Signify: Securing OpenBSD from Us to You - glass- http://www.openbsd.org/papers/bsdcan-signify.html <comment><AUTHOR> Signify is the first OpenBSD code that I've ever read from start to finish - (minus the external libraries like the Ed25519 package). Watching the initial checkins, followed by the amazing improvement in the command line options within a a few weeks of checking by external contributors - the final product is much, much better than the first checkin. What I really appreciate, is that they managed to strike a balance between keeping the tool 100% lean, and adding tiny bits of syntactic sugar (such as the Untrusted Comment field, and, the ability to simultaneously verify the SHA256 hash and signature of a list of files.)

Teaching people how to use the tool, from the point of generating keys, to generating signature manifests for a packages, to signing, and verifying takes < 3 minutes for someone who already knows what a hash is.

And, the complete absence of CA architecture, or web-of-trust - and an focus on sharing their (really short) public keys in a visible and widely distributed manner just makes the system so much simpler to understand.

For example - this literally is all you have to do on OS X to have a complete end-end signing/manifest/verification system:

Generate your keypair:

       signify -G -p pub -s sec

Your public key is tiny, and can be shared anywhere/everywhere:

      RWRGNg6NU+JAt9ju3ItQfOMmDhXmEkHp28mej8ickx4lOJjE2Tg2DxEO

Created your manifest (On OpenBSD you just go "sha256 file* ")

       shasum -a 256 file* | awk '{print "SHA256 ("$2") = "$1}'> manif

Sign your manifest, and embed the signature in the resulting sig file:

       signify -S -e -s sec -m manif -x manif.sig

And now, anybody who has your public key, can verify that manifest:

       signify -C  -p pub -x manif.sig

That's it, that's the entire system from beginning to end.

<comment><USER2> "... the complete absence of CA architecture, or web-of-trust..."

<comment><AUTHOR> That decision eliminates a lot (50%, 75%, 90%?) of the complexity that comes with GPG and most CA architectures. It also means the keys can be typed in by hand.

<comment><USER2> Correct.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Another tool that generates compatible signatures: [https://jedisct1.github.io/minisign/](https://jedisct1.github.io/minisign/)

The main addition is a "trusted comment" line, that can be used to verify metadata, instead of just the content, for example to verify a timestamp and prevent unwanted downgrades. This is not an issue with packages, but it can be an issue with files that don't contain any version/timestamp.

And since keys are very short, they can also directly be given on the command- line, making the verification very simple from a user perspective. For example the list of public resolvers compatible with DNSCrypt can be verified with a oneliner: [https://github.com/jedisct1/dnscrypt-proxy#dnscrypt- enabled-...](https://github.com/jedisct1/dnscrypt-proxy#dnscrypt-enabled- resolvers)

OpenWRT is now also leveraging Ed25519 signatures to sign their packages, using a slightly modified version of signify. The result is way smaller than GPG, and a better fit for embedded systems. Unfortunately, they sign `sha512(message)` instead of the message itself, making the signature incompatible with signify.

But even though they only do one thing, these tools are overall way easier to use than GPG, way smaller, and having short keys is really great.

<comment><USER4> That's definitely an improvement and pretty easy to use as well.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> A recent reddit post where a (US) user ordered OpenBSD by mail: [http://www.reddit.com/r/openbsd/comments/369vmw/looks_like_i...](http://www.reddit.com/r/openbsd/comments/369vmw/looks_like_i_got_an_nsa_special_p/)

<comment><USER6> Given the NSA's reputation for doing things on the sly, isn't this a little clumsy to attribute to them? As one of the commentators says, it was more likely to be a border agent on the lookout for new music.

At one place I worked, we had USB security dongles for license management. We started sending them out in envelopes, and found that few reached their destination intact - the envelope would arrive, with a hole in the corner. Someone was raiding the envelopes for USB sticks, for whatever reason.

<comment><USER7> Could it be that they were damaged by the postal equipment? Envelopes with keys often undergo this fate too, unless you pad the key with something of similar thickness.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> @tedu writes:

> There was a PGP usability study conducted a few years ago where a group of > technical people were placed in a room with a computer and asked to set up > PGP. Two hours later, they were never seen or heard from again.

This argument doesn't hold ground. If "technical people" can not setup a new GnuPG key in 20 minutes, they are obviously not "technical" in this context. I'm 100% sure OpenBSD is absolutely NOT fit for people who find GnuPG confusing enough to avoid usage.

> Or as Prof. Green put it, "Can someone who built GnuPG 2.1.1 on > Debian/Ubuntu give me a hint on which libgpg-error you used?" If he doesn't > which libgpg-error to use, I doubt I'm going to pick the right one.

I can, here:

        $ pkg info|grep libgpg-error
        libgpg-error-1.19_1            Common error values for all GnuPG components

Given that this is @tedu, I'm sure I missed the point/joke.

The only real argument here is that it's at least 10 times easier to write code than to read another mans code. So I give him that... Which one is more secure, GPG or signify remains to be seen.

<comment><USER9> GnuPG is complicated, the gpg(1) man page is quite extensive compared to signify.

I imagine very few people have set up PGP without the help of a search engine.

        $ man gpg | pr | grep Page | awk '{print $6}' | tail -1
        58
        $ man signify | pr | grep Page | awk '{print $6}' | tail -1
        2

<comment><USER4> I got back on GnuPG recently because an associate wouldn't communicate without it. We came up with a trustworthy way to exchange keys. After that, I just cut and pasted crap from this:

[http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/~lockhart/gpg/](http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/~lockhart/gpg/)

Been working fine so far. I'm sure there's all kinds of complicated ways to use it but it just takes a few commands to do most of the work. I only use two these days: one for sending and one for receiving. I scripted the more complicated one (send) where I type an alias and a text file with it doing the rest. The decrypt command, -d (file), is easy to remember. Pretty simple compared to trying to learn OpenBSD.

Not to say they're wrong for making something easier or the interface couldn't be way better. Just that me using this thing with almost no thought argues against all this difficulty people are bringing up.

<comment><USER10> Are you really confident that cutting and pasting crap from a random web page (particularly one without TLS, so the guy sitting across from you at Starbucks can MITM it) provides you with sufficient understanding to notice when you are accidentally doing something insecure?

<comment><USER4> I cross-referenced it against the documentation. Let's assume someone won't, though. The commands' appearance make their intent pretty obvious. Further, using them produces output that confirms what the cheat sheet says. For instance, adding a public key said something along the lines of "public key added." Decrypting the incoming message showed its plaintext. Encrypting outgoing plaintext turned it into ciphertext other party decrypted. Along with a warning that the key didn't have others' signatures on it, which ironically re-assured me more because it shouldn't.

So, a visual inspection of the commands and their results in a sandboxed machine was about all one needed to know that they worked. My experience with similar tools helps there. More concerned people can thoroughly cross- reference them with the documentation, source code, program's author, and so on. Whatever level of assurance they like. The basic level, though, was incredibly simple.

I'd take using GPG over learning Emacs or OpenBSD any day. In level of difficulty, that is.

<comment><USER11> The problem with copying and pasting from a website is not whether you think you know what the command does. It is that copying from a HTML page might contain stuff you can see.

[https://thejh.net/misc/website-terminal-copy- paste](https://thejh.net/misc/website-terminal-copy-paste)

<comment><USER4> Damn! That was a surprise! Alright, point taken. I'll... have to validate things on terminals a lot more thoroughly in the future. And type my own code by hand based on the documentation. Maybe just make my own cheat-sheets for the cut and paste. Text files.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> This is a good point: _Revocation is probably a cure worse than the disease._

</comment><comment><USER13> See this follow-up as well "Ted Unangst: signify shortcomings": [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9721737](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9721737)

</comment><comment><USER6> It's bizarre that they consider https as an alternative to cryptographic signing, rather than an unrelated addition.

<comment><USER4> My reading was they did the exact opposite: considered https to be a failure of end-to-end security they wanted. It was various users that apparently wanted HTTPS. I could see how they got to that: I access the site with HTTP; an intercept might happen; HTTPS protects HTTP; let's protect it with HTTPS! Fortunately, the experts knew better and avoided that nonsense.

<comment><USER14> If end-to-end sec (e.g., crypto signatures) are used, like say with Debian packages which uses GPG, packages and metadata can be released over http without a problem.

<comment><USER4> Exactly. One of many reasons the developers went with an end-to-end solution instead of HTTPS. It makes the transport mechanism moot except for the initial key exchange.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Linux port of signify:

[http://sourceforge.net/projects/slackdepot/files/signify/](http://sourceforge.net/projects/slackdepot/files/signify/)

Files signified on OpenBSD will verify on Linux and vice versa.

</comment><comment><USER16> One exciting thing about software distribution with ed25519 signatures is that when Ripple finally releases their threshold signature library for their cryptocurrency we get the ability to create public keys that express software signing policies for free!

</comment><comment><USER4> Quick comment regarding key sizes. NSA has a patent on ECC, expects licenses for commercial use, and has some kind of conditions you must adhere to if applying for a license. I'll let your imagination wonder on that last part as mine does. The choice is easy for me between asymmetric crypto that's patent- free and a kind the NSA controls. This might not apply to your personal use but it can to any company using such a tool.

Given the leaked BULLRUN slide, I'd rather not be in a position of NSA showing up with plans for my product along with a legal claim on it. RSA or DH it is, then! Or clever symmetric schemes that avoid that stuff entirely. I do that, too. I haven't missed not using ECC as I rarely need to transmit asymmetric keys.

EDIT: The few legitimate responses to this showed NSA patents are expired, Certicom's 130+ still require license from new owner Blackberry, and Bernstein's curves _might_ be exempt. I appreciate those updates. Status quo: forms of ECC are covered by patents and you need to consult an attorney if doing it commercially.

<comment><USER17> > NSA has a patent on ECC ...

Wow, I was not aware that it was even _possible_ for government agencies to hold patents.

Is there any reasonable justification for that?

<comment><USER10> Neither the NSA nor anybody else has a patent on ECC. (And no, there is no reasonable justification for government agencies to hold patents, except to make them free to the public.) There are some patents on particular ECC techniques, as explained in [http://cr.yp.to/ecdh/patents.html](http://cr.yp.to/ecdh/patents.html), but they do not cover the currently most popular ECC systems, and in any case they are mostly expired.

<comment><USER17> That's what I would have thought, but then I DuckDuckGo'ed it (awkward!)...

[http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/07/30/the-nsas-patents-in- one-...](http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/07/30/the-nsas-patents-in-one- searchable-database/)

Also, from [https://www.nsa.gov/research/tnw/tnw193/articles/pdfs/TNW193...](https://www.nsa.gov/research/tnw/tnw193/articles/pdfs/TNW193_article4.pdf) (PDF):

> You may be surprised to hear that NSA seeks patents. However, many of the > technologies developed by NSA not only satisfy mission requirements, but > also have great potential for commercial use. Following extensive review, > NSA may seek patent protection for such technologies as a way to protect and > build on the US government's (USG) investment in research and development.

<comment><USER10> I don't see anything in there that contradicts what I said.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Lawyer who founded Prenda Law is disbarred - <AUTHOR> https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/05/john-steele-porn-troll-who-founded-prenda-law-is-disbarred/ <comment><USER2> A more indepth article is here: [http://cookcountyrecord.com/stories/511117834-prenda-law- s-s...](http://cookcountyrecord.com/stories/511117834-prenda-law-s-steele- disbarred-six-other-il-lawyers-also-disbarred-nine-suspended-il-supreme-court- says)</comment>


LiceCap: Capture an area of your desktop and save it directly to .gif - <AUTHOR> http://www.cockos.com/licecap/

<comment><USER2> I just downloaded and am going to give this a shot. I'm often taking videos for clients on how to perform very basic web actions on a CMS, etc, and a gif would be a bit more flexible than various video formats. But one comment.

Icon/website could use some work. Very interesting product, which unless I'm missing something, is kinda unique. But website/icon look like they're from 2002.

<comment><USER3> I have updated my icon with one found on dribble. [https://dribbble.com/shots/1663619-LICEcap-Replacement- Icon?...](https://dribbble.com/shots/1663619-LICEcap-Replacement- Icon?list=users&offset=2)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Works very well. One feature I would like to see in a future version is a full screen mode that captures the Windows task bar as well. The program can record the task bar now, but the buttons become unclickable, and there is black filler for anything below the task bar.</comment>


Interesting funding information about some YC alums (includes Reddit's acquisition price) - <AUTHOR> http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_5657755?nclick_check=1 <comment><USER2> Site requires registration. Here's the full text:

_______________________

Here are some of the more prominent "alumni" of Y Combinator:

Loopt, Palo Alto

A mobile application that shows users where their friends are. Loopt has received $5 million from venture firms Sequoia Capital and New Enterprise Associates.

Reddit, San Francisco

A social bookmarking Website where users can post links to content on the Web. Reddit was acquired last year by Conde Nast for roughly $12 million.

I'm in Like With You, New York

A still-stealth service that fosters flirting online. The company recently raised a round of angel funding from unnamed investors.

Wufoo, Tampa, Fla.

A company whose application helps users create online forms, such as job applications, workshop registrations and event calendars. The company has raised an undisclosed amount of angel financing from unnamed investors.

Inkling Markets, Chicago

A still-stealth start-up that "helps organizations tap into the collective wisdom of their employees, peers and customers," according to its site, which also says it remains self-funded for now.

<comment><USER3> Considering TextPayMe was acquired they'd expect to be on that list.

You'd be hard pushed to find someone that hadn't heard of Kiko and despite all the claims of failure, they still got bought and generated a return for their investors.

<comment><USER4> They generated a return for their later-stage investors. yCombinator took a small loss on them.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> The acquisition price they quote for reddit is wrong. (And no, I'm not saying if it was higher or lower.)

<comment><USER6> Ah ha! Now we know it is either less than 19,999,999.99 or greater than 12,000,000.01. If Paul Graham, well known essayist, cooperates, we shall uncover the purchase price before the millennium is out. Huzzah!

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Username firstname.lastname@example.com Password pa$$word

Username firstname.lastname@example.com Password mxmail@

<http://www.bugmenot.com/view/registration.mercurynews.com>

</comment><comment><USER8> Is there actually any info there that wasn't already known.

No mention of xobni, hey san or auctomatic: who have all have good news on the funding front.

<comment><AUTHOR> I'd never heard the Reddit price. Still don't know if that's the correct figure of course, but it was interesting to see it.

Also interesting to see some of the other people getting additional funding.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> I wonder how they got the figure and if it has some basis in fact or was completely made up.

</comment><comment><USER10> Inkling is "still-stealth"?

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah thought that was strange too. I use it.</comment></comment>


'DNA microscopy' offers new way to image cells - <AUTHOR> https://phys.org/news/2019-06-dna-microscopy-image-cells.html <comment><USER2> By the article I wasn't very impressed. To me it seemed that some journalist didn't understand what color coding was. But actually, they are right, it definitely is a new method other than microscopy. I only got aware of that once I read the paper.

Basically, what they are doing is to spread so-called UMI (think of it as UUID) markers onto the material. Then they obtain pairwise distance information between an UMI and its neighbours and encode it into a DNA strand. Last but not least, that DNA strand is being sequenced and the pairwise distance information read out. A computation step creates the final image from the distance information.</comment>


The "IKEA Effect":  When Labor Leads to Love  - <AUTHOR> http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/11-091.pdf

<comment><USER2> I expected this to be about the strengthening of interpersonal bonds by accomplishing unfamiliar tasks together. I've built IKEA or similar furniture with quite a number of people, from my own family to friends, acquaintances, and potential mates. It was always a good time, even when a part went missing or we assembled something backward early on and had to redo half our work.

Many people have essentially lost touch with their manual abilities: from chopping vegetables (pre-chopped salad packs are virtually absurd) to changing flat tires (people think I'm weird when I tell them I can do it and they don't need to wait for a service to come). Even handwriting is all but lost in some places.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I find it soothing to work with my hands on small, simple objects which obey the rules of physics in a tangible way. Not Excel workbooks, not online shopping, not driving a car using cruise control with a camera that automatically keeps its distance from the car in front of you, freeing your feet to do, well, nothing.

Making things is therapy. It's no surprise that the things we make are imbued with positive emotions.

<comment><USER3> > Many people have essentially lost touch with their manual abilities

For many of us, using our manual abilities turns out like this:

[https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=316356132437](https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=316356132437)

We haven't so much lost touch as came to an understanding with the universe. Niles and Frasier said it well on the episode "Seat of Power" on the TV series "Frasier", after their attempt to fix a running toilet went very wrong:

       Niles: When you think about it, our only mistake today
       was trying to fix that toilet ourselves.

       Frasier: Yes, we tampered with the natural order of things.

       Niles: But now, order has been restored. By hiring a
       plumber, that plumber can now afford, say, a Dolly
       Parton album. Miss Parton can then finance a national
       tour which will, of course, come to Seattle, allowing
       some local promoter to make enough money to send his
       cross-dressing teenaged son to us for $150-an-hour therapy.

       Frasier: [raises his glass] To the circle of life.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> [http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_what_makes_us_feel_good_...](http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_what_makes_us_feel_good_about_our_work)</comment>


The Global Rebellion Against "No-Skin-In-the-Game" Insiders - <AUTHOR> http://reason.com/blog/2016/03/15/nassim-taleb-the-global-rebellion-agains <comment><USER2> I think the best part of the article, and perhaps the best summary why this is happening is this single line:

"who are telling the rest of us 1) what to do, 2) what to eat, 3) how to speak, 4) how to think...and 5) who to vote for."

People are seeing right through the political class and media, and it's making them extremely worried. They see an elite that seems to utterly hate them, ignore things they consider issues (while attacking anyone who disagrees as 'bigots') and who who seem more interested in lining their own pockets than actually helping society.

<comment><USER3> It has always been this way for humans for the past 10,000 years since we invented society. In small groups you can actually care about people, in large hierarchical groups you can't possibly care about anyone other than your small tribe. The solution to this is to break countries into much smaller units of representation while at the same time reducing the population significantly, we don't need more than a few hundred million people on this planet, ever. Essentially making a war on hierarchy and massive conglomeration of people.

Without these two moves, things will continue to get worse or perhaps better depending on perspective. It's evident to anyone with a mind that civilization as it exists now is completely and utterly a mad experiment which has at least as much chance in total failure as it does in success... and success might not be something which is positive, i.e. everyone hooked into the Matrix or something akin to that. Robots doing everything and reducing people to something akin to wild animals with no economic purpose.

<comment><USER4> When you say that "we" (you?) don't need most of the people living today, or their offspring, ever, isn't it the perfect example of inability to care about people?

<comment><USER3> That does not necessarily mean that no one should have any kids. It means that people should be forced to have at most one child, by probably compulsory sterilization after the first child's birth. Puerto Rico is an example of a place where this policy worked just fine. And it should apply to everyone, not certain groups and classes of people which is where such a policy errors. So no it has nothing to do with caring for people. In fact the geometric population reduction would have the exact impact of reducing the population and therefore creating more appreciation for people.

<comment><USER5> You are trolling [1] here [2], right?

[1] [http://racerelations.about.com/od/historyofracerelations/a/T...](http://racerelations.about.com/od/historyofracerelations/a/The- U-s-Governments-Role-In-Sterilizing-Women-Of-Color.htm)

[2] [http://stanford.edu/group/womenscourage/cgi- bin/blogs/family...](http://stanford.edu/group/womenscourage/cgi- bin/blogs/familyplanning/2008/10/23/forced-sterilization-in-puerto-rico/)

<comment><USER3> Not trolling, most of those articles are just whining about how inhumane it is... really more appeals to emotion than any sort of logic. Capitalists simply coerce people not to have children by making their economic lives miserable. So that they are so tied up in work and the economy, with limited pay, that they can not logically think of having children. That only increases misery. All while the Capitalists import people from the third world to increase competition and misery. All of this humaneness at the end does not reduce misery or create happiness, it does the exact opposite while breeders argue about freedom and other things, they deprive their children of any sort of freedom or happiness. Most people simply produce slaves for the economy. People whose lives center around being exploited by other people. To me slavery exists on a spectrum, the more competition and worse the working conditions in terms of the so-called work life balance, the more akin a job becomes to slavery.

<comment><USER5> So the logical extension where I can't see the link is that cavemen way way back must have either have been slaves, or had better lives than everyone on today's slavery spectrum. Is that right?

<comment><USER3> When I am out hunting something or in nature, I feel generally much better than while in society. Much like slaves, stress for modern humans is constant and never ending. Stress for primitive human hunter gatherers was acute and they were adapted to it after millions of years of evolution. Humans love coming with with rhetoric to justify how much better off they are, while at the same time knowing they are all miserable and dislike their specialist jobs, but there isn't much to do about that other than create more rhetoric about how much better everything is and how much better it will be in the future. While the constant amount of stress, the feelings of helplessness, lack of balance, etc, simply persist if not increase.

<comment><USER6> > Much like slaves, stress for modern humans is constant and never ending.

> While the constant amount of stress, the feelings of helplessness, lack of > balance, etc, simply persist if not increase.

I think you are projecting. If you have internet access and the depth of knowledge of most people that read HN, then you have the tools to be self- sustaining and carefree. All you've said is you personally have hobbies you find relaxing but are unhappy with niches you've found for spending the rest of your time.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> It's not only "no skin in the game", it's also "in the game to lose". For instance, Democratic victories in the US are really great for GOP fundraising. Given the choice between no job in a Trump administration, and a sinecure complaining about the policies a President Clinton enacts, many of the GOP establishment prefer the latter.

This tends to engender some frustration.

A lot of government policy around things like welfare enrollment, security theater, or certain categories of crime follows similar incentives. "Solve the problem", especially in a cost effective way, and you're out of a job.

<comment><USER8> _" Solve the problem", especially in a cost effective way, and you're out of a job._

Or redefine your mission. Which is what happened when there was a vaccine invented for Infantile Paralysis.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_March_of_Dimes#Change_of_m...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_March_of_Dimes#Change_of_mission)

<comment><USER7> March of Dimes was a almost pure fundraising / fund distribution organization - it's very easy for such organizations to change direction when their putative target changes.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> _" What we are seeing worldwide, from India to the UK to the US, is the rebellion against the inner circle of no-skin-in-the-game policymaking "clerks" and journalists-insiders, that class of paternalistic semi- intellectual experts with some Ivy league, Oxford-Cambridge, or similar label- driven education who are telling the rest of us 1) what to do, 2) what to eat, 3) how to speak, 4) how to think...and 5) who to vote for."_

That's Taleb describing himself.

<comment><USER10> Especially since he's not going to starve for evidence-less anti-GMO policies. I'd like to see him name who should starve for the precautionary principle-- would he?

<comment><USER11> So why is there such a strong lobby against GMO labeling laws?

<comment><USER12> I've seen a few reasons that make sense;

1\. GMO is really _really_ hard to define. Figuring out what would need to be labeled would be ripe for manipulation. (i.e. is material genetically inserted from the same species, like doubling up a promoter region, GMO? Or if you discover something through a GM but recreate it 'naturally', is that still considered GM?)

2\. The average consumer knows very little science, they'll likely avoid products that are labeled GM, whether or not it makes any sense to do so. Handicapping a potentially important technology to appease the scientifically ignorant seems like pretty bad policy.

From my perspective, opt-in initiatives like the non-GMO project are a better way to handle the labeling requirements.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> One can come up with a completely alternative explanation for what's happening with Trump/Sanders, Farage/Corbyn, Modi, etc. based on constructs like 'end of average' and income inequality. These are social consequences of the growing gap between highly skilled and low-skilled workers. The former are more and more important to the economy even as the latter become less so with technological progress and globalization. The tectonic shifts in jobs, wealth, etc. are causing a realignment of electoral coalitions. Low skilled jobs are automated or shifted offshore at an increasingly faster pace. The status quo of the last 40 years is being challenged: in the US with the reshaping of the economic and social landscape of the country, and elsewhere in the world with the emergence of new uncertainly-oriented behemoths in China and India.

A libertarian magazine like Reason would be more than happy to seek and celebrate a libertarian revolution, whether one really exists or not.

<comment><USER14> I would suggest that the growing gap you describe is a symptom of continued application of neoliberal policies. It is not that there was a status quo for the last 40 years, it is that the last 40 years has seen accelerating erosion of the conditions/social contract established in western countries in the post depression/WW2 era.

Placing the rights of capital above all others, particularly giving capital a level of mobility that is not afforded labour, combined with an unquestioning embrace of trade liberalisation results in a race to the bottom for labour.

It is only due to the stranglehold of neoliberal thinking on modern economic thought that globalisation is considered inevitable.

<comment><USER15> I would suggest that the growing gap comes because government steals from the poor and gives to the rich through inflation.

One ought to have seen a dividend for the working guy due to lowered prices from increased efficiency brought about by technology, but instead the Fed has chosen to favor "stable prices" which is done by lowering interest rates (I.e. making it easier for rich people to access capital)

<comment><USER16> Deflation, not inflation, steals from the poor and gives to the rich. Deflation depresses wages and increases the value of assets (including outstanding debts! rich people use debt, poor people have debt.)

<comment><USER17> I'd argue both hurt poor people. Wage growth typically lags behind inflation.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> One of the reasons I refuse to self identify as a 'skeptic' is because the supposed reverence for science and empiricism is largely just deference to academia. There's also a feigned distaste for personal experience (and really who can or should dismiss their own life experience). Ultimately this isn't about libertarianism, it's about allowing individuals to choose their own standards for evidence, trusted authorities, and process for making their own decisions. The "educated elite" really truly believe that their standards are superior and that it's their duty to help others by making the decisions for them. This is ultimately a religion attempting to impose itself on others, but because it doesn't call itself one people don't recognize it as doing such.

<comment><USER11> The 'higher standards' are often influenced by large amounts of money coming from corporations. I would not so much think of it as a religion, then, as another means of propaganda from the overall system.

<comment><USER19> Most of the money in academic research comes from the government.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> I feel that this global rebellion against authority will seriously damage us as a civilization. This is mass insanity caused by somewhat justifiable lack of trust, amplified millionfold by the media. It's psychological reactance happening at scale, and we're doing it to one another.

What I mean is - even though probably half of psychology (and definitely more than half of dietetics) is wrong, it gets made wronger 10 times more by journalists. If you, dear "rebel against 'no-skin-in-the-game' insiders" are reading popular media crap and believing it, instead of standing in front of their offices with pichforks, you're responsible for this. If you repeat that bullshit further, you're responsible more, and God forbid you actually make a business from propagating it to people. And either way, you're _still_ much better off listening to half-wrong field of psychology than to your grandmother. They at least have some context and _try_ to get it not terribly wrong.

Also the funny thing: the very ethics of capitalism was always "if I mind my own business and/or maybe even benefit for myself at others' expense, things will turn out Good for everyone". Greedy optimization ("greedy" in the CS sense of the word). Now that it turned the world into such a mess, what's the answer? _More_ individualism, _more_ minding your own business, _more_ greedy optimizing? Seriously, how do people arrive at this conclusion?

The idea that local optimization is better than global baffles me completely. Where do people get it from?

<comment> guard-of-terra We no longer have any authority. We no longer have anyone to trust. No politicians, no thinkers, no idealists.

This is a very serious crisis of trust and you can't make it go away by shouting at people; much less by shouting at the wrong people.

<comment><USER19> Honestly this is why so many people like a person like Donald Trump. They crave an alpha leader: strong, unafraid, confident. Which he definitely is. He's 180 degrees from the thoughtful, intellectual, politically correct yet fundamentally dishonest and self-serving leaders we've had for the past 30 years. It's in our primal pack psychology from when we all lived in tribes.

</comment></comment></comment><comment> guard-of-terra This is very very true. While I don't share his sentiments about GMO, the principle applies to immigration and asylum seekers - where politicans living in their own walled world tell us mere mortals how letting random people into the country is the right thing to do and also beneficial to the economy.

</comment><comment><USER21> I don't know whether to applaud or cry.

Worrisome trends:

Globally 1\. Massive population explosion 2\. Declining cross-border trade 3\. Declining Pax-Americana

Domestically 1\. Declining educational standards leading to a less-skilled middle class 2\. Corruption (government) * Greed (corporate) 3\. Justifiable distrust of media and political class 4\. Revolt against free-trade due to #1 5\. Separation between the ultra rich and the rest 6\. Political upheaval due to #1-5

It's been almost a decade since the world experienced a major war or epidemic. Means tend to revert, and socio-economic upheaval tends to lead to one or both.

People who feel desperate take desperate measures. It's my belief that people who haven't been in a war are more likely to start them, especially when they can self-reinforce their own bellicosity through like-minded media groups.

I don't know how to solve for all the variables, and I'm not sure we will.

</comment><comment><USER22> Taleb is an idiot: [https://twitter.com/sapinker/status/682361866321002496](https://twitter.com/sapinker/status/682361866321002496)

<comment><USER23> I'm pretty sure that you comment is down-voted due to choice of words.

Taleb is a snake oil salesman and other than catchy term "black swan" his words should be ignored as much as possible. There are many blog posts on web that go into details to prove this. In addition to the above link, here is another set of links:

[http://theweek.com/articles/453558/nassim-taleb-used-hero- bu...](http://theweek.com/articles/453558/nassim-taleb-used-hero-but-today- hes-just-plain-wrong)

[http://www.cnbc.com/id/31386309](http://www.cnbc.com/id/31386309)

[https://scottlocklin.wordpress.com/2009/07/17/nassim- taleb-c...](https://scottlocklin.wordpress.com/2009/07/17/nassim-taleb-clown- of-quantitative-finance/)

[https://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2014/11/03/is- nassim-...](https://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2014/11/03/is-nassim-taleb- a-dangerous-imbecile-or-just-on-the-pay-of-the-anti-gmo-mafia/)

<comment><USER24> The "Precautionary Principle" nonsense has always been my least favorite aspect of Taleb's shtick. You're asking too much of Taleb, however. It is not his place to be right all the time. Rather, he must always point out how often those in charge are wrong. That is how he can contribute to the progress of humanity.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> Ehh. Another "libertarian" discussion without any reference to the fact that prior to the mid-late 20th c. in America, and in most of the world even today, "libertarian" is a synonym for "anarchist". Unfortunately, it got mangled along the way.

As always on political terminology, Orwell was most astute:

"Words of this kind are often used in a consciously dishonest way. That is, the person who uses them has his own private definition, but allows his hearer to think he means something quite different."

"It would seem that, as used, the word 'Fascism' is almost entirely meaningless. In conversation, of course, it is used even more wildly than in print. I have heard it applied to farmers, shopkeepers, Social Credit, corporal punishment, fox-hunting, bull-fighting, the 1922 Committee, the 1941 Committee, Kipling, Gandhi, Chiang Kai-Shek, homosexuality, Priestley's broadcasts, youth hostels, astrology, women, dogs and I don't know what else."</comment>


Ask HN: How to negotiate equity/compensation as first hire? - <AUTHOR> We just got into an accelerator and I have been with the company for 3-4 months. The company pivoted from b2c to b2b and I helped with product UX, biz dev and some of the website setup stuff.
There are 2 founders with 50/50 equity split. The company just sold 6% to the accelerator.
I have a pretty broad set of skills. I can develop at a jr level, quite good at marketing, accel at strategy and biz dev., and played a non-trivial part in getting into the accelerator as I am pretty good at translating complicated financial and technical concepts into succinct easily understood points.
This helped convince investors that we were providing something valuable, and they could grok these concepts much easier.
The company doesn't have much money ~25k in the bank.
I am asking for:
650 a week salary for next 4 months during accelerator.
new macbook ~1600, I broke mine in NY during the meetings. About $600 of wages owed to me I have agreed to give up so basically this is about $1000 of company money/bonus for me to use. I am going to use it to buy a new macbook to do my job.
80 dollars of software (adobe CS for 4 months)
1% equity award, retroactive 1 year cliff from start date.
1.5% of next funding roud capped at a normal salary ~50-60k. This is to get an actual salary when it is possible for them/the company to pay me.
<comment></comment><comment>===
Is this too much or too little. I don't knoiw exactly how to value myself and I tend to undervalue some of my skills and maybe over value others. I tried to be objective above.
Help would be appreciated. While I have read a bunch of posts, there really is nothing standard about startup equity/compensation. I have a decent skillset, however the founders have much better pedigree than I do. They are pretty technical and have a lot of knowledge about the space. One is an engineer one is finance but also technical. We are in fintech space. I have a very broad skillset, with decent understanding of all of this, not to the depths the founders do though. </comment><comment><USER2> You appear to this disinterested observer to be a co-founder of the company. If you had not told me your ask, I would have told you to ask for a third.

Having seen your ask: you should ask for a third.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks. It means a lot coming from somebody who is basically a hiring expert. It is just super weird valuing yourself. I know I am really good at communicating, thiunking about biz dev and sales and execution. However, I am ostensibly just a nobody and the founders (although they don't treat me poorly or anything) have much better credentials being Ivy league and technical, financial and business oriented.

I also didn't add this, but the laptop is being given as a bonus. I told them they could subtract the $600 of pay from the accelerator/pitching from this past weekend and that I needed a new machine.

I think a third is a bit much, but I don't think it is unreasonable to ask for a bit more and for a salary if/when it is possible for it to be paid.

I just have a net worth of -6,000 right now. So, it is hard to bootstrap with limited upside. I want to help them raise a 1m round, get my salary retroactively paid, help them hire a few people to execute and then amicably depart.

Thanks a lot for the insight.

<comment><USER2> _However, I am ostensibly just a nobody and the founders (although they don 't treat me poorly or anything) have much better credentials being Ivy league and technical, financial and business oriented._

Did their Ivy league pedigree and technical, financial, and business orientation let them raise enough money to pay you a market salary? No? Then their pedigree is worth precisely what yours is.

If you feel _really_ strongly that you want to be an employee and not a co- founder, ask for a market salary and let them, as a courtesy, pay it with N% cash until they raise a round and (100-N)% on a promissory note due as soon as they raise > $50k worth of funding.

<comment><AUTHOR> > Did their Ivy league and technical, financial, and business orientation let > them raise enough money to pay you a market salary? No? Then their pedigree > is worth precisely what yours is.

I wouldn't have thought about it this way, but when put like this it is hard not to. I need to think about it more, but this is a great point. Thanks for your time. Means a lot.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> I would say you need a normal salary no matter what after accelerator and if they want pay less it needs to be replaced with more equity. and since you came in earlier than the accelerator it's needs to be at that valuation.

<comment><AUTHOR> Not 100% sure what you mean. I really want a normal salary now, but they don't have the cash. Post-accelerator I would like/expect a real salary. I don't know if 1% is a lot of equity or not especially because of how dilution works. If I understand you correctly I agree.

<comment><USER3> If the accelerator is getting 6% for 25k than the company would be valued at 416k pre-money. If you should be getting 5k per month, I would want .25% per 1k I'm not being paid. So, if 4 mo's go by and your getting 2k/mo, I would think you should get .75(3k short per month)*4 mos = 3%. Make sure you get it in writing even if an email(better than nothing). Other than a down round you should always make out better money-wise with each round. And this should be equity not options.(BS opinion not legal advice.)

<comment><USER4> +1 for "have it in writing".

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> You sound like a founder of the company.

<comment><AUTHOR> I actually value having a cofounder title a lot. I am not sure how big of an ask that is, but having the title and recommendations from both the other founders would give me a better chance of raising for my own inc in 6 months, so I would shave some points off the equity for that. It probably doesn't make sense, but I have been thinking a lot about it

<comment><USER5> It's not a big ask. You are doing the work of a founder, you are taking on the risks of a founder, you are getting the salary of a founder (i.e. sweet eff all). You're either a founder, or they pay you market wages for market conditions, or they're screwing you.

<comment><AUTHOR> Im having this conversation in 5 minutes. This was very helpful.

<comment><USER6> How did it go?

<comment><AUTHOR> I am still negotiating. We are all in dif places.

Currently I am hoping for:

Until next round:

650 cash a week.

1500 allocation for new macbook.

Deferred compensation:

Basically a lump sum backpay of the difference of the 650(pay from above) and 1150(60k annual salary) multiplied by the amount of time they can't pay. This should be about 4 months. Somewhere into month 6 we would possibly die without funding or rev anyway.

Then the equity offered was 2.5% 1 year cliff 4year vest. I asked for like 1.4% of the next raise instead. Capped at like 20k.

Then we would renogotiate. For continued employment.

Small things like ~100$ of software.

Does this make sense?</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


NSA Senate oversight bill may handcuff U.S. companies - <AUTHOR> http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57592778-38/nsa-senate-oversight-bill-may-handcuff-u.s-companies/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=title <comment><USER2> The bill in question was drafted not by some fire breathing, bible thumping, tough on crime, law and order conservative; but by Patrick Leahy, who is considered to be one of the most liberal or progressive of Senators.

If even the most progressive members of Congress are openly advocating a decrease in government accountability and trying to weaken the powers of citizen opposition to a totalitarian surveillance state, then any hope that Congress will try to stop the slide towards totalitarianism is misplaced.

The Executive branch is obviously leading the charge in favor of totalitarianism, and the Judicial branch has mostly condoned or defended increased government power at the expense of human rights and civil liberties, with a few notable slaps on the wrist here and there. Mostly, however, the Supreme Court has tended to simply deny lawsuits seeking to challenge torture, infinite imprisonment, spying, and war (or to just say the plaintifs don't have standing to sue in the first place).

So the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches are lost. They are not likely to change for the better any time soon. If anything, there will likely be a move towards even more extreme concentrations of power and abuses of human rights and an increase in surveillance as the Republicans take back Congress and the Presidency -- especially if there's another major terrorist attack.

What can be done?

</comment><comment><USER3> And I thought it couldn't get any better... It's as if they were hellbent on destroying the US economy.</comment>


Ask HN: I added a job listings section on my blog. How can it be improved? - <AUTHOR>

Employers have been reaching out to pay me to put up job listings on my blog. So I decided to experiment with my my first paid job listing.
http://blog.goodsense.io/jobs-and-projects
Can you give me feedback to make it better? How can I make it more engaging to developers? What information do you want to know about the job?
If you've had experience with adding job boards to your blog, what's a good way to automate everything? Right now I'm posting the listings manually and using PayPal for payments. <comment><USER2> I use jobberbase, <http://www.jobberbase.com/> , on a site <http://jobsinireland.org/> it doesn't handle payments, but the verification of jobs is easy, as it sends the admin a link to approve the submitters first job. After that they can post again with out the check.

<comment><AUTHOR> Looks good. Is it possible to integrate this with wordpress?

<comment><USER2> sure it's possible, but why would you want to integrate it in something else ? It's a stand alone software that can do most things that a jobsboard should do.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Has anyone used the white label job board by Simply Hired? <http://www.jobamatic.com/jbb-static/home></comment>


Lexical differential highlighting instead of syntax highlighting - <AUTHOR> https://wordsandbuttons.online/lexical_differential_highlighting_instead_of_syntax_highlighting.html <comment><USER2> I understood the problem, but I found the page's explanation a little confusing at first. In particular, "lexical differential highlighting" misled me, because the word "differential" made me think that his algorithm was comparing lines or tokens in some way, and it doesn't do that.

Basically, this algorithm tokenizes the source code, and tries to color each token so that _identical_ tokens have the same color, but _similar-looking_ tokens have very different colors. When tokenizing it specially handles comments and quoted text.

That's an interesting approach to countering errors from "it's almost the same but I didn't notice they were different". I wonder - if I were trying to review source code that were malicious, maybe I could vary the color algorithm using a random source so that the source code writer couldn't make different tokens look similar in color. That might be an interesting countermeasure to some kinds of underhanded code.

<comment><USER3> Yeah, I thought this would do something like highlight all "mov" derivatives the same way and was somewhat surprised at the brevity of the code at the bottom…

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> This idea is related to "rainbow parentheses" (e.g. for Lisp): different levels of parens just get arbitrary different colors. But matching parens are the same color, just like two occurrences of %ecx in the same line are the same.

<comment><USER5> It's legitimately one of the best features of Excel. Does anybody know how I can achieve that in Sublime? The few options I found were subpar.

<comment><USER6> Don't know about Sublime, but there's a plugin that does this for Visual Studio.

[https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=TomasRes...](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=TomasRestrepo.Viasfora)

Probably not helpful to you, but maybe some other lurker.

</comment></comment></comment><comment> fake-name There's a sublime text package that does this for a bunch of different languages: [https://github.com/vprimachenko/Sublime- Colorcoder](https://github.com/vprimachenko/Sublime-Colorcoder)

I'm not involved in any way, I just ran it for a while at one point.

<comment><USER7> > _There 's a sublime text package that does this for a bunch of different > languages_

You don't need a package for this, Sublime Text 3 already does this automatically [1].

[1] [https://www.sublimetext.com/docs/3/color_schemes.html#hashed...](https://www.sublimetext.com/docs/3/color_schemes.html#hashed_syntax_highlighting)

<comment><USER8> How can I use it?

The simplest way seems to be to use the "Celeste" color scheme which implements this. Is this the only way? I'd like to use a dark theme, like the default Monokai.

<comment><USER7> Yes, "Celeste" is the only theme with support for semantic highlighting.

For dark mode, I use this project — [https://github.com/cixtor/monnokay](https://github.com/cixtor/monnokay)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I remember Doug Crockford mentioning the idea of scope based highlighting for JavaScript in a workshop years back and thinking it would be useful. Cool to see it pop back up here.

Edit: Here's a scope based js highlighting repo that cites Crockford as the inspiration but unfortunately he posted the linked description on Google+ so... uh... oops [https://github.com/azz/vscode- levels](https://github.com/azz/vscode-levels)

</comment><comment><USER10> Complete tangent but one thing that I've wondered about modernish asm mnemonics is how complex they are, and especially how much type information they encode in a semi-structured way. Taking the authors example of PMULHUW, the core operation is MUL(tiply), P for packed integers, H for high result, U for unsigned, and W for word sized (16 bit). I feel like there must be a better way to express the same thing that wouldn't lead stuff looking like one word all caps alphabet soup. I don't know exactly what that would be, spelling out everything would probably make assembly way too verbose. So some sort of middle ground would be nice.

<comment><USER11> > I feel like there must be a better way to express the same thing that > wouldn't lead stuff looking like one word all caps alphabet soup.

Yes, that's called a programming language :^)

Assembly is usually essentially a macro engine over the actual instructions you are emitting for your processor, and the Intel x86 chip manuals or whatever you're targeting use the outrageously long proper names, so your assembly will too. Heck, the author mentions specifically _reading_ assembly too, so knowing what you're reading is 1:1 with the actual instruction stream is helpful, no matter how bad the official names are.

 _Actual_ programming languages just abstract away some complex instructions like SSE vectorizing (which have famously terrible names) to some high-level API and intrinsic functions. And you should too.

<comment><USER10> > the Intel x86 chip manuals or whatever you're targeting use the outrageously > long proper names, so your assembly will too.

I don't see why that has to be the case; why I'd must use Intel specified mnemonics instead of my own syntax? While not as radical, the att vs intel syntax demonstrates that the vendor syntax is not the only option. As long as the syntax captures all the details of instructions to be completely unambiguous then it should be perfectly interchangeable.

I specifically do not desire higher level of abstraction because I want to maintain that 1:1 relation with the actual machine code. Heck, even Intel mnemonics do not truly have 1:1 relation to machine code, because the instruction (encoding) can depend on operand types.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> [1] was a similar idea where color is determined by the prefix, so for example `currentIndex` and `randomIndex` are distinguished from each other but `currentIndex` and `currentIdx` are not.

I'm not sure about both because, i) there are only a handful number of mutually distinguishable colors ([1] does mention the same complication), ii) we often want to highlight both the similarity and difference among identifiers and the cutoff is not clear. For i) we may want to leverage more formattings; for ii) I really don't have a good solution.

[1] [https://medium.com/@evnbr/coding-in- color-3a6db2743a1e](https://medium.com/@evnbr/coding-in-color-3a6db2743a1e)

</comment><comment><USER13> Wow, this actually looks amazing for math (though it seems to be stripping out a lot of the code I pasted in): [https://i.imgur.com/Iur9FgK.png](https://i.imgur.com/Iur9FgK.png)

How difficult would it be to implement this as a VSCode extension?

<comment><USER14> This looks pretty good, but notice how it does not split "log(difference_squared" into two tokens. Adding '(' and ')' as delimiters should fix that.

<comment><USER13> Good point. That helps, but it still strips about half of the lines of my code out for some reason. Specifically, this part: [https://i.imgur.com/L117fYm.png](https://i.imgur.com/L117fYm.png)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Tangential, but "Just as every other piece of code on Words and Buttons, it's properly unlicensed." reads like the code is literally unlicensed and not using the Unlicense license.

It's a little weird to me because unlicensed code is very different than the Unlicense license.

<comment><USER16> And I'd add that CC0 is more "properly unlicensed" than Unlicensed is. Or at least more thoroughly so.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> I think this is also called semantic coloring. Visual Studio Code has it on the roadmap to try this year: [https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/wiki/Roadmap#editor](https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/wiki/Roadmap#editor)

<comment><USER18> KDevelop has pioneered this a decade ago : [https://zwabel.wordpress.com/2009/01/08/c-ide-evolution- from...](https://zwabel.wordpress.com/2009/01/08/c-ide-evolution-from-syntax- highlighting-to-semantic-highlighting/)

<comment><USER19> Ecliose also has had this for ages at this point. I don't remember when they introduced it, but when you can memorize the meanings of all the colors, it's great.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> I'm not a fan of this approach in general, but I am a fan of highlighting instructions from different subsets in different colors in asm, and perhaps differentiating the saturation by latency/throughput. I.e. a "heavy" instruction should probably be bright, urgent red, whereas loads, stores, adds, bit ops should probably be more muted.

</comment><comment><USER21> Something like this is implemented in vscode-clangd. I used it for a bit but it's just too colourful. There are just colours everywhere and it's overwhelming. I went back to normal syntax highlighting.

</comment><comment><USER22> Curious. I mean it sounds like relying simply on contrast rather than the structure. I know our visual system is insane at contrast, and we, as humans tend to group tokens as a shorthand.

What mades me immediately pause, is when I reflect reading javascript: How often do I scan past 3+ lines using colour as my "bridge"? As far as I can remember, not often. Maybe I've overestimated colour-to-lead-me-through- structure. Maybe it is often, colour-to-give-me-token-rhythm. Curious.

I'll have to remember to load up CSS or a test suite (with lots of framework calls) using this approach.

</comment><comment><USER23> I really like this idea. I always wanted to try to take this to insane levels. For example, for large code bases have different images associated with different modules. So that your brain has more things to latch on to. e.g.: This function from the banana module is calling the teddy bear module. It seems a bit absurd since there is no correlation between the image and the module functionality but I still want to try it.

</comment><comment><USER24> This is really cool. It kinda looks like rainbow salad, but who cares? For me at least, it is much easier to visually parse.

</comment><comment><USER25> Nice to see some MASM32 code in there in one of the examples. That's from a WIN32 app if I am not wrong.

Brings back memories.

</comment><comment><USER26> Oh my god this would have saved my bacon two days ago. p_value_default is so visually similar to v_value_default that after sitting there with another developer trying to figure out the problem for 30 mins we rewrote the whole method.

Only the next day after the deadline pressure was gone did I spot the problem.

</comment><comment><USER27> I understand it in the case of assembly, but I don't think it'd work for something like Python better than existing syntax highlighting. So it's nice and I hope things like Radare or IDA adopt it where people even intentionally make syntax highlighting nearly impossible.

</comment><comment><USER28> I encourage the original author to find a way to talk about assembly coding in the nuclear industry.

<comment><USER29> what do you expect to be different from your run-of-the-mill maintenance of outdated industrial automation gig?

<comment><USER30> At a guess, an increased probability of causing a criticality accident as a result of getting a program slightly wrong.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> In this particular case, the highlighting is a clever workaround for the fact that x86 register naming conventions are awful. RISC architectures tend to number the registers, which makes things significantly easier to read.

</comment><comment><USER32> Not code, but I'm surprised that email clients don't have better colorization from the getgo.

I think it would be the single best thing to help a huge amount of people.

</comment><comment><USER33> There are too many colors in too many places. Everything is highlighted and nothing stands out.

<comment><USER34> I agree. Rather than rainbow the brackets I think a better solution is to highlight the matching brackets with a temporarily different color as user moves the cursor.

Or at least make it easy to turn the rainbows on and off.

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> > In 2013 I was working in nuclear power plant automation ... the job required > reading a lot of assembly code.

Does anyone else find this _terrifying_? Nuclear power plant automation should be done in the safest of the safe languages. I would be alarmed at the thought of stuff like this being written in C, never mind in assembly!

<comment><USER36> Systems like that tend to be designed with different kinds of safeties. A mildly silly example - your typical Rails app doesn't have a watchdog timer, your toaster probably does.

<comment><USER37> An excellent example!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> Does something like this exist for Java eclipse?</comment>


Of kimono and cultural appropriation - <AUTHOR> http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2015/08/04/commentary/japan-commentary/kimono-cultural-appropriation <comment><USER2> The fact that there are a not-insignificant number of Americans who feel like any sort of cultural exchange is an appropriation that promotes division bewilders me. The idea that this cross pollination of culture, art, fashion, etc. somehow drives these cultures apart rather than bringing them together doesn't seem to be any sort of logical sense.

Honestly, in this sort of situation, it seems racist on the part of the people protesting. Outside of the outright division it promotes, it assumes a patriarchal arrogance, that they (Middle class Americans in America) know better than the Japanese in Japan. Are the Japanese so dumb as to be "duped" by these museums? Is the rich history of the kimono actually so weak that it will be destroyed by non-Japanese wearing them?

Of course, they, as Americans, understand the dangers of American culture and the effects it has on the world, so they must protect other countries that don't understand American culture and the danger it poses! They'll look out for you, <Insert Other Country X That They Are Not From>, so don't you worry your pretty little head about this. They know best.

What a bizarre and hypocritical stance to take.

<comment><USER3> One of the perks of living in a diverse capital is that you can pick and choose the various foreign influences that you like (try Turkish or Indonesian cuisine!), while ignoring the ones you don't care for (I'm not going to fast for a month each year, forget it)

The thing is, you can't tell other people they should or shouldn't be offended by something just because you are or aren't. It just doesn't work that way. If someone's feelings are hurt, their feelings are hurt, even if they shouldn't be. If someone feels offended by a westerner wearing a kimono, you are going to have to deal with that fact. You might conclude that you don't care about offending them, but telling them they shouldn't be offended will only make it worse.

<comment><USER2> If it was simply a matter of their feelings being hurt, it would be one thing - but they are actively telling people what they can and cannot do.

In this case it was even more absurd, because the people who created the kimono, the Japanese, were fine with it. Even the ultra nationalistic Japanese that dislike foreigners thought the protesting against this was absurd.

Why should any of the people in America be in a position where they can tell westerners they're not allowed to wear a kimono, when the people who invented it, whom actually live in Japanese culture every day of their life, do not feel that any harm is done to Japanese culture by westerners wearing the kimono? It's an extremely arrogant stance to take.

I of course cannot tell people what they can and can't be offended by. But you cannot create concessions for every single person who gets offended by every single thing. My rights are not restricted just because it might offend you

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I think the last line is the key quote of the article:

 _Kaori Nakano, a professor of fashion history at Meiji University put it to me this way: "Cultural appropriation is the beginning of new creativity. Even if it includes some misunderstanding, it creates something new." It may be the key to the future of kimono fashion._

"Cultural Appropriation" seems to be oft-used in a negative term, but it's just the spread of cultural ideas, traditions, fashions, etc. We're all just individual humans, we're born without culture and we adopt the culture of those we're raised by and those we surround ourselves with. Is it "whiteface" cultural appropriation when Japanese baseball players wear American-style uniforms with their names written out in Romaji on back instead of Kanji?

This kind of protest seems like the latest in outrage culture over something that, in the end, is just human nature. Who gets to decide what is your culture and what culture you choose is appropriation? If I'm 1/16 Japanese and nobody in my family has been to Japan in 2 generations, can I wear a kimono? If my parents are both Indian but I was born and raised in Japan, can I wear a kimono? What if I'm white, born in America, but was adopted by Japanese parents at age 8?

Professor Nakano has it right. Cultural appropriation should not be a dirty word, it should be a sign of mixing of ideas to create new ones, and bringing people together over something that they didn't know they had in common.

<comment><USER5> In his book _Hyperculturality_ (2005), the Korean-German philosopher Byung- Chul Han distinguishes between "cultural appropriation" and "cultural exploitation." He argues that appropriation _per se_ is not a problem (because culture, after all, is generally not diminished by being appropriated), but exploitation is. Exploitation occurs when there is a clear power differential between appropriator and expropriated (think whites poking fun at blacks in a society that used to be based on the slave labor of black people), but there are plenty of examples where processes of appropriation do in fact lead to "new creativity" (think Korean tacos).

<comment><USER6> In your example, cultural appropriation is bad when it happens to be racism at the same time. (Not to mention that making fun of someone can be asshole thing to do in it's own right.)

Could you give example when cultural appropriation is bad without something obviously bad shit being bundled with it?

<comment><USER7> I think you're right, but sometimes it becomes easier for people to complain about cultural appropriation because of the context.

E.g. consider how black women often get criticised for styles that are then praised on white celebrities. Things like hairstyles that have been common in black culture for a long time, like corn-rows, for example.

In those cases, it's easy for people to dismiss criticism of this as not having anything to do with racism by saying that "oh, no we really didn't like them, but _now_ someone has shown it can be cool, and it has nothing to do with race" or something similar. Fashions change. It's a plausible excuse. Sometimes.

Talking about cultural appropriation then becomes a way of criticising that practice in a way where you make the "oh no it's not racism" excuse moot by re-framing the debate.

In that way, it could be a useful way of attacking hidden racism.

The problem, of course, is that it works exactly because it ignores the intentions of the people involved and becomes a weapon that hits equally hard against people intentionally or unintentionally perpetuating hidden racism as against people who are genuinely appreciative of something.

<comment><USER6> I see your point.

If you allow dishonest stuff to pass because it combats racism, then there is a risk that you just paint SWJ crowd dishonest.

If racism is well enough hidden, I don't see the point opposing it anymore. I don't think people should be burned because of thoughtcrime.

We can agree that it's not cool behaviour to run around with plastick indian headress while high. Or dunkenly sing Elvis songs in karaoke. But I don't think it is immoral, and I don't think who does it matters too much.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Cultural appropriation is one hell of an issue.

I've never seen it defined in a way that doesn't seem ripe for this kind of abuse. Some define it as someone of one culture adopting qualities of another culture wholesale- which begs the question then, what's the difference between that and appreciating another culture?

Others define it as adopting said culture in a disrespectful way. This ends up closer to a mark I could understand and be on board with- but then you get situations like that defined in this article, where so much of the complaints seem to be on another's behalf.

In general, I'm not sure how the concept of cultural appropriation lasts into the future as anything more than a way to steer people away from letting their ignorance walk over another culture's traditions. Considering how quickly sacred cows are slaughtered in modern pop culture, in nearly every technologically-engaged culture on earth, it seems just so difficult to not have the phrase lose what little meaning it might have.

Then again, I know that I'm ignorant on many pieces of this subject, despite dozens of hours reading and trying to educate myself on it. If anything, that in itself is my biggest frustration with identity politics- there's no easy path to learning it or being pointed to the right resources, and yet it seems like my own ignorance hurts others gravely. It's troubling.

<comment><USER9> > _I 've never seen it defined in a way that doesn't seem ripe for this kind > of abuse._

That's because any definition of it is ripe for abuse, because out of a very specific context it's a dumb idea with no basis in fact or culture. Said's thesis mentioned in the article is more about appropriation as a symptom of wider oppression and prejudice, and more importantly it is more about _incorrect_ , or exaggerated, perceptions of foreign cultures. The Japanese do wear kimonos, mainly in August.

At worst, cultural appropriation reinforces existing prejudices - deal with the prejudice, and cultural appropriation is a non-issue - but you can't eliminate prejudice just by forbidding any cultural exchange at all.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> I'm pretty sure the concept of appropriation is the end result of signalling games. As racism waned in popularity, racists were forced to conceal their racism with euphemisms and dog whistles[1]. Non-racists eventually figured this out and increased the sensitivity of their racism detectors. Racists concealed their racism even more. Repeat.

Eventually you get to today. Almost nobody is racist, but everyone's on a hair trigger when it comes to racist language or behavior. And otherwise sane and good people get angry about white people wearing kimonos. The process is described much better by this blog post: [http://blog.jaibot.com/outcast-arms- race/](http://blog.jaibot.com/outcast-arms-race/)

1\. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog- whistle_politics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog-whistle_politics)

Edit: When I say "racist", I mean consciously so. We're all prone to unconscious biases, and it's good that we try to discover and correct for them. But the signalling game I'm talking about? That happens with beliefs that people are themselves aware of.

<comment><USER11> Eventually almost no one is (or at least believes themselves to be) racist, but systemic inequality is deeply ingrained and ensures that minorities will feel the effects of racism even with entirely well-intentioned liberal actors. This is where you get white people shouting "I am not and have never been a racist!" and black people shouting "Check your privilege!", and then people get wrapped up in polarized ideology and defensiveness. I think we're at a point with racism where it can only improve by empathy and communication, by real integration at the individual level, and actually talking and listening to each other. The utopian ideal of the internet that we had in the 70s and 80s was that it would facilitate this kind of dialog and allow the best information to spread; but instead what social media has proven is the anonymity and borderlessness of the internet allows everyone to find their own little micro-group of like-minded people and never have to speak to their neighbors again.

<comment><USER6> Everybody is little bit racist. It's about how much you act on it.

It's awfully like with Christian morals. Everybody is a sinner. Everybody pretends to be Zealous. And everybody mocks everybody else for being sinners. Donate money/buy indulgence, what's the difference? Just remember to be ashamed of yourself.

I'm not sure if this is Christian cultural undertones finding a new way to surface. Or did church just capture something very integral of human psyche with their rhetoric. Hopefully this bullshit is eradicated if the idea of "thought crime" becomes unpopular enough.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I think what most comments in this thread (and the protesters) oversee is that "cultural appropriation" usually happens in a setting of _oppression_. The most common example is white Americans taking from black or native Americans. The exchange isn't "open culture" as other comments express, it's too one- sided, like Stockholm Syndrome. The hostage can only give.

You can see how some members of the "taken from" group take this in a bad light, they've already had so much taken from them, and now to top it off there's somebody who takes and ingests what made the "taken from" group unique in the first place. It's not a far step from there to have people in the "taken by" group try to make that stop, and in some cases these people go way too far.

In OP's link this doesn't happen - Americans and the Japanese really don't have much history of oppression (except for WW2 internment), so I'd say it "doesn't count" as cultural appropriation.

Edit: I should say that there's not much history of _systematic_ oppression between Japanese and Americans, that would exclude your day-to-day racism

<comment><USER10> > Americans and the Japanese really don't have much history of oppression > (except for WW2 internment), so I'd say it "doesn't count" as cultural > appropriation.

Yes, except for that time when the US forced Japan into treaties at gunpoint.[1] And that time when they put everyone of Japanese ancestry into prison camps. And the time they firebombed Japanese cities. And the time they nuked Japan _twice_. And the time they occupied Japan and executed civilian politicians.[2] Except for those things, there's not much history of oppression.

I apologize for the snark, but your comment is completely disconnected from reality. Cries of "appropriation" are only tenuously correlated with oppression. For example: the French never oppressed the Maori, but people got angry when a French ad used their facial tattoos.[3]

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

2\. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dki_Hirota](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dki_Hirota)

3\. [http://www.stuff.co.nz/life- style/fashion/44467](http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/fashion/44467)

<comment><USER13> WWII was a war of American oppression?

<comment><USER10> No. You are putting words in my mouth.

<comment><USER2> You are being quite specific about American actions in WW2 being acts of oppression.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> My theory is that people are learning this stuff at Liberal Arts colleges. They're operating within an intellectual framework (perhaps applying it badly) that allows them to feel justified and rational.

It happens on Metafilter quite often. Someone posts a funny video and the comments go on about intersectionality, cisgendered cissexual and heteronormativity.

<comment><USER15> Well, if the video's "humour" rests on making fun of gay or trans people, of course that will happen.

<comment><USER16> I'm still waiting for some rabid liberal arts types to point out how sexist and racist Back to the Future is.

<comment><USER16> Just for the record: I'm not really kidding.

The first film only had a black mayor (who used to be a cleaner) and a group of black musicians (who smoke weed out back during the break). Their entire purpose, for the most part, is to serve as the butt of several jokes (e.g. the cleaner being overly excited that he's going to become the mayor in the future, the musicians scaring the ruffians by outnumbering them) and Marty directly gets credit for the achievements of at least two black men (the cleaner getting the idea and confidence to enter politics and run for mayor, one of the black musicians calling Chuck Berry, giving him the idea for Johnny B Goode when Marty is performing).

Martys girlfriend is left out of the majority of the first film's plot, spends the majority of the second's film knocked out (both initially and again later) -- pretty much only serving as an excuse to distract Marty and Emmet long enough that bad things can happen, and then only returns at the very end of the third film.

The only strong female character is the teacher in the third film, whose first appearance is literally as a damsel in distress and who again ends up in distress during the film's climax (so Emmet can save her). Heck, a lot of the plot of all three movies is built around saving damsels in distress.

Don't get me wrong. Personally I think the three films make an awesome trilogy and I understand why they have become the pop culture icon they are, but they make incredibly easy targets if you want to call out racist/sexist stereotypes in popular media.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I was actually having a discussion about this recently with a friend and honestly I'm never sure where the line is and how to clearly define it. I imagine it's dependent on the cultural tradition and context of what that tradition is.

The most clear example of cultural appropriation that most people agree is inappropriate is headdresses. Many cultures view the headdress as a sign of respect but it's been used as a for musical festivals across the United States. So I think that is cited as the most common cultural appropriation.

Where the lines draw would be something like a Kimono, where if you wear it and use it then are you paying homage or respect if you use it correctly within the culture? Can't you innovate and improve it?

The example that I was using that was I thought was odd was Yoga. It's originally a very long tradition in India with a complicated history but it's usually considered a religious and spiritual experience. In the West many view it only for the physical and health benefits though and do not consider the spiritual parts of it. The question is that appropriation?

<comment><USER7> Yoga was introduced to the west by Indian yogi's. It would seem to be the exact opposite of "appropriation": it was actively pushed upon the west in multiple "waves" punctuated by periods of backlash against it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> Cultural appropriation is one of those notions I've never quite been able to grasp. Are there notable cases where it causes people real, tangible harm?

<comment><USER19> I think examples of harm, would be how like in the 20th century African American musicians had a much more difficult time selling their music, but the same music would garner a much larger audience if played by white musicians.

Its not simply white people performing black music, that is wrong, but rather that the white people filled a demand for black music that could have been supplied by the original culture were the market not racist. Its like, no direct racism, but making racism easier? If those white people had said "No I will not play this music", then the market would either have had to listen to black muscians or not get the music at all.

<comment><USER20> To be honest, that might be confusing the consequent with the cause. To me, that sounds like racism is the original issue, at blacks having their music not listened to really is just a part of the larger society's racism towards blacks in general. It's not that appropriation was the problem, but racism will lead to appropriation.

<comment><USER19> I think the the appropriation can still be said to be a problem in that the people appropriating music might not even be racist, there is nothing inherently wrong with playing or selling another cultures music.

But by doing so they are "aiding and abetting" a racist society by enabling racists to listen to music they desire, from people they desire. If they choose not to it makes it harder for racists to be racist.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Appropriation is bullshit, cultures should be allowed to freely copy from and imitate each other without restriction.

<comment><USER22> It's very tempting to say that, but that's a bit of a privileged stance. ("I wouldn't mind, so nobody else should mind either!")

Analogy: Let's say you take a free intro taekwondo class. They outfit you with a white belt, obviously. But you think the red/black belt looks cool, so you start wearing that instead - maybe not in the dojang even, but just around town. You don't think martial artists should have a problem with that, maybe even challenge you to a fight? And even non-martial-artists shouldn't think you're kind of a poser?

<comment><USER23> Or say a foreigner is introduced to Jiu Jitsu. Then that said foreigner appropriates it and develops a new system called Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. They then issue belts based on their new interpretation of skill level. Perhaps a few Japanese might have a problem with that and think your a 'poser' \- but you would probably ignore them and just consider them a bigot.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> An author I like has a good post that clarified cultural appropriation to me.

[http://theunitofcaring.tumblr.com/post/131242817286/ive- noti...](http://theunitofcaring.tumblr.com/post/131242817286/ive-noticed-that- youve-been-talking-a-bit-about)

</comment><comment><USER24> This is likely to upset few people in Japan. Japan has a long history of borrowing from other cultures, as shopping in Tokyo makes obvious.

<comment><USER2> There's also such things as kanji being pretty much a direct lift and shift of Chinese hanzi as well ;)

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> As an aside, it's extremely sad that this art is in danger of being lost. It seems comparable to how London's Saville Row became (an to an extend still is) imperilled. Fingers crossed they manage to hang on in there until the fashion winds change.

</comment><comment><USER26> Cultural appropriation is one of the many words coming out of the far left. I never thought that the left could be radical.

I guess that's why it's important to have neither the right nor the left take the hold on power for too long.

<comment><USER16> I'm not sure who said it but there's a witticism that goes something like "You have to have gone to university to be this stupid".

If you look at anything closely enough, everything becomes problematic. But of course the correct conclusion is that if you define everything as problematic, the term "problematic" ceases to be a useful distinction, so you should dial back a notch and figure out what problems actually matter.

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> It's arguable that just about any sort of clothing has (or has had) some significance for some culture.

</comment><comment><USER28> [http://nakedandfamousdenim.com/type/kimono- shirt/](http://nakedandfamousdenim.com/type/kimono-shirt/)

kimonos are fashionable. I'm sure denim heads here will agree I have a few from Quebec :)

</comment><comment><USER29> People are walking around with a hair trigger, just waiting for a reason to be offended. As a society we've tolerated these agitators too long.

</comment><comment><USER15> While it would appear that the protestors were misguided in this instance (though perhaps they weren't, I only know what the article tells me), the near-fetishisation of Japanese culture in the West does bother me.

Japan's status in the West does seem to be different to that of other Asian nations, probably because it's a 'developed' country. But then, isn't that only because in the Meiji era, it rapidly 'Westernised' itself to appeal more to Western tastes and be taken seriously?

<comment><USER30> Does the degree to which Japan consumes Western culture bother you as well? Have you ever seen the amount of English they'll put on products because it's cool, regardless of whether or not the words actually make sense?

If anything, Japan and the West (the US particularly) have a mutual fetish for each other.

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> So... I can't speak directly to the issue discussed in the article, but I am reading a lot of HN comments that seem not to understand the term _" cultural appropriation"_, think it's a non-existent problem and anyone complaining about it is crazy. I just want to let people know that while there are a bunch of _" Social Justice Warriors"_ running around complaining about anything and everything, the issue isn't just fiction on the part of the offended, particularly when it's erases, dillutes or mocks the actual source of the art while celebrating their own rendition.

1\. [http://www.refinery29.com/cornrows-cultural- appropriation](http://www.refinery29.com/cornrows-cultural-appropriation)

To the point, it's this kind of thing that annoying: _" It seems the more popular cornrows have become among white women, the more they are drained of their history. "Sometimes editors see something that someone pseudo-popular does and they say it's new, fresh, or edgy," says India Jewel Jackson, an editor at Hearst Publications. "But, when it was us doing it, it was ghetto. Now that it's someone blonde and blue doing it, it's fresh."_

2\. [http://jezebel.com/what-the-hustle-looks-like-on-etsy- in-201...](http://jezebel.com/what-the-hustle-looks-like-on-etsy- in-2015-1726192097)

 _" "Hustling" as it presents itself in the 2015 economy erases the barriers posed to wealth acquisition by sexism, classism, racism, cissexism and ableism, instead chalking up a lack of financial success to a lack of entrepreneurial spirit. It makes no acknowledgement that some people have to hustle much, much harder than others._

This one isn't exactly cultural per se, but it erases the message the word use to carry. Now I can no longer use the word "hustle" in tech circles because I don't think it means the same thing to them as it does to me. When my parents came to America from Nigeria, their stories of things they did and things they saw in Oakland carry the definition of "hustle" that I know. While I'm sure starting up a company is very hard work, it doesn't in general contain all the facets of the historical hustle. Where one is constantly walking the tightrope between homelessness and not eating for 2 days while playing a game that seems pretty rigged against them. You certainly didn't have extra money to be buying fancy pencils and coffee mugs with the word "hustle" printed on them.

Btw, this is extremely similar to the #AllLivesMatter hashtag that washes away the original message. [http://fusion.net/story/170591/the-next-time-someone- says-al...](http://fusion.net/story/170591/the-next-time-someone-says-all- lives-matter-show-them-these-5-paragraphs/) \--- _" Imagine that you're sitting down to dinner with your family, and while everyone else gets a serving of the meal, you don't get any. So you say "I should get my fair share." And as a direct response to this, your dad corrects you, saying, "everyone should get their fair share." Now, that's a wonderful sentiment — indeed, everyone should, and that was kinda your point in the first place: that you should be a part of everyone, and you should get your fair share also. However, dad's smart-@$$ comment just dismissed you and didn't solve the problem that you still haven't gotten any!"_

<comment><USER2> And here is part of the problem - you believe that the word hustle has been appropriated, yet the word has had the same meaning and connotation in these circles for nearly 200 years.

We have recorded usage of it meaning "bustle, work busily, move quickly" dating back to 1821. "to get in a quick, illegal manner"? 1840. "to sell goods aggressively"? 1887. "pushing activity; activity in the interest of success"? 1891.

"The key-note and countersign of life in these cities [of the U.S. West] is the word "hustle." We have caught it in the East. but we use it humorously, just as we once used the Southern word "skedaddle," but out West the word hustle is not only a serious term, it is the most serious in the language." [Julian Ralph, "Our Great West," N.Y., 1893]

[http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=hustle](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=hustle)

If we look at where the word came from, it's taken from a white European language - meaning that it's use for you in Oakland growing up was appropriated from elsewhere. And that's perfectly okay.

<comment><USER31> This argument is similar to "gay" meaning "happy". Yes, we all know that was the original definition but then it became associated with homosexuality then people started saying "gay" when they're describing something that's "bad".... and I hope we all see the problem here. I'm going to avoid pedantic debates on HN, they're endless. All I wanted to do here is show that culture appropriation is a real thing and can become a problem depending on the context.

<comment><USER2> They're really not analogous situations, because hustle meant one thing, it was modified to mean largely the same thing but a bit different, and people are also continuing to use it with it's previous meaning... which seems to be the part you take issue with. That is not at all what happened with the term gay.

<comment><USER31> To spell it out, the point I'm trying to make is that historically oppressed and/or underrepresented groups trying to get a foothold in society, trying to get an identity or trying to celebrate their culture... as soon as they get a foothold, that foothold is taken from them by having its definition changed or diluted into almost nothing.

 _> >it was modified to mean largely the same thing but a bit different_

To you it's a bit different. To me it carried the constant struggle of poor minorities, including my parents, and that difference is huge enough that I don't go just tossing the word around freely. You're definitely not going to see me with coffee mugs & pencils with "hustle" engraved on it. Btw, _" The Struggle"_ is also another term that carries significant weight in poor communities. [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=the+struggle](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=the+struggle) ...yes, you can show all the history of the word "struggle" but it now carries a big definition with poor people, especially african americans. At this point, there's nothing more I can say. This kind of thread never ends on HN and eventually someone will come along and say something that requires a whole school semester on history, culture and the different forms of oppression throughout history to respond to.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Oh, come on. Everybody knows you can only be racist against brown people.

</comment><comment><USER32> In this example, it seems that Indian/Chinese people told Japanese people that other people are not allowed to wear Japanese clothes.

Unfortunately the protestors names are logged forever online, so their stupidity will follow them for their entire lives.

I almost think that it is worth creating a disposable username for use in real-life and not just online.

</comment><comment><USER33> _"Sorry, but your browser needs Javascript to use this site."_

Wow, seriously? I enable JavaScript just to see what exactly on the page requires JavaScript so badly that they have to replace all the content with this message, and what do I see? A completely text-based article.

<comment><USER34> Or open your dev tools and set

        .no-js .single .main_content #no_js_blocker

to display:none; and remove the max-height:400px from

        .no-js .single .main_content

That's all is needed to read the article. What the JavaScript is for? Who knows.

<comment> Anthony-G I use Firefox (with NoScript) and an even quicker/easier solution is to use the Reader View feature. Some web pages look great in their original design and some don't look any worse in Reader View but there are many more where Reader View is a big improvement.</comment></comment></comment>


Google and China: the attacks and their aftermath - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/01/google-and-china-the-attacks-and-their-aftermath.ars <comment><USER2> This is a good overview of the issues so far. The inclusion of a link to a Chinese newspaper's reporting of the issue ([http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2010-01/13/content_1280408...](http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2010-01/13/content_12804080.htm)) was especially welcome, as it was something I hadn't seen before.

</comment><comment><USER3> James Fallows, The Atlantic, says "For Chinese readers, let me emphasize again my argument that China is not a 'threat' and that its development is good news for mankind. But its government is on a path at the moment that courts resistance around the world. To me, that is what Google's decision signifies."

Well said, and very true.

</comment><comment><USER4> Hillary Clinton says she "will be giving an address next week on the centrality of Internet freedom in the 21st century"

Too bad about that whole ACTA thing.</comment>


Show HN: Videos for Kids Science Experiments Without Long Preparations - <AUTHOR> https://youtu.be/XGpKH0Sobcs <comment><AUTHOR> I am a scientist mum of twins, I have passion for science which I would love to pass to my twins (4 Years Old). But trying to do science activities with them, is a struggle because they would get bored while I am preparing and start arguing between them!

So I thought of trying to do something myself. I created quick videos, engaging for young audience, with easy and clear instructions that kids can follow to setup their own experiments together with their parents.

This is a warm and cold water experiment for young kids. Its an easy, fun, stem activity where we are mixing warm and cold water exploring whether the two liquids mix. Through this experiment, young kids gain a deeper understanding regarding liquid density in a way that is memorable & understandable.

I hope you like it. Let me know what do you think?</comment>


The best car in the world - <AUTHOR> http://gearpatrol.com/2015/08/10/best-car-world/ <comment><USER2> ...except for the 50-minute refuel time.</comment>