Going to court without a lawyer is new normal for U.S. litigants - <AUTHOR> https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-22/going-to-court-without-a-lawyer-is-new-normal-for-u-s-litigants <comment><USER2> [Sort of off topic] From what I've seen in my limited experience with the US court system is split a couple ways:

Having no money in a court room results in you:

\- getting a public defender that is incredibly overworked and underpaid; which results in your case having the dice rolled on if they are able to spend the time to successfully represent you.

Having no experience in a court room results in you:

\- pleading which could have possibly worse results than if you tried the case and played it out naturally. It's not always appropriate for the case, but sometimes a lot of people plead to simply return to work. There is also a lot of cops that linger around doing just this, making you plead by handing you forms saying you need to sign this. Any inexperience in traffic courts for example makes you think you need to sign this, resulting in the scenario above, possible points for a no violation type offense.

Having money but no experience in a court room results in you:

\- retaining a lawyer on your own dime; the money adds up, and if they don't find a way to represent you in your situation quickly, you're going to pay for every adjournment the lawyer may need. If you're searching lawyers, be sure to ask if they have big workloads, because the ones that have a smaller, more manageable number of ongoing cases are going to be your best bet obviously.

The thing about too many ongoing cases is the current courts situation dealing with overworked public defenders and lawyers. Not having the time it takes to focus on each case or creating mistakes due to burnout & fatigue. After having even one negative experience with a public defender or lawyer like this, I could easily see people wanting to represent themselves or like in the articles case, they aren't even guaranteed to get one in a civil suit.

<comment><USER3> My last two employers have both offered Hyatt Legal group plans[1] as a voluntary benefit.

I signed up because it seemed like a potentially useful benefit and ~$9/paycheck was a tiny enough cost to impulse check that box without much thought.

It's turned out to be one of my favorite, most used company benefits. Both companies have carved out different services the plan covers, but in general it has covered every instance I've ever needed to leverage a lawyer for personal needs. And removes the impetus of having to find/vet/pay a lawyer for smaller work like reviewing and drafting legal documents that I otherwise would have done myself and hoped I covered everything well enough.

It gives you the benefit of the second scenario, without the unpredictable costs of retaining a lawyer directly. If your work offers it, I highly recommend getting it.

[1] [https://www.legalplans.com/](https://www.legalplans.com/)

<comment> xkcd-sucks Are there any conflicts of interest in this, e.g would they represent you in an employment dispute?

<comment><USER4> I'm not a lawyer, and there are a lot of little facets to these rules so I could be wrong.

This looks basically like a "legal costs insurance", so the company pays into a fund that then pays the lawyers. I assume the company has no control over the money once it is in the insurance fund. So long as the lawyer doesn't represent the company directly in other dealings then yes they should be able to represent you in an employment dispute.

If the company was just providing direct access to their in-house counsel then no, that'd be a conflict of interest.

<comment><USER5> Most legal plans offered, even through third parties, explicitly do not cover employee-employer disputes. This has been the case at both Microsoft and Amazon that I have seen.

<comment><USER4> That's just rude. I think so long as the funding is out of the company's control there's no ethical violations but again there's a lot of rules and I could be wrong.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I can relate. Last year's tax return put income at around $600K. So I'm not poor. I have found it very difficult to find a lawyer who is actually interested in getting to a solution rather than dragging it out forever.

Here is the cost of filing an agreement negotiated between me and a counter party: $5K.

$5K for you to call someone and send over some paperwork. Sure, i can do the work myself but I could do it wrong, and judges don't like that. In fact, a judge initially rejected it until we had a lawyer.

Can I even get someone on retainer? No. Because the retainer is used up in the first phone call. Useless waste of money.

In my mind, lawyers have gone from people who used to be the bedrock against tyranny and are now rent seekers.

Unbundled services are a step forward, but then you lose the benefit of context.

<comment><USER7> So you make 600k and you think lawyers charge too much huh.

<comment><USER8> The way I read it, the _legal system_ charges too much. It isn't the lawyer's problem that the legal system (according to parent's anecdote) requires $5K worth of legal services. DIY isn't even an option.

Besides, who cares how much parent makes? If people making those kind of fat stacks complain, how the hell is a barista supposed to get a lawyer?

<comment><USER6> Bingo. I can afford it. Others can't.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Hypothesis: the Bar Association is a cartel; limits supply, keeps prices high. The supply of lawyers is artificially constrained, while the volume of civil litigation only grows larger every year. One used to be able to self-study, pass an exam, and practice law. Now it virtually always requires 3 years of law school, at a cost of thousands.

<comment><USER4> The license to be a Barber or a Hair Dresser is a cartel, but you would never say the same thing about requiring doctors and civil engineers being licensed.

Being represented by an under-qualified attorney can ruin your life. You can go to jail because your attorney was incompetent. When the consequences are that high, we need the Bar.

<comment><USER10> > Being represented by an under-qualified attorney can ruin your life. You can > go to jail because your attorney was incompetent. When the consequences are > that high, we need the Bar.

The same concern cuts both ways though. It's just as problematic to have rules that raise the cost of legal services beyond what some people can afford, because not being able to afford an attorney can lead to all the same dire consequences.

<comment><USER4> Because we have laws requiring a lawyer be provided in a criminal case and we have high standards for lawyers, you theoretically will get a good lawyer even if you cannot afford one. Of course the public legal system is incredibly under-funded so in reality this doesn't work out.

Let's consider this from a different lens though. "Bridge Engineers are too expensive so lets make the requirements to become one more lax" is obviously a dangerous idea. There is a minimum amount of knowledge and experience a person needs to be qualified to build a bridge. If you cannot afford to pay someone who meets the requirements, you have no business building a bridge.

The issue is funding, not the requirements.

<comment><USER10> > Because we have laws requiring a lawyer be provided in a criminal case and > we have high standards for lawyers, you theoretically will get a good lawyer > even if you cannot afford one. Of course the public legal system is > incredibly under-funded so in reality this doesn't work out.

"In theory there is no difference between theory and practice but in practice there is."

> "Bridge Engineers are too expensive so lets make the requirements to become > one more lax" is obviously a dangerous idea.

A lot less dangerous than the alternative of not hiring a Bridge Engineer at all and still having to build the bridge, which is the analogous situation for legal services.

> The issue is funding, not the requirements.

Not necessarily. Standards can be inefficiently high. It's not worth spending A to avoid a 1% chance of losing B when 100A is more than B.

<comment><USER4> > A lot less dangerous than the alternative of not hiring a Bridge Engineer at > all and still having to build the bridge, which is the analogous situation > for legal services.

That is the absurdity here though, that people are being forced to build a bridge with no support. With more funding, we could provide an engineer for every bridge (and a lawyer for every case). Nobody should be forced to go through the legal system without an lawyer. Period.

The number of lawyers has been growing in recent years. It's hard to claim standards are too high when more people are becoming lawyers than ever before. See: [http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/lawyer_population_15_...](http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/lawyer_population_15_higher_than_10_years_ago_new_aba_data_shows)

But those lawyers aren't working as public defenders because it's probably the worst job to take once you've invested in a law degree in terms of pay and stress. And until the funding situation changes to make that job more desirable, people will continue to suffer no matter how many lawyers there are.

<comment><USER10> > That is the absurdity here though, that people are being forced to build a > bridge with no support. With more funding, we could provide an engineer for > every bridge (and a lawyer for every case). Nobody should be forced to go > through the legal system without an lawyer. Period.

That's fair, but then you're also talking about a foundational change to the legal system. Just providing a real public defender to criminal defendants would dramatically reduce the number who take a plea, and then you're not just funding public defenders, you now need more prosecutors and police officers and judges because there are so many more cases where the defendant would have their day in court. That would explode the budget so much that the proposal would be politically impossible without some significant changes to the laws (e.g. end the war on drugs and do something more meaningful than we ever have before about poverty) to dramatically reduce the number of criminal defendants to begin with. Which is what we need -- but that's hardly just a matter of funding. It requires a huge political change.

And it gets even worse for civil cases, because then you're going to want to fund the plaintiffs as well, otherwise you're back to the little guy being unrepresented. But then you're creating an incentive for plaintiffs to file thousands of frivolous lawsuits at taxpayer expense to try to find one that sticks, because who benefits is no longer aligned with who pays. Spending money reduces barriers which multiplies the amount of money you would have to spend.

The only way to reduce the cost is to _actually_ reduce the cost, i.e. reduce the number of man-hours it takes for a given legal process, not just change who is paying for it.

> The number of lawyers has been growing in recent years. It's hard to claim > standards are too high when more people are becoming lawyers than ever > before.

The claim isn't that the standards are preventing people from becoming attorneys, it's that they're raising costs on clients. If you over-regulate nuclear power, the problem isn't that then nobody wants to be a construction worker and build nuclear plants, it's that it makes nuclear cost more than fossil fuels like coal. And that, even when it does get used, it still costs more than it should because you're imposing rules whose cost exceeds their value.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I tried to get worker's compensation in Washington state but couldn't find a lawyer anywhere in my area willing to take my case. One actually agreed to meet in person but told me his payoff is based only on the payoff I get. I am not legally allowed to pay him outside of what he would win for me. My payoff would have been lots of physical therapy, doctor visits, and the like. What's 20% of physical therapy? I never heard from him again and ended up just giving up on the case. This was despite or because of I had already had a case in NJ which I couldn't continue due to lack of any doctors willing to take it. It's a great system for the state when you have zero chance of winning. I wonder what Washington state does with all the money it collects and refuses to pay to the people that need it. Other than paying doctors to review cases for ten minutes, violate their Hippocratic oath, and say they don't think the injury is work related when it obviously is.

</comment><comment><USER12> The way legal cases are funded needs to change. You shouldn't have to put up money up front to try a case, but of course then we would need to figure out a way to discourage frivolous lawsuits.

But I'm sure it could be done with some sort of escrow system or something.

Imagine a system where both parties put in however much they are willing to spend, and then 5% of the pool is given to each side for their upfront fee, and then the rest of the pool goes to the winner of the case, or maybe the judge gets to divvy the fees or something.

Then if a big corp and a frugal individual go up against each other, the big corp can put $100,000 in and the other person can put in $5, and neither party gets an advantage because both lawyer teams get $5,000 up front. Or something like that.

</comment><comment><USER13> As someone who represented themselves in a similar sort of case, and successfully repulsed the effort to collect, I have sympathy - the civil courts system gives a slight bias to people who have lawyers - like in my case a default judgment was granted before I could even get my filing in (before the deadline), and then was withdrawn when I submitted my filing.

Writing a brief is hard if you've never done it before, and there is no easy guide to figure out what you need to do to make the system work for you. I represented myself at first because I couldnt afford a lawyer - then the case just sat in an existing but no filings state - then later because the plaintiff scheduled a court date without notifying me, and I only had a one day notice to drag myself into court.

</comment><comment><USER14> There is significantly more price variation in legal services than many (particularly in this cohort) seem to recognize. I admit my own bias here, but I don't quite understand why many in the startup world feel the need to go to 1000+ lawyer international law firms for early-phase legal services. Do any of you hire Ernst and Young or Deloitte to do your startup accounting?

A lot of folks pay a lot of money for legal services because they seem to think they need to hire the same lawyers as Facebook and Google. You hire those same service providers, don't be surprised how much you pay.

</comment><comment><USER15> Pro se plaintiffs should pass some sort of light bar exam (some sort of licensing). And they should be made to pay higher fees to access the court systems. If they lose more than 3 times in a row they should be banned from the court systems entirely.

This is only to weed out the aholes who run frivolous suits hoping for an easy pay day when defendants settle to avoid protracted and useless litigation.

Also we should get rid of the "American rule" which prevents defendants who prevail to seek damages from frivolous plaintiffs.

<comment><USER13> Access to the legal system is a _right_ not a privilege.

Also, this article talks mostly about people representing themselves while defendants.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> [https://outline.com/AWGsb8](https://outline.com/AWGsb8)

</comment><comment><USER17> Sounds like an opportunity. Live chats with lawyers for significantly lower prices than in-person consultation might cost. You can represent yourself, but get guidance from a real lawyer. Sounds like something that already exists since it seems obvious in retrospect, but not sure.

<comment><USER18> The problem is that non lawyers are not allowed to own law firms. And what lawyer wants to work over low cost chat sitting in a room all day? That's part of why this sort of service doesn't and will not exist.

<comment><USER19> Any reason why there is a restriction disallowing non lawyers from owning law firms?

<comment><USER20> State bars don't want outside investors or non-lawyer executives directing the conduct of lawyers. (Also, why would you want to allow non-lawyer ownership of law firms? The reason you have corporate structures is to be able to raise capital. Law firms require very little capital.)

<comment><USER21> Law as currently practiced, does not require much capital. You're correct about that.

But legal services in general are an expensive, labor-intensive craft industry. Just like any craft industry, there's probably scope for low-touch industrialization alongside high-end bespoke craftmanship. Clothing is a good example of what I'm talking about--rich people have tailors, everyone else buys off the rack. What you have now in law and may other professions only works for the high-touch case.

Atrium (google them) is trying to get around this by having a traditional high-touch law firm use a lot of software provided by a standard silicon valley-financed venture capital startup. They're basically laundering legal fees to the startup side via the law firm. I'm not sure of the exact legalities but we need more stuff like this.

Access matters. A system that, for completely well-intentioned reasons, attempts to guarantee that everyone only gets the best, means the low end will never have access at affordable rates. It's simple economics. Until practitioners work for free (they won't), or there's some way to do things more cheaply, the bottom won't get served.

<comment><USER20> The atrium model isn't problematic at all. Law firms use software built by third parties all the time. (West Law, document review platforms, etc.) You don't need to permit non lawyer ownership of law firms to have that.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


You Can Now Transfer Your Twitter Verification to Another Account - <AUTHOR> https://twitter.com/fart/status/1263222585778507776 <comment><USER2> It's a hoax. Twitter reply: [https://twitter.com/TwitterComms/status/1263256788238909441](https://twitter.com/TwitterComms/status/1263256788238909441)</comment>


Inside the Massive 711M Record Onliner Spambot Dump - <AUTHOR> https://www.troyhunt.com/inside-the-massive-711-million-record-onliner-spambot-dump/ <comment><USER2> Things I Dread/Appreciate Seeing in my Inbox #47: "Have I been pwned?"

Such a valuable free service. [https://haveibeenpwned.com/](https://haveibeenpwned.com/)

Just got my notification about this one today [sigh]

</comment><comment><USER3> Does anyone have the password section of the dataset? My email address is in the list, but I care more about which (if any) of my passwords was exposed.

<comment><USER4> I believe there's a new section of the site where you can enter the password and see if it's been pwned, it should've been updated to include this latest dump.

<comment><USER3> Oh wow, what? Why would anyone encourage this? The data is out there, it's a public dataset, just show me the password or a hash of it or something.

<comment><USER5> The site does say "Do not send any password you actively use to a third-party service - even this one!"

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I suppose I shouldn't be surprised (since this is a list of pwned data), but it's sad how, out of all the passwords shown, every single one sucks balls. steve123? C'mon guys!

</comment><comment><USER7> 1\. Used the password for the email? Change it!

2\. Used the password everywhere? Change them all!</comment>


Ask HN: How do fellow entrepreneurs deal with the stresses of Christmas? - <AUTHOR>

With the holidays fast approaching I'm beginning to feel the stress build up even more than usual.
I've been living off my savings as I'm trying to get my startup going which means my budget for gifts is really low. All around me friends and family are cheerfully buying gifts as they have full time jobs. I feel that around me, no one really understands the position I'm in and I feel guilty and truly sad that I cannot match their generosity.
Is this something that other entrepreneurs are going through and feel the same way?
Or am I feeling like this is because I've commercialized Christmas by thinking gifts are necessary. I feel that my niece or nephew wouldn't understand not getting a gift from me during this time of year. <comment><USER2> I've had some lows with work situations and loved ones always understand that kind of situation. What I've done in the past is get creative and try to still give gifts that are homemade or otherwise don't require money. Most of the time, they are so happy and excited for something so novel.

Further reading: <http://zenhabits.net/argh/>, <http://zenhabits.net/bah/>, <http://zenhabits.net/giftless/>

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Thank you for everyone who lent me some support and offered suggestions on this. I don't know the best way to respond on HN so that each of you get a notification regarding this thread.

I took some time to think about this after everyone commented, and took some action.

I took some time to be with my niece and nephew and casually asked them questions on what they'd like to do over the holidays and not WHAT they wanted.

They both said learning to play hockey was something they wanted to do now and next year when registration opens up.

So I went out and bought them a hockey stick each. They both already have skates. And have arranged for a lot of days over their time off from school to take them to the outdoor and indoor rink to teach them hockey. The sticks are about 40 dollars each, and the rest of the cost will be my time. But since I'm spending time with my niece and nephew this will be as much as a gift to them as it will be to me.

I'm trying to apply this way of thinking to everyone else. How to give them something that will have even more value if I can give them my time as well. And I think I can find out just by asking what they'd like to do, or get done, instead of what they'd like.

EDIT:

The sticks were 40 dollars for both, not each.

</comment><comment><USER3> Depending on how old your nephew/niece are, you can take them to do a cheap, but memorable holiday activity.

For example, you can go to an ice rink and teach them how to ice skate for < $15. Or maybe have a _mega ice cream day_ (with approval from their parents of course) where you go play in the park (make / fly a kite?) and then buy several pints of ice cream and share it.

You can make up for other people's generosity with their $$$ by being generous with your time.

In short: experiences > stuff.

</comment><comment><USER4> I gave up xmas many years ago and haven't regretted it one bit. Yes, we still have a decoration or two and a nice meal, but that's it. Kind of like Thanksgiving.

</comment><comment><USER5> Xmas gift giving used to be something you did for children and poor people. As the world got wealthier, we commercialized the hell out of it. Or, more accurately, _businesses_ commercialized the hell out of it, as a means to milk their customers for money.

I gave up doing much, if anything, for Christmas years ago. I am not really an entrepreneur, more like a wannabe entrepreneur. But, for more than a decade now, I have been on a giant Quest to get well against long odds. I happen to be homeless this year. I hadn't even thought about how fortunate I am to just not care about crap like Christmas gifts -- until I saw your question. I refrained from my no doubt rude initial impulse to post some gleeful little celebration of how lucky I feel to have opted out of such nonsense years ago.

There is too much suffering in the world for me to feel that the American tradition of spending gobs on xmas gifts -- many of which will be completely pointless wastes of time, money, and energy -- is of any real importance. I am genuinely sorry this pains you and I am also sorry that I have no idea how to help you make your peace with this. Furthermore, I am sorry you have gotten so few responses from other actual entrepreneurs. Had you gotten more support, you no doubt would not be hearing from me and my reply probably won't make you feel better. I tend to make people hellaciously uncomfortable.

Let me suggest: Hit the library. Read some books like "The tightwad gazzette". Consider doing something free or cheap but personally meaningful.

Best of luck.</comment>


The Trump website's JavaScript tries to troll Obama - <AUTHOR> https://mobile.twitter.com/_cingraham/status/946462990504681472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw <comment><AUTHOR> But fails !

[https://mobile.twitter.com/pdglenn/status/946465050449018881...](https://mobile.twitter.com/pdglenn/status/946465050449018881?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

(I know HN should not be about politics, but it's a JavaScript story :) )

</comment><comment><USER2> This is so petty, so low, so unworthy of a thinking people...

For HN to continue it's "safe space for brogrammers" policy is what's going to make them blush in 50 years, when asked by their grandchildren.

</comment><comment><USER3> So, in keeping with the JS and not the political part, it looks like this wouldn't even work as designed.</comment>


Tell HN: I created a google group for offline web applications - <AUTHOR> http://groups.google.com/group/offline-web-applications

<comment><AUTHOR> Couldn't find that many resources, so I thought a place to discuss the issues surrounding HTML5 offline web apps might be a good idea.

I wanted to use Zed's new groups thing as it's supposed to be spam free, but couldn't find it easily. Is it still around? So a tired Google group for now.</comment>


Don't sweat 802.11ac Wi-Fi because 802.11ad will knock your socks off - <AUTHOR> http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/network-wifi/3401946/interop-dont-sweat-80211ac-wi-fi-because-80211ad-will-knock-your-socks-off/

<comment><USER2> 802.11ad is more for short distances inside a room, though.

<comment><USER3> But 60Ghz. Sexy!</comment></comment>


New Google Nexus packaging sucks - <AUTHOR> http://www.industryintel.com/news/read/3385372944/Weekly-Packaging-Design-Wrap-Up-Googles-Nexus-box.html Why is this still an issue with packaging. I can't open half the shit I purchase <comment><USER2> It really does. I ended up grabbing a bread knife, which was both effective and enjoyable after spending ten minutes trying to get the thing open. The whole thing reminded me of buying IKEA furniture.

Frustrating unboxing leaves me predisposed to dislike whatever it is I've just wrestled out of the case.

<comment> yo-mf I think you mean to say that your experience was more like this... <http://mlkshk.com/p/54DT>

</comment></comment><comment> yo-mf Honestly, it is not the packaging, it is the people...</comment>


Inside the Titan Supercomputer: 299K AMD x86 Cores and 18.6K Nvidia  GPU Cores - <AUTHOR> http://www.anandtech.com/show/6421/inside-the-titan-supercomputer-299k-amd-x86-cores-and-186k-nvidia-gpu-cores <comment><USER2> This is pretty awe-inspiring but as a programmer I know it would be fairly difficult to use this machine for existing workloads because so much code would have to be rewritten from typical x86 code to CUDA/OpenCL to use all those GPUs.

Personally, I'm more excited for the next wave of supercomputers built with racks of Xeon Phis [1].

[1] - [http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/high-performance- comp...](http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/high-performance- computing/xeon-phi-for-researchers-infographic.html.html)

<comment><USER3> (full disclosure: used to work for NV on CUDA and did very extensive work on Titan, so I am probably biased)

If you think your existing MPI app is going to automatically scale to a heterogeneous architecture (high-power x86 on the main CPU, Xeon Phi cores on the accelerator) and get acceptable performance, sorry, it's not going to happen.

The fundamental constraints on 2012/2013 Xeon Phi performance that determine how apps should be written are exactly the same as current desktop GPUs (small, high-latency local memory that is not coherent with the rest of the system; relatively slow, high-latency link to CPU; ugly interactions with network cards in most environments; fundamental need to hide memory latency at all times). For any sort of performance beyond a standard Xeon, you're going to want to run a Xeon Phi as a targeted accelerator rather than offloading entire processes to it and using a standard MPI stack. This means you're going to be running in a hybrid host/device mode and using compiler directives or a specific parallel language and API to deal with on-chip execution and data transfer, which puts you in exactly the same solution space as with GPUs.

in other words: the Phi of today is not a panacea. you get better tools and more flexibility in terms of the programming model, but the fast path that any of its intended market would use in applications looks identical to GPUs.

<comment><USER4> To my understanding GPU's basically suck at anything with decision paths/move away from straight matrix manipulation/signals analysis, right?

<comment><USER5> GPUs are SIMD machines, so they're executing the same instruction simultaneously on all the active cores. That means if you have code which branches, it has to mask out the cores which follow branch B while it executes branch A; then has to mask out all the cores which follow branch A while it executes branch B. In other words, if at least one core follows each side of the branch, it has to execute both branches.

If all cores branch in the same direction, you don't get that penalty. A large part of optimising for the GPU comes down to arranging your data and code so that this can happen.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> The hexadecimal numbers in the design on the front panels of the racks appear to say in part:

      ...Computing Oak Ridge National Laboratory Le...

(not too surprising, I suppose ;)

</comment><comment><USER7> Title should be "nVidia GPUs", not "nVidia GPU cores".

</comment><comment><USER8> Does anyone know why they have a separate disk IO system when they could more easily just plug drives into each node/motherboard for higher aggregate throughout, less complexity, and a lower overall cost?

EDIT: Blade systems or no, the drives have to physically be placed somewhere. Having a separate subsystem can only take up more space, not less. Two reasons I can think of: (1) independent scaling of compute and storage, and (2) lack of software for a distributed filesystem. Most likely (2) plus inertia is the real reason, all the others seem like rationalizations. For example, they are either able to take nodes offline or they aren't. The need exists whether or not the disks are attached there.

<comment><USER9> There are a couple of (related) reasons. The first thing to recognize is that systems such as this one are designed for parallel workloads where all processes are running in lockstep, communicating via MPI with frequent barriers. This is very different from MapReduce and other asynchronous or "embarrassingly parallel" workloads where GFS, HDFS, etc. tend to be used. Distributed filesystems used in high-performance computing (such as Lustre, IBM's GPFS, etc.) also have to be able to handle both reads and writes with high throughput, whereas GFS is mostly optimized for reads and appends.

Why not just install disks in the compute nodes and run Lustre there? Since all the nodes are working together in lockstep, system jitter is a major problem. Imagine that you have a job running across 10,000 nodes and 160,000 cores, and a process on one of those cores get preempted for a millisecond while a disk I/O request is being serviced. Everyone waits, and you've suddenly wasted 160 core-seconds. Now, if this happens only 1000 times per second across the whole machine, it's clear that you're not going to make much forward progress, and the whole system is going to run at very low efficiency. For this reason, Crays and similar large machines run a very minimal OS on the compute nodes (a linux-based "compute node kernel" in the case of Cray). Introducing local disks would go against the whole philosophy.

There's also the issue of network contention. The network is typically the bottleneck, and you want to minimize the extent to which file I/O competes with your MPI traffic.

As someone else mentioned, the solution is to have a dedicated storage system (often Lustre running on a semi-segregated cluster). This approach is used almost universally by the 500 systems on the Top 500 list (<http://top500.org>), for example. It's not just inertia :-).

<comment><USER8> Disk io has negligible CPU overhead. Preempted for a millisecond? A millisecond is millions of instructions. You're off by orders of magnitude. No matter where the disk is located, the disk io has to go across the network. If network capacity truly is the bottleneck, you have a different design problem and you cant exploit the CPUs.

EDIT: I still dont buy it, but I will give some thought to the synchronous/lockstep nature of the environment.

<comment><USER9> That was a straw man (sorry). There's also the overhead of maintaining consistency, synchronizing metadata, etc. I don't think assuming 0.1% CPU overhead for Lustre is a terrible estimate, but even if it were much lower, the argument would still hold (at least at the scale of Titan).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> How can Anandtech make such a big mistake? It's 46 million GPU cores, not GPU's.

</comment><comment><USER11> The full page (print version) version of the article is at <http://www.anandtech.com/print/6421>

</comment><comment><USER12> 177 trillion transistors in total.

<comment><USER13> More Transistors than there are synapses in the human brain (I'm aware they are not a direct analogue).</comment></comment>


How Do Atoms Produce Magnetism? - <AUTHOR> https://youtu.be/BtTJi9jKhEM <comment><USER2> [Reposting a previous comment, with a few minor changes.]

The animations are nice, but the video has a lot of errors. For example:

> _Surface-to-surface transmission of e-shell rotation between aligned shells > of atoms constitutes electricity._

That is definitively not how electricity work in a wire. The electrons are moving inside the conductors. (There are some technical details, for example an electron in a crystal has a different effective mass than an isolated electron, but they are moving anyway, not rotating.)

> The reason that magnetic action extends beyond the current-carrying wire's > apparent surface is that while 99.999% of the electron exists within 430 pm > of the nucleus, there is a small chance of finding that surface extended to > incredible distances. In fact, under Quantum Mechanics, the radial > distribution function for the electron has no limit on reach.

> We imagine the physical extensions of the atomic surface are responsible for > the action-at-a-distance. Lateral magnetic motion of conductive rotating > e-shells thus synergizes between current-aligned wires, pulling them > together as shown in Figure 2 below (panels A and B).

This effect decays exponentially. A few nanometers away the wave function and probability density is completely negligible, and so is the effect of the orbital shape. On the other hand, the effect of magnetism of a wire decays like 1/r and can easily be measure a few cm away (or more if the magnet is strong enough). So this part of the explanation is wrong.</comment>


Google On The Nortel Loss, Patents As Government-Granted Monopolies - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/25/google-patent-fight/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29

<comment> daniel-cussen Patents are precisely government-granted monopolies. That's the working definition of a patent. Does this come as some sort of surprise to anyone?

<comment><USER3> The headline is ineffective.

The problem, as the article implies, is that those monopolies are transferable and hoarded.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> It's hard to swallow Google claiming the high ground after according to their own analysis, they were willing to pay significantly more than they believed the patents were worth.

As they say, "We've established what kind of woman you are, now we are just negotiating price."

[[http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/what...](http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/what_kind_of_woman_do_you_take_me_for_madam_weve_already_established_that_c/)]

<comment><USER5> Confusing criticism for sour grapes shuts down discussion of externalities like this. Ignoble words can argue for noble ends, but won't when people shoot the messenger.

Improving the rules of the game should make it easier for the meritocracy, if that is what you value then you should pay extra attention to those who look like they should be winning but aren't rather than the opposite.

<comment><USER4> The criticism of the process would be more convincing had Google won the bidding because there would not be any appearance of self-interest. Given that the article concludes:

 _"So the hunt continues for some nuclear warheads to build towards mutual assured destruction, and eventually détente,"_

It is hard to see Google's motives as meaningfully different from those who won the auction. In an arms race both sides can claim it is for defense - <USER2> I will point out that nuclear warheads may deter a powerful opponent, but they will invariably intimidate the weak.

<comment><USER6> Isn't the difference that Google is the one being sued and the others are doing the suing? Defensive patent holdings seem different from offensive ones to me.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> If I read this, I get the suspicion that that you have to be a lawyer to make money in the Valley, not a developer/founder.

</comment><comment><USER8> $900 million could buy a lot of politicians, surely.

<comment><USER9> When there's $4.5 billion (or more) on the other side?

<comment><USER8> Depends if the other side also wants to keep patents going. They may be interested in patent reform too. Apple has Lodsys to deal with, for example. If you dont have patents then its all about execution. I'd say Apple is kicking everyone's arse on execution. Same for IBM.

<comment><USER9> Apple may be afraid the day will come when they stop kicking everyone's ass on execution. That seems to be the simplest explanation for the Samsung / HTC / Motorola lawsuits. If they were confident they'd keep winning in the marketplace, why waste the time and take the PR hit?

In any case, Microsoft and RIM (two of Apple's partners on the Nortel patent purchase) know that the day that their execution is no longer enough has already arrived.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> If you look at Android phones from 2007 (to me the one in the link looks _very_ similar to a Blackberry) and if you look at them now you cannot miss how much they have changed to look like the iPhone.

You can't even tell it's the same OS.

So when you copy you are sued. (If the copying/taking inspiration was reasonable or not is a different issue.) Samsung was sued to copy "look and feel".

[[http://random.andrewwarner.com/what-googles-android- looked-l...](http://random.andrewwarner.com/what-googles-android-looked-like- before-and-after-the-launch-of-iphone/)]

<comment><USER6> I'm sure that if you look at computers before and after the PC you'll see that most companies followed the leader. Probably same with various generations of cars, planes, televisions, toasters, whatever.

Where's the line between copying and being inspired by a better way to do things? I don't know, but I think we have to be careful where we put that line.

<comment><USER11> "Where's the line between copying and being inspired by a better way to do things?"

Somewhere between here; <http://cl.ly/8lZ5> and here; <http://cl.ly/8lIC>

"I don't know, but I think we have to be careful where we put that line." The line in the sand is there already and crystal clear. This dispute is nothing new. To be clear, Apple aren't arguing that the phones cannot have radiused corners or have silver bevels, they are saying that the look of the Galaxy S phone is too close to the look and feel of the iPhone to be anything other than plagiarism and therefore an infringement of copyright. When you compare the two phones I've linked here, one can clearly see that HTC have done their own thing. They have their own design language that differs significantly from their competitors. It would generous to claim that Samsung where only inspired by Apple's IP; the look of the icons, the grid layout, the shape of the icons, the look and feel of the hardware, the placement of the d-pad. It's all too similar.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Google is cornered and is taking the appropriate stance. They did not get the patents from the Nortel sale and Apple is already successful in putting pressure on HTC and perhaps other Android manufacturers in the near future. If the situation was different, Google was successful, and released Android before the original iPhone, they would be the one holding the patents to fight off competition.

Unfortunately for them, they are late to the party and unwilling to invest enough in mobile intellectual property. They clearly are not only playing and supporting the game but also complaining about the rules.

<comment><USER13> "If the situation was different, Google was successful, and released Android before the original iPhone, they would be the one holding the patents to fight off competition."

I believe (some of) the patents HTC got dinged with were granted before Google or HTC were founded (1996 iirc).

Investing more or less, paying attention more or less to mobile or any other kind of patent wouldn't have helped them _to not be in violation_. Might have helped them to not get challenged, but they would just as surely be in violation. A time machine was required.

I realize this is an over-generalization, but it seems to me that any mobile software company (not just OS, but of any kind) must have a license agreement for basically all the patents from Microsoft, Apple, Motorola, and Nokia at a minimum or they can be assured to be in violation of a patent. It is all but guaranteed. Everyone, including those mentioned, certainly violate each others patents.

<comment><USER9> BTW, Hacker News (along with many, many others) is (according to Apple) violating an Apple patent right here: <http://www.google.com>

Yes, Apple claims one of their patents covers recognizing certain kinds of text (e.g. URLs, phone numbers, etc.) and making them clickable actions.</comment></comment></comment>


$fx - JavaScript animation library - <AUTHOR> http://fx.inetcat.com/ <comment><USER2> I made a simple tween function a few months ago that has served me very well. It modifies any property of an object that can be calculated using floating point math (eg: it doesn't do hex colors). There's even a variable for what type of tween (1 = linear, 2 = forgot-the-word, 3 = cubic). Every line counts.

            var tween = function(params, time, onFinished){
    		var setProperty = function(el, property, value, unit){
    			if (property=="style.opacity")
    				if (value==1) el.style.filter = "";
    				else el.style.filter = "alpha(opacity=" + value*100 + ")";
    			eval("el." + property + "='" + value + unit+ "'");
    		}

    		var start = function(){
    			var ticks = Math.ceil(time/10);
    			var getFn = function(percent){ return function(){go(percent);}; };
    			for (var i=1; i<=ticks; i++) setTimeout(getFn(i/ticks), i*10);
    			go(0);
    		}

    		var go = function(percent){
    			var tween = 3; var u = Math.pow(2, tween-1);
    			percent = percent < .5 ? u*Math.pow(percent, tween) : 1-u*Math.pow(1-percent, tween);
    			for (var i=0; i < params.length; i++){
    				var data = params[i];
    				var value = data.start + (data.end-data.start)*percent;
    				var unit = data.hasOwnProperty("unit") ? data.unit : '';
    				setProperty(data.element, data.property, value, unit);
    			}
    			if (percent==1 && onFinished) onFinished()
    		}

    		start();
    	}

    		//usage:
    		var props = [
    				{element: someElement, property: "style.left", start: 0, end: 100, unit: "px"}
    			];

    		tween(props, 450, function(){ alert('im done'); });

</comment><comment><USER3> Amazing homepage.

That is _exactly_ how to demo your stuff in a way that gets people's attention.

</comment><comment><USER3> Mmm... I love seeing PNGs hard at work.</comment>


Ask HN: Can you list high profile companies that use PHP? - <AUTHOR>

I like using PHP and I.m looking for an internship. So I'm curious about how many big companies use PHP, like Facebook, MailChip etc. <comment><USER2> How about...

<http://www.zend.com/images/customers/customers_rotate.gif>

<http://www.zend.com/en/company/customers/>

<http://www.zend.com/en/resources/case-studies/>

</comment><comment><USER3> The White House, Yahoo, BBC, Sun, Nike, Novell, Adobe, Rackspace, Symantec, Warner Bros., Greenpeace, Harvard, Fedex, WordPress.com, Forbes, and a billion others. Check out <http://egressive.com/article/who-uses-drupal> and <http://drupal.org/cases></comment>


So much DNA has been sequenced that it threatens other people's privacy - <AUTHOR> http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-dna-genealogy-privacy-20181012-story.html <comment><USER2> Do others on HN not quite see the harm here? I think ultimately I don't know why (morally/legally/etc.) one is entitled to have absolute privacy over one's DNA. If you leave your DNA somewhere I don't see why others couldn't take it. Similarly, people have a right to ID others by people's face. This is just slightly more nuanced.

I see huge upside (as mentioned in the article it is becoming harder and harder to get away with vicious crimes) with limited downside.

I know it sounds/seems unnatural to be identified by your DNA, but what is the actual worst case scenario of this?

<comment><USER3> What is this right you speak of about ID'ing my face?

<comment><USER2> People can look at other people at identify who they are...

New DNA tech essentially is giving people the ability to look at a fragment of biological material and identify who they are.

You could say the difference is that in order to recognize someone you need to know who they are. Still, I think the bigger difference is that the DNA ability is new and therefore seems unnatural. However, I still struggle to come up with a major argument why it is that much different.

Do you have a right to be completely anonymous at all times? And in public? My answer would be no.</comment></comment></comment>


Socioeconomic position and the risk of brain tumour - <AUTHOR> http://jech.bmj.com/content/early/2016/05/25/jech-2015-207002.short?g=w_jech_ahead_tab <comment><AUTHOR> Direct link to the PDF: [http://jech.bmj.com/content/early/2016/05/25/jech-2015-20700...](http://jech.bmj.com/content/early/2016/05/25/jech-2015-207002.full.pdf)</comment>


Ask HN: Have you faced burnout for days? - <AUTHOR> I'm facing burnout these days, this time the duration is quite long. I thought a week off would help, but it didn't. Any ideas, suggestions, tips, tricks that had worked for you guys? Is it the job or me? <comment> frale-co (Disclaimer: Not a native speaker, probably some weird grammer/syntax) I don't know if what i had qualified as burnout, but these past three year i sometime felt mentally strained, with huge sleeping needs (but difficulty to get asleep), low motivation, low productivity at work and at home (and therefore more stress/mental strain).

Two years ago, tried to take vacations, did some sport (this one somehow helped, but not as much as i needed, and couldn't get motivated to do my best). I ultimately took a month leave and took my old student job, summer camp counselor, for two week. It worked. Around last month, i felt the same, but couldn't take a long leave. My father (film set designer/decorator/constructor) was working on the set of a feature movie. i took four days (long weekend) to help him. Woke up every day at seven, did some woodwork, put some wallpaper, nailed/screwed some planks, went to secondhand market/junk shop with him, carried old furniture from there. I honestly don't know if it's the work i did or the fact that did it with my father, but it has been i long time i never felt this good. So my advice: find a work you can do that's time consuming, physical, that you find meaningful, and do it with someone you like spending your time with. Maybe juste one of these will suffice, i really don't know. For the last question, in my experience, it's both.

</comment><comment><USER2> Hi, Time off might not always help. The burnout feeling will resurface when you go back to work. I am not able to give you any concrete suggestions as there are no specifics in the question.

With a little bit of conscious effort, we can channel burnout into helping our betterment. Try to accept that it is a normal reaction of your self trying to tell you something. Calm down a bit and try to work through your feelings. What is causing the depressing feeling? The lack of structure? Uncertainty of a problem? Lack of recognition? Workplace environment? Very little social interactions?

If you can isolate the problem, you can look for fixes. I believe everyone in the tech industry burns out once in a while. It is often indicative of a lack of balance somewhere. The trick is to, with time and practice, learn the triggers and symptoms of an approaching burnout. Then, you can address the issue before it grows into a full-fledged problem.

<comment><USER3> Just to add to this, meditation is a great tool for self-examination and to diagnose what is causing burnout.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> For me, any creative profession is draining. Creativity takes something out of you, picture it like a well you draw water from. If there is no source filling that well up again, eventually the well will dry up and you will hit rock bottom.

There came a point where I realized that if my work requires me to be drawing from my well of creativity, I have to make a _daily_ habit of replenishing it with inspiration so I have enough left for tomorrow.

Things that inspire me to write CSS are things like listening to new music, cooking a dinner, watching funny things on YouTube, and exploring my city on foot.

Try to make a daily habit if replenishing your well with the things that inspire you and it will really help make sure you have plenty of creativity to draw on as you need it :)

</comment><comment><USER5> Is it so bad that productivity grinds to a halt like this? I can understand if your employer has Henry Ford posters on the wall to keep workers productive, but sometimes the best work is done when a worker gets _home_ , as if home is some precious thing that is forcibly denied, because it represents a reward, and that the reward of work is only represented as enjoying the spoils of your labor at home.

This is, for want of better phrasing, the _rat race_ , and quickly being swapped out for better work-life balance, increasingly being lambasted, and seen as generally not ideal for more and more people.

Burnout is such a catch-all term these days and is usually a word associated with the more negative aspects of 9 to 5 culture. It's not a word in the vocabulary of high-performing people. High performance is not especial to 9 to 5 culture, or especial to those who have grit. High performance can be seen in unpaid work, or in work that _feels_ more like work, simply because, there are different types of work, like body work, mind work, etc

</comment><comment><USER6> I have suffered from this more then once in my career, it sucks and sorry you are experiencing it. Honestly for me at least, if I catch myself early enough in the process and can afford to take a few days or just pure R&R it usually does the trick. But more commonly, I work too much, get too focused and then do that for too long and then poof, my productivity rests somewhere between a snail and a sloth and so does my attitude and ability to focus. Overall, I have learned to manage it better over the years, but when it does happen here are some of the things that help me when I am in sloth/snail mode.

1\. Time off (2-10 days usually), but it is mainly dedicated time away from computer/phone/electronic devices. Allow yourself only a very small time each day to check in on friends etc via social media or whatever, but otherwise put the electronics down and lock them up.

2\. Do something active. The key here is physical activity, ride your bike, hike, swim or whatever you can do physically. Sometimes this is the hardest thing to do because when I get focused my exercise and outside time seems to be minimal and so getting motivated is the hardest thing, but after forcing myself 1-2 times it quickly becomes easier.

3\. Get outside in the sun. Soak up some sun (safely of course), but get your body to reboot itself with some good ole Sun exposure.

4\. Get some solid rest, take melatonin and Benadryl (to start) if needed, but get good rest. I have had to do take Benadryl the first couple of nights to get myself to sleep at a reasonable hour in the past (otherwise my brain racing keeps me awake), it just helped me kick start some rest.

Overall, the biggest thing is to distract your mind with physical activity and let your body refocus and reboot. Then try to keep this up at least 1-2 times a week and you will stay further away from burnout.

</comment><comment><USER7> I'd imagine this is very individual and depends on your life in total.

How much are you sleeping each night? How well are you eating? How clear are your goals at work and how much do you able to progress along them? How much time are you spending with people who care about you and rejuvenate you?</comment>


BrachioGraph – a cheap, simple pen plotter - <AUTHOR> https://brachiograph.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ <comment><USER2> This documentation is very impressive. I like that the author included a link to "Why is the documentation structured this way?" [0].

0: [https://www.divio.com/blog/documentation](https://www.divio.com/blog/documentation)

<comment><USER3> That's extremely well written!

I've been struggling to document an open source platform I've built with some friends and colleagues [1] and this is finally giving me hope!

[1] [https://play.socialgorithm.org](https://play.socialgorithm.org)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Awesome to see pen plotter stuff posted here with more frequency. This project is pretty amazing in its frugality, kudos to the author. I have another pen plotter and I'd highly recommend pen plotting to anyone who's into generative art or anything similar, it's really fun to write a few lines of code to generate some visuals and then watch the plotter as your design is made into something tangible.

I'm working on a (free) app around making drawings on your computer, putting some effects on them, and sending them directly to a pen plotter. So far it only works with axidraw because that's the only one I have, but ultimately it's just sets of coordinates so it could be adapted for other plotters pretty easily. I'll post it here once it's in a decent state :)

<comment><USER5> FWIW, every 3D printer is also a pen plotter (just stick a pen to your print head!).

Here's my old faithful Printrbot plotting a dragon curve:

Fountain pen, timelapse: [https://www.instagram.com/p/BlQHk43gwra/](https://www.instagram.com/p/BlQHk43gwra/)

Fountain pen, final image: [https://www.instagram.com/p/BlJHawZgFi1/](https://www.instagram.com/p/BlJHawZgFi1/)

Ballpoint, realtime: [https://www.instagram.com/p/BlJ8dgmAaTA/](https://www.instagram.com/p/BlJ8dgmAaTA/)

<comment><USER6> That's awesome! What print speed did you use? (your steppers sounded like it was very high) And do you slice 1st layer normally?

<comment><USER5> Thanks! I didn't use a slicer, went straight into G-code for that one (wrote a program that generates the G-code for the dragon curve: a sequence of G0 commands).

Don't remember what the feedrate was; with the pen attached tight, I could go pretty fast.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Daniele had it do my portrait at DjangoCon last month and it turned out pretty well despite the fact I'm so hairy! [https://twitter.com/fwiles/status/1177018222987448321](https://twitter.com/fwiles/status/1177018222987448321)

<comment><USER8> did you have a belt across your face?

<comment><USER7> hahaha no

<comment><USER9> It looks like the robot adds 10 pounds.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> This looks like great fun, but I'd prefer to make something where the output is a little more precise.

Does anyone know of a DIY plotter that's a step up quality wise from this one? Or maybe a site or community that lists similar projects?

<comment><USER11> I love my evilmadscientist axidraw but honestly they are a bit pricey. There are several chinese knockoff kits to be found on alliexpress/banggood/etc that work very well. There are also a few interesting 3d printed projects to be found on thingiverse and in the greater maker community. I've built a midtbot, fun little project if bart has boards available ([https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2587684](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2587684)) and I've got the full BOM and have printed most of the parts for a modest sized d.i.d. plotter ([https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3789969](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3789969)).

Also don't discount polar style hanging plotters they can be tricky accuracy wise due to sway, which i've seen countered both by decreasing plotting speed and by working the potential sway into your design. Just a quick search turned up this [https://www.hackster.io/fredrikstridsman/stringent- the-15-wa...](https://www.hackster.io/fredrikstridsman/stringent-the-15-wall- plotter-d965ca). You can start small like that and then improve components along the way. Swapping the string for beaded cord or timing belt etc. They are patricularly interesting drawbots because if you want to plot a larger area you can just spread out the motors and add more string.

<comment><USER12> Fredriks design looks really interesting!

Vertical plotters are usually hard to install and calibrate but his looks like one you could slap on coworkers whiteboard and print something while he is on lunch break ;)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> If you're in to this kind of stuff, you might want to check out the hashtag #plotterwitter. Some really good stuff there.

[https://twitter.com/hashtag/plottertwitter](https://twitter.com/hashtag/plottertwitter)

<comment><USER14> Nice! I've been enjoying the work from skullcat recently: [https://twitter.com/mrmrs_/status/1159339640459059200](https://twitter.com/mrmrs_/status/1159339640459059200)

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Some more images of and by the plotter: [https://www.dropbox.com/s/fuifujd70jvn7lw/brachiograph- image...](https://www.dropbox.com/s/fuifujd70jvn7lw/brachiograph- images.pdf?dl=0)

<comment><USER15> Produces a wonderful artistic effect! Great project Daniele!

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> I love pen plotters. When I worked with CAD we still had them. It was so much fun seeing it slowly working on a technical drawing. Laser printers are obviously much better and faster but much less fun to watch.

<comment><USER17> Oh yeah. When it would change colors it would run over to the pen holder and pick up a new color. That was fun to watch.

<comment><USER18> That reminds me of the create-a-card machine that was in Hallmark stores in the 90's!

I had forgotten about that. I remember watching in awe as it drew a Simpsons- themed card.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> This is awesome! To the people that made this happen: Thank you so much!

I've been wanting something to demonstrate how the gap between hardware and software is fairly easy to bridge at this point- thank you for sharing something that demonstrates this well!

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> On GitHub: [https://github.com/evildmp/BrachioGraph](https://github.com/evildmp/BrachioGraph)

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for all the interest and kind remarks this has received. I have updated the documentation substantially and included more photos in it.

</comment><comment><USER20> And if you want a COTS replica with a bit more polish: [https://www.line- us.com/](https://www.line-us.com/)

<comment><USER21> The line-us looks really good, the software also looks well put together.

<comment><USER22> Is it hackable?

<comment><USER21> It looks like people can code Scratch to control it...

[https://www.line-us.com/scratch.html](https://www.line-us.com/scratch.html)

... and there is also a programming tab that links to a github page with lots of example code in other languages.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Where can we buy a Pi and three servos for $14? That sounds darn fun.

<comment><USER24> Pi Zero ($5): [https://www.adafruit.com/product/2885](https://www.adafruit.com/product/2885) 4 Servos ($9): [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q6JGWNV/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_...](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q6JGWNV/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_nbiQDbCF84TB2)

Shipping might go over $14 though.

<comment><USER23> So cool. Thanks!

<comment><USER25> Don't buy servos from Amazon though: you could get anything.

Spend a few more bucks at e.g. Digikey, eh?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> It's my understanding that higher quality plotters/3d printers/mills' accuracy and precision come from higher quality motors (e.g. stepper motors instead of servos). Will it be possible to someday just put cameras on the plotter which watch the current print and self-correct as needed? That's basically what our eyes do when we write/sculpt/carve.

Will cheap motors + cameras + software eventually meet or exceed the quality of expensive high precision motors/controllers?

<comment><USER27> Rigidity is a major factor--if you inspect one you'll notice that high speed and high repeatability machines (e.g. a 6-axis +/\- 0.020mm repeatability manipulator) are made from rigid (often high-mass) components with robust joints.

<comment><USER26> I see. I wonder if my hypothesis is still valid, even given lower quality rigidity. Human arms aren't made of big heavy metal rods, yet we can still draw beautifully. Couldn't cameras and software compensate for cheap unstable draw arms?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> I remember a similar Mike Cook "Beeb Body-Building" article from Micro User. He used a similar layout and two potentiometers to build a "radius-arm digitiser".

A little bit of calibration and some trigonometry and you can work backwards from the pot positions to Cartesian X/Y co-ordinates.

A little bit more work and you can enter line points from a paper drawing into the rudimentary CAD systems which existed on the BBC Micro at that time.

</comment><comment><USER29> Someone at my local makerspace made something like this, but for vertical surfaces.

[https://github.com/brandonagr/gocupi](https://github.com/brandonagr/gocupi)

<comment><USER30> It's a shame the repository doesn't have any examples of the pictures it's drawn.

There are some on [http://brandonagr.github.io/gocupi/](http://brandonagr.github.io/gocupi/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> Nice stuff. Raspberry Pis are generally pretty terrible at running servo's though. Adding an intermediate Arduino would work wonders (I appreciate the complexity would jump significantly though)

<comment><AUTHOR> Turns, out, it's actually very reliable in practice. I'm trying to work out at the moment just how far I can go with more powerful servos: [https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/a/104662/42583](https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/a/104662/42583). There are limits, but they seem to be greater than I expected, especially when the only power to the Raspberry Pi is provided by a MacBook.

<comment><USER32> we live in a world where a macbook can power a raspberry pi which powers servos.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> Ooo! Combine this with a sand table, the arm draws in the sand w/ a stylus, and add a little vibration motor to "erase" the "screen".

</comment><comment><USER33> Is there a video somewhere of this in action?

<comment><USER34> [https://youtu.be/Rn4X2ZgZvsk](https://youtu.be/Rn4X2ZgZvsk) and [https://youtu.be/u4Jh1daCl60](https://youtu.be/u4Jh1daCl60)

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> Reminds me of [https://www.handwrite.io](https://www.handwrite.io)

<comment><USER36> Wow, that's reminds me of Her (Spike Jonze)

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> This is amazing and I want to add something like this to my side project list right now.

But maybe it is a bit too extreme, i.e. using a ruler and glue won't save you that much money compared to using some better materials. But I guess that was the intention of the author, extreme frugality.

</comment><comment><USER38> I am a complete n00b at this but very interested in making a CoreXY plotter. I get struct at how to get parts like linear guides and servos needed for this. What is the best way to educate oneself about this. Is there something like sparkfun how mechanical hardware. Thanks!

<comment><USER39> My goto while building a 3D printer is this:

[https://hackaday.com/2018/08/03/classy-corexy-build- breaks-d...](https://hackaday.com/2018/08/03/classy-corexy-build-breaks-down- the-design-pinchpoints/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER40> If you like this and have some dough: [https://axidraw.com](https://axidraw.com)

If you have less, google 4xidraw...

</comment><comment><USER41> I like the layout of this site, what is being used to present the documentation on this site? Or is it a fully custom built site?

<comment><USER42> I think it's the standard [https://readthedocs.org/](https://readthedocs.org/) standard. It's definitely not custom. I've seen many projects with it.

Edit: Seems to be linked to the doc tool called Sphinx.

</comment></comment><comment><USER43> Really cool hardware, but I wish there were a bunch of more photos of plots on the page! I want to see the output.

</comment><comment><USER44> I have never seen such a device, now I will tell the artists.

</comment><comment><USER45> What is the best way to increase accuracy of such servo motor ?

<comment><USER46> Better motor control.

Timing: assuming rigidity of linear position is crappy, allow more time for it to bounce back.

Speed: ramp-up speed in one direction may be different from the opposite direction.

Position: accuracy of RC servos is almost not worth measuring, so many companies haven't. But you can hack it (via contact switch and something that juts out) to add a simple shaft rotation encoding and correct when needed.

Software correction: draw a grid of straight lines and adjust drift in software until it looks like a grid.

<comment><AUTHOR> Also it's hard to defeat hysteresis in the system, both in the servo motors (they have significant dead bands) and the mechanical arrangement of the arm/pen.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER47> Had the chance to see it live once in Amsterdam _thumbsup_

</comment><comment><USER34> I saw it in action, draws beautiful and unique pictures :-)

</comment><comment><USER48> This is great! Thanks for sharing.</comment>


Who said that VIM cannot compete with IDEs? - <AUTHOR> https://dev.to/bezirganyan/who-said-that-vim-cannot-compete-with-ides-51k4 <comment><USER2> To be honest, at most hackathons I get laughed at because I use a "bloated" Visual Studio....and then they show me there vim/emacs editor containing like a thousand plugins - like this isn't bloated. And in the end they look like Visual Studio. The look I get when I tell them that Visual Studio and most other IDEs have a Vim Plugin is also amusing. Finally I say that emacs is better than vim and watch how they flame each other....

<comment><USER3> > ....and then they show me there vim/emacs editor containing like a thousand > plugins - like this isn't bloated.

Why do you assume that the end result of adding "a thousand plugins" to VIm is bloat, or even becoming as bloated as Visual Studio? Have you ever compared the result in terms of memory footprint and responsiveness? I mean, vim packed with "a thousand plugins" can be easily used on a low end/ealry 2010's netbook while a vanilla installation of MSVS requires a beefy workstation just to run.</comment></comment>


[Stack Overflow Post] Why doesn't my Python script work? - <AUTHOR> http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4342285/why-doesnt-my-python-script-work

<comment><USER2> Jesus, what tech stack is that?</comment>


Ghost 2 Year Anniversary: How We Spent the Kickstarter Funding - <AUTHOR> http://blog.ghost.org/year-2/

<comment><USER2> Good to see Ghost moving forward.

Did you have a round of private funding? Basically being out of cash yet hiring two more FTEs must have been sketchy. Glad you managed to make it work.

Up front spending on hardware is not worth the risk today IMO, especially for a startup strapped on cash. It would make more sense to free up that capital and just get pay as you go with AWS. It might be more costly in the long run but much less headache and easier to get rid of in the event someone buys you out.</comment>


Why do we hate wasps and love bees? - <AUTHOR> https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45566304 <comment><USER2> We love bees because they go out and pollinate flowers, and work hard. Their motto is, "Don't fuck with people."

Wasps, on the other hand, are hateful, badass, sting you 50 times insects that don't care much for flowers. Their motto is, "Don't fuck with me."

</comment><comment><USER3> Bees bring honey, wasps don't, pretty easy. Though I'll give credit where its due for wasps. Most people don't like spiders, but they don't realize their importance too.</comment>


Even the tech expert from 'Mr. Robot' can't figure out this iPhone hack - <AUTHOR> https://www.engadget.com/2019/09/30/mr-robot-s-tech-expert-can-t-figure-out-this-iphone-hack/ <comment><USER2> Clickbait title</comment>


KeePass2 v 2.34 to fix update security problem - <AUTHOR> From the KeePass site: http://keepass.info/help/kb/sec_issues.html#updsig
In order to prevent a man in the middle from making KeePass display incorrect version information (even though this does not imply a successful attack, see above), the version information file is now digitally signed (using RSA-2048 and SHA-512).
KeePass 2.34 and higher only accept such a digitally signed version information file. This solution is more secure than just using HTTPS, because it guarantees version information safety even when the webserver is compromised (the private key for signing the version information is not stored on the webserver).
Downloads page: http://keepass.info/download.html
Edit: The update has NOT yet been released, as of (CET 11:30 2016-06-06) <comment><USER2> This is a partial fix, but it's not enough. An attacker performing man-in-the- middle attack can respond with the previous version of "version information file", preventing the update.

Imagine if there's a vulnerability in one version of KeePass2, and the fix is available for it. MiTM attacker sends the previous version so that the app doesn't know that there's an update, and the attacker has more time to use the vulnerability.

HTTPS prevents this. They should do both.

<comment><AUTHOR> So, a MITM would be able to prevent automatic update notifications?

<comment><USER3> It seems not any more?:

 _" Resolution. In order to prevent a man in the middle from making KeePass display incorrect version information (even though this does not imply a successful attack, see above), the version information file is now digitally signed (using RSA-2048 and SHA-512). KeePass 2.34 and higher only accept such a digitally signed version information file. Furthermore, the version information file is now downloaded over HTTPS."_

<comment><USER2> The question was if MITM would be able to prevent automatic update notifications. Their solution doesn't solve this: it prevents attackers from changing version information, but doesn't prevent them from replaying previous version information.

<comment><AUTHOR> How would that work? ("replaying")

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> > Downloads page: _http_ ://keepass.info/download.html

I still see a glaring MitM vulnerability…

Until the author actually switches to HTTPS, network operators can simply hijack the original downloads page in the first place. This update is barely a mitigation.

If he wants more ad revenue, his only option is to find another ad network. Eventually someone else is going to start hosting a popular fork on a different HTTPS site if he keeps stubbornly ignoring this issue.

<comment><USER5> That fork is KeePassX [1]. And it's cross-platform too!

[1] [https://www.keepassx.org/](https://www.keepassx.org/)

<comment><USER6> Sadly, there is no sync and syncing offline changes is non-trivial in KeePass.

(At the very least, a .kdbx on Syncthing/Droxbox-like storage WILL eventually lead to data loss.)

<comment><USER7> AFAK if a conflict occure, it will create a "conflicted copy" of the kdbx file. You still have to merge files manually but no data will be lost in the process.

<comment><USER8> This is correct--I've had conflicts and a second kdbx file is created with conflicted copy and the date of the conflict in the filename.

It's a small pain to go through and figure out which item is out of sync, but doable.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Why not just switch to using The Update Framework (TUF)[1]. It solves many, many, many attacks against updating systems and we really should be using it everywhere.

[1]: [https://theupdateframework.github.io/](https://theupdateframework.github.io/)

<comment><USER10> Probably because TUF is 100% Python, and KeePass is a .NET-based Windows app.

<comment><USER9> TUF is a specification (with a sample implementation in Python). There are Go implementations as well, for example.

<comment><USER11> Because they'll have to implement it in .Net which is not a small task.

Even if there is an implementation in .Net it will have to be audited and even then you are at the mercy of who ever maintains it.

Sucking in OSS libraries might sound easy and smart but it's a huge gamble unless it's a defacto standard in the industry or is being maintained by a giant corporation you might be stuck up the creek without a paddle as soon as the person maintaining it decides to drop it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Why don't they put the update file on a subdomain with HTTPS enabled? No ad revenue lost that way.

<comment><USER13> There's a good argument to be made for signing the update information using offline keys - it reduces the damage that could be caused by a compromised SSL key. That being said, they should've still used HTTPS to secure the transport layer, as it would prevent replay attacks (as @dchest mentioned) and make it harder to exploit vulnerabilities that could be caused by e.g. corrupted update information.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> My question is: Would they have released this update if the person who came forward about the fact that KeePass said that they wouldn't fix it didn't?

<comment><USER15> Of course not. Isn't laziness one of the traits of talented programmers?

<comment><USER16> No, not that ignore-security-until-too-late type of laziness. More of a automate-manual-tasks laziness.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Since the post about this problem a few days ago I've stopped using KeePass and began using Password Safe. Good program.

</comment><comment><USER18> Allowing these type of programs to autonotify of updates and self-update should be considered bad practice and a high security risk.

Why risk a malicious MITM-ed update? The keepass site should just provide portable zips and off-site hashes and sigs for verification.</comment>


Ask HN: What SaaS do you pay for? - <AUTHOR> What SaaS do you subscribe and pay for? What software would you be willing to pay for had it existed? <comment><AUTHOR> I, for example, pay for: Evernote (for archiving PDFs), Bear (Notetaking), Monica HQ (Personal CRM), Goland (Go IDE), Dayone (journaling), Chess.com (games), Spotify, Netflix, Fortnox (accounting).

I'd be happy to pay for any back-up service that would check all boxes, any truly cross-platform, great note taking app, a service which made me not have to ever call any customer support again or last, but not least, any service which made all my mail be electronic (without reading my mail).</comment>


Ask HN: Do you use MongoDB for analytics? - <AUTHOR>

I have a lot of app data in MongoDB and I wanted to perform some analytics on that data. I was looking for a Data Visualization tool where I could easily run/save mongodb queries and visualize them
i.e. how many of x has happened per date y and graph as a line graph.
Does anyone know of a solution like this and/or want one? <comment><USER2> SlamData ([http://slamdata.com](http://slamdata.com)) is open source and lets you perform analytics on data in MongoDB.

The 2.0 version will have data visualization baked in, but the current one doesn't have that just yet. :(

</comment><comment><USER3> If you're okay with writing your own queries and some basic HTML, you could use something like d3.js to render graphs.

If you're looking for more of an Excel pivot table on your MongoDB, there's a category of enterprise software that does this basically called "analytics dashboards" or "business intelligence dashboards" like Pentaho or Jaspersoft (1st google results, not recommending necessarily).

Most of those products come with the associated enterprise price tag ("call for pricing"). I'm not aware of any free ones

<comment><AUTHOR> Gotcha, yeah I found Pentaho and Jaspersoft (and RJ Metrics) all expensive enterprise solutions heh. May have to go the build my own route.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> you could clearly build a small web app and use d3js. The cool thing here is you can get your data back in json format from mongo and d3js (or many other charting libraries) just work fine with json.

If you are a python person, this article might help

[http://adilmoujahid.com/posts/2015/01/interactive-data- visua...](http://adilmoujahid.com/posts/2015/01/interactive-data- visualization-d3-dc-python-mongodb/)</comment>


People overestimate their ability to recognize fake news - <AUTHOR> https://www.quod.us/article/people-overestimate-ability-to-recognize-fake-news <comment><USER2> News about fake news. So meta.</comment>


Live Stream of Sandy from East Williamsberg - <AUTHOR> http://www.ustream.tv/channel/south-williamsburg-sandycam

<comment><AUTHOR> compliments of <http://twitter.com/dn0t></comment>


Chelsea Manning Asks President for Clemency and 'First Chance at Life' - <AUTHOR> http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/11/14/502026384/chelsea-manning-asks-president-for-clemency-and-first-chance-at-life <comment><USER2> Unlikely. I would be very surprised if president Obama granted this request. And that's just one of many reasons why democrats did not have a strong turn- out, they lost touch with their base. As corollary a very good article in WaPo by Glenn Greenwald [https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/11/11/...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/11/11/glenn- greenwald-trump-will-have-vast-powers-he-can-thank-democrats-for-them/)

<comment><USER3> I am not all following how you are connecting the Democrats losing touch with their base and the question of whether Obama is likely to pardon this individual.

<comment><USER4> Part of the reason I did not go out to vote for Clinton was because she was a continuation of Obama's policies; civilian collateral damage from extrajudicial drone strikes, no pardon for Edward Snowden, the possibility of a drawn out proxy war in Syria, as well as no stop to the NSA domestic surveillence program. (Neoliberalism = "Republican lite")

You might retort "But Trump! (and his threats of killing families of terrorists, etc)". If Clinton was elected it would've been business as usual, everyone would've gone back to their bread and circuses. Not now though.

I hope Obama has the fortitude to pardon Manning and Snowden if he's going to jump on the political grenade of pardoning Clinton. [1]

Sidenote: Trump has already swung moderate, deciding to stick with NATO [2] and keeping most of the ACA after speaking with Obama [3]. Maybe he doesn't stick to those ideals, but its clear Trump the president may not be as bad as Trump the person. I have hope, but I had hope for Sanders as well. (Excitingly enough, the /r/SandersForPresident subreddit was reactived today, with ~210k active subscribers).

[1] [http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-11-10/giulia...](http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-11-10/giuliani- says-president-obama-shouldn-t-pardon-hillary-clinton)

[2] [http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-11-14/obama-...](http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-11-14/obama- says-trump-told-him-he-supports-u-s-commitment-to-nato)

[3] [http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-hedges- health-...](http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-hedges-health-care- points-amending-aca)

<comment><USER5> >>Part of the reason I did not go out to vote for Clinton was because she was a continuation of Obama's policies; civilian collateral damage from extrajudicial drone strikes, no pardon for Edward Snowden, the possibility of a drawn out proxy war in Syria, as well as no stop to the NSA domestic surveillence program. (Neoliberalism = "Republican lite") You might retort "But Trump! (and his threats of killing families of terrorists, etc)". If Clinton was elected it would've been business as usual, everyone would've gone back to their bread and circuses. Not now though.

Regardless of what you think of Clinton Trump was a far worse alternative on every measure. Trump will be able to dramatically change the supreme court and US federal legislation as well. Complaining about Clinton/Obama doesn't change the simple fact that he is far to the right on her on almost every issue.

>>Sidenote: Trump has already swung moderate, deciding to stick with NATO [2] and keeping most of the ACA after speaking with Obama [3]. Maybe he doesn't stick to those ideals, but its clear Trump the president may not be as bad as Trump the person. I have hope, but I had hope for Sanders as well. (Excitingly enough, the /r/SandersForPresident subreddit was reactived today, with ~210k active subscribers).

Trump _CANT_ keep most of ACA even if he wanted to keep the _good parts._ The expansion of coverage is paid and supported by the entirety of the law, it doesn't work without all the provisions.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Chelsea was sentenced in 2013, well under the influence of the Obama administration. (Ditto for the leaks, in 2010) Typically the presidential pardons we see are the last minute stamp of ideology, not undoing of their legacy.

<comment><USER7> Or if you're Bill Clinton, some last minute corruption. See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton_pardon_controvers...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton_pardon_controversy#Pardons_and_commutations_signed_on_President_Clinton.27s_final_day_in_office) . Though I guess that corruption _is_ the Clinton ideology...

<comment><USER8> > Though I guess that corruption is the Clinton ideology

and yet, despite apparently knowing this for 30 years. Investigating it constantly for 30 years. Neither of them have had anything actually stick to them.

Amazing. They must be the smartest criminals ever.

or not crooks.

<comment><USER9> The Mark Rich pardon was purely wrong, and yet perhaps not illegal.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Maybe should have thought of that before stealing all that classified information and leaking it to hostile nations, huh?

It really is bizarre how people demand, not just that they can commit crimes for political reasons, but that crimes committed for political reasons not be punished.

<comment><USER11> Maybe this country, as a whole, should have thought about the fact that for as long it insists on committing war crimes against foreign peoples, on massive scales -- inevitably, the boldest and bravest among its citizenry will feel compelled to expose those crimes, and bring those responsible to justice.

<comment><USER10> The boldest and bravest, huh? I thought we were talking about Manning. Incidentally, what are the war crimes that were specifically revealed by this leak?

<comment><USER11> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_12,_2007_Baghdad_airstrik...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_12,_2007_Baghdad_airstrike)

<comment><USER10> So, no war crimes at all then. Yeah, figured.

<comment><USER11> Given that there's still never been anything like a proper investigation into the matter, that seems to be an odd thing to say. In any case various international experts have stated that there is a viable case for war crimes to be made, based on the video evidence.

<comment><USER10> The article states that the US military investigated it, so it's not an odd thing to say at all.

> In any case various international experts have stated that there is a viable > case for war crimes to be made, based on the video evidence.

"Various international experts" can be counted on to pronounce any military activity whatsover by the United States as a war crime (while ignoring or even excusing the behavior of non-Western states), so that's of little use.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Not a chance, she committed actual treason as it's defined in our constitution by grabbing as many classified documents as she could and releasing them to the world with no regard for what they actually contained. She's lucky that she only got 35 years.

<comment><USER13> "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court."

<comment><USER10> > or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.

Yep, there we go. Thanks!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> :-(</comment>


German Business Leaders Praise U.S. Economic Policies at Davos - <AUTHOR> http://m.spiegel.de/international/world/selfies-with-trump-german-business-leaders-praise-american-tax-policies-a-1192013.html <comment><USER2> Capitalists like Trump. Marx was right. Film at 11.</comment>


If IoT Security Is Everything, Why Don't We All Drive Volvos? - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbotx.com/if-iot-security-is-everything-why-dont-we-all-drive-volvos/

<comment><USER2> No one drove Volvos in the early years of cars (1920-1950s) either.

Today, consumers don't yet understand the safety and privacy problems IoT devices are introducing into their lives. As people get smarter, they will seek out devices with better security.</comment>


Jenkins X replaces Prow with Lighthouse for better source control compatibility - <AUTHOR> https://devclass.com/2020/06/18/jenkins-x-cloudbees-may-update/ <comment><USER2> TL;DR: Lighthouse is Prow + support for other git providers like Bitbucket or GitLab</comment>


Two satellites will narrowly avoid colliding at 32,800 MPH on Wednesday - <AUTHOR> https://www.livescience.com/satellite-near-collision-miss-over-pittsburgh.html <comment><USER2> I wish articles like this were more clearly written. What we know is that there are two satellites that will get with a few meters of each other. The 32,800 MPH number is not relevant as both satellites will be traveling at that speed, give or take a little; the relative velocity of one satellite with respect to the other is likely to be fairly small.

<comment><USER3> Just go to the source. "...relative velocity of 14.7 km/s..." [https://twitter.com/LeoLabs_Space/status/1221908248305061889](https://twitter.com/LeoLabs_Space/status/1221908248305061889)</comment></comment>


Trekkies rejoice: A real warp drive in the works - other stars, here we come. - <AUTHOR> http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/136408-nasa-working-on-faster-than-light-travel-says-warp-drives-are-plausible

<comment><USER2> 500kg sounds trivial, until you realize they mean conversion of 500kg of antimatter into energy being able to use 100% of this energy for the drive. Good luck solving that problem any time soon. You have the time though, it's going to take a _really_ long time to make or gather 500kg of antimatter.

Then there's the problem of destroying your destination when you arrive in shower of gamma radiation.

<comment><AUTHOR> Can't we convert 1000kg (1Mg?) and use 50% of the energy?

Also why the gamma radiation shower?

<comment><USER2> Maybe, but then how do we radiate away 500kg of pure energy before it reduces the ship to a plasma? Not easy.

regarding the GRB - [http://www.universetoday.com/93882/warp-drives-may-come- with...](http://www.universetoday.com/93882/warp-drives-may-come-with-a- killer-downside/)</comment></comment></comment>


Wearable Cat Ears Controlled By Your Brain [video]  - <AUTHOR> http://presurfer.blogspot.com/2011/05/cat-ears-controlled-by-your-brain.html

<comment><USER2> More detailed article here: [http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-05-japanese- company-irresis...](http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-05-japanese-company- irresistibly-cute-mind-controlled.html)

</comment><comment><USER3> I love living in the future, and can't wait 'til these are common toys (and these inputs are built into computers and headphones).

</comment><comment><USER4> Real-world video here: <http://www.neurowear.net>

</comment><comment><USER5> Just yesterday I watched Collin's Lab make a DIY brainwave music making machine. Pretty cool -- check it out: [http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/05/collins-lab- brainwa...](http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/05/collins-lab-brainwave- beats.html)

He used this EEG headset, which includes developer tools, so you can make your own software respond to brainwaves: [http://store.neurosky.com/collections/hardware/products/mind...](http://store.neurosky.com/collections/hardware/products/mindset)

</comment><comment><USER6> I thought it was about actual ear attachments that would give you directional hearing... So disappointing.

<comment><USER7> That's just a step off. I think the exciting thing is opening up a line of thought and possibility that we'd have another dimension to wearable computing.

Instead of just LEDs on nerd shirts, or tracking your day to day habits, we may have avenues for dynamic expression as well.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> How much longer do I have to wait for a brain controlled keyboard? It can't be that far off.

<comment><USER9> keyboards are nasty for neural interfaces. "text" is a complex symbol based input. really Hard to parse out of electrodes on your skull. I am working on a neural interface for a wearable computer, a brain controlled "mouse" is possible but really clunky. We really need to re-design how we interact with a computer to make a good brain-computer interface. I am not sure what that is going to look like yet, but I am going to in about a year or my thesis is going to be very boring.

<comment><USER10> Please post what you can here when you've finished. It seems like a very interesting area to study.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Cool. Now I want a fluffy, twitchy tail.

<comment><USER12> <http://www.wolftronix.com/tail/>

Video: <http://www.wolftronix.com/videos/PA010005.MOV>

They have a full furry suit, if you are into that.

<comment><USER11> That's cool, but not quite what I was thinking of. A cat's tail seems to have a mind of its own, and I thought it would be cool if that could be hooked up to person's moods the way the ears are.

<comment><USER13> Even better, hooked up to the Internet in order to maximize shenanigans.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Men already have a version of this, its just located far lower on the body...

</comment><comment><USER15> Slightly related and fashionable alternative:

<http://spirithoods.com/></comment>