Alarming Decline of Quality Youth Playtime - <AUTHOR> https://houseoflawandorder.com/the-alarming-decline-of-quality-youth-playtime/ <comment><USER2> I wrote a book advising parents how to give kids a life of independent neighborhood play. Check out Playborhood - [http://playborhood.com](http://playborhood.com)

In a nutshell, I contend that this is a _social_ problem of neighborhood culture, and parents should work to make their neighborhoods as fun and inviting as video games and the Internet. Simply cutting off electronics and shoving them out the door won't do it because there's no one out there - neighborhoods are _very_ boring. Somehow, we need to create a culture of play, first with parents, and later without, in our neighborhoods. The book Playborhood is all about that.

<comment><USER3> _social problem of neighborhood culture_

Yes it is, but you aren't going to solve it without rolling back women's rights. Neighbourhoods are not communities anymore because there aren't enough adults around during the day. With both parents working 9-5, there aren't any moms around to keep an eye on the kids playing during summer break.

It was bad when we as a society told women they're _not allowed_ to work. Now women _have to_ work just to be able to afford a house on two incomes which previously cost only one.

<comment><USER4> Not true, as there was more to neighbourhood society than stay at home mums. When I grew up in the 70s, in a major city, and there were many more stay at home mums in one earner, two parent households, for sure. _But..._

The local shopkeepers and retired would keep an eye on the local kids too. If anything we'd be more likely to be pulled up and ticked off by the old lady doing her gardening or the old fella taking the dog for a walk than the local mums. The mums were often busy with the youngest of the family, cooking, and other jobs keeping them inside. Not all had toddlers of course.

The local shopkeepers - newsagent, butcher, baker all knew our mums as they were in every week so if we pushed too far it was certain to get back home. Everyone seemed to know everyone else. A non-automated surveillance state. :)

So what did we kids do? Went and played on the demolished old factory site, along the canal, or on the disused railway station and line. No one got to keep an eye on anyone there.

The situation of women _having to_ work is just as repressive of women's rights as not allowed. I'm sure there's a lot of women, and some men, who would stay home with the children whilst young if it were possible. The expectation now is they have to juggle both.

<comment><USER5> The local shopkeepers in many places are getting pushed out by corporations, especially in less-populated areas. Walmart is your one-stop mini-city for groceries, all household goods, prepared foods—and they are not going to take on the liability of allowing employees to watch over children playing.

<comment><USER6> Then again they're getting pushed out because the "community" prefers the convenience and cheap prices of the local corporation one-stop shop to the more expensive and less well stocked bevvy of butchers and bakers and corner shops. It's no surprise that the only ones surviving are those crewed by and catering to immigrant and "ethnic" food cultures not well-served by corp marts and fringe spaces (e.g. local coffee roaster, expensive / foodie grocery store, tea shop).

<comment><USER4> Of course it's never quite that simple.

Now that the supermarkets mostly "won", local bakers, greengrocers and butchers etc are usually cheaper and far better stocked than any of the supermarkets yet of far higher quality. Supermarket prices just aren't competitive any more, as they mostly stopped trying, though of course they beat the open all hours corner shops. Cut price Aldi are now the fastest growing supermarket in the UK. Tesco are laughable on price _and_ quality by comparison with Aldi or Lidl.

There's also an element of having to prefer the one stop shop of a supermarket thanks, in part, to most of us having to have both partners working to survive. I strongly suspect if more couples were still able to support a home and family on one income there'd be many more of those butchers, bakers and greengrocers around and still thriving.

Still, we are where we are, and probably stuck with it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> It is an issue no doubt because parents just honestly don't have the confidence to let their kids go.

They are paranoid not just about kidnappers or child molesters, but they are worried about not preparing their kids for school and "getting ahead", thus the over planned childhoods.

I really wish parents would just let go a little.

1) Read to your kids at night. Do it as old as they want you to do it.

2) Give them unstructured play time with friends consistently. After age 9 or so, they really can go off on their own without parents around.

3) Younger kids should experience a variety of things well through middle school. The more things they do, the better. Sure, they should get good grades (A's and B's), but obsessing over all A's in middle school isn't worth it.

4) High school is when structure starts to be more important IF they want to get into a competitive school. And forcing a high school kid to get a perfect score on his SAT is a recipe for disaster. It should be the kids choice.

Way too many parents are obsessed about making sure their son or daughter get into THE college they want. It's more about the parent than the student.

I wish I could tell more parents to let fucking go. Teenagers go to war, they start businesses, they do all sorts of grown up things.

Keep them away from drugs and help them find a passion. That's about it.

<comment><USER8> I don't think that's a viable strategy in today's world. The kids I knew growing up that were pushed hard by their parents are doing much better (and happier) than those that were not.

Kids don't reliably make good long term decisions for themselves. It's more fun to play fortnite than to practice for a math/piano competition. They can't see the long term impact of not working out and eating poorly.

I got pushed pretty hard as a kid. It wasn't fun at the time, but now I appreciate it. There's a widening gap between the rich and poor in America, and it's a lot nicer to be on the rich side.

<comment><USER9> There is a difference between kids whose parents kept an eye on them and made sure they didn't go too far off the beaten path and kids whose parents structured their lives so heavily that they never had a chance to breathe for themselves.

If you are from a stable family situation, it's easy to gloss over how shitty some kids have it at home.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> After wandering around in Germany, coming home late etc my kid was shocked when we put him in a US school 6 year ago (i.e. post smartphone). It wasn't just the unstructured time, but the range of things kids are allowed to do. Amusingly/sadly he said things like "people here haven't heard of freedom".

We had neighbors with a kid precisely the same age as him, but the kids were never around, instead being driven from place to place.

(BTW it's pretty common to complain about the quality of US education too but in this case it was actually OK, especially when compared to the notorious Berlin schools, and he decided on a US undergraduate education which I think was a good decision.)

<comment><USER11> What were the exact freedoms your child was missing?

<comment><USER10> That's a good question. This was through the eyes of a 13 year old.

On the general side: I'd say the German approach for kids (2-12) is "super strict on the basics, then have at it." So you are very strict that they must stand behind the yellow line, don't interrupt grown ups, behave yourself at the table, etc, but once you have the core down there are few restrictions (this changes as you grow up...I like to joke that _Ordnung_ is the German state religion). So he was used to unsafe playgrounds, coming home late from just exploring the U-bahn with his friends (all ignoring texts from parents) etc. He compared that to American kids who seemed to always being told _not_ to do things without having a set of basics to make their own decisions. He had one Palo Alto classmate who was grounded if he wasn't home 15 minutes after school let out!

An example: in grade six he and his friends found a bottle of vodka in the schoolyard (urban school). As any 12 year olds would, they took one of their gym sneakers, filled it with vodka, and set it on fire. The maths teacher passed by and said "boys, school starts in a few minutes; don't be late" and kept going. He told me he'd be expelled from his US school if he had matches or a lighter. In Germany that didn't even rate a letter home from the school.

He also complained that grownups were always involved. Schools have police officers in them, scouts have parents involved, etc. Kids don't get to run things and screw them up like they do in Germany. I went to a Christmas service in a church where the kids wrote and put on a Christmas play -- apparently Noah brought the animals, 2x2, to see the newborn. I am not christian but I'm pretty sure that isn't doctrine -- but everyone seemed to like it.

He found the US school routine quite rigid with little time for exploration of the material but instead memorization. If anything the US seemed more like the asian schooling my mother went through, or perhaps the prewar Prussian system. I know the US kindergarteners are told to learn the alphabet while the German one was mainly focused on getting along and learning, by the end of the year, to keep your clothes on all day. They left the alhpabet (in two languages!) to the first grade.

HTH

<comment><USER12> This mirrors my experience - I grew up in Britain, Germany and Hong Kong, before my parents moved to Chicago when I was 11, in 1994.

There were rules on my pre-American childhood. Strict rules - but as you say, there was freedom - I thought nothing of cycling off into the mountains alone in the winter, of getting on a train and going to the city to meet friends, of building a treehouse in the woods complete with punji traps.

Cue America. I spent most of the year I was at school there being suspended for such misdeeds as walking the few miles home instead of waiting for a broken down school bus, climbing trees, and sword fighting with sticks; being a kid, in short. Hell, they even suspended me for reading under the desk, because I usually finished the period assignment in the first 5-10 minutes.

The breaking point was when I cycled from our 'burb to downtown Chicago to meet a friend for a movie. My parents knew where I was, it was the weekend.

Another parent from the same school spotted me cycling around downtown. Called the police. I got home that evening to find half a dozen cops sat there at the house, threatening my parents with me being put into care, them being imprisoned, and all the rest. Apparently I was in mortal danger by... being on a bicycle without an adult?

After that, they didn't want me going anywhere without them or another adult. I ended up just not going anywhere.

I went back to school in the UK.

Also, the education was years behind that which I had had previously - I mean, they only had two subjects - "soclish" and "sciath". "Bored" didn't even begin to cover it.

<comment><USER13> I didn't have the experience of growing up in Germany (or the USA to compare), but I can draw parallels to growing up in Mexico. My mom sure was strict, but I had the freedom of hopping on my bike and just taking off in the streets. So many adventures. A bit too many times I got nagged for being home late, or too dirty, or soaked (we lived close to a river). Never actually "grounded" though for small stuff like that. My mom knew quite well that a long sermon and her anger were more effective in making me feel bad about worrying her.

In a way, in my case, the strictness at home made the freedom of the streets both more cherished and more meditated. I think this goes to the "basics" from two comments above-- I had the upbringing to make my own decisions and wasn't just told "no" blindly.

And perhaps in that strictness was also the motivation to get out of home and enjoy some freedom? If I were cozy and "free enough" at home, I wonder if I'd wanted to get out so much.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> This is largely an American problem. When I lived in Europe I didn't see people being "fearful" about letting their children roam the streets. During my recent trips to Japan, I also felt that same vibe. Children under the age of 10 taking the trains by themselves or with friends, even in Tokyo.

American isolationism creates fearfulness.

<comment><USER15> Exactly. I was in Germany recently and saw small children walking home from school alone. In America, this can get parents arrested in many states.

In Japan, they basically force kids to walk to school without parents when they're 7-8 years old. If I ever have kids, I'd want to raise them someplace like that, not in a country where I'm legally required to be a helicopter parent until the kid is a legal adult.

<comment><USER16> I walked to school for 4 years in the US. Not to mention I biked or walked anywhere I could from about 6-16. No one is stopping kids and then arresting parents, it's absurd to say.

It did happen in Maryland. Guess what? The CPS completely changed their rules after the justified outcry.[1] Not a single person was arrested in this matter.

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

<comment><USER17> People usually don't hear the retraction, only the initial story.

Because this happens every once in a while it's very easy to get the idea it's an official policy and you can get in trouble for it. And the consequences are so high people don't want to risk it.

Add that to internal fear about stranger danger and the kid getting lost or hurt and is it any wonder people tend towards not allowing this stuff?

<comment><USER16> You're right, I had to go to Wikipedia to find the end result. USA Today had the initial incident but no follow up.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> All these stories on raising children confuse the issue and keep parents in paralysis.

If you want to take the pressure off - tell parents their kids won't be left out like millennials are. Give them a safety net. Let parents know their kids will have a pretty good life. On the other hand, if they know their kids will be in a dog-eat-dog world where even hard work gets you nowhere - they're going to raise their kids with a zero-sum game theory.

<comment><USER19> I have to disagree. You want to take the pressure off, you need to _take the pressure off_. Make it clear that I'm not going to have my kids taken away and/or thrown in jail because they're biking around downtown a mile away from me, or because I left them at home while I went grocery shopping or something.

I don't find myself questioning whether I should let them go because I'm worried that they might not get into Harvard or that they may not make as much money as me, or because I'm just so consumed with worry about inequality or something so abstract. I'm worried about them being taken away or me going to jail. Instead of being a black swan event (and we can't get it below that), it's merely "fairly unlikely", which for such a disastrous outcome isn't really unlikely enough.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Why does it seem that everyone who writes articles like these seemed to have a national forest in their back yard as a kid?

Most kids don't have "an expansive wilderness" to explore. Most of them have miles and miles of residential streets to "explore" in Baltimore.

<comment><USER21> Do you know what happened during the housing boom in the US? The 1950 to 1960 was one of the biggest housing explosions in the US. As well as one of the biggest population explosions with the population growing some 20% in those 10 years. This [1] is the population of the largest cities in the US in 1950. This [2] is their population in 1960. You might notice something quite interesting. The population of nearly all major cities declined!

The housing boom was not people building up residential areas inside of well developed cities. It was people accepting some sacrifice and moving outside of cities into areas where previously there was nothing. This is a big part of the reason why housing was so cheap. It also helped keep city housing prices low since it had a [quite extreme] depressing effect on demand.

The reason I mention this is because when you build houses in the middle of nowhere you don't often have to go far to find more nowhere. Everywhere you look is just row and row of cookie cutter houses, then a 2 mile bike trip and you're in the 'wild lands'. Lots of children got to grow up in these exact sort of areas. I had the fortune of getting to spend some brief part of my childhood in an area like this, and then most of the rest in an ultra urban area apartment in the middle of the city. Suffice to say, I won't be raising my kids in the middle of a city!

[1] - [https://www.biggestuscities.com/1950](https://www.biggestuscities.com/1950)

[2] - [https://www.biggestuscities.com/1960](https://www.biggestuscities.com/1960)

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm currently in the process of moving my family (including 6 kids) from a 1/3 acre lot in Utah (there really isn't much land here because it's a desert) to a 15-acre farm in Tennessee for these reasons exactly.

<comment><USER22> I went from a 1/4 lot in a city to a 12 acre lot in the country when I was around 8. My dad gave my brother and I a compass, taught us how to use it and encouraged us to roam the woods as a form of play/exploration. If we got lost, we ended up at the neighbors house a good 25 acres away and they would just call our parents to pick us up.

It was a bit of culture shock when I went to college and found out how restrictive other peers youth were.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> I wonder how much of this is really the "good old days" effect. I recall reading about research fairly recently that suggests we forget the bad things first, and that is why there's nostalgia for the "good old days".

I mean it is true that kids go outside a lot less these days, especially American kids. We're immigrants, and we often go to a nearby lake in the summer. Easily 80% of families there are Latino and Russian. I wonder where native-born American parents take their kids, if anywhere.

But I also wonder whether it's such a big deal. From what I can _factually_ remember from my own childhood, my "time outside" was rather haphazard and I got into all sorts of trouble (including starting smoking at the tender young age of 8 - this lasted for a few weeks until my parents found out). I very much doubt this was significantly better for me than staying at home.

<comment><USER24> It's definitely incredibly easy to forget boredom. As you experience boredom, time slows to a crawl, but you don't remember much later since memories are discrete events. I would wager that a lot of outside time is actually quite boring but romanticized in hindsight.

And yes, much of my (memorable) unsupervised outside time was spent jumping off roofs and shooting things with BBs. Kind of like video games except with a decent chance of physical injury.

But then again who cares what I did and why do I use my personal experiences as a standard for others?

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> I was a very free range kid.

In grades 3-6 I remember spending hours meandering around Seattle's Beacon Hill area on my way home after school. It was great fun exploring under freeways, urban forests, abandoned buildings, etc., by myself or with a friend or two.

Today these areas are mostly unauthorized homeless camps filled with garbage, human waste, and used needles.

When I was older (middle school) I recall about half-dozen times creeps in cars drove up to me and asked me to come party with them or do some swimsuit modelling. Gross.

My kids grew up in different world than I did. Thus they had a much different childhood. I can't imagine letting my two girls roam around like I did.

edit: typo(s) and word order ffs.

</comment><comment><USER26> > Today, however, if I were to learn that my young kids had left the house in > the early morning by themselves to rock climb, explore the forest and > encounter heaven-knows-what out in the woods, I'd probably start > hyperventilating.

Why? WHY? I don't understand this sentiment at all. What is the matter with people these days? Parents are suffocating their kids because they can't get over _their own paranoia_.

As another commenter wrote: parents, just _let fucking go_.

<comment><USER27> Because you are inundated with news/social media telling you about all the sex offenders in your area, human trafficking gangs abducting kids, and so on. Reality is these were all there before, and the probability of being a victim is exceptionally low, but most people suck at risk evaluation and understanding statistics...

<comment><USER26> I don't think it's only this. People passively contribute to this with their shock at hearing that another parent has let their kids run free. It may have started from media-stocked paranoia, but it has now blossomed into society- nurtured paranoia.

\---

Discussion about a six-year-old kid:

 _Grandparent_ : "Where is __?"

 _Parent_ : "Oh he's out on his bike with his friends."

 _Grandparent_ : "By himself?"

 _Parent_ : "No, with his friends."

 _Grandparent_ : (shocked silence)

\---

I happily live in Japan, where this paranoia has yet to strike, so letting your kids run free from a young age is fairly normal. But I'm afraid that it soon will, and there will be no turning back.

<comment><USER27> Totally agree - there is a bit of a feedback loop as media shapes the cultural expectations. It's really unfortunate because the vast majority of people are cattle and just follow the herd - no independent critical thinking. Worse is when someone does stick their head up to buck the new norms, as you say, people are ready to guilt you or question your judgement.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> While I agree that kids could stand to get out more, I think everyone here is painting an absurdly rosy picture of the past. I'd like to know what percentage of kids used to spend their time doing hard labor or if their latchkey existence left them feeling so uncared about that they turned into nihilist assholes. Don't get me wrong – in a perfect world, kids would play outside 8 hours a day, but I have a hard time getting past the selection bias presented in the video.

<comment><USER29> Except there is hard empirical data showing that something is actually going wrong. Like rapidly rising teenage anxiety, depression and suicide rates.

<comment><USER30> Has sampling bias been ruled out? With people more open to discussing public mental health in recent years, certainly more people have been seeking treatment and diagnoses have probably improved. I would assume historical data strongly under sampled people with mental health issues due to the great stigma and misunderstandings about these diseases.

<comment><USER31> exactly, data that is not about play does not preclude a potential predominance of play, especially relative to the past

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> This is part of the basis for a recent book by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt. Here's the article that later became the book by the same title: [https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the- cod...](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of- the-american-mind/399356/)

Also a relevant article by Lenore Skenazy & Jonathan Haidt with a similar thesis: [https://reason.com/archives/2017/10/26/the-fragile- generatio...](https://reason.com/archives/2017/10/26/the-fragile-generation)

</comment><comment><USER33> I love how all the suggestions are right in the "helicopter parent" wheelhouse. No "kick them outside and tell them you don't care what they do, just be home for supper."

<comment><USER34> Yep. That's what my parents did with us. "Just be home for dinner." We'd eat dinner and then run back outside for another 3-4 hours of "night games" in the cul-de-sac. Maybe on Tuesday nights we'd come in for the Cosby Show or something. But that was rare. :-)

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> People are afraid to let their kids play outside, and even if they did, there is no one out there to play with because all the other kids are in the house in front of a screen.

<comment><AUTHOR> I have 6 kids. We don't allow video games in the house - except Tetris, since that seems to be good for developing intelligence.

It can be hard for them to relate to other kids, who only want to talk about Fortnite, which my kids know nothing about.

<comment><USER36> So many things concerning about your comment. What is the difference between getting lost in a good movie, book, or game? There isn't much difference between having some friends over for settlers of catan vs a 40 minute game of Mario Party. I grew up with blue collar parents who did everything they could to steer me away from games and technology. It damaged my relationship with them and to be honest I still carry a degree of resentment.

Had my parents tried to harness my interest in games and technology and maybe looked into programs like these ([https://www.lifewire.com/kids-programming- languages-4125938](https://www.lifewire.com/kids-programming- languages-4125938)) then things might have been differently. Instead they did a great job of alienating me and forcing me to take interest in things that I had no interest in doing.

All things in moderation, a teaching which I would argue has much more value than trying fruitlessly to shelter your kid from things you have little to no understanding of. I can understand not letting your young kid play games with violence or shooting, or online games, but a household ban on video games isn't going to curb any interest your kids have in technology. My passion for games and technology is the sole reason for my success in life. Your son or daughter could take that interest in games into so many other fields. It could motivate them to master math, physics, or to pursue one of many STEM fields.

<comment><USER35> I understand what you are saying, but you may be arguing from a marginal case.

Not every kid who would prefer to play video games is going to grow up to be a professional game developer or programmer.

<comment><USER36> Correct, but to deny them an interest like that based on fear is a very narrow minded approach.

The fact that many parents are worried about their son or daughter playing video games but are fine with them playing contact sports speaks volumes about their priorities. As a society we need to focus on encouraging our kids to be comfortable with who they are and supporting their interests. Just because all you wanted to do was run outside and play from morning to sundown does not mean that's what your kid wants to do. I'm not saying giving your kid free reign to play xbox all day but plenty of games out there encourage problem solving and critical thinking (and teamwork) on a deeper level than a word problem about how many watermelons Janet can carry to her car ever will.

That being said, everything in moderation.

<comment><USER37> > plenty of games out there encourage problem solving and critical thinking > (and teamwork) on a deeper level than a word problem about how many > watermelons Janet can carry to her car ever will

This. My son has a particular interest in redstone circuits in Minecraft - elaborate sets of switches, pistons, trap doors, lighting, etc. It's quite remarkable to watch, especially when a friend gets involved to test it out and help tinker.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> As an aside, I think it's interesting that we prioritize play time for children (or want to) but seem to think little of play time for adults. I think play should be a lifetime avocation, but where I grew up in California this isn't much of a focus for adults.

</comment><comment><USER39> I watched a lot of TV when I was aged 10-13. Then I discovered the internet and spent a lot of time on that. I'm 28 now and life seems to have worked out. I wouldn't say I'm maladjusted.

I also did outdoorsy stuff, climbed trees, climbed mountains, went canoeing etc as a child. Those things are memorable, but they probably only made up 2% of my free time. Mostly it was indoors - reading, watching TV, surfing the internet, chatting to people online.

In the early 2000s there wasn't tablets, but there was internet and internet culture. There wasn't Youtube, but there was funnyjunk. This feels a lot like the classic cycle of fear for the children of today.

<comment><USER31> ofc you wont say that, that's cos you have [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self- serving_bias](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-serving_bias)

</comment></comment><comment><USER40> This is not to undermine what the article says, but I think I am lucky that my kids have access to a nice environment that allows playtime the way we think it should be. I live in a condo in Bangalore, and one thing that is very common in condos here is that kids play in the common areas and elders also meet every evening starting 5PM(ish), until sundown. This is the only reason why I have declined job opportunities elsewhere that may have given me better financial rewards, but would have taken away the above from my family (kids and ageing parents).

</comment><comment><USER41> I grew up in the 80s and some seasons, I spent every waking hour I could in front of computers and video game consoles, starting with a C64 and an Atari. Perhaps children obsessing over a video games has become more widespread, but it's not new. If someone threatened to take away my Sega Master system in 1987, I would have seen that as very dire.

</comment><comment><USER42> The decline in playtime for all is a major concern. It is difficult to find a group to play any pick-up sports e.g., basketball. Even adult leagues are difficult, as no one really commits, just shows up when they can, if they have nothing else better going on.

</comment><comment><USER43> My sister has a 5-year-old son. I asked her what toy I should get him for Christmas. She said, "Oh, he doesn't play with toys anymore. He only plays video games." I was aghast. A 5-year-old who ... doesn't like toys? It can't be healthy. And the really sad part is that my sister doesn't see a problem.

<comment><USER31> ofc it's healthy

there's no extensive evidence that it's not healthy, and by default everything is 'healthy', if the kid is happy, along with the various other metrics, then they are healthy

games can be a toy, but most video games are not toys, and almost all are designed to be competitive. toys are not competitive things

play is not about it being healthy or not, it's about if play is desirable or not

\--

as 'kirion25' wonders in their comment, the problem is that almost nobody knows anything about play

for example one person mentions activities/functions that is leisure, and not everything within leisure is play (play is a subset of leisure)

nobody knows if there's any decline or incline in play, where's the extensive evidence that of play's claimed decline?

[https://dynamicland.org/](https://dynamicland.org/)

<comment><USER44> I dunno. Playing with toys is an important way to build and practice fine- motor skills, and that won't happen by touching a screen all day.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER45> Is there a corresponding decline in the quality of adult playtime? Is the always connected 24/7 on call lifestyle of parents the root cause? I have to imagine there is some hypocrisy in living that lifestyle and expecting your kids to do otherwise. What about taking electronics away from the _parents_ first?

</comment><comment><USER46> As a child I spent my afternoons with an air rifle in the African bush on my grandfather's farm. Good times. Now I spend 12+ hours a day in front of a computer.

<comment><USER47> Ha, exactly what my wife told me when I shared this article with her.

</comment></comment><comment><USER48> This honestly scares me so much. I have a 14 year old brother. I've tried very hard to make him workout, join a soccer team and try to draw in his free time. But there are no kids running around outside, they don't ask each other to hang out. They don't do anything.

</comment><comment><USER49> Urban planning contributes to this problem. It makes no sense to let the kids roam outside when you cannot get anywhere without a car.

</comment><comment><USER50> It's weird how no one disputes the term quality in the title. Why is technology-based playtime not considered "quality"? Doesn't it demonstrate a biased view of the issue?

Don't get me wrong, I also think there might be a problem in how kids grow up nowadays. But in my opinion, it lies more in the variety of entertainment offered to youth, rather than mobile phones/internet/video games being bad.

</comment><comment><USER51> I grew up staying out past sunset daily, rain or shine, playing street hockey, building ramps and forts until I was in highs school. My wife is from Italy and having lived there I see guys my age who are just as street smart/adventurous and well rounded but grew up in apartments with a very different childhood. Americans think our experience is so special :/. That is the phenomena

</comment><comment><USER52> This view seems to be highly dependent on where you (and your kids) live.

If there's a sense of a community, kids do have chances to play together and outside. The parents too have a reasonable feeling of safety for their kids. It goes without need to prove that most parents would rather have their kids learn an autonomous way of playing as soon as possible. This should free the parents' attention for their own 'playtime'.

However, if such community does not exist, so goes away that sense of security and those helicopters go hover.

The author's nostalgia likely relates to that community. Was it in early suburbia or a quiet village where 'everyone knows your name'?

In present day metropolises, despite the density, the residents feel more apart. Meanwhile, the suburbia closed inwards.

But kids being kids find ways to adapt... to their parents way of living. If anything to change, that should begin with the parents' view of their own 'playtime'. Camping, or being outside playing? Please, just find fun chances to step out, the kids would follow!

</comment><comment><USER53> I had both experiences of a forest and urban area. I lived in western MA backed by woods up until 4th grade. Then I moved to the San Fernando valley. I think starting around age 6-7, I walked/biked everywhere, usually to a friends house, or a park/woods to play.

I also went to a magnet public school for middle/high school. It seems in as if everyone sends their kids to private school in San Francisco now which seems crazy to me. Did schools get that bad in the past 20 years?

</comment><comment><USER54> I signed up to take Taekwondo with my daughters. We have a ton of fun both in class and practicing forms and kicks at home. It's a great source of confidence and pride for them. Some of the classes are self-defense / anti- bullying oriented, too, which is nice. It's a really fun parent/child activity that I'd recommend for anybody.

</comment><comment><USER29> I highly recommend everyone to read the book The Coddling of the American Mind. A large chunk of it is dedicated to this very question: why children have much less play time today than in the past, how it's harming them and what to do about it.

Its conclusions are fairly counter-intuitive, but the reasoning is very convincing and backed up by lots of cited research.

</comment><comment><USER55> Recommend: [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23168823-how-to-raise- an...](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23168823-how-to-raise-an-adult)

</comment><comment><USER56> Thanks!

</comment><comment><USER57> With globalism, your kids are now competing at a global level. And when you are competing with kids from 3rd world countries that are spending all their free time learning and studying, many of which are immigrating to the U.S. and entering the U.S. job market, there is no time for "play" if you want to make sure you have the competitive edge needed to land a decent job.

<comment><USER58> The countries where kids are spending all their time studying are not "third world countries."

<comment><USER57> Yes, it is mix of first and third world countries. I chose third world in my example as it relates to the tech industry from my perspective. Not sure why you felt like you had to point that out.

<comment><USER59> It's not even called Third World anymore. That's a pretty old term.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


From file-sharing to prison: A Megaupload programmer tells his story - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/06/from-file-sharing-to-prison-a-megaupload-programmer-tells-his-story/ <comment><USER2> > I had to be made an example of as a warning to all IT people who were > intending to work in similar companies.

That's scary. I'm supposed to police my employers actions? To some extent I can understand, but that puts a lot of IT people in awkward positions. Do Dropbox employees need to worry that infringing content is being taken down fast enough, lest the face prosecution?

I didn't follow Megaupload too closely, so I hope I'm blowing this out of proportion...

<comment><USER3> > Do Dropbox employees need to worry that infringing content is being taken > down fast enough, lest the face prosecution?

Not as long a Dropbox doesn't offend the wrong people.

<comment><USER4> Not as long Condoleezza Rice is on the board.

<comment><USER5> If saying an employee acted without authorization and/or tampering with the papertrail will save a few million in fines then you better hope no one like that is on your board. But your stock options will be safe.. though you probably wont be entitled to them.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> So basically employers/entrepreneurs get all the rewards if their companies succeed but if they fail, it's the employees who take the fall.

And then, when things do work out, these 'entrepreneurs' are the ones who boast about how they overcame adversity in the face of impossible odds.

Now I understand why Donald Trump is so popular in the US. People just lost all faith in the system; so they might as well get some entertainment out of it.

<comment><USER7> I wouldn't exactly say that the system has let Kim off at all. Sure, he hasn't spent any serious time in jail, but it's just because the U.S. hasn't been able to get him extradited. In fact they've pursued him so aggressively that it's helped his fight against extradition.

<comment><USER8> And the other employees and Kim probably didn't come voluntarily to US. The US government would be happy to have Kim thrown to prison as well, but they haven't been able to catch him.

"Like Dotcom, Nõmm next spent a significant amount of time fighting extradition. But eventually in 2015, he voluntarily traveled to the US and was arrested in Virginia."

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Some of the coders from Lovoo (dating site/app) may be next. They created fake bots for male customers which the german IT magazine c't reported on last year based on a set of Outlook mailbox dumps they were handed. Now the police raided Lovoo HQ.

[https://mopo24.de/nachrichten/razzia-grossaufgebot- polizei-s...](https://mopo24.de/nachrichten/razzia-grossaufgebot-polizei- stuermt-firmenzentrale-von-lovoo-69557)

[http://www.heise.de/forum/c-t/Kommentare-zu-c-t- Artikeln/Int...](http://www.heise.de/forum/c-t/Kommentare-zu-c-t- Artikeln/Interne-Mails-bekraeftigen-Abzock-Verdacht-gegen-Dating-Plattform- Lovoo/The-LOVOO-SCAM-BEWARE/posting-24557526/show/)

[http://onlinedatingsoundbarrier.blogspot.de/2016/06/fraud- wi...](http://onlinedatingsoundbarrier.blogspot.de/2016/06/fraud-with-fake- profiles-police-raid-on.html)

What's the thought process behind documenting the illegal activities in email threads? It makes you wonder if they honestly thought they were just developing test bots for QA purposes.

<comment><USER9> What's the actual law/potential charge behind the Lovoo situation? Creating fake users to make a Web site popular is hardly new: [http://motherboard.vice.com/read/how-reddit-got-huge-tons- of...](http://motherboard.vice.com/read/how-reddit-got-huge-tons-of-fake- accounts--2) .. In the UK, at least, I believe what Lovoo appears to have done would be treated as false advertising which generally results in fines for the company, but not jail time for employees (at least, in my limited experience reading about such cases).

<comment><USER3> IANAL, but tricking paid users to believe they're in contact with real humans, with whom they have the hope of getting into some relationship, is on another level.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I do not understand how the US can charge someone with copyright infringement if that person is not a US citizen and has never been to the US. Is there an international agreement on how to handle infringement? Can Americans be extradited for infringing upon copyrights from other countries?

<comment><USER11> I assume if you are involved in stealing property from folks in the US (I assume many of the owners of the stolen material are American companies), the US has the right to extradite you. Seems reasonable to me.

<comment><USER12> Sure. Is that reciprocal? Would the US extradite a US citizen from the US to eg France to face prosecution for copyright infringement?

<comment><USER13> Haha, thanks for the good laugh!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Clearly our prison system in the US is terrible. Of course most other countries are even worse but you'd think we would be more civilized. It's also embarrassing that the only person they were able to put in jail was a simple programmer.

<comment><USER15> I don't know if it's available any more but there was a series on The History Channel ( from back when it had, y'know, history on it ) called "The Big House" with Paul Sorvino narrating that covers how this came to be.

I realized a massive high school being built in my (then) home town had an architecture based on prison design. Not only were prisons a political innovation, but they had a lot to do with how architecture developed.

<comment><USER16> Have you more info on this? That is a pretty amazing observation. Did you mention it to anyone?

<comment><USER15> I did now :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> It's a little sad specifically his own government didn't provide him much help. Numerous other issues with the US aside, I've always been reasonably confident that if I'm out of the country, the American embassy will help me.

And going after the IT staff is pretty awful. Generally speaking, we're just there to make it work. While I make a point to work jobs and clients I think do good work and are moral entities, the reality is, IT doesn't generally decide what a company does or what messes they get themselves involved with.

<comment><USER18> See case of John Demjanjuk[1] . USA citizen was extradited twice: to Israel and to Germany as "nazi". After his death, FBI confirmed that they know that he is innocent.

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

<comment><USER19> > After his death, FBI confirmed that they know that he is innocent.

Nitpick: The FBI confirmed that according to their opinion one piece of evidence was a fake.

<comment><USER18> Major evidence is fake. Do you know any other evidences?

Throughout three decades of US hearings, an extradition, a death sentence followed by acquittal in Israel, a deportation and now a trial in Munich, the arguments have relied heavily on the photo ID from an SS training camp that indicates Demjanjuk was sent to Sobibor.

Claims that the card and other evidence against Demjanjuk are Soviet forgeries have repeatedly been made by Demjanjuk's defense attorneys. However, the FBI report provides the first known confirmation that American investigators had similar doubts.

[http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4056137,00.html](http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4056137,00.html)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> I have heard about the "Diesel Tour" before. It's a little disturbing.

</comment><comment><USER21> So this guy was jailed because he coded an advertising platform and a video hosting service. I know Mega was on a thin shady line, but what has he done wrong to be jailed in USA ?

<comment><USER22> The UK has a law called "Joint Criminal Enterprise" which is oft critiqued[0]. In America, this same concept is a de-facto legal and social standard to apply "Guilty by Association" wherever it can.

So, in the USA, it can be (incorrectly) argued - by very, _very_ high powered RIAA legal team - that this was aiding and abetting.[1] It's absolutely wrong, but this is the legal world we live in as developers.

[0] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_purpose](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_purpose)

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

<comment><USER21> All right, in fact, I think the law you explained is even fair and needed to prosecute some "Joint Criminal Enterprise". But in this specific case, how could it be "incorrectly" argued, "absolutely wrong" and not dismissed by a judge. I mean, how can you trust the justice if only the poor chap is the one going to jail. Yeah, I'm naive, I know.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> why not a interview with fbi or the DA? the "reporter" dont even mention if they were reached for comment.

yeah the little guy was screwed. we got that from the tittle.

<comment><USER24> This was an interview telling one person's side of the story, and it was presented that way I am all in favor of fair, honest and balanced reporting, but in this case I don't think anything was done incorrectly. This was not a "straight facts" piece, it was a subjective interview and clearly labeled as such.

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> I was hoping this would have some more detail about the actual allegations against him and his testimony and verdict.

</comment><comment><USER26> > I don't believe the US will help Estonia in any war. They also promised to > help Ukraine, but did they really?

No. No we have not, and it is to our shame.

</comment><comment><USER27> As someone working on a side project that allows people to upload data publically (think something like codepen), what can I do to stay away from trouble like this?

</comment><comment><USER28> "All Kim ever cared about was how to promote himself on Twitter."

In sum, he's a total scumbag. I thought he was a cool guy, but now I think otherwise.

</comment><comment><USER29> Crazy how the FBI has become the biatch of the american copyright mafia even to a degree of tromping and violating people's rights in other continents. GO USA!

What exactly was the claim against this software eng? By this article it almost sounds like the FBI (guided by the copyright mafia) fabricated a case against some defenseless software dev just to gain more leverage on dotcom.

<comment><USER30> Remember when GS got the FBI to arrest and prosecute a programmer who did nothing wrong? The arresting agents couldn't even articulate why they were arresting the programmer.

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> So this guy is in prison, but Dotcom is free?!

<comment><USER32> They're both free now.</comment></comment>


Happiness, Attention, and Freedom - <AUTHOR> http://blog.drbu.org/?p=1333

<comment><USER2> While it's true that "[some] identify freedom with license, the freedom to act on impulse", I never have. I simply define freedom as the absence of force or its immediate threat. That's always a good place to start, but as the author rightly observes, it takes discipline to use freedom effectively.

<comment><AUTHOR> Hey, fexl. I'm the author of the post. Thanks for the comment. Yeah, your comments reminds me of one of my Humanities Professors' assertions --that Western Philosophy for the past 500 years has been a dialogue and refinement of the definition of freedom.</comment></comment>


Protect solar system from mining 'gold rush', say scientists - <AUTHOR> https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/may/12/protect-solar-system-space-mining-gold-rush-say-scientists <comment><USER2> "...analysed how soon humans might use up the solar system's most accessible resources should space mining take off. They found that an annual growth rate of 3.5% would use up an eighth of the solar system's realistic resources in 400 years. At that point, humanity would have only 60 years to apply the brakes and avoid exhausting the supply completely."

<comment><USER3> So then obviously we would need to find a way to expand beyond mining the asteroid belt. The article says "...humans might struggle to mine the sun, or extract useful materials from Jupiter, a gas giant with more mass than the rest of the solar system's planets combined..." So those would be the obvious next targets, assuming we can't or don't expand beyond our solar system.</comment></comment>


States Take Aim at People with No Retirement Plan - <AUTHOR> https://www.wsj.com/articles/states-take-aim-at-people-with-no-retirement-plan-11593945474 <comment><USER2> [http://archive.is/3kvut](http://archive.is/3kvut)

Take aim is right, overly complicated accounts with rules designed for the financial sector to prey on people.

What we need is a universal savings account without all the malarkey.

[https://taxfoundation.org/case-for-universal-savings- account...](https://taxfoundation.org/case-for-universal-savings-accounts/)</comment>


Having fun with lawyers - Freetail Brewing Cease and Desist response. - <AUTHOR> http://www.freetailbrewing.com/images/stories/c_and_d_response_redacted.pdf

<comment><USER2> Small tip... using markers to redact text and then putting through a good quality scanner is not fully effective. It's still mostly readable.

</comment><comment> ta-appdev Not sure who _really_ has fun with lawyers in StartupLand unless they're lawyers. Approving a payroll where the $pivotal_engineer_company_wouldn't_exist_without's MONTHLY salary is .00n the lawyer's fee for a billable week (and you know for nuts and bolts he's actually working 10 of the 40) makes you want to rage, rage against the dying of the stupid, startup light.

</comment><comment><USER3> Very reminiscent of David Thorne from 27b/6.. <http://www.27bslash6.com/overdue.html>

<comment><AUTHOR> lol...good one.</comment></comment>


1989 California Medfly Attack - <AUTHOR> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_California_medfly_attack <comment><USER2> Eradicating harmful insect species using CRISPR gene drives is so tempting. We could wipe out Medflies with it (without spilling a single drop of pesticide), and even more importantly, we could drive the mosquitoes that cause malaria/yellow fever/dengue/etc to extinction. There are a lot of worries about the side effects, but I'm equally worried about the consequences of failing to use it. There's a lot of attention paid to the 100k coronavirus deaths, and not to minimize those, but they pale in comparison to the equally tragic and preventable malaria deaths which go practically unnoticed.

<comment><USER3> Early in the days when nuclear physics found application, it promised to bring great benefit to society in addition to its tremendous utility in warfare. There are lots of opinions about this sort of thing, but it is a fact that our society has great difficulty dealing with nuclear waste. Furthermore, while accidents are rare, they have enduring impact in the locations where they occur.

Today, of all days, we all feel the impact of an uncontrolled and exponentially-spreading biological disaster. Gene drive can have a similar impact, if it goes awry.

To wield a weapon of extinction that we barely understand is folly. There are as many opportunities for loss of control through mutation as there are mosquitoes. While the biomechanics probably don't work out, it seems like a bad idea to attempt such an extinction when each of our tiny adversaries are equipped with hypodermic needles and a penchant for mammalian blood.

Your point regarding the consequence of _not_ acting is very well-taken. It only takes a day or two in a country with tropical disease to understand how crippling it is, not just to individuals, but to entire continents of people. The happiness of billions of lives does hang in the balance. Before going with the "nuclear" (or should I write "CRISPR"?) option, one should explore every other avenue to its end.

I'm a physicist -- I see in CRISPR all the good and bad that physicists encountered at the dawn of the nuclear age. Be real, real careful with it.

<comment><USER4> There are also other issues. Technology has advanced and information is more easily available. Nuclear technology has proliferated - even small countries can nowadays use it, and probably many large companies also could.

Biotech could be harmful in a massive way, done by a much smaller operator.

So "we" don't really get to say. Someone will just use these technologies. This is what Bill Joy wrote of in 2000, in the essay "Why the future doesn't need us". How do we organize society around this different harm dynamic?

EDIT: In some sense, nuclear technology is a great success story. Not used in anger since the second world war. Countries like Italy and Sweden had nuclear programs, but they didn't end up there. (Ariane and Vega solid boosters are Italian for that reason.) Political ways were found to contain it.

<comment><USER5> I hadn't imagined a large, energy intense company running their own reactor before reading your comment. What an idea to start the morning!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> There's a documentary on The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) that's really interesting. Many of them had noble goals, but their message was lost in the violence/destruction they caused. The FBI ended up letting one of the worst of them go after a plea deal where he ratted out other members who had moved on with their lives.

<comment><USER7> Hey, do you have a link to the documentary?

<comment><USER8> I believe the title of the documentary in question is If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front.

<comment><USER6> Yes that's the one. Thanks for looking it up. I highly recommend it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> This led me down a rabbit hole into the sterile insect technique, where large numbers of sterile insects are released to reduce the population.

Looks like Alphabet's Verily has been testing it on mosquitoes in Fresno: [https://blog.debug.com/2020/04/nature-biotechnology- features...](https://blog.debug.com/2020/04/nature-biotechnology-features- debug.html)

<comment><USER10> > large numbers of sterile insects are released to reduce the population

This has been done successfully on the flash-eating screwworm:

[https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/05/flesh- ea...](https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/05/flesh-eating-worms- disease-containment-america-panama/611026/)

</comment></comment><comment> say-vagnes > A person or group calling itself "The Breeders" took responsibility for the > bioterrorist attack,[4] as financial retaliation for the environmental > damage caused by the state's Malathion aerial spraying;

> It was instead ordered that, rather than 1-2 aerial sprayings of the > infected communities, more than a dozen sprayings would be necessary over a > period of months.[18] In addition, Malathion was no longer used alone, but > mixed in a 4:1 ratio with Nu-Lure0 bait to attract insects to the area.[19]

I know, I know, hindsight bias. But it is hard to imagine that an increase in the infestation would not result in an increase of the treatment for said infestation.

Take note, future protestors. Outcomes are the only thing that matters.

<comment><USER11> Sounds like it worked:

> Subsequently, three months after "The Breeders" announced the medfly > release, the state ended its decade-long Malathion program and sought > alternate ways to handle destructive insects.

<comment> say-vagnes Fair point, I suppose on balance their outcome was indeed successful. Thanks for pointing that out :)

<comment><USER12> > The group promised to make the aerial spraying program politically and > financially impossible through the coordinated release of thousands of > medflies.

It's not just that "on balance" they stumbled into accidentally achieving their goal. They achieved exactly what they set out to achieve, in the exact way they planned to achieve it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I am absolutely fascinated that some evil genius is out there threatening entomological terrorism.

<comment><USER14> I thought the same thing. Might make for a nice James Bond movie, complete with a love scene interrupted by a rabid swarm of flies.

<comment><USER15> That sounds like it'd play quite poorly among viewers.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> When I was a little kid in Long Beach I remember some days we couldn't use the drinking fountains at school and stuff like that because they (city? state?) had sprayed for medflies that day. I have no details, it's just a childhood memory.

I had no reason to access that memory except that it's here on HN. As a kid I had no idea there was anything more to it, but thanks to this post, now I do. Neat.

</comment><comment><USER17> Ironically, I remember the outbreak caused an increase in Malathion spraying, and being warned not to go outside on spraying days.

<comment><USER18> I remember the spraying and all the containment efforts, but somehow managed to be ignorant of the claimed agro-terrorism (although this was happening during my last year of college and my access to news was limited at best at that phase of my life).

<comment><USER19> Ditto - I remember the spraying and other control efforts but nothing about it being intentional, which is odd since it seems like a detail which would have gotten a lot of attention.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Thanks for the article. That's super interesting from several perspectives (eco, ethical, state response to threats).

I'm curious if there was any expert speculation on the identity of the attackers and what they would have likely known wrt the damage that was possible vs the state's reaction to it.

</comment><comment><USER21> This makes me wonder about the murder hornets showing up in the forests of Washington. Could it have been a misguided person who intentionally introduced them?

<comment><USER22> Don't give anyone any bright ideas or we'll end up with the sodomy geese next.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> > "...took responsibility for the bioterrorist attack,[4] as financial > retaliation for the environmental damage caused by the state's Malathion > aerial spraying".

Awkward— This paragraph is confusing, because it sounds like the complaint preceded the event that caused it.

</comment><comment><USER24> Just last week I watched the 1993 movie Short Cuts, and learned about this event. Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon at it's best.

<comment><USER25> I just watched _Short Cuts_ , too, so imagine my surprise reading your comment.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> This will almost certainly NOT be done deliberately.

This is a common meme. It always turns out false or not proven (because it's false). See Tasmania and foxes.

It is an effective technique to harm the population, but since there is no terror it makes for crappy terrorism.

You'd need an informed public for this to work.

</comment><comment><USER27> The article wasn't clear to me on cause and effect. Did the group really release medflies in response to spraying to contain them? Resulting in more spraying, for a few months at least? Sounds odd.

<comment><USER28> _Sterile_ male flies were released to reduce successful matings of queens.

<comment><USER15> That sounds like the solution that was partaken to resolve the problem?

<comment><USER28> They aren't spraying to kill the _sterile_ flies.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> "The Breeders"

<comment><USER2> That's where that band got their name from!

<comment><USER30> I thought that it's from a derogatory term for heterosexuals.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> > _A person or group calling itself "The Breeders" took responsibility for the > bioterrorist attack,[4] as financial retaliation for the environmental > damage caused by the state's Malathion aerial spraying_

Some of the most evil people on this planet are "good people" who believe the ends justify the means.

<comment><USER31> > Some of the most evil people on this planet are "good people" who believe > the ends justify the means.

Are you talking about the people who were spraying Malathion?

<comment><USER21> No, the eco terrorists.

<comment><USER31> So, the people indiscriminately mass-spraying a dangerous chemical that they don't even understand into the environment? I'm not sure I'd go as far as to call that terrorism, but I see why other people would. They do seem to be convinced that the ends justify the means, and care little for collateral damage.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Skype-cast (voice conference) for the start up community of news.YC - <AUTHOR> http://skypecasts.skype.com/skypecasts/skypecast/detailed.html?id_talk=511191&hash=33f5dec4c41edfe41c44 <comment><AUTHOR> I was posting a comment to the thread 'How old are you?' when I thought of taking the initiative to make this skypecast: Unofficial skypecast for the start-up community of news.ycombinator.com to share and discuss ideas, experiences or something to cheer them up.

Follow the link to this private skypecast on Mar 6th 2007:

https://skypecasts.skype.com/skypecasts/skypecast/detailed.html?id_talk=511191&hash;=33f5dec4c41edfe41c44

P.S. I hope PG is ok that I used the YC logo</comment>


Nifty Vim Tricks - <AUTHOR> http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2012/04/01/nifty-vim-tricks/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TerminallyIncoherent+%28Terminally+Incoherent%29&utm_content=Google+Reader <comment><USER2>
        YpVr=

        Yank line, Paste below, Select line, Replace with '='

        Yank the current line, paste it below, replace all characters with '='. Or in other words make a Markdown heading. You can replace '=' with any other character.

Hey, nifty, I didn't know that.

Hey, wait, I do that every day, exactly like that, and have been doing it that way for years. I just don't think of it as YpVr=, I think "make an underline" and it happens.

This is why I like Vim so much, it seeps into my brain and I forget "how" to use it, and just use it.</comment>


Pi calculated to 'record number' of digits - <AUTHOR> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8442255.stm

<comment><USER2> Much discussion already: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1032063>

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> A bit more information about it here <http://bellard.org/pi/pi2700e9/></comment>


Rediscovering a technique to shoot 10 arrows in 4.9 seconds - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zGnxeSbb3g

<comment><USER2> This is an incredible video, but I can't work out if the voice-over is a real person trying to sound like a machine, or surprisingly good text-to-speech synthesis.

<comment><USER3> It's very good text-to-speech synthesis. The voice sounds similar to "Mike" from [http://www.naturalreaders.com](http://www.naturalreaders.com) But I cannot be certain.

<comment><USER2> I gave it a quick comparison to Ivona (which was the best TTS engine last I checked) and found that by pasting in the first sentence from the video, both did a relatively poor job. Ivona was more natural sounding, but still wasn't anywhere near as good as the video.

I know Ivona has a phonetic markup language, so it's possible that the reason the video sounds so good is that someone has spent a lot of time tweaking it to get rid of any mispronunciations and misplaced inflexions.</comment></comment></comment>


Elon Musk works at a desk at the end of the Model X assembly line - <AUTHOR> http://electrek.co/2016/05/04/elon-musk-works-at-a-desk-at-the-end-of-the-model-x-assembly-line-sleeps-in-a-sleeping-bag-there/ <comment><USER2> > Tesla's President of Global Sales and Service Jon McNeil noted that the > automaker has been working through performance testing and that CEO Elon > Musk has been personally testing Model X's as they come off the assembly > line.

Isn't this bad management practice? I guess as a symbolic gesture of dedication, this is nice, but it seems like a failure to delegate properly. Certainly he could hire someone good at testing cars for much less than his leadership abilities are worth per hour.

Though I guess if it results in generating flattering news stories about Musk's dedication, it is worth his time... "CEO hires employees to do work" is a much less evocative headline.</comment>


NASA's Software Catalog - <AUTHOR> https://software.nasa.gov/ <comment><USER2> Obligatory: NOSA is not a free software license.

Details at [https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license- list.html#NASA](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#NASA)

</comment><comment><USER3> The site is not loading for me, but last time I looked, their github was better: [https://github.com/nasa](https://github.com/nasa)

Edit: Now that I typed this, the site is loading and it looks like they have added more stuff! Regardless, github link is helpful if you are interested.

</comment><comment><USER4> Site was having trouble loading for me so I found an archive of it: [http://archive.is/mvLFT](http://archive.is/mvLFT)</comment>


The Weird Science of Naming New Products - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/18/magazine/the-weird-science-of-naming-new-products.html

<comment><USER2> Weird, no mention of domain name search was made as part of the process.

I would think that one of the top points to research would be if the word.com was still available. I searched over 20 names listed in the article and all the .com have been registered.

<comment><USER3> That was defiantly in my top three.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Also apropos here is episode #5 of the Startup podcast, which features a look into Lexicon's naming process. (And a glance at the anxiety induced by having to decide between dozens of choices, which in this case resulted in them going with the somewhat milquetoast "Gimlet Media.")

[http://gimletmedia.com/episode/5-how-to-name-your- company/](http://gimletmedia.com/episode/5-how-to-name-your-company/)

<comment><USER5> The New Yorker had a story on Lexicon in 2011, too.

'On a Mind Map, someone wrote "strawberry." Then someone wrote beside it, "Strawberry is too slow." Placek pronounced the word—"Str-a-a-a-w-w- berry"—drawing it out. "This technology is instantaneous," he said. On the map, someone else wrote "blackberry."'

Honestly, though, most of these stories are fairly similar.

[http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/10/03/famous- names](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/10/03/famous-names)

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Anyone have resources to learn this sort of science (Morphemes, Feelings associated with sounds, etc)? I find it quite interesting.

<comment><USER7> Etymology resources:

free web, [http://www.etymonline.com/](http://www.etymonline.com/)

free Windows app, 1888 OED, 15000 pages searchable: [https://archive.org/details/oed11_201407](https://archive.org/details/oed11_201407) (modern CD version costs $200+ on Amazon)

$9 iOS app, English BigDict, [https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/english- bigdict/id397603643?...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/english- bigdict/id397603643?mt=8) (includes historical references to ancestral words in other languages)

$30 iOS app, Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, [https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shorter-oxford-english- dicti...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shorter-oxford-english- dictionary/id679638443?mt=8) (be careul, there are several similarly named apps made by licensees of the OED brand, this one has 600K words)

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Respace, Skylume, and Joyager.

I like all of these names more than Jaunt personally. That said, Jaunt isn't bad, it just reminds me of jaundice and taunt as eps mentioned above.

</comment><comment><USER9> Jaunt reads like a cross between "jaundice" (a common infantile condition and a source of worries for many new parents) and "taunt", which doesn't carry any positive connotations either.

PS. It's also not far from Joost and we all know how well that one go :)

<comment><USER10> But note: 'jaunt' is already a longstanding English word, for "short pleasure trip". (It's also been reused in a bunch of sci-fi to mean teleportation.) That makes secondary connotations recede somewhat, compared to if 'jaunt' were a truly new coinage that everyone needs to reason-out from roots/sounds.

<comment><USER11> Indeed - one might equivalently say that "taunt" sounds positive, due to its similarity to "jaunt".

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> They named it Jaunt by the way. It's the last word of the article.

</comment><comment><USER13> Why not just start a naming-contest?

It should be pretty simple to make a webapp for this kind of thing.

<comment><USER14> And the January 2015 award for "Technical Solution to a Social Problem" goes to…</comment></comment>