X-Men: The Animated Series – Unlikely Story of the '90s Cartoon Hit - <AUTHOR> http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/x-men-animated-series-story-90s-cartoon-hit-1052263 <comment><USER2> For a generation of kids like me the definitive story of X-Men wasn't the comics or the movies, it was this TV show. The complexity and the maturity of the stories in the series might even go beyond the current Marvel cinematic universe.

<comment><USER3> That's not really a high bar.

The theme of the MCU is, roughly speaking, war, with a simple thread between the movies building towards a big one.

<comment><USER4> True. All the Marvel films are broadly the same. They've got absolutely nothing to say about the world or the human condition but they are of course entertaining (well, some of them anyway).

<comment><USER5> "absolutely nothing to say" is a bit extreme. The Winter Soldier had a very clear political message, Guardians has always been about artificial family, every origin story movie is an individual overcoming some relatable human flaw. They aren't complicated, but they aren't Transformers/BvS.

The victory lap movies tend to fall into your categorization at least (Avengers, Civil War, maybe Thor 3).

<comment><USER6> Very similar to people who think the Rambo movies are just action movies. Every one of those movies had a political purpose.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I'm one of the 90s kids who watched this series. I'd not realized that there'd been executive pressure to make the show into another 20 minute toy commercial -- I never got that vibe from watching it. So, IMO, they successfully resisted that pressure, which I'm glad of.

I was only half-aware of it at the time, but I absolutely loved the fact that it wasn't overly silly, wacky or talking down to me. It offered serious, mature storytelling with relatable characters, and a longer serialized plot. I couldn't quite articulate those qualities at my young age, but at some level, I felt their lack in other cartoons. Even if I couldn't explain why, I knew what I was watching was good.

In that way, it reminds me of another cartoon from the early 90s, DiC's Saturday morning version of Sonic the Hedgehog (dubbed "SatAM" by fans the to distinguish it from the other Sonic cartoon which ran concurrently on weekdays). SatAM also tried it's hand at a darker setting, more mature story telling, and in its second season, a longer serialized plot. And again, I recognized quality and lapped it up. Not to say it was without flaws; quality zig-zagged through the show's run. But like X-men, it was neither infantilizing or preachy, and I loved it for that.

Now, cartoons are no longer _only_ for young children; take for example Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block, or South Park. But I think there still should be some kids cartoons that attempt serious storytelling alongside the comedic ones. Not having kids, I've not been closely following kids cartoons. Are there any of that latter type presently?

<comment><USER8> Gravity Falls was a big hit with older viewers(grand supernatural mysteries plotline underpinning various family drama). There's also a new Ducktales - I've only caught the premiere of that but it looks like a fitting reboot. Steven Universe has been very good, and before that there was Adventure Time.

Good all-ages shows are definitely there in the mix, although the pressure to cut everything down to formulaic audience pandering has remained a constant.

<comment><USER7> I feel seriously remiss for forgetting Adventure Time now. Gravity Falls has been recommended to me before, though it escaped my memory since I've actually never seen it.

Even though it's a miniseries, I do feel like I should perhaps mention Over The Garden Wall for a few reasons: 1. More than once I've been told that if I liked Over the Garden Wall, I'd like Gravity Falls, 2. Over the Garden Wall was produced by Patrick McHale, creative director and frequent writer for Adventure Time, and 3. It's that damn good -- the basic story is presented simply enough that a kid mature enough to not get freaked out by spooky things would enjoy it, and there addition themes woven in that story that adults would enjoy it too (I know I did).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> As a child, I thought Dungeons and Dragons, X-Men, Spider Man (the 90s version), and the DCAU series (Batman, Superman, etc.) were really fantastic cartoon series. I've seen some of them since then, and they still hold up really well.

Most of the comic book and related shows today, including Marvel's, seem comparatively unwatchable and immature. They are definitely not designed to be for anyone but the youngest children. Young Justice is a notable exception.

<comment><USER10> Don't forget Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! That was another great cartoon from the 90s. They don't make these shows like they used to.

<comment><USER11> Gargoyles.

<comment><USER12> With a whole bunch of Star trek voice acting!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Interesting that the famous 6-stick X-Men arcade game, also released in 1992, used the character designs from the failed 1989 pilot episode rather than the 1992 animated series. I remember thinking how weird it was that the video game characters were wearing the wrong costumes.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Men_(1992_video_game)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Men_\(1992_video_game\))

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Men:_Pryde_of_the_X- Men](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Men:_Pryde_of_the_X-Men)

<comment><USER14> I remember thinking the same thing. I thought the costumes were from the older comics, though. I didn't know about the failed pilot. Good stuff, thanks.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> "Previously on X-men", Who else hears the voice of cyclops?

I can't be the only one to have pieced together the story of "days of future past" in a non-linear fashion because you keep missing episodes due to Saturday school?

<comment><USER16> What is "Saturday school"?

<comment><USER17> My highschool had Saturday school for only the 4 years I was there. It was for making up for sick days. or being late too many times.

<comment><USER16> What were some of the things they taught on Sat. school?

<comment><USER17> how to sit quietly for four hours. It was just a punishment.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> This was huge in Brazil, too, at the time. Though with some setbacks, when aired in open/FTA networks. For example, the multi-part episodes were cut down (i.e. destroyed) as a single episode -- we only discovered they were actually two episodes a couple of years later, when cable tv got popular and the show aired on Fox Kids without the mutilations.

Also there were some translation mistakes (specially in the first episodes). However, the brazilian voice actors were amazing and extremely memorable -- Brazil had an incredible pool of voice actors in the 80's and 90's. It was so memorable that the same voice actors who did the animated series were used to produce the dubbed versions of the movies a decade+ later, a rare gift given to fans in these lands.

As for the comics, they were also a few years behind US. Uncanny X-Men #262 was published when the show first aired. So as kids coming from the show to the comics, we were also pretty confused about uniforms and team members.

</comment><comment><USER19> > Eric Lewald : The Hollywood normalcy is you provide a number one hit and the > money starts flowing. What happened with us was we had a number one hit, but > it was four or five companies working on this. One of them was Saban. What > he did after the first season was cut $500 off the script fee for the > writers. > > Julia Lewald: Me being one of the writers. > > Eric Lewald: His > rationale was, "it's a hit. They want to be part of it, so they'll take less > money." > > JuliaLewald: "And if not, there's a line out the door of people > who will."

Brutal.

<comment><USER20> Weird that Saban doesn't address those comments in the article....

<comment><USER19> For this style of interview, I don't think they are necessarily in the same room at the same time but I think the reporter is splicing together separate interviews using a common set of questions. Hence the lack of interaction or responses between interviewees.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> >> There was incredible pressure to change it around and make it younger, sillier, or give them a pet dog. To dumb it down or make it younger. Luckily, everybody on the creative side banded together and had, "No, you'll have to fire me" moments.

Now more than ever, I wish more shows were like this.

</comment><comment><USER22> > _Disher: I remember us smoking in the recording studio. I remember because > when I got pregnant, I had to ask people to not smoke when I was in the > room. It just boggles my mind now, that we were allowed to light up in a > recording studio._

It's amazing how that sort of thing gets hard to remember. Reading that paragraph, I remember now that when I was 12 or so, we'd go out to restaurants which had smoking or non- sections - and the only real "separation" between the two was the main aisle from the entrance to the back.

Boggles the mind to imagine something like that now. A guy walked into a pizza place with a pinched off cigarette over lunch, and I did a double-take.

<comment><USER23> In Marvel's comics back in the day, they ran a one-page feature called Bullpen Bulletins that had news, columns, and various pieces of trivia about what was going on at Marvel. They originally did one a month, but starting with the beginning of 1993 they started running a different Bullpen Bulletins every week. One week a month, they ran a column by Marvel's Senior Executive Editor, Mark Gruenwald, called "Mark's Remarks", where he wrote about whatever was on his mind.

In one of those columns, Gru wrote about how he detests smoking and he doesn't allow people to smoke in his office. I remember stumbling on that column a few years ago, when I was going through some old comics, and it's just bizarre to me that you could smoke in any other part of Marvel's offices as recently as 1993-4 (I don't remember exactly when that column was from, but it was one of those two years) and that whether or not you could smoke in somebody's office was up to whoever the office belonged to. And I grew up in that era!

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> The 90s were truly a golden age for TV adaptations of coming books. X-Men,the Batman & Superman animated series,along with Spiderman and more were classics.

<comment><USER25> IMO WB still do good adaptations of DC material.

Marvel on the other hand too often descend into fart jokes and similar cringe moments.

<comment><USER26> Yeah but Teen Titans Go? Fart jokes indeed.

I liked Ultimate Spider Man; that was not as good as the one in the 90's but better than a lot of other cartoons from recent years.

In general though I agree, I especially think DC does a good job with their animated movies.

<comment><USER25> TTGo it specifically set up to be that way.

But most of the Marvel ones are a massive dose of cringe/slapstick/fart with the odd moment of serious in what is supposedly a "serious" series.

There is no indication that there is supposed to be a "joke" show, they just dump so many (bad) jokes in there that it become a joke show by "accident".

And if we want to talk good Spider-Man shows we should not ignore the Sony made Spectacular Spider-Man, that IMO ranks well above both Ultimate and perhaps even the more recent one.

This in large part because while there were jokes etc, it enhanced the action rather than watered it down. One example would the first fight between Spider- Man and Green Goblin, where both had quips to deliver while both of them proved to be competent fighters.

In contrast Ultimate was a pile of monkey screams and timeouts as Spidey strained out some attempt at a joke.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> It's a pity that they didn't get the voice actors for Professor Xavier or Magneto in the roundtable discussion. They were the most interesting of the batch, particularly Magneto. I don't think _any_ other version of Magneto comes close to nailing Chris Claremont's interpretation of the character.

</comment><comment><USER28> I grew up watching those X-Men cartoons and the equally good (as I recall) Spider-Man seasons that followed too.

My favourite show wasn't a cartoon though, it was Knightmare. Which is probably easiest explained as a very British take on Dungeons and Dragons.

<comment><USER29> I was just explaining Knightmare to an American the other day - I assume this was only aired in the UK. If they recreated that show as a VR app that might finally get me to buy the hardware.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> Thank you Margaret Loesch, this was my favorite cartoon series when I was a child and it is what got me into Marvel.

<comment><USER31> 25 years later and I can still hear the theme music in my mind whenever it comes up in conversation. As a kid, the intro just got you so pumped up.

<comment><USER11> Best theme music ever? Maybe. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAkL2-vh2Sk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAkL2-vh2Sk)

<comment><USER32> I enjoyed the X-Men theme, but I think Spiderman's easily tops it for me (I also loved the 2nd version of the Iron Man Theme growing up).

For reference: theme songs from Fantastic Four, Hulk, Iron Man, Spiderman and Xmen.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC43s8fSsfc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC43s8fSsfc)

<comment><USER23> Oddly enough, I was singing the Spider-Man theme to myself last night as I was walking around the house. 20 years later, and it still randomly gets stuck in my head.

"Spider blood, spider blood, radioactive spider blood..."

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> Couldn't agree more with all the comments on quality and maturity of X-Men, Spiderman, and Batman series of that era. Paired with reading the comics they really cemented the Marvel and DC universes for me.

Have add in Exo Squad! While it's not a comic book adaptation, it's a kids- targeted cartoon from that 90s era with very mature themes. Great first-gen action figures and genesis game as well.

I've rewatched the series recently (can purchase on iTunes and find on youtube) and it still holds up. Would love to see it as a live-action series and/or in cinematic form.

<comment><USER34> Recently found some of my old Exo Squad action figures and my toddler loves them. I'm blown away by the quality/functionality.

In a similar vein of great cartoon + action figure combos of the era, Ronin Warriors.

<comment><USER33> Wow! I completely forgot about Ronin Warriors. I need to find and rewatch them—I hope they're available somewhere. I had those action figures as well. They were great.

Which Exo figures did/do you have? (I had Lt. Marsh, Wolf, Marsala, and Phaeton or Typhonus (can't recall which).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> This was one of the most memorable cartoons from my teens!

It was dubbed to Arabic by either a Syrian or Lebanese studio and was broadcast on MBC3, a Saudi cartoon/kids channel, in the mid-2000s. I may be mistaken on the channel, but the time frame should be accurate.

As a side note, probably 80% of all cartoons from the 90s onwards are dubbed by a few Lebanese, Syrian, and Egyptian studios.

The previous generation of cartoons, around the 70s and 80s, were mainly dubbed in Kuwait. Future Boy Conan[1] and Grendizer were from this era; if you ask an Arab about either of these two cartoons and they don't know them, they are not Arab!

[1]: The show's name in Arabic is _A 'adnan wa Leena_, which are the Arabic names of the two main characters, separated by the conjunction _wa_ ("and").

</comment><comment><USER36> [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rSw4Xl5qfs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rSw4Xl5qfs)

The Japanese intro for those of you who haven't seen it.

</comment><comment><USER37> If you're in this thread you're also going to want to check out Batman: The Animated Podcast ([http://www.btaspodcast.com/](http://www.btaspodcast.com/)).

It has some great interviews with the writers and producers.

</comment><comment><USER38> This cartoon was my jam. Growing up on comics as a kid with idols like Tony Stark, etc and all the sci-fi future stuff, just made me want to become an engineer/scientist.

</comment><comment><USER39> I was just thinking how much better The Gifted would be if it were animated like the 90s cartoon. Somehow comics don't translate well into low-budget live action TV.

<comment><USER40> > ...low-budget live action TV...

To be fair, it's rare that low-budget live-action action shows work well. It's even rarer if the action requires supernatural or science fiction elements.

<comment><USER41> This is one of the reasons I love Into The Badlands. It's got the budget to do comic book action right.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER42> This is my favorite parody video.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSuvOVH0aSQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSuvOVH0aSQ)

<comment><USER43> [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlta9iFxQE4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlta9iFxQE4)

</comment></comment><comment><USER44> Unlike many other 90s cartoons at that time I totally have no memory of seeing this on German television. Wikipedia says they dubbed (yes, everything's dubbed here) the first 26 episodes then didn't continue and only in 2001 as a rerun on a different channel season 3 and 4 were added.

</comment><comment><USER45> I was amazed, even then, about how advanced the story telling was.

They had one scene in the time traveling season, where Cable said something along the lines of: "It's just like the nuclear disarmament of the 21st century, every country kept one."

Game theory in a kids show? Awesome.

<comment><USER25> I think it was more a case of character cynicism.

</comment></comment><comment><USER46> When that theme song played we got so quiet and so excited. It still has an incredible effect on me.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa1RMD1f5Es](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa1RMD1f5Es)

</comment><comment><USER47> For anyone who loved X-Men as a kid should have a look at: Avengers: Earth Mightiest Heroes. Pretty similar with regards to story telling and much more mature than most MCU movies.

</comment><comment><USER48> Man, I enjoyed this show. The opening theme is my ringtone and has been for years at this point. When it goes off, usually someone nearby is like, "whoa, is that X-Men?!" :)

</comment><comment><USER49> You can relate to those who think Rambo movies have no political agenda when they clearly do.

</comment><comment><USER50> Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was my favorite cartoon at the time. Cartoons today are so lame.

<comment><USER40> The Duck Tales reboot is decent. Bob's Burgers is at worst pleasant. Rick and Morty, Archer, Star vs. The Forces of Evil, ... there are plenty of good cartoons.

And that's assuming you're not including Japanese animation as "cartoons".

<comment><USER25> Just checked the intro, and i love how they basically recreated the old intro beat by beat, while having a modern look.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: What paid news outlets do you recommend/use? - <AUTHOR> News is one area of my life that I don't pay for (directly). For a long time I assumed it would be just as bad ad/tracking-wise verses I did pay and that accessing news across my devices would be a huge PITA.
For example, John Gruber [0] has called out the WSJ multiple times on his podcast because it would force him to re-login-in all the time.
I don't want to pay for something that I won't use because it's so hostile to the user. That said, there are more and more articles that I see (some posted here on HN) that I would like to read but are paywalled. I'm ok with having a handful of subscriptions. So, how do you approach this issue? What do you subscribe to? Do you read mainly online/rss(is even still available for news?)/app?
Also is anyone using Apple News+? It seems more like a news feed than access via a real subscription (for example WSJ is in Apple News+ but only back 3 days[1]) and I've heard the Mac App is trash.
[0] https://daringfireball.net/
[1] https://www.cultofmac.com/614802/what-apple-news-means-for-wall-street-journal/ <comment><USER2> If you're in the United States: NYT and WaPo. Buy a subscription, then use an ad-blocker.

Their sites are light years better than other major newspaper, many of which are owned by parent companies and hedge funds that want to bleed them dry.

</comment><comment><USER3> I get paper copies of "The Economist" and "Bloomberg Business Week", I could read online too, but the login process is less than friction-less so I don't regularly read them online.</comment>


Unsubscribing from Goodreads email notifications - <AUTHOR> https://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2017/04/11/please-send-help/ <comment><USER2> I don't get why is this on the homepage. They clearly have a button to unsubscribe from all the emails. And it works. I found it in maybe two days after registering for an account and realizing that they send an email about everything. Never received an email from them since then.

Even so, that's a crappy reason to hate a company that could be solved in so many simple ways.

<comment><USER3> It's on the homepage because it is a somewhat humorous comment on the bad UX of putting the unsubscribe all at the end of pages of unsubscribe checkboxes.

I'm surprised you're clever enough to have found the button but are unable to figure out why this made it to HN's front page ...

<comment><USER2> Isn't it obvious to check how much of the checkmarks there is _before_ you start unchecking them?

In order to do so, you have to scroll to the bottom of the page. If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you'll notice that there's a "save settings" button, and without clicking on the bottom, you'll be unchecking them for nothing. And if you notice that button, you're going to notice "unsubscribe from all emails" link right below it.

I don't see that as being more crappy UX than the rest of the Goodreads design.

<comment><USER4> If there are about 50 possible actions to take on the page, and one of them is literally the last action, even after the 'save your settings' button, then that action is about as non-obvious as it can get while still being present in legible text. Flip it around - if you wanted an action to be obvious, would _you_ put it there?

As a comparison, look at meetup.com, a similar endeavour in a lot of ways: their email notification screen[0] has a 'turn off' button before any of the individual checkboxes, which turns them all off (except password resets and the like).

[0] [https://www.meetup.com/account/comm/](https://www.meetup.com/account/comm/)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I'm an avid reader, and I can say that Kindle, Goodreads, Google Books all fill the use case of finding new books to read, but is very lacking in the tracking department. I've had some small plans of making an app/site that just focuses on the tracking part, making and managing a list of books to read/already read with local ratings. I also want the ability to subscribe to an author or a book series and be notified of new releases.

I haven't been able to find a good service that does this in a good way. I have a prototype working pretty good right now, the only problem is that the book databases I use isn't that good sadly.

<comment><USER6> > I also want the ability to subscribe to an author or a book series and be > notified of new releases.

I also want this and am kind of surprised it doesn't exist (or if it does, I haven't seen it). "Following" certain authors on Kindle doesn't seem to have done anything useful, either.

<comment><USER7> You can have Goodreads do something like this, in the newsletters and other mail section you can check the 'send me the monthly new releases email', 'only send this to me if it includes an author I've read', and click the customize button and deselect all of the genres.

And then you end up with an email which has new releases by authors you've read before.

I generally have no use for most of what Goodreads does, but this combined with the ability to pull my Kindle purchases in automatically is pretty useful.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> While this is a practice that infuriates me in most cases, this article is quite hyperbolic if you take just a minute to look at the examples given.

Goodreads has a long list of checkboxes, ticked by default to send you an email in the case of an event, so it looks at first glance like they'll be bombarding you. But looking through the list of events, 90% of them are both significant (involving a deliberate action of a friend of yours on one of your account posts/reviews/&c.) and relatively infrequent (extremely infrequent in the case of my own account, which I would guess actually has above average activity in the context of all Goodreads users).

They should untick a few of them by default - e.g. the newsletters. However most of them make sense (unless you're of the opinion that all services should default to opt-out on all notification emails absolutely).

Also - anyone not reading the entire 100% of the article is going to miss Goodreads' redeeming feature at the very end.

</comment><comment><USER9> I'm glad to see that the Goodreads comments aren't agreeing that Goodreads sucks. I'm not that kind of reader, but my wife wrote her first novel about Bulgokov's writing of Master and Margarita, and it's getting good reviews on Goodreads (she was on NPR a couple of weeks back). Googling her book is actually how I found Goodreads.

For the interested: [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31243075-mikhail-and- mar...](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31243075-mikhail-and-margarita)

</comment><comment><USER10> If there isn't an unsubscribe button in the email I just mark it as spam or autodirect to a "I'm really bored" folder.

</comment><comment><USER11> Even meetup.com has the same problem, abit to a lesser extend.

</comment><comment><USER12> Myself, instead of unsubscribing, I filter all emails. I stop receiving them, and they still have to pay for the email they send to me. It works every single time and I don't have to play any games like the ones in this article.

<comment><USER2> There are no games. You just scroll to the bottom of one URL[0] and click on one label. This article is bullshit.

[0] [https://www.goodreads.com/user/edit](https://www.goodreads.com/user/edit)

<comment><USER3> That's _actually_ the punchline of the article, which you missed. It's bad UX to put the button at the bottom and causes people to go through the checkboxes unnecessarily.</comment></comment></comment>


Example of Uber using Craigslist to find drivers for UberEATS - <AUTHOR> https://londonon.craigslist.ca/lab/d/uber-eats-drivers-needed/6330702405.html <comment><USER2> Former Uber engineer here.

You sure that this post is from Uber HQ or the Uber London city team?

It looks like some random person has an Uber referral code and is trying to get signups out of it.

<comment><AUTHOR> I did consider the fact that it could be a current Uber driver leveraging their referral code, however, the way the post is written makes it seem as though it came from Uber or an agency which Uber hired.

<comment><USER2> It's a pretty common strategy for random people with referral codes to pretend to be affiliated with Uber.

Usually, they don't do a good job of it.</comment></comment></comment>


CLEARink EPaper 2.0 at Sid Display Week 2019 - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjJ2-cdhwMQ <comment><AUTHOR> Very cool that eink is finally at this stage. I was just reviewing the other day what components I would need to build my own kindle. A full color screen would be nice even if the refresh rate is low...just to read graphic novels without the strain.

Also curious if this tech will eventually make it's way to laptop/phone screens.</comment>


Flatland & hierarchies in UI design  - <AUTHOR> http://ignorethecode.net/blog/2009/10/11/flatland/

<comment><USER2> I agree that a graduated hierarchical system is best. A good model for designers would be the techniques used by modern game designers. Most modern games are extremely complex and have a graduated system in which you master one aspect before moving on to the next. If learning a program or OS can be done in a similar manner to learning a video game it might work.

Personally I think the solution to the "hierarchical" problem is search. Apple has done a great job with the Spotlight tool. A similar "search" based function launcher might work well to provide access to features that beginning users don't care about but advanced users want.

<comment><USER3> What are you referring to? Did you read the linked article?

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I'm using the opportunity of this article - which is centred around iphone issues - to discuss something related I've been thinking about in the hope of thoughtful feedback.

There's a progression through ideal structures as your volume of data changes. 1) Flat. Like the filesystem with early versions of DOS. 2) Tree. As presented by contemporary operating environments. 3) Tagged collections.

There's a recurring pattern where you have a home directory and you get so much data in it that you start losing it. I might deal with five support requests a day, and want to reference them for the next two years. I can usually remember when I dealt with them chronologically, but don't trust the standard filesystem (and backup operations, etc) to preserve this. This guy's comments about spaciality are apt for the iphone setting.

This quest for spaciality gets taken to stupid conclusions, as in the OSX finder (I'm now diverged from this guy's post). Spacial placement is irrelevant for anyone dealing with large amounts of data, and not a priority. And that's pretty much anyone who uses their computer for work.

I've written a unix tool that allows me to manage my data as collections of projects. It's called silo. To create a project I do this:

        $ si project name

It creates the following:

1) Directory: $HOME/silo/20100102.aa.cturner.hostname.project.name

2) Symbolic link to that directory at $HOME/seq/03.project name

The filename in #2 above assumes it's the fourth third project I've created - the next one will be 04, then after 09 it renumbers them so they all have the same number of digits so ordering works for visual display and tab completion. I can destroy projecs, and then rebuild the sequence structure to compact it with 'si -r'. It gives me unique paths for tab completion.

I can rsync these structures around and have complete confidence that it will retain the date, username and hostname for me to order and sort on, because it's inherent to the filename itself of the base directory. This makes for easy backup arrangements using crontab and sshkeys.

I haven't released it yet because I'm just to finish off tagging. Tagging will allow me to crete a second symbolic link structure so that I can go into this directory to find links into the projects which relate to work:

        $HOME/tags/work

Filesystem metadata is the wrong direction because it doesn't work across simple backup solutions properly, and if you're discouraging users from backing up then you're doing something wrong.

You could offer GUI environment consumers an interface that was both discoverable and scalable by moving the emphasis on 'directories and files' to 'projects and documents'.

Back to the issue of structural complexity. We've had flat languages (scripts), then programs with goto (still pretty flat), then structured programming (tree). Then modules and packages which is starting to enter collection territory, and cpan - more so. But that emphasis is on the library systems rather than the code. I sometimes thing about this at a high level and wonder how far you could push the boundaries on building a 'collection- oriented' programming language. For example - could I have a cron script that threw a launch wrapper at all folders which were tagged 'cron.run.me' and which weren't currently tagged 'running'? Within the project the logic could just be pointers to modules. The effect would end up being a bit like the scheduler you get in socket programs where there's a list of things to do, and the effect of an action in that list would be to defer something by registering it in another list for some other action to deal with, and then closing.</comment>


Google-backed drones will drop library books to kids in SW Virginia - <AUTHOR> https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/06/10/wing-library-book-drone-delivery/ <comment><USER2> This is in the county, Montgomery, where Virgina Tech is based. They have a very large UAV program there. So much so that they applied for a campus-wide FAA exemption. I think it's cool if a bit useless. But if you have a hammer, everything else is a nail. Books have been delivered electronically for decades. Electronically flying a physical book doesn't look to be our future.

<comment><USER3> Electronic books are also not our future. Until there are ebooks with physical pages I can turn, I can't be bothered with them and I am not alone. Ebooks will never be mainstream except for audio purposes and for reference material.

<comment><USER4> You aren't alone, but you are also incorrect. Ebooks are already very mainstream. Doesn't mean physical books are dead - over time sales of physical books have gone down and sales of ebooks have risen. (though this has been relatively steady of late - ebooks make up 20% of sales)

fwiw, I hate ebooks for references because flipping around is pretty tough - but as someone who loves to travel and loves to read, being able to bring a single ebook reader has been life changing.

<comment><USER3> Don't get me wrong I make it a point to collect as many ebooks as I can but I never read them. I feel through them now and then with some regex but I would never stare at a screen for hours just reading. Paper is softer on the eyes and it doesn't take fossil fuel for them to continue existence and use. Until renewable energy makes up more than 50% of our energy sources, I hold that paper books are more environmentally friendly than ebooks as they do not require electricity to use or to store, additionally they permanently trap carbon in a useful way. Everyone is itching for everything to be "smart" but we don't necessarily gain a benefit of making everything electronic

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I can't help but think a car would have been a better delivery mechanism but then Google wouldn't get much press from it. Doing "good things" just for better optics really leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

<comment><USER6> Today, sure, using a van would be much more efficient. But this is probably a way to test and improve the technology, working towards making it more efficient than a van.

More importantly, the optics here are not just about you and me and other adults. Think about it how it looks to a kid. You can have your library books show up in a van, and that might be fun, but if you could have a drone drop off your library books? What kid wouldn't sit around outside all day waiting for their books to arrive?

<comment><USER7> I think we should get kids excited about reading a book through the experience the book provides, not the experience the delivery provides.

In the past they used to have book mobiles, and probably still do in some areas. It's a library in a van...not like a UPS delivery where you pick a book out online and you only get that book. A book mobile is where kids can go in the van, physically touch and feel books and choose one that excites them. They can talk to other kids, talk to the librarian...

At some point when drone delivery of books get boring, someone will need to invent teleportation just to get kids to read.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> For the low-tech version, see Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.

<comment><USER9> > low-tech version

Appropriate tech in this case. They have delivered over a a hundred million books.

[https://imaginationlibrary.com/news- resources/](https://imaginationlibrary.com/news-resources/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Why is this a great idea, but Amazon delivering packages via drones crazy? Technologically, it's the exact same thing.

<comment><USER11> Because it's for "good.

The cynical side of me, and I'm particularly cynical when it comes to Google, is that this kind of thing is nothing more than PR to try to normalize filling our skies with drones ("Look at the good they do!") so they can inevitably then fill the skies with crap to boost the consumerist appetite without much protest.

<comment><USER12> came here to say just that.. this is basically 'think of the children' spun positive as concerns drone normalization impact

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Huh, the median income of Christiansburg, VA is way higher than I expected. $60-80k?

</comment><comment><USER14> It's cool technology, but I guess ebooks might have been even more effective.

Side note, for once I am happy to be in Germany and not the US. Here Libraries are open. I go to the gym. Next week I even have a movie date at the local cinema.

</comment><comment><USER15> That packaging looks incredibly expensive. Even if the other components/service was free, that alone would make this price uncompetitive.

That makes me think this is a long long way from being a self sustaining business.

<comment><USER16> It's paper.

</comment></comment><comment> c-smile Hmmm... dropping books on kids...

It's good that cows are not flying...

Wait, Russians did that already [https://youtu.be/QvRiXIfRsCw?t=28](https://youtu.be/QvRiXIfRsCw?t=28)

<comment><USER17> What is this from?

</comment></comment><comment> dawg- Wow, I would love to see some research done on this. Does drone delivery of books improve reading rates among public school children? My hypothesis: No.

<comment><USER18> It doesn't exactly sound like goal #1 is improving reading rates. The article discusses "readers" as the main audience. Which I think is really important to understand. There are a lot of readers out there for whom the pandemic created unnecessary stress and inconvenience, students included.

Personally my three kids would have used this like crazy over the last couple months, when they were stuck with whatever they could check out before the local library closed. The drone delivery is a bonus but also it would have been the only way to get books. Aside from learning and enjoyment, the book- reading sessions are converted into AR test scores and classroom-by-classroom cumulative reading word counts, which are reasonably good motivators for many.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> Over-engineering vs ebooks

<comment><USER20> E-book? Electronic books??? Have you gone mad, sir? Our robotic carrier pigeon service is far superior.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Anyone got a pastebin? Article's behind a paywall.

<comment><USER21> [http://archive.is/6frfQ](http://archive.is/6frfQ)

<comment><USER20> Thanks

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> This seems insane. Why not digitally deliver any e-book in a plain text instead of this pr stunt?

<comment><USER18> What's insane about an alignment of incentives? Drone resources were available. Physical books were going unused, while electronic copies are not exactly free. Those involved get a pat on the back via publicity. Readers get to read more. Learners get to experience a new phenomenon.

<comment><USER23> "Electronic copies are not exactly free."

What?

<comment><USER18> Yep. You know the library has to pay extra for electronic texts, right? For example, when a patron checks out an item from Hoopla, the library is charged from $1 to $3 (or so... prices may have changed) for that transaction. This affects the number of check-outs the library grants patrons for a given month. I've seen ours vary from 3-10. And many popular titles are not available at any time.

Another reason why it makes sense to leverage the physical books.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Fear of litigation may be key to security on the Internet of Things - <AUTHOR> https://insights.hpe.com/articles/fear-of-litigation-may-be-key-to-security-on-the-internet-of-things-1703.html <comment><USER2> I've been saying this for as long as anyone cared to listen: the IoT industry doesn't give a flying fuck about security. They care about shipping their product ASAP and preferably for under the price of their competitor.

The average consumer also does not give a flying fuck about the security of these devices unless they find out their baby camera is connected to the internet and strangers are watching their kids sleep. (E.g. no consumer is going to care that their smart lightbulb participated in a DDoS)

It was always going to be external factors that lead manufacturers to start giving a damn about security. Whether this is litigation (more likely in the US) or regulation (more likely in Europe) is yet to be seen.

I doubt manufacturers in China will care at all, unless the Chinese government starts caring because it's causing them issues on their domestic internet.

I'm not saying the solution here is to have lawyers suing every manufacturer for an RCE, that's not sustainable. I also don't think that requiring all IoT devices to be UL Security Certified™ (I just made this up) is a great idea either.

Something which is secure when tested in 2017, might not be secure in 2018.

I think the real solution will be when consumers realize most of this IoT stuff is a gimmick for manufacturers to be able to sell you something that requires a paid subscription to function, when the old model, while admittedly not "smart" worked just fine.

If you buy an IoT device and there's no subscription, then the only way the manufacturer stays in business is by selling more devices. For a device that requires updates to stay secure, this is a recipe for a bad time.

IoT isn't for the average consumer, it's for companies to be able to sell more chips and services.

Look no further than smart meters if you want a prime example of how utilities have utterly wasted the benefits of having nearly real-time data on their customer's consumption. Meanwhile the meter and IoT chip manufacturers have been able to sell them X million units. Billions of dollars invested and they are still no closer to the "smart grid" than when they started.

<comment><USER3> They also don't give a flying fuck about reliability (hey, your internet is down so you can't unlock your front door? too bad) and continuity of service

<comment><USER4> ...To be fair, anyone binding their ability to access their home with their home's internet connectivity has it coming

<comment><USER5> It's kind of ridiculous that Nest has designed a thermostat that can freeze your house solid without access to the internet.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> > _…device makers build in pattern learning so devices can recognize when they > 're been compromised. A coffee maker that suddenly starts sending out email, > for instance, would be suspicious and should set off alarms._

Or, you know, _don 't install an e-mail server in your coffeepot_ to begin with.

(You'd think that would be a lot easier, too, but I guess the other way they can charge more for "machine learning".)

</comment><comment><USER7> Not until someone sues Amazon or WalMart and wins.

<comment><USER3> Or Nest

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> It's probably the key to give all that business to China.

</comment><comment><USER9> How is it that IoT devices are compromised? I'd figure that most would be sitting in an environment where there are no incoming connections allowed without some amount of user action. Which means either the network is already compromised, or something more complex is going on?

<comment><USER10> Hahaha, oh, buddy. No. These manufacturers are much stupider. These things hook straight up to the Internet, wide open telnet ports with hard-coded default passwords.

The quickest example I have to hand, sorry it's on Twitter. I'm sure you can find others. [https://twitter.com/ErrataRob/status/799556482719162368](https://twitter.com/ErrataRob/status/799556482719162368)

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Won't they just stick in "mandatory arbitration" and "no class action" clauses into license agreements?

Seems like a no brainer as long as we continue to allow companies to get away with such bullshit.

</comment><comment><USER12> The key to IoT security is open, user updatable firmware and reasonable per byte transit costs.

</comment><comment><USER13> Too many bucks to pass, the court cases would never end.</comment>


Is there a US alternative to Second Life? - <AUTHOR> http://www.hunterhost.com/64/mining-habbo-data/ Habbo is like Second Life in Japan.  From the article:<p>Could you conduct market research in a week and come back with the buying and spending habits, and brand preferences, of 42,000 teenagers around the world? Sulake Corporation, developer of the Habbo virtual world for teenagers, did this very thing. And they're going back in September for another data mining run. You can read the full story in CRM Daily, Mining Virtual Worlds for Market Data. <comment><USER2> Habbo is for 13-18 year olds (and probably younger but they probably have restrictions so the youngsters say they're 13). Second Life captures an older demographic (not sure of the stats). The market seems ripe for some newer competition. Something like a Linked In in a virtual world.

</comment><comment><USER3> As long as they don't do the survey at the wrong time ([http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/The_Great_Hab...](http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/The_Great_Habbo_Raid_of_July_2006)).

</comment><comment><USER4> First Life?

ZING!</comment>


Google warns recipe blogs to include calorie count or risk appearance on Search - <AUTHOR> https://twitter.com/ryeisenberg/status/1217519799724433408 <comment><USER2> Title is editorialized, in the Twitter comments, Danny Sullivan, Google's public search liaison states

> To be clear, it does _not_ mean that your recipes or content will not show > in search. As it says, it's a _suggestion_ of something you might wish to > try or can ignore. It has no impact on your ranking in Google Search....

<comment><AUTHOR> Sorry about that, I tried to use only words included in the email. I thought it would be interesting to spark discussion of the merits of Google directly shaping content (instead of format) via SEO warnings (or suggestions).

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Direct link to followup: [https://nitter.net/dannysullivan/status/1217580438442647552](https://nitter.net/dannysullivan/status/1217580438442647552)

"Appearance" on search in this case seems to be referring literally to looks, not search placement. Most likely not as big an issue as it was originally made out to be.</comment>


What are some Internet/software startups that flourished after being acquired? - <AUTHOR>

For background on this question, read the following: https://gist.github.com/1641705
In recent weeks, I've seen a lot of stories of Internet/software that withered once acquired by a larger company: WinAmp, Flickr, Meebo, etc.
My question is - what are some examples of Internet/software companies that flourished after acquisition? i.e.
- The product / service retained its user experience / brand / identity.
- The user base saw an increase / improvement in feature delivery (rather than a "freeze" of new releases).
- Users were not subjected to "monetization" of the previously free / freemimum business model of the startup, i.e. intrusive banner ads / bloatware forced upon them.
- The acquiring company left the startup management / development team alone, rather than shaking up / forcing out the team that built the company.
Note: Aware of but don't want to include Woot or Zappos, those are e-commerce startups. <comment><USER2> Very rarely is a company of any type acquired to just be left intact. Typically you acquire a company for a) the talent b) the technology c) you believe you can make changes to the business to drastically increase the margin. Typically that would be integrating it into your company and sharing resources.

I think you are going to be hard pressed to find a company that was acquired and basically left alone and then flourished.

You know those movies where one civilization just destroys another and abuses the resources, then moves on. It's kind of like that, just slightly more "civilized".

<comment><USER3> I agree - the question should be "What are some Internet/software startups that their technology and team flourished after being acquired?"

And you can find many examples for that.. Oingo/Applied Semantics turned into AdSense by Google would be a good example (and most of Google's successful products: DoubleClick, Analytics etc.)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Apple bought Siri, which is pretty popular. Obviously this was integrated fully and not left as a stand alone technology.

Did Google initial buy a map company to start Google Maps?

<comment><USER5> Yeah, the australian company called Where 2. Keyhole (another acquisition) quickly became Google Earth. YouTube, DoubleClick, Urchin (Google Analytics).

Google's been surprisingly good at making acquisition flourish (and has had some examples on how not to do it... DodgeBall anyone?)

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> YouTube.</comment>


Bootstrap 4 Beta 3 - <AUTHOR> http://blog.getbootstrap.com/2017/12/28/bootstrap-4-beta-3/ <comment><USER2> > There will be no breaking changes from Beta 3 to stable, so our changelog > should be short and sweet. Expect some linting, Sass variable improvements, > updated docs Examples, and more build tool improvements.

Nice! We can finally use Bootstrap 4 without expecting future breaking changes.</comment>


Community Will Get Its Sixth Season On Yahoo - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/30/community-will-get-its-sixth-season-on-yahoo/ <comment><USER2> > [* Dearest Netflix: Want to make up for missing this one? You could always > bring back Firefly and/or Pushing Daisies... Please?]

Netflix might be able to make a space based sci-fi show, the Netflix audience is probably young enough and won't torrent the show since it will be on Netflix commercial free all at once. There hasn't been one of these kind of sci-fi shows since SG-U was canceled. Firefly, SG, I don't care, can we just have something? :(

<comment><USER3> The entire season of HoC was on torrents within hours of going live on netflix for each season, I'm guessing the same was true for OitNB but I wasn't/am not interested in that show so don't know for sure.

<comment><USER2> I'm not making the case it won't be available as torrents, I just think there's no compelling reason to torrent it if you have a Netflix account, and in fact you might even get an account to support that kind of entertainment. There are no ads, it's available online in the entire season for easy streaming. Outside the US yeah, torrents will happen for sure.

<comment><USER4> Anecdotally: We created a Netflix account when S4 of Arrested Development was released, and have kept it specifically to watch House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, obviating the need to torrent* them.

The other content on Netflix is a bonus but our primary reason for having an account is for the Netflix original shows which we have enjoyed thus far. I imagine there are others in similar positions.

*I am in Australia and am using a DNS service to access Netflix, which is clunky and annoying but workable. Torrenting those shows is the only other realistic option.

<comment><USER5> I'm also in Australia and use the same DNS tricks to access Netflix. A couple of days ago I started watching Orange is the New Black and am enjoying it immensely so far. House of Cards is also on My List too but I need a few more hours in the day to get to it.

The most frustrating thing about Netflix is that so often I hear of a movie I'd like to watch but it's not on Netflix so I often download it instead. Sometimes it will be available via Roku's movie service (M-Go), but even then sometimes the movies are Buy only with no option to rent. Why do the studios make it so hard to give them money?!@?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Very interesting move by Yahoo. I didn't even realize they had a streaming service.

Hopefully this venture succeeds. The more different content distributors there are, the more good content we're going to see. (+ down with the cable monopolies...)

<comment><USER7> I vaguely remember Yahoo! bringing over a NBC executive to spin up their exclusive content. I had completely forgotten that was something they wanted to do. This is definitely good marketing.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Re: the postscript.

I loved Firefly. Firefly was on TV 13 years ago. I'm not sure I'd want it back. Right now it lives in this mystical realm of "what we got was perfect."

Plus after Serenity's events it wouldn't be nearly as interesting.

<comment><USER9> It is worth noting that they could easily continue events before Serenity. Or have an alternate timeline where the events of Serenity never occur.

<comment><USER8> I wouldn't want it back without Whedon at the helm, and I'm sure the many truckloads of money Marvel has backed up to his house to run the cinematic Marvel-verse will preclude him coming back.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> This is such a brilliant move by Yahoo - there can't have been many people who even knew Yahoo was going into streaming content (I didn't, and I follow the space pretty closely). Now, if they really wanted to bring in built in audiences - they need to get on bringing back Firefly, Terriers, Lone Star, and Deadwood, along with saving shows like Trophy Wife and Enlisted (both new shows this year that critics loved but were cancelled, for those who have never heard of them)

</comment><comment><USER11> This is an interesting move on Y! part. I wonder how their experience has been with long format video content before? Are people watching many shows on yahoo? I didn't even know they offered any.

Was Netflix's picking up arrested development a one and done experiment?

<comment><USER12> Burning Love was a hilarious mocumentary type show that originally aired on Yahoo. I believe season 1 later appeared on E!

[https://screen.yahoo.com/burning-love/](https://screen.yahoo.com/burning- love/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Cool. Cool cool cool.</comment>


Improving CAPTCHAs with Unicode Visual Spoofing - <AUTHOR> http://blog.spiderlabs.com/2011/05/unicode-visual-spoofing-for-good-confusable-captchas.html

<comment><USER2> This is just an improvement by obscurity, not a real improvement.

A dedicated CAPTCHA hacker just has to create a mapping table once, and use it in all hacking attempts. The mapping table would map all unicode "A"-lookalikes to "A", and so on.

Also, this improvement breaks when a human user tries to use copy and paste to fill the word "apple" into the field instead of typing it in.

Furthermore, aren't most CAPTCHAs broken by humans being paid for that task?

</comment><comment><USER3> ...it's too easy to create a dictionary linking а to a. A bit of money put together with croudsourcing (or doing it yourself - it would take about 2:46 hours) would beat this.

</comment><comment><USER4> <http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ebza6ck1.aspx></comment>


Newsvine Relaunch: Build Your Own News Site - <AUTHOR> http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/04/24/newsvine-relaunch-today-build-your-own-news-site/ <comment><USER2> I really wanted to like Newsvine and I visited semi-regularly for quite some time. But I found that it didn't do much for me as I found other news sites more convenient and relevant to peruse. Their new version seems like a good step in what they want to accomplish, though.

</comment><comment><USER3> One thing I've noticed by looking through the server logs for my blog: There is a huge bubble in news aggregators.

<comment><USER4> And really, it's not the news but the communities that form around it which really drive the traffic.</comment></comment>


Show HN: Chrome extension to alter page width - <AUTHOR> https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/jebcbnokhefehlfabkldmcofdopdoemk?hl=en Just scratching an itch... A very simple extension to alter the width of a web page's body dynamically with a slider. I love reading articles on the web, but find it uncomfortable when then line lengths of the text are excessively long. This little extension aims to help with that.
My first venture into chrome extensions. Please feel free to offer constructive criticism for improvements etc.
Some example sites that it will work on: http://terzza.com/example.html http://placr.co.uk/blog/2011/05/why-train-departure-information-is-not-currently-open-data/ http://antirez.com/post/an-update-on-redis-and-lua.html <comment><AUTHOR> Just scratching an itch... A very simple extension to alter the width of a web page's body dynamically with a slider. I love reading articles on the web, but find it uncomfortable when then line lengths of the text are excessively long. This little extension aims to help with that.

My first venture into chrome extensions. Please feel free to offer constructive criticism for improvements etc.

Some example sites that it'll work on: <http://terzza.com/example.html> [http://placr.co.uk/blog/2011/05/why-train-departure- informat...](http://placr.co.uk/blog/2011/05/why-train-departure-information- is-not-currently-open-data/) <http://antirez.com/post/an-update-on-redis-and- lua.html></comment>


Kik-approved messaging app caught storing user passwords in plain text - sahin-boydas https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2018/09/13/kin-related-app-no-encryption/ <comment> sahin-boydas I am surprised that this is still a thing.</comment>


Ask HN: Found security flaws but vendor seems not to care. What should I do? - <AUTHOR> I've found some web app vulnerabilities to some high profile services in my country, but the vendor doesn't seem interested in fixing them as 6 months have passed and they claim to have other things to do, which, judging by the announcements on the main page, is finishing missing features.
The fixes to the flaws that allow for iterative exfiltriation of PII are trivial to implement as well. The others are simple reflected XSS's.
What is the most appropriate course of action here? <comment><USER2> IMO, post to the Full Disclosure mailing list[1]. I'd do it anonymously if worried about legal action, but sign the message with a new PGP key. That way I can claim the discovery later if that becomes advisable.

[1] [http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/](http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/)

<comment><USER3> This is a very good way to end up paying damages or going to jail, please do not post it to any public sources without seeking legal counsel.

<comment><USER4> Assuming the lawyers are cautious and risk-averse (as they should be), their counsel will be pretty predictable: don't do it.

On the other hand, if we're speaking just about doing it anyway, it's basically trivial to do this as the commenter described without ever being caught. Publicly claiming the PGP signature later will obviously not be trivial, but you can easily send one anonymous email without ever being caught.

If someone wants to do this out of a sense of personal ethics, and doesn't mind restrictions on legally claiming it later on, I'd say go for it. An anonymous email is not a high operational security bar to pass for someone technically competent enough to find a security issue, especially if it's only once.

<comment><USER3> The PGP signature is a pretty bad idea if this goes criminal, and since they've already reported the vulnerability via less than anonymous means they can be tracked.

The correct way to handle it is to contact the relevant CERT team in your country usually on a national or state level.

And if it's regulated industry or information (PII is) you can also contact the relevant regulator.

Publishing a functional exploit that can be used to gain access to PII on an open mailing list isn't just illegal it's also unethical.

This advice is quite indicative of anyone who never handled disclosures from either side of the aisle.

You need to understand there could be good reasons why you might not get a reply to a reported vulnerability, including the fact that the legal team and or the authorities put a gag on it. You don't know what language was used in the initial report and what information they've accessed. In many jurisdictions especially in the EU you are actually required to report the incident even if it's under a "bug bounty" program to the authorities if regulated information has been exposed. They may allow you to handle it through your BB program (but they also remind you that you'll be liable for any mishaps in the handling of the incident) they may elect to tell you to stop all contact and hand it over, your own legal department might say they don't like the language used or some other things raised a red flag like "I've downloaded your entire DB as a PoC"....

I really don't understand why people on HN elect to give such poor advice on a subject that while unlikely but can go south really bad on a whim.

<comment><USER4> _> The PGP signature is a pretty bad idea if this goes criminal, and since they've already reported the vulnerability via less than anonymous means they can be tracked._

No it isn't. Make a new key-pair for the signature. This key-pair will also be anonymous. Best of both worlds: still anonymous, but you keep the option to positively claim it later.

The fact that they've spoken about it on HN somewhat deanonymizes them, sure, but perhaps not meaningfully so yet. The OP needs to secure against a private company's security and legal teams, not a theoretically omniscient naion state. If he used an alternate IP address for this throwaway, he's still basically fine.

 _> I really don't understand why people on HN elect to give such poor advice on a subject that while unlikely but can go south really bad on a whim._

This isn't poor advice. Speaking for myself, I choose to give this advice as a security professional and someone who has had to make various disclosures, both "responsible" and "full", and of the latter, with and without the cooperation of the company.

<comment><USER3> They've already contacted the company and reported the vulnerabilities, and likely were much less anonymous in the process.

Generating PGP keys for future claim would require you to keep a copy of the private key, this copy can be seized if a criminal investigation does happen.

>This isn't poor advice. Speaking for myself, I choose to give this advice as a security professional and someone who has had to make various disclosures, both "responsible" and "full", and of the latter, with and without the cooperation of the company.

So have I and this is a poor advice, especially these days with some of the regulation that is popping up. The line which differentiates between a paid bounty or a PR piece on your website and criminal prosecution is how you handle the situation the law applies identically to both there are no legal provisions for doing unsolicited penetration testing because you say you're a good guy, heck in the UK for example the exemption form that companies sign do not actually exempt the individual tester from being prosecuted by the crown it can only be used as a legal defense, in Germany the possession of "hacking tools" is illegal without a cause, and there are tons of other nuances for each and other country and jurisdiction in the world.

Telling people to just post stuff on seclists especially after already being in contact with the company is a terrible idea, so while I do appreciate you might have had different experience it doesn't mean you handled it correctly nor does it mean you are giving a sage advice.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> You're in the EU and the vulnerability affects PII, so I'd recommend informing your country's Data Protection Authority of the risk.

If you make a public disclosure, you are at risk of being bullied by lawyers at the very least. Handing the issue over to the regulators might be more or less effective than making a public disclosure, but it should offer you some protection against liability and legal threats. As I understand it, most EU member states have some form of legislation to protect whistleblowers against defamation suits.

[http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data- protection/article-29/struc...](http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data- protection/article-29/structure/data-protection-authorities/index_en.htm)

<comment><USER6> This is the best answer - after contacting the business with your real name I wouldn't release any information about this to the public.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Blog it! Vendors uniformly crave +ve blog coverage, and fear -ve coverage. If you put together a blog post full of vendor and product names and tech detail on the vulnerabilities, designed for high PageRank, you'll soon have their attention. You'll probably tire very quickly of them begging you to remove or edit the post. The PR saying "no such thing as negative publicity" doesn't apply in our industry sector!

</comment><comment><USER8> First, and this is very important, send them a new mail disclosing the vulnerabilities that says in clear words that if you do not get a response on this in a fixed number of days, you will go public with your disclosure. Send that mail to everyone concerned in the org.

If you do not get a response, then go ahead and make a blog post about it. Be sure to mention that you failed to get a response from the org in the post.

<comment><USER9> I would not put a blog post about it, since an injunction would be enough to get it taken down.

I would email a security list since email is not retractable once sent.

<comment><USER8> If the service is publicly available to people, I doubt it would matter. Vulnerabilities are disclosed daily for publicly available services. I remember someone publicly disclosing the vulnerabilities in the Indian government's Aadhar app, a public service, on twitter a few days back. I doubt they took down his tweets.

If the service is not publicly available or is some kind of internal, enterprise tool, then it would be a different matter.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Contact some organisation (e.g. EFF or Chaos Computer Club) which specialises in that stuff in order to save yourself from being sued by the vendor.

</comment><comment><USER11> Beware: I'm not a Lawyer.

Well, if you're in the EU then GDPR [1] will be enforceable from 25 May 2018, so it is my noob understanding that the vendor you're dealing with will, sooner or later, be the subject of regular periodic data protection audits and will be forced to have a Data Protection Officer. Not sure if necessary, but you may contact ENISA [2] to be advised on how to proceed.

[1] [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regu...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation)

[2] [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_Agency_for_Ne...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_Agency_for_Network_and_Information_Security)

</comment><comment><USER3> Do not post it to any public resource you can go to jail for that.

Your course of action should be:

1) Understanding the legal framework in your country supporting the disclosure of vulnerabilities.

2) Contacting your country's CERT team or EUCert if you are in the EU.

</comment><comment><USER12> My chaotic good character says release it! Or at least write a blog post about it, how it is exploitable etc. but either don't give the information about company or preferably say who it is, proof that this can be done but don't give any information how to do it. When it will get to general public the company should realise that they're pants are on fire.

My solution is not the politically correct way of doing it but I think that people who don't care about security should be punished

</comment><comment><USER13> Do they know any personal information about you from your exchanges so far? If so, be careful because you might be liable if you disclose any vulnerabilities.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you for the input. They do. I'm in the EU, are you aware of any issues that I may face if I choose to disclose it?

<comment><USER14> This sounds like the kind of thing the EU has laws for, where a company is legally mandated to fix vulnerabilities that may reveal personally identifiable information if made aware of these. Worth asking someone who's more of a lawyer than I am about that (since I am definitely not a lawyer).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Go to the press. If the service is high profile enough, they'll be happy to post about it, and that will get a response. Works in my country.

</comment><comment><USER16> What makes you so sure fixes are trivial? Do you know what their code looks like? How big their team is? What resources they have available to devote to this? What their runway looks like? What pressures they're under from investors?

In a legacy codebase, even the smallest change can introduce all sorts of problems; and a small change to output or business logic can require disproportionately large changes to code. They may simply have determined that finishing the feature changes they think they need for their business to survive is more important than protecting against exploits that they consider either unlikely or low-value.

And how acceptable this is may depend in large part on what the service in question is and how broadly it's used. The lack of concern you describe would be totally unacceptable from a bank or even Twitter, but perhaps excusable (at this stage) from an early stage company trying to build the _next_ Twitter.

</comment><comment><USER17> You have a few options but it's first and foremost important to understand laws related to "hacking" in your country.

Your first option is simply to let it go. It might not be worth your time, energy and risk to pursue this. Certainly if the vulnerabilities are not high risk. You already did the right thing by notifying them. It's the company choice to accept the risk of not fixing the vulnerabilities.

You can file the finding with your local CERT, they might be able/helpful to coordinate.

You can go full disclosure with it, if you accept the risk the company might sue you. Even if you're in the right, it might cost you a lot of time, money and anxiety before the court says you are. See option 1.

Notification to the authority responsible for enforcing GDPR or local privacy authority might be worthwhile, it depends.

Also, what kind of PII are we talking about?

</comment><comment><USER18> Release it, in order to force a fix. If they won't do their due diligence and it's possible to exploit, nothing stops a malicious actor from taking advantage if they discover it. In the case of public disclosure, it forces them to acknowledge and fix the problem.

</comment><comment><USER19> Sell it to the U.S. government

</comment><comment><USER20> If you don't want to go "public" first, you could contact their customers directly. Let them go after the vendor for a fix, and in the meantime they can develop their own mitigations. Even if the vendor still doesn't cooperate, you can delay going public until the high-profile users have protected themselves.

</comment><comment><USER21> I'm curious why this post got flagged? It seems an appropriate question to me?

</comment><comment><USER22> What do you mean by "iterative exfiltriation"?

Does this mean PII can be extracted by an attacker one user at a time?</comment>


PyCon Announces Schedule, 95 Talks Selected - <AUTHOR> http://news.yahoo.com/pycon-announces-schedule-95-talks-selected-080425935.html

<comment><USER2> Here's a direct link to the actual schedule:

<https://us.pycon.org/2012/schedule/>

</comment><comment><USER3> I just submitted the actual schedule instead of this useless blogspam.

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3443405>

<comment><AUTHOR> It's a press release, not "blog spam". I'm not yahoo...</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Which book helped you understand the world? - <AUTHOR> I just finished Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari and was mind-blown. What else do you recommend? <comment><USER4> Understanding Power by Chomsky had a big impact on me. I read it after this compelling blog post by Aaron Swartz (RIP): [http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/epiphany](http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/epiphany)

</comment><comment><USER5> Here are two books that explain a lot about politics.

The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith

Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World - <USER2> Marshall

<comment><USER6> I'll second "The Dictator's Handbook". And if anyone is thinking, "I don't need this, I don't have any plans to become a dictator", you're thinking just like I was thinking a few years ago. When finally I read it, I kicked myself for passing on such a great book because of its silly name. This book does indeed change the way you understand the world (Small caveat: the authors stretch their theory to cover some cases such as corporate governance. That part felt quite weak to me. You can just ignore it. The rest of the book more than makes up for this).

And here's another one that's somewhat similar: "Coup d'Etat: A Practical Handbook". The title is not just a joke, unfortunately. Some coups were indeed carried out following the advice in this book (which was obviously not the author's intention, but life sometimes takes unexpected turns). The second edition of this book was published in 2015, just one year before the attempted coup in Turkey. Armed with the knowledge from this book, you can go and analyze what happened in Turkey and it's going to make a lot of sense.

<comment> blaser-waffle I'll 3rd the Dictator's Handbook.

Also the 48 Laws of Power. Once you start seeing things through that lens, the world looks like both a darker, meaner, but at times surprisingly nicer, place.

<comment><USER7> I put off reading the 48 Laws of Power for a long time for reasons similar to OP.

Probably should have read it sooner but at least I had plenty of experience to compare against it when I finally did suck it up and read it.

I will add Dictator's Handbook to my queue and raise my hand and 4th the 48 Laws of Power

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> _The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York_ by Robert Caro. Enormous and incredibly informative about politics, city planning and public relations.

<comment><USER9> I read this too, and perhaps this isn't a popular opinion given how people revere this book, but I found it to be 5x longer than it needed to be for the average reader not immersed in NYC from that period. The number of meetings and characters introduced felt unnecessary. I get that he is a historian trying to recreate the record of what happened and did so masterfully, but for the vast majority of readers I think it would be improved to have a "digest" version.

<comment><USER10> It was much longer and Caro had to cut tons of material, including, infamously, his chapter on Jane Jacobs. That led people to constantly ask him why she isn't in the book. "Every time I'm asked about that, I have this sick feeling."

[https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/01/16/studies-in-power- an...](https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/01/16/studies-in-power-an-interview- with-robert-caro/)

 _At the time, I asked, "Can't we do it in two volumes?" Bob Gottlieb answered, "I might get people interested in Robert Moses once. I could never get them interested in him twice."_

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I feel we're going to get a barrage of comments....

I was wondering if folks could also mention--in 1-sentence--what they learned from each book. Why was the book helpful in understanding the world?

I think this would make comments more interesting.

</comment><comment><USER9> Night by Eli Wiesel and Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl.

Stories of how and why some people survived Auschwitz and found meaning despite their context, from two very different perspectives (a child and a psychologist).

</comment><comment><USER12> "The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal" by Desmond Morris. Some stuff might be outdated but it definitely helped build a healthy dose of skepticism towards fellow humans - and towards myself. You definitely need that kind of skepticism and keeping your expectations low if you want to survive in an enterprise environment.

</comment><comment><USER13> Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think - Hans Rosling

<comment><USER14> oh man, I love Hans Rosling TED videos... will have to look taht book up.

<comment><USER15> I'd love to hear his opinion on how we're handling Covid19. Rip.

<comment><USER16> His son, Ola Rosling, who continues work on their Gapminder Foundation, was interviewed by Tim Harford on BBC's More or Less: [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct0pxk](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct0pxk)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I enjoyed Fooled By Randomness. Taleb's other books are good too, but Fooled By Randomness was my favorite.

<comment><USER18> I haven't read any others but anti-fragility is the book that has made me think more than any other I've read in the past few years. If you can get past the childish name calling it's worth it - I'll have to read his others next

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> A People's History of the United States. It opened my eyes to a past I didn't know existed, which helps me understand the present.

</comment><comment><USER20> I have nearly as many answers to this questions as books I have read. Even fiction helps you to understand another perspective, which I think is really one of the great things about reading.

One of the earliest books that gave me a good leap in understanding is the Tao of Pooh. As a preteen, it was my first real taste of philosophy outside of Christianity, and it was something radically different.

As far as impact, probably Epictetus' Enchiridion. It's literally a manual on how to live a good life. It's uncommonly practical advice and started a love for his school of philosophy that still hasn't faded.

</comment><comment><USER21> This is going to be different, and is not intended to be sarcastic.

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin First read during my high school years in the Amazing SF magazine; and was later published as a book. The work was criticized by the 'elite' of the SF community at the time. Have recently re- read and got the same impressions of how as both a species and as individuals we are fools that understand very little; that is, we are too stupid to know that we are stupid.

Calvin and Hobbs by Bill Waterson. Was my favorite non-mandatory read during my college years. Calvin Ball can teach us much about life, and his snow-men art is the dark that we always be in all of humans.

Marine Corps Reference Publication (MCRP) 3 Rifle Marksmanship. [this is the current version, but am not certain of the designation for this manual when I first read it during the late 1970s]. This summarized the philosophy of combat, the physics of interior and exterior ballistics, and describes the zen-like state of the marksman. It is not as sterile as the US Army marksmanship manual, is more complete treatise of combat shooting and weapons care, and is brutally honest in that the USMC is preparing you to efficiently kill other humans. Very sobering.

<comment> blaser-waffle > Marine Corps Reference Publication (MCRP) 3 Rifle Marksmanship

Not nearly as sobering, but I found the MCDP series on USMC doctrine fairly enlightening. Friction, Centers of Gravity, and a heavy importance on Logistics have been concepts that served me well in IT and project mgmt.

<comment><USER22> You might specifically mean Warfighting, MCDP 1. That's the first book we read as new Lts. and has stuck with me over a decade later and served me well in tech.

<comment> blaser-waffle There were 6 MCDP handbooks -- I helped edit a re-release of #6 as a policy intern/college student after getting out of the USMC.

See also: [https://grc-usmcu.libguides.com/research-topics/main/usmc- do...](https://grc-usmcu.libguides.com/research-topics/main/usmc-doctrine)

But I agree with parent's point -- MDCP #1 Warfighting is pretty good. If you're a military nerd all 6 are great, but if you're just going read one of them then definitely stick to Warfighting.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Thinking Fast and Slow - it helped me to understand cognitive biases. I think understanding these really helped to see what our lens does to how we see the world.

</comment><comment><USER24> I'm reading Sapiens right now. I wouldn't say "mind blown" as I was at least a little familiar with a lot of it before, but the way that Harari writes really makes you think about things differently.

Here are a couple of other books that have been pretty influential for me:

Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government

"Main Street" by Sinclair Lewis

</comment><comment><USER25> _The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine_ \- Michael Lewis

An entertaining read about just how fragile and naive western financial systems can be.

 _Stories of the Law and How It 's Broken_ \- The Secret Barrister

Gives a (mostly anecdotal) insight about how broken the English legal system is. I had to pause several times while reading because it conflicted so much with my world view.

<comment><USER26> The Chickenshit Club by Jesse Eisinger is a great teardown of gov vs corporations legal action

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> Two books about economic development that I love:

 _Why Nations Fail_ by Acemoglu and Robinson

 _Poor Economics_ by Banerjee and Duflo

The first deals with why nations stay poor, the second covers how the poor in the third world live and how to actually help them

</comment><comment><USER28> Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond.

<comment><USER29> FYI that book is very poorly regarded by mainstream historians and anthropologists for being scientifically inaccurate.

<comment><USER30> > _FYI that book is very poorly regarded by mainstream historians and > anthropologists for being scientifically inaccurate._

That's a bit of a stretch. It isn't without (legitimate) criticism --as any work of this scope is-- but Diamond _is_ mainstream, and the book has won several scientific awards and a lot of praise.

The over-arching premise, that luck and circumstance played a huge role in the development of civilizations, isn't really disputed. And there are lessons in there for today: not everything you've earned is a product of your abilities.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> The Design of Everyday Things

Ways of Seeing

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

</comment><comment><USER32> The Origins of Political Order: From prehuman times to the French Revolution by Francis Fukuyama

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

The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York By Robert Caro

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

<comment><USER33> I would add the 'Political Decay' as a must after 'Political Order'.

IMHO 'Decay' its more important as it digs into current trends (i.e. mechanisms of undermining institutions).

</comment></comment><comment> q-base Debt: The first 5000 years

And then I have not yet read it myself, although I have it on the shelf, but others recommended it for the exact same question as yours:

Understanding Power by Noam Chomsky

</comment><comment><USER34> I'm working on it now, but Behave by Robert Sapolsky has been fantastic so far. All about evolutionary biology and how it influences behavior/psychology.

</comment><comment><USER35> _Last and First Men_ by Olaf Stapledon, 1930 (free online text), [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_and_First_Men](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_and_First_Men)

 _> A work of unprecedented scale in the genre, it describes the history of humanity from the present onwards across two billion years and eighteen distinct human species, of which our own is the first._

</comment><comment><USER36> At Home by Bill Bryson

This is not a Sapiens-style retelling of the history of mankind. It's light reading - a quaint look at the history of the modern house, room-by-room, with many diversions into whatever topic that takes the author. But it ends up touching on a lot of interesting interconnections of how the western world developed.

It's a great read to escape the oppressive grind of 2020 while still learning tons of interesting things on every page.

<comment><USER37> > This is not a Sapiens-style retelling of the history of mankind.

Although he did write that one as well! _A Short History of Nearly Everything_

</comment></comment><comment><USER38> _The Epistle to the Romans_ and _Proverbs_ were game-changers for how I understand the world around me, and why people do what they do.

</comment><comment><USER39> Forward looking:

Disunited Nations: The Scramble for Power in an Ungoverned World

Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist

AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order

Historical:

The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern World was Created

Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty

General:

Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

The Square and the Tower: Networks and Power, from the Freemasons to Facebook

</comment><comment><USER40> _Anna Karenina_ \- I'm an eastern european raised in the US. It was really eye opening.

 _Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance_

</comment><comment><USER41> Try "Sapiens: A brief history of human kind". It teaches you about human history and more important, how we get there. Sometimes the author gets smart, seems like he doesn't believe in anything and human are bad for this planet. But it's worth it. Bill Gates recommended the book too.

</comment><comment><USER42> Tribe, by Sebastian Junger. It covers a journalist's experience in a war zone, and how it changed his model of society. Man was meant to live in tribes, where individuals are most fulfilled giving their last bit of food, rather than a society where people grab what they can for themselves.

</comment><comment><USER43> The First and Last Freedom By J. Krishnamurti

</comment><comment><USER44> _Fooled by Randomness_ \- Nassim Taleb

 _Letters from a Stoic_ \- Seneca

The Bible

 _Beyond Good and Evil_ \- Nietzsche

 _Psychological Types_ \- Carl Jung

</comment><comment><USER45> The Field Guide to Understanding 'Human Error' \- Sidney Dekker

He hes a short review of his book on YouTube in 5 parts: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw3SwEXc3PU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw3SwEXc3PU)

</comment><comment><USER46> Metaphors We Live By - George Lakoff, Mark Johnson

It's a linguistics focused book that suggests people use metaphor to understand abstract constructs. It also helped me understand people, conversation, and intent in an especially eye opening way.

<comment><USER47> Interesting. _Metaphors We Live By_ is near the top of my list of theories that were once a popular mainstream meme that dramatically crashed and burned when applied in the real world. The Democratic Party's embrace of _Don 't Think of an Elephant_ did not go well. My memory might be flawed, it usually is.

<comment><USER46> I'm not old enough to have been aware of the rise and fall of the mainstream movement, very interesting! I am possibly just finding the first look into the theory as tantalizing as everyone else did.

<comment><USER47> Excellent. If I remember correctly, the linguists sorted into two opposing camps, Lakoff/Johnson on one side, Pinker/Chomsky on the other.

The Pinker argument is that the metaphor aspect is only important during the short period of time when we are first introduced to a new term. Once the term enters our vocabulary, it takes its own unique slot in our minds that is independent of the word origins. Our minds do not have trouble distinguishing between cordless, cellular, and wireless phones once the terms are familiar to us. I'm sure you can find much greater insight than I can provide with a few web searches.

<comment><USER46> Thank you. That's a great intro.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER48> The Things They Carried by O'Brian - it's ostensibly a war book but is nothing about war. It's about empathy. The world, unfortunately, mostly operates without empathy. Knowing that helps to understand various actions people take.

</comment><comment><USER49> #1: "Western Esotericism: a guide for the perplexed"

You just wouldn't believe it. Extremely good scholarship.

In the same vein, "Music, science and natural magic in 17th century England" (about the birth of the Royal Society)

</comment><comment><USER50> Be Here Now by Ram Dass

[https://smile.amazon.com/Be-Here-Now-Ram- Dass/dp/0517543052](https://smile.amazon.com/Be-Here-Now-Ram- Dass/dp/0517543052)

</comment><comment><USER51> _Thinking in Systems_ \- Donella Meadows

 _Finite and Infinite Games_ \- James Carse

</comment><comment><USER52> "Conversations with an Executioner" is IMHO the best book giving insight into a mind of a real nazist. It's direct and honest, much more profound than classical historical book.

<comment><USER10> Looks like the English translation is out of print and copies are going for $70 or so on Amazon.

[https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer- listing/0131719181/ref=sr_1_...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer- listing/0131719181/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Conversations+with+an+Executioner&qid=1594924865&sr=8-1&dchild=1)

</comment></comment><comment><USER53> I loved Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner!

</comment><comment><USER54> The Attention Merchants by Tim Wu

edit: I should mention this is a book recommended by Yuval Noah Harari himself. I read it myself and it is a great companion to his fantastic books.

</comment><comment><USER9> Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. It is short, and written in a Socratic dialogue, and helped me understand how and why society appears to be destroying itself.

</comment><comment><USER55> A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

</comment><comment><USER56> Summa Theologiae by St Thomas Aquinas

</comment><comment><USER57> All three books by Yuval Noah Harari.

</comment><comment><USER58> The Crisis of the Modern World and The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times by René Guénon.

</comment><comment><USER59> The True Believer by Eric Hoffer.

<comment><USER60> A timeless classic.

Along similar lines I'd recommend "The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-events in America", by Daniel Boorstin (former Librarian of Congress).

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut. Also NurtureShock taught me a lot about parenting.

</comment><comment><USER61> 48 Laws of Power

The Power Broker

History of Western Philosophy

</comment><comment><USER62> The World as Will and Representation by Arthur Schopenhauer

</comment><comment><USER63> The Tao Te Ching.

</comment><comment><USER64> The Evil Haunted World by Carl Sagan

</comment><comment><USER65> "The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark" by Carl Sagan

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Demon- Haunted_World](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Demon-Haunted_World)

Also around the age of 8 or 9 I read some Erich von Däniken book and got quite excited by what it contained. However, I eventually realised that it was complete nonsense and I got _really_ affronted that people could write books that contained stuff that _wasn 't true_. A useful lesson!

Edit: Another one is "Why People Believe Weird Things":

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

</comment><comment><USER66> Enlightenment Now - Steven Pinker

(Also Sapiens :)

Range - David Epstein

</comment><comment><USER67> The Quran.

<comment><USER68> I didn't think you would get downvoted for that.

<comment><USER69> I'm not surprised. There are a fair number of people here who are somewhat hostile to religion. Heck, you could borderline count me as one of them. I think religion is a blight on our world. But I wouldn't downvote somebody for mentioning a religious text in this context because - like it or not - <USER3> works tend to be HIGHLY influential, and if you want to "understand the world" I think that understanding absolutely has to incorporate some knowledge of religion and religious beliefs.

I'm an atheist myself, but I have a whole shelf full of religious texts, including the Quran, several Bibles, Bhagavad Gita, Gnostic Bible, the Norse myths, etc. for just this reason. I doubt the historicity and literal veracity of a lot of this stuff, but knowing it has value when many other people _do_ take it all literally.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER70> Journey to Ixtlan.

</comment><comment><USER69> _The Prince_ \- Niccolo Machiavelli

 _The 48 Rules of Power_ \- Robert Greene

 _Fooled By Randomness_ \- Nassim Nicholas Taleb

 _How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big_ \- Scott Adams

 _Basic Economics_ \- Thomas Sowell

 _The World Is Flat_ \- Thomas L. Friedman

 _The Penguin History of the World: Sixth Edition_ \- J. M. Roberts and Odd Arne Westad

<comment><USER71> Let's say no context, which one would you recommend reading first?

<comment><USER69> Probably Sowell's _Basic Economics_

<comment><USER60> Anyone who enjoys Sowell's perspective and is interested in (and irritated by) modern politics should also take a look at "The Vision of the Anointed: Self- Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy".

<comment><USER69> Thanks for that. I wasn't familiar with that work, despite being a big fan of Sowell. I'm definitely adding that to my reading list.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER72> Selfish Gene

<comment><USER69> Good one. I can't believe I forgot to include that one. Definitely an important book.

On a related note, I just finished _The Blind Watchmaker_ , also by Dawkins, and it's also very good.

</comment></comment><comment><USER73> The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, by Naomi Klein (2007)

Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent, Eudardo Galeano (1971)

</comment><comment><USER74> Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. HANDS DOWN!

</comment><comment><USER75> Ayn Rand: Atlas Shrugged

<comment><USER69> It's a shame you're going to get downvoted by a lot of knee-jerk "ooh, I hate Ayn Rand" types (most of whom have probably never read a word she wrote), but FWIW, I second your mention. _Atlas Shrugged_ is definitely worth reading.

I won't say it's a _great_ book in many ways - Rand's language is a bit awkward and stilted (especially by contemporary standards), and it probably is a bit too long. But in terms of getting to the heart of the divide between those who adhere to an individualist / internal locus of control mindset, and those who don't, it's very enlightening.

Also, FWIW, I enjoyed _The Fountainhead_ more than _Atlas Shrugged_ , and usually recommend that anyone who is new to Rand start with it first.

</comment></comment><comment><USER76> Meditations - Marcus Aurelius

<comment><USER77> "When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly."

Not even the emperor of Rome was immune from Sturgeon's law.

        人之初
        性本善
        性相近
        習相遠

("When people are born, they all start good, but even though they all start out about the same, you ought to see them after they have had time to become different from one another by picking up habits here and there!". Translation Dr. Linebarger, aka _Cordwainer Smith_ )</comment></comment>


Rocket Men: Analyzing the breath of critically ill children at warp speed - <AUTHOR> http://stanmed.stanford.edu/2015fall/rocket-men.html <comment><USER2> This is fantastic:

 _The major weakness of the ammonia blood test is that by the time the results are received by a treating physician, it is hour-old information that may not represent the true ammonia levels of a patient. The breath analyzer enables super-fast, repeatable testing so ammonia levels can be verified and treatment can begin immediately._

And:

 _Spearrin didn't realize how hard this project was supposed to be until he called a respected expert on hyperammonemia for advice. Before Spearrin could ask his questions, the expert said, "You've chosen a horribly challenging project because ammonia is the most difficult molecule to measure and newborns are the most difficult patient population to work with."

Spearrin replied, "But we've already built a working prototype and we've tested it on two patients."_

And:

 _In just a year, the team had gone from a rough idea on paper to a working prototype, patient-tested. This is warp speed in the medical device world._

</comment><comment><USER3> It's a shame that this only works with volatiles. A blood glucose breathalyzer would be awesome, not to mention a $B/year market.

<comment><USER4> I think that detecting glucose in the air is impossible, but perhaps it can detect some byproduct that is produced during a glucose spike. I guess something like alcohol.

(For example, yeast produce a small amount of alcohol from glucose, because it doesn't use enough oxygen to transform it to carbon dioxide. At the low level, people is not _so_ different of yeast. :) So this or a similar approach may work.)

IANAB/MD/...

<comment><USER3> Unfortunately signals like that would get swamped by the effects of oral and gastric flora. This is how Helicobacter pylori is detected, in fact.</comment></comment></comment>