual Romans were inconsistent in their use of the subtractive principle, see [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1371/what-is-the- pr...](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1371/what-is-the-proper-way- to-style-roman-numerals-for-the-1990s)

So there might be ways to construct a wider one.

</comment><comment><USER15> Its funny with all these new sort of bracket like functional programming languages with similar syntax it actually took me a minute to figure out that the code is Swift(probably lack of experience)... Looks like Scala.. no scala doesn't use let.. is it Rust.. nope not Rust.. rust does not use "import".. can't be Ocaml or F# because of no brackets... ah UIKit.

</comment><comment><USER16> The next question that popped into my head is, what's the thinnest Roman Prime?

Took me about sixty seconds before I realized that was a stupid question :)

<comment><USER17> Depends, monospaced font or not? It's either 2 or 5

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Wow, Swift is perfect for doing this kind of thing

<comment><USER18> So it seems but mostly because of the UI component where you can calculate the width of the resulting text without having to hardcode the width of individual characters.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> The challenge wasn't print the largest prime under 4000, it was find the prime with the most digits. So the lisper example gave the wrong answer. Still need to generate the prime, count the digits and return the one with the most digits. No sure that the lisp version would be less lines of code, but I'll guess a recursive version would be close

<comment><USER20> It's not to find the one with the most digits. It's to find the widest one in Times New Roman. Times New Roman is not a fixed-width font, so the widest one might have less digits than some other one. For example I is less wide than M.

<comment><USER21> Haha. Funny.</comment></comment></comment>


Culture of 'Bending Rules' in India Challenges U.S. Drug Agency - <AUTHOR> https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-01-31/culture-of-bending-rules-in-india-challenges-u-s-drug-agency <comment><USER2> Talking about India for a moment, if you ask any Indian living in India (or a recent emigrant) about "bending rules", it's certain that they will say it happens all the time, everywhere, in every industry, in every government department/ministry, and that that's how things are and have been. It's an accepted sense of resignation in the mindset of people. This also triggers a mindset to "just get things done at any cost", as the article describes (usually this kind of corruption starts at the top levels of a company).

If you get goods made in China, I doubt if you can be sure of the quality unless you go there, stay there, live there, and work there to make sure that those companies understand what you need and are doing the right things in the right way and not cutting corners.

IMO, all this is the price you pay for getting "cheap stuff" from a remote place with a different culture and history. I'm not implying that everything (or even the majority of things) made in the U.S. automatically comes at a better level of quality — there is no denying that fraud and "bending rules" are universal. What matters is how much can be controlled and what compromises one is willing to make. It just so happens that large markets with higher costs that need cheaper stuff on one hand, and countries that want higher exports and have weaker systems (policies, laws, law enforcement) on the other hand make this issue much larger and difficult to deal with. I personally don't think there are any easy or quick solutions here that can retain the costs at current levels while achieving everything else. Something must give.

</comment><comment><USER3> 1) having audited lower-income countries' factories, for a tiny bit years ago, convinced me that this is true of just about any country at a lower level of economic development. Rigorous regulatory enforcement is expensive, and poor countries are poor.

2) it is not just a problem with generic drugs in India, it is a problem with anything that is painted (lead?), anything with plastics in it, etc. etc.

3) it is interesting that the one case where Bloomberg seems to be saying "this outsourcing our manufacturing to the Third World is a problem", is the case where the industry in question has a profit-related reason to want it to stop. In most industries, the U.S. companies want to manufacture there, so that is "free trade", and I think Bloomberg would be in favor and unlikely to run a story like this.

<comment><USER4> _poor countries are poor_

India has nuclear weapons, aircraft carriers and a space programme.

<comment><USER3> Sorry if that sounded like I was saying "primitive". I was not meaning to. The relevant fact is that it takes a lot of money, proportional to the size of the country, to have good environmental, health, and safety regulations, and enforce them. A very large country such as India, which does have many technologically savvy people, can have nuclear weapons, aircraft carriers, and a space program for far less money than it takes to make all your manufacturing not cut corners in E,H,&S regulations.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I don't think think this has to do with "culture of bending rules".

This just seems an excuse to me of what is evident every where in the world - greedy corporates will always test the boundaries of the law to the maximum, to maximise their profits, testing the limits of the government to see what they can get away with.

As the article itself highlights, once the FDA started being more strict complaints from India decreased and compliance increased. (And India was more responsive than China.)

In fact, if the article is right, there seems to be an opportunity here for outsourcing FDA's inspection to a third party, as FDA seems to be finding it difficult to get its staff to stay in India (and possibly other asian countries) for inspection.

<comment><USER6> >...as FDA seems to be finding it difficult to get its staff to stay in India (and possibly other asian countries) for inspection.

The staff works for the FDA, which is a part of the government, yeah? In other words, it's not a for-profit business that can register itself it in India and, thereby, sponsor visas to live in India. I imagine that this is the principal reason _why_ they can't "get its staff to stay in India".

<comment><USER7> I doubt it, especially with the weight a US government agency would have in getting visas.

On the other hand, professionals who have options, such as those working for the FDA, would probably need a sizeable premium to give up the comforts of living in a nicer place and instead have to live in a poorer, more crowded, dirtier, foreign country with increased risks.

<comment><USER8> A US government employee stationed in a foreign country receives allowances that pay for the full cost of housing and utilities. In Mumbai, the housing allowance is relatively small as such things go ($1500ish/mo depending on grade level and family size), but there's also a 25% hardship allowance and an education allowance sufficient to send your K-12 children to an eye- wateringly-expensive private school. Other benefits include four to six weeks a year of vacation, three weeks a year of home leave, most likely both US and Indian holidays, and they probably have authority to throw in a 25% relocation incentive on top of that. FDA is also allowed to pay in excess of the usual federal pay cap for some positions. If they really can't find people willing to take that deal, they've got some major organizational issues that need to be addressed.

(Source: I work in a different part of the federal government, but most of these rules are set by State.)

<comment><USER7> Organizational issues could also be a part, but there exists some number that would attract people. Personally, I wouldn't give up my lifestyle in the US for a few hundred thousand a year, but make it $500k+ for 4 day workweeks and I might think about. There might be people qualified for the position that will do it for less, but the employer just needs to keep raising the number until people bite.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> For context, the Ranbaxy scandal the article refers to is covered very well by Fortune's remarkable story "Dirty Medicine"[1]. The people behind Ranbaxy have since sold their stake to a Japanese firm and are now running a chain of hospitals in India.

[1] [http://fortune.com/2013/05/15/dirty- medicine/](http://fortune.com/2013/05/15/dirty-medicine/)

<comment><USER5> Those chain of hospitals too are now in the news and being investigated by the government ( [https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/fir-registered- aga...](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/fir-registered-against- fortis-hospital-in-dengue-death-controversy/articleshow/62005768.cms) ).

\- [https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/ranbaxy- now-f...](https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/ranbaxy-now-fortis- hospitals-its-curtains-in-healthcare-for-the-singh- brothers/article23372302.ece)

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Lower drug prices and higher availability of generics is a good thing that helps millions of people. Now let's talk about how we can ensure drug labs, no matter where they are in the world, produce high quality drugs.

</comment><comment><USER11> Is there a news believability index somewhere. I'm getting a bit leery of Bloomberg "exposés" after it turned out the Supermicro story was bullshit.

</comment><comment><USER12> I'm not surprised since [http://business.rediff.com/report/2009/sep/24/indians- among-...](http://business.rediff.com/report/2009/sep/24/indians-among-most- corrupt-while-doing-business-abroad.htm)</comment>


Fundamental Concepts in Programming Languages - <AUTHOR> http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?FundamentalConceptsInProgrammingLanguages <comment><USER2> The only link that works is the last one:

[http://www.itu.dk/courses/BPRD/E2009/fundamental-1967.pdf](http://www.itu.dk/courses/BPRD/E2009/fundamental-1967.pdf)</comment>


What software teams can learn from rock bands - <AUTHOR> https://www.functionize.com/blog/4-lessons-software-teams-can-learn-from-rock-bands/ <comment><USER2> Rock, roll & code. I like it.</comment>


Consumers Are Choosing Simpler Electronic Gadgets - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/business/21ping.html?ref=technology <comment><USER2> You mean, an incredibly innovative user/device interface isn't the reason for people buying the Wii? It was price and simplicity, not taking the interaction aspect of video gaming and turning it on it's head with a completely new experience that attracted people to the Wii?

I'm shocked.

Newsflash: video gamers are pretty keen people (you said so yourself right here[<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/business/21shelf.html>]), and it feels like a slap in the face to talk about how quick witted the generation raised on the internet and face paced video games are, only to turn around and say "they prefer something simple versus something capable of more power". For the record, gamers cherish a power, they cherish a machine that pulls them into a world so realistic they may as well be looking out the window.

The same principle goes for the Flip. It's innovation that drives us crazy. Trust me, I know. I'm part of the generation you're talking about.

<comment><USER3> One of the key reasons that the wii and the Flip are so successful is because they appeal to other generations than the tech savvy ones.</comment></comment>


Yahoo's Entire Design Innovation Team Fired - <AUTHOR> http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/daily-brief/2008/02/14/confirmed-yahoo-design-innovation-team-axed

<comment><USER2> "Hey boss, the company's headed for trouble. Costs are trending towards exceeding revenue."

"Hmm, looks like we need to cut costs. Let's fire the innovation team."

"But boss, without new innovations, how will we manage to stay ahead of the competition?"

"Silly child, we're Yahoo! We have a bang at the end of our name! We don't need innovation."

"..."

"Plus, we can just buy anything that's innovative. Outsourcing innovation! I should give myself a raise." :scribble, scribble:

"..."

"..."

Wow.

<comment> daniel-cussen It's kind of true, though. Outsourcing production seems to be working well for Yahoo. Delicious and flicker are pretty awesome, and I can't think of a Yahoo in-house app that's at that level.

Plus, I suspect there are inherent problems in any group called "innovation team."

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> The Design Innovation Team produced a lot of interesting toys in Processing and Flash, but nothing that was relevant to Yahoo's business.

<http://design.yahoo.com/project.php?pid=1>

<http://design.yahoo.com/project.php?pid=2>

<http://design.yahoo.com/project.php?pid=3>

<http://design.yahoo.com/project.php?pid=4>

<http://design.yahoo.com/project.php?pid=5>

<http://design.yahoo.com/project.php?pid=6>

<http://design.yahoo.com/project.php?pid=7>

<http://design.yahoo.com/project.php?pid=8>

This one is just a ripoff of something a Google engineer did a long time ago, and has been part of the Mountain View tour for years:

<http://design.yahoo.com/project.php?pid=9>

The artists from yHaus were very talented, but their relevance to Yahoo amounted to supercool projections at Brickhouse parties. And that may be all that they were asked to do. Some companies treat innovation as a core part of the business, and others treat it as a P.R. exercise.

</comment><comment><USER4> I feel for the people laid off its not nice happened to me last year but that said its not clear what they did from that article.

did they deal with all aspects of design? or was it just font and logos etc

I can't help but think it would be cheaper to contract this stuff out.

</comment><comment><USER5> Yahoo and design innovation are oxymorons

<comment><USER6> Aw, Tell me you miss giant obnoxious smiley faces and frames?</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Atheists of hackernews how do you deal with zealouts. - <AUTHOR> How should I deal with extremely religious people and their inability and lack of interest in reasoning logically on specific issues, particularly when I am based in a developing country where the average person is extremely religious to the point of insanity, sometimes I just get tired of it all. <comment><USER2> You don't. They have a right to their zealotry as you have a right to your beliefs. I also don't get why you want to reason with crazy? You must be very young and ideological or enjoy arguments. As you get older you realise the best way forward is to leave people to their beliefs as long as they don't impede yours. If they _are_ impeding your beliefs then you have a problem -- either avoid the conflict or stand your ground -- it has to be done on a case- by-case basis though, there's no blanket answer.

</comment><comment><USER3> If you really care about changing their views, then you would need extraordinary amount of patience and an arsenal of different tactics. You are fighting against years long indoctrination. Much of it from the formative years and much of it from people they trust and hold dear, like parents and grandparents. If you are expecting to make a five minute argument to change someone's deep seated ideology, you are mistaken. Regardless of how logical and factually accurate you might think you are.

Depending on your social circle, you might come across a few people who are really open minded and with your arguments might be able to plant seeds of change. That's probably all the power you really have.

</comment><comment><USER4> The Borg Collective is like a force of nature. You don't feel anger toward a storm on the horizon. You just avoid it.

</comment><comment><USER5> Give up trying to argue with them. Instead, try to make a difference by making blog posts, videos, podcasts, etc. about atheism. That way you feel you're doing your part to improve the world, and you avoid the conflict and drama of pointless debates.

<comment><AUTHOR> I was just thinking about doing something like this, and now that you have mentioned it I will definitely try this out.</comment></comment>


SaaS Funding: Based on a Multiple of Your Monthly Recurring Revenue - <AUTHOR> http://www.saasfunding.com/

<comment><USER2> I'm Darrin Ginsberg, Founder of SaaS Funding.

Regarding the comments, I would like to make a few points:

1\. Like all of you I have been an entrepreneur, starting companies since my teens. I have been both an equity investor and a lender to many successful SaaS companies. We may be lenders, but we are not "bankers". 2\. As a serial entrepreneur, I despise red tape. From our application to funding our typical turn around time is 5 days. Try to beat that with an Angel Investor, VC, or a traditional bank. With SaaS Funding, there are no operational hassles or requirements (or even suggestion) to move card processing to the vendor of our choice. I happen to have a payment processing background and can show most SaaS companies how to get better rates on their current processing, but there is no requirement to take our advice. 3\. Our rates reflect our perception of risk. The average effective rate is approximately 25%. Is that 'usurious'? I don't think so. (Keep in mind that this is not necessarily the rate your company would pay. You could be lower if your company is credit worthy, has a great management team, a great growth plan and good recurring revenue. You could pay higher than this if your company has "issues". Each deal is individually reviewed and scored based on its own merits and based on what we feel is the right risk/reward ratio.

\- We tell every prospect to apply for a bank loan first. It's cheaper. If you don't qualify for one of many reasons, can't get all that you need, or you are pressed for time, give us a shot. We promise not to waste your time. \- We underwrite software providers, not their VC investors. In fact, many of our clients do not have equity investors. \- We don't have financial covenants. You run your business. \- We don't take equity. Not one share. We won't dilute you or ask for Options or Warrants. \- We sometimes do Revenue Participation deals where the rates can be significantly lower but they have some type of Revenue Participation attached.

So for an example, let's consider the math on a $200k loan for a 24 month loan at the rate of 25%. would cost $56k in interest over 2 years. What can you do with the 200K to grow your business? If you can't increase its value by $56K, or use it to help you bring in at least $56K, then you shouldn't take this or any type of loan. Could you increase your business 10%, 20%, 30%, 50% or more if you had $200K to spend in marketing your product?. Is $56k too expensive for our product? What is the cost of issuing equity at this stage in your company? I suspect that if you are successful, it will cost you much more than that in the long run.

So, if you have revenue already and want to reach out and talk with me or one of my team, please let me know. Thanks.

Darrin Ginsberg – CEO SaaS Funding, a division of Super G Funding. email@example.com 949.673.2009

</comment><comment><USER3> I looked into this earlier while banging my head against the wall trying to get a bank loan and thinking "Crikey, somebody has to have a better option for this."

There aren't a heck of a lot of options, so if somebody said "Our business accepted their terms" I wouldn't immediately think "You must be crazy.", but I'll observe that 19~40% APR is pretty expensive for debt and that "You have to switch credit card processors to one we nominate and, btw, your new account will be a lockbox controlled by us." is both an operational hassle and strikes me as a fairly onerous term.

<comment><USER4> 19-40% is pretty usurious. Alongside the requirement for operational control over payments makes this a bad idea. For small amounts (under $250k) you're better off even taking a personal unsecured term loan (8-15%) or remortgaging (4-6%). But there are still better business options provided by venture-aware banks and lenders like SVB, CNB, Square 1, WTI etc.</comment></comment>


Entrepreneurs: The New Celebrities - <AUTHOR> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703932904574511563185739376.html?mod=djemSB

<comment><USER2> "Trying to tap into the popular belief that entrepreneurs are somehow more authentic — and more innovative — than big corporations"

Haha, yeah, I wonder where that crazy belief comes from.

<comment><USER3> That's not a belief, that's a fact.

<comment><USER4> The innovation makes sense, but what does authenticity even _mean_ , in this context?</comment></comment></comment>


How to block semalt.com referrer traffic using .htaccess - <AUTHOR> http://logorrhoea.net/2014/01/how-to-block-semalt-com-referrer-traffic-using-htaccess/ <comment><USER2> We saw this referral on our stats a few months back, and I was naive enough to signup to the service to check it out... it was total rubbish, and deleted my account immediately.

Clicky recently tweeted about banning them from the stats [https://twitter.com/clicky/status/445704464750501890](https://twitter.com/clicky/status/445704464750501890)

</comment><comment><USER3> Would someone mind explaining what semalt actually does?

As usual I cannot penetrate the marketing-ese explanation provided by their homepage.

<comment><USER4> Something like... "we can tell you what google probably does with your site and content as compared to your direct rival, without actually being google, without involving google, and probably... sort of accurate... and... cheap enough... based on the relative quality of our sales pitch, all while satisfying your boss with a ' _report_ '."

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> The normal way to exclude a crawler is to use a robots.txt file: [http://www.robotstxt.org/robotstxt.html](http://www.robotstxt.org/robotstxt.html)

Any ethical crawler will respect exclusions defined in that file. The article doesn't mention trying this method before jumping to mod_rewrite, though.

So -- does Semalt's crawler look for and follow robots.txt? As long as it does, they're doing what they should be doing to let site owners opt out of crawling.

EDIT: Found a page on their web site where you can enter a domain to opt it out of crawling: [http://semalt.com/project_crawler.php](http://semalt.com/project_crawler.php)

No instructions for how to opt out via robots.txt, though. That's a big omission. Anyone who's going to do mass crawling needs to support robots.txt.

<comment><USER6> First comment on OP says they ignore robots.txt

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Logs are going to be full of junk from bots. Unless it's actually breaking something, IMHO it's better to just accept that and move on.

(If you're using Apache and _do_ want to start fighting bots, I'd suggest taking a look at mod_security. Very powerful, but beware that the default rules can be touchy)

</comment><comment><USER8> I wonder why we still don't have a simple standard way of dealing with abusive http-traffic, like RBL's for mail.

Way to often have I seen systems getting overrun with rogue traffic, usually spam-bots and vulnerability scanners, and lots of small sites get into serious trouble because of this.

</comment><comment><USER9> I have been plagued by semalt for the past 2 months. This is working so far:

SetEnvIfNoCase Referer crawler.semalt.com spammer=yes SetEnvIfNoCase Referer semalt.com spammer=yes

Order allow,deny Allow from all Deny from env=spammer

<comment><USER10> Line break is mixed up.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> I've noticed semalt.com in my Piwik analytics a few times now. Going to try this rule out in my web root and see if they ever show up again.

</comment><comment><USER12> I've been getting a bunch of hits from this and couldn't figure out why! Glad someone did some more research on it.

</comment><comment><USER13> what is semalt

[http://www.v4technical.com/what-is-semalt-and-how-to- block-i...](http://www.v4technical.com/what-is-semalt-and-how-to-block-it- from-visiting-your-site/)

</comment><comment><USER14> Anybody know how to do this in nginx?

<comment><USER15> [http://wiki.nginx.org/HttpRefererModule](http://wiki.nginx.org/HttpRefererModule)

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> interesting new way of spamming</comment>


The point of the long and winding sentence - <AUTHOR> http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/books/la-ca-pico-iyer-20120108,0,2137466.story

<comment><USER2> As a little addendum to that: the way that the articles of sites of some news agencies have this uncanny tendency to turn every single sentence in a paragraph of its own is something that's been bugging me. I know everyone feels like getting their article online as quickly as possible, but does that really have to make for worse content? I say worse, because if you take a step back and look at one of those articles it just feels like there's way too much whitespace and the entire article just looks like some laid out "tree" for content still to come.

Side note, I've been told, especially when in elementary school, that I made my sentences too long, though I was never sure if it was just the contrast with other kids. Do I still do that? It's been a while since someone told me so, not to mention that I'm not aware whether that property passed over to my English, a language I didn't "properly" start learning in high school, as a third language.

<comment><USER3> Go read a newspaper. You'll notice that every paragraph is one or two sentences. That's why they do it. They're just transferring the news article from the paper to the web.

</comment></comment><comment> adam-a When you hide your meaning and the centre of your argument in mazes of long sentences, as the author does, you necessarily lose it a little. Which is kind of the point. If you want to confuse your reader with contradictions and vagueness, then long sentences are a good idea.

I don't think clarity is a bad thing, and certainly doesn't preclude strangeness or multi-faceted descriptions of Istanbul. It does hurt understanding. Even in fiction and poetry, surely writing is primarily a communicator, a tour-guide to your thoughts. Making it easy for your reader to follow you makes it easier to take them on the journey of your choosing. Go slowly over rough terrain; stop and stare at the acropolis; don't run zig-zag through the forest till they can barely keep up.</comment>


Introduction to tmux (alternative to GNU screen) - <AUTHOR> http://blog.hawkhost.com/2010/06/28/tmux-the-terminal-multiplexer/

<comment><USER2> If the only reason you use screen or tmux is detaching/attaching, there is an ultra-light alternative called 'dtach', <http://dtach.sourceforge.net/>

_"dtach is a tiny program that emulates the detach feature of screen, allowing you to run a program in an environment that is protected from the controlling terminal and attach to it later. dtach does not keep track of the contents of the screen, and thus works best with programs that know how to redraw themselves."

"dtach does not, however, have the other features of screen, such as its support of multiple terminals or its terminal emulation support. This makes dtach extremely tiny compared to screen, making it more easily audited for bugs and security holes, and also allows it to fit in environments where space is limited, such as on rescue disks. "_

</comment><comment><USER3> No conversation about GNU screen alternatives is complete without mention of Dustin Kirkland's Byobu. <https://launchpad.net/byobu>

It's a user-friendly screen wrapper with intelligent defaults (key shortcuts and tab indicators with the title of the screen session inside them) and a myriad of status indicators for the bottom of your screen

</comment><comment><USER4> I recently switched to tmux after years of having used screen, and it's great. It didn't take me that long to configure, which I did mostly by working my way through the man page.

For me, the two killer features that made me switch were the vertical splits (vanilla screen only does horizontal splits), and the distinction between windows and panes.

If it helps anyone else, here's my ~/.tmux.conf file[1], with keybindings that match closely to the screen setup I've grown so accustomed to.

[1] <http://github.com/ludwig/dotfiles/blob/master/.tmux.conf>

<comment><USER5> Veritcal split has been integrated into GNU screen for a while now: CTRL-A |

<comment><USER6> I've been using screen every day for probably > 2 years now and had no idea you could do this. Thanks!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> So I tried it out and it fixes my 2 pet peeves of screen.

1\. The defaults are sane (altscreen is on by default, emacs keys in copy mode by default, no stupid "wuff wuff" covering up my prompt, history is 2000 lines instead screen's almost useless 100).

2\. Screen sometimes interacts badly with Terminal.app on my mac. I can't run aptitude from within screen on my mac without it randomly switching to graphic charset mode. Also running emacs inside screen sometime results in the arrow keys not working.

I like it so far. I think I'll switch for a while and see how it goes...

<comment><USER5> 1] This is easily fixed in .screenrc:

startup_message off

defscrollback 10000

<comment><USER8> Also vbell off. Incidentally, byobu is an excellent wrapper around screen without all the problems he mentioned. One caveat: it was made mainly for ubuntu, so the ports for the rest may not be of the best quality.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> There is also a part 2. Very well written sir!

[http://blog.hawkhost.com/2010/07/02/tmux-%E2%80%93-the- termi...](http://blog.hawkhost.com/2010/07/02/tmux-%E2%80%93-the-terminal- multiplexer-part-2/)

</comment><comment><USER10> I made the switch to tmux only after very briefly using screen. It helped me in switching away from Textmate to vim, because I could use it like a tiling window manager and have vim going on the right, and man pages/documentation/irssi on the left.

</comment><comment><USER11> As someone who already has a screen session setup, with bindings and a status bar, and auto-creating screens, is there anything tmux brings to the table?

<comment><USER12> I've been using screen for years. All my terminal sessions are within one or two screen sessions. So I'm probably in a similar situation to you: I'm used to it, I have it customised to how I like it, and it "just works".

I recently switched to tmux and after several weeks of testig it out I think I'm going to make the change permanent.

It is actively being developed (screen is currently stagnant), it has a much greater scripting capability, it is rock solid, its region-splitting capabilities is hugely better than screen's (that is the single reason I switched to tmux initially).

On the con side: it seems you _have_ to use the metakey to enable the scrollback buffer. I really hate that, but now I've used it for a while I'm used to it and it is not as annoying as it was at first. (I'm always using 'ls' in a terminal and I invariably want to scroll up to see the first few entries. With screen I could just shift-PgUp, with tmux I do ctrl-A, PgUp. It's ok.)

Other than those things, tmux seems to do everything screen can do in terms of resuming sessions and so on.

The enhanced region splitting makes it superior for my use, so I will stick with tmux.

<comment><USER13> I used screen for a while and then switched to tmux for the same reason (region splitting). These days, I am not even using tmux anymore and just using emacs with new buffers running eshell. Serves me well.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Hey, if anybody here is using tmux or dvtm (or similar) and wants reflowing text, I've been working a program to do that: <http://github.com/aplusbi/reflow> (you'll probably want the 0.1 branch). It's written in OCaml and requires OCamlbuild.

If you don't know what reflowing text means, run tmux, get some output on the terminal (say from `ls` or something), and then split the window. You'll notice that your output gets cut off. reflow is a terminal wrapper that reformats the text when the terminal is resized.

At the moment it's still really early in its development, but it's working on all the systems I've tested it on. I'm considering adding better scroll-back support, more customization and possibly using the Knuth reflowing algorithm.

</comment><comment><USER15> Great blog post.

Has anybody benefited from using tmux _with_ emacs? Or, when in emacs, is running tmux too overkill?

<comment><USER16> I find it helpful to be able to pop up a pane alongside emacs to do shell stuff. I realize you can do it in emacs but this way I can be certain my existing emacs buffers aren't going to be shuffled in any way. It's always nice to have options, even if there are multiple ways to do the same thing.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> In case you've gotten used to just using screen on your local machine as I have, as a handy way to manage multiple "ascii desktops":

A useful trick is to ssh to a remote machine and start a screen session on the remote machine. Then you can start long-running jobs on the remote machine, detach, turn your local machine off, come back later, and ssh and re-attach to check on progress.

I assume tmux and similar screen-like programs can all do this.

<comment><USER18> tmux a(ttach) is the same as screen -r

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> screen advantages: ships with Mac OS X, and most Linux distros. Can run against a serial port, so you don't need to install a "terminal emulator" program, all of which tend to suck more than screen.

tmux advantages: much better default setup than screen. Ships by default with OpenBSD. Ctrl-B key doesn't conflict with as many default keystrokes as screen's Ctrl-A.

</comment><comment><USER20> Last time I played with tmux (v 1.1-1) I found the following behavior a bit of a show stopper:

* start tmux from ~/project1: windows created all start in path ~/project1

* start tmux from ~/project2: first window has path ~/project2 but subsequent windows have path ~/project1

haven't had time though to check if this is a (known) bug

</comment><comment><USER21> looks quite similar to dtvm which I have been using lately. only complaint over both dtvm and this from my side would be no tabs like in dvm. I like the philosophy of both dtvm and dvm, a simple self documenting header file for config and documentation.

</comment><comment><USER22> I was frustrated with a project I was working on a couple weeks back and wanted to just hack on something totally different. As a result, I wrote code to display the clock in tmux as a binary clock[1]. As someone who does not do a lot of C coding, I found the code base to be very clean and easy to figure out.

[1]: <http://bitbucket.org/mdg/tmux/></comment>


A tenured professor asks: Are you scared of your students? - <AUTHOR> https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2017/01/05/tenured-professor-asks-are-you-scared-your-students-essay <comment><USER2> Have you ever felt professors need to grow a backbone?</comment>


Intern Creates Awesome Facebook Friendship Visualization - <AUTHOR> http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=469716398919&id=9445547199

<comment><USER2> Dup: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2002742>

Lots of comments, and it's on the HN front page.</comment>


There's Another Possibility (2018) - <AUTHOR> http://www.os2museum.com/wp/theres-another-possibility/ <comment><USER2> 'Due to a very high level of spam (and therefore high resource usage), the os2museum.com site is currently undergoing maintenance (starting on March 9, 2019). This will probably take a few days to sort out.'

So how can this be posted here, if the whote domain is unavailable since March 9 ?

<comment><USER3> works fine here

</comment></comment><comment><USER2> Returns a 403 'You don't have permission to access /wp/theres-another- possibility/ on this server.'

<comment><USER4> I guess your browser enforces https? It seems the page only works on http.

<comment><USER2> Its working now. I guess I was looking at a wrong moment.</comment></comment></comment>


Download test VMs of IE for OSX, Linux or Windows - <AUTHOR> https://modern.ie/en-us/virtualization-tools

<comment><USER2> I notice on the page they have licensing that supersedes the Windows licensing included with the VMs. Unfortunately, I've had these VMs for a while, and they've been complaining for activation. So, although they have provided different licensing terms, they didn't bother to inform the software of this fact.

<comment><USER3> This is damn annoying. We downloaded a whole set of them and after a bit they all died so you have to download them again periodically.

Not a viable solution.

In the end we just set up an activated VM (using MSDN licenses) with RDP enabled for each config on a Win 8.1 HyperV machine that sits in the corner of the office.

<comment><USER4> I consider IE testing and support as an extra feature in all my projects, and am quite happy to bill an extra hour for setting waiting to download and setting up VMs.

<comment><USER5> Agreed. Also, there's nothing stopping you from automating that re-download- install-launch and charging the hour for that.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> For even more convenience, use this script that automatically installs specific versions of IE VMs from the command line: [https://github.com/xdissent/ievms](https://github.com/xdissent/ievms)

<comment><USER7> For even more convenience I don't test for IE compliance. I test for ECMA and W3C standards compliance and don't write any vendor specific code.

<comment><USER8> I appreciate what you're trying to say there, but in practice most developers can't adopt this solution. Unless you're writing for known platforms (an internal web app, say) or building a throwaway demo, you will practically speaking have to compromise and support vendor-specific code where it's required by your users.

The goal of most real-world software is to deliver a working, usable product – not to produce lots of standards-compliant code.

<comment><USER7> The goal is to deliver the most profitable code in the specified timeframe and with the resources provided. That's how you organize your priorities.

For us in many cases it means to throw away vendor specific solutions in favor of most-major-browser compatible subsets of the current industry standards, even if it means throwing out support for older versions of IE.

For some users it might mean using a different service, but for most of them it means switching to a different browser because their favorite app doesn't work on IE.

And that's why Microsoft is going for standards compliance and timely browser updates more than ever.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Do they have Windows Phone VMs yet? You can run them under OS X with some work, but there's no touch cursor ATM so you're flying blind. MS could fix this pretty easily.

[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19402478/is-it- possible-t...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19402478/is-it-possible-to- run-the-windows-phone-8-simulator-directly-in-os-x)

</comment><comment><USER10> Anyone know of a similar way to test Safari? AFAICT it now only runs on Mac OS X and Apple don't provide any VMs for testing.

<comment><USER11> You can find ready to go Mac OSX VMs online (torrent/usenet etc., usually 2-6gb).

They worked on any PC I tried them on, but without GPU acceleration, although I had to install a VMWare MacOS enabler (that was bundled with the VM) because VMWare disallows OSX by default I believe, might be different with Virtualbox.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> Considering this, what are the odds of MS ever shipping IE clients for OSX and Linux?

<comment><USER13> You mean ship IE for OS X _again_ like they did before Apple made Safari? For a time, IE for Mac was the very best browser.

I could see them doing it if it was a gateway to an ecosystem the way Chrome is for Google. For "Linux" i.e. some specific variant that became popular with consumers.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> How are the mighty fallen.

I take some comfort in that MS now feel the need need to explain how I might use wget. But, sorry, but if you really want me to test my site against your proprietary browser, you need to remove your ugly time limited license, otherwise my site says "use a standards complaint browser, and I don't care care about your proprietary crap any more".

</comment><comment><USER15> Finally! Microsoft has realised that real developers use OS X/Linux for development and don't have or care to test on Windows machines. This is a good thing for Microsoft and a good thing for the web!

<comment><USER16> Its more than that. IE9 is the latest version that can be installed on XP and is not supported on later versions of Windows. And while its fine to tell users to get a better browser for hobby or internal sites having to deal with user still on XP is an unfortunate reality in a lot of cases.</comment></comment>


How much are you making from your app in Microsoft Store? - <AUTHOR> I am thinking of creating a UWP app. It will be some kind of collection manager/tracker for the average Windows 10 user.
I learned that Microsoft will take 5% of revenue from sales. Less cut than before. I read some articles how the Store is beneficial to publish to and how Windows 10 has millions of user.. etc. Ok. I know all this stuff. I also read that the store has little traffic, full of useless apps and an app may not be visible. Same thing that plagues Apple and Google stores. I personally never go to the Store looking for apps. I search on Google and downloaded the installers of apps I am interested. Frankly, I don't even like Windows 10 apps. I prefer WinForms apps so I am thinking of creating a WinForm app and using the Bridge app to convert to UWP and publish that to the store.
I am interested in creating some extra revenue besides my day programming job. I just want to have an idea how much revenue one can be expecting. I would like to hear from developers who actually published in the Store a year or less ago. (I already know about web/SaaS apps but this question is specifically about UWP apps and making money from Microsoft Store) <comment><USER2> I don't have any stories to share, but it does seem to be a market to make something. It said there are over 500 million devices on w10. Someone has to be making a little cash.</comment>


AWS Opens in Hong Kong - <AUTHOR> https://www.allthingsdistributed.com/2019/04/aws-region-asia-pacific-hong-kong.html <comment><AUTHOR> Hmmm, I run a lot of Lambda and it's ~35% more expensive in Hong Kong. [https://aws.amazon.com/lambda/pricing/](https://aws.amazon.com/lambda/pricing/)

</comment><comment><USER2> Maybe not the right place but I don't get the right answers or proper details from customer service. Please bring AWS Amplify and S3 hosted websites to mainland China (BJ) operations! I know how nearly impossible it is to get the full suite of services approved there. I need the technology to launch new services quickly. I have a fully registered company and an ICP and still I can't get access to basic services due to rules made to restrict foreign competitors' market share.</comment>


Research suggests racism could be a genetic trait - <AUTHOR> https://phys.org/news/2020-08-racism-genetic-trait.html <comment><USER2> "New research ..." \- The study was published in Sept 2019. [0]

Here they took a sample of identical twins and non-identical twins (born between 1945-1960, avg age 63 years) and collected answers to a set of questions used to measure whether some groups should be dominating to others or all should be equal. They found strong correlation between shared genes and political attitudes and weak for environmental factors.

It all seems very stastically sound but there is a strong body of literatue going back to the turn of 19th century that suggests that our beliefs and outlook to the world and its people is strongly shaped by the environment and company of people in which we live.

[0] [https://www.pnas.org/content/116/36/17741](https://www.pnas.org/content/116/36/17741)</comment>


Alternative to tab browsing in OS X - <AUTHOR> http://www.finiteloops.com/weblog/?p=169 screen is a powerful shell command which lets you open multiple instances of shell in a single window. <comment><USER2> Terminal in 10.5 does have tabs, though.

</comment><comment><USER3> Using a command shell isn't browsing.</comment>


US DHS seized $2B from travelers between 2000-2016 - <AUTHOR> https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/homeland-security-seized-2-billion-from-travelers-but-most-were-never-charged-with-a-crime-report-says/2020/07/30/001c3f90-cd05-11ea-bc6a-6841b28d9093_story.html <comment><USER2> What I don't understand is why the 10,000 hasn't been adjusted fir inflation. 10,000 today isn't the same as 10,000 when the law went into effect.

I mean, it's not like fine amounts stay ossified, so I don't see why these ceilings remain ossified...

<comment><USER3> That is a good point. I could be wrong but I think the 10k reporting (at least with banks) was from the bank secrecy act[0] of 1970. Thus 10k adjusted for inflation is approximately 65k in 2020 dollars. The limit should be increased to 50k IMO

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

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Another similar article, posted the same day, which also describes Institute for Justice (IfJ) efforts to put a stop to the practice: [https://reason.com/2020/07/30/homeland-security- seized-2-bil...](https://reason.com/2020/07/30/homeland-security- seized-2-billion-in-cash-from-travelers-at-u-s-airports/)

</comment><comment><USER5> This is literally legal theft in up to 70% of cases - who knows for those. It would seem more more weird but bribery is also legal ("lobbying"), which is a bigger problem

</comment><comment><USER6> This seems like a loophole that could be used to funnel foreign money into government departments.</comment>


Ask HN: If you tried your best to avoid tracking, what phone would you get? - <AUTHOR> If you were to get a new phone today that places value on privacy/not tracking, what path would you go?<p>Trying to strike a balance between privacy, usability, stability, and price I'm finding it hard to find a decent option. <comment><USER2> Tracking by whom?

If you're worried about advertisers - you have two choices. On any phone you can root, replace the HOSTS file using [https://adaway.org/](https://adaway.org/)

On phones you cannot root, use [https://blokada.org/index.html](https://blokada.org/index.html) to create a tracker blocking VPN.

Run Firefox as your main browser. Use sandboxed apps for Facebook, Twitter, etc.

</comment><comment><USER3> If we talk about a simple phone just an old Nokia 3310 would do it.

In terms of smartphones the Blackberry KEYone claims to be the most secure Android Smartphone.

(disclaimer: I have not used this smartphone and I am not a security specialist.)</comment>


Show HN: Material Management - <AUTHOR> http://material.bitmatica.com/ <comment><USER2> If I'm honest, this is a great example of a home page in which I've browsed it and have no real clue what it does or what problem it attempts to solve.</comment>


Popular Screen Capture Tool Skitch is now Available for Windows - <AUTHOR> http://www.labnol.org/software/skitch-sceen-capture-for-windows/26368/ Popular Screen Capture Tool Skitch is now Available for Windows <comment><USER2> I miss some of its cousin (OS X) version, such as fixed region screenshots, but it's nice to be able to use it on Windows.</comment>


Installation via Node.js Permanently Disables Windows Update - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/chocolatey/boxstarter/issues/371 <comment><USER2> My issue with this is that the installer doesn't make it clear what you're installing and why you're installing it. A one sentence description for a feature that breaks windows 10 (see other issues on boxstarter about infinite reboots, and being unable to remove boxstarter)

</comment><comment><USER3> This sounds like a feature.

</comment><comment><USER4> So which is it, chocolatey boxstarter issue or Node.js installer issue?

This title must be changed if it's not the Node.js installer itself.

<comment><USER5> chocolatey boxstarter explicitly disables auto updates. You can see the code here: [https://github.com/chocolatey/boxstarter/tree/master/Boxstar...](https://github.com/chocolatey/boxstarter/tree/master/Boxstarter.Bootstrapper)

I'm not entirely clear why they need to disable it (they only say "to prevent installation conflicts and minimize the need for reboots") but it's meant to re-enable it afterwards.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> And then the discussion ends as they discover Windows just shat all over itself as it tends to do, and Node.js has nothing to do with it.</comment>


The awfulness – and awesomeness – of being short - <AUTHOR> https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-49567527 <comment><USER3> Im around 5'2\. I've had both really good times and really bad times as a short guy. The worst was being called a hobbit at a conference. But at this point in my life I'm used to it, have accepted it for what it is, and just hope people don't care. Most don't, and I've never even thought I could be making less because I am short.

</comment><comment><USER4> I'd say the most depressing and demoralizing part of being short is how negatively it impacts my dating opportunities. I feel incredibly handicapped and prefiltered out for something I simply can't change.

<comment><USER5> I feel like I straddle the line, I am a bit shorter than the average height for a male worldwide, but a couple inches shorter than the average American (and Americans do seem to love rubbing it in).

When I was younger I was really bothered by the gatekeeping people do with regards to height and dating. I felt myself disadvantaged for something that didn't make any sense. I wasn't unhappy with my height, we're not gladiators, and many of the most desirable men on TV aren't that tall. So what gives?

Now at days I see it as more of a blessing, if someone would not date another human being they'd otherwise find attractive based solely on height then perhaps that person and I would not get along. I will admit that I only came to that realization slowly, it took women my height anf taller taking interest in me a few times for me to really believe that wasn't a position I had to take out of convenience. That there are many people who don't see a persons height by itself as a turn on or turn off.

For what it's worth, my partner is just a hair shorter than I am and quite a bit taller than the average American woman.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Also short here. Over the years I have been getting used to it and other more important things took my mind eventually. The most uncomfortable period was my teenage and early 20s. After that everything is OK.

</comment><comment><USER7> I met Prince. He had no trouble getting dates. I did notice the attractive woman he was with at the time was about his height.

One tall woman I knew complained about the same thing - in reverse. She was maybe 5'10" or 11" and always complained that guys wanted short women. I was confused because she was tall and very attractive. I think she had just psyched herself out.

</comment><comment><USER8> I was expecting article to be about short selling in the stock market - <USER2> :P</comment>


Ask HN: What's your favorite physics demonstration? - <AUTHOR> Specifically ballistics, but feel free to mention others.
Personally I like the hunter and the monkey, showing deviation from a straight line exactly matches distance fallen in a given time under gravity.  I also like the cannon firing vertically on a (uniformly) moving wagon and returning to land in the cannon.
But what's yours? <comment><USER2> It has to be the Double-Slit Experiment. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfPeprQ7oGc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfPeprQ7oGc)

I still remember how my mind was blown when I first saw it.</comment>


Facebook and other "new media" blocked Russia Today - <AUTHOR> http://www.thecanary.co/2017/01/19/breaking-first-rt-blocked-facebook-now-sites-blocking/ <comment><AUTHOR> This was theoretically due to a lack of "live streaming" rights. It is of interest as an example of how the power to (not) cover events has shifted from public broadcasting to private.

</comment><comment><USER2> RT.com

The only website in the world whose commenters make those on YouTube seem erudite and well-informed.</comment>


Acupuncture Doesn't Work - <AUTHOR> https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/acupuncture-doesnt-work/ <comment><USER2> It might be just a feeling, but it seems that superstitions in every area from medicine to politics are expanding their reach over the last 5 years.</comment>


US Customs seeks permission to request travelers' social media account names - <AUTHOR> https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2016/06/27/us-customs-social-media-account-names/ <comment><USER2> I find it surprising that I'd have to tell them. I'd assume they'd already know.

</comment><comment><USER3> I have none. Is this considered suspicious?

<comment><USER4> > I have none

"Please enter information associated with your online presence—Provider/Platform—Social media identifier."

'voidz' is an indicator of online presence. If you omit it you have lied on your application, which is sufficient grounds for rejection of entry or removal from the USA.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> It would be outrageous if they asked for access. In this day and age, asking for an e-mail address, FB name, Twitter handle etc. is no more sensitive than asking for phone number or address.

</comment><comment><USER6> Isn't this a repost ? Also starting to wonder why people would still bother going to the USA, as there are several risks involved. Maybe small, but they do still exist.

<comment><USER7> Because of the natural beauty (there are lots of parks, lots of wide open country.) Because of the old spots, culture, and all the amazing people!

I'm not American btw, but this argument is silly. My list is also a bit short considering how amazing the USA is.

From a European point of view, I find Americans overemphasise politics and their personal viewpoints in their daily part of life. If you overlook all that, its an absolutely amazing country.

<comment><USER8> Why is this a silly argument? For me the negatives far outweigh the positives in regards to visiting this country. Why should I take my hard earned money and spend it in a country that*s politics and human rights issues I despise?

Except for a potential, work-related trip some day I hope to never set foot there.

<comment><USER9> What other countries are on your personal blacklist? I would imagine that either your list is very long and allows you very little international travel, or you are overestimating the problems in the US. (Which wouldn't be hard to do, especially if you're determined to never visit for yourself and just watch the news instead.)

<comment><USER8> Well talking to Americans (actually quite a lot people) helped tremendously.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> So they want to check incoming tourists to see if they have Facebook posts supporting ISIS. I don't have a problem with this.

<comment><USER11> US Customs has said it will be used "for vetting purposes, as well as applicant contact information." It has not said what it will be checking for, so you are concluding something which isn't there.

All they ask for is the account name. How do they check private FB posts given a name?

How do you know they will be checking for FB posts supporting ISIS?

What does "supporting" mean? Would "I support the right of people to resist foreign military attacks" be considered support for ISIS?

How long will the information be stored, and who will have access to it?

Is there anything else they will use for vetting? Perhaps they'll go after hackers as well, including these hackers at Hacker News?

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> What a crazy world.</comment>


Apple Disables Trim Support on 3rd Party SSDs in Yosemite - <AUTHOR> http://hothardware.com/News/AntiCompetitive-Apple-Disables-Trim-Support-On-3rd-Party-SSDs-In-OS-X/ <comment><USER2> From the author of TRIM enabler:

"When will you fix this? This problem will not get fixed unless Apple changes their policy. Have you ever wondered why disk manufacturers like Corsair, Samsung etc. have never written a Trim driver for OS X? Or why they never offer firmware update software to OS X? (The only firmware updates they offer for Mac is a MS-DOS boot CD)

The reason is that Apple is keeping the AHCI driver private, making it impossible for anyone, even these big companies, to create a driver for SSD's. So the issue is not that Apple "doesn't allow Trim Enabler", but that they don't allow anyone to create AHCI drivers. If they made public the AHCI driver, I would be able to make Trim Enabler "legit". Right now, it is impossible. You can read more about the technical issues here."

[http://www.cindori.org/trim-enabler-and- yosemite/](http://www.cindori.org/trim-enabler-and-yosemite/)

</comment><comment><USER3> and surely fanboys will justify it as being better for them somehow.

or did this tend stopped with jobs?</comment>


With a Laser, Researchers Say They Can Hack Alexa, Google Home or Siri - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/04/technology/digital-assistant-laser-hack.html <comment><USER2> What a nice trick! Interesting that dust guards doesn't block it, wonder if it is direct momentum transfer or heat expansion in the target material that drives the signal...

They have a pretty nice website for this trick too: [https://lightcommands.com/](https://lightcommands.com/)

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> "Researchers in Japan and at the University of Michigan said Monday that they had found a way to take over Google Home, Amazon's Alexa or Apple's Siri devices from hundreds of feet away by shining laser pointers, and even flashlights, at the devices' microphones."</comment>


Oracle releases its 'unbreakable' homebrew Oracle Linux 7- The Inquirer - <AUTHOR> http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2357134/oracle-releases-its-unbreakable-homebrew-oracle-linux-7 <comment><USER2> It's an abuse to call "homebrew" a recompilation of Red Hat.</comment>


CHP Arrests Driver Impersonating Chinese Paramilitary Police - <AUTHOR> https://www.thedrive.com/news/29927/highway-patrol-arrests-driver-impersonating-chinese-paramilitary-police-with-audi-a4 <comment><USER3> Lots of drivers in the U.S. have military seals or decals on their vehicles, often to show support for a particular service branch that they or a relative is associated with.

I've also heard of journalists and PIs using vehicles that _look_ like undercover/unmarked police cars to get access to areas that might otherwise be off-limits to civilians - they sometimes get waved through perimeters or won't be ticketed/towed if they park in restricted areas.

Could this be someone showing support for Chinese police with over-the-top decals? Or was the driver actively pretending to be a Chinese police officer or _is_ a police officer claiming some right to operate outside of China? The article didn't make the circumstances clear, other than the car obviously has the markings and seals.

ETA: Just remembered another odd situation/use case for fake police cars - <USER2> art or performance props. The UK band/art collective I used to work for, The KLF, featured a 1968 Ford Galaxy police cruiser in many of their videos, with the lights and paint intact but modifications to the seal and motto (using "To Serve and Protect" and the band's Pyramid Blaster logo). You can see a picture of it on the back of some of their 45s (see [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctorin%27_the_Tardis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctorin%27_the_Tardis)) and I know they drove it around London for the 3 A.M. Eternal video.

And in the Boston area there are owners of old Ford LTDs with Boston Police logos from the 1980s and 1990s which are used as movie props (see [https://www.universalhub.com/2018/old-boston-police- cruisers...](https://www.universalhub.com/2018/old-boston-police-cruisers- never-die)).

<comment><USER4> > They recalled an incident earlier this summer wherein another Asian driver > with Chinese markings on his car was arrested following an attempt to pull > over an off-duty police officer.

That's beyond just having decals.

<comment><USER5> Is this some kind of weird role-playing fantasy? Who in their right mind would expect not to be identified as a fraud, impersonating an officer _in the wrong country_?

<comment><USER6> Hanlon's razor

<comment><USER7> Could you be a bit more specific?

<comment><USER6> An eponymous law, probably named after a Robert J. Hanlon, it is a philosophical razor which suggests a way of eliminating unlikely explanations for human behavior.

Inspired by Occam's razor, the aphorism became known in this form and under this name by the Jargon File, a glossary of computer programmer slang. Later that same year, the Jargon File editors noted lack of knowledge about the term's derivation and the existence of a similar epigram by William James. In 1996, the Jargon File entry on Hanlon's Razor noted the existence of a similar quotation in Robert A. Heinlein's novella Logic of Empire (1941), with speculation that Hanlon's Razor might be a corruption of "Heinlein's Razor".

In 2001, Quentin Stafford-Fraser published two blog entries citing e-mails from Joseph E. Bigler explaining that the quotation originally came from Robert J. Hanlon of Scranton, Pennsylvania, as a submission (credited in print) for a book compilation of various jokes related to Murphy's law published in Arthur Bloch's Murphy's Law Book Two: More Reasons Why Things Go Wrong! (1980). Subsequently, in 2002, the Jargon File entry noted the same.

Earlier attributions to the idea go back to at least the 18th century. A more concise expression of the idea comes from Jane West, in her novel The Loyalists (1812). A similar quote is also misattributed to Napoleon.

<comment><USER7> That is both very thorough and totally useless - so much so that it looks like you were deliberately trying to misunderstand.

Could you explain how you think Hanlon's Razor has any relevance to brundolf's post?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Note that these vehicles are apparently not just driving around, but actually trying to pull people over!?

> They recalled an incident earlier this summer wherein another Asian driver > with Chinese markings on his car was arrested following an attempt to pull > over an off-duty police officer.

<comment><USER9> Maybe he shouldn't have been ignoring those chinese-language phone calls about some trouble with his green card application.

More seriously, I wish there was a simple as star-69 service for phishing phone calls, maybe call it star-86

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> I would love to see a news article where Fremont's brewery "Beer Patrol" Crown Victoria is mistaken for an actual official cop car.

[https://pasteboard.co/IykxzXT.png](https://pasteboard.co/IykxzXT.png)

<comment><USER11> I remember that happening to a pizza joint in the 90's. It was called something like "Pizza 911" and delivered in a vehicle made to resemble a patrol vehicle.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> I'd be really surprised if the Chinese "secret police" drive around with an array of plushies on the passenger side dash. However neglecting motor vehicle law is very typical in Irvine in my experience.

</comment><comment><USER13> Does this have any connection to those Chinese scam calls where the scammer claims to have kidnapped your family?

</comment><comment><USER4> What sort of idiot impersonates Chinese police _in the United States_? To the point of trying to actually pull people over?

<comment><USER7> Yeah. I mean, impersonating US police might actually get you somewhere. But Chinese police? I get pulled over by someone pretending to be Chinese police, and I'm going to tell them to get lost.

Unless (as tomcam says) these are _actual_ Chinese police, blatantly here in the US, trying to tell dissidents "even here we can get to you".

<comment><USER14> Without a USA liaison, they can't do that and it's illegal for them to do so.

No one should ever take someone seriously acting on behalf of a foreign country trying to arrest you in America. Even Interpol needs a USA liaison.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Doesn't the CHP know a real black Audi police car in China would have no markings at all? This is the car of choice for the higher end CPC police, who are neither in uniform (well, the typical MIB uniform) nor would their car be so easily identified.

Heck, one way to avoid getting pulled over by the police in Beijing is to drive around in a black Audi. They'll automatically think you are some kind of big wig who they shouldn't mess with (unless by other black Audi driving police).

<comment><USER11> _Doesn't the CHP know a real black Audi police car in China would have no markings at all?_

Why should they? Is it common for police officers in California to study the customs of police departments around the world?

<comment><USER15> Sure, I didn't mean that in serious way, just that this wouldn't have been mistaken for a real cop car in China. How would the CHP know that, surely they wouldn't.

It's just so obviously fake in a tuhao way, like seeing POLICE printed on a Porsche or something.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> i wonder what that guy's (at least it was a guy behind the wheel when i saw the car on the road once, and the car had the police style color scheme and that text from rear bumper repeated on the sides too) experience has been [https://uptownalmanac.com/2010/01/meanwhile-mountain- view](https://uptownalmanac.com/2010/01/meanwhile-mountain-view)

</comment><comment><USER17> Clearly this is one of those mainlanders with more money than sense who did this as a "joke".

<comment><USER18> What makes you say "Clearly?" According to TFA this isn't the first, recent incident.

<comment><USER17> Because nobody who can read Chinese would think this car is real, it looks entirely like a joke.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> A scary thought I had was of the actual Chinese police coordinating with CHP and California DAs to crack down on this sort of thing, under threat of Tencent pulling its money out of Hollywood or something.

<comment><USER20> You don't need Hollywood for that. It's exactly what is happening in Hong Kong.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> No mention of Alex Roy anywhere.

<comment><USER22> Except in the comments

<comment><USER21> Comment. Juuust one :(

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Was that Diane Feinstein's driver?

</comment><comment><USER24> How is this related to tech news?

<comment><USER25> It's a failed attempt at hacking. The name of this site is not Tech News.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> This tactic is also being used in Australia. These men are Chinese secret police here on tourist visas, harassing the families of prominent Hong Kong demonstrators.

EDIT: that was incendiary and almost certainly incorrect. As others have pointed out, the Chinese police are much smarter about this kind of thing. It's much more likely to be dumb teenagers.

<comment><USER26> If this is true, it's pretty egregious of the Chinese state to be so blatantly interfering in the affairs of American residents. I mean, if you're going to harass HK supporters, do so ... clandestinely?

<comment><USER27> Yah I mean, as if they quickly took over the southland and imposed Chinese law anon and started going after dissidents in this new land of theirs.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> I'll bet $50 it's a Chinese student / new immigrant who put this on as a joke. It's like some American drivers got fake European plates for their Mercedes. Yeah, it's stupid, but hardly something one goes to jail for.

And some guy tried to pull over a police officer? Either he's dumb beyond belief, or more likely the officer mistook him for actual police.

<comment><USER29> I walked by Harvard on my way to work every day last year (didn't work at Harvard but nearby). I'd commonly see expensive german cars with Chinese symbols spray painted on them in gold spray paint.

It turned out this was a common "joke" international students from China would play on each other. Sometimes between couples who were dating according to a friend who was able to translate the spray painted language. It's disgusting.

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> I'm curious how "armed" police that "protect" Hasidic jewish neighborhoods in New York haven't attracted similar negative attention?

[1] [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/18/nyregion/brooklyns- privat...](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/18/nyregion/brooklyns-private- jewish-patrols-wield-power-some-call-them-bullies.html)

<comment><USER30> They're semi-offical. NY State has given them money in the past:

[http://matzav.com/boro-park-shomrim-to-receive-bullet- proof-...](http://matzav.com/boro-park-shomrim-to-receive-bullet-proof-vests- following-shooting)</comment></comment>


Why India wiped out 86% of its cash overnight - happy-go-lucky http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-37974423 <comment><AUTHOR> A lot of news site are completely missing the fact that one of the biggest reasons it was announced right now was to give BJP (modi's party) an upper hand in upcoming Uttar pradesh elections.

Not many people know this but it quite common for political parties to distribute huge amounts of cash to voters beforehand elections to buy their votes (think trucks literally filled with 500 rs notes). Last time before UP elections there was a huge drive and a lot of cash was seized while crossing the Delhi-UP border just before the elections. This time it was a masterstroke by Modi and now wonder both the biggest parties in UP are worst hit and complaining the most about it (i.e.Mayawati and Mulayam singh).

</comment><comment><USER2> I am really happy that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking action and trying to Black Money out of India's economy. I hope this will bring more tax revenue to the country and hopefully the entire nation will move forward. This not only help is stopping lot of illegal activities which go on the in country but also is a great way to fight corruption as well where you have to bride folks to get small things done. This makes money more traceable and easy to account.

</comment><comment><USER3> I don't understand it. If they introduce a 2000 rupee note, isn't that exactly the same thing?

<comment><USER4> Yes, but they just pushed the reset button. Years and years worth of 1000 and 500 notes will have to come out of hiding.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> > _Because so much business is done in cash, very few people pay tax on the > money they earn._

>... _The size of this shadow economy is reckoned to be as much as 20% of India 's entire GDP._

What's been the effect on the economy, positive or negative? What problem is it trying to solve here?

> _Curbing tax evasion is part of the agenda for the "aadhaar" scheme, a giant > digital database designed to give hundreds of millions of Indians a unique > ID, and of the new Goods and Services tax._

Wow, wtf India is getting worse. A unique ID, easier government tracking. Goods and Services Taxes punish everyone who buys things, especially the poor.

<comment><USER2> This does not punish poor, they still have time to open bank accounts and swap the money. This is primarily designed to go after big businessmen who avoid paying taxes and also lot of bad activities like terrorism.

<comment><USER6> Well, all of the money that moves into the bank accounts will be taxed. Won't the hit on that tax affect the poor more than the rich? Sure the rich might take a larger hit in absolute terms or even relative to the size of the money taxed, but the poor take a larger hit in that the money being taxed may be a life's savings pool (i.e. relative to their overall wealth / net worth).</comment></comment></comment>


My webapp now works flawlessly in Internet Explorer - <AUTHOR> http://gambolio.com/#explorer

<comment><USER2> Thought I might do the same thing with my webapp - then read somewhere that it was developer laziness and felt guilty - good on you, though, for having the balls to tell ie users to get a real browser</comment>


Ask YC: I want to build a SNS, Should I start from Ning/Forum? - <AUTHOR>

Hello YC,
I think SNS website is a kind of forum. If I don't have special features for the target community yet, should I start from Ning or Forum(vbb,phpbb..etc) to save time and test the market?<p>Thank you. <comment><USER2> If you're not looking to differentiate via software/killer features, then the platform is less important than your execution/presentation and most importantly, marketing. I assume you feel there's some group of people not being properly connected, so I'll just assume you need to give them the place to congregate. Best then to begin on something that's already reasonably stable and adjust it as you go.

Social networking is still a viable niche in some cases, but it'll be very hard to monetize (if that's what you're after).

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> @sgrove, you knew what I meant. very good comment. thank you.

@spoiledtechie, What I meant was a social networking site. any suggestion? : )

</comment><comment><USER3> SNS?</comment>


Simplifying Media Innovation at Netflix with Archer - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/netflix-techblog/simplifying-media-innovation-at-netflix-with-archer-3f8cbb0e2bcb <comment><USER2> im too lazy right now so just imagine i posted some sort of incredibly witty Archer reference in, instead ill just leave

Danger Zone!</comment>


How not to do password requirements (USPS.gov) - <AUTHOR> https://reg.usps.com/entreg/RegistrationAction_input <comment><AUTHOR> I recently had a package show as delivered that was nowhere to be found. Amazon was awesome in handling the issue, but my first course of action was to see if I could contact USPS to locate the missing package and I ran in to this...

Quite possibly the most draconian, falsely-reassuring password requirements I have ever seen in an account sign up form.

<comment><USER2> "Passwords need 10 characters, including an uppercase and lowercase letter, a number, and a special character. They are case-sensitive and cannot include your username or more than two repeat characters in a row."

I'm sorry, how is the the most draconian, falsely-reassuring password requirements you have ever seen? Looks pretty standard to me.</comment></comment>


Why Elizabeth Holmes Is Still the Next Steve Jobs - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@samp615/the-coverage-of-theranos-is-utter-bullshit-72263c7a4b7e#.mldjdhvs1 <comment><USER2> Don't submit an article with different titles/domains as a hedge bet.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10421410](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10421410)</comment>


Jakob Nielsen: 25 Years in Usability - <AUTHOR> http://www.useit.com/alertbox/25-years-usability.html

<comment><USER2> I always wondered how a man that dresses so poorly can be the worlds leading expert on something like usability.

<comment><USER3> Good design involves both style and substance. To completely understand it, I do think it's helpful to study substance in isolation from style.</comment></comment>


Startup Subway Advertising - <AUTHOR> http://chairnerd.seatgeek.com/seatgeeks-success-on-the-subway/ <comment><USER2> What's the x-axis on that graph? i.e. how long did it take to see success?</comment>


Show HN: Startup Wishareit – Trying to solve the bad gifts issue - <AUTHOR>

Hi HN!
I'm quite new to HN so I'm sorry if I don't  do a well built post (in terms of form) as you are probably used to.
My name is João Romão, from Portugal, and I'm one of the co-founders of Wishareit, a place for collaborative gifting with your friends and family.
Everybody loves gifts but sometimes finding a gift is a really hard task. And the consequence is painful: you get ugly clothes, bad books and.. cactuses. We reached out and discovered that 40% of all gifts in the US in 2011 were considered to be crap and that 83% of people had trouble when looking for a gift. That's a really annoying issue.
Our vision is to transform the way gifting is done, turning it into a really collaborative experience.
We started off with Wishareit, a collaborative gifting platform where you have socially curated wishlists and where you can find, recommend, give and receive the perfect gifts with your friends and family.
We're still in open beta, trying to understand the space and the user behavior.
I'd like to get some feedback on the general feeling for Wishareit design and usability and some inputs on what may be improved (i'm sure there are some relevant advice you can provide me).
I hope you can help us grow and improve as a product and as a team!
On other subject, we will probably pitch at SXSW in Austin, Texas so feel free to tweet (@joaoromaolx) or send me a message on Angel List (https://angel.co/joaoromao) and we'll have a chat there!
You can visit Wishareit on www.wishareit.com (I'm sorry if you don't feel confortable with facebook login - contact me and I'll give you a test account so you can experience the website).
All the best for you guys,
João Romão CEO, Wishareit <comment><USER3> Nice design!

I signed up hoping to look for a present for my wife. But once I signed in, I just see a generic list of products. I don't see how you are solving the gift finding problem.

I have signed up and tried pretty much every single app like this. And not one of them delivers. So, you're right this is a problem that people face, but you will face 2 issues:

1\. It's not a problem that people have frequently enough. So even if you get some users, keeping them coming back will be very hard.

2\. It's a really hard problem to solve - most apps I've seen just grab my friends' FB likes. Guess what? My friends don't go around FB liking every single thing they like in real life. So, your algorithm has to be really clever and process the text and links that people share.

I think it's a bit like the voice recognition problem. People have been trying for years, but only recently have there been big advances because we have a lot more data now.

Right now there are millions of people sharing data on social sites. But for any one person, or a pair of friends, the data is still quite sparse. Over time, this will get better. So if you can stick around, your app might improve, otherwise you're probably too early.

<comment><AUTHOR> Revorad, thank you for your input! The gifting problem can be solved in three ways:

1) the easiest, through discovery on the trending products page 2) through peer-to-peer recommendations. I can easily recommend a product to a friend and thus (maybe) solve the other person gift finding problem 3) You have the quests part, where you create a quest and people can answer with products too.

Do you think these methods can be of value to the user?

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Hi Joao, feel free to drop me a line - stevewhyley at yahoo dot com - <USER2> friend and I co-own <http://ultimategiftlists.com> (which we launched a few months ago). We launched it but didn't do much with it - you may be able to get some ideas from us or look to team up in some way! Thanks!</comment>


"Stripe.com".equals("landmine") as of now - james-singh http://james-singh.com/2012/11/29/stripe-com-equalslandmine-as-of-now/

<comment><AUTHOR> The same could be said of any payment processor.

The only way to verify would be to fill in your credit card details on a domain belonging to the processor.

<comment> james-singh Maybe what you're saying is the only way. Or maybe there are some options (two options in the above comment). But whatever it is, we cannot resort to an insecure way of payment just because there is no other way.

<comment><AUTHOR> Regardless of people lying about using Stripe or what ever processor they claim, you still don't have any guarantee that their backend system is secure and treating your credit card information properly.

<comment> james-singh Don't they need to go through PCI-DSS certification? [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payment_Card_Industry_Data_Secu...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payment_Card_Industry_Data_Security_Standard)

I think those who've received the certification are pretty much worth the trust. I don't see anything like that on stripe.com homepage though. Ditto for paymill.com.

<comment><AUTHOR> Sorry, looking back, my response wasn't very clear.

I didn't mean Stripe's backend, but the website owner's. Before passing the data to Stripe's API, the website owner might intentionally or unintentionally do something insecure with your details.

Meaning if you wanted to feel 100% safe with your transaction you may prefer to enter your details on Stripe's website where you trust that company and their implementation of security measures.

Unfortunately, if someone wants to try and trick a user into getting their details, there is an infinite number of ways to make their payment page look secure. Worse still, non-tech people wouldn't know to trust a company like Stripe as opposed to any other made up company.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER2> stripe could hoste a page that lists your site as a client, display your loge, and you could link to that page

<comment> james-singh That seems like one good way of doing it. The other one I can think of is using a widget containing html form generated dynamically by stripe, along with a back link with a unique hash param that verifies it's authenticity.</comment></comment>


Jim'll Paint It - <AUTHOR> http://jimllpaintit.tumblr.com/

<comment><USER3> Blimey I remember looking at Jim'll Paint It about 2 years ago and his paint skills sucked (as do mine - coupled with the limitations of MS Paint). Now he seems pretty damn good. His 'Tragic Roundabout' is beautiful. I never really thought that you could get good at art by .. well doing art. Nice one Jim.

<comment><USER4> That's the nature of practice and constantly attempting, regardless of the outcome. It should be a lesson in getting good at any activity.

<comment><USER5> And already being a professional graphic designer/artist before you start.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> It works better in its natural habitat, on facebook:

[https://www.facebook.com/JimllPaintIt](https://www.facebook.com/JimllPaintIt)

You get more of the audience-participatory sense of fun.

</comment><comment><USER6> That Putin poster is awesome.

</comment><comment><USER7> Cute. But don't we all pretty much have friends with the same deal - <USER2> something interesting, they'll paint it? Because that's how artists work anyway.

</comment><comment><USER8> He might want to rethink the branding there...

<comment><USER9> I don't think so, he seemed to hit right about the time Operation Yewtree began, it's almost entirely a British sense of humour that he's drawing to, and the majority of people I know, despite the atrocities of what Savile did, seem to find it hilarious that everybody knew he was a blatant pedophile, but nobody did a thing.

<comment><USER10> > the majority of people I know [..] seem to find it hilarious that everybody > knew he was a blatant pedophile

I'm not sure hilarious is the correct emotional response here.

<comment><USER9> By excluding the last part, after the comma (but nobody did a thing), it's out of context. The red-tape and bureaucracy and cowardliness and bumbling of the BBC is what we find funny, it's pretty standard for the organisation as a whole. There's definitely no excusing the actions of _those_ who failed to act, and that's definitely unfunny.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Real Augmented Reality Google Goggles In Prototype Stage? - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/06/real-augmented-reality-google-goggles-in-prototype-stage/

<comment><USER2> I wait with baited breath what Team Danger does with the combination of Motorola Mobility. At least one assumes Android has in mind the potential there.</comment>


Marvin Pipkin, inventor of the frosted light bulb - <AUTHOR> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_Pipkin <comment><USER2> > Not being aware his assignment was a type of joke, he went about the task as > if it was something that could be done and had been done before.

I've read stories similar to this before, iirc assignments given as homework. Is there a name for this method, or comprehensive list of examples?

<comment><USER3> You're probably thinking of George Dantzig: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Dantzig](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Dantzig)

It's not unbelievable that this happens. Ramanujan presumably solved some important problems without knowing their context in contemporary mathematics: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinivasa_Ramanujan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinivasa_Ramanujan)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I was not previously aware of the origin of the ubiquitous frosted light bulb. Thanks.

> The public felt that the glare from clear transparent incandescent lamps > gave off a harshness that was unwanted by most people. Another side effect > was that they made it hard to see objects in immediate vicinity of the lamp. > They desired a lamp that had a softer light with no glare.

The first half of the 20th century was spent figuring out how to use artificial lights safely and effectively. In the last decade we've forgotten almost everything our predecessors figured out.

For example, my father had some great hanging lights over his kitchen stove. These provided just enough light to get around the kitchen - if you wanted more light, you could turn on the other lights.

His wife redecorated and replaced the red-colored globes with clear globes. Now there is no diffusion effect, and visitors without baseball hats get the 'ice picks to the eyes' ("glare") effect from direct exposure to the filaments.

They also installed terrible 3000K LED bulbs in their new fixtures. I switched them out for proper incandescents, so I don't get headaches when I visit. The only LED bulbs I find to be acceptable are some of the 2700K bulbs. If the 3000k bulbs are shielded by a lamp shade they're tolerable, but still slightly too blue.

Old street lights were fine. LED streetlights put out more more lumens per watt, but the quality is terrible. My brother's neighborhood has been LED- ified, and now has a terrible night experience. My city has mostly orange low pressure sodium [LPS] [0] lights still, but the state highway department is gradually switching out their LPS lights for "fake white" LEDs.

Flagstaff has Lowell Observatory (astronomers). They have wonderful night lighting. A few business flaunt Flagstaff's dark sky ordinances with non- shielded floodlights, but most of the city lights and businesses' lights are a pleasant orange (or yellow), and only over-stimulate my eyes when I look directly at them.

The "lighting resource center" has information about good lighting practices: [https://www.lrc.rpi.edu/](https://www.lrc.rpi.edu/)

[0] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium-vapor_lamp#Low- pressure...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium-vapor_lamp#Low- pressure_sodium)

<comment><USER5> I think some people must be more sensitive than others to the color temperature of light, myself included. My parents (who are otherwise wonderful people) use the 3500-4000K fluorescents in their living room instead of the much more warm and pleasant table lamps. When I walk my dog at night, I often see the blue-green glow of what must be 5000K bulbs coming from many of my neighbors houses. And my office mis-ordered bulbs for their track lights and ended up with a random mix of 3000K and 5000K bulbs; I seriously considered finding a new job until I was able to convince them to change the bulbs, but nobody else really seemed to mind.

By the way, Philips makes a line of dimmable LED bulbs that are 2700K at full brightness but go down to 2200K as they dim. Installing those in my dining room fixture was a revelatory experience.

<comment><USER6> Some people may be more sensitive than others, but there's a reason why computer glasses filter out blue light, and it's not simply personal.

Had a similar experience to yours with an office, except the blinding 5000k hangers also bothered a lot of other people, to the point where normally many of them were unscrewed/turned off... _except_ when we had clients we were trying to land coming to the office. Then management decided that we needed to have them all burning full brightness in order to make a good impression for key visiting clients.

Lighting sensitivities are yet another thing that are easy to personalize for in sane office plans, but can be a big drain in an open floor.

<comment><USER7> I assume many have bought a light bulb that emits white light when they want a warm light. Everyone look like a zombie, it's truely awful. Who wants those bulbs and why?

<comment><USER8> My SO uses 5000K lights for drawing, otherwise the colors are off in sunlight and in photos.

I also prefer outdoor lighting to be on the hotter side - low temperature lights to me look too much like sodium lamps.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> >This idea of having a second treatment to smooth out the fine-grained texture to dimples came about by an accident.

From penicillin to vulcanized rubber to frosted glass. The crucial moment for so many inventions and discoveries was accident. But I remind myself that in nearly all cases a dedicated professional working diligently, iteratively for long periods of time is the perfect person to a) notice the accident in the first place and b) realize it's significance and put it to use.

<comment><USER10> And c) overwork themselves even to get tired and have accidents.

<comment><USER10> Well, I ruined my own joke by typing "even" instead of "enough". And I didn't even invent anything in the process of having this accident.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> "One day, while he was pouring the weaker solution into a bulb, the phone rang. In the process of answering the phone, he accidentally tipped the bulb over before it had enough time to finish cleaning out the previous etching. When he returned to his work, he accidentally knocked the glass bulb off the workbench and onto the floor. To his surprise it did not shatter, as etched bulbs normally did, but bounced a few times and then rolled under the workbench"

I'm always intrigued by the cognitive dissonance in rewarding inventors for doing difficult things, then lauding them for accidentally stumbling upon something.

Yes I get that you make your own luck etc. But luck doesn't seem to be accounted for in our present IP system.

<comment><USER12> Seems like you've higher chances on stumbling on something accidentally useful when you're trying to do difficult things rather than when not

<comment><USER11> Well yes, that's what I was talking about with making your own luck.

My point was that any discussion of IP revolves around work put in, and skill demonstrated. But a lot of the folklore is based on chance discovery.</comment></comment></comment>


Let's Take a Second to Admire Sci-Fi User Interfaces - <AUTHOR> https://io9.gizmodo.com/lets-take-a-second-to-admire-sci-fi-user-interfaces-1834354325 <comment><USER2> io9 is so covered in ads it looks like Internet Explorer from 2000 with lots and lots of viruses/toolbars.</comment>