Ask HN: How do you take care of your vision? - <AUTHOR>

As a developer I can easily spend 12 hours a day in front of a screen (Laptop, phone, tablet, TV). I try to follow the 20-20-20 rule (http://lifehacker.com/5591835/reduce-computer-caused-eye-strain-with-the-20-20-20-rule).<p>But sometimes it's just not possible to stop working and look at the wall for 20 seconds. How do you take care of your vision? <comment><USER2> I asked my eye doctor about this a couple months ago. For context, I was getting an updated prescription and have no major health or vision problems, so I would assume the advice is probably applicable for other generally healthy people in their late 20s. I also spend about 90% of my waking time on computers, which I mentioned to him, thinking that I might need to do something special to take care of my eyes. He told me that he thinks computer glasses are marketing fluff, and suggested that if my eyes are feeling strained or dry, I could just use regular moisturizing eyedrops. Besides that, he suggested maintaining generally good physical health and a healthy diet.

Disclaimer: if your eyes are actually bothering you in some specific way, please see an eye doctor. Or if you have mild hypochondria, just see a doctor and ask; there's no harm in asking. Otherwise, if you're young and generally healthy and have nothing wrong with your eyes that you can discern, there's probably nothing specifically about your eyes to be particularly concerned about even if you use a computer 12 hours a day. Your cardiovascular health, on the other hand, would probably be something to watch.

</comment><comment><USER3> Preventative eyewear.

I have 20/20 vision, but I have a $10 pair of reading glasses (+1 diopter) that I will put on when I feel eye strain setting in. This effectively moves the focal point of my monitor further away (close to the edge of my focal range), allowing/forcing my eyes to focus differently. After a few hours, when eye strain again sets in, I remove the glasses (hence moving the focal point back closer to me).

I've been doing this the past five years, during which I spend most of my waking hours in front of a monitor. My vision has not noticeably deteriorated, nor do I experience persistent eye strain.

<comment><AUTHOR> I think that could be a great solution for me. My vision gets tired when I don't change my focal point after a long period of time.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> What actual conclusive evidence is there of permanent eye damage from use of display devices?

I've worked tens of thousands of hours over the course of 30 years on everything from old, beat up, blurry television sets to crappy monochrome LCD and CRT displays to the latest and greatest of today, and have never once had eye problems beyond brief periods of eye strain on some devices when I went more than 10 hours at a stretch. That's on top of my childhood sitting close to the TV. I always wondered why it was bad to sit close to the TV, and yet OK to spend 8 hours less than 2 feet away from monitors based on the same CRT technology. Is there some secret, damaging radiation that only reaches a few feet from the television? And did we fail to fix it with the introduction of many new display technologies?

<comment><AUTHOR> In my personal experience, my vision has decreased since I started working as a developer (4 years ago from today). I don't think the display by itself causes damage (at least I haven't found a trustful source claiming radiation or something else damages your vision). But I've noticed my vision gets tired after I keep staring at something for a long period of time, it could be my laptop's screen, phone, tablet or a book.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Flux [https://justgetflux.com/](https://justgetflux.com/) or redshift [http://jonls.dk/redshift/](http://jonls.dk/redshift/).

Try setting it to the smallest temperature possible for 30 minutes and then turn it off to see the difference. I have it on all the time (though people working with colors might not be able to use it)

</comment><comment><USER6> I am nearsighted, so I need glasses to see far. Anything over about a foot away starts to get blurry.

But I have a second pair of "computer" glasses--basically, these are de-rated versions of my normal glasses. With these glasses, I can still see about 10-20 feet away but then things get blurry. The theory is because the correction is less severe, these cause less eye strain when I'm looking at a computer all day.

</comment><comment><USER7> A comfortable workstation with a relatively dim, high-quality IPS monitor and a desk lamp behind it diffusing on the wall, f.lux, and "computer/reading" glasses with a separate prescription.

If you spend that much time using an electronic device (particularly a computer), you can generally afford to do better than the abysmal ergonomics of a laptop.

</comment><comment><USER8> I take care of vision like I do the rest of me - with reasonable precautions. Sure, there is eyestrain, but is it any worse than people that used to stay up into the night reading by the fireside? Probably not. Take blink breaks. Stretch while you are at it, doesn't take more than a minute or two a few times an hour. Nothing complicated, definitely doable. Once you have that habit, it is easier to expand so that it is second nature even when you are busy. Don't worry so much about the sometimes if your general work habit is healthy, unless those sometimes happen with some regularity.

In addition, if you find you have signs of eye strain (headaches, among others), get your vision checked. Even a small irregularity can cause eye strain and this is a simple fix.

</comment><comment><USER9> I turn the brightness on my monitors way down and use redshift on computers and lux on my phone. (The color temperature thing is more about improving sleep than ocular health, though.)

I also use slightly less powerful (by ~.25) contact lenses than I otherwise would. When my eyes get tired in the evening, I switch to glasses.

Oh, and I almost forgot: I also recently started using a chrome extension called "Hacker Vision" that basically makes all web pages reverse-video, so there's even less light hitting my eyes. It takes a little getting used-to, but I quite like it now. I hacked it up locally to preserve color and just invert value, instead of doing a straight rgb invert.

</comment><comment><USER10> Avoid working in a dark room, as more light from monitor will reach the retina.

Blue light at night: [http://m.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/12/no- ipads-in-...](http://m.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/12/no-ipads-in- bed/383981/?single_page=true)

Edit: [http://thenextweb.com/lifehacks/2014/04/23/7-things-can- righ...](http://thenextweb.com/lifehacks/2014/04/23/7-things-can-right-now- protect-vision/)

</comment><comment><USER11> I don't much. I do wish that when I was younger I had been more particular about wearing sunglasses, for now, as I approach 60, I have the prospect of cataract surgery in the next several years. So: if you are out in the sun, you should have at least a hat or cap to shade your eyes, and preferably sunglasses.

(Yes, I know that this is not what you are talking about. But in my 20s I was occasionally teased for my pallor and my want of enthusiasm for beaches etc. Yet my eyes suffered.)

</comment><comment><USER12> * Use artificial tears (over the counter from med stores) about twice a day. This reduces dryness because of lack of blinking a lot.

* Use eye lid wipes (over the counter in med stores) before sleep and after sleep. These unclogs the tear ducts and reduces dryness.

* Have good lighting.

* Wear contact lenses instead of glasses. My optometrist told me that they help blinking much more than glasses. Use daily disposable contact lenses - the new ones feel very fresh and moisturizes eyes more.

* Shower every day :). This again unclogs tear ducts.

</comment><comment><USER13> I use a very low-power pair of reading glasses, though I don't need them. I have an optometrist friend (retired) who recommended it to reduce eyestrain.

I also use "20 cubed", a chrome app, to remind me to do eye breaks every 20 minutes. My optometrist friend also recommended eye breaks, nearly the same thing that 20 cubed recommends.

</comment><comment><USER14> I don't. After a design career wrecked my distance vision (and warcraft wrecked my brother's), I asked my optometrist point blank: "will screen use ever damage my eyes to a point that glasses can't fix?"

The answer was no, so I don't sweat it.

</comment><comment><USER15> 1\. f.lux [https://justgetflux.com](https://justgetflux.com)

2\. I build a tool if I want to read some news:

[https://getscroll.com/](https://getscroll.com/)

</comment><comment><USER16> If you already have glasses (and don't wear contacts), you can go to your optometrist and ask for a tweaked, reduced strength prescription for glasses to wear while working/staring at a screen all day.</comment>


Show HN: Job Board for italian Developers - <AUTHOR> http://jobs.topdevelopers.it/perche-annunci-per-sviluppatori-itali

<comment><AUTHOR> The job crisis in Italy has affected directly or indirectly developers. The best way to combat it is to give maximum visibility to job opportunities in Italy. I settle a few things and put it on gihtub open for those who want to collaborate

</comment><comment><USER2> Great, thank you!

</comment><comment><USER3> This looks great!</comment>


Ask HN:The best Q & A sites have no official Apps[HN/Quora/Stackoverflow] why? - <AUTHOR>

<comment><USER2> Maybe it's too much trouble to reply/type/converse on a phone, for enough people that it makes a difference.

<comment><AUTHOR> There is an app for G+ which has the same level of reply/type/converse w.r.t the Q&A model.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Quora has an official app. Not sure why about the others.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes Quora has one.. The others don't</comment></comment>


Ask HN: When to comment on HN? - <AUTHOR>

Does anyone else avoid commenting when the flow of a thread goes against your point of view, when doing so would just lead to you being downvoted? <comment><USER2> When your Karma goes above 1000 or so, you stop caring about it. Say what you feel, and don't worry whether people downvote you.</comment>


Arnold Schwarzenegger: "Who do YOU want to be in life?" - <AUTHOR> http://youtu.be/vH0nP4NzS9M

<comment><USER2> Never ever have I imagined I'd be inspired by what Arnold says!</comment>


X1 Carbon 6th gen about 50% slower on Linux - <AUTHOR> https://200ok.ch/posts/2018-09-26_X1_carbon_6th_gen_about_50_percent_slower_on_Linux.html <comment><USER2> Wait, what? From reading the git repos a bit, it seems that Lenovo and Intel have created some framework that is, in its default state, modifying the thermal MSRs every five seconds via SMI (presumably).

Let that sink in. Somehow, rather than letting the CPU run with reasonable parameters and letting the EC control fans as needed, they are forcing the system into SMM (which interrupts _everything_ on all cores) to fiddle with thermal parameters. And they want some ridiculous user space library (DPTF) to reconfigure this mess to actually do something sensible.

WTF

edit: Wow, the Intel code in question is hilariously enterprisey. Check this out:

[https://github.com/intel/dptf/blob/master/DPTF/Sources/Polic...](https://github.com/intel/dptf/blob/master/DPTF/Sources/Policies/ActivePolicy/ActivePolicy.cpp)

and that repo is full of files like SuchAndSuchFacadeInterface.h.

I swear that at least 95% of the code doesn't do anything. Maybe 99%.

<comment><USER3> I've looked at this code a bit and.... seems relatively straightforward to me. Am I too much used to enterprise code? Do you just mean the verbose naming?

<comment><USER2> I mean the sheer amount of abstraction. On a brief inspection, this code essentially does:

when temp > upper_threshold: turn fan on until temp < lower_threshold

For a vendor-provided set of tuples (temperature, fan, upper_threshold, lower_threshold). And it's not really clear whether the code is intended to handle the same temperature or fan occurring more than once.

This logic could be written in maybe 100 lines of code if all the abstraction were removed, and that's if full support for repeats is needed.

Instead there are layers and layers of abstraction. Also, this code doesn't belong in a user program or even on the main CPU at all. It belongs in the embedded controller.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> As far as I understand, the thermal limit at 80C and TDP limit at 15W on Linux is what Lenovo actually intended, and the limits on Windows are broken.

At least according to this Ubuntu maintainer: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1763144...](https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1763144/comments/28)

<comment><USER5> In tomorrow's news: "Lenovo's recent BIOS patch reduces performance of 6th gen ThinkPads by up to 50%!"

<comment><USER6> Next week: "Lenovo doubles 6th gen ThinkPad performance in recent BIOS patch"

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> At first was prepared to be upset by this post (as a user of a 6th gen ThinkPad), but now I'm quite happy. I already knew about the thermal setting difference between Windows and Linux and I've been VERY irritated by the sleep state issue. I didn't know there was a BIOS update! Thank for the heads up.

<comment><USER7> Current 5th gen user, coming from a MacBook Air 2013, I can't believe people think the thinkpad is a great laptop. Running Linux on this never even crossed my mind.

(Edit: specified Mac vs thinkpad I don't like)

<comment><USER5> Are you saying the Thinkpad is a bad laptop? I'm a bit confused.

I also have the 5th edition (my first new Linux laptop) and I can't even begin to say how happy with it I've been. Setting up all my UIs and learning how to use Linux as a "User" not an "Administrator" has been a lot of fun. I now start the network instinctively with a quick terminal command (fish history is great). I quickly got used to (and now much prefer) a tiling window manager like i3. And above all, I've gotten used to the extra work of reading through changes to packages as they come in with Arch.

This laptop feels "just right" as a recent Apple user. It's got that anti- apple vibe, without feeling like a crap piece of plastic.

Now all Lenovo/Linux needs to do is match Apple's trackpad feel, and I'll call this is wash.

<comment><USER8> I second this setup! I run Arch Linux on a Lenovo X1 Carbon 5th gen, I use i3 wm, and my shell is Fish. I've used Arch, i3, and Fish for about 4 years now.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I think ThinkPads are renown for the earlier products (eg T410 or the x200 series). Much like the Dell D630 used to be a Linux favourite.

The BIOS sleep state issue seems common with modern Lenovos though (my 2nd Gen Helix is also a mess), which is a real shame because the hardware is great.

<comment><USER10> It is funny how the definition of what is "the last true ThinkPad" shifts with time.

<comment><USER11> Used to be the E series. The the T60p. Then the x260. Soon The X1 Carbon Extreme will be the last jedi

<comment><USER10> It used to be "anything before letter-series", then T42, then X41, then T60, then X200...

In essence the main thing that tends to shift is what is the "defining feature" of thinkpad. For T42 an X41 it was keyboard without windows keys and with textured trackpoint buttons, then it was 5-row keyboard and so on...

Another point in regards to this is that at least for me the really good ThinkPads started with the letter series, which is also the time when IBM started to outsource both design and manufacture. And the difference is plainly visible with traditional IBM's overengineering (eg. 600E, which is supposed to be low-cost model, is pain to disassemble and contains two handfuls of various weird and wonderful machined aluminium brackets, mainframe-style) being replaced with design that meaningfully balances cost, reliability and serviceability.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> The T480s is a great alternative, been using it for a bit, no Linux issues at all. Works great with NixOS.

</comment><comment><USER13> That's an issue for sure, the logic here is pretty damn terrible though.

For a <1 min test yeah it's slower. (Essentially a race from "cold" temp to the respective temp limits - the one has more runway). Run both at full throttle for 5 mins and I suspect you'll find they'll both perform equally (since they're both repeatedly bumping up against their respective thermal throttling).

...still shouldn't be happening at all though.

<comment><AUTHOR> Actually, it's exactly the same - and mentioned in the article.

I ran the tests for 20min, as well. But then the screen shot of s-tui won't cover the whole length of the test, so I chose to show those screen shots while only mentioning that longer benchmarks perform exactly the same.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> It's not unusual for things to still be getting sorted out on Linux a few months after a new laptop hits the market but to me this seems awfully late for these issues to not be sorted out yet. Didn't this laptop come out early in the spring?

<comment><AUTHOR> I agree that this is typically the case and generally is totally OK! I was assuming that the issue has been fixed because BIOS version 1.28 said something about "power issues" that were fixed, but didn't go into detail. However, it's obviously still an issue - and I know of people who asked support weeks ago and haven't heard back, yet. So it's good to have a reminder out. The fix is rather easy to apply and it's worth it - considering the gains(;

The 6th gen came out in January '18: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThinkPad_X1_Carbon#2018_%E2%80...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThinkPad_X1_Carbon#2018_%E2%80%93_6th_generation)

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> I actually think that having a cooler laptop is advantage and often I would like to be able to make the choice. So to me, this is not a bad thing, wish there was a setting where you can say how cool/hot you would allow your laptop to run.

<comment><USER16> You can write a script to check the CPU temps in linux and set the fans to kick on at different power levels for certain temps and just run it as a timer event. I did this for a Macbook I had Arch running on when it was running hotter than I liked.

<comment><USER17> Could you share your setup? There are so many tools available for tuning of power use and fans. It's hard to pick the right one.

I'd prefer to run my laptop with as few fan activity as possible without overheating. So when the CPU gets too hot, clock it down instead of starting the fan.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Can anyone point me to a good resource on updating the BIOS/firmware under Linux?.

I know absolutely nothing about it, and it looks like the user has to manually do it. And the obvious question: How do Windows users do it? When they are even less knowledgeable than me (generally speaking).

<comment><USER19> Newer laptops supported by fwupd (fwupd.org) are more straightforward on linux. For the older ones, you take their windows bios image, and use Geteltorito ([https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Flashing_BIOS_from_Linu...](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Flashing_BIOS_from_Linux)). Windows users open an exe file.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> This should make for an interesting test of the level of anti-Apple group think out there as this is the same fundamental issue that caused the 2018 MBP fiasco. MBP power limit was set too high, this laptop has it set too low.

<comment><USER5> Except, correct me if I'm wrong. Here it's much MUCH easier to fix/change yourself.

<comment><USER20> In the MBP case you just waited for ~7 days for the fix to be delivered to you automatically. In this case you figure out how to update your BIOS under linux which is often non-trivial and then figure out how to install this which has a bunch of caveats: [https://github.com/erpalma/lenovo-throttling- fix](https://github.com/erpalma/lenovo-throttling-fix) . There doesn't seem to be any indication what a 'real' fix is and whom is going to provide it.

Which one is 'MUCH easier' is up to you.

<comment><USER21> How well did Linux run out of the box on the new MacBooks on shipping day?

<comment><USER22> They simply don't, and are unlikely to every comfortably do so due to how custom the hardware is getting (ie, the keyboard is a SPI device).

<comment><USER21> I agree, and that's exactly my point. They're comparing a stumble in Lenovo's Linux support to Apple's MacOS support.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> What software is that on the right in the screenshots with the graphs? Anyone know?

<comment><AUTHOR> s-tui, a good tool for top-down checks like the one in the article.

<comment><USER23> Thanks! :-)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> On an unrelated note, what's the monitoring software you've been using on the right ? It seems quite nice.

<comment><USER25> It is s-tui ([https://github.com/amanusk/s-tui](https://github.com/amanusk/s-tui)).

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> Why is AMD taking so long to beat up Intel and take their lunch money?

</comment><comment><USER27> TLDR - due to conservative temperature levels at which to initiate CPU throttling; and the article links to a fix (as well as saying sleep is fixed with a "BIOS" update).

</comment><comment><USER28> Things like this is one of the reasons why I gave up trying to put linux on laptops.

<comment><USER16> Never had a problem with my Thinkpad or my System76 laptop. If something has Windows support directly it's not surprising that it it would run better than something done in the spare time of developers. I've never had terrible luck with any linux on laptops though, aside from the Macbook. What kinds of problems did you run into and on what types of laptops?

<comment><USER28> Two think pads. They just didn't even come close to the battery life that Windows did. And I'm a very advanced used, been using Arch Linux since 2008, and have every part of my system tweaked. It just seemed like the hardware support and drivers weren't there. Specifically the T440s. I forget what model it was before that one. I'd also get suspend issues on both. I dumped a lot of time into it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> [comment complaining about low contrast text]

Edit: I'm curious - this comment has a good number of upvotes, but it's sitting right at the bottom of the page, below greyed-out downvoted comments. Do moderators have a "super downvote" option or something? To be clear, I'm not complaining about moderation (this is a low quality comment), just curious exactly how this works.

</comment><comment><USER30> So for those that don't do cpu intensive tasks on their laptop, there is no performance difference?

Works for me.

<comment><USER29> Is this sarcasm?

Why spend $$$$ on a laptop with a beefy CPU if you aren't going to use it?

<comment><USER31> A beefy CPU which quickly hits its thermal limit is pointless.

<comment><USER29> I'm not disagreeing with that.

<comment><USER31> That often seems to be the case with ultrabook type laptops. They try to charge $100 more for a CPU you can only use for 2 minutes.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Kicking the Bukkit: Anatomy of an open source meltdown - <AUTHOR> http://www.slideshare.net/RyanMichela/kicking-the-bukkit-anatomy-of-an-open-source-meltdown <comment><USER2> Bukkit made a lot of mistakes (don't we all), but I think that this talk tries to pin them on the wrong thing. Bukkit was in a failure state the second they included the Minecraft binaries. You're beholden to a third party the minute you create a server for the service, but linking the binaries in an OS project dooms you to failure eventually. Mojang could have DCMA'd the project (and thankfully didn't).

The talk seems to focus on license as the resolution - and it's an important point. However important licenses are, they aren't as important as not linking third-party closed-source binaries in your "FOSS" project.

<comment><USER3> This. Lesson learned: the "over 150 developers" who literally threw away their time(i.e. money) working on this had the option to work on minetest instead. They didn't. Grow up, learn your lesson (I have in much more painful ways) and only use GPL.

<comment><USER4> > only use GPL

It looks like the lesson from Bukkit is that if you use GPL and there's some problem, then a disgruntlend copyright holder (of GPL-licensed code) can get your entire project into trouble.

The project of course was wrong to include or link to proprietary code. But had they used a _free_ license for their own stuff, Wolfe wouldn't have had a claim to make.

<comment><USER5> Actually I can't think of a single license that would have been valid here unless it came with Mojang's permission. The problem was the proprietary code. Had everything been GPL, not a single copyright holder could have affected the project in such a way.

<comment><USER4> No, the proprietary code was _a problem_. Another problem was a license that gave a single developer the power to take the project down. If the code were permissively licensed, he could've not done that. Yes, it would still infringe on Mojang's rights, but that could've been addressed separately.

<comment><USER6> _Another problem was a license that gave a single developer the power to take the project down._

It gave a developer the power to take down a project violating the GPL. That's probably a quite good power for them to have. I don't see how that's a _problem_ for anyone except if you currently are or wish you could violate the terms of the GPL.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> The advice to have a CLA seems mostly valuable if you want to cash in on the work of an open source community while refusing to honour the intent of their contributions, based on this story.

<comment><USER8> It's also important when you want to make any changes without tracking down everyone who ever contributed.

<comment><USER9> Not really. If your changes aren't controversial, you don't really need to get permission. Arguably some developer could demand their contributions are reverted, or sue, or whatever, but for all practical purposes no one will care enough.

Having an agreement isn't a no-cost option, it adds another barrier to contribution to a project.

<comment><USER10> Controversy isn't part of the equation here.

You change from license A to license B to your project without asking permission of those that contributed under license A. Some party uses the code under B and violates B, but not A. Their attorney argues that you didn't have permission to re-license from all contributors, so the switch wasn't possible. You try to contact all developers that committed under A. Sadly, one of them died a year ago. To add a problem, that person lived in a legislation where you cannot give away authorship.

Suddenly, you are in a legal mess. You can choose to follow through or drop the case.

<comment><USER6> spindritf said "make any changes"

coldpie seemed to assume s/he meant "any changes", not "any changes to the license"

<comment><USER10> But the initial part of the thread is about a CLA and a CLA covers the licensing part of the business.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> It's worth noting that Mojang never actually _changed_ the EULA. You've never been able to make money from Minecraft. They clarified it to allow monetisation of Let's Plays and their ilk, while ensuring that pay-to-win servers were definitely a no-no.

It's also _always_ contained the Do Not Distribute term. Bukkit has always been in the wrong here. It's not the EULA clarification that did that.

</comment><comment><USER12> A bit OT but who are all these people making the mods? It seems really complicated and I'm impressed great developers choose to spend so much time on it. What's the incentive?

<comment><USER13> I've talked about this a few times, but I was there at the start of Bukkit, and though I haven't touched it for a few years I still think back to it now and then.

The motivation was many faceted, but the basic impetus for most people in the server mod world is that the vanilla server was so inadequate for running a server.

I got involved with a small server, and (quickly! that was a mistake haha) started to help sysadmin the box. I got us on to hMod, which was terrible in many ways but provided a vision for the future - a central, modded server, with plugin points that proffered server admins incredible flexibility configuring their servers.

hMod was run by a single (apparently inexperienced) dev, and the community grew too quickly for him so bukkit was formed.

By this point I had started contributing to hMod, but realised it was a sinking ship and switched my efforts to bukkit. It started as trying to build plugins for our server, but as I started getting commits into the core project it quickly ramped up into full on team participation.

The dev team was really really fun to be a part of. I was on mumble and irc all day talking to the other devs, and would often spend over 8 hours working on code or talking about plans. Upgrades were hectic, and everyone pulled long shifts when they happened.

As time went on and the community grew it became more like a real job, and momentum kept me going for a long time. Eventually I actually got a real job, and my participation waned.

I can't speak for others, but my motivation seemed to be a spectrum that started with scratching an itch end ended with the satisfaction of contributing to a community; the knowledge that your code is being used by thousands, if not millions, of people.

<comment><USER14> sorry to follow-up with an even dumber question(?). Feel like an old fossil not playing a game in probably 25 years or so.

What's the motivation for running a server? and how do people using the game decide which server to use and why? I'm really stuck at the basics.

<comment><USER15> Many people set up servers so they and their real life friends can play in the same world together in real time. That way, you can both work on building a house, or a city or a world.

Larger servers have complex mods that add tremendous functionality to the game. Some may have roleplaying mods, where you can find a role (blacksmith, lumberjack, etc) and participate in the economy. Others may set up a world just for pure creation, a way to make sculptures.

There's a lot Minecraft has been extended to, so there are many reasons you may have to set up a server.

<comment><USER14> Thanks for the clear explanation. I somehow thought everything was in one "game world". The way you described it makes a lot more sense to me now.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> I'm confused what selling an open source project would even mean in this context?

<comment><USER17> For example, RedHat, Cisco, Suse (Novell), Alfresco, Wordpress, Drupal, etc. Can sold their Free Software project.

You can have it free. And it's ok. But having success is possible too (recheck my examples).

You can refuse to pay. But, if you want support : $$$ for value++. (you just buy the brand)

See this for more info [https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.en.html](https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.en.html)

<comment><USER18> I wish people would tell you what's wrong with your comment instead of downvoting you into oblivion. Sorry, sometimes HN sucks.

There's a great difference between selling access to your software and selling your project itself, i.e. the copyright assigned to your code and/or logos, trademarks, etc.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Are there any particularly good comparisons of OSS licenses in terms of facts as well as perception?

I regularly see comments on one project or another pointing to a XYZ license as the reason a project failed / has few contributors as if the 'problem' with that particular license is entirely self-evident.

It's awfully confusing as I'm sure I've seen polar opposite opinions on every major license under the sun, each entirely bereft of context.

<comment><USER20> tldrlegal.com is a really good resource

<comment><USER4> If you want the facts, tldrlegal looks like a terrible source (except for the original license texts), and will no doubt contribute to the confusion with its vague, misleading and incomplete tl;drs.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> I seriously doesn't understands the issue here.

Okay it contains the Minecraft server binary, remove it. If it's the issue then it's no longer an issue if it's the user that download it themselves (I'm pretty sure it was working like that in the past).

Is it the signatures of the methods from the official server? Is it really an issue? Isn't all GPL project full of methods signature and call to windows binaries?

</comment><comment><USER22> Slide 41 is amusing. The list of example GPL software is headed with the GPLv3 logo, yet none of the examples are GPLv3. Three of them are GPLv2, and one is AGPL (acknowledged in the list).

</comment><comment><USER23> To me, it looks like Bukkit was doomed to fail from the beginning. Bukkit created an LGPLv3 project based upon proprietary, decompiled Java class files which is a copyright violation, afaik. Reason #4 for failture states that not having a CLA was a problem. Bukkit certainly seems to have had many problems, but a CLA would have just been one more.

</comment><comment><USER24> Minecraft forge [http://www.minecraftforge.net/](http://www.minecraftforge.net/) (mainly used in the feed the beast modpacks)is still alive and kicking. Only downside is that they don't have a clojure wrapper.

</comment><comment><USER25> GPL3 seems to be the biggest issue here. It's basically the single worst license you could pick for something who's entire basis is hooking to closed source code.

All that said I'd be very interested to see this play out in court, not to imply that it will get there. I feel strongly that the developer forfeit his control of the code on contributing it to the project. I can't say for sure though, I'm not a lawyer.

</comment><comment><USER13> A few comments say things like "they shouldn't include the binaries" or "why can't they just link to the binary, let the user download it themselves" etc.

There may have been a way to achieve that (and we talked about a few of them quite a few times) but it was never as simple as just 'linking to the binary'.

The Bukkit project was actually composed of a few different pieces, designed to make maintenance of the mod manageable across upgrades of the game. This architectural change was one of the main reasons Bukkit split off from hMod in the first place.

There were 4 main codebases in play; the Bukkit API, the CraftBukkit server mod, the reverse-engineering-tools project, and various plugins supplied by the Project or for use as examples.

I go into more detail below, but the reason why just hooking into the binary was so hard is two fold, and meant that CraftBukkit could never really just be a server wrapper.

1\. Methods, method calls, and program logic needed to be modified directly to enable things like turning off fire on the server. Anytime the game tried to start a fire CraftBukkit had to fire an event, and allow that event to be cancelled. So CraftBukkit had to be a mod in the purest sense.

2\. Obfuscation meant that modified files had to be translated every single upgrade. To reduce this burden large swathes of the code was de-obfuscated, so that the upgrade process was de-obfuscate core code -> translate any mod changes that used obfuscated code -> apply mod changes on top of the core code -> fix the thousands of bugs we missed in the translate step. So much of the mod was on top of this de-obfuscated version of the server that _any_ distribution would require distributing large amounts of de-obfuscated code - there was no other source for this.

So there may have been ways to avoid shipping Mojang code, but it was always going to be a hard slog. When the core team started conversations with Mojang it always seemed like there was never a pressing need, and as I understand it Mojang still hasn't shut down Bukkit. It was a lone developer asserting a DMCA take down.

I would be very interested to know if there is a better architecture that solves these problems, some more of which I have listed out below.

==== More Details ====

The Bukkit API consisted of JAVA interfaces, providing a stable(ish) API against which plugin authors could build plugins, and some glue code to manage the plugins. This had no code from Mojang in it.

The various 'official' plugins were coded against the API, and similarly had no Mojang code in it.

The reverse-engineering-tools project was used to, perhaps unsurprisingly, reverse engineer the official server. A lot of the code had been de- obfuscated, but that de-obfuscation was usually a painstaking task performed by hand. These tools made that process much easier. It included a decompiled version of the official server code, but the project was private and wasn't distributed. Not sure how that impacts everything.

The CraftBukkit server mod of course DID contain Mojang code, the modded server. It's job was to implement the Bukkit API.

The API was almost entirely event based. Plugins would hook on certain events, and the server would wait for the plugins to process the events before continuing with whatever it was doing.

Someone tries to set a house on fire -> LightFireEvent is fired -> NoFire plugin hooks the event -> NoFire plugin cancels the event -> in game no fire is lit.

In order to implement these events, entire code paths within the game need to be diverted, hooked in to, subverted, or replaced. There are lots of ways a fire might start, so we had events triggering when lava ignites a block next to it, and explosion sets some grass on fire, someone uses flint to light a tree, etc. Each one requires

* finding the obfuscated code path that implements the feature we want to hook

* de-obfuscating the code so it is clear(er) to see how to modify it correctly

* modifying the de-obfuscated code to introduce the hooking code, and implement the API

Every time there was an upgrade to the server we would have to map every modification made to the new obfuscated code base. So if CraftBukkit had modified or included a call to an obfuscated method (which happened often enough for it to be a pain) then those changes had to be mapped to the new method signatures of the upgraded server. c(wx, f, b, 23) might now be e(ww, f, b, 23) and translating that to a modified code base can be hell.

The Bukkit team took that process on itself, which is one of the reasons it was so successful. As long as the API points used don't change, a plugin will continue working as soon as CraftBukkit is upgraded.

<comment><USER26> Forge was based on decompiling and patching mojang binaries, it works pretty well.

<comment><USER13> Yeah, as I mentioned we did talk about it a lot. As it seemed like a lot of work, and since mojang had turned a blind eye, the effort never seemed worth it. The core team got bought before it all came to a head, otherwise you might have seen a greater effort to separate the code bases.

I'll have to look in to forge, I haven't yet seen what they are doing, but it sounds interesting.

EDIT: the other aspect was the fact so much code was written against the de- obfuscated version of the code base. There's an argument that distributing that patch would also be distributing mojang code.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> Awfully similar to the VLC on iOS story. Terrible license (GPL) + one angry developer = millions of frustrated users.

<comment><USER28> Meh. The GPL does very well for a lot of projects used around the world.

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> So it failed just because of the stupid outdated law system - just like many other great ideas.

Maybe it's just my idealist part, but isn't it a shame so many efforts (or much effort? not sure) in this world went to waste just because of blabla you can't distribute or blabla you cant build upon... This is _digital millenium_ , wake up!

<comment><USER30> Of course it can be frustrating, if you can't build upon a project, if you have an idea that you want to realize. I'd say you have to look at this from the other side. Well, you can't blame people for building upon your project as long as they don't publish or distribute it but would you be happy if somebody distrubutes a better version of your product because he's allowed to build upon its source?

Granted, Mojang did make a lot of Money with Minecraft regardless but especially with open source projects building on other open source projects or especially non-profit projects in this case, this would be really problematic.

Developers don't need to wake up, they just need to put in the effort to chose the right license and make everybody who wants to contribute to their project agree with licensing their own code under said license.

<comment><USER4> > would you be happy if somebody distrubutes a better version of your product > because he's allowed to build upon its source?

If it weren't for projects that make better versions by building upon others' source, I wouldn't be here. Hopefully in the future someone will also find my code good enough to build something upon.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Not sure about this presentation.

Just enforce GPL licence and you'r ok ;-)

Just ask Software Freedom Law Center and your fine. (every body can do this move; like you)

For example, it works against Cisco : [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Software_Foundation_v._Cis...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Software_Foundation_v._Cisco_Systems)</comment>


Why my VC funded startup did fail - <AUTHOR> http://codemonkeyism.com/6-reasons-why-my-vc-funded-startup-did-fail/

<comment><USER2> I think the standard model now if for first-time entrepreneurs to focus on revenue to show that they can successfully navigate the start-up environment. And then sell start-up for small $$. This is not f-u money but I can do it money.

Then you start your second company. Now you have credibility w/ vcs. Easier to raise money. Even in tough times. This time you aim much higher. For f-u money. And in that case you can wait till user base matures or technology solidifies before going in for the cash.

<comment><USER3> Not sure how common I am, but after working in several start-ups previously, my primary goal when I do make the leap into starting a business is to create something with slow growth, long burn, and self funded. The above article is still useful even in that context. Money in the door is money to keep the door open.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Anonymous p2p possible? - <AUTHOR> Since this week the Dutch government passed a law which makes it possible to allow torrent users to be identified by monitoring ISP traffic. Uploading files can result in fines of 12.500 euro's.
Are there any alternatives to torrents, or anonymous torrents I can use?
If only out of principle. No government or law will tell me what I read, watch or share... <comment><AUTHOR> [https://www.tribler.org/](https://www.tribler.org/) seems to be some kind of alternative, needs momentum however. More of these initiatives?

</comment><comment><USER2> VPN + Torrent client

Seedbox

Remote Desktop

USB drives on the back of pigeons

<comment><AUTHOR> Pigeons have proven themselves over the centuries, but I'll take a look at Seedboxes!</comment></comment>


Is Microsoft scanning chat URLs and doing stuff with them? - <AUTHOR> http://security.stackexchange.com/questions/57170/indexing-of-urls-over-im-protocols?newsletter=1&nlcode=57244|b444

<comment><USER2> the dod, nsa, etc. probably.</comment>


A Community Of More Than 1M - <AUTHOR> https://www.sharelatex.com/blog/2017/02/13/one-million-latex-users.html <comment><USER2> Awesome to see that they have grown so much. I've used ShareLaTeX since 2013 and really love it. The sharing functions are great, no need to install and manage a LaTeX installation and all plugins is just awesome. Their support pages are awesome also, whenever I google for stuff like "center align image latex" it's either some StackExchange page or their support page that's the top results.

Can't recommend it enough!

</comment><comment><USER3> I used MiKTeX LaTeX for my thesis, so I had to learn - as many other PhD candidates - some of the troubles with this typesetting system the hard way.

I had a quick look at ShareLateX in order to help my sister with her latex experience. While I can not say anything about larger documents, the ease of DVI previewing in the browser, etc, it for sure gave me the opportunity to debug some of her code in small pieces, test out LaTeX example code, and share the results with my sister.

Nice project - best of luck and keep up the good work!

Edit: for typos

</comment><comment><USER4> I've used this service a few times and have to say it's fantastic. Compared to setting up LaTeX on a mac to manipulate a few docs every now and then, it's a dream.

<comment><USER5> Just FYI, LaTeX on the Mac is just one `brew cask install mactex` away.

Of course, the collaboration features of ShareLaTeX and Overleaf are great. We wrote two of our last papers with Overleaf.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I'm using sharelatex since about 4 years for all my papers and even my PhD thesis. It's really convenient when writing with many co-authors.

The way we pay practically $0 for infinity authors and projects is, we have only one payed account and this one invites everyone else.

One thing I miss is the annotation feature google-docs provides. However, the /todo packages is kinda helpful.

<comment><USER7> Regarding the annotation features of Google Docs, this is something we're beta testing at the moment: [https://www.sharelatex.com/beta/participate](https://www.sharelatex.com/beta/participate). Come and give it a shot and let us know what you think!

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> I wonder how many of those 1M users pay? I saw that it's free for personal use.

<comment><USER7> I can't give exact numbers, but we have a conversion rate in the (very) low single digits. It's plenty to support our costs and development team though (we're purposefully optimised for a healthy cash-flow positive business, rather than for massive growth). Our churn rate is pretty terrible compared to what most people would look for in a SAAS app, but that makes sense when you consider the academic yearly cycle, and that a lot of people only use LaTeX for a short period in their life while they are a student.

<comment><USER9> Do you have numbers on your active users?

<comment><USER7> Around 200,000 monthly active users.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> LaTeX is not going anywhere, but for 90% of everyday typeset doc creation (letters, articles, etc) - groff / troff is often a superior choice.

Its included in nearly every *nix system and generally syntax is much easier to handle (a doc with no syntax embedded still produces reasonable results).

Notwithstanding the wonderful 'mom' package, its shame development has seemed to dry up.

<comment><USER5> _LaTeX is not going anywhere, but for 90% of everyday typeset doc creation (letters, articles, etc) - groff / troff is often a superior choice._

I had my troff phase, but I don't see why I'd want to write troff directly for simpler documents if I can just write in org-mode or Markdown and convert it to a myriad of formats (including LaTeX and HTML). With org-mode I can also run inline code snippets, feed tables directly to gnuplot, use org-mode's todo/agenda functionality, etc.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Why on earth is the users graph tilted, unless of course the number of users suddenly hit zero on the first of January.

<comment><USER12> I've noticed this same error elsewhere recently. I'm wondering if it's an MS Excel thing, or similar?

To recapitulate: the end of the graph shows the value for the final date on the x-axis as zero. This gives the appearance that the graph has been rotated a few degrees anti-clockwise.

<comment> torrent-of-ions It wouldn't surprise me. ExHell makes it incredible easy to make the shoddiest of plots.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Question for jpallen if you're still reading - do you plan to support unicode fonts? I write some documents using the Sanskrit2003 font and compile them with xelatex locally. Wondering if sharelatex plans to support non-commercial unicode fonts?

<comment><USER7> Do the instructions at [https://www.sharelatex.com/blog/2013/04/02/using-your- favour...](https://www.sharelatex.com/blog/2013/04/02/using-your-favourite- fonts-with-sharelatex.html) work for you? We've supported unicode and XeLaTeX for a while now, so what you've described should work, but it's hard to say without specifics (LaTeX can be difficult with these sort of edge cases, but if something is broken, please send us a small example to email@example.com and we can take a look).

<comment><USER13> Great thank you

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> What does bootstrapped mean in this context?

<comment><USER7> We haven't taken any VC funding</comment></comment>


How Will Police Solve Murders on Mars? - <AUTHOR> https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/09/mars-pd/569668/?single_page=true <comment><USER2> This is a loaded question. The police are a relatively new phenomenon. For example, in Iceland in the Middle Ages, murders were settled privately between families. In Northern Albania, its debatable that that practice continues to this day.

Humans will find a way to settle and enforce and prevent. I am not sure we will see a Martian NYPD for some time.</comment>


Ask HN: Bloomberg Terminal Resources - <AUTHOR>

Hi,
I recently got access to the bloomberg terminal at our school and went through the training videos available in the platform.
There is a lack of resources / forums on the web on how to best use this data to be able to trade better.
Do any of you have experience with Bloomberg and can mention how to use this powerful tool to make more intelligent trades <comment><USER2> Bloomberg is proprietary and not sure if there is any publicly available training materials for it.

<comment><USER3> Nothing is published, because it would most likely be obsolete within weeks. Nearly any docs found online are produced by universities/libraries and are _ancient_. The platform itself serves up all documentation internally, which can obviously be kept up-to-date as the apps change frequently.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Your question is a bit too generic, what do you want to trade, why, etc ?

</comment><comment><USER5> Are these training videos publicly available?

<comment><AUTHOR> I dont think so, they seem to only be available within the platform and theyre not too comprehensive

<comment><USER3> Every customer facing app is required to have full documentation with images, etc. The most popular ones contain the videos. They can be reached by hitting <F1> (<Help>).</comment></comment></comment>


Rappelling Off a Roof - <AUTHOR> http://redteams.net/blog/2013/rappelling-off-a-roof <comment><USER2> Throwaway here. A couple years back, we thought about hiring this guy for a security assessment, so we looked into him.

He didn't check out. He appears to be lying about his military background in Israel and has little in terms of information security skills. No certifications. Nobody in the field knows him. He refuses to provide any proof of his claims. His blog posts are vague ramblings without real substance.

He's what's known as a "charlatan" in attrition.org lingo. I'm not sure why he hasn't been called out by Attrition yet, but he's probably flying below their radar.

You can easily find his real name and do some Google and Archive.org searching and see that none of his story or timelines check out. He did work in an entry-level security position for a Waltham, MA company for a short time.

The best I can tell is that he's an EDC gear junkie with dreams of being a spy.

PS: He is not affiliated with the fine people at GORUCK.

<comment><USER3> It's obviously made up. Rappelling this way would not work and you would have a good chance of killing yourself.

When rappelling with an ATC you lock the rope off, and control your speed, by pulling the free end of the rope downward. Feeding your slack out of a backpack you're wearing would force your hand upward as the slack came out and the rope started to bind on that tiny hydration hose hole. If you're lucky the whole system would lock up; if you're not lucky you'd lose control of the rappel and fall.

For future reference the way to rappel with a rope is to stack it into the pack, open the pack up nice and wide so the rope will feed freely, then clip the pack to your harness with a sling so it hangs below you. Or use a rope bucket, which is expressly designed for this purpose.

<comment><USER4> I didn't read the blog post as a step by step instruction, more like some commercial for the bag.

I've done quite a few rapells and sometimes keep my rope in my closed rope bag on my back (with compression cords in place) if there is a large risk of the rope getting entangled with the environment, I'm on a bridge over a road or I'm on a cliff above salt water.

I use a french prusik on the rope below the ATC and pull the rope out of the bag at the same time as I pull down the prusik. Often the rope gets slightly stuck, a harder pull on the rope has freed it for me every time and I never take care when putting the rope in the bag so I would think a proper packing of the rope would decrease that risk a lot. Should the rope get really stuck I would simply take off the bag and open it up while hanging in the harness. Not a big deal at all.

<comment><USER3> Have you tried clipping your bag below you, like on a sling off your harness? It takes only a few seconds longer to set up that way, and the rope feeds pretty easily because it's coming out in line with your brake hand. It's also a bit more stable because the weight of the rope is on your harness instead of above it (as when you're wearing the backpack).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Problem #0: Security did not search his bag on entry, thus allowing him to bring rapelling equipment to a software sales meeting.

Problem #4: Security has inadequate visitor monitoring procedures, thus permitting a visitor who required escort to hide inside the building. No, I am not confusing this with #3; his escorts not bringing him to the front desk or whomever is (or should be) logging visitor arrivals to log his departure.

<comment><USER6> > _" Problem #0: Security did not search his bag on entry, thus allowing him > to bring rapelling equipment to a software sales meeting."_

Realistically, what sort of security guard would actually stop him when they found the climbing gear? Unless they receive some special training, they'd be looking for weapons. The climbing gear would probably raise their eyebrows, but could easily be explained away _( "I'm going to my climbing gym later this evening")_.

Relying on security guards to consider the possibility that their guest might be planning on repelling from the roof down into a secured floor doesn't seem practical.

<comment><USER7> Even that could be accounted for. If you have 'questionable' items, security could ask that you leave them at the front desk, and you can pick them up on your way out.

<comment><USER8> I'd deliver that gear to the roof by quadcopter the night before.

<comment><USER9> Simple solution to a simple problem.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I wonder how many people stopped half way and searched for "GORUCK GR1".

Now I wonder if I just read a cool blog post with product placement.

<comment><USER11> And lets not forget the Black Diamond ATC Guide and the Petzl Tibloc!

<comment><USER12> The blog has a whole section on 'gear' as well. Maybe it's the monetization strategy?

<comment><USER13> Or simple "gear whoring". Working in lucrative tech can allow for expensive toys, and the personality type of a tech pro as a tool maker/builder crosses over to other hobbies/interests. See also [http://www.militarymorons.com/](http://www.militarymorons.com/) which I believe is primarily self funded.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> This reads as a fictional advert for a backpack.

<comment><USER15> Has to be.

 _the GR1 protected the laptop really well, by the time I was inside the 5th floor it was pouring outside and the laptop and gear remained dry._

What does that have to do with anything? Don't know, don't care. Just sad that this is the top post right now, complete with supporting commenters/marketers.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> This is something of a dream job of mine. As a college student - does anyone have suggestions of what steps to take to be able to do something like this for a living? I have a small amount of experience with hacking (pen testing my own sites for fun and learning) and I have a decent understanding of a wide range of network security and vulnerabilities. But I don't have very much knowledge on the physical side of pentesting. How would I gain this knowledge, or is it something that you're expected to learn simply from experiences in the field?

<comment><USER17> Caving is very technical and can involve a lot of rigging ropes for abseil and prusiking (going up). It's not really a career, though, and you need to have access to an area with the right geology for caves. Yorkshire is excellent.

Judging from the "professional" section of the Petzl website, being a steeplejack, rescue crew or arborist (tree surgeon?) is the best way to get to use this equipment and get paid for it.

<comment><USER18> I just got done with a three year "mini career" in industrial rope access, where I got to work on-rope on wind turbine blades, in oil refineries, on the sides of high-rise buildings, and even one job up in the rafters above a professional football (American football) stadium. I'm now working towards a first job in IT or app dev, so this article is right up my alley. Nice work ;)

If you're interested in a job working on-rope, and, uh, learning the ropes, I suggest you take a look at rope access. It's a small niche industry, but pay is very good, technicians are treated well, and many companies offer an "alternative" work schedule/lifestyle where weeks of travel work are interspersed with weeks of total off-time - and good technicians can sometimes choose how much they want to work (or not work).

If anyone's interested, run a Google search for SPRAT and IRATA (those are our professional certifying bodies), and look on those sites for companies in your country. You'll have to take a week-long course (it's hard) and pass an exam before you're allowed on a job site, but if you have the stuff you'll pass, and most companies are hiring.

<comment><USER19> Interesting; I wish I'd known about this a few years back. Might have been a better option than moving companies and gas stations.

But really, my friends and I used to do a lot of building climbing for kicks when I was younger (probably four to five stories usually) and there was a long period where that kind of job would have been way better while I learned to code than the random crap jobs I ended up doing.

Looks really interesting though. Probably going to do some research into this.

Is the course integral to the job or is it the kind of thing where you pay for the course/licensing/certification then go look for a job? Seems like it might be interesting to look into just for the certification.

Of course... I have no idea what all this is like, so I might research for five seconds and realize that's lal stupid to ask

<comment><USER18> There are a lot of companies that claim to do industrial rope access outside the scope of the certification programs, but be skeptical of them at first. (That doesn't include companies in other rope disciplines that are different from rope access, like tree climbing and entertainment rigging. Those are different trades. RA takes most of its methods from caving, and some from rock climbing.) If you want to learn to do it right and have a good experience on the job, "go legit." But that means you'll have to get certified. Unless you have specific, in-demand skills (electrician, fiberglass technician, weld inspector), few companies will pay for your first course - you'll just have to pony up $1000+ on your own. However, once you get a job, they'll pay for your re-certifications, as well as follow-up courses that you take as you get more experience and climb up through the certification ranks.

<comment><USER19> Ohhh, yeah. Sorry. I reread what I said and realized I expressed myself really poorly.

I'm interested in taking the course _without_ getting a job doing it, not the other way around. I was wondering how much it was to take it on my own dime.

I should have said something like "I'm interested in the course; can you take it and not get a job using it, or do you have to be on a job-track through a company to even take the course?"

I used to be a pretty avid rock climber and I'd be really interested in learning the techniques and types of equipment they use.

Reading my post, the climbing buildings part probably didn't reduce the perception that I was trying to do something risky, either

<comment><USER18> Well, yeah, you can just pony up the cash and take the class. Your experience would be something like this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUDob3m6rds](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUDob3m6rds) \- it's really technical, and really challenging. If you have the cash to waste, and a week, it could be fun.

<comment><USER19> Yeah, I'll have to look into it. I assumed you could take the course, but I didn't know if you'd need to be sponsored by a company or anything like that.

I don't know that I'd see it as a waste of money. I just like using my vacation time and money to experience something completely different and new, while learning new skills. Even if I'm not out doing something more interesting and engaged, I'd just end up hiking around finding a place to hang a hammock and read a book on coding or a technical paper.

My wife says my vacations aren't vacations because I never look like I'm relaxing in the classic sense. I'm not kicking back on a beach with a pulpy novel, usually (not that there's anything wrong with that). For me, a vacation is a time to psychologically recharge, and I get that by engaging myself, but on my own terms. Along with that, depending on how long the certification lasts, it's not that bad to have a backup skill/cert in the wings.

I've also found that it's really valuable to get insight into what other people do to make the world go round. Gives me a better respect and understanding of things in general.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> > After a week of recon I found out that the 4th and 5th floors are only > accessible with a very specific card via the elevator. I didn't have that > card. Even if I get to the elevator I could not go to the 5th floor

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

<comment><USER21> Interesting that one of those presenters is named Howard Payne. Along with Payne being an elevator company, Howard Payne is the name of the antagonist in 'Speed', who hacks an elevator...

<comment><USER6> I get the impression that that is not actually his name. ;)

I believe this is his twitter account: [https://twitter.com/SgtHowardPayne](https://twitter.com/SgtHowardPayne)

<comment><USER21> Ahhh, that explains it. Thanks for the detective work.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Is this a real thing, or is this whole site just sort of autistic ramblings of a wannabe spy? I guess I'm inclined to believe the story only because it's not particularly exciting as fiction.

</comment><comment><USER23> One part I didnt understand: if the rope is attached to a solid object on the 7th floor, how did s/he retrieve the rope once inside on the 5th floor?

<comment><USER24> Possibly either loop the rope and descend on both ends - once inside retrieve by pulling on one end, alternately, use a knot that only holds under tension, once inside, shake rope to release knot, finally, it could be fantasy and the author didn't consider that detail.

<comment><USER25> A 70m rope (depending on the building) should manage 7 floors with a double strand (only just, and you'd want to use some webbing to anchor to the edge). The fact that he mentions a tibloc indicates he was rapping on a single strand though as that device would not handle a double strand ascension. I doubt I'd be comfortable anchoring to an AC unit though. Also, really, don't try this at home. There are lots of non-obvious hazards here. For instance, climbing ropes are incredibly strong and in practice, just don't break, unless, oh, say, they are weighted over a sharp edge like the corner of a building. And no, do not try the "shake the (insecure) knot free" technique, really. Rappelling is (statistically) very dangerous as it is one of the few situations in climbing where you are trusting your life to a single point of failure (redundancy is good! and is probably responsible for more deaths than climbing falls are [1]

[1]: [http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/search/solr?all=R...](http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/search/solr?all=Rappelling)

<comment><USER24> Good points.

To add to your comment, he only descended two floors, 7th to 5th, so wouldn't need nearly as much rope.

<comment><USER25> Yeah, but it'd be nice to be able to bail down to solid ground ;-)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> This is like a deep ad for backpacks, right? Alpha Mac Infosec Warrior thing - like if you love minimalism and jingoistic tech-spy novels, we've got the gear for you?

I prefer that to the alternative - that someone is purring while looking at OCD pocket dumps of watches, wallets, pocket knives, and patches.

</comment><comment><USER27> My job will never be as cool as this guy's job.

</comment><comment><USER28> Crikey! As an avid rock climber reading this, I'm terrified for the author's safety. :-)

<comment><USER29> Well he did say "I have more than 15 years experience as an alpine and rock climber, I am trained in high-altitude rescue and rope safety." at the bottom.

<comment><USER28> Then promptly described a rig that no climber would use in their right mind. :-)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> GR1 is a nice backpack, I've got one and it is solid. A little heavy but a nice bag.

<comment><USER31> The BD Speed 30 would be more appropriate for this, and costs less than half of the GR1. [http://blackdiamondequipment.com/en/climbing- packs/speed-30-...](http://blackdiamondequipment.com/en/climbing- packs/speed-30-pack-BD681117SULFMD_1.html)

<comment><USER18> Shameless plug for Randy Rackliff's packs out of North Conway, NH (the company is called Cold Cold World: [http://www.coldcoldworldpacks.com/](http://www.coldcoldworldpacks.com/)). They are hand-built, to custom order, in New Hampshire, weigh less than name brand packs, are made of tougher material, AND will only run you about $125.

What's the secret? Simple construction, no bells and whistles and unnecessary crap like water"proof"ing. Tougher, cheaper, lighter. Not made in China by a giant corporation. The ultimate hacker pack!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> Those GORUCK GR1 rucksacks are insane.They even have a "bombproof compartment".

[http://www.goruck.com/en/GR1](http://www.goruck.com/en/GR1)

<comment><USER33> I kept looking for what exactly made it "bomb-proof" in the product description, but saw no mention of any plating or kevlar or anything, so it seems like a suspicious claim.</comment></comment>


All The Fucks I Give - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/editors-picks/5069cbb5a5b1

<comment><USER2> In Michael Lewis's new book Flash Boys, there's an insightful quote about this:

> Watching him string together sentences without profanity was like watching > someone try to swim across a river without using his arms or his legs. > Curiously, he later admitted, he wasn't worried that the audience would be > offended by bad language. "It was because some of them want to be the alpha > male cursing in the room," he said. "When I say 'fuck,' they think I'm > stealing the show — so when I'm in front of a group I go as straight as I > can."

Not swearing isn't about politeness, its about hierarchy. Its the same way that Ps & Qs have their origin in the way servants spoke to the monarchy. Its like the business casual dress code; less formal than your higher-ups communicates that you're the lower-down. Everyone understands if Daddy lets a curse word slip, but if his 6-year-old toddler gets the idea that she too can stomp around blurting out cuss words, she's gonna be punished.

<comment><USER3> Wow that's an interpretation I guess. I think of profanity as the untutored attempting to communicate, and substituting powerful but meaningless words in place of the right word.

The Gettysburg address contained no profanity, and it was written by a sitting President. How does that fit into this social theory?

<comment><USER2> I suppose that Lincoln was addressing the American people in a manner which conveys that they (the electorate) are his boss. Its the same tone in other formal speeches, eg any State of the Union speech. Compare to examples of Presidents cussing.[1] These examples are usually directed at specific subordinates. Also a funny note to compare the example of when a celebrity cursed a former president, going against the hierarchy.[2] The celebrity had to apologize afterward. It seems to fit the theory well enough.

1\. [http://www.politico.com/click/stories/1006/great_swears_in_h...](http://www.politico.com/click/stories/1006/great_swears_in_history.html)

2\. [http://www.metro.us/newyork/entertainment/the- word/2013/07/1...](http://www.metro.us/newyork/entertainment/the- word/2013/07/11/the-word-justin-bieber-apologize-to-bill-clinton-for-cussing- him-out/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Lots of "fucks", only one instance of "cunt". I am very disappointed.

<comment><USER5> That's the thing. If all you say is "fuck", then there's no problem, but you also have no range in your profanity.

When I swear, there's no way I would want a child to hear it. Their parents would hate having to explain what I said and they would dread their children repeating it in front of 'polite company'.

I wouldn't want my mother to hear it, because her brain would explode thinking that she created a son who, some 20+ years on his own, could create the thoughts behind my swearing.

My father would probably just pause for a second, chuckle, and then utter a string of such vile filth that I couldn't look at a roll of duct tape again without nausea.

I think the core message of the post is a really, really weak version of what Louis CK got into regarding the "n-word".[1] Without saying something offensive, you're still putting that offensive thing into the person's mind. If you write "fvck", you know people are reading it as "fuck". It's just cowardly.

[1] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF1NUposXVQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF1NUposXVQ), not work-listenable.

<comment><USER4> Louis CK used "cunt", what a guy. I would love to hear his version of "the aristocrats".

The thing is I'm from the UK, and I get the impression that "cunt" is considered a severe taboo in the US (I might be mistaken). Where I live it is heard so often that after a while you don't even notice it, it becomes bland.

> _That 's the thing. If all you say is "fuck", then there's no problem, but > you also have no range in your profanity._

Some non-English expletives that I am fond of:

"puta" (Spanish): literal translation "whore", but is often used semantically more like "fuck", so "puta madre" can be parsed as "motherfucker".

"harami" (Arabic): literally means thief, but when I first came across it I knew it as "bastard", which is how it is used in some Asian languages like Urdu.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Fuck, this is the shit. This cunt is really fucking onto something! Some wanker tells me to clean up my language: fuck off, ya bastard, I'm just trying to communicate, wanker.

Bitch, please.

(Disclaimer: Australian)</comment>


George RR Martin Says Coronavirus Has Led to More Work on the Winds of Winter - <AUTHOR> https://www.cbr.com/grrm-coronavirus-more-work-on-asoiaf/ <comment><USER2> Hopefully Patrick Rothfuss also finds time to finish The Kingkiller Chronicle (The Name of the Wind) third book, The Doors of Stone. One can only dream :)

<comment><USER3> I wish he would. Time hasn't been his problem.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> There's always an upside ;)</comment>


Ask HN: Do you use an external keyboard? Which one? - <AUTHOR> I'm planning to buy a mechanical keyboard, probably with Cherry MX brown switches. I'd have preferred tenkeyless keyboard but there aren't a lot of options available in India, so I might buy Corsair Strafe (Corsair K65 is tenkeyless but only comes with Cherry MX Red). I use a Macbook, so I'll map the alt key to cmd which should do the job.<p>What's your current keyboard? Which one would you choose if you had to buy one today? <comment><USER2> I've been more than happy with the microsoft sculpt. [https://www.microsoft.com/accessories/en- us/products/keyboar...](https://www.microsoft.com/accessories/en- us/products/keyboards/sculpt-ergonomic-desktop/l5v-00001)

</comment><comment><USER3> I use KUL Se-87. I forget which keys are in it, but I wish the springs were a little heavier. Maybe I just need to learn to type more gently. I use it on mac, windows, and linux all the time (via a kvm switch).

My finger joints are all messed up from decades of typing on computer keyboards.</comment>


Intelligence and rhythmic accuracy go hand in hand - <AUTHOR> http://www.physorg.com/news127561553.html

<comment><USER2> Can someone who has access to the paper please post it on scribd. <http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/reprint/28/16/4238>

Thanks.

<comment><USER3> [http://www.scribd.com/doc/2555588/Intelligence-and- rhythmic-...](http://www.scribd.com/doc/2555588/Intelligence-and-rhythmic- accuracy-go-hand-in-hand)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Random anecdotal support: Richard Feynmann was an accomplished drummer, capable of exotic polyrhythms. He didn't seem to think his skill at drumming had much relevance to his skill at science, however:

<http://chemeng.iisc.ernet.in/alumni/rpf.html>

In light of this article, he may well have been wrong. :)

<comment><USER5> "anectodal support" is an oxymoron. You need many data points to show a correlation. Adding one more doesn't mean anything at all, whether it's an outlier or not.

<comment><USER4> I entirely agree. I wasn't trying to prove anything -- much the opposite: I used an intentionally silly expression to indicate that while the fact agreed with the conclusions drawn in the article, it had no real statistical relevance. I nonetheless found it interesting.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> A good follow up project would be to investigate whether or not there is a correlation between meditation, rhythmic accuracy, and changes in mental ability/capacity.

</comment><comment><USER7> I also wonder if they take into account the "muscle memory" effect in which musicians (and anyone who does complex tasks with their hands regularly) tends to store some information in the nerves and pathways of the hands themselves, rather than the brain.

In other words, could a stupid drummer game the system?

</comment><comment><USER8> I knew I was smarter for picking up drums instead of guitar.

</comment><comment><USER9> does this mean intelligence is linked to physical ability? or body coordination? (I have about 15 friends who prove otherwise)</comment>


Are Zune buyers motivated by what the device is or by what it isn't? - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/magazine/10wwln-consumed-t.html?partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

<comment><USER2> It's unfathomable for the Apple fanboy media that someone could prefer a non- Apple product.

<comment><USER3> Except that, in this case, the Zune actually is crap.

<comment><USER4> You might actually get downmodded here for not explaining _why_ you think the Zune is crap. Lots of people here agree, but just saying "Its crap" might cause some with long memories to recall the "Scottish Store" skit on SNL but won't add anything to the discussion.

I personally found that although the Zune had some compelling features that might have caused me to overlook its clunky form factor, each of those features had some artificial restriction placed on them that made them not useful in real life.

For the record, I do not own an Apple player either. My "mp3 player" is a whole _box_ of tiny vaguely shuffle-like 1Gb mini players I got as a lot on ebay. They worked out to be $7 each and I got 20 of them. I gave some to my friends with "mix tapes" on them and filled a bunch of the others with various collections. I never worry about losing them and just grab the one with the tunes I'm in the mood for on my way out. They came in multiple colors so I didn't even bother labeling them. I did spring for a nice pair of headphones. The players actually sound much better than you might expect.

<comment><USER2> I actually would buy a Zune over an iPod, mainly because I have so many song files in WMA, and I love the idea of being able to load it via wi-fi and integrate with my media center. Creative would generally be my first choice though due to DivX support.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Sketching Realistic Graphs (2005) - <AUTHOR> https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2005/12/26/making_realisti/ <comment><USER2> It may be for the same reason they can't convincingly create fake books, rig elections, or fabricate data:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benford%27s_law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benford%27s_law)

"The law states that in many naturally occurring collections of numbers, the leading significant digit is likely to be small. For example, in sets that obey the law, the number 1 appears as the leading significant digit about 30% of the time, while 9 appears as the leading significant digit less than 5% of the time. If the digits were distributed uniformly, they would each occur about 11.1% of the time. Benford's law also makes predictions about the distribution of second digits, third digits, digit combinations, and so on. "

</comment><comment><USER3> I was thinking this was gonna be some long ago theoretical work on something like roughViz [https://github.com/jwilber/roughViz](https://github.com/jwilber/roughViz)

</comment><comment><USER4> Isn't drawing a cartoon character very different from drawing a scatterplot?

I'm not sure how the end conclusion about practice is relevant. I see how practicing would help in both drawing cartoon characters and drawing scatterplots. But I don't see the link between the two; it seems to me that practice would also help people who e.g. play an instrument.

<comment><USER5> I think that you pretty much hit on the gist of the post. Professor needs to practice to draw cartoons, students need to practice to draw graphs, he shouldn't be frustrated with students inability to draw graphs because they are at the beginning of their journey. Just as a cartoonist could possibly draw Bert and Ernie without any reference material compared to an amateur who can't even when copying from a picture. A student can't "draw" the scatter plot as well as a professor who has worked with the data for their whole career because they may be putting marks on the paper but they don't necessarily "see" the data/ information. Certain data is going to have a certain form to it that may only be apparent to someone who works with it regularly so if asked to draw the data, you leave out details that are obvious to an expert such as making the made up data conform to the regression line or failing to include non-negative numbers. The exercise made the professor empathize with the students about being expected to do something trivial for the expert but difficult for the beginner.</comment></comment>


Australia says it's under nation-state cyberattack - <AUTHOR> https://thecyberwire.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/9/119 <comment><USER2> [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23569524](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23569524)

</comment><comment><USER3> Should the international laws be amended to consider state-led cyber attacks an act of war in additional to traditional aggression? Seems like UN Security Council should deal with these matters.

<comment><USER4> International law barely exists and is unenforceable. If a superpower-- especially a permanent Security Council member--wants to do something, there's absolutely no recourse. Look at Russia and Crimea. That's the most egregious violation of the notion of international law in recent history, and nothing of consequence happened. The big powers can do whatever they want, and the worst response will be token economic sanctions. China is so economically intertwined with the world that nothing at all would happen unless they nuked someone.

<comment><USER5> There are better examples than Russia and Crimea.

I am not Russian, and have nothing to do with Russia or Ukraine or whatever (I am Brazillian, of Iberian descent).

Still, Crimea was not a "invasion" or "conquest".

Long story short:

Russia invaded Crimea in 1700s, taking it from Tartars.

When a Ukranian became leader of URSS, he "gave" Crimea to Ukraine, it was only nominal, nothing changed in Crimea itself, the place still was basically a navy base for Russia.

When URSS broke up, because of previous decision, it was decided Crimea was Ukranian, except most of population there is Russian (including a huge amount of Russian military), and their only warmwater seaport deep enough for the good warships Russia had, was still there, to make this work, Russia "rented" the place from Ukraine.

When Ukraine most recent revolution happened, do you think all the Russian military personel families that live there since 1700s would want to leave?

Now... if you want to claim what is happening in Donbass is a invasion, then that is more plausible.

<comment><USER6> Is URSS a Brazilian way of saying USSR?

Edit: it's an alternate spelling. I had not heard that before. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/URSS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/URSS)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> What a low effort article. Zero details. And the page is in huge part advertising and unrelated stuff.

<comment><USER8> Agreed. I want my two minutes back.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Just as covid seemed to hit many with little warning and little preparation, serious cyberattacks will at some point too.

Nations need to have more preparation, funding, and simulations, for potential large future cyberattacks before one causes significant destruction.

<comment><USER10> They simulate all of them, still screw it up when it happens. 9/11 was simulated, pandemic was simulated, etc.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> So the attacker is using "open-source code exploits" followed by phishing. To what effect? DoS of govt services? Ransoms? Something more ambitious?

</comment><comment><USER12> China is going rogue again. Cyberattacks against Australia, bullying in South China Sea, border fights against India and so on.

We need a unified world approach.

<comment><USER13> Can you please give me a proof that it's China and not someone else...or nothing at all?

I always hear cyber-attack's from Russia, North Korea or China, but never from Israel or the US, are they just so bad in covering up or is maybe something else behind it?

<comment><USER14> Well tbf, stuxnet & flame are probably the two cyber-attacks that can actually beyond all doubt be called cyber warfare.

Most everything else seems more about finding a scapegoat to blame.

<comment><USER13> Yes your right, i am not saying cyber-warfare does no exist, i just don't see often good point's for the origin of the attack...often its like HAHA we found the timezone of Peking in a file....as if a professional agency is that stupid (well sometimes they are)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Not just cyber attack, Australia is also under economic attack [1] for the same reason. And China just suddenly decided to sentence an Australian to death (same move they made against Canada), after five years of sitting on the case [2]. It's all about intimidation and leverage. China will press until Australia capitulates. Fortunately the Australians have backbone.

As a superpower capable of standing off with China, the US should be stepping in and offering very public political and economic support to Australia. It's the only approach that will work when dealing with China's new era of extreme belligerence. If the US were currently being led by a wiser politician, they would be rallying allies old and new (such as India) at China's expense.

[1] [https://www.theguardian.com/australia- news/2020/may/21/austr...](https://www.theguardian.com/australia- news/2020/may/21/australias-iron-ore-exports-hit-by-rule-change-as-china- escalates-war-of-words)

[2] [https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/13/china/australian-drug- smuggli...](https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/13/china/australian-drug-smuggling- sentence-china-intl-hnk/index.html)

<comment><USER16> Why is it the US' problem? If _AUSTRALIA_ were currently being led by a wiser politician, or indeed had in the last .. 20 years .. been led by wise politicians .. it wouldn't be in this mess right now in the first place.

Its only because Australia kowtows with fluidity every time the US snaps its fingers that its in this mess right now. Australians need to stop being the lapdogs to the American empire, and start thinking about their own future. Australias future isn't white American: it is multi-cultural and mostly Asian.

<comment><USER17> Because Australians have been led to believe that the US and Australia are allies, resulting in Australia punching _way_ above its weight in giving the USA cover whenever it went abroad, for instance in Iraq, Afghanistan and so on.

The usual understanding is that such loyalty is a two-way street. Not that the current US government cares about such pesky details but that's where it stands.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Every time PRC turns up the heat, we should get closer with Taiwan.

</comment><comment><USER19> I'm old enough to remember everyone here shitting on Trump for suggesting Huawei 5G is a national security threat. This opinion is now so uncontroversial that even Eric Schmidt agrees: [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2020/06/18/huawei- pos...](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2020/06/18/huawei-poses- national-security-risk-warns-ex-google-boss-eric/)

<comment> dane-pgp > everyone here

That's an interesting claim to test, actually. Could you provide links to one or more discussions on this site where the overwhelming consensus was that Huawei 5G would not be a national security threat to the US?

<comment><USER20> Below are the top stories. No consensus, let alone overwhelming.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21757097](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21757097)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19954673](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19954673)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23191055](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23191055)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19923655](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19923655)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20279227](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20279227)

<comment><USER19> Now do the following: search the threads you provided for "Trump". The decision might have been "right", but easily 90% of posters say that Trump was "wrong" to make it somehow, because saying he was right at anything is socially unacceptable here.

Note that I did not say HN disagreed with the decision necessarily. I was just saying it was shitting on Trump for making it.

<comment> dane-pgp > Now do the following: search the threads you provided for "Trump".

Okay then. The first two links have 8 occurrences of the string "Trump":

1\. "Meaning while Trump is trying to make other country buy more Boeing planes?" I don't think this person is complaining that Trump is trying to support American businesses, but in any case they aren't saying that he shouldn't have opposed Huawei.

2\. "... Trump only says pleasant words [about trade] which is completely legal in both countries?" This seems to be a defence of Trump.

3\. "Trump considered [purchasing Greenland]." A criticism of a different Trump policy (in the context of an article about the Faroese prime minister).

4\. "I think that Trump's move with banning Huawei is bad for the US in the mid and long run." An actual criticism of Trump's Huawei decision, based on fear of retaliation from China. Two child comments support Trump, while one supports the criticism.

5\. "Trump's trade war with China, as many contract manufacturer move out of China, will prove none of that supply chain myth is true within a year or two." A comment supporting Trump's approach.

6\. "These things, and I'm not passing judgment on them, are simply pushing the Chinese to be self-sufficient on everything. Stroke of the Trump pen and X chip for your hardware is denied." A comment trying to look at the long term consequences without being critical of Trump.

7\. "I'm sure that the EU/australia/the west is breathing a sigh of relief that Trump did this instead of forcing them to make up some more draconian law..." A comment supportive of Trump.

8\. "FYI: Trump says U.S. "wants to be the leader' in 5G development" A comment potentially trying to explain Trump's actions, but not critical of them.

If that is an accurate analysis of a random sample of comments, I would say that most posters agree with Trump about Huawei. I don't know where you get your "easily 90%" statistic from.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> I am pretty sure that nations with the resources are pretty much doing some stealth cyber attack to nations they consider a threat - whether by economic or defence policies.

Likely the scale of the attack happening is something that may have surprised the victim nation that they are calling out the attacks in the hope that it would at least calm down the intruder or even have the government intervene.

On a side note, reading the article in a mobile device was a big PITA. Lots of ads and unnecessary information included. And they had the temerity to tell me that I am using n/3 free articles. I think I would pass from subscribing if on the limited free version and the reading experience was just worst.</comment>


I decided to click on The Guardians GDPR "Options" button - <AUTHOR> https://twitter.com/kompilatorpod/status/1258060072711847937 <comment><USER2> From what I saw there where two options, off and on. But there wasn't a default set, by GDPR rules I believe if On isn't selected when you save then it must be Off.

<comment><USER3> As GDPR requires opt-in yes, that is the behavior it should have, though IMO I doubt it is implemented like that

<comment><USER2> then they might have problems if someone who knows whats what says show me</comment></comment></comment>


Yale ethicist: killer robots will be very stupid, incredibly well-armed - <AUTHOR> http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2016/02/one-ethicists-compromise-stop-killer-robots/126051/ <comment><USER2> Spoken like a true bureaucrat.</comment>


Variadic.js - A JavaScript library for expressive variadic functions - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/willurd/variadic.js

<comment><USER2> Looks like a nice library, but I'm not in love with the syntax; I find it a bit confusing TBH... But it packs some nice features, specially the validation and precendece awareness. A simple overloading helper works for my needs though, ie: [https://gist.github.com/elclanrs/8515458](https://gist.github.com/elclanrs/8515458)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the feedback! If you have any ideas about how you would change the syntax, I'd love to hear them.

And that overloading helper function is cool :)</comment></comment>