Lastpass not using certificate pinning, wut? - <AUTHOR> It seems that Lastpass are not using certificate pinning for the webapp or desktop app. Discovered this today kinda by accident, but now realise it leaked my password to my corporate overloads.<p>This fundamentally undermines all of the security that Lastpass have implemented. <comment><USER2> I've always been surprised that anyone thinks shared cloud password databases are safe. You'd have to trust that service so completely.

My suggestion is to use KeePass and store your database in a zero-knowledge, self-hosted cloud with end-to-end encryption (and also secure it with an offline private key).

If setting up that cloud storage sounds like too much trouble, SpiderOak is a good centralized, zero-knowledge service.

<comment><USER3> If i understand correctly, lastpass encrypts the database locally. Their cloud sync is supposed to be all-or-nothing zero-knowledge, so I'm not sure what OP is on about.

<comment><AUTHOR> This is all orchestrated over a HTTPS transport, the transport does not use certificate pinning.

<comment><USER3> Orchestrated how? If the passwords are not going over the wire unencrypted, it doesn't really matter how secure the wire is -- unless the attacker is also actively replacing stuff that does go on the wire and would touch unencrypted passwords at some point, like JS files, but that indeed requires an active attacker.

<comment><AUTHOR> A very simple case would be logging into lastpass.com, your password is passed to lp.com via a https transport.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> is this real?</comment>


Curbs on free speech are growing tighter. It is time to speak out - <AUTHOR> http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21699909-curbs-free-speech-are-growing-tighter-it-time-speak-out-under-attack <comment><USER2> It is important to define safe havens for countercultural ideas, morals, and lifestyles, because this is how societal innovation happens. It needs to extend beyond speech.

There is a big effort in the West to homogenize the world. Everyone should accept gays. Everyone should hate paedophiles. Marijuana is good, heroin is bad. Democracy is the best form of government. We want the whole world to look like our interpretation of what is morally correct, which is where a lot of social justice movement comes from.

But this is stagnating, and not everyone wants to live under the same set of global moral rules, especially since we seem to believe that morality is relative.

Freedom of speech is a big indicator of this. If people don't have freedom of speech, they likely are being restricted in other ways as well.

<comment><USER3> > We want the whole world to look like our interpretation of what is morally > correct, which is where a lot of social justice movement comes from.

The irony is that in America this is considered "liberal." It is not -- liberalism is the opposite of much of what it's come to mean in America.

When I was growing up in the US it was conservatives that were trying to control speech and expression. They wanted burning flags to be illegal. They wanted limits on "offensive" speech, including erotic imagery on tv and in art, violent music and video games. They wanted to control what ideas could be expressed in school.

Now it has flipped. The "you can't say that" banner has been taken over by the Left in the US. I don't know what we should call Democrats now, but they're not liberal. (Maybe Democratic Socialists is a more fitting term.)

<comment><USER4> [http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/30/i-can-tolerate- anything...](http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/30/i-can-tolerate-anything- except-the-outgroup/)

<comment> david-given I can't recommend the essay the parent is linking to enough. If you possibly can, read it; it's long, but worth your time.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Agreed with the article. I'm especially worried about the third vector of attack on speech that they describe: individuals censoring other individuals in the name of "not being offended". This is a big issue, so I just wanted to share a few observations that worry me. Neither is brand new, I'm sure, however I believe they are worth talking about.

One thing I noticed a few years ago is that if a person has any level of social media presence and they're either outspoken or unlucky then they risk an internet mob being turned against them. Sometimes this "only" results in harassment and death threats. Other times this has real-world consequences such as for Gregory Elliott[1]. We've had mobs attacking individuals since forever, but the internet makes it __much easier __and almost consequence free to dog-pile the "offending" view and shut the person down, or even hurt their livelihood. Ex: it's much easier to send a threatening DM or doxx a person than to go outside and protest. The lesson here is: either keep quiet, don't have a social media presence, or firewall your more outspoken social activity from your "real self".

The other case I noticed is the radicalization of thought in the "you're either with us or against us" approach. Instead of explaining their position or answering a person's online question (even by dismissively linking them to Wiki or LMGTFY), people choose to attack them as a path of least resistance. As anecdotal evidence, I've seen people belittled and harassed on facebook, reddit and twitter for asking any of the following:

* Why should we legalize Marijuana?

* Why is BLM important?

* Why should I care about ${cause}?

Some folks try to answer and educate, but they're far in the minority from my casual observation. Overall, I'm concerned that as the amount of distractions in our lives increases our capacity for opposing views or meaningful conversations decreases because there's simply way more for us to do that is more fun or important to us.

[1] - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_v_Elliott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_v_Elliott) : There are many more examples of this. I'll avoid posting them because nothing in life is clear cut and I want to avoid derailing my point.

<comment><USER6> I certainly have begun to censor myself on social media. There's a number of topics I simply won't touch on the off-chance I trigger a livelihood- destroying internet rage mob.

The conspiracy theorist in me suspects some level of govt involvement in these SJW hit squads. They have much to recommend them to a totalitarian administration trying to work around the constraints imposed by, say, a "bill of rights". You can neutralize and/or make examples of people who commit acts of wrongthink without being seen getting your hands dirty.

<comment><USER7> When I was growing up, we were told that the Internet is not a toy. You were not supposed to engage in tomfoolery, and you were not supposed to use your real name.

At some point (cough Facebook, Google) that changed.

Social media is not a toy. Google is not a toy. In a way we are lucky to have been spared the worst possible scenario in which these technologies and all their data on us is turned against us, but it could happen at any second.

People need better education about this. This is something that everyone should learn in school.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Step on a college campus in the US. There is no free speech. No intellectual diversity at all. Everyone just shuts up since no one dare steps out of line.

<comment><USER9> My campus leans a bit right compared to the usual, and I'm actually glad for that. We haven't lost intellectual diversity and free speech is alive and well. Haven't seen anyone in favor of censorship, but if there was they'd be laughed right out of the room.

Not all colleges/universities have gone bad, and that's a good thing, because intellectual discourse is supposed to be _the point_ of university, not (just) vocational training.

<comment><USER5> >in favor of censorship

That's because it's not called "censorship" any more. Instead, people will label a person whose speech they dislike as a racist, homophobe, Islamophobe, anti-semite, misogynist, etc. Sure, people with such views exist and we should debate how we, as a society, want to respond to such views.

What is the problem is the unwritten expectation that, once identified as such by almost anyone, you are excluded, attacked, and told to "shut up". For a regular person it's often enough to be labeled in this way once for their social or work prospects to either be ruined or hurt. Worse, the label will __still __stick, even if later this person is exonerated.

<comment><USER10> What are you arguing for? Censoring the declaration of someone as a *-phobe? Censoring the criticism of people who say certain things? Censoring the cries of "shut up" leveled at them?

<comment><USER11> That is a strawman and you know it. He is not saying that people need to stop labeling others as *phobe. He is merely saying the consequences shouldn't be life ruining.

<comment><USER10> The parent poster was explicitly drawing an equivalence between censorship in some unspecified traditional sense and widely communicated judgements and denouncements by a group.

It came out as more flippant than I intended, but I'm being quite serious, and my real question is genuine: what can be done--other than suppressing communication about the judgement--to render the consequences other than life ruining?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Self-censorship is the greatest danger. The internet tends to make our statements permanent (or capable of a permanence we cannot control). Most intelligent people will not want to spend the remainder of their lives defending and explaining something they said which they may or may not believe in any longer or which is taken out of context or which may later become actually dangerous to their livelihood, their family and so on.

Even for people that are relatively non-conformist this places a much higher burden on controversial speech. In other words it costs more to say something controversial. Therefore, less people say it. Therefore the pool of people capable of hearing it and repeating it shrinks.

The internet I think, therefore, does by its nature (at present) ensure greater homogeneity of thought, despite the fact that it has vastly increased the overall space and speed of discourse.

I don't see any obvious solution, except more individuals accepting the burden of saying things they know will cause them difficulty. At the same time those individuals must also lend an ear to the ideas they least like to hear.

Which, let's face it, sounds like a dreary pain in the ass.

</comment><comment><USER13> When looked at over a timespan of centuries and across a wide variety of cultures, most of society's morals seem rather arbitrary to me. Many westerners fail to consider exactly how much culture and environment influence the "morality du jour". We (as voters) act as though we want moral absolutism, but we can't even consistently decide what is or isn't moral over a few decades. And while most people feel as though we keep moving toward "better" morals, I'm not so sure; I imagine this kind of sentiment has always been present.

Until everyone in the world agrees on one brand of morality, we must preserve the ability to discuss and debate it. No group can place themselves into the "we're clearly right" box, because historically, that hasn't turned out well, despite the best of intentions. Losing friends over a difference of political opinion is less of a concern than ending up in a society that got morality "wrong" because of an anomalous groupthink feedback loop.

<comment><USER14> > We (as voters) act as though we want moral absolutism, but we can't even > consistently decide what is or isn't moral over a few decades.

Maybe this is debatable or plain wrong, but, to me, it looks like traditional sources of ethical/moral authority (mostly religious) in America have lost most of their power, their influence, their credibility.

But, as you say, we still want a powerful moral authority or ethical guidance system. And it appears that we have increasingly turned to the US Supreme Court for answers and validation.

Unless it disagrees with us, in which case we write about how corrupt and stupid it is.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Didnt Britain try to pass a law recently trying to curb it more. I'm worried that them and the rest of the EU (Especially what's going on in Poland & Hungary with supression laws tighting the noose)

<comment><USER16> You mean this ? [http://europa.eu/rapid/press- release_IP-16-1937_en.htm](http://europa.eu/rapid/press- release_IP-16-1937_en.htm)

<comment><USER15> Yep thats what I was looking for but couldnt remember. I remember Cameron was trying to pass it through Parliament

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Seems to have missed the fourth way free speech is being curtailed: By 'free speech advocates' who respond with harassment and threats to anyone who has the temerity to suggest their views are bad.

<comment><USER18> And it always is missed. Because that's what you're _really_ not allowed to point out. Or that all these articles are written by white men of relative wealth, etc.

<comment><USER19> Perhaps race is irrelevant when discussing human rights?

<comment><USER18> If it wasn't relevant then they wouldn't all be white men. That's sort of the point, because you don't often see people of color defending the rights of white people to call them slurs.

<comment><USER19> The other option is that the majority is wrong, human rights aren't up for a vote.

<comment><USER18> Well you're sort of missing the forest for the trees but by all means keep doing so.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> I was interested to find out why Condaleeza Rice's Free Speech was being restricted. Apparently the students didn't want to be associated with someone they consider an unconvicted war criminal:

[http://m.startribune.com/don-t-give-condoleezza-rice-a- platf...](http://m.startribune.com/don-t-give-condoleezza-rice-a- platform/253284501/)

Which is a stance you can agree or disagree with, but seems irrelevant to whether they would be offended by what she said, or whether they needed further exposure to her ideas, and so including it in this article seems a bit of a stretch.

edited to add:

Thinking on this further it undermines the whole thesis, which appears to be "students shouldn't try to censor, as it gives aid to authoritarian regimes who want to censor".

Yet the example they give is students protesting a powerful, high-level member of government for involvement in what they believe to be illegal activities that resulted in millions of deaths. So surely by attacking that, they give aid to authoritarian regimes by their own argument?

</comment><comment><USER21> "when progressive thinkers agree that offensive words should be censored, it helps authoritarian regimes to justify their own much harsher restrictions and intolerant religious groups their violence"

<comment><USER14> A Poli Sci professor once told our class that the First Amendment is effective _because_ it allows wrong/hateful/contemptible ideas to have a free airing.

The rest of us can really take a look at such ideas and the people voicing them and see just how bad they are. Once we see them, we'll reject them.

OTOH, if government or other actors suppress such speech, fewer people get a chance to see it, evaluate and reject it.

Of course, that whole theory presupposes that the vast majority of people in society will evaluate such speech well. It places a lot of trust in the people and in the conversation and in the process.

<comment><USER22> The first admendment also stops people pushing wrong/hateful/contemptible ideas from using the 'martyr' defence to get people on their side. By allowing them, you avoid the situation where people promoting said views say 'see, they must have some level of truth otherwise the government wouldn't be trying to censor me'.

Stops people with these types of views being seen as the underdog that's being oppressed for going against authority.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Trying to draw a line between student protests in western campuses and Vladimir Putin and Erdogan is a stretch.

<comment><USER24> Both are forms of censorship. If we were to encourage the groping of a woman, it could eventually lead to rape. One is much worse than the other, but that doesn't mean we should turn a blind eye or not see their inherent connection. The same applies here.

If we allow our intellectual leaders to censor, what's to stop our political leaders to not follow suit?

<comment><USER25> Student protests are absolutely not censorship. They're a "more speech" answer to statements that the protesters find offensive. If you disagree, fine, but trying to shut up protesters because you think their actions amount to censorship is utterly hypocritical.

<comment><USER24> No one is trying to shut down people who are speaking out that something offends them; people are speaking out against those claiming offense because those people want to change the rules to where they are the only ones who can speak out.

That's the inherent irony, which is actually the opposite case of what you are saying. People are offended and are using their free speech in an attempt to end free speech. Those opposing are arguing back (like you're supposed to), not advocating for censorship. Totally different approaches.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment> open-source-ux Something topical on this very subject: the deputy editor of Vox's first person section, Emmett Rensin, has been suspended by Vox after a series of tweets in which Rensin urged people to riot if Donald Trump comes to their town.

Emmett hasn't been censored (his original tweets remain), but his tweets have clearly had consequences

[http://www.vox.com/2016/6/3/11853096/statement-on-emmett- ren...](http://www.vox.com/2016/6/3/11853096/statement-on-emmett-rensin)

</comment><comment><USER26> Btw, this post seems to getting punished by the HN algorithm. 163 points in 2 hours and it's already dropping out of front page. I feel like I should speak out about this.

<comment><USER27> I wouldn't be so sure it's just an algorithm.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> Yea, murdering journalists and not wanting to associate with trolls is the same thing.

</comment><comment><USER18> I can't possibly be the only person reading this who finds it laughable to compare people being killed for their speech to people not being allowed to speak on college campuses.

<comment><USER29> You are not and you are being censored for stating that opinion.

We live in a country where the third form is the only one we experience.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> At least there are still a couple of people speaking out on this and showing opposition against these attacks on free speech, that gives a little hope, although just a little.

</comment><comment><USER31> Someone arguing that men shouldn't talk about feminism or whites talk about slavery is also protected speech. If lots of people shout about that really loudly and make you feel bad about your own views, that isn't the result of censorship, that's the result of free speech.

If the _government_ actually _bans_ men from talking about feminism, that would be censorship.

<comment><USER19> Government censorship is what the constitution protects us from, but certainly we should resist the advocates of censorship government backed or not?

<comment><USER31> Until they cross the line of advocating for laws banning males from speaking about feminism, they are fundamentally not advocating censorship.

An individual yelling at you to shut up because they think you are an idiot is not censoring you. They're exercising their own right to free speech. You have the freedom to react however you want in response to them -- yell louder yourself if you want to.

Yelling at them that they're censoring you, however, is factually incorrect.

And if you equate their actions to censorship and the assassination of journalists, then be prepared to have other people point out that you don't know what you're talking about.

And feel free to downvote me as much as you like...

<comment><USER32> So the thing is - I'm uncomfortable with that definition, because it glosses over the issue that seems to be happening. Modern censorship isn't just legal - it's cultural. There seems to be this idea that the correct response to something you find offensive is to shout at the person you disagree with, attacking their character or dismissing their views because of who they are. That doesn't sit well with me, because it creates what is essentially censorship - instead of views being aired and rejected (which is fine), the person espousing them is attacked personally, and publicly. It creates a climate of fear, to the extent that speech is suppressed, and I've definitely seen it first hand.

<comment><USER18> Okay, but what exactly is the problem here, in practice? That the market of ideas is less free because it's no longer clogged with racist and otherwise offensive ones? Because I see that as a good thing, and while I sympathize with your advocacy of freedom of speech, the situation is a bit more complex than this. White supremacy is simply not something you can have an intellectual disagreement about, just like holocaust denial. It's just not as valid. And unfortunately this is not expressed in the marketplace of ideas, because we're supposed to treat every idea as equally valid even if there is immense factual evidence against it.

Take climate change for example: that it exists is not a subject of debate. It does, and we've caused it. There is absolute scientific consensus on this fact, just as there is on the equality of people.

Are we still supposed to argue with people who ignore objective truths as if we're just having a simple disagreement?

<comment><USER32> I appreciate what you're saying, but I think there's a word of difference between saying "I disagree with you and will not provide a platform for your views" and "I disagree with you, and will personally attack you and ensure that you are not able to speak about your views."

It's not that discourse is worse because offensive ideas are unacceptable – I'm sincerely glad that homophobia, racism and other ideas like that are considered improper. But I do worry that the nuance is drowned out by the prevalence of personal attacks, such that it becomes difficult to have any constructive discussion. Terms like 'racist' or 'homophobe' become thought- ending clichés, and the core of that problem is that it's really difficult to settle on a universal definition of what those things are.

<comment><USER18> Yeah, and I for one think that most of what happens on college campuses is the former ("I disagree with you and will not provide a platform for your views").

<comment><USER32> The university/college campus thing is interesting, because it's kind of like a state in microcosm. It feels to me that one of the goals of an academic institution is allowing the free exchange of ideas; it's fine to not invite speakers, but maybe it becomes a problem when the institution itself (or student government) intervenes to disallow students from hosting them. The difference I suppose between "I don't want to hear your views" and "I don't want to allow your views to be heard."

I'm probably worrying about nothing and it's not that big a deal in practice. It still makes me uneasy that the concept of banning speech is so readily accepted by so many people, when I'm convinced that the best way to tackle extreme or prejudiced views is to allow them to be openly aired, and openly challenged so they can be exposed as wrong.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> I think there is a forth enemy, at least in Europe. Pro-refugee politicians receive daily death threats and a German politician has actually been stabbed over her views on immigration.

I think it goes even further than politicians though. I only have my personal experiences, but to me it seems like regular European liberals have started self-censoring and to keep some opinions behind closed doors. I've always been fairly vocal about my opinions online, and about two years ago I wrote an innocent but critical comment on the rising nationalism in Europe which ended up in a non-liberal news paper. This resulted in Death threats and an order of Pizzas to my home.

Pizzas are nice, but it's also a strong message if you want to tell someone you know where they live. The newspaper was kind enough to remove any references to me, but I've certainly been sure to value anonymity in the political realm since.

</comment><comment><USER14> > a worrying number of non-state actors are enforcing censorship by > assassination

assassination is one approach, but there are others</comment>


Restoring MacOS device from a snapshot with APFS (2017) - <AUTHOR> https://maclovin.org/blog-native/2017/restoring-from-a-snapshot-with-apfs?format=amp&__twitter_impression=true <comment><USER2> A couple weeks ago, a macOS update broke and sort of bricked the OS. I wasn't able to fix it, so I decided to restore from a backup, but didn't have access to my Time Machine backups when I discovered you could restore from local APFS snapshots.

The snapshot was restored really fast, but the OS was still broken. I guess APFS snapshots exclude a number of files (as the remote time machine backups do).

It was also when I discovered you can reinstall macOS without losing any data.

<comment><USER3> I haven't used TimeMachine in a few years. I kind of figured it was deprecated with iCloud backups.

Obviously there is more functionality with an iCloud backup. But, the overhead of re-configuring my TimeMachine after upgrading from an AirportExtreme seemed pretty onerous.

How are you using it? Through an Airport, plugging in a USB drive, some other method?

As an aside, I tried out Dolly Drive a few years ago (think cloud-based TimeMachine) but I was a bit concerned about having all of my personal info sit in someone else's hands.

<comment><USER4> There isn't really an "iCloud backup" on macOS. That's an iOS thing. I'd like to see an iCloud Backup-like thing for Macs, or perhaps an iCloud Time Machine. They seem to have enough trouble getting it to work well on local hardware, though.

<comment><USER3> I was referring to System Preferences -> iCloud -> iCloud Drive, which backs up my files.

Though, in addition, I'm a pretty big utilizer of the ecosystem: iCloud Music Library, Photos, etc.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Non-AMP link: [https://maclovin.org/blog-native/2017/restoring-from-a- snaps...](https://maclovin.org/blog-native/2017/restoring-from-a-snapshot- with-apfs)

</comment><comment><USER6>
        sudo tmutil snapshot

Is this what time machine automatically does every hour? Or is it a different feature? Is this the local one or the one on a remote disk?

<comment><USER6> I'm gonna answer these myself. Apparently sudo tmutil snapshot is the local snapshot, not the remote backup and it has existed as a verb since way before APFS existed. So now I guess the question is: did the implementation of local snapshots change with APFS?

<comment><USER7> Yes, I'm pretty sure it did. I seem to remember one of the APFS sessions at WWDC (either 2016 or 2017) had a demo about how local TM snapshots used to work (really kind of a hack), and how APFS would improve the situation dramatically.

<comment><USER8> Does anyone happen to know if the new Time Machine backups are automagically better (upgraded), or should I start over with a fresh backup destination?

<comment><USER9> The new implementation only applies to local time machine backups. Backups to external drives have not changed.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Funnily enough I used this four hours ago. It was really quite fast, I had geared myself up for a multi-hour restore.

</comment><comment><USER11> 'APFS now support snapshots, a feature users of Virtual Machines love and can barely live without!'

Why is this especially useful for VM lovers ?

<comment><USER12> I don't think its "especially useful" for them, just the most likely place end users are exposed to snapshots.

<comment><USER13> Yes ^^ this ^^, virtual machines have been a good way to learn how useful and easy snapshots are.

With APFS snapshots have come to the hardware level and that is really exciting.

But beware that this is not a backup. If you loose your main disk then you still might have lost your data. Time machine can help very well here. Regular TM backups are a good way of protecting yourself against data loss.

Unless.. we're talking VMs again. In that particular scenario it turns out that VMs and Time Machine do not go that well together. VMware even advices you to exclude your virtual machines from VMs [0] and [1]. The problem is that your VM consists of large binary files that change over time. If TM makes a backup it will always see your VM as changed and start copying the virtual disk files. Problem is that if the machine is running that the risk is high that you end up with corrupt virtual disks in your time machine.

Another problem is that if your TM backup storage runs out of storage space. TM can delete part of your virtual disks. Another problem is that with VMs you run out of disk space really quick.

Anyways I'm getting off topic. Probably because I wrote Vimalin [2] to backup VM's for VMware Fusion and counter the VM backup issues ;)

[0] [https://kb.vmware.com/kb/1013628](https://kb.vmware.com/kb/1013628)

[1] [https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware- Fusion/10.0/com.vmware.fus...](https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware- Fusion/10.0/com.vmware.fusion.using.doc/GUID-644C040A-0831-483F-9A06-EE970C2F9FF6.html)

[2] [https://www.vimalin.com](https://www.vimalin.com)

<comment><AUTHOR> How does Vimalin backup in-use virtual disks, or deal with the large binary files that have only small differences?

<comment><USER13> It depends on VMware Fusion snapshot functionality. As such it is not a problem to make backups of a running virtual machine.

The way it works is that it makes a temporary snapshot of the VM when it is running. Parts of the disk from before the snapshot are now closed and new data is written as Copy on Write. The data that is safe to copy (which includes your VM state and memory) is then copied to your backup location. After Vimalin is finished copying the data it will also commit that temporary snapshot. On restoring a backup it gets back to the state from before the backup started, just like with a snapshot, except this was written on an external disk.

You can schedule when it is convenient for you to run the backups. Like Time Machine it makes full copies of the disks. But because you can schedule how many copies you want to keep you can prevent your backup storage from getting overrun.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Anyone know how large the local snapshots are? Just curious...

<comment><USER5> They're copy-on-write, so they start off as being just however large the metadata objects describing them are. Think in the neighbor of KB, not GB.

The snapshot will then grow at the rate you delete or modify local files. Conceptually, your drive now has to hold the "before" and "after" versions of its state.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> As a warning, in the last few years Apple has basically switched to doing placebo backups that don't actually backup all of your data. If you ever need to actually restore from a backup, don't expect your device to be in anywhere near the same state as it was in before you restored, but rather expect lots and lots of data to get lost forever.

<comment><USER16> can you elaborate on this, and or share more info? _What_ gets missed and why?

<comment><USER15> If you backup your iPhone, apps and their data don't actually get backed up. Instead, your computer just stores a list of the apps installed and where the icons were, and app data only gets backed up if the developers have used special APIs or whatever to opt-in to having the app's data be part of the backup process.

This is why even if you are making encrypted backups of your phone, which Apple claims are full backups that store passwords and everything, your Google Authenticator data will be completely gone when you restore. So if you thought that, for example, there would be no reason to store the 16 digit codes 2FA codes as long as you had a multiple backups of your phone, what happens is that you just get locked out of every single website you use for a month.

It also means that if an app is no longer in the app store, there is no way to get that app back even if it would otherwise still work on your phone.

If you look at the text of how the backup process is described in iTunes, they are clearly claiming that a full backup of the phone is getting made, and yet in reality nothing could be further from the truth. It's amazing there aren't multiple billion-dollar class action lawsuits currently pending on this issue.

[https://imgur.com/a/6pVBn](https://imgur.com/a/6pVBn)

<comment><USER17> >If you backup your iPhone, apps and their data don't actually get backed up. Instead, your computer just stores a list of the apps installed and where the icons were, and app data only gets backed up if the developers have used special APIs or whatever to opt-in to having the app's data be part of the backup process.

Not at all true [1].

Everything in the app's container gets backed up with the exception of the app bundle, Library/Caches/, tmp/, and other things the developer explicitly opted out.

[1] [https://developer.apple.com/icloud/documentation/data- storag...](https://developer.apple.com/icloud/documentation/data- storage/index.html)

<comment><USER15> Fair enough. But regardless, Apple is describing it as performing a full backup, when in reality there is no way to restore your phone to its previous state.

It doesn't matter how the phone works or how the apps work. If you can't restore, you don't have a backup. End of story.

<comment><USER18> Google Authenticator almost certainly doesn't store its TOTP state on the filesystem - it is in the secure enclave. I don't use Authenticator so I can't guess whether they marked its state as exportable.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Why I love Twitter and barely tolerate Facebook - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/i-m-h-o/52a20d7a17de

<comment><USER2> I was going to write that Twitter is a one-to-many medium that, in my opinion, does not promote the sort of intimate conversation that Facebook does.

And then I reflected on my Facebook use and realized that it's been years since I've seen intimate conversation occurring there.

That having been said, both provide ambient knowledge of others. They allow me to sense the outlines of the daily lives of my old friends - ones who I would phone no more nor no less than I would without social media.

Regardless of what technical differences the two mediums have (like the manner in which they construct a conversation thread), the largest difference for me is social: less than five percent of people I know and meet are on Twitter.

Twitter for me is a news feed. I mostly follow folks who are top in their field and get my daily dose of what is from them. For good or bad.

<comment><USER3> > I was going to write that Twitter is a one-to-many medium that, in my > opinion, does not promote the sort of intimate conversation that Facebook > does.

I had the same assumption, but realized after I began using it that I have lots of one or two person conversations.

That twitter hides @replies from your stream that refer to people you don't also follow obscures just how much back-and-forth conversation there is.</comment></comment>


Why You Should Be Nice To Your Customers - <AUTHOR> http://liamkaufman.com/blog/2012/11/21/why-you-should-be-nice-to-your-customers/ <comment><USER2> how do you deal with hostile customers? do they react well to your niceness? and do you react well to them?</comment>


Ask HN: How to best approach new codebase in an unfamiliar language - <AUTHOR> I realize this is a very open-ended and possibly silly question, but how does one get acquainted as fast as possible with a new codebase, in a language he/she's not very proficient in?
I've been recently trying to pick apart some convoluted code in Java, which contains heavy-ish OOPisms. Ι come primarily from a Python/Go background, and I haven't worked with Java in a deeper level before, so I find myself trying different things. Unfortunately I haven't truly been productive yet, and I'm occasionally getting frustrated.
What are your stories, HN? Do you use IDE features to look up things quickly? Pen-and-paper notes and diagrams? Get a minimum example working and hack on it ASAP? Keep banging on the walls, hoping to make cracks?
Edit : Typos <comment><USER2> Breakpoints, breakpoints, breakpoints.

<comment><AUTHOR> Problems start when the code is not run in a standalone manner, but have dependencies on another API's calls, but you might be right.. For most intents and purposes (C, Python, Go) vi was more than enough, now I think I might have to invest in learning my way around Eclipse or something. :P

<comment><USER3> Breakpoints can still help you here. You really do need to use an IDE, because things like Goto definition, variable inspection live on breakpoints, being able to jump up and down the class hierarchy at a breakpoint and "find usages" will allow you to get a higher level overview of the project as a whole</comment></comment></comment>


Learn to code, get a job - <AUTHOR> http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/12/opinion/rushkoff-write-code/index.html <comment><USER2> In all honesty part of me thinks services like Codecedemy and others are a good thing and part of me thinks they may be a disservice not to their own fault. The problem is when the media starts pumping this stuff with uninformed pieces like this and sends the flood of the masses.

There may be a few people that this sets off their career into becoming a true contributor to our community but the last thing we need is a flooding in of unskilled people trying to pass themselves off as hireable. There is a lot of work to be done but we already have enough headaches trying to deal with the mediocre stuff that typically has to be repaired from outsourcing.

I guess what rubs me the wrong way is that we already have a lot widespread problems in the tech business with managers and business folks trying to degrade the skill it takes to write good software with the assumption that it will help drive down costs. The way these courses are spun feel like they may be somewhat contributory to this trend in that articles like these make our profession sound similar to going to a 6-week trucking school which does make me quite sad.

</comment><comment><USER3> He does NOT literally mean that "Joe the plumber" should take up Java web development. Rushkoff is attempting to re-frame what it means to be a user. He wants the public to become more critical of the usage of technology and to be able to assert their intent with digital tools. His problem is with the fact that people are USED BY power structures whose influence is augmented by their mastery of technology.

By telling the non-digerati to "learn to program", Rushkoff is trying to push them towards a mastery of computing that TO THEM is effectively "programming".

I think that his intent is to arm folks for the kinds of future challenges that Cory Doctoro describes. See the "war on computation" talk: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUEvRyemKSg>

</comment><comment><USER4> He's making a consumer/producer dichotomy. If you can't produce software, then you are relegated to only consume it. This is true of all technologies and advances though. Lofty arguments aside the article is mostly a subtly placed ad for Codeacademy.

If you're currently living, you will be able to make it to your grave without any knowledge of programming. There's no reason to learn to code if you don't want to. Sure, you won't be able to take advantage of many things that technology offers, but that won't seriously degrade your standard of living to the point of hopelessness.

A better bit of advice would be "Learn to understand systems, get a job".

</comment><comment><USER5> "much less the months of effort they'd need to become proficient"

Simply amazing.</comment>


Ask HN:  Anyone else get a $5 credit from WakeMate? - <AUTHOR>

I presume that the fact that it came on my birthday is merely happenstance.  Has anyone else gotten their $5 credited back, and does that mean we're not getting the device? <comment><USER2> _P.S. If you paid via PayPal you will be receiving a refund in the next few days (the request for mass refund was placed today). Do not worry; we still have your order and your place in the queue. Once these payments are refunded no one who pre-ordered (Google or PayPal) will have been charged any money and as a result will be charged $50 upon shipment._

[http://blog.wakemate.com/2010/07/30/shipping-and-mass- manufa...](http://blog.wakemate.com/2010/07/30/shipping-and-mass- manufacturing-time-table/)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks!</comment></comment>


Poland in the 80's Through the Lens of French/Swiss Photographer Bruno Barbey - <AUTHOR> https://imgur.com/gallery/960KNrY <comment><USER2> I grew up in Poland back then. Looking back at those photos, what is amazing is the serenity due to lack of advertising on the streets and on people's clothes. The world's visuals didn't scream at you back then (except for the occasional propagandist poster or banner, but these were not everywhere like today's advertising is).

BTW later, when I was a young teenager in Poland's nineties, already under neoliberal capitalism, I dreamt of the commercials on TV being informative and helpful instead of the brainwashing puke they were (and still are). As an Amiga fanboy, I especially dreamt of a commercial campain that would convince people of Amiga's technical strengths :) Ah, the innocent years of youth.

<comment><USER3> Well, I guess all this says is that when people aren't forced, that's what they want.

I'd rather have billboards than oppression, but maybe that's just me.

<comment><USER2> You think people want advertising? I'd say companies want advertisting, and people cannot do anything to stop it. There are some exceptions though, like cities banning outdoor advertising in historic city centres, the reason being that they're intrusive and ugly, thus making the location less attractive for tourists. It's a shame that a mere ugliness is not enough, it has to be linked with a financial loss - but it's a step in the right direction IMO.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Sorry, this has little to do with what Poland looked like in the 80s.

Being born and having lived there for the first few years of my life, these pictures looks as exotic and strange to me as pictures from Yemen or Kazakhstan.

I'm not saying they're not real, but these pictures are clearly selected to be as far from what an average Western person considers to be "normal".

I guess it's like going to the US, only focusing on the Amish and extrapolating their way of life to the whole country.

<comment><USER5> In that photo with the wicker-basket love seats on the beach — which I'm guessing is Sopot — we still have those. Also ul Mariacka looks no different.

I'm guessing you're from somewhere prosperous? I mean even today, yes Sopot and Warsaw are just masses of Porsches and pretty women, but that isn't the case in some less well-off areas.

<comment><USER6> > In that photo with the wicker-basket love seats on the beach — which I'm > guessing is Sopot — we still have those.

Amish also still exist. The issue is, this portrays a country that was by then very diverse, through a very specific perspective, that, through a rather suspicious coincidence, happens to match western stereotypes about the country, instead of challenging it.

Doesn't change the fact those are good photos, but while there might be true in their literal content, as a whole they provide a false narrative.

<comment><USER7> Not sure what are you trying to prove. Those photos show what's quaint. Big cities and places where things look more western seem less unique or interesting.

<comment><USER6> The choice of photos serves a function, build a certain narrative, and they're not just "huh, look at the bunch of pretty pictures I made". Disavowing that is, to put it bluntly, dishonest to the conversation.

<comment><USER8> What narrative do you think the photos are trying to build? To make Poland in the 80's appear more quaint? Your paranoia seems. . . unwarranted.

<comment><USER6> I'm not sure you understand what a narrative is. Furthermore, you should learn punctuation before trying to use an ellipsis for dramatic effect, especially if you're trying to insult their intellectual abilities.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Just a note - while photos are true, they should not be taken as the representative or a generalization of how average life looked like. Photos from an Indian reservation or city ghettos will show how the life in the US looks like for certain people, but not as all people in the US live. Obviously, a photographer will concentrate on more exotic topics from his perspective.

BTW, is that a feature of an old film, but all those photos look very very grim to me :) Even the ones where people joke and laugh.

<comment><USER10> A Belgian photographer once showed that he can create any picture he wants, using the same environment. Well worth the 3 minutes: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmbsXussxUc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmbsXussxUc).

It has English subtitles ;)

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> I sent these pictures to a colleague in our Polish office, and he sent me a few before and after pics:

Before: [https://i.imgur.com/18lEoGd.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/18lEoGd.jpg)

After: [https://cdn.flixbus.de/2017-06/Gdansk- zwiedzanie.jpg](https://cdn.flixbus.de/2017-06/Gdansk-zwiedzanie.jpg)

Before: [https://pro.magnumphotos.com/image/PAR96165.html](https://pro.magnumphotos.com/image/PAR96165.html)

After: [http://www.psur.pl/ra/cmm_budynek_okm.jpg](http://www.psur.pl/ra/cmm_budynek_okm.jpg)

[http://navtur.pl/files/news/281.jpg](http://navtur.pl/files/news/281.jpg)

<comment><USER12> Feels like a lot of that stark difference in that first pair was due to particularly present weather in the modern one vs a cloudy/grey day in the old one.

<comment><USER13> Also there are trees now.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> It seems to me that the photos are selected towards the more exotic to a Western photographer or viewer. You could also have shots of urban life barely distinguishable from that of 80s' NY―but that wouldn't be as interesting to viewers, would it?

It's hard and possibly erroneous to judge from this temporal distance, but the more I look through cultural artifacts (and what memories I have), the more I feel that the spirit of the time was similar in many aspects across the US, Europe and the USSR (and maybe SE Asia too). Probably because the economy became progressively more global, and because there was a steady trickle of Western culture into even the USSR proper, since the 60s.

<comment><USER15> > towards the more exotic to a Western photographer or viewer

I'd go with "distinctly Polish" in many cases. The folklore clothing, wood art, ceramic heater/oven, trabant, polonez, priests, village houses, etc. are not just exotic. For me they're very much pictures that identify the set as 100% Poland. There are some exotic things in PL that would be less relatable.

I think the photographer did an awesome job with the selection.

<comment><USER16> how is trabant distinctly polish? more like DDR or whole eastern block, but not sure what's polish specific about Trabant

<comment><USER15> I meant when taken together. Each on their own would likely be more common.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> The photo with the ship being pulled uphill. That still exists to date:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RDx- QLW2Tk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RDx-QLW2Tk)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbl%C4%85g_Canal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbl%C4%85g_Canal)

</comment><comment><USER18> The following site has short captions for many of the photos:

[https://pro.magnumphotos.com/Catalogue/Bruno- Barbey/1981/POL...](https://pro.magnumphotos.com/Catalogue/Bruno- Barbey/1981/POLAND-Book-NN144909.html)

<comment> V-2 It's better than nothing, but please note that a lot of these are unfortunately inaccurate.

Eg. even sizeable cities such as Wrocław are referred to as "towns"... Poznań is supposedly located in the Silesia region... Sopot is referred to alternately by its Polish and German name (Zopott), and the German name is given as the primary one for Frombork (misspelled "Fronbork"), while the Motława river is named "Mottlau" exclusively for some reason, etc.

<comment><USER16> is there difference in polish language between town and city? i would think they distinguish only between towns and villages, cities basically don't exist and town it's their language equivalent

<comment> V-2 There aren't two different words, you'd just casually say big city, small city, or "miasteczko", a diminutive from city / miasto.

But English still does distinguish between the two, so when you read about a "town" in Poland, what you imagine probably isn't the 4th largest city in the country, home to over 600 thousand people.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> I grew up in Hrubieszow (one of the eastern-most towns in Poland) in the late 90s and early naughties before emigrating. The photos are very much in line with the scenes I have observed growing up. It's such a contrast to compare my current environment to the one portrayed in the photos (and still lived by some of my extended family members).

If these parts stay unchanged, we will soon see places like (in Poland and elsewhere) as an oasis from the super-advanced reality most of the population lives within.

Going off other comments here and stories from my parents, the commercials and ads back then were thought to present a more modern, futuristic, "better" life that people worked hard to obtain. Soon, the commercials will present a simpler, older life that we dream of escaping to just for a moment. Interesting thought.

</comment><comment><USER20> ...a lens biased towards countryside, and that would require captions to better understand the meaning of photos, IMHO.

<comment><USER21> there's no bias, the photos represent the general state of the whole country

<comment><USER22> No they don't. Source: growing up in said country during that era. There weren't that many horses then, even in the countryside.

And they did have tractors. Plowing with a horse was a curiosity even in the eighties.

<comment><USER21> i grew up in Poland too, east, and south-east looked like like this, or worse. where did you grow up? not everybody had a tractor, still had plenty of horses around, doesn't mean everybody used them, that'd be ridiculous

<comment><USER22> Warsaw, with parts of family near Ciechanów and near Piła.

No, not _everybody_ had a tractor - that would be ineffective, given how many small family-owned farms there were. But they did use tractors and combine harvesters. TBH I don't know whether they were shared between neighbors or just unofficially borrowed(#) for a bottle of vodka from the state farms (PGR).

(#)There's this Polish verb "załatwić" which I cannot properly translate to English. It means obtaining products or services using ones connections, cunning and possibly transfer of a usual token of appreciation as in "załatwić za flachę" (obtain something in exchange for a bottle of vodka).

<comment><USER21> you grew up in the country's capital, and had family in the north-west, no wonder you have no idea how life really was

<comment> V-2 Both - as they're commonly referred to - "Poland A" and "Poland B" comprise of significant portions of the population. I can't see why life in one should be considered "real", while in the other, not. There are two sides to this picture.

<comment><USER23> Because capitals are show off places in oppressive countries. The reality is outside. I grew up in a small city in USSR and sometimes speak to people that grew up in Moscow or Leningrad. The difference is huge... They often owned cars, had frequent access to bananas and oranges, and the stores were generally adequately stocked. Not for us and the rest of the country..

<comment> V-2 That's true, but my parent commenter referred to the entire North West (which is, generally speaking, more well off in Poland) not being "real". Not just Warsaw. Ciechanów or Piła, both rather small towns, could hardly be considered show off places.

Overall the gap was more along the lines of big cities vs. province as you say; rather than geographical. In a centrally planned economy large urban centers were overprivileged in the pecking order.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> I've only been to Warsaw once, a couple of years ago, but has a strong mental image of ~80s Polish urban landscape formed from Kieslowski's movies, esp. the _Dekalog_ ([https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dekalog](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dekalog)) Only the last photo in the set, of kids playing on an abandoned car in a grim apartment complex matched that image.

BTW, if you've never watched this series you absolutely should, esp, Dekalog 1 should be required watching for technical people, as an antidote to the hubris we sometimes feel in describing nature. Now that I have a son at that age, it strikes even closer!

</comment><comment><USER25> Another photographer. Poland (and some former socialist courtiers) in the 70's - 80's [http://chrisniedenthal.com/en](http://chrisniedenthal.com/en)

<comment><USER26> Highly recommend those. Photos linked in OP are cool and true, but very... selected. They show what was already sort of archaic even for Poles. Niedenthal is way more representative and famous - he was Lech Walesa's presidential photographer later on if I remember correctly.

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> Nice photos. They represent personal view of the photographer, as every photo does in the end. One thing can be captured in many ways, showing different points of view or emotions. Enjoy one point of view from one specific place, one photo at a time.

</comment><comment><USER28> political background at the time of the photos [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Poland_(1945%E2%80%...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Poland_\(1945%E2%80%931989\)#Imposition_of_martial_law)

That photo of Lenin with the "Solidarity" newspaper and a sign on the jacket - nice humor and is pretty telling that Poland definitely was rejecting the socialism as a foreign object :)

edit: thank you, corrected the link

<comment><USER29> This is wrong. "Solidarnosc" was more socialist than the ruling party! This common misconception. If you read their manifesto, you can see they wanted even more socialism. That movement was only about taking over. In 1988 communists started capitalist reforms similar to China, but fall of the Soviet Union gave politicians coming from the Solidarnosc a chance. First thing they did was reversing the free market reforms and moving Poland to be a socialist utopia it is today and wasting huge potential.

<comment><USER28> >This is wrong. "Solidarnosc" was more socialist than the ruling party!

yes, i know, and you're right in the sense that it is a bit more complicated than i originally said. The fall of real socialism in 198x in USSR was also associated with the part of society having that naive/romantic longing of "back to good socialism as it was originally envisioned by the great wise fuzzy warm grandpa Lenin" (never mind that Lenin was presiding over and directing the class- and political based genocide on the national scale as a natural part of his socialism) as opposed to supposedly incorrectly implemented real socialism of the time. So the Lenin explicitly embracing "Solidarity" artifacts on that photo is exactly the symbol of the same "back to and more of the good original socialism" and a rejection of that "wrong" real socialism.

The catch of course is there is only one socialism, and it is not the "good one" as that just doesn't exist...

<comment><USER29> Well put my friend

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> No picture of any newly built factory... (soon to be torn down or sold) or the concrete buildings that still make the cities ugly.

</comment><comment><USER16> More like "poor rural Poland" but I guess it's not so catchy as claiming this is regular Poland in 80s where you could buy Coca Cola and watch American/French movies/TV shows. It's pretty sad to see someone pushing their agenda with such clickbait titles.

</comment><comment><USER31> The boy's backpacks in the photo with them by the fisherman at the lake: they look like $500 backpacks. It's funny how some things have changed in price perspective.

<comment><USER14> Eh, they were made from artificial leather with questionable feel, and, though the seams could be strong, the work was likely rather imprecise, so it's not quite the same thing.

'Mass production' goods from the 80s are now sold very cheaply second-hand, e.g. you can get these backpacks starting with $5, plenty for $15: [https://www.avito.ru/rossiya?q=%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%8...](https://www.avito.ru/rossiya?q=%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B5%D1%86+%D1%81%D1%81%D1%81%D1%80)

</comment></comment><comment><USER32> I highly highly recommend seeing the film Cold War, which is set in 1950's-60's Europe. The cinematography is near-perfect and the set design really takes you back to communist-era Poland and Paris.

[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8ImvkXgGVWw](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8ImvkXgGVWw)

</comment><comment> V-2 Aside from the discussion on to what extent are these pictures actually representative of the overall conditions of the era, it's worth noting that the 1980s in Poland were particularly gloomy even by communist standards.

The system was clearly in the final phase of decline, and the crisis had struck hard.

The living standard had deteriorated considerably in comparison to the much more cheerful 1970s (when foreign credits helped to boost the consumption).

This shows in numerous statistics such as eg. alcohol or nicotine consumption, which peaked in the 1980s.

</comment><comment><USER33> It still looks like that today</comment>


Why we don't trust Devil Mountain Software (Exo Performance backstory) - <AUTHOR> http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=31024&page=1

<comment><USER2> The thing is, you really can't trust any of the tech publications. You can find an ethical reporter or two in the crowd, but the organizations tend to be corrupt.

I used to work at an ad agency, and one of my jobs was pitching stories to tech trade media about the companies I represented, as well as researching ad buys. I had sort of a mixed practice serving tech clients - I would do PR, ad research, brochures, websites, business plans, etc.

When I was pitching a story to an editor or reporter, there was never any discussion of ad buys or quid pro quo for placing ads, but on the other side of the shop - when talking to publishers and salesmen who sold ads, I can't even count the number of times I was either straight up offered a story in exchange for an ad buy, or given assurances like "I'll make sure the editors read your press releases." I'm at least happy to say that the agency I worked for didn't go for that type of thing, so I was free to politely ignore their offers, but I imagine that's not universal.

From these kind of conversations, I draw the conclusion that these organizations are rotten to the core, and they let the ad salesmen handle the dirty work. I never had this kind of offer from eWeek or InformationWeek and publications of that size, but the small ones were often dirty, and owned by the same conglomerates that own the big boys.

You should also be suspicious of expert articles written by industry professionals in trade publications. They might just be ghost-written by some 20-something at an ad agency.

<comment><USER3> Hmmm, I wrote and edited UK IT trade magazines for well over 15 years and I can tell you a couple of things in my experience:

1\. The editorial staff didn't give a fig for the adverts that went in. Once the magazine had been put to bed, we hardly ever looked at it again, apart from to see how the colour repro came out.

2\. Occassionally we would get calls from a vendor who was stupid enough to suggest that we should cover them, since they advertised. It gave us the greatest pleasure to tell them we really didn't care.

3\. Occasionally an ad-sales guy would make a stupid promise to bring something to editorial's attention. They got short shrift. But that's what ad- sales sometimes guys do, they sometimes make silly promises to try and make their quota. That doesn't mean the organisation is rotten to the core.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Don't miss the reply from Devil Mountain Software in the comments:

[http://talkback.zdnet.com/5208-10532-0.html?forumID=1&th...](http://talkback.zdnet.com/5208-10532-0.html?forumID=1&threadID=75498&messageID=1468379&tag=content;col1)

<comment><USER5> His claim that IDG execs knew the whole time is pretty explosive. That makes the issue a LOT more about their own integrity as an organization (but I have no reason to believe that claim).

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> It seems to me this story should be about IDG's apparently total lack of oversight of its reporters and their sources.

</comment><comment><USER6> This Randall Kennedy dude is an epic troll. I love his responses to the article. He spent years as a writer basically pimping this terrible xpnet stuff. If he's not lying about getting companies to throw down real cash on his shitty software then he won and he's laughing all the way to the bank.</comment>


CoinMarketAlert – Cryptocurrency price alerts and notifications - <AUTHOR> https://coinmarketalert.com/ <comment><AUTHOR> Coinmarketalert offers easy to use tools to track cryptocurrency prices and help you protect your cryptocurrency investments. Alerts can be delivered to your email, by push notification or webhook. Free to use and currency six alerts types to select from. CoinMarketAlert is based on CoinMarketCap data

We hope you enjoy and share CoinMarketAlert with other cryptocurrency investors.</comment>


Posters of the golden age of Soviet cosmonauts - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34281621 <comment><USER3> The last poster

[http://i.imgur.com/R6ouayv.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/R6ouayv.jpg)

is not just showing some random "elongated triangle".

The monument to "The Conquerors of Space" in Moscow (completed earlier):

[http://i.imgur.com/7f6KY7r.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/7f6KY7r.jpg)

<comment><USER4> I thought the first one was a stylized ringworld until I saw the rocket at the top.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> This graphics style is quite distinctive. I wish books, ads and even magazines would adopt it instead of crafting special effects in Photoshop. Disappearance of artist-made drawings is really unfortunate, especially in such categories as children books.

<comment><USER6> Worse than that, many people don't expect photographs to be Photoshopped, when most are.

<comment><USER7> It's like saying "many people don't expect books to be proof-read, when most are".

<comment><USER8> > It's like saying "many people don't expect books to be proof-read, when most > are".

It's not. Books are written by humans. You expect them to contain fiction or opinion. Pictures are taken by mechanical equipment with no agenda. "The camera never lies" etc. Obviously you can also stage a photograph unrepresentative of reality using techniques other than Photoshop, but the general expectation is that what you see in a photograph is what you would have seen with your own eyes if you had been there at the time.

But people also blame Photoshop when the problem is endemic. Only people with certain body types are hired in Hollywood. Then they have professional makeup artists and hair stylists make them up like a plastic doll, _and then_ the pictures are photoshopped.

I suspect a big part of the reason the criticism is rarely taken seriously is that the proposed alternative of "normal" people is so obviously the wrong one. The average American is overweight and doesn't get enough exercise. People aren't going to want to look at that or be inspired to look like that, nor should they be. But the concept that the represented ideal physical appearance should resemble real athletes rather than stick figures _or_ couch potatoes doesn't seem to have occurred to anyone.

<comment><USER9> There are a great many choices made between photons striking the sensor and photons from your computer screen striking your eyes. In the absence of Photoshop, they're made by an engineering team's best guess at a general procedure for transforming the raw electrical data into a photorealistic scene, but these algorithms do not have a special claim on the truth and the parameters they choose are not necessarily "right." In some situations (such as rooms with unusual color-temperature light sources) they are unambiguously wrong.

Professionals use Photoshop when they disagree with the choices made by the on-camera chip, which is almost all of the time. Working from RAW, you can start fresh from something closer to raw sensor data and move the sliders for yourself. But _those sliders have to be somewhere_ , effectively, and taking manual control of them (or overriding them with further transformations) doesn't make a photo less real. It's much more like copy-editing.

Most images you see are Photoshopped, but most of the editing (and all of the editing in journalism) is done with the intention of making the photo a more accurate representation of what the photographer saw.

Where you get people editing photos to make them _more_ than what was really there is in art. Ansel Adams made choices in the darkroom motivated by aesthetics rather than accuracy, and he was damn good at it. I'm sure most glamour photographers would tell you they're engaged in a similar kind of artistry.

I'm less interested in fashion magazines creating unrealistic representations of the human form than why people believe these are credible ideals to aspire to, rather than mildly amusing curiosities.

<comment><USER10> Dove (European cosmetics company) ran these two adverts:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U) (shows a woman's face)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17j5QzF3kqE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17j5QzF3kqE) (whole body, might be NSFW in the US)

The Photoshop manipulation has very little distortion — the camera engineer could not have produced these images, and the intention is entirely to make the image /less/ like what the photographer saw.

(It isn't just women. Yesterday's junk catalogue is illustrated with perfect- looking children and teenagers, sometimes with perfect-looking parents.)

[Edited links, I pasted them the wrong way around.]

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Awesome and very patriotic posters. In post-USSR countries every child knows who are Y. Gagarin, S. Korolev and V. Tereshkova. I think not only in post- USSR.

<comment><USER12> I didn't know who Korolev was until I watched a series[1] the BBC did about him and his Western Counterpart, Wernher von Braun. I knew since I was a kid who Gagarin was of course, from being the first man in space, but I don't believe it was ever mentioned in history class while in school (I just happened to read a lot on my own).

Sadly, we barely even touch on NASA astronauts in school in the United States anymore. I just happen to love history and had parents that also did. I live in Neil Armstrong's home state and if you're ever in Ohio, there's a pretty interesting (and free) museum in his home town about his life and the Apollo Missions.

[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Race_(TV_series)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Race_\(TV_series\))

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

<comment><USER13> I don't remember ever learning about Gagarin in school, growing up in Russia. But I knew it none-the-less, because his statue always greeted me whenever I left my apartment.

[http://havecamerawilltravel.com/yuri-gagarin-monument- moscow](http://havecamerawilltravel.com/yuri-gagarin-monument-moscow)

<comment><USER14> Growing up in Russia too, I call bullshit. That's just not possible. You learnt Lenin, then you learnt Gagarin.

<comment><USER13> Maybe I just don't remember it. I left when I was 10. Perhaps my teachers were just crap?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> The old soviet space religion, that's one thing that should've been preserved from the USSR.

<comment><USER16> There are many other things worth to be mentioned. E.g. nature preserving approach of early Soviet days [http://www.columbia.edu/~lnp3/mydocs/ecology/ussr_ecology.ht...](http://www.columbia.edu/~lnp3/mydocs/ecology/ussr_ecology.htm), or no plastic post-consumer waste.

<comment><USER17> Without intending to liken the USSR to Nazi Germany, the Nazis also had very "green" policies. Why suggest that conservation on the early soviet model should be revisited when in fact you just want conservation, but for different reasons and from a different kind of state?

What I've written doesn't sound very clear but the point I'm trying to make is that even a misguided state can get some things right. That doesn't mean those things can only be got right by that kind of state, or that we should call for those things to be administered by such a state in perpetuity...

<comment><USER18> No one said that. Just that the Soviets had useful cultural aspects worth adopting. "We are used to thinking of the Politburo as a group of unimaginative gray bureaucrats, but they were bureaucrats who dared to dream astounding dreams." ([http://thebaffler.com/salvos/of-flying-cars-and-the- declinin...](http://thebaffler.com/salvos/of-flying-cars-and-the-declining- rate-of-profit))

Both the US and former Soviet Union are culturally backwards in many ways, but each has aspects worth learning from. One can easily think of societies improved beyond both "theirs & ours," which also unleash imagination.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> More Soviet awesomeness on the covers of magazine "Technology - Youth"

[http://feldgrau.info/64-2010-09-02-12-20-17/5664-70s-soviet-...](http://feldgrau.info/64-2010-09-02-12-20-17/5664-70s-soviet- technology-youth-magazine-covers)

[https://www.google.com/search?q=%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%...](https://www.google.com/search?q=%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B6%D0%BA%D0%B8+%D0%B6%D1%83%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B0+%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%85%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B0+%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B4%D1%91%D0%B6%D0%B8&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CCQQsARqFQoTCMiTh52rhcgCFWV3cgodQAkM9g&biw=1830&bih=960#)

</comment><comment><USER20> Very neat. Would love to see the American equivalents. Anyone have a link?

<comment><USER21> I'd guess it's a wee bit difficult to provide that: [saying this as a designer/illustrator with a deep interest in the subject] Soviet design inherited rules from artists involved at the start of the revolution, and was formalised via government-run technical schools and propaganda bureaus, so there was a constant stream of highly public stuff in this style, which covered print, architecture, products etc. In the US, bar propaganda during the war, there was never close to the same formal propaganda structure, so though there are are isolated examples, it was always more ad hoc: good design/illustration was always commercial (as a side note, classic sci- fi/popular mechanics covers were very heavily informed by Soviet space propaganda posters). Closest you'd get is probably postage stamps. NASA has some stuff archived, but it's not the same, it's just prosaic designs with stuff like a photo of the crew of a mission. I assume it wasn't promoted with the same religious fervour in the US, no creation of secular ikons

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> There are (were) books collecting Soviet political posters.

Here's one example: [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Soviet-Political- Posters-1917-80/dp/...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Soviet-Political- Posters-1917-80/dp/0140081879)

That one is lovely; A3 with reasonable printing. I'm a bit surprised there aren't more books. The posters cover a wide range of propaganda - <USER2> public health.

</comment><comment><USER23> The Cosmonauts exhibit is fantastic, if you manage to make it to London before next March.

<comment><USER24> Indeed. I'm volunteering at that exhibit and it is really well presented.

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> There's a good interview with the curators of the museum here: [http://calvertjournal.com/features/show/4654](http://calvertjournal.com/features/show/4654).

</comment><comment><USER26> Last one is my favorite. Very cool.

</comment><comment><USER27> very cool, I am going to use one of them as my wall-paper.</comment>


Show HN: Academic Bio – A simple static site generator for academic webpages - <AUTHOR> http://my.academic.bio <comment><AUTHOR> I set up academic.bio to try to make it easy for academics to have a website without needing to learn anything new (html, Jekyll, github, etc) and without the complexity of WordPress et al.

I want to keep it all open though so you still 'own' your website, with the option to host at academic.bio (simple s3 static site), download the compiled html/CSS to host yourself, or use the Jekyll theme directly (github.com/academicbio/academic-minima) depending on the level you're comfortable at.

Thoughts and feedback welcome!

PS the next step is allowing quick import of publications. Where would people like to import from? Bibtex? ResearchGate?

<comment><USER2> Looks pretty great - why stop at academia? Many devs would love a quick, good looking resume or github page.

<comment><USER3> Because there is a new resume/GitHub static generator every week?? I know it's not a sole reason to ignore those purposes but he has much better chance appealing to a niche audience with such a common product.

<comment><USER4> I believe GP comment suggestion was to re-use the same code on a different domain/template for devs.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I have to admit, I am normally not impressed by "Show HN"s from a practical viewpoint (most are technical demos, I think), but your page really stood out. I really like, that you keep it simple and allow to transfer the pages.

A feature request I would have if I published open-access papers (and that is fortunately more and more the case) would be to host them on your page.

Maybe that's already possible (i.e. adding static files), then I have nothing to complain. :)

<comment><USER6> Open accessing papers should not be done (only) on personnal web pages. Those may disappear and are less discoverable (or at least, the world depends on Google Scholar to find such papers, which is a single point-of-failure if Google discontinues the service sole day).

Instead, open access papers should be hosted in open repositories, which are dedicated to the organization and the conservation of scientific documents. I'm of course talking about services that are supported by public institutions, like arXiv, HAL, Zenodo, etc. Not of those made by startups that may one day be bought by Evilseer (such as Academia.edu and ResearchGate).

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> That's awesome, I can Tweet this out for you. My lowly account has 1600 followers, but concentrated amongst academics. [https://twitter.com/codonops](https://twitter.com/codonops)

<comment><AUTHOR> That would be amazing, thanks!

<comment><USER7> Done! [https://twitter.com/CodonOps/status/793545902489235458](https://twitter.com/CodonOps/status/793545902489235458)

<comment><USER6> Retweeted :)!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Bah every time I have a good idea it's taken :)

I recently went through the pain of setting up a simple static website for a math professor[1], and it really is depressing how polarized the options are considering you want the site to be easily editable by the party in question once it's all set up. Either monolithic Wordpress-like engines that are really hard to bend to your will for first-timers (even me, a developer), or FTPing static files to some shady host provider.

The solution I settled on was hosting everything on github.io[2] and teaching the person how to use the GitHub interface sort of like a file browser/editor so they can tweak little things without having to e-mail me.

Anyway my approach seemed to work out, but I would for sure have given this a try first if I knew about it. Congrats on getting it out there!

1\. [http://piotrkrasonmath.com/](http://piotrkrasonmath.com/) 2\. [https://github.com/dougkoellmer/piotrkrasonmath.github.io](https://github.com/dougkoellmer/piotrkrasonmath.github.io)

<comment><USER9> Just curious, did you check out Lektor? I haven't experience with it, but I think it is designed just for that kind of scenarios.

<comment><USER8> Yup that came up but it looked a little too complex to use for the person for whom I made the website. He can handle basic HTML tweaks but isn't really a techie. He also wanted to be able to update his website from any machine, including his iPad.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Great work! As a grad student I can definitely say it addresses a need :). For the publications, importing from bibtex might be a useful alternative, since all the fields are already there. It would save time compared to manually copy pasting each individual field and most researchers are familiar with it IMO.

</comment><comment><USER11> This is great. I would love to have this.

But my univ gives me an 'OpenScholar' access... ([http://theopenscholar.org/](http://theopenscholar.org/)) it's like this weird cms that I can't seem to figure out. Here's a question if anyone has experience with OpenScholar: can I somehow insert HTML pages -- that this tool will generate, and screw the OpenScholar system... while using OpenScholar? (because my univ. won't let me simply upload HTML pages, it makes me do everything in OpenScholar)

</comment><comment><USER12> The biggest problem I see with academic websites is that their publications are always out of date. Google scholar has always more recent publications listed. Do you have any plans to fix that? I think most academics have their faculty website profile and naybe a google scholar profile. I think your generator needs to be automated because otherwise it is just another site you have to update every tine you publish a new paper.

<comment><USER13> Most professors cease updating their websites post-tenure. :) I can pinpoint the date my former advisor got tenure based on the last publication on his website...

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> This looks good. [http://jemdoc.jaboc.net/](http://jemdoc.jaboc.net/) comes to mind as one precursor that a number of academics have chosen, but it falls in the (marginally) more complicated categories of 'command line' and 'markup language'.

</comment><comment><USER15> Pretty amazing, maybe you could let universities have their own domains and I think this would be a huge success!

</comment><comment><USER16> Cool! I'm really hoping we can stop seeing academic web pages that look like they're trapped in the 90s.

<comment><USER17> I actually find these 90s style academic websites very charming.

<comment><USER18> Seconded. Pure HTML ftw.

<comment><USER6> Also, the fact that the web page exists is already quite an achievement. I'm amazed by the number of academics who don't have a personal web page, and this kind of service may help to decrease that number.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I've wanted to do the dame thing for years because I'm always frustrated by colleagues or other academics with no online presence.

This is awesome. The resulting web pages are very nice, and the openness is (no lock-in) is really a good thing. Thanks for making this exists!

</comment><comment><USER19> A good idea!</comment>


Do you build from scratch or integrate open source? - <AUTHOR> I'm curious what other developers do with their projects and startups.  As the technical decision maker in a few different startups, I have had to make the decision to build features from scratch or integrate.  There are a few commonly needed features of a lot of startups, like CRM, ticket management, knowledge bases and the like.
There are plenty of great, open-source CRMs out there (Sugar CRM at least) as well as knowledge base software, but it seems that even if we try to start with an integration into any of these, we end up spending more time trying to bend it to our needs and just abandon and start from scratch anyway.
Now, of course, we don't invent our own encryption or try to roll our own email service (I love mailgun) or build our own telecom infrastructure (Twilio is great) but it just seems so much easier in many cases to build a simple version of what we need and then add to it as we go, keeping a close integration with our software.  I commonly get flack and pushback from those who are aware of the open source options out there and I have to defend those decisions.
What do you seem to do more often?  Are you integrating with what is out there or reinventing the wheel in your own image? <comment><USER2> How much is your time worth? If it takes you $10K of engineering time to roll your own solution, and delays you from shipping your code by a week, is it worthwhile?

That options aren't only "roll your own with open source" or "pay vendors". Have you looked into paying one of the open-source developers for advice, or to do the integration for you, and push changes back upstream? After all, if you think you have to bend it to your needs, then perhaps you don't know how to use it right, or perhaps it's useful feedback where a simple change would help others as well.

I ask because in talking to people, many forget this option even exists. It's as if the idea of paying for open source is a foreign concept.

</comment><comment><USER3> You are vastly underestimating the effort required to build and MAINTAIN a "simple version." Usually open source software such as CRMs do what they should and do it well. If they don't full-fill a requirement a business owner has, it is likely that that requirement is a stupid.

In the best case, technical project managers can convince the business owner to drop the requirement or come to some kind of compromise. In the worst case, programmers spend months implementing the required feature which then goes unused as the business owner realizes it was a dumb idea after all.

Also see the Ohloh site ([https://www.openhub.net/](https://www.openhub.net/)) for cost estimates for how much open source software costs to produce. Then you can get some kind of feel for how much writing simple versions from scratch would cost.

</comment><comment><USER4> Create a business plan for your problem.

Outline solutions, timelines, 'new work' (stuff you've not done before r.e. custom, vs custom r.e. integrating an existing solution).

Use fact-based thinking and discussion, eliminating any per-emptive questioning you can think of in advance. Treat each other as equals, as by now, you should be on an equal playing field. Don't take or make anything as a personal hit.

</comment><comment><USER5> For ticket management or knowledge bases I would lean toward using open source or paying for a service.

For CRM (or anything else) if it's something unique/valuable to your business where spending some development time would bring value and time savings then go with something custom. It would help if you have a development team that can build it quickly (Rails/Laravel) so the cost/time doesn't get out of control. Building the basics and adding needed features would work well.</comment>


Am I the only one bugged by npm.community? - <AUTHOR> Months ago NPM has archived some of their GitHub repositories and decided to move help/diagnostics/support/bugs/request/ideas into  their own forum at https://npm.community/
(references: https://github.com/npm/www)
Now when you're having an issue you have to check in their archived GitHub repositories then afterwards in their Forum.
Beyond that, inside the Forum they are linking GitHub Issues & PR's which makes the issue a bit hard to get more traction because the GitHub Issues & PR aren't getting references, ie. "@npmwtf referenced this issue / pull request on Mar 24, 2019" <comment><USER2> I miss the Cathedral - welcome to the Bazaar:)</comment>


Daylight Savings Time Should Happen EVERY DAY - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@gasolinehorse/daylight-savings-time-should-happen-every-day-5f465a162957 <comment><USER2> I'd like for every week to be 5 minutes shorter from January to June (so that morning hours progressively move earlier approximately as the sun rises), and then the other half of the year 5 minutes longer. Just adjust the clocks every Saturday.

Of course, this should have been implemented 100 years ago, now it is very unlikely when even leap seconds are a problem.

<comment><AUTHOR> I love the Saturday idea. It'd be implemented more seamlessly to most people.</comment></comment>


Google will start paying some publishers for news articles - <AUTHOR> https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/25/21302791/google-news-publishers-pay-content-australia-germany-brazil <comment><USER2> Original announcement discussed here 2 days ago:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23637775](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23637775)

</comment><comment><USER3> I am of mixed feeling about this.

Sure, publishers of news got it backward about how Google News benefits them, but at the same time news are dying, and with serious journalism.

However, I don't really expect new sources to suddenly improve in quality. If they got cause and effect backward with google news, who know what else they got wrong?</comment>


What Orwell discovered in the North - <AUTHOR> http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/arts-and-books/what-orwell-discovered-in-the-north <comment><USER2> Anti-clickbait summary: he discovered poverty, in a severe and imminent way, among white British people (+) living in the North of England, and this led him to his extremely pragmatic form of democratic socialism.

The fieldwork was done in early 1936; at the end of 36 Orwell went to Catalonia to fight for POUM against both the fascists and (eventually) the Stalinists.

(+) This clause is relevant because he had encountered poverty before when he was a colonial policeman in Burma.

<comment> m-j-fox Thanks. Did you subscribe to find that out? Because it didn't seem like there was any other way to read the article. The web has become a very aggressive pan handler.

<comment><USER2> The article wasn't obstructed for me (with ublock origin). But I didn't actually read all of it properly, just skimmed it and filled in with my own knowledge of _The Road To Wigan_ pier and Orwell's life. Only my first para is taken from the article itself.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> White Walkers?

<comment><USER4> I think you're confusing _The North_ , i.e. the North of England, with _north of the wall_ \- Scotland.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> that page has some music and I can't find any way to disable it!

<comment><USER6> In chrome, right click on the tab and click mute.

Annoying that it is hidden though.

<comment><USER7> I thought they had removed it entirely. thanks for this

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> And? What did he find? What? Is that clickbait for intellectuals? I hate this type of questions as headlines.

<comment><USER9> I can see how this is technically a clickbait headline in its grammatical construction, but in context it isn't really.

Think of it as "[a discussion/analysis of] what Orwell discovered in the North", or "[pondering] what Orwell discovered in the North".

What he discovered isn't a mystery, nor is it the question. The significance of what he discovered to him and to his then future path in life and in writing is the topic being explored.</comment></comment>


Crypto Miners in Georgia Consume 10% of the Entire Nation's Power - <AUTHOR> https://www.thedailychain.com/crypto-miners-in-georgia-consume-10-of-the-entire-nations-power/ <comment><USER2> > region where electricity is free

That's your problem right there. You either need floating prices or strict regulation to prevent misallocation of resources.

<comment><USER3> "If something cannot go on forever, it will stop."

[0] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Stein#Stein's_Law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Stein#Stein's_Law)

<comment><USER4> Wouldn't _everything_ that cannot go on forever, eventually stop?

I mean, that is the definition of forever.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I wonder what can be done about this. These crypto calculations are totally useless RNG and are trashing our planet. One solution I have seen is to charge for power on a non linear scale so for normal users its fairly cheap but if you start to use very high amounts of power it becomes more expensive per kwh.

This method doesn't sit too well with me but I don't have any other better suggestions.

<comment><USER6> > I wonder what can be done about this.

You can do something about this: support Proof of Stake crypto-currencies and denounce Proof of Work ones.

<comment><USER7> In contrast to proof of work, proof of stake will support itself since it doesn't come with the high power demands.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> No surprise now that bitcoin mining tends to migrate to heavily corrupt regions with subsidised power but likely something that the original design didn't anticipate when it spoke about distributed mining

</comment><comment><USER9> As a side note; I was lucky enough to visit the town from the article, Mestia, a couple of years ago while doing a ski-touring holiday in Georgia and it was a truly remarkable place. Traveling there took hours driving on steep mountain roads which was constantly blocked due to rock slides and snow. When we finally arrived one of the first ting we saw was a wolf walking the outskirt of the town, which the town had a quite clever solution to, packs of gigantic dogs roaming free around the town. The town itself is packed with Svaneti Towers, which is placed on the UNESCO World Heritage list. So if you get the chance, please visit Svaneti before tourism or/and cypto miners destroys is.

And btw; the skiing was awesome!

</comment><comment><USER10> What changed to cause the weeklong outages they're blaming on the mining? As if they can fix that, this still seems like a win for everyone.

</comment><comment><USER7> There are plenty of proof of stake consensus protocols out there already (Avalanche, iChing, Ouroboros, ...). These do not require the huge power demands of proof of work to provide network security. As a result, they also don't need the high ongoing investment to support the decentralized network.

</comment><comment><USER11> You can earn free bitcoin every day [https://www.bitcoingpumining.com](https://www.bitcoingpumining.com)

</comment><comment><USER12> I guess the thinking is that there's no way to enforce legislation to stop mining? Something's gotta give here though.

<comment><USER13> You could just charge for the electricity and the problem would solve itself.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Interesting headline because it's totally accurate and there is nothing wrong with it but it still feels very misleading.

Does anyone know what the AP standard is for referencing the country VS the state of Georgia? Is this discouraged?

<comment><USER15> > _[...] it still feels very misleading [...] referencing the country VS the > state of Georgia_

You know, there exists a world outside the US. And yet, when "Georgia" and "nation" is mentioned in the same sentence, you feel _misled_ because it doesn't refer to the US state of Georgia? The problem is with you, not with the headline.

<comment><USER16> Nah. It's still ambiguous. I also read it to be referring to the state of Georgia in the the US Nation. It would be a lot clearer to say Nation of Georgia. Then there's no ambiguity.

<comment><USER15> > _It's still ambiguous._

It's a headline, not a summary.

> _I also read it to be referring to the state of Georgia in the the US > Nation._

It's okay to misunderstand the headline – if I were a resident of the US, I would have probably interpreted "Georgia" as the US state as well. But it is not justified to blame this on the headline, or to feel "misled" by it.</comment></comment></comment></comment>