Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft grabs close-up thirty feet above asteroid - <AUTHOR> https://www.cnet.com/news/japans-hayabusa2-spacecraft-snaps-close-up-just-30-feet-above-asteroid/ <comment><USER2> _The above image comes from a 600-kilogram, refrigerator-sized robot travelling at about 15 miles per second, around 170 million miles from Earth._ They can be glad that the asteroid is also around 170 million miles from earth, travelling at 15 miles per second and this even in the same direction.

Relative motion is smaller though: The gravitational force between the probe (660kg) and asteroid (4.5 * 10^11kg) is just 0.1 N. The probe has therefore to be circling the asteroid with about 0.25m/s or just 1km/h (0.57 mph for american readers).

And how else could it be: the asteroid was assumed to be a point mass and the probe in a circular orbit of 450m around it.

<comment><USER3> I'm kinda surprised an orbit that low as been stable for a year. Is this an unusually circular asteroid or is there a fair bit of eccentricity?

<comment><USER4> The hayabusa spacecraft is not in orbit about the asteroid. It's in orbit about the Sun, in an orbit very, very close to the orbit the asteroid is in, so they stay close to each other for a long time (about a year and a half IIRC).

<comment><USER2> I couldn't find any information on the trajectory. The sphere of influence in which the gravitational attraction of the asteroid dominates over that of the sun has a radius of about 6km though. So as long as the probe moves inside this area, it has to orbit or spend fuel of the reaction control system (the ion thrusters are inactive in the vicinity of the asteroid, they'd also have only enough thrust to allow hovering in a distance of hundreds of meters (in the tens of milli-newtons)).

<comment><USER4> _> The sphere of influence in which the gravitational attraction of the asteroid dominates over that of the sun has a radius of about 6km though._

It depends on what you consider "dominates" to mean. For example, the corresponding value for the Earth and the Sun is 924,000 km, and the Moon is only 400,000 km from the Earth, but the Moon's orbit is still always concave towards the Sun.

<comment><USER2> I'm not sure what you mean?

If Earth wouldn't dominate the space in which the Moon moves, the Moon wouldn't be in orbit around Earth at all and the Sun couldn't perturbe this orbit (as you even stated yourself)?

<comment><USER4> _> If Earth wouldn't dominate the space in which the Moon moves_

My point is that "dominate" here could mean different things, and the Earth does not dominate all of them.

Specifically, the fact that the Moon's orbit is always concave to the Sun means that the "acceleration due to gravity" of the Sun on the Moon is _larger_ than the "acceleration due to gravity" of the Earth on the Moon. In other words, the net "acceleration due to gravity" of the Moon is always towards the Sun, _not_ towards the Earth. So the Earth does _not_ dominate in this way.

The "sphere of influence" you mention is based on _tidal_ forces: the _tidal_ effect of the Earth on the Moon is larger than the tidal effect of the Sun on the Moon. So the Earth does dominate in this way.

 _> the Moon wouldn't be in orbit around Earth at all and the Sun couldn't perturbe this orbit (as you even stated yourself)?_

No, that's not what I said. Whether you think of the Moon as orbiting the Earth or the Sun depends on how you define "orbit" and what you are trying to do. If you define "orbit" according to which body the Moon is accelerating towards, on net, then the Moon is orbiting the Sun, not the Earth (see above); in this sense, the Moon and the Earth are in two closely matched orbits about the Sun.

And my point about the Hayabusa spacecraft and the asteroid is that, if you calculate the "acceleration due to gravity", you find that it's similar to the Moon's--the spacecraft's net acceleration is towards the Sun, not towards the asteroid.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Hayabusa2 is such a cool mission! A veritable space Swiss Army Knife with tantalum bullets, deployable free-floating cameras, four small rovers that hopped around the asteroid in super low-G, and a 1.5kg kinetic impactor that blew a crater.

<comment><USER6> > _and a 1.5kg kinetic impactor_

TFA called it a cannonball, which is really quite amusing.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> > It took a 180 million mile trip to deliver this image.

Yup, and you break my ability to zoom in or right click and view image on mobile.

Welcome to the future.

</comment><comment><USER8> Wonder what material that greyish rock looking stuff on the surface is.

<comment><USER9> Here's what it looks like when shot at with a "bullet"[0].

[0][https://www.cnet.com/videos/japans-hayabusa2-space-probe- fir...](https://www.cnet.com/videos/japans-hayabusa2-space-probe-fires-bullet- into-asteroid/)

<comment><USER10> details: [http://www.hayabusa2.jaxa.jp/en/topics/20190214e_Experiment/](http://www.hayabusa2.jaxa.jp/en/topics/20190214e_Experiment/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I would guess even operating the RCS system could launch some of those loose looking rocks to escape velocity. Imagine blowing on a rock that's been in place for thousands of years and watching it drift into space.

</comment><comment><USER12> It's hard to get a sense of how big these features are. 30 feet is damn close, but it's still hard to say. How big is that big chunk of rock (?) near the bottom-right, casting a blocky shadow?

<comment><USER13> Given the distance to the sun and proximity to the asteroid, shouldn't the vehicle and its shadow be essentially the same size?

<comment><USER14> I'd assume without an atmosphere to diffuse light, the sun is basically a point light for 95% of the Solar System.

<comment><USER15> It's a point light infinitely far away. So light rays are parallel, and shadows are exactly the size of the object.

<comment><USER16> > infinitely

<comment><USER15> Yes, for all intents and purposes.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Upon opening cnet, I had to block notifications request, click through cookies agreement and close video window, which started autoplaying.

</comment><comment><USER18> Why are the pictures so fuzzy?

<comment><USER19> Insane Contrast ratio - ultra bright sunlight when the sun gets in the frame (no atmosphere to diffuse light) plus ultra dark hard shadows as the light source is millions of miles away, and again no atmosphere to diffuse the light.

Again ultra dark, so the camera needs to have an incredibly sensitive sensor.

And incredible motion, the spacecraft is whipping by the asteroid quickly.. so you'd need a fast shutter speed to get sharp detail. Which is made difficult by the lighting conditions.

No human photographer on the shutter button. Way too far away for that.

Incredibly challenging photographic environment.

<comment><USER20> > no atmosphere to diffuse light

Could the spacecraft—just in theory— _introduce_ an atmosphere? Maybe not _this_ spacecraft, but if we're riding around in the starship Enterprise and want to get better snaps of asteroids, would it be a good idea to just send out a big pair of glass hemispheres, encapsulate the asteroid with them, pump them full of air, and then take a picture of the asteroid-capsule system?

Alternately, could you stick something really good at diffusing light—like a big block of aerogel—between the sun and the asteroid?

<comment><USER21> This shot was taken from 9m away. A powerful camera flash would have been sufficient. It fact it seems like a bit of a missed opportunity not to have a handful of powerful but tiny LEDs on the spacecraft and take shots with different lighting to try to get the most detail out of this as possible. Yes you need to be quick, but this can be designed.

<comment><USER22> As far as I know these things are designed for scientific value and not for producing cool pictures for viewers. I am sure they are getting the best possible value for their budget with whatever they designed.

<comment><AUTHOR> > not for producing cool pictures for view

Science funding often needs some one's buyin.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> 30 feet = ~9.14 meters

<comment><USER15> 30 feet = 10 meters at this level of accuracy. 9 if you want to be a pedant. Significant figures matter.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> It bothers me (too much) that we are going to space and still using 'feet' as a unit of measurement.

<comment><USER25> Who's "we"? This article is about Japan. The Japanese do not ever use "feet" as a unit of measurement.

It's only Americans who still use feet and other imperial units, which is why they lost a Mars probe.

<comment><USER26> You mean the British-built one?

I think us Brits are the worst of the worst when it comes to mixing units. Fuel is sold in litres but consumption measured in miles per gallon. Milk is sold in 1 pint or 2/4/6 litre bottles. Road signs to towns are in miles but in roadworks are in metres. And so on.

<comment><USER27> To add to the mix, some signs are in _yards_ \- who even knows what one of those equals these days?!

<comment><USER14> Yards are the easiest to translate. A yard is roughly a meter (~9/10's).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> I just want to go 15 miles per second (54000 mph/86904.6 Kph/46925 knt).

<comment><USER29> Does knots even make sense outside of the context of being located on a sphere?

<comment><USER30> According to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautical_mile](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautical_mile), nautical mile used to be defined as 1/60 of a degree of latitude, but is now defined as exactly 1852 metres. So feasible to use even in space, although unusual.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: How do I reply to comments on HN if it says I am too fast? - <AUTHOR> I have a post at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16277233 and I want to reply to the comments but I keep getting an error that I am posting too fast... WTF!!!<p>I am not posting, I am responding. <comment><USER2> You only have 1 point, relax.</comment>


IOS 7 spanks Samsung's version of Android in user experience rating - <AUTHOR> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/09/24/ios_7_spanks_samsungs_version_of_android_in_user_experience_rating/ <comment><AUTHOR> Win Phone 8 didn't do very well either.

After using iOS 7 for a few days, I confess I like the minimalism in general, and looking back at iOS 6 things seem heavy and clunky. But it's all a matter of taste. Sadly I've never really had an Android device at hand to see what it's like to use; I'd honestly be very interested to try one out for a few days.</comment>


Mysterious Statistical Law May Finally Have an Explanation - <AUTHOR> http://www.wired.com/2014/10/tracy-widom-mysterious-statistical-law/

<comment><USER2> Same article submitted with its original url discussed here: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8459264](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8459264)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks - I did a search before posting but it was based upon the wired article's click-baity headline...</comment></comment>


The beauty of mixed-radix bases - <AUTHOR> http://firefly.nu/2017/01/mixed-radix/ <comment><USER2> I've found factoradic very useful for counting and enumerating permutations.

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

</comment><comment><USER3> Another application I see is instruction encoding. On the MIPS, for instance, a 32-bit instruction is broken down into 6, 5, 5, 5, 5 and 6 bits (or 64 32 32 32 32 64 per the article); the Motorola 68000 had a breakdown of 4, 3, 3, 3 and 3 bits (16 8 8 8 8).

<comment><USER4> This seems a bit dubious to me. I don't think a variable symbol width equates to mixed radix. Nobody calls UTF-8 mixed radix even though some symbols require 8 bits and others 16. You aren't treating these values as algebraic numbers. While you can perform some types of arithmetic on (x, y) vectors in a mixed-radix form (addition, scaling, etc) and same for HH:MM:SS, it makes no sense to _add_ the binary/mixed radix representation of two MIPS instructions.

But maybe the definition isn't this picky. They certainly feel like different concepts to me though.

<comment><USER5> Ah I see. I was confused b/c the end result looked like another matrix, but it was actually two results of mixed radius. Thanks.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I'm very impressed by the comparison between 0-indexing and radixes.

<comment><USER7> Calculating these multidimensional indexes seems to be the major or even the only reason I've ever come across for having 0-based arrays. But it's a pretty big reason.

<comment><USER8> Hmm, I don't know directly about arrays. But for indexing into a linked list 0-based just seems to make the mest sense---if you interpret the index as "how many pointer do I have to chase?".

And giving arrays the same treatment then seems reasonable for consistency?

I always saw 0-based indices as offsets. Ie like their C interpretation, where a[i] is defined to be the same as * (a+i), not the less natural *(a+i+1).

But I can see some points for 1 based indexing, too.

(Anecdote from university: the math faculty had a building that started numbering the ground floor as -1. Perhaps just to one up (or is that one down?) the computer scientists who always feel smug about counting from 0.)

<comment><USER9> That anecdote reminds me of the classic solution to the zero-versus-one- indexing fights in the Lua community: clearly the solution is to compromise! :)

[http://lua-users.org/lists/lua-l/2006-05/msg00281.html](http://lua- users.org/lists/lua-l/2006-05/msg00281.html)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I didn't understand the final example. What was the point? What was the result showing?

<comment><USER9> The REPL transcript at the end shows the `Idot` verb in action, by applying it to an array of shape `2 3 4` (that is, imagine two "layers" of matrices, each containing 3 rows, each row being a vector of 4 elements). The `I.` operation finds the indices of 1's in a vector, but the `Idot` shows the indices of 1's in a higher-rank matrix (in this case rank 3, i.e. a three-dimensional array).

Compare the locations of the 1's in `array` (the output with 0's and 1's) with the final output (`0 1 1` is the index of the first 1, `1 1 2` is the index of the second 1).

Does that help? I mainly wanted to show how the base conversion <=> array index relationship could be used in practice.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Google Voice replacements? - <AUTHOR> Over the last couple of years, I have successfully de-Googled my life:
Search: duckduckgo
Email: Postfix/Spamassassin/Dovecot/etc
Drive/Photos: Nextcloud
Calendar/Contacts: Nextcloud
Play: FDroid store
Hangouts: Mattermost
The one remaining service I just can't shake is Google Voice.  I've seen services like jmp.chat do about 60% of what I'm looking for, but I'd really like the whole enchilada if possible.  Happy to pay for a commercial service too, if necessary.  Self-hosted/Open Source would be ideal, but I'm not too proud to pay a 3rd party if that's what it takes.
The features I'm looking for are:
portable phone number (can move from cellphone to cellphone, ideally by installing an app)
voicemail-to-email transcription
sms-to-email transcription, with the ability to respond to texts via email
mms-to-email delivery (gotta keep up with those cat pics, yo)
group-sms compatibility (it took GVoice _forever_ to implement this, I'm not super comfortable with giving it up again completely)
So, HN Hivemind, is there anything out there that does all the above that isn't Google Voice? <comment><USER2> I have your same requirements, but on top of those I'd also like a service that is as robust as possible against SIM swapping attacks, since, for better or worse, the vast majority of the financial institutions I use only support SMS as 2FA.

I've heard that Google Voice is pretty tough to exploit, since they "lock" the portability of your number by default, and in general contacting Google support is almost impossible compared to the other carriers. For that reason, all my 2FA currently go through my GV number.

Though I also read that some advanced attackers have gone as far as faking porting documents to make the ported-to operator "steal" (unfortunately I don't know the right technical terms here) the number from the ported-from one, regardless of the locking, but I don't know if this would apply to GV as well.

</comment><comment><USER3> You might try burnerapp. It does a lot of what you want, but it's $4.99/mo or $3.99/mo paid annually.</comment>


1M USD bet on decentralized prediction market Augur on 2018 US elections - <AUTHOR> https://predictions.global/augur-markets/which-party-will-control-the-house-after-2018-u-s-midterm-election-0xbbbc0a8baa03535e0a680ee2f057162aaaafd570 <comment><AUTHOR> You can read more here: [https://www.coindesk.com/us-election-pushes-total- augur-bets...](https://www.coindesk.com/us-election-pushes-total-augur-bets- over-2-million/)

Augur allows anyone in the world to bet on different events. Augur cannot be shut down by the government (Unlike Intrade, which was shut down a few years ago [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrade](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrade)). It allows anyone to create a prediction market on any event. It is a perfect use case for a decentralized blockchain.</comment>


How to Use Your Cat to Hack Your Neighbor's Wi-Fi - <AUTHOR> http://www.wired.com/2014/08/how-to-use-your-cat-to-hack-your-neighbors-wi-fi/?mbid=social_fb <comment><USER2> 1\. Make the collar hijack any wifi devices it can and use their CPUs to mine dogecoin

2\. Use earnings to create more collars, attaching them to stray dogs

3\. Revel in your stray doge empire

<comment><USER3> "Honey! This stray dog has a USB drive attached to its collar, maybe its information about the owner, plug it into your PC and see."

The evilness just makes me shudder. Next up a USB stick that has a rat treat in it, when you push the stick into a USB port that pops the rat treat out of the top. You train a bunch of rats and then leave the USB sticks around your target's facility.

There are some fun fiction ideas in there, that is for sure.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Sounds like... [http://www.jose-dogs-the-best-for-to-find- wifi.net/](http://www.jose-dogs-the-best-for-to-find-wifi.net/)

<comment><USER5> Amazing, I was totally fooled

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I leave my wifi open because I like being a nice neighbor. A little QoS and a firewall for my home network, and you're free to connect.

<comment><USER7> I've always wondered if leaving your WiFi open gives you plausible deniability WRT to torrenting copyrighted material (should anyone ever come knocking).

<comment><USER8> AFAIK it's always been one of the bigger gray areas regarding pirating copyrighted material. From what I've read it's still a "we have no formal proof that people are prosecuted based on it, but we also have no proof that they aren't/can't be".

Also, read [https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/01/my_open_wirel...](https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/01/my_open_wireles.html) as linked below in this thread.

<comment><USER4> It is from 2008 though, things have changed. Just today a domain was seized by the UK govt on grounds of copyright infringement just because it was running a proxy. In Austria someone was convicted for running a Tor exit node about a month ago.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I am interested in building a device like this (for other purposes and not for cats), but I have no idea how to put the hardware together or where to start. I have been thingking about bycicle security a lot lately and a tiny GPS + X (gsm, wifi, etc.) might me useful.

Could someone point me in the right direction? Where do I start?

<comment><USER10> I love this thing. full computer, i.e. install ubuntu and go, yet it's way smaller and more powerful than a raspberry pi.

[https://store.gumstix.com/index.php/products/620/](https://store.gumstix.com/index.php/products/620/)

the problem you will run into is wifi eats a lot of power and makes a lot of heat

<comment><USER9> Thanks, I will have a look at it!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> OT: Actually a useful device for cats would be a collar that tracks GPS location and answers its location when pinged. Then they can be easier found and won't get lost.

<comment><USER12> Outdoor cats generally don't really get lost, they get flattened by cars or eaten by coyotes depending upon where you live, neither of which a GPS is going to help with. On rare occasions they get snatched up by animal control.

For anyone with a cat, I highly recommend getting it microchipped (in case they get out and happen to fall into that last category) and making it indoor- only. The average lifespan of an outdoor cat is ~3-6 years.

<comment><USER13> I'm pleased to hear this advice, we got a cat a year ago and she has been indoor-only since we got her. We do let her out on a harness with us alongside to sniff around outdoors, and she loves it (and is sad to return inside). I feel somewhat vindicated in making her indoor-only.

<comment><USER12> That's awesome that you bring her out on a harness. I wish my cat would let me do that, but she won't; she's pretty anxious in general (adopted her when she was 2 and she had been in the shelter twice already) and still has a lot of issues (she's very loving/lovable, but very afraid of strangers, especially males).

Her anxiousness stops her from wanting to run off though, which is really, really rare for a cat, so I hang out with her on the deck in front of my place a lot so she can be "outside" but in a safe way and she doesn't leave the deck area (prior to her I wouldn't have believed this of any cat, because I grew up with some cats and all of them would attempt to run out if given the chance).

IMO indoor cats can have a perfectly fulfilled life if their owners put in some effort (regularly engage them in play that uses their built-in-hunting instincts, mine loves to chase laser pointers and play with a bird feather on a string thing, the one I use is called "Da Bird", but I'm sure other brands exist).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Train a small animal such as a ferret to hit the WPS button on any popular access point and let it loose in their home?

<comment><USER15> No need when there is Reaver: [https://code.google.com/p/reaver- wps/](https://code.google.com/p/reaver-wps/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Am I the only one seeing this?

[http://www.imgur.com/ukYNQFL.png](http://www.imgur.com/ukYNQFL.png)

Makes the article totally unreadable on chro.a beta for android (nexus 5)

<comment><USER17> I didn't see that problem. [http://virtivia.com:27080/1omz54cqhj8ms.png](http://virtivia.com:27080/1omz54cqhj8ms.png)

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> Just use unencrypted wifi but do anything that matters over a good VPN. Assume you can't trust your ISP and local network anyway. All this moaning about wifi security doesn't make sense to me.

<comment><USER19> This requires you to trust the VPN, though.

<comment><USER20> And your VPN's ISP

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> What a beautiful cat

<comment><USER22> This is relevant! If the cat is hideous, it will not be accepted by your neighbor and invited in for tuna. Step one to covert espionage!

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> What about level of non ionizing radiation the cat is exposed to? Cats head is always in near field of antenna, seems a bit harsh to the cat.

<comment><USER24> 1\. it's a WiFi _client_ , in other words, mostly _receiver_.

2\. even if it were an AP, _transmitting_ at max power for hours, it would give out very limited power (zero, give or take measurement errors).

3\. you're starting from assumption "wifi baaaad" without anything to support that claim; if it were a nuclear device, I'd see a cause for concern. [citation-sorely-needed] for this assumption.

<comment><USER25> You know wifi operates in the microwave band, right? Microwave ovens operate in the 2.4 GHz band. Wifi is limited to 1 W total power output, but it's not nothing.

Edit: More to the point, it's a good question, even if the answer is "no."

<comment><USER26> There is nothing special about the use of 2.4 GHz for ovens. It is just where the regulations arbitrarily put that particular ISM band. Microwave ovens can work on 900 MHz as well.

<comment><USER25> Sure. And wearing a 900MHz one around your neck probably isn't a good idea either.

<comment><USER27> Based on what?

<comment><USER25> It gets warm.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Engineering Pornography (2002) - <AUTHOR> http://www.jwz.org/blog/2002/11/engineering-pornography/ <comment><USER3> Programmers occasionally have envy that civil engineering is "real engineering", e.g. civil engineers know how to build a bridge and deliver it on time. Whereas software engineers will come up with 1000 ways to build the bridge, 10 of which work, and take 10x longer to build it. This article seems like a good counterexample.

Like most failures, this is a systems failure. Someone engineered the hell out of that cable. But they neglected to realize that it would be drawn through a steel pipe.

"So, what went wrong? Varying load conditions in the three legs of the 3-phase circuit caused tremendously strong and dynamic magnetic field changes. The electromagnetic forces between the three conductors and the steel pipe (gack!) cause the conduit to wiggle around inside the pipe."

The other lesson is that you shouldn't hyper-optimize locally, and instead design for maintainability. I'm not sure what they were thinking when laying a cable that requires experts to be flown in from the east coast to repair. The simplest mechanisms are the ones that are the most easily repaired. The entire article goes on in great length about how awe-inspiring the engineering of this cable is, whereas I just see a bunch of complexity that probably didn't need to be there. The 118 layers of paper tape, and the oil pumps, and so forth. Surely there was a simpler solution. I'm sure after this failure and the ones on the east coast, they are not still laying cables like this.

<comment><USER4>
      The entire article goes on in great length about how awe-inspiring the
      engineering of this cable is, whereas I just see a bunch of complexity that
      probably didn't need to be there. The 118 layers of paper tape, and the oil
      pumps, and so forth. Surely there was a simpler solution.

[http://www.howtospotapsychopath.com/2010/03/10/today-on- surf...](http://www.howtospotapsychopath.com/2010/03/10/today-on-surf- celebrity-science-class/)

      Take care that you don't come down with "Engineers' Disease", though - the
      tendency for people with a high level of technical knowledge to decide that
      their knowledge must be applicable to specialised fields that they don't
      actually know a lot about.

You are a programmer, not an electrical engineer. Wild speculation regarding a field you know little about is not attractive.

Allow me to reverse your statement.

"I don't see why programming for multicore processors has to be so complex. Why not just run four copies of the program on all four cores?"

"I don't see why every web site makes you create a new account. Why not log into everything with my facebook account?"

"I don't see why the legal system has to be so complex. Why not just have the judge decide everything, and get rid of the lawyers?"

<comment><USER5> _"I don't see why programming for multicore processors has to be so complex. Why not just run four copies of the program on all four cores?"_

This is actually a good idea.

<comment><USER6> That only works if your program is a one-way pipe for data, like a graphics card. Most programs need to communicate within themselves.

<comment><USER7> How about:

Message passing is more robust than the currently prevailing shared memory + thread spaghetti practice. Many/most problems being attacked with the latter approach can be reformulated to use message passing and looser coupling.

<comment><USER8> Tanenbaum, is that you?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Fascinating to look back at the reactions from when I posted this 500 days ago. One person said:

        while this is a classic, my snark is thrashing against
        its bonds. I could have sworn it said 'news' up there.

And another:

        SENSATIONAL HEADLINE ALERT!!!

And that was it. No further comments to be had. Both those comments were downvoted, but even so, interesting that no one else commented, and very few voted for the submission.

For reference, the headline I used was:

        Engineering pornography - <USER2>
        power cables gone wrong

... which I felt was more informative.

So on this submission, now even older, we have 16 comments (and counting) and 60 points (and counting). Has HN changed? I'm off to check some records ...

(pause)

A bit of hunting shows that this got at least one vote while still on the "newest" page, but it looks like it never hit the front page, which will part explain why it never got many comments or votes. Still, the tenor of the comments is interesting. I continue to learn.

<comment><USER10> As what becomes popular on HN has a large dosage of randomness, I would not draw conclusions based on this one data point.

There was an interesting study from a few years ago that investigated what factors make a song a hit. They seeded various songs with various levels of initial popularity, and their general conclusion was that popularity begets popularity. Hence, initial conditions matter a lot, and they are largely random. (And if anyone can find that study, please let me know. I have tried multiple times to find it, but I can't.)

<comment><USER11> Is this the study you had in mind? [http://www.princeton.edu/~mjs3/salganik_dodds_watts06_full.p...](http://www.princeton.edu/~mjs3/salganik_dodds_watts06_full.pdf)

I read about a similar experiment in the book "Automate This" by yc alum Christopher Steiner. They seeded a music website with unknown songs and it turned out that whatever was liked first benefited from the Matthew Effect. ie, people tend to like whatever is already labelled as "popular". Definitely an interesting study, but I fear we've gone far off topic.

<comment><USER10> I think it is. Thanks!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I think the title doesn't describe properly this great article. I'm afraid it might be turning away readers who would otherwise really enjoy the coolness of this read!

The title can be read as "How to engineer pornography", at least that's how I read it at first. OP might want to edit it to remove any ambiguity.

<comment><USER13> When it was originally submitted (<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=193112>), it had the title _How to repair a 230KV, 10 mile long coaxial power cable_. But I suppose that that informative title would now be pedantically edited to the one you see here. As well, without the link-bait version it might only have blinked through the front page in 30 seconds.

<comment><USER12> The last few hours have proven me wrong, the possibly-misleading title has kept the article on the front page so far.

Interesting.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> "They learned the hard way that you simply don't reverse the pumps lest you get the Golden Bear [mineral oil] equivalent of water hammer".

Ouch. It must have been 'fun' finding that out. Another example of extreme water hammer: <http://www.davros.org/misc/ambridge.html>

</comment><comment><USER15> In case anybody is confused about the "paper tape", transformer paper is likely what they're referring to ( <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_insulation_paper> ).

Having played with some back in school, it's this gnarly paper that is super stiff, near invulnerable (to hand attempts at tearing and cutting), and really really good at giving paper cuts. It's also somewhat fire retardant, if I remember correctly.

So, it's not like the cable was wrapped in Christmas paper or something.

</comment><comment><USER16> I know I'll get downvoted for this, but I find jwz's site ridiculously hard to read because of the color scheme. It really hurts my eyes.

<comment><USER17> You don't need a voting disclaimer to talk about a color scheme, that just wastes words.

What exactly hurts your eyes? Are you fine with light gray on black? I can sort of understand disliking the amount of green, but if it's just because of the black background then you probably having lighting issues in your setup.

<comment><USER18> It's insanely high-contrast with a relatively light (thin) typeface and light- on-dark. While I fear the idea of having that neon green as the background instead as I may start glowing, having a slightly heavier font or a not-so- extreme green would have been a lot easier to read. Even when I had a green- on-black terminal it wasn't a problem, I believe because the font weight was a bit heavier and physically deciphering the characters was less taxing.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> > The thumper sends mondo-amp pulses into one end of the cable. The > electromotive force tends to cause physical displacement of the conductors > which you can hear from the street level.

That sounds amazing and terrifying, sort of like the engineering equivalent of the old soviet dentists' belief that they have to poke cavities and judge their location and severity by how badly the patient reacts.

<comment><USER20> We had a power short at $work this summer, with MUCH smaller wiring. They brought in an Astro van filled will equipment to do the same fault finding. Standing above the fault, as the Xcel lineman told me to, I could feel the ground move. It was an interesting experience.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> Am I the only person who was disappointed that this article was not about "Taking an engineering approach to pornography"?

Wouldn't it be interesting to hear someone's lessons learned from using Lean Startup and A/B testing when entering the porn industry to discover best practices, instead of just using "Tried and True" methods?

Is porn an industry ripe for disruption?

I wonder if anyone has applied to YC with a pornography startup.

</comment><comment><USER22> <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIkNY5xjy5k> Youtube video of a 500KV substation breaker popping - one of the three legs did not quench properly. Impressive!

</comment><comment><USER23> _> That's where the LN-2 comes in. An elegant solution if you ask me._

It's quite a classic solution for subway construction and restoration in the deep areas. In certain conditions, when tunnels get flooded with quicksand, liquid nitrogen can be used to isolate them.

</comment><comment><USER24>
        I have to reset my difficulty meter for engineering problems now.

I know how that commenter feels!

</comment><comment><USER25> spoiler: there is no actual pornography in this link. just sayin

</comment><comment><USER26> Wow, I remember reading that back when it happened. Great story of some amazing engineering.

</comment><comment><USER27> Love the symbolics.com address

</comment><comment><USER28> IT'S GREEN :|

<http://www.readability.com/articles/dcsyvhkh>

<comment><USER29> Anything other than #00ff00 on #000000 is apparently just not 1337 enough. It's more important than people actually being able to read the content on your site.</comment></comment>


Dow Closes Up 10.9%, Nasdaq up 9.5% - <AUTHOR> http://www.forbes.com/markets/2008/10/28/briefing-closer-surge-markets-equity-cx_ss_1028markets39.html

<comment><USER2> I think you fade this rally. The only news to come out today was very negative: consumer confidence came in at 38%, vs. the expected 52%. This was a record low. The Case-Schiller home price index dropped by a record amount as well. Other indicators looked bad as well: the CDX (an index of the credit quality of investment-grade companies, as measured by the price of their credit default swaps) was roughly unchanged, 10yr notes were only a little bit lower, the yield on 2yr notes is still a ridiculously low 1.6%, the primary mortgage rate remains well over 7%, etc.

So the question is, what good news drove this rally? I can't think of any. I think you sell stocks here.

The biggest risk is the Fed meeting tomorrow. The market is expecting a 50 basis point cut in the Fed Funds target rate (currently at 1.5%). If the Fed only goes 25bp, there will be a huge selloff. If the Fed goes 75bp, there's a moderate rally. 50bp, I think we see a moderate selloff.

<comment><USER3> I've learned more trackable economic indicators over the last two months than I have during the rest of my life. Case-Schiller? CDX? Neat! Thanks market crash! Thanks, ctkrohn!

Can someone put together an aggregator for this stuff?

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> One of the largest ever percentage gains in the DJIA was in 1933, near the bottom of the Great Depression. What does it all mean? Nothing.

<comment><USER4> You don't even have to look that far back

Two weeks ago, October 13th, the DOW went up 11.1%, of course it gave that whole 11.1% and more back in the days that followed

The market is crazy right now.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Dead cat bounce?

<comment><USER6> Short covering.

<comment><USER5> There was a big VW short squeeze today: [http://www.portfolio.com/news- markets/top-5/2008/10/28/Volks...](http://www.portfolio.com/news- markets/top-5/2008/10/28/Volkswagen-Is-the-Biggest-Company)

<comment><USER7> Does a "VW short squeeze" have anything to do with clowns?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> It should drop almost accordingly by the end of week due to profit taking.

<comment><USER2> I don't think so. The reason we kept bouncing off the low 8000s on the Dow is because there are real money buyers who are buying stocks there based on fundamentals like P/E ratio, expected earnings, etc. These guys are going to hold on to their portfolios for a while, rather than sell out for a quick buck. The type of guys who would take profit after today are hedge funds and other fast money types -- but they have had to give back a ton of money to investors, and their power to move the market is now limited. Even if those guys take profit tomorrow, I don't think it will noticeably hurt the price.

<comment><USER9> How many of the fast-money momentum investors do you think are still in the market? I would think that the large-scale losses have just begun (well, not _just_ , but we still have more of them), because retail customers are starting to get scared and pull their money out of funds. Even though the fund managers themselves are value investors, they're only as strong as their weakest backers, so they may be forced to sell shares (even when they'd rather be buying) to meet redemptions. But then, you're closer to the market than I am, so you'd have a better idea whether this is actually going on...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> What's up with the tech crowd and the negativity? The market is fine, people with big money are just restructuring their investments because of some change that is coming up - those people with access to market surveys and analysts see something we don't.

Where do you think the cash from the crash went? You think Trump stuffed it in his matrass? It's all there somewhere, and they will put it back in the market - the question is just about where the money will be invested in.

Wake up sheeple :)

</comment><comment><USER11> Uh, yeah, we noticed. Not really interesting, though.

Those of us with a firm grasp of technology have figured out how to obtain this information without it being posted here. And discussing it after the fact is just hand waving and making up stories to tell ourselves. If you can call movements like that beforehand with any degree of accuracy, feel free to post, but otherwise, I hope we don't see a string of "dow up blah blah, dow down blah blah, nikei up blah blah", and so on and so forth.

<comment><USER12> I thought it was interesting. Ordinary daily random fluctuations aren't, but something on this scale is. And while any reader here could easily obtain such info, most probably don't check the market closes every day. I don't. So if something dramatic happens it's handy to see it here.

<comment><USER13> I find it interesting that anytime pg posts a comment it gets upvoted like crazy even if it isn't particularly brilliant. Honestly, I agree with him about this subject. I didn't check the market close, and the second largest daily increase in history is a great piece of information to be informed about. However, if an average user would have posted that it would have probably received a mix of agreement and "but it's not hacker news".

I realize that this is pretty much his site, and he makes the rules, but does that mean that we should all be hitting that little up arrow next to his name out of gratitude? Honestly, I don't think that he probably checks on the number of upvotes we have given him when looking at yc applications. Although, he may have some sweet filter algorithm that automatically takes that into account...

<comment><USER11> > I find it interesting that anytime pg posts a comment it gets upvoted like > crazy even if it isn't particularly brilliant.

My comment started out at -1, got voted up to 5ish or so, and after pg made his comment, got voted down again (not that I particularly care). He certainly does have a lot of influence, but that's not a bad thing - I think many of us arrived here because we like his writing and what he's done with this site.

<comment><USER13> Agreed. I'm not saying that it's bad that pg has a lot of influence. It's just interesting to me how quick we are to follow him even against the trend of the community, and perhaps our own individual thinking.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> This isn't a bottom and a reversal, this is a bear rally. Tomorrow the fed will be dropping interest rates 0.5% and we may see a slight rise or stagnation. Thursday the government will be releasing some quarterly reports, which will probably show just how bad things are getting and the market will eat crap again (-4/500).

Prepare to hit the 7000's in the coming weeks as no one buys squat for xmas. Sorry little Timmy, due to fiscal irresponsibility there's no Christmas this year.

<comment><USER14> Looks like my Wednesday prediction was spot-on. We'll see just how low we can go tomorrow.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> All the biggest market gains were in economic recessions and depressions. Don't be fooled until the numbers come out positive for at least 2 quarters.

</comment><comment><USER16> Second largest point gain ever!

<comment><USER17> This is the part that really starts to scare me. We keep seeing record or near record swings, and it's starting to look like we'll get at least one per week.

Bad downturns happen, and there is plenty of reason to expect that we can recover from them, yet I can't help but feel that these sorts of wild oscillations show some sort of deeper trouble in the system itself.

<comment><USER18> Keep in mind that it's a record point gain, not a percentage gain. We're constantly breaking those records because of inflation, and it's nothing to be particularly concerned about.

If you keep hearing about record-breaking percentage swings, well, that's a little more worrying.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> ugh! I hate the recession!

<http://www.sniki.org>

</comment><comment><USER20> economy.fucked--;

( sleep(30); economy.fucked++ )?

</comment><comment><USER21> I don't visit Ycombinator for this kind of news.

<comment><USER22> Then don't vote up.

It's just like capitalism, if your unhappy, don't buy the product.

<comment><USER11> You are free to air your views with producers in a capitalist system, you know:-) Sometimes they even listen.</comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: A Platform for Many-Agent Reinforcement Learning - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/geek-ai/MAgent <comment><USER2> Another good, _very mature_ framework is _Repast_ ([https://repast.github.io/index.html](https://repast.github.io/index.html)), though it is Java with all the goods-and-bads that come with that.

<comment><USER3> A python ABM framework is _Slapp_ [https://github.com/terna/SLAPP/](https://github.com/terna/SLAPP/) or if you want sometghng java based (with support for maven, a gui and also eclipse plugin) you can try JAS-mine [http://www.jas-mine.net/](http://www.jas- mine.net/) , please don't hesitate to contact me if you want to chat about Agent Based Mideling or complexity or network analysis.</comment></comment>


"Military Meltdown Monday": 90K military usernames, hashes released - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/07/military-meltdown-monday-90k-military-usernames-hashes-released.ars <comment><USER2> Anonymous need to read some books on strategy, because this just doesn't make any sense: what are they trying to accomplish? With their previous targets like HBGary, at least you could say that they were taking down corrupt and/or incompetent contractors, but this is different. Booz Allen is a much bigger organization, not some fly-by-night that can easily be folded up. Furthermore, while this does demonstrate that their security had serious problems, it does not demonstrate the kind of gross malfeasance that could actually take a company down.

As for the U.S. military, this is certainly going to cause the U.S. military some inconvenience, but not any serious long-term harm. What _will_ happen as a result of this is that federal law enforcement will now start going after Anonymous in a way that they have not previously done: federal felonies have been committed, and further such crimes are highly likely. Serious resources are going to be devoted to tracking down the responsible parties. Anonymous have developed a false sense of security because nobody has yet gone after them with the full resources of the federal government, and because their interactions have largely been limited to exceptionally inept contractors. While there are plenty of incompetents working for the government, there are also lots of people who are very talented and capable, and Anonymous is now going to find themselves dealing with the latter category.

In summary, they have not done any lasting damage to the government, but they have turned themselves into priority targets. I don't see the upside for them.

<comment><USER3> > what are they trying to accomplish?

They are Anonymous. They're doing it for the lulz, of course.

But seriously, what makes you think they aren't just the modern Loki, doing this simply because it amuses them and creates chaos?

<comment><USER2> Even if that's their goal, most of my points still apply: this didn't cause very much chaos, but they put themselves in a very dangerous situation. If their goal is to create as much chaos as possible, their strategy should incorporate considerations about their ability to continue sowing chaos in the long-term. Instead, they have exposed themselves to a dramatically increased chance of being caught and stopped. If their goal is to amuse themselves to the greatest degree possible, the above applies just as much, plus they should factor in the "non-amusing" nature of residence in a federal penitentiary.

<comment><USER3> That's a very good point - it also reminds me of this article about how true guerilla warfare works (or ought to work): <http://exiledonline.com/wn-38-ira- vs-al-qaeda-i-was-wrong/>

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Pretty sure this is a dupe.

Hm, yup: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2751782>

Then I shall dupe my comment from that article as well, or at least the content of it.

Inspired by these recent break-ins, I have set up a service to monitor your email account for break-ins by hackers: <http://www.emailambush.com>. I figure that with hackers like Anonymous running wild, that extra level of security and assurance has to be worthwhile to some.

</comment><comment><USER5> FTA: _"Unlike the passwords taken from government contractor IRC Federal, the passwords from the Booz Allen system have been hashed using SHA-1. This will make breaking into further systems using the released account information harder—but it's likely that at least some of the passwords will be crackable, and so further damage could follow."_

<insert critique of prevailing orthodoxies re: password hashing, a horse beaten to death on HN already>

<comment><USER6> A lot of people will assume "hashed using SHA-1" means simply SHA1(salt + password) but in practice many password hashing libraries use SHA-1 with a work factor, similar to bcrypt. I think NIST currently requires at least 100,000 rounds of SHA-1.

<comment><USER5> My read of the original announcement on piratebay (sorry, link not handy) was that the group who made the release asserted that:

1) the passwords were unsalted 2) they had already recovered plaintext passwords

has anyone followed up on this?

<comment><USER7> <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2752711></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Pirate needs 200k video views to avoid being sued - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34932628 <comment><USER3> A classic example of organizations (BSA, Microsoft etc.) not understanding the internet and thinking this was going to deter others.

Lots of online comment (and views of the video[1]) are supportive of the guy and are viewing to remove the threat of him being financially ruined (it's almost at the 200,000 as I type).

MS just come across as intentional bullies and thugs (I'm paraphrasing comments made elsewhere rather than stating an opinion) and that's probably way more damaging to them than any of their make believe financial damages ever could be.

The BSA have a long track record of trying to game search engines and cause reputational damage to those they sue but I expect, in the long run, the 'pirate' will have more harm caused by long forgotten facebook postings than by the BSA. The world has moved on and the BSA have failed to even notice they've been left behind.

I'm tucking this one away as an example for the times I need to give examples of brain-dead stupid stuff that people who don't understand the internet, do, thinking they're being super clever and showing their super skills/exacting revenge etc.

[1] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKjPutIlBCA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKjPutIlBCA)

[edit:spelling]

<comment><USER4> The thing is, the general public will never see sharing of media as a criminal act. The only difference to a normal person between lending a book and letting someone copy a movie is that you both can watch it at the same time.

To most copyright is just some made-up bullshit for the purpose of squeezing money from honest people.

<comment><USER5> Most people are pretty dumb so what most people think isn't relevant.

Example: Donald Trump's popularity.

<comment><USER6> This point is idiotic. If the people who don't think that media sharing is a crime actually organized it would cease to be a crime.

Law is written by a privileged few but is enacted by the everyday people who choose whether to obey and enforce it based on their conscience and incentives.

<comment><USER5> Copyright is a great idea. The majority can think whatever they want and be wrong.

Laws aren't enforced by everyday people. They're enforced by, wait for it, law enforcement agencies.

We, the United States, live in a republic. If the majority of people think something it doesn't actually matter. The great thing about a republic is everyday Joe doesn't write the law. Nor should he. Because Joe isn't very smart.

<comment><USER7> I don't think you understand how human nature works, or how it affects dumb laws over the course of time.

<comment><USER5> So copyright is a bad idea because... human nature? I hope you aren't also a fan of GPL.

The root of this isn't that copyright is a good idea that's been spoiled by human nature. The root implies that copyright itself is fundamentally baD. An opinion that I respectfully disagree as strongly as can be.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Hi, I'm from the same country as the guy - Czech Republic.

I really don't know if to punish people by such a humiliation is a good way to go. That movie is going to be played like one of those short movies you play in the theatre before the main movie. Soon, everybody here will know the man, imagine being him and walking on the street..

And because of the history of the BSA, the company that sue the guy, you cannot be sure, if this video is not just some promotion of the BSA itself, which, by the way, does not have a legal status in the Czech Republic. Company's scandals and campaigns (if your neighbour uses illegal software, tell us and we give you 100 000 CZK [approx. 4 000 EUR] ) in past give whole thing a kind of stinky feeling..

<comment><USER9> If this is a BSA campaign, just looking at the youtube comments, it's kind of stupid, because people are supporting the guy as a result and speaking badly about BSA.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> This situation is absolutely abhorrent and a disgusting brutish display of power on behalf of the studios. This is the civil equivalent of shooting a gun at someone's feet and yelling, "dance monkey dance." This is not about justice, this is about humiliation and is a complete perversion of everything a justice system should stand for.

> Instead, the companies said they would be happy to receive only a _small > payment_ and his _co-operation_ in the production of the video.

This is literally the line the villain in movie is supposed to say.

</comment><comment><USER10> I hope its not as stupid as that "You would not steal a car" one... I would steal a car if i could copy my friends BMW with the press of a button without having any material costs. :)

<comment><USER11> "You wouldn't use the photocopier in the public library..."

<comment><USER6> "You wouldn't teach someone a recipe you learned from a book."

<comment><USER12> You wouldn't retell a story someone told you. (Unless, of course you're Disney, then you change a couple of names and slap a copyright sign on it.)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> It's like the "you wouldn't steal a helmet" from IT CROWD - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYOlNRYikBw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYOlNRYikBw) \- but supposedly for real.

According to local media, it's facts cooking by BSA/Microsoft, there was no alternative punishment (on the contrary - the court said that Microsoft "damages" are bullshit, as well as a supreme court in a similar case before) etc.

[https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&pr...](https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Ftechnet.idnes.cz%2Fbsa- jakub-f-alternativni-trest- deh-%2Ftec_technika.aspx%3Fc%3DA151123_141357_tec_technika_vse&edit-text=)

[https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&pr...](https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lupa.cz%2Fclanky%2Fbsa- vymyslela-moderni-pranyr-pro-pirata-a-tradicne-manipuluje-fakty%2F&edit-text=)

The video went viral (200k in 2-3 days), but probably not in the way BSA / Microsoft meant it.

</comment><comment><USER14> There is a conversation to be had about piracy, the role of copyright and of commercial software. But forced speech is not honest speech, and allowing this sort of thing is bad for intellectual integrity. Let the BSA produce their own videos under their own name.

<comment><USER4> The cherry on top would have been if he were to make the sign for "speech under duress" or however it was called in the video.

<comment><USER15> You mean like blink the Morse code for "torture" like what Jeremiah Denton did? That would be classic.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Reminds me of that TV show called Black mirror [1]. Such and odd sentence that I think this is life imitating art.

[1] - [http://m.imdb.com/title/tt2085059/](http://m.imdb.com/title/tt2085059/)

</comment><comment><USER17> > But the Business Software Alliance (BSA), which represented Microsoft, > acknowledged that Jakub could not pay that sum.

If he were to put in reasonable effort into gaining the requisite number of views, and were to fall short of the goal, couldn't the same argument be made that acquiring 200,000 video views is not within his capabilities?

<comment><USER18> Argue whatever you want - it is out of the courts at this point. It is purely a civil matter between him and the companies. The article specifically stated that the number was thrown out there to give him the incentive to cooperate.

So there is no guarantee they would sue if he fails, no guarantee they would win if they sued, and they already admit he cannot pay even if they do sue and win.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> I never understood how the companies expect these films to work in the long run. Essentially, they eagerly portray themselves (and the legal system they control) as a dark, Nazi-like totalitarian force with lowly filesharers being the persecuted underclass. I'm sure fear is the message, but doesn't it hurt them more in the long run? Who would willingly buy products from this regime?

<comment><USER20> Considering Disney is at the helm of the copyright disaster train and are producing more blockbuster films each year than in their entire history (and now they have Star Wars coming out next month) I would say a _lot_ of people don't give a shit about cultural ethics when it competes with the availability of John Williams scores.

The copyright mafia is also the gatekeepers on the consumer media empire. And those at the top are well lead to believe that copyright is meant to serve them, to make their business powerful and enforce their control of discourse and culture through it.

I mean, this case was about Microsoft. There have been dozens of documented incidents of Microsoft exploiting its power and law to their benefit over consumers, to crush competition, maintain and abuse monopoly, and manipulate discourse in their favor. Yet Windows remains king of the desktop, because there is no grassroots movement with any momentum to pressure OEM pc vendors that sell hardware in store to adopt _anything_ else, and because Microsoft has successfully made a market of apathetic and inert users who do not understand the tools they use enough to see how they are being taken advantage of.

And that is billions of people. Those aren't the kind of folk to stop using Office or Outlook or Windows because of ethics. Same reason people flock in droves to Wal-Mart, Koch Industries, John Deere, BP and Exxon Mobil - <USER2> take a back seat to convenience and price, and we suffer in the long run by giving our agitators all the assets they need to get what they want _willingly_.

<comment><USER21> The grandparent wasn't asserting media conglomerates are actually failing in any way that matters. Still, the question about the validity of these scare-o- mercials remains. Somewhere deep in these corporations there are obviously people who think " _yeah, let 's portray ourselves as the evil empire, sounds good to me!_".

Doesn't that raise questions about the target audience, or at least about the perception of what the target audience looks like? When I choose to make a commercial that portrays my company in the most sinister way possible, on purpose, I have to weigh the image loss from that against the effectiveness of the scare.

 _> Yet Windows remains king of the desktop, because there is no grassroots movement with any momentum to pressure OEM pc vendors that sell hardware in store to adopt anything else_

I'm not sure that's true anymore. It certainly was, in the past. I'm personally not a Windows user, but it seems to me that the foothold Windows has in different user groups is absolutely monumental, so churning out hardware with anything else pre-installed would encounter stiff resistance from the consumer side. That same loyalty does not exist for entertainment companies.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> I know that local authorities are not the same as the European Union, but it's amazing that you have this punishment in an area that subscribes to the Right to Be Forgotten. I don't think there's any way to square that circle.

<comment><USER23> This is a settlement out of court – a contract. He signed it by his own choice and it could have happened everywhere in the world.

<comment><USER22> Ah, of course.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> _The man, named only as Jakub F_

That's the 21st century version of Joseph K

<comment><USER25> This is indeed very kafkaesque to the point where this can be just a "viral" campaign gone really badly....

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> Nice to see we've brought back the stocks and pillory as a valid form of punishment.

</comment><comment><USER27> Doesn't Microsoft now distribute Windows images for free? I've definitely downloaded disk images off their web site and plugged in my windows license key. What's the exact nature of the crime, here?

Also, who exactly owns a license key? Is there a secondary market where I can sell my key to a third party? Because I have a buttload of Linux laptops with useless Windows license keys stickers on the side, and I'd sure like to be able to exchange them for value.

<comment><USER28> Those keys are locked to that hardware (to a certain degree). It's a little more work than sharing 25 alphanumeric characters with someone else.

<comment><USER29> I'm an employee but outside of the Windows org so this is all me. /corporatedisclaimer

Is this true? I thought it was just a standard OEM key. The license wouldn't let you install it legally except on an OEM system, but I don't think there's checks in place in the installer to ensure it.

On newer computers there isn't a sticker at all since the license is stored on the hardware and pulled by the installer automatically.

<comment><USER30> Those keys used for Win7 used to be locked to a specific hardware vendor and could be used on any other machine from that hardware vendor (given same edition of Windows). This was done by special tables inserted in the BIOS, so to crack it you could actually patch your BIOS to emulate any vendor or use a bootloader which would emulate this. Only vendor-specific key + the table in the bios = unlocked Windows when using these keys.

I hear they've changed it on newer ones and pirates have switched almost entirely to KMS activation server emulation, so I assume something's different in Win8+.

<comment><USER31> Microsoft switched to online activation after EU court decided used software can be RESOLD. This means you can buy broken laptop for $10 from recycling center, and legally own license for a system that was installed on it.

UsedSoft vs Oracle (2012)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Excerpt from the article

> The firms, which included Microsoft, HBO Europe, Sony Music and Twentieth > Century Fox, estimated that the financial damage amounted to thousands of > pounds, with Microsoft alone valuing its losses at 5.7m Czech Crowns > (£148,000).

> But the Business Software Alliance (BSA), which represented Microsoft, > acknowledged that Jakub could not pay that sum.

In addition to the financial settlement, the 30-year-old was also given a three-year suspended sentence.

</comment><comment><USER32> Surprisingly effective piece of work, even without understanding the language: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKjPutIlBCA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKjPutIlBCA)

</comment><comment><USER33> I suspect this is an entirely made-up PR campaign from the BSA.

<comment><USER31> Very well could be.

MS did something similar in Poland two weeks ago:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpoPrPWMRT8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpoPrPWMRT8)

This is a Polish Microsoft anti piracy campaign equalling everyone who calls himself a Hacker to ISIS terrorist and pedophile :/ Thats right, they uploaded YT clips showing "hackers" in balaclavas collecting child porn.

</comment></comment><comment><USER34> I wonder how many people are going to leave a tab open to that video and play it over and over with the sound down, as they go about their other browsing?

<comment><USER7> A lot of people, from what I have been seeing.

They are doing it numerous times and generating new IP addresses each time.

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> The sentence is based on the assumption that the fellow isn't a "real" pirate.

But, ironically, one way to pass the requirement is to turn to cyber- criminals: hire a botnet to generate the bulk of the 200K views.

<comment><USER36> ha! that is the only sane explanation that does not assume everyone is a moron: the lawyers are entrapping him!

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> I've always been a fan of alternative forms of punishment. A guy in my highschool got caught slipping envelopes containing glitter into lockers. Innocent enough prank, but some parents freaked out as this was post-9/11\. Instead of suspension, he was told he needed to hand-write a page-long apology to each affected student, and would be denied field trips and the non- mandatory assemblies until it was done. It was around 70 letters he had to write, it only took him a few weeks, and the point was made.

</comment><comment><USER7> I've already witnessed people on forums claiming they have been watching the video numerous times, leaving the video running with their speakers off and generating a new IP each time.

I really don't think this is going to have the effect they (the copyright holders and court) intended, and that's a good thing.

</comment><comment><USER38> I guess this is the modern equivalent of being whipped by shame on each view. With a sort of promotional after thought - where economy substitutes law. Mmmm It doesn't seem the DNA of this method will survive longer than a few sarcasms and a 'shame on you' backlash

</comment><comment><USER39> Well, that didn't take long. 212k views at the moment.

</comment><comment><USER40> [https://www.flickr.com/photos/scriptingnews/3116706556](https://www.flickr.com/photos/scriptingnews/3116706556)

</comment><comment><USER13> [https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&pr...](https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Ftechnet.idnes.cz%2Fbsa- jakub-f-alternativni-trest- deh-%2Ftec_technika.aspx%3Fc%3DA151123_141357_tec_technika_vse&edit-text=)

</comment><comment><USER41> Always thought it was funny how most new msft employees, especially college grads, spent years pirating windows and pirating it for their friends and family. Instead of being pushed, they are rewarded with a nice paycheck, and given thousands of dollars worth of ms software per year for themselves and their families for free.

</comment><comment><USER42> Doing my part.

This, IMHO, is a very reasonable and workable solution to infringement.

I very strongly dislike the implied "lost sale" as damages argument, largely because the money "implied" simply isn't there on the scale referenced by the major content producers and distributors.

People, by and large, have fixed entertainment dollars. And they spend them, and the forms of entertainment compete. If, suddenly, there were no infringement, people would max out those dollars, maybe adding a few here and there.. But the billions simply aren't there.

The product of that would be much higher competition for entertainment, people choosing to consume less entertainment, and or choosing to self-entertain with more basic, human means.

When the little guy wants to get known in that environment, what do you think is going to happen?

They will give it away to a hungry audience, that's what will happen.

And that too is a reason for my strong dislike for the high financial penalties. Infringement isn't theft. The rights owner still has everything, and loses nothing. In fact, they still have the opportunity, potentially improved by the infringing act, to sell to the infringer, right along with everyone else, and in particular, who that infringer may recommend to, or share about.

I'm not saying it's right. It's not. I am saying a much more rational and real conversation needs to happen about these things. The equation to theft is actually doing us a lot of harm, due to bad discussions lead to bad law, and bad law leads to a state where it's not respected, etc... and that is where we are today.

Law that doesn't take into account the realities and dynamics won't be effective. It almost never is. And that discord drives people to reject it and ignore it, circumvent it...

Anyway, this is good! What it does do is improve on norms, and as Lessig tells us, regulation happens via law, physics, norms, money or markets.

Requiring people to demonstrate or help to improve on social norms can do a lot of good here, and it's time and energy better spent, IMHO.

I see jimrandomh talking about forced speech. Well, this kind of thing does further the conversation, and we all know the source of the speech and why it's happening. There is no need to be dishonest about any of it, and where we aren't, the better dialogs can happen.

I prefer this to bankrupting people.

</comment><comment><USER43> To my mind this is equivalent of blackmail. He may be better off with this solution, but I still think it is nothing short of blackmail.

I think this because of the imbalance of power. What he can expect to earn in a lifetime is a drop on the ocean for them.

</comment><comment><USER44> Well he'll surely get those hits now that the BBC has picked it up?

<comment><USER45> Next guy might not be so lucky.

<comment><USER42> Maybe. Then again, this is a reasonable path that leaves everyone largely intact and able to continue in life.

Someone saddled with an impossible to pay sum may not continue in the same way, and who knows what we may have lost for doing that?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER46> I watched it just to help. Almost 300k views now. Piracy is a right, not a crime and something that is positive for the world, esp. software piracy, IMO.

</comment><comment><USER47> gotta help this guy!

</comment><comment><USER48> Congratulations on the 200k views!

</comment><comment><USER49> One of the few movies where a hacker uses Windows.

<comment><AUTHOR> I don't think, he is a hacker. People with poor technology skills also pirate whereas becoming a hacker, it is expected to have a decent amount of technology knowledge and skill-set.</comment></comment>


Advance in quantum error correction - <AUTHOR> http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2015/quantum-error-correction-0526

<comment><USER2> It was already possible to correct a positive fraction of qubits as long as you accept a constant distance; consider the Hamiltonian:

H = <a_i1|X|a_i2> \+ <a_i2|Z|a_i3> \+ <a_i1|Z|a_(i+1)1> \+ <a_i3|X|a_(i+1)3> [i = 1..N]

This generates a [N, N/3, 2] code, with N/3 logical qubits per physical qubit. The trouble is that a no-go theorem states that for codes defined by operators which are local in any finite dimension, the code distance d = o(N); in particular, in two dimensions, d = O(√N).

(IIRC; haven't done this in a while...)</comment>


Google Login is Down [screenshot] - <AUTHOR> http://i.imgur.com/wMNjYrl.png

<comment><AUTHOR> To anyone deploying to App Engine or GCE having this issue I found a workaround is to use 'gcloud preview app deploy ./app.yaml' instead of 'appcfg.py update ./app.yaml --no_cookies --oauth2'

YMMV

And now, 5 minutes later, it's back.</comment>


Distrusting WoSign and StartCom Certificates - <AUTHOR> https://security.googleblog.com/2016/10/distrusting-wosign-and-startcom.html <comment><USER2> The article says Chrome 56 will distrust WoSign and StartCom. According to the release schedule I found, that will be January 31, 2017 [http://www.chromium.org/developers/calendar](http://www.chromium.org/developers/calendar)

<comment><USER3> The canary I'm running calls itself "Version 56.0.2906.0 canary (64-bit)"

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> So much for the possibility of WoSign coming back from this.

</comment><comment><USER5> It sounds like they are doing something a little different from Mozilla and possibly using a whitelist of known domains.</comment>


NYCLU Victory Preserves Right to Walk Around Without ID on NYC Subway - <AUTHOR> http://www.nyclu.org/news/nyclu-victory-preserves-right-walk-around-without-id-take-photos-nyc-subway

<comment><USER2> Thanks for the heads up on this very good piece of news.</comment>


What Happens in a Greylock VC Pitch Meeting? - <AUTHOR> https://www.wired.com/story/what-really-happens-in-a-vc-pitch-meeting-greylock/ <comment><USER2> Interesting takeaway, for me at least: "Spend more now to dominate the market and put distance between yourself and any potential rivals" in the context where the startup's burn rate was 1 mil and the investor recommends 3 mil!</comment>


How do you build a userbase from scratch before launching a new website? - <AUTHOR>

Also, how do you keep the first dozen or so users interested and involved when they're the only ones? <comment><USER2> If it requires lots of people to work (chicken and egg problem) you need to find a way to get around it. Some common ways that spring to mind are:

-Seeding: figure out a way to get data in there before the user experiences it. LinkedIn, Facebook, etc have you import contacts so you can instantly find your friends/colleagues/etc. Reddit used multiple accounts to post links themselves. Create the content or figure out a way to automatically populate when someone registers.

-Pre-Launch: Get a bunch of people interested and release it to a large number all at the same time. Setup a mailing list to collect email addresses and when it reaches whatever threshold you need, launch it.

-Launch at an event: depending on what it's used for, there could be an event which makes the most sense to launch at for people to experience it together. I think it was twitter that was launched at SXSW (my memory could be completely wrong about this).

-Launch and fail: probably the most likely outcome if you've not engaged your customers at all. You can try it and get feedback for the next attempt to launch it, you need to figure out why people would want to use it in the first place. AirBnb failed how many times?

</comment><comment><USER3> (From comment: this is a social thing)

At first it's a small party. Put everyone together. Only add stuff like "following" etc. later, when you have a big party that's too loud.

</comment><comment><USER4> Fake it. Reddit founders simulated activity by creating and posting with various users themselves. I can't find the reference now.

<comment><USER5> Alexis Ohanian talks about it. I remember seeing a video. Can't remember where.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> You would probably need to explain a little bit about what you're doing. Is it a marketplace? A news site? Deal site?

<comment><AUTHOR> it's a social network which is in part similar to twitter and in part to reddit - a lot of content is needed to fill the main pages and some lot more to create interaction between the users</comment></comment>