Mipsdis: a MIPS disassembler that runs in the browser - <AUTHOR> http://blog.loadzero.com/demo/mipsdis/demo.html <comment><USER2> See also: NestedVM which compiles MIPS assembly to Java bytecode.

[http://nestedvm.ibex.org/](http://nestedvm.ibex.org/)</comment>


The Best Steve Yegge Posts - <AUTHOR> http://sam-koblenski.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-best-steve-yegge-posts.html <comment><USER2> I feel like "Execution in the Kingdom of Nouns" should be there: [http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2006/03/execution-in- kingdom...](http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2006/03/execution-in-kingdom-of- nouns.html)

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah, I thought about that one, too. I felt like he covered a lot of the same stuff in other posts I included, but that was definitely a good one. It would have made the list a nice even 2^4.

<comment><USER3> If your mind isn't thoroughly made up, count me as another vote for that one.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I miss Steve Yegge! I go back and reread his posts every couple of months.

</comment><comment><USER5> Why is there a lime-green space in the middle of a sentence in the second paragraph? That was so distracting I failed to read the rest of the post.

It's very intentional, too, the markup goes:

        although a<span style="background-color: lime;"> </span>somewhat

Could it be a remnant of some grammar-correction tool?</comment>


Macbook Pro frying USB peripherals - <AUTHOR> https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8223635 <comment><USER2> First thought is that probably a SMD component has shorted itself out. Unfortunately that's default behavior for many SMD components -- short circuit instead of an open circuit.

If the power adapter supplies 20V (which sounds like it might), then any components which might have shorted them selves out could be passing 20V to the other usb power line right next to it.

The other side of the machine probably has another USB controller, which likely explains why it's fine.

So, in short, I don't think this is a problem with USB-C, just a bad luck of the draw that you got a failed component along the way.

Edited to add:

Louis Rossmann's macbook repair Youtube channel is pretty good at discussing why things fail for a mac. [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl2mFZoRqjw_ELax4Yisf6w](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl2mFZoRqjw_ELax4Yisf6w)

<comment><USER3> What is SMD?

<comment><USER4> He probably means SMT - surface mount technology.

<comment><USER5> SMT is the technology; individual devices are SMDs, or "surface-mounts" or "surface-mounted".

Beyond terminology, SMD are much harder for an individual hobbyist to desolder, replace and resolder than through-mount, but they are easier for pick-and-place machines to deal with.

If you're prototyping a simple device, you can start with a breadboard -- no soldering. Then you can get a circuit board printed to your spec and use the same components, for low-volume work. If you need high-precision placement, you will probably need to transition to surface-mount.

<comment><USER6> "Beyond terminology, SMD are much harder for an individual hobbyist to desolder, replace and resolder than through-mount, but they are easier for pick-and-place machines to deal with."

And SMD are smaller, allowing smaller circuit boards and smaller devices.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> As an electrical engineer - I think incidents like these are a pretty solid argument for incorporating overvoltage protection into 5V USB peripherals.

Even something as simple as a zener clamp with a polyfuse to make a dead- simple crowbar circuit will save a device and won't contribute a whole lot to BOM cost.

<comment><USER8> It's a bit odd, most older Macbooks have current limiting ICs on the USB ports. I've found this out when tinkering with devboards and accidentally shorting things. In fact most motherboards have some kind of protection for overcurrent conditions.

But USB-C isn't limited to 5V, power delivery is at 20V. That might explain what's going on here (since the user reports 20V on the output) - it thinks that the peripheral is a power hungry device and it's trying to charge it. That's a problem, but it could be that the peripheral is poorly designed and is mistakenly asking for power that it can't actually handle.

Edit: in this case the peripheral seems to be the Macbook charger... and plugging it in causes 20V on all the other outputs with only a dongle plugged in. Oops. Yeah not good.

I wonder what happens if you actually load the port? Perhaps it'll drop down to 5V? Or maybe it'll fry things.

That said, my comment above still applies: USB-C relies on _both_ devices to be compliant with the spec. Otherwise you can get into situations where one device fries the other, or tries to charge things it shouldn't, etc.

<comment><USER9> > most older Macbooks have current limiting ICs on the USB ports.

And thank goodness for this, early in engineering school I was doing a project on an arduino and because I was young and stupid I kept accidentally shorting power to ground. Killed at least 5 or 6 ATMega328's but the MacBook just helpfully chirped that I was drawing too much power and it was shutting off the port. Saved my ass at least a dozen times over.

<comment><USER10> This feature has been on motherboards going back to the 90s. I remember that some DSL modem was notorious for requiring a reboot of the computer because the USB ports stopped working.

The reality was that the modem was drawing too much power and the motherboard just disabled every port on the bus.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Oof. What a minefield USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 seem to be, still.

My coworkers had a situation where a certain combination of chargers and hubs plus bad luck (intermittent issue) fried some devices. That really shouldn't be possible. I'm quite happy to still have a mid-2015 MBP with its USB-A and MagSafe but it's only a matter of time before I get issued a machine without them (and probably no physical ESC key either)...

<comment><USER12> My experience with the new USB-C only macbook pro has been a complete and utter disaster.

I had one machine fail within the first month: all usb-c ports stopped responding. You can't charge it, you can't reset the SMC because it requires the charger to be plugged in (through a usb-c port... which isn't working! hurrah!), you can't dump anything from it to external media. Basically a paperweight. Returned to Apple.

The second machine is still up, but the "hub" that apple gives you the honor of paying 75 dollars for to get any subset of reasonable ports won't properly handle external displays and a usb-3.0 hub unless I plug them in in a very specific order.

I have to do that _every_ time I unplug the machine to go somewhere else. It won't accept the charger through the hub anymore, so I have to plug in multiple cords anyways. It won't handle multiple displays through the hub, so I have to plug in 3 connections.

Not gonna lie, I was very excited by the usb-c push early on since it consolidates all my chargers to a single cable.

On my XPS it works fine. There's only one port, but everything works as expected, it charges, it handles thunderbolt.

Apple screwed the pooch in a huge way with their latest macbook models. shittiest computer I've used in a long time.

I genuinely believe that apple's implementation of USB-C in their products is just crappy, since I've used other machines and docks without issue.

Throw on top that the battery life while running a VM on the thing is literally 1% drain per minute (I wish I was joking...) and I'd recommend literally anything other than the new 15 inch touchbar macbooks.

They're shitty machines for developers. Honestly, they're shitty machines for anyone, but they're particularly painful for anyone trying to work on them.

<comment><USER2> > On my XPS it works fine. There's only one port, but everything works as > expected, it charges, it handles thunderbolt.

Yes, I was disappointed by the fact my XPS only had one USB-C port, but on the other hand, it also has a standard charger port as well, which means I'm not bound by USB-C alone.

<comment><USER13> I recently bought the current generation XPS 13 (9370), and it now has 3 USB-C ports, two on one side and one on the other. You can charge on all 3 of them. Just being able to plug in the charging cord on either side of the device is immensely convenient, and reassuring because the single USB-C port was the first thing that failed on my last XPS 13 (9350).

<comment><USER14> Amazing how Dell is phasing in the new port, rather than just replacing all of the old ports with the new (immature) standard.

<comment><USER2> Yeah, I was disappointed about it at first, but now, I think Yeah, it's really good they decided to do what they did.

Most of my devices are still USB 3 standard, the only things I have which are usb-c are the phones.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> This happened to my work computer. Fortunately instead of frying the peripheral the port fried itself and now the furthermost port doesn't work.

I took it to my company's IT and they told me that apple laptops which around 20% of the workforce use, causes 80% of the problems.

He jokingly mentioned that if my company stops using apple computers he'd probably be out of a job.

<comment><USER16> I honestly believe you, but earlier this was posted: "IBM says it is 3X more expensive to manage PCs than Macs" ( [https://www.computerworld.com/article/3131906/apple- mac/ibm-...](https://www.computerworld.com/article/3131906/apple-mac/ibm-says- macs-are-even-cheaper-to-run-than-it-thought.html) )

(btw, I don't think it's true)

<comment><USER17> Maybe they shouldn't have sold off the Thinkpad line then. :-/

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> My work computer developed the same problem (MacBook Pro 15-inch, 2017). If the battery wasn't 100% charged and it was plugged into a charger, the mac reliably fried usb-c ethernet-dongles.

I took it to an Apple Authorized service provider and they called me, and said that the computer is just fine. To add insult to injury they even sent me a screenshot of a big green "passed" message.

</comment><comment><USER19> This happened to my machine! It fried almost all my peripherals including causing my USB keyboard to spark and smoke (ruining a $300 HHKB). After a bunch of frustration and a long week, Apple just replaced the logic board, but I am afraid the problem will return. I recommend bringing your computer in on any sight of weird shocks or sounds before all your data is fried.

<comment><USER20> Did they pay for your HHKB?

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> (slightly off-topic) Am I the only one who notices the static(?) happening when Macbooks are plugged in? Symptom 1, brushing your hand against the aluminium feels weird, this doesn't happen when you remove the charging cable. Symptom 2, back when I used wired headphones I could clearly distinguish the static noise when the system was plugged in, it would go away if I touched the laptop or, again, remove the charging cable.

edit: I'm in Tunisia right now, and every socket here seems to have the 3rd prong thingie which I can only assume it's the ground connection. So I can confirm petronic's account, no symptoms here whatsoever.

<comment><USER22> I have this problem often when I'm in Africa. Sometimes the case shocks me very lightly as well. I've always assumed it's a problem with lack of grounding and/or dirty power. (Had it with non-macs as well)

<comment><USER23> Yes, I'm in South Africa right now and this issue is very frequent. It helps some to use the two-prong plug on the charger instead of the three-prong plug. (If anyone can explain why that works, I'd love to know.)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> USB C PD is a negotiated protocol, the controlling chipset is not supposed to set VBUS to above 5V unless the sink explicitly asks for it. Unlike what people are saying here, it's not a matter of a simple component shorting out, the USB C controller must have a firmware error for this.

That's the theory. In practice, really, wtf is going on there, I have thought laptops didn't implement USB PD as a power source at all?? Why would the VBUS of different ports be connected together?

</comment><comment><USER25> Can confirm this. The new MBP with TouchBar has fried my USB Type-A Yubikey. I was ignoring the signs that it was getting quite warm, then one day it completely died.

<comment><USER26> I've melted two minis! I now use the larger yubi and just plug it in EVERY TIME I need to use it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> Few days ago I've bought previous generation Retina 15,4 with funny faces from sellers at my local Apple store :)

Great keyboard, dependable battery, Magsafe, ESC and other goodies :)

And I couldn't be happier - no crappy keyboard, no donglemagendon and other crap :)

<comment><USER28> I just sold my mid-2015 rMBP on Craigslist, but I won't be moving to the new one.

I tried the new ones, Windows 10 tablet hybrids, iPad, iPad Pro, and Android tablets. I settled on an iPad with a Bluetooth keyboard and LTE - I wouldn't have been able to do that had I not discovered Blink Terminal (an iOS MOSH/SSH client) and do most of my "real" work in the shell. Otherwise, I'd probably have ended up with an X1 Carbon running ArchLinux. I may still end up with a Carbon, but so far I've not been able to rationalize the expense.

<comment><USER29> What did you sell it for?

I just _bought_ a new 2015 rMBP (2.2 GHZ, 16GB, 256) for $1750 off Ebay in order to avoid the issues everyone else is having.

Yesterday it was on sale for about $1500 at BestBuy...doh

<comment><USER30> An office near me (we're moving into the same building) recently cleared out a lot of old hardware. I found 2 rMBPs among the 'broken' pile. One didn't boot, the other did boot but had a smashed screen. I took both, swapped the screens, and now have one perfectly working 2014 mid-range rMBP (2.5GHz, 16GB, 256GB, GT750) /for free/. Could not believe my luck! Easily fast enough to keep up with the current machines.

One man's trash ^_^

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> This happened to my work machine too! The notebook is top of the line MacBook Pro 15, 2017. It fried at least four USB-C to ethernet adapters. It is not isolated accident, at least two other people on my team had the same problem. Our notebooks came from the same batch (MacBooks were issued at the same day).

</comment><comment><USER32> Maybe Apple will offer a $29 bumper to install around the rim of your 2016/2017 MBP that just blocks the port since you are most likely using it "the wrong way" /s

I'm interested to see a few other people test this out though to see what happens. I'd test it myself but unfortunately I don't have access to a 2016/2017 MBP. Hopefully it isn't a widespread issue.

</comment><comment><USER33> I would love to see the look on the face of the guy at the Apple Store when OP pulls out the multimeter. No disrespect, but in my experience they're good at handling common issues and terrible when you have something unique.

<comment><USER34> Yep, I laughed when the only response on that forum thread was "take it to the Apple Store".

I doubt anyone in there would even know how much voltage should an USB port deliver.

I guess he can prove his point by asking the Apple people to plug their iPhone into the laptop and watch the thing catch fire.

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> Ouch! Pass through power mode for the lose. Next I would wonder if it were symmetric, which is to say if you plug the charger into the left furthermost plug, do any other plugs show up with 19V on them ?

I'm guessing someone "assumed" you would always plug the charger into the port closest to where the mag safe connector used to be.

</comment><comment><USER26> I have the two port version for work and it has MELTED two yubi keys. Certain combinations of doc, hub and charger results in audio failures and video tearing/blinking on secondary screens.

It's a joke.

</comment><comment><USER36> If it makes it any better, there's a comic about this from almost 10 years ago.

[http://bradcolbow.com/archive/view/the_brads_impossible/](http://bradcolbow.com/archive/view/the_brads_impossible/)

<comment><USER37> Oh wow, the Brads. I loved those! I think I am still subscribed to the RSS feed, but haven't seen new ones in a while :(

</comment></comment><comment><USER38> You need to buy an extra dongle to regulate the voltage properly. Apple sells one for $29.99

<comment><USER39> Without a monthly subscription? What a bargain!

</comment></comment><comment><USER40> This explains why two of my keyboards were randomly fried using the new macbooks.

Between this and the keyboard, these machines are disasters.

</comment><comment><USER41> My MacBook Air mid 2013 also fries peripherals via USB when idle or rebooting (even when unplugged from dc), happened twice.

<comment><USER42> That's a good warning, thank you.

</comment></comment><comment><USER43> This happened to me too, back in January. It managed to fry two different U2F devices as well as a cable, which were plugged into different ports. One of the devices got so hot before I noticed it that it actually melted the plastic on the U2F device itself.

Fortunately, it was my work laptop, and my company was able to replace it, but at best it's inconvenient to have to replace a machine, and it's kind of frightening to suddenly smell burning plastic in your home.

</comment><comment><USER44> Is this an isolated failure, or something wrong with _all_ MacBook Pros?

<comment><USER45> Given that this was posted back in January and nobody else has chimed in with a "my computer too" or "oh my goodness that's how my peripherals all died" post, I'm guessing it's an isolated failure.

<comment><USER46> This thread is filled with people complaining about the same thing

<comment><USER45> Yes, it is now. When I posted every single comment in this thread was FUD-dy, but it wasn't yet clear how common of a thing this was.

There's more evidence now, so I'm updating my prior.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER47> anecdata:

I actually noticed a popping sound recently when plugging in a USB receiver for my wireless mouse via a USB-C adapter. The adapter was already plugged in, and then I plugged the receiver into the adapter.

Since that happened, I've been putting the receiver into the adapter first, and then plugging in the USB-C adapter second, and haven't heard it happen since.

</comment><comment><USER48> "I would definitely take this MacBook to an Apple Store as this problem doesn't seem to be user-fixable."

<comment><USER49> I'm surprised nobody trolled and said the classic "have you tried turning it on and off again?"

<comment><USER14> Oh, and make sure to reset the PRAM

<comment><USER50> And reset the SMC, too.

<comment><USER51> Don't forget to fix permissions.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER52> Guess I'll stick with 2015 macbook for as long as possible.

<comment><USER50> My experience with my 2016 MBP is great. But sticking with your 2015 model is a good idea regardless. CPU speeds haven't really advanced since 2015, the screen is basically the same, etc. The only thing is USB-C/Thunderbolt. I love it, but I probably wouldn't upgrade my laptop for that.

</comment></comment><comment><USER53> Really too bad we called another incident Donglegate already.

</comment><comment><USER54> Had this same thing happen recently and came across this post. Wish I had thought of putting it on HN!

</comment><comment><USER55> My MacBook Pro 2017 provided by work is doing the exact same thing.

I had issues connecting multiple displays which eventually led to not being able to get a third display working at all, and finally anything connected to two of the USB-C ports would start getting very hot and emitting a burning smell.

Combined with the problems I've had with the keyboard on this thing, and problems getting mice to work without hideous acceleration or sensitivity issues, this might possibly be the worst development machine I've ever used.

</comment><comment><USER56> I had an issue with my Macbook Pro 2017 where they said there was a voltage issue. It made it so that the graphics card when being shut down would have artifacts.

</comment><comment><USER57> I feel good about waiting through this generation of MBP.

<comment><USER58> I've just been forced by circumstance to get a new laptop at work and it's a 13" MBP. Not happy.

</comment></comment><comment><USER59> This reminds me of an incident that was entirely my fault where I was using a USB dongle that allows you to use standard RC aircraft transmitters (joystick controllers) as input devices for software flight simulators and I somehow ended up sending a 3S RC battery (11 volts) through it to my computer monitor's USB port, completely frying the monitor.

</comment><comment><USER60> Something like that happened to me with my 17 inch Macbook Pro back in 2011 (?). I plugged in a USB stick there was a flash and then a big pop sound. The laptop went black and wouldn't power on for a few minutes. After a while it powered on and all seemed OK lasting until last fall when its video card died.

</comment><comment><USER61> Haven't really found a solution here, mostly complaint.

The closest I found last night was

> You need to buy an extra dongle to regulate the voltage properly

But I'm not sure which dongle it's referring to.

So what is the solution if any?

* Bring the MBP to an Apple Store? * Buy a dongle? * Don't use the USB ports ever again?

</comment><comment><USER62> I have a dongle for USB(-A) that provides only charging and no data transfers.

Is there a reverse option where you can buy a dongle that intercepts this madness with overvoltage protection or whatever?

</comment><comment><USER63> The current MacBook Pro can't be scrapped soon enough. What a mess.

Frankly if Apple just updated the old trusty 2015 MacBook Pro model to have 32gb RAM and a faster CPU, I'd be thrilled.

<comment><USER64> Which they can't. Intel CPUs don't support 32 GB RAM yet.

<comment><USER65> False. If you check Intel ARK, you can see, for example, the i7-2860QM has a max RAM of 32 GB (and this is a processor from 2011). Heck, the i7-8809G supports 64 GB.

<comment><USER64> We're speaking of mobile CPUs and LPDDR4, here. In other words, viable designs for laptops with good battery life that don't weigh 8 pounds.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER66> I have a 2017 non touch 13 and get a fuzzy pixelated screen for a few seconds after I open the lid after it's been asleep all day/night. Don't know if that's common.

<comment><USER67> 2017 13" with a touchbar, I get something similar under the same conditions. My guess is that the display is showing garbage that's in the framebuffer for a second before the OS can render the GUI.

<comment><USER66> I guessed something with FileVault causing a gpu issue when waking from sleep. Nothing else is wrong that I'm aware of. I couldn't find any answers or even questions on forums (or search well enough).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER68> Can confirm, I fried an HP Omen Accelerator eGPU unit and the left port on my MBP. Luckily, HP repaired the eGPU and the warranty covered the MBP.

</comment><comment><USER69> I had exactly this problem with my MBP, took it back to apple and they ended up replacing the whole logic board and 2 IO boards under warranty.

</comment><comment><USER70> Have you tried an SMC reset? It isn't impossible that this is a software or configuration bug.

</comment><comment><USER71> Jonathan Ive: "We need 100% of MacBook users to use my beautiful butterfly keyboard, regardless of the dust that screws up the key mechanism."

Tim Cook: "That's not possible- they can always just plug in a USB keyboard."

Jonathan Ive: "Is there nothing we can do to stop them from doing that?"

<comment><USER72> Why is that such a problem with this keyboard anyway?

My B button is sticking after just 2 months! I've been using Macbook Airs and Pros for about 8 years and never once had any issue with any of them until this one.

<comment><USER50> Get a can of compressed air and follow this procedure: [https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205662](https://support.apple.com/en- us/HT205662)

This helped my 2016 MBP, but also helped a friend with an older 2014 model.

<comment><USER73> That only makes sense if you have no memory... why would they have to post that unless the keyboard is crap? I use pre-emoji macbooks outdoors all the time and they keyboards are still fine.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER74> ouch, my wife has the non touch macbook pro 2016, I should warn her

ah well never mind, she doesnt really have any usb c peripherals.

<comment><USER75> The test setup shown uses a USB-C to USB adapter, so it would fry any non- USB-C device connected through an adapter.

</comment></comment><comment><USER76> My Macbook Pro fries itself.

</comment><comment><USER77> we experienced this in our office as well.

</comment><comment><USER78> I don't see this on mine. Something wrong with this dude's specific machine.

<comment><USER79> Well yeah. I don't think anyone is under the impression that Apple made a laptop that, by design, fries peripherals when it's charging.

<comment><USER80> It's #1 on the first page. It would be understandable if this was a widespread issue but it being a single case, someone must really hate Apple.

<comment><USER81> > it being a single case, someone must really hate Apple.

A question on Apple's own forum demonstrating a clearly dangerous hardware flaw is hating Apple? ..they really can do no wrong.

Also notice the "I have this question too" button which has been pressed 26 times.

<comment><USER80> I meant that more about pushing an unverified post on a user forum with no proof to #1 spot.

<comment><USER81> unverified? it's just voltage not intel ME.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER82> I recently purchased a macbook from apple. After one day I found out the mic did not work, when I received my first facetime call on the laptop. Since I was using the laptop for some projects I was not able to give it immediately back. I called apple support on chat, the person made me install update and restart mac, consuming 2 hours for no reason. Then I decided to goto the store. At the store they made me wait for 2 hours. Then I was able to present my new macbook without a functional mic. At the store I had the worst experience, the person basically took my laptop for 30 minutes, came back and said I spilled water, they did a test and handed me a 700$ bill to fix it! This was beyond me. I told the person, that I just bought it and it is hard for me to challenge a test that I don't know. It is possible I a drop spilled when I was drinking water/coffee on my laptop. I have a macbook pro, also it works great I have spilled some water on it, usual wear and tear, I don't have a problem with it. However the person was very adamant that I was lying and I better pay the fees or not waster their time.

Very confused about my situation, I contacted apple on chat again, and told them about my experience at the store. The chat person called their manager, who again threatened me saying that if I want to challenge their diagnostic test I can, otherwise I should stop contacting them. I have no knowledge about how to find out about this test, what it is, does it consider normal usage conditions of laptops or anything like that. If anyone has had similar experience or knows about this diagnostic test do share, I don't want to pay 700$ extra on a macbook

<comment><USER83> I had a similar experience with an authorised repair place - my keyboard went on the blink (as has been reportedly recently with all the touchbar MBPs. Upon opening it they found a coffee stain from where I had spilt coffee on it months before. Their response "we can't fix it sorry, Apple wouldn't allow it"...

<comment><USER84> same thing here for a MBA. Repair cost: at least 1000EUR assuming the display is not affected.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: How to import passwords from Safari to Firefox macOS? - <AUTHOR> Google came up with nothing. Is this possible? Firefox is working way better for me these days but I'm so enmeshed with apples eco system. Any way to import (or better yet sync) passwords from safari to other browsers? <comment><USER2> This might help [https://gist.github.com/rmondello/b933231b1fcc83a7db0b](https://gist.github.com/rmondello/b933231b1fcc83a7db0b) but it doesn't seem ideal. The author mentions the 'security' command line tool, maybe that could help?

</comment><comment><USER3> It isn't really easy - for hopefully obvious reasons the system keychain is super paranoid about releasing credentials.

It might be _possible_

IIRC you may be able to use the security (or possibly security2) utility on the commandline, but I can't recall the cmdline (or if it works with SRI enabled). It may also gate access on whether it is a development build.

</comment><comment><USER4> Uh... maybe try google.

<comment><AUTHOR> Surprisingly couldn't find anything on the big g. Thanks though</comment></comment>


Résumé Shows Snowden Honed Hacking Skills - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/05/us/resume-shows-snowden-honed-hacking-skills.html?_r=0&pagewanted=all <comment><USER2> Breaking news: Systems administrator took course to learn how to secure systems he was in charge of administrating.

<comment><USER3> We need the onion to get working on a retort article with that exact title asap.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> The media is writing for people of all ages. Many of which are middle aged and words like "hacker" still send some chills down their spine.

My propaganda filter is pretty accurate. After a quick skim I detected this as propaganda targeted at middle agers who are not quite up on internet culture.

Just like I saw on Fox today, they were alluding to the "next cyber 9/11" \-- FFS.

Sad.

<comment><USER5> You're right. But what bothers me is that it's _poorly_ written, using "certified ethical hacker" in quotes like it's some underground term to be sampled with punctuation, rather than Certified Ethical Hacker with capital letters to indicate the fact that CEH is a recognized cert for technology professionals.

Of course, drawing attention to CEH could turn it into a brake rather than a throttle for people who list it among their qualifications.

Also, "next cyber 9/11"? Ugh, disgusting. I don't think accurately describing how that makes me feel is within my ability.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> This seems like a stretch for no other reason than to connect the word "hacker" to Snowden. He was admin. He didn't have to 'hack' anything.

And they don't even have his resume... The whole story consists of "Someone we talked to said they saw his resume this one time and the word 'hacker' was on it, maybe."

Fuck you, NYTimes.

</comment><comment><USER6> Not a Snowden fan in the least but ignoring the fact that CEH certification is "highly valued" for quite a few DoD jobs ([http://www.eccouncil.org/Support/dod-8570](http://www.eccouncil.org/Support/dod-8570)), this reeks of attempting to write off terrible access controls and oversight on whatever network he had access to by pinning it on those terrible "hackers".

I am sure these hackers are going to need to be dealt with using new invasive legislation, right? So frustrating.

</comment><comment><USER7> Another "hackers are witches" article that sounds like it's out of the 80s. This journalist should be fired, or at least not allowed to write about this topic.

He took a security certification course, and not even an especially good one. Not a story.

</comment><comment><USER8> _> But the certification, listed on a résumé that Mr. Snowden later prepared, would also have given him some of the skills he needed to rummage undetected through N.S.A. computer systems and gather the highly classified surveillance documents that he leaked last month_

Oh, really? Are you sure? Dunno, such sensationalism, probably. He had access, I doubt he needed these ninja-hacker skills to do what he did.

</comment><comment><USER9> Why are we covering Edward Snowden, AGAIN?

NSA is still collecting to your emails, facebook, and other communications... I'm sure Edward Snowden would be happy to answer everything about him when the NSA stops doing all of that.

</comment><comment><USER10> Define 'hacker'

<comment><USER11> Lover of wisdom.

<comment><USER11> I hope you get the point here. There are about a couple million too many Socrates-types around, and this planet has way more than enough hemlock (along with various other death-remedies) to spare.

Not "welcome to this hacker space." "Welcome to your new barracks."

I thought teaching Python to my friends was cool, and y'know "giving back" to my community; little did I know that makes me a "hacker" and thus an enemy of the State.

I'm sorry I use vim. Does that make me an enemy of the State as well? Now I' Neo, out to spy on my friends and pillage their digital whore-stores.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Wouldn't it be interesting if one of Snowden's projects for the NSA was to be on a 'red team' testing its security... and what he discovered both enabled and motivated his later actions?

</comment><comment><USER13> He should apply to YC</comment>


Textmate dev still optimistic about Textmate 2 - <AUTHOR> http://lists.macromates.com/textmate/2010-November/031613.html

<comment><USER2> He's optimistic but still calls it vaporware. That's more optimism than I can muster. Anyway, I've been using Vim more and more and it's working out pretty well. In fact, as seems to be the nature with Vim, the more I use it the better it works out.</comment>


The Master Theorem, members-only society of puzzle solvers - <AUTHOR> http://www.themastertheorem.com/

<comment><USER2> Thanks for posting this, it was fun -- not least because there seems to be a trick on the third item.</comment>


Show HN: Cider — Hassle-free bootstrapping using Homebrew - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/msanders/cider <comment><USER2> Just wanted to say that this name is already used by (quite popular) emacs Clojure IDE plugin. [https://github.com/clojure- emacs/cider](https://github.com/clojure-emacs/cider)

<comment><USER3> It's also the name of a Wine dervative used for many Mac ports of Windows games. [https://www.transgaming.com/cider](https://www.transgaming.com/cider)

<comment><USER4> And was the name of an iOS / Android porting tool ([http://systems.cs.columbia.edu/projects/cycada/](http://systems.cs.columbia.edu/projects/cycada/)) until they realized how overloaded the name Cider is.

<comment><USER5> New name suggestion: Mulled

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Do you have to install on your own homebrew and homebrew cask?

I'm asking, because I am in the process of creating an Ansible playbook ([http://docs.ansible.com/homebrew_module.html](http://docs.ansible.com/homebrew_module.html) and [http://docs.ansible.com/homebrew_cask_module.html](http://docs.ansible.com/homebrew_cask_module.html)) and I want to write a small bootstrap script to install homebrew and homebrew cask first.

<comment><AUTHOR> It will install cask for you, but homebrew needs to be installed via the script on [http://brew.sh/#install](http://brew.sh/#install) (you also need to have Xcode or Apple's cli tools installed).

<comment><USER7> And you need pip :(

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> There was once a similar project also called Cider, created by Corey Donohoe (atmos) from GitHub. It was renamed to cinderella because of trademark infringement, so you might want to check that out: [https://github.com/atmos/cider](https://github.com/atmos/cider)

<comment><AUTHOR> This is good to know. Any suggestions for a better name?

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> See also [http://osxc.github.io](http://osxc.github.io) which builds upon Ansible (which is of course also built in Python).

But what if I use Homebrew to install a package (pyenv) to manage my Pythons to install cider to bootstrap Homebre...

StackOverflowException thrown. Comment aborted.

</comment><comment><USER10> Is this the type of thing that could have been built in to a fork of Homebrew and perhaps if people liked it been incorporated into the main distro?

I understand why things proliferate like this but it can be frustrating.

<comment><AUTHOR> I contemplated doing that (something like the brew-cask syntax), but it ended up not really being worth the complexity, especially when you consider that not all of the commands necessarily correlate to those in Homebrew (e.g. setting defaults). Might consider doing something like that in the future though, if it ends up that people aside from me want this.

It's also worth noting that even projects such as Homebrew Cask are also merely extensions to Homebrew (AFAIK, there aren't any plans of it getting merged in anytime soon).

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> I'd like to recommend Mackup for backing up machine config (and keeping them in sync) [https://github.com/lra/mackup](https://github.com/lra/mackup).

<comment><AUTHOR> I actually tried mackup a few weeks ago and had to wipe my machine because it messed up my settings so much (who would've thought backup could be such a dangerous command?)

Cider's approach is much safer since all it does is reinstall the components & settings you've specifically allotted it to. Rather than move all your various configs and caches around in an attempt to keep them in sync (which is, IMO, subject to headaches and not worth the hassle), the whole point of Cider is to keep as little state on your machine as possible so you can stop thinking about this stuff.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> [https://github.com/mwrock/boxstarter](https://github.com/mwrock/boxstarter) can help setup Windows machines for developers.

</comment><comment><USER13> Is it possible to create the configuration file from the current machine state, or do you have to create the configuration by hand?

<comment><AUTHOR> Right now it's updated whenever you install something with cider. You can update it with whatever you currently have installed using `cider [cask] missing`. Defaults are the same way - cider supports the same syntax as the `defaults` command, so you should be able to use it as a drop-in replacement in most cases.

Symlinks and scripts are manual, but I plan on changing that: [https://github.com/msanders/cider/issues/3](https://github.com/msanders/cider/issues/3)

<comment><USER13> `cider missing` fails when it can't find a formula and writes nothing to the file...

<comment><AUTHOR> Would you mind submitting an issue here with more info? [https://github.com/msanders/cider/issues](https://github.com/msanders/cider/issues)

Edit: pretty sure I fixed the bug - could you verify by trying the version on master?

        pip install https://github.com/msanders/cider/archive/master.zip

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Mmm, homebrewed cider...

But seriously, I really like this idea. You should definitely PR this into Homebrew though.

</comment><comment><USER15> Anyone else just skim the title and then get disappointed when it didn't actually relate to homemade booze?</comment>


10 Ways We Get the Odds Wrong -- Our brains are terrible at assessing modern risks - <AUTHOR> http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/index.php?term=pto-20071228-000005&print=1

<comment><USER3> Number four explains fear of flying, too. When you fly in a plane, you are completely at the whim of the pilot and various crews. In a car, your actions make a difference. I think that's a bigger factor than "spectacular and unlikely."

</comment><comment><USER4> Salmonella doesn't kill you - it just makes you wish you were dead.

<comment><USER5> Well I have had bad food poisoning. I did indeed wish for death.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Reminds me of the book - Blink, which explores the power of the trained mind to make split second decisions, the ability to think without thinking, or in other words using instinct. It describes our ability to gauge what is really important from a very narrow period of experience. In other words, spontaneous decisions are often as good as - or even better than - carefully planned and considered ones.

<comment><USER7> Yeah, Malcom Gladwell is a great psychological economist.

The questions at the bottom of the article are fascinating-- it really puts things in perspective.

<comment><USER8> Gladwell is a journalist who happens to cite a lot of social science stuff, not a psychologist or an economist.

I like his writing, but it tends to end up feeling like lots of anecdotes strung together without too much actual meat, sometimes.

<comment><USER9> What difference does it make what kind of ist he is?

<comment><USER10> Gladwell is an excellent writer, but he does overstate his case in that book to serve the interest of a very good, gut-level story. I didn't read the above to ding him - just to set the record straight.

I feel very negative in this direction about Psychology Today - <USER2> stories, but even less, much less, below the surface. Gladwell at least gives footnotes and references actual researchers. He serves a critical function and serves it very well. PT reads more like a tabloid of science journalism.

Regarding this article, people have won the Nobel Prize in Economics after showing, at least twenty-five years ago, how bad we are at judging real-life risks. The scientists doing that work? Psychologists.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospect_theory>

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> My sister's friend is an Emergency Room physician. After talking to her, you would be scared to leave your apartment and do something risky like crossing a city street.

</comment><comment><USER12> hmm</comment>


Adjectives, Uber and Internalizers - <AUTHOR> http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-06-03/adjectives-uber-and-internalizers <comment><AUTHOR> I like this fragment in the "Uber" segment: "The basic business plan of business is:

      Investors write us checks.
      We do business.
      We write investors checks.

That's why there is business. If the investors just wrote all the checks, it would be philanthropy. This leads to lots of confusion. People are endlessly worried about stock buybacks, because they think that the stock market should be a way for businesses to raise money, not to give it back to shareholders. But it has to be both. If the shareholders never got their money back, then why would they put money in in the first place?"</comment>


Aboard the barkentine Gazela Primiero, 1985 - <AUTHOR> http://imgur.com/a/AdDpK#0

<comment><AUTHOR> In the Spring of 1985 I was a member of the crew of a 180' wooden barkentine named "Gazela Primiero" on a trip from Philadelphia to Quebec City, Canada. A survivor of the Portugese Grand Banks cod fishing fleet, Gazela had been constructed in Lisbon in 1883, and had worked the banks until 1969, making her the last working wooden three-masted ship in the world. I took a bunch of pictures on that trip, and they all languished in a closet for 30 years until I dug them out recently and began to scan them. Here are 34 of the best images from the black and white collection.</comment>


Redefining dilution - <AUTHOR> https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/20/redefining-dilution/ <comment><USER2> Founders like Mark Zuckerberg care deeply about dilution because they want to remain in complete control of the company for as long as possible. If you're like that, the percentage matters more than the absolute dollar value of your shares.

Investors also often care about having the power to dictate the terms of future rounds and/or acquisitions. Dilution reduces this power, and humans are known to sacrifice a lot of good things in order to obtain and maintain power. Feeling powerless is very different from being penniless. This might explain why so many people are obsessed with percentages even at the cost of dollar values.

</comment><comment><USER3> I come from a non-finance background, but does anyone else find the concept of dilution rather inane? Wouldn't it be much more intuitive and rational for all parties involved if new shares couldn't be issued but rather existed strictly as a percentage of the company which can only be bought from some previous owner(s)? Who would be initially defined at incorporation.

I'm sure there is some reason the system is how it is, but I have no idea why that is the case.

<comment><USER4> If corporations couldn't offer new stock, they'd lose access to their primary source of funds. IPOs and VC rounds wouldn't exist, for example.

The whole point of dilution is that a growing company is not a zero-sum game, and so it's not necessary for somebody to lose their shares for somebody to get them. Instead, stock offerings allow new participants to buy into the corporation while giving existing shareholders a measure of the stock's worth (although they may not be able to sell unless the offering is coupled with listing on a public exchange, i.e. an IPO).

<comment><USER5> > If corporations couldn't offer new stock, they'd lose access to their > primary source of funds. IPOs and VC rounds wouldn't exist, for example.

Not necessarily. [Major] Shareholders could sell part of their stock and invest in company or as in OP's case not sell all issued stock right away. I think OP's point is that majority shareholders by issuing more shares dilute themselves at the expense of all shareholders, i.e. it is possible to issue more shares by diluting major shareholder 80% -> 60%, than by selling 25% of their holdings).

I agree that new money could be a catalyst for further growth and increase total value held by each shareholder, but shares are also ownership and share dilution irrecoverably reduces ownership stake. I guess that was OP's point

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> This seems to be missing something very important to me. Yes if your ownership goes from 10% to 8% but of a more valuable company you don't lose money. But presumably you were hoping the company would do well and be worth 10 times as much in the future, and your 2% loss of that future value is much more significant.</comment>


Ask HN: Advice on promoting my next free ebook - <AUTHOR>

Next monday I'm releasing a new free ebook. A big reason for the success of the both The Little MongoDB Book and The Little Redis Book is because 10Gen and the Redis community really took the advertising to a level I had never expected.
This new ebook is different. It's more personal and it won't have the same type of community support as the last two.
Anyone have advice for how to best promote a free tech book? <comment><USER2> I don't have experience in ebooks but I did just release a free album and I think there may be some crossover. Here's some stuff that worked for me:

1\. Make sure it as easy as possible to access your work. Even though it is free, you are still asking a lot from your readers by asking them to pick your content over all the other content out there. For example I made a built-in player for the website and a one-click download link.

2\. Send a brief email to people you respect within the community. This could be bloggers, other writers, forum posters. For the last year I collected a list of websites that I liked and when the album was done I had a nice list of people to contact.

3\. Accept donations! I was surprised by how many people wanted to give me money. There's nothing wrong with this if you don't be a jerk about it.

I guess this is mostly pretty obvious, and there's no substitute for having good content!

</comment><comment><USER3> Who is your most likely reader? If you start with that, then locating your readers and presenting your value proposition should flow naturally. Marketing "free" is just marketing - you just have a lower sales barrier when you reach your audience.</comment>


Harvard Thinks It's Found the Next Einstein – And She's 23 - <AUTHOR> http://secondnexus.com/technology-and-innovation/23-year-old-einstein/ <comment><USER2> "I couldn't believe it," recalls Peggy Udden, an executive secretary at MIT. "Not only because she was so young, but a girl."

Hah, this comes across as _incredibly_ patronizing.

Seriously though, whenever someone in a position of authority makes a prediction of "the next Uber", "the next Einstein", or "the next Silicon Valley", I am instantly extremely skeptical.

<comment><USER3> It might help to note that specific quote was in the following context;

Pasterski first attracted the attention of the scientific and academic community after single-handedly building her own single-engine airplane in 2008, at age 14, and documenting the process on YouTube. [1]

At age 16, she piloted the aircraft herself over Lake Michigan, becoming the youngest person ever to fly their own plane.

Then comes the quote.

If this quote was referencing 23-year old Sabrina I agree it would be patronizing. In reference to a 14 year old building an airplane and then flying it, I'd say it's pretty spot on.

Seriously, watch the video.

[1] - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blVmHo_8bmA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blVmHo_8bmA)

<comment> r00t- She's not a genius, she's rich. I'm sure a lot of people could build amazing things but don't have the money or family support to do so.

<comment><USER4> Same with the "did nuclear fusion in their bedroom" crowd. Although both (planes and fusion) demonstrate a certain level of capability. But the steps to take are already known, doing it takes initiative, ability to understand the steps and the money to pay for it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> At the age of 23 Einstein had just found a boring job, out of the public eye, that left him plenty of time to dream and think big thoughts [1]. Untimely attention from Harvard might well have ruined all gifts he was about to give to physics.

[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annus_Mirabilis_papers#Backgro...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annus_Mirabilis_papers#Background)

</comment><comment><USER6> "That's nice, but what have you done lately?"

Awesome mantra! How about she's the first Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski instead? These comparisons are super weird, I'd love to hear more about what she's actually invented, rather than lazy Einstein comparisons.

</comment><comment><USER7> Hmmm. The marketing machine needs more fodder to cull the rich for money. Isnt Harvard's endowment big enough that they are capitalizing on her? What better use of young talent than to prostitute it?

Let her be. Look at her web site. Two pages of real science and the past two years it looks like she is a pop music superstar or athlete. I get it that they are trying to say "yeah for women!" and encourage the scores of despondent, underachieving women who have been squashed by the white male machine. But really, instead of having her talk everywhere, why not simply have her tutor young women students to excellence.? I'd rather see her as a consultant to the young women's center for STEM

</comment><comment><USER8> My first reaction is to think - I hope my girls can take inspiration from Sabrina.

But taking a second to think about it, she's an inspiration to _everyone_. She just got on with it and built a plane. Starting something, finishing something - and at that age - is impressive. Never mind all the talents she appears to have.

</comment><comment><USER9> I'll bet large sums of money their perdiction is wrong.

</comment><comment><USER10> The article is predictably light on details. Other than being young, building a plane, and having a great GPA at MIT, what leads them to believe she's the "Next Einstein"?

<comment><USER11> Builds plane at 14.

Graduates MIT in 3 years with the best possible GPA.

Internet commenter: "yeah but so what"

<comment><USER10> Other Internet commenter: "I completely missed the point."

They don't even mention what her PhD research is about or what has led them to believe that said research is as revolutionary as Einstein's work.

<comment><USER11> It's a headline on the internet, not a thesis statement

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> No pressure!

</comment><comment><USER4> For her to be next Einstein, she would have to revolutionize physics somehow. Even then, it would be questionable, because she already seems to be acknowledged by the physics world, whereas Einstein was relegated to working in a patent office rather than academia when he made his discoveries.

She sounds super-cool and smart, but the Einstein comparison is just weird. Also there are probably many other smart kids in physics, too.

<comment><USER13> The wider public tends to love the idea of comparing smart people to Einstein...I wouldn't think much on the comparison except that it is a statement that she is unusually smart.

<comment><USER10> > I wouldn't think much on the comparison except that it is a statement that > she is unusually smart.

Well according to the article, it's Harvard University representatives making that assertion. They would obviously know better than to make statements like that casually.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> This is a ridiculous article.

Pasterski looks like a smart student who is good at personal branding, and is ultimately being exploited to be some sort of PR coup for the university.

Regardless of her genitalia, it's better to actually do something before seeking affiliation with luminary figures like Einstein. The "next Steve Jobs" Elizabeth Holmes comes to mind when I read bullshit PR like this.

</comment><comment><USER15> This headline is going to generate a lot of negativity because a comparison to Einstein invokes an image of someone that fundamentally revolutionized bedrock scientific theory for an entire discipline, not "just" off the charts intellectual prowess.

<comment><USER10> Well I mean duh, she built a plane, went to MIT, and she's a woman. Of course she's the next Einstein.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> she hasn't finished her phd yet, lets see what sort of research she can do before we sing her accolades. She may go work in finance yet (and there is nothing wrong with that).

<comment><USER17> Honestly, it would be very disappointing if she wasted her talent in finance. We need more brain power to focus on runaway climate change. It's the top priority of our species, if we want to survive the next century.

<comment><USER10> > We need more brain power to focus on runaway climate change.

Doesn't sound like that's her field of study, so I guess she's wasting her talents then.

<comment><USER17> Snappy remarks are not welcome here, especially if you misunderstand my comment. If she's really gifted, I hope she pursues meaningful research.

<comment><USER18> "Meaningful research" is incredibly subjective.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Just a heads up, there's a page 2 to the article that mentions her research papers. I missed it until I saw a comment. Guess my mind thought the continue button was an ad.

</comment><comment><USER20> [http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2007/02/25/...](http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2007/02/25/the- cult-of-genius/)

</comment><comment><USER21> Wishing her the best.

</comment><comment><USER22> Fantastic.

A shame about the comments on the article.

<comment><USER23> I agree, it's barbaric.</comment></comment>


ADHD: A Lifelong Struggle - <AUTHOR> https://gekk.info/articles/adhd.html <comment><USER2>
      If you have ADHD, everything you've ever accomplished was
      done this way even if you don't realize it. How functional
      you are with ADHD depends on its severity but also on
      whether you learned, by chance, how to trick yourself. Some
      people pick it up on their own but others need help. If they
      don't get it, they just get left behind.

I'm one of the lucky ones who stumbled upon a compensatory behavior. Even as an adolescent I would consciously find some hook to latch onto in order to maintain interest in a subject or task; if I didn't _actively_ nurture an interest I had no hope of staying focused. Usually that involves going down the rabbit hole of some esoteric detail of a subject, or adding an "experimental" aspect to some task. The follow through is almost incidental to the compensatory device, but to others it looks like the polar opposite to ADHD--like I can maintain interest in _anything_. Well, I _can_ maintain an interest in anything, but I've spent a lifetime developing that skill because without interest I cannot focus.

This is probably also why I have a terrible time working in groups. When I'm working on a task I _have_ to be free to go down the rabbit hole on some esoteric detail. If I don't I may lose interest and then it's a lost cause. In a group you have to follow the direction of the group, which means I have to very consciously and deliberately maintain a keen interest in both the subject material and the group dynamic. That's 3x times the work--concentrating on the primary subject material, thinking about fascinating details of the subject material, and thinking about fascinating details of the group dynamic--and just incredibly exhausting.

Sometimes I wonder if so-called adult ADHD is simply what happens when someone who compensated well as a kid reaches the limits of those compensation behaviors. As responsibilities accumulate you have less time to nurture and pursue constructive, topical diversions.

</comment><comment><USER3> tl;dr

jk :D

Lots of this sounds familiar. Perhaps I need to see my doctor!</comment>


How to test && commit || revert - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@barlindhaug/how-to-test-commit-revert-e850cd6e2520 <comment><USER2> Reminds me of "nightmare mode" command-line. Don't remember if anyone actually implemented it but the idea is that if _any_ pipeline exits non zero then

      rm -rf --no-preserve-root /

is executed.

(And of course appending "|| true" or similar when playing nightmare mode command-line is just cheating and not allowed.)

Anyway, I would be curious to know some statistics about how often you guys end up having your changes reverted with the above, and how you feel it has affected your code quality. Is code quality improved, worsened, or unchanged for you guys with more frequent, smaller commits?

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm one of the coders mentioned in the post. We did not collect any stats other than what was committed to Git and individual shell command histories. We really want to try and collect stats somehow, though.

I'm undecided about if I feel the code quality is better. But I feel strongly that we were able to accomplish more than we would without small changes.</comment></comment>


Little Known Hacker News (2008) - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2008/03/10/little-known-hacker-news-is-my-first-read-every-morning/ <comment><AUTHOR> As I was not there when all this happened, I decided to investigate and find out more about what it was like back then. I was surprised to find that the group of people who truly affected HN the most after this article was the old- timers and not the new "digg-like users"[1]. Users reacted as if this was the end of HN and immediately grouped all new users into one that many despised. If you want, you can look for yourself: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=133440>

The new users probably did not create as much trouble as people had thought they would. Rather, the older users created the high tensions between the two groups. This all led to excessive discussions that has been prolonged for years. Unfortunately, this article has inspired many people to continue doing so (my bad!). All of this small-talk is what's really been hurting HN.

For those that want to compare HN before and after TechCrunch's article, here is what the homepage looked like:

Before: [http://web.archive.org/web/20080308054301/http://news.ycombi...](http://web.archive.org/web/20080308054301/http://news.ycombinator.com/)

After: [http://web.archive.org/web/20080312014516/http://news.ycombi...](http://web.archive.org/web/20080312014516/http://news.ycombinator.com/)

A lot of people here on HN (pg included) agree that the site quality has gone down a little over the past few years. As this is probably the result of the number of users and we know that TechCrunch has contributed to that number, we can safely say that the two are somewhat correlated. However, the heated discussions and behavior that has come as a result are probably more worrisome than the new users themselves. Just something to think about.

[1] - <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=133446>

<comment><USER2> I'm not sure the trouble is that new users would create "trouble" as originally foreseen, but that new users represent a wider area of the population. For a site which aims to a high standard of discussion, regression to the mean is just as dangerous as "trolling."

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> ... and a thousand geeks cry "Noooo!" in unison.

Why do so many people think that HN will be ruined if a few more people join? I've been reading HN a lot longer than my account's age implies and I don't think the quality has changed.

The only real problem if you ask me, is that with more people submitting stories, things will not stay long on the /newest page.

In my opinion it's better to have 100 stories with 20 comments each, rather than 10 stories with 200 comments and the usual huge thread under the top comment.

<comment><USER4> I think I've noticed three things. It's hard to say for sure, but I think these three are true -

1\. Raw nastyness has gone up. Profanity, insults, and sarcasm in disagreement. HN was _super_ civil 2-3 years ago. Now it's still far more civil than anywhere else, but gently declining.

2\. Stupid arguments that agreed with the dominant view of a thread used to be left alone or even get downvoted. Now I see sometimes where a reasoned critique is at 1 point, but a response going, "How could you even think that? Everyone knows that isn't true" - proof by assertion type stuff - get voted up.

3\. Also, very lately there's been a marked increase in the class warfare/social justice/inequality vibe filtering in. Whether you think that's a good thing or a bad thing depends on your views, but it was less like that a few years ago.

<comment><USER5> Also more people seem to vote based on whether they agree with something rather than whether it adds to the conversation.

<comment><USER6> Voting based on agreement has been going on since at least 1078 days ago (which is before when I registered as a user, after about a year of lurking beforehand).

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=117171>

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> An important question for a retrospective posts is why has HN not degraded as quickly over time as other sites?

I think the key game mechanic increasing the longevity of Hacker News is the minimum karma threshold necessary to downvote comments. In effect, it requires new users to undergo a period of socialization to community norms. During this period they train in recognizing what the schema for comments containing negative informational value looks like. First out of fear, then out of mandate as an acquired power.

If you ever want to keep a community alive, implement similar withheld powers of negative punishment and adjust the level of input work required to earn them.

<comment><USER8> Ironically, solipsist, the user who posted this, has an account less than a month old with 2120 karma. Based on my casual observation of the new stories page over the last month this user submits a lot of stuff. There's not necessarily anything wrong with that. But submitting a lot of stories is a good way to get lots of karma quickly, since stories are voted up more highly and it takes almost no time to do.

I agree that the downvote karma threshold has been instrumental in maintaining the quality of discussion here on HN, but it seems like it's too easy to get around by submitting lots of stories. And that drastically reduces the socialization period.

<comment><USER7> You're definitely right, solipsist has submitted 26 articles so far today!

The obvious solution is to limit the number of articles you can submit a day to, say, 1. Increase the scarcity of the resource to increase value of what it's used for and limit the power of karma farmers and spammers.

<comment><USER9> Another option is to have story submissions not count towards karma. Presumably one should submit a story because they think the community will benefit and they want to share it. If you give people cookies every time they submit something, you'll end up with people who only want the cookies.

See this thread: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2066572>

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Was this the time that everyone posted Erlang stuff to make the site look more boring? I never learned so much about an obscure programming language in a single weekend.

</comment><comment><USER11> This article back in 2008 is how I found HN in the first place :)

<comment><USER12> Same here. And this is my second account, my first was banned. :/

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Ahh I remember people discussing on whether or not that post will degrade the quality of discussion.. :)

Also, feeling a bit nostalgic seeing nickb post in that screenshot..

</comment><comment><USER14> Funny, that was the post that originally brought me to HN and I've been here ever since. :)

I think Gruber must have linked to the TC post or something, because I don't read TC myself.

</comment><comment><USER15> One thing that's interesting to me: check out those point totals: 26 points, 30 points, 35 points. Compare that to the homepage right now: 23, 181, 74, etc.

<comment><USER16> Possibly a consequence of there being more people. I don't generally think to myself "this needs exactly 5 karma points", I think "I'm going to upvote this."

A more accurate comparison would be the percentage of people that read the article that upvoted it, and even that wouldn't be a perfect comparison.

<comment><USER15> I'm sure it's a consequence of having more people. That's what's interesting: it's a visible indicator of the increased population around here.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I think Hacker News is a gem then as it is now. Simple idea, great topics, and a wonderful community. Just works very nicely.

</comment><comment><USER18> I must say. The design has improved significantly.

</comment><comment><USER19> As long as immaturity and disrespect are weeded out, I think we'll be fine. Just remember the "flag" option to report such comments.</comment>


Which are the most insecure languages? - <AUTHOR> https://www.zdnet.com/article/which-are-the-most-insecure-languages/ <comment><USER2> Since they are not normalizing dividing by the number of projects of each language they are analyzing, the result is meaningless. (Or to be more precise, the result is more related to the popularity of the language than to the insecurity of the language.)</comment>


Ask HN: Is my amazon prime account compromised? - <AUTHOR> So, last night I got an automated confirmation email from amazon saying that I ordered DJI Phantom Drone and a warranty on camera lens. I first checked if its not a phishing or scam email. Which it was not. I logged into amazon and I see the "Your Orders" showing these 2 items as recently ordered. They were all shipped to my address. Which I find really strange. I don't remember doing this. Because, I was not even in front of a computer yesterday evening which is when I saw this email. I don't share my amazon account.
1. I canceled both the order. 2. I changed my amazon password. 3. I contacted amazon and told them about this.
Any other precautions or measures needed to be taken? Has anyone here experienced this before? <comment><USER2> make sure your primary account-holder contact information is correct (email, address, phone) and turn on two-step verification for your amazon account. While you are at it, change the password for the email address associated with your amazon account, and make sure that you are doing everything to secure that as well.

You can also notify amazon that the orders were not placed by you, although they might not take any action based on that.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you!</comment></comment>


Short overview to: Why don't more startups target the enterprise - <AUTHOR> http://rfilkov.wordpress.com/2012/09/20/short-overview-why-dont-more-startups-target-enterprise/

<comment><USER2> Another reason could be that many startups create a product that scratches an itch. They were looking for something as a consumer, didn't find it and started a company to create that something. In this scenario most products and services will probably be consumer targeted.

Also, few enterprise level companies are prepared to buy from small and/or new companies. So, why bother?</comment>


Q-learning plus Bayesian optimization for better learning - <AUTHOR> http://blog.sigopt.com/post/154251615358/sigopt-for-ml-using-bayesian-optimization-for <comment><AUTHOR> Bayesian optimization, I am familiar with, but Q-learning, not so much. If anyone has good references on or introductions to Q-learning I would appreciate it.</comment>


Ask HN: Finding marketing co-founder - <AUTHOR> There are different variations of similar questions that people ask about all the time -- how to find tech or business co-founder.
I have decent tech skills (I can build software with my own hands).
I do have reasonable understanding of product and business principles.
What's lacking in my case, a very special skill -- ability to promote the product to masses efficiently.
I can do basic web promotion, solicit links on social media and cross reference on different web sites. However, I do believe, it does take a very unique and special skillset, in order to do it fast and right the first time.<p>Any suggestions or ideas would be highly appreciated. <comment><USER2> > ability to promote the product to masses efficiently.

What are you looking to build?

Relative to finding your Co-Founder-- three 3 elements come to mind. Is it personal, relevant, and/or local to the person you're looking for?

My hunch-- you'll run into this person at meet-ups/conferences/trade shows.</comment>


Gmaps Visualizer, SEE your Route - <AUTHOR> http://gmaps-samples.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/streetview/streetview_directions.html

<comment><USER2> Will yo be able to create this? <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1620874>

</comment><comment><USER3> I understand these are individual photos being merged but it's a little jarring.</comment>


Show HN: TextSlide - SMS Roulette - <AUTHOR>

I created a SMS based chat application that connects two people to chat (aka SMS roulette). I've opened up some invites for HN.
Signup with your hacker news handle with (hn) so that you know when you are chatting with another HN'er.
http://textslide.com/hn
Feedback is always welcome. <comment><USER2> Cool take on the roulette theme, but as far as signing up on your site goes i can't even enter my number. For example i enter my area code but i'm unable to continue to enter the rest of the number for some weird reason the cursor skips back to the area code box.

edit: i'm on chrome.. works on IE tho.

<comment><USER3> Same problem here, but tab into the next input box instead of click.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I thought this would use mobile numbers, since it involves texting. But the entry form appears to require a US Landline number.</comment>


Content-centric networking with CCNx - <AUTHOR> http://lwn.net/Articles/520670/

<comment><USER2> How would a content centric network work if it completely replaced our current way?

I am only faintly familular. I have been meaning to watch some talks from PARC which seem to be really into the idea.

So instead of say going to this HN article: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4727776> You would type something like /hn/Content-centric-networking-with-CCNx or something like that?

I suppose everything would be different because instead of having addresses you would just have the data. I am having a hard time seeing how this would work. Would you still have sites like Google.com or would they just have to operate in a different way?</comment>


Have any good links/articles on job queuing & db sharding? - <AUTHOR>

Does anyone have good links on how/when/why to use job queuing to scale web apps? Also, articles on db sharding would be useful too :) <comment><USER2> A recent article on a job queue, Beanstalkd:

[http://www.topbit.co.uk/serendipity/archives/21-Doing-the- wo...](http://www.topbit.co.uk/serendipity/archives/21-Doing-the-work- elsewhere-Asynchronous-Message-Queues.html)

Beanstalkd is described at the link below, and was originally designed to help handle the Facebook Causes app, with a claimed 9.5 million users. <http://xph.us/software/beanstalkd/></comment>


Tagging hotels as "eco-friendly" led to drop in bookings for those hotels - <AUTHOR> https://www.hotelmarketing.com/articles/booking-coms-eco-friendly-hotel-tagging-test-failed <comment><USER2> Booking.com also tells you that "no really, there's only one room left", undoubtedly influenced by their endless A-B testing.

It's an incredibly convenient site, but for some reason leaves a bad taste in my mouth.</comment>


This Brilliant Hack Gives the iPad a Whole New Button - <AUTHOR> https://www.fastcodesign.com/90147192/this-brilliant-hack-gives-the-ipad-a-whole-new-button?partner=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feedburner+fastcodesign&utm_content=feedburner <comment><USER2> Pretty clever. Bummer if your iPad is black though.</comment>


French "EPR is a mess" – energy minister - <AUTHOR> https://www.montelnews.com/en/story/french-epr-is-a-mess--energy-minister/1133707?s=09 <comment><USER2> The No Nukes infiltrated the design of the EPR from the very beginning to jack up the costs. They don't need to protest it's construction because in the process of construction anybody involved will come to conclusion that they never want to build an LWR again.</comment>


Terrain generation using CoffeeScript - <AUTHOR> http://paulboxley.com/blog/2011/03/terrain-generation-mark-one

<comment><USER2> Did anyone find a link to the CoffeeScript he used? He's linking to the generated js, but it'd be cool to see the CoffeeScript.

<comment><USER3> It's a pretty big oversight that the author didn't include or link to the actual script.

This is the unfortunate issue with CoffeScript thuogh; you can't see it in the page, or copy it, because coffescript is compiled into JavaScript before the page is rendered. This is one of the main impediments to adoption. It's easy to learn javascript by looking at examples, but you have to dig through open source software for examples of CoffeeScript.

<comment><USER4> You're right, it was an oversight, sorry about that. I've posted the source code to GitHub now.

<https://github.com/baxter/csterrain>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Feels like a spin on Delaunay triangulation, but it's not--- cool!

<comment><USER6> What? This is generating random-ish terrain on a regular grid, not creating a triangulation from an arbitrary set of points in a plane. In what way do they seem similar?</comment></comment>


US Road Accident Casualties mapped across America - <AUTHOR> http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/interactive/2011/nov/22/us-road-accident-casualties

<comment><USER2> would be neat to see it overlaid with road-work, congestion, other variables</comment>


Rate My Startup: The Last Coder - Gamifying your IDE - <AUTHOR>

Our startup idea is to create a plug-in for Eclipse that encourages you to improve your code by turning programming into a game.
Extract a method? 5 points. Fix a compiler warning? 10 points. Write a unit test? 25 points. Write 50 unit tests? Earn the "Greener Pass-tures" badge. Earn 1,000 points? Level-up! Join a team and compete with your peers. You get the idea...
If you're interested in playing, sign up for the private beta.
http://www.thelastcoder.com <comment><USER2> I'm all for adding Game Mechanics in new things. (see my profile for my startup)

But, I'm curious how you plan on making any money from this. Are you hosting the evaluations of the conditions to earn an achievement on your server? Or is all the code local in the plugin? What stops me from gaming the game?

<comment><AUTHOR> 1) Ad revenue from website traffic, with an option for purchasing custom upgrades and private teams and sponsors.

2) Yeah, all evaluations (points, achievements, levels) will occur on the server.

3) We are thinking of various ways to discourage cheating like team specific leader boards.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> <http://www.thelastcoder.com></comment>


Stop the overuse of overflow menu - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@dburka/stop-the-overuse-of-overflow-menus-5caa4b54e843#.334mmft58 <comment><USER2> I really don't like to be negative, but this post doesn't offer any alternatives.. I use overflow menu's all the time because they have features that i need..

I also hear the terrible UI decisions to leave out features that only small % of people use, but honestly that thought process is exactly why I think so many UI's are broken, and why most times i just lean back toward command line and text based things..

If a UI can't do what i need then what is the point of it? I don't care how pretty it looks.., should i then open the app "hi mr app i know you cant do what i want, but i just wanted to look at you today".</comment>


Reality Distortion Field in Full Effect - <AUTHOR> http://twitpic.com/2kcyuo/full Only Apple would have the audacity to say something so contradictory and absurd. <comment><USER2> Troll much?

Lack of wide support for a published standard doesn't have any bearing on its openness.

<comment><USER3> Plus, http, which this is based on, is an open and wide standard.

Apple is pointing out that the alternative - flash - is not as open, even if it's proprietary player is on more platforms.

I do find the reality distortion field that has people claiming adobe is more open than apple to be pretty powerful. Apples core technologies are generally open sourced, while I can't think of any open sourced adobe software.

<comment><AUTHOR> How is video, that works only on apple products, in any way remotely open?</comment></comment></comment>


Electricity Shock: Toyota Camry Cheaper to Fuel Than a Tesla Model 3 - <AUTHOR> https://seekingalpha.com/article/4316505-electricity-shock-toyota-camry-cheaper-to-fuel-tesla-model-3 <comment><USER2> Looks like an incredibly poor analysis by someone desperately holding onto their short position.

Tesla owners don't use the supercharger daily. The author's assessment that most people do, is simply invalid. Based on my area and electricity costs (CAD $0.101/Kwh off-peak), the Model 3 costs 2.6 cents per mile (and not the 7 cents)

Also, the author takes in the upfront cost of the investment, to make the statement that it takes 20yrs to make your money back. However, he doesn't take into account the resale value of the same investemnt.

If you take that into account, the model 3 comes out cheaper: [https://cleantechnica.com/2019/09/27/tesla-model-3-vs- toyota...](https://cleantechnica.com/2019/09/27/tesla-model-3-vs-toyota- camry-5-year-cost-to-own/)

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm envious of your USD$0.077/Kwh rate! I pay USD$0.22/Kwh in Massachusetts, with a renewable energy provider.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> And this doesn't even begin to address to subsidies that Tesla-owners' neighbor are forced to pay to upgrade the infrastructure for their home chargers. (Solar makes this even worse, actually...)</comment>


If the NSA Trusted Edward Snowden With Our Data, Why Should We Trust the NSA? - <AUTHOR> http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/06/09/edward_snowden_why_did_the_nsa_whistleblower_have_access_to_prism_and_other.html <comment><USER2> All of the comments taking umbrage that the article isn't celebrating Snowden's character are missing the point. While it is entirely possible that he was qualified or even overqualified for the position he had at Booz Allen Hamilton, nothing in his resume suggests that which raises the question who else has access to sensitive data and secrets? The answer could be that Snowden was an exceptional individual and that's how he got to where he was, but it could also be that the government is terrible at hiring and granting security clearance and there are a lot of terrible individuals with access to secrets & sensitive data and Snowden just happened to be a standout.

<comment><USER3> The security clearance process basically looks for reasonable, honest Americans free of foreign influence.

If government actors are abusing their power to such an extent that reasonable, honest Americans free of foreign influence feel morally obligated to blow the whistle, then there are going to be more leaks.

It's not a flaw in the system; It's a _safeguard_ against corruption and abuse of the system.

<comment><USER4> That's not what is being discussed here. What is being discussed is the leaker doesn't appear to be a standout individual. He isn't the top of his field. He doesn't have numerous advanced degrees. So on and so forth. He is "garden variety". So, given that, if a "garden variety employee" can get access to all this data, just how many ordinary Joes have access to it? The more people, particularly those low on the totem pole, the more opportunity for leaks to the wrong people.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I don't think Slate is trying to crucify Edward Snowden. I think it was more "If a high school dropout with basic computer skills can win this contract, imagine what a talented hacker with malicious intentions could do", and just happened to attack Snowden a bit too much.

<comment><USER6> Even Slate admits, though, that they have no idea what level his computer skills are at or how good a fit he was for the job:

>Yes, he could be a computing savant anyway—many well-known techies dropped out of school

They're basically bemoaning his lack of official credentials.

<comment><USER7> I think the real thing to take home here is that they trusted him and he broke that trust. Who else are they trusting that they shouldn't be?

<comment><USER8> I though the real issue was that we trusted the American government and they broke that trust?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> The author is full of stupid snark. Clearly Snowden is an exceptional individual; learning that he used to be a janitor, or whatever, shouldn't cause us to throw away all the evidence we have about him and double-take "they promoted a _janitor_?".

Perhaps the quality of his work matched his obviously high character, regardless of his initial lack of formal credential. This is IT we're talking about - classes are a joke.

<comment><USER10> The janitor making good, solving the famous math conjecture on the blackboard, is a Hollywood trope. Not sure why Slate is so adamant that the guy's story is a disqualifier.

We don't know his story yet but this much is certain: he is by definition an exceptional individual.

<comment><USER11> It's not only a Good Will Hunting trope, but has a very relevant, very current real-life example that came to light a few weeks ago.

Tom Zhang, who now teaches at the University of New Hampshire, recently published a proof of the mathematically-famous twin prime conjecture for certain prime number pairs.

For quite some time, Zhang couldn't find work as a mathematician, and during that period, he worked as a Subway fast-food restaurant worker.

[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/that-figures- profe...](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/that-figures-professor- who-had-to-work-at-subway-dazzles-world-of-maths-after-solving-centuriesold- prime-number-riddle-8625637.html)

I believe I understand the point that Manjoo is making in his article, but both his choice of example, and the specific derogatory language he uses to express his reaction, makes it seem to me that he has some specific ax to grind about the nature of technical credentials and their social cachet.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> So now lack of a degree means you cannot be trusted with sensitive data - wtf?

I understand the guy is emphasizing these things to make his point but still, wtf.

What about his morals? What about his courage? I would most definitely trust my data to a guy that was and is prepared to go to jail for his beliefs that my data should be treated with respect and within the law.

<comment><USER13> _What about his morals? What about his courage?_

I don't think the NSA would be using the same words you are.

The more legitimate point is that he was a contractor- just how much clearance do contractors get? That seems like the bigger worry to me.

<comment><USER14> A lot. But first they have to go through extremely invasive and intense background checks that in some cases take years to complete. It all depends on the agency and the role. Some are "Public Trust" which is the barely-above civilian clearance which takes less than a month. On the other end of the spectrum are your top-secret clearances which take months to years to complete. If I had to place a wager I would bet heavily that he has held a top-secret clearance for a long time. The NSA isn't going to let anybody off the street roam its halls.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> I expect this from some news sources such as CNN, but not from Slate and definitely not from Farhad Manjoo.

Why can't we celebrate him for having the moral character to have done the right thing instead of assault his character.

A college dropout that did the right thing by whistleblowing is 1000x better to have in this World than an MIT, Stanford or Harvard graduate who is working at the NSA or CIA being enabling or at least complicit in programs.

</comment><comment><USER16> I wouldn't be surprised if the #1 criteria for NSA grunt employees is patriotism. If he's prepared to sacrifice everything for his country than he seems to be the perfect candidate to me.

<comment><USER17> It is for CIA at least. Their tactic is that "we can teach you technical stuff in class after we hire you, we can't teach you patriotism if you already aren't". They like to hire ex-Marines. Someone was saying they also like to hire Mormons.

The kink is that many patriots do actually understand and love the Constitution and if forced to routinely go against it in their line of works, a few will pull a Manning. That is expected. They can't have it both ways.

<comment><USER18> I have heard from multiple sources that the CIA _loves_ Mormons.

Language skills. No drugs. No alcohol. Does well in a hierarchical environment. Check, check, check and check.

It would be against the law to ask about the underwear.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> And so it begins, the assault on Snowden, his character, his qualifications, etc.

<comment><USER20> Sure, simultaneously with his canonization.

It's perfectly possible for Snowden to have done what he did and still have negative qualities - for example, by going public he's making the entire conversation about _him_ instead of the programs he leaked.

<comment><USER19> He had no choice but to go public. His only shot at not being disappeared, killed, tortured, etc was to go public.

By going public, he's also encouraging others to do the same. Even if it's just the smallest amount, it matters.

<comment><USER20> This is total fantasy. The government has and follows an established procedure for dealing with whistleblowers, including anonymous ones they manage to uncover - they'll conduct an investigation, file a complaint, arrest him, and then get an indictment.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> I'm not sure that the author understands what a sysadmin is. Even a junior sysadmin could cripple most services based on their level of access.

<comment><USER22> More security conscientious setups use things like automatic password vaults requiring multiple admins to access. Sysadmin also doesn't mean defacto data access without forcing them to patch the software maliciously (you don't want your admins accidentally or intentionally accessing data covered under HIPAA!)

Which isn't to say you're incorrect when you say how much damage a junior sysadmin could do in most places. It _is_ to say that there are options that make this kind of thing a lot harder, to limit the scope and damage rogue admins can cause, and to raise the bar in terms of knowledge required. One would hope the NSA would be employing some of them.

<comment><USER23> One might hope the NSA audits their contractors' security, but I'm not sure I'd bet on it.

And somewhere along the way you have to accept that your most senior admins aren't always going to be the ones schlepping gear around, which means physical access.

I'm also not entirely convinced of the practicality of building a system where there isn't at least one person who can bypass everything, especially if they're prepared to go into exile as this guy was.

Given adequate resources, I'm sure it's possible, but there's gonna be a shitton of money and ridiculously careful planning involved. I expect the operational overhead to be similarly huge.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> Has the destroying of his credibility already started? What's next? An uncovered rape case from his past?

</comment><comment><USER25> Wrong Question. A better Question is :

If the Government trusted the NSA with our every phone call and email, why should we trust the Government?

<comment><USER26> Is it really harmful if government get your call and email?

<comment><USER27> If you don't have anything to hide... oh, why was the government doing it secretly?

<comment><USER28> "Oh, hey Ahman, hold up real quick, the government just announced that they're tapping my phone. We'll talk again later".

<comment><USER29> I'm pretty sure if you were involved with terrorist groups, you became aware of this sort of thing well before it made the front page of the New York Times. The idea that keeping it out of the press prevents the targets from knowing is naive.

<comment><USER28> Just sayin', at the operational level it pretty much always has to be a secret, at least while the monitoring is going on.

<comment><USER30> bin laden & co. knew the NSA process took 72 hours and adjusted their communications accordingly. the operational aspects (read: deficiencies) of many "important" monitoring functions is widely known by those who "need" to know.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> [http://paulgraham.com/credentials.html](http://paulgraham.com/credentials.html)

It seems unlikely Snowden was in a high-paid and important position without having demonstrated some kind of aptitude. I have the impression he was highly skilled.

</comment><comment><USER32> He comes off as a fairly intelligent person in the interview.

The tech community should be the most understanding when it comes to overlooked people who kick ass on the job. Too many tech companies today are focusing on university names, this isn't the way it always was.

Is being nice to Edward Snowden considered aiding a terrorist? The NSA probably just fired off a warrant for the rest of my communications.

</comment><comment><USER33> 'If Slate trusts Farhad Manjoo with their Op/Ed writing and critical thinking, why should we trust Slate with their journalism?'

//insert crappy article

I mean, why should we give interviews at all? Obviously someone's resume and a class they didn't complete is all we need to know about them.

</comment><comment><USER34> Not a big fan of the reasons we are supposedly not supposed to trust Snowden specifically, but the question remains a powerful one in the sense that if you can't ensure that the data and systems you're using for something this powerful can remain secure from the actions of _any_ single person, then you have a huge problem.

I've worked at companies where the secrets behind our app signing key are held to a higher standard than being entrusted to the care of any single entity. Even ignoring how you feel about whether the PRISM system is good or bad, shouldn't we expect the NSA to have better security policies, given the huge scope of abuse these systems could allow?

<comment><USER28> I didn't get the impression that Snowden actually _has_ access to PRISM itself. If all he's doing is IT support then it could be as simple as that he ran across the "management briefing" for it on the share drive without ever having access to the system itself. Certainly I would hope that NSA is not dumb enough to farm out credentialing for a system like PRISM to one of their contractors, but who knows?

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> > He was accorded the NSA's top security clearance, which allowed him to see > and to download the agency's most sensitive documents.

Document control works on two dimensions: clearance level and need to know. You need to both have the requisite clearance level and a need to know to be approved for access to a given document. Having a top clearance doesn't mean you get to freely look at whatever you want, although the press and general public seems to think it does.

</comment><comment><USER36> EXACTLY.

Not just this guy, but a contracting firm (BAH) in general? How did they get that bid?

<comment><USER37> Is this a joke? Much of the Top Secret work performed for the government is done by private companies under contract with full clearances.

i.e. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skunk_Works](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skunk_Works)

<comment><USER38> It's like capitalism gone mad, isn't it?

I believe the UK is heading in this direction as well. Thatcher started it, but it's really gone up a few notches since then.

It's a sorry state of affairs when the schools, the fire service, the police, the prisons, the hospitals, the soldiers of war, and even the spies are all controlled by for-profit corporations.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER39> Having access to a PowerPoint about a system ("metadata") is not exactly the same as having access to the data itself.

<comment><USER40> Listen to the interview with him, he says he had access to the data.

</comment></comment><comment><USER41> But...but they're helping us secure our home networks!

"The Information Assurance Directorate (IAD) at NSA recently released a new technical guide entitled Best Practices for Securing a Home Network." \- [http://www.nsa.gov/ia/index.shtml](http://www.nsa.gov/ia/index.shtml)

<comment><USER42> ok...I will bite. TOR power initiate...7 proxies now!

<comment><USER42> OK..I am back from that link. The verbage was worse than sitting next to an insurance salesman before a flight.

<comment><USER41> Yea sorry about that - In retrospect I shouldn't have included a brain- deadening link

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER43> The very fact that Edward has the integrity to risk his life in the name of public interest means that he's exactly the kind of person the NSA should be trusting with our data. It's probably his combination of integrity and competence that let him get the access he did in the first place.

</comment><comment><USER44> In my university, we had a computer security program where computer scientists were heavily recruited to work for the DoD for a few years in exchange for a scholarship. One of the students I knew who ended up at the NSA was a standout, but the many others I knew were of average intellect and in many cases were below average computer scientists. These are not the level of people you want involved in mass surveillance programs.

What matters most to the NSA is your ability to pass a polygraph - not your engineering skills.

</comment><comment><USER45> It seems like hiring someone who isn't a tech genius (assuming Snowden isn't one, but it doesn't matter) is exactly what the NSA should want, the less technically advanced their employees, the less likely they are to be aware of the wrongness of what they are doing, especially if they are given simple tools that do all the work for them and mask the technical guts behind a point and click interface that "anyone" can operate.

</comment><comment><USER46> Please. This is not about can we trust them because someone leaked, any civic- minded person would have done what he did if they had big enough balls. Are we trying to say that out of the thousands of employees the NSA has no one else but this one guy felt there was something wrong with this program?

</comment><comment><USER47> Obviously slate.com's journalist doesn't understand how most of Silicon Valley works with recruiting these days and those "top companies" contributing to PRISM's dataset.

</comment><comment><USER48> If we trusted Verizon with our data, why should we trust ourselves?

</comment><comment><USER26> Great article, the awareness of security is terribly bad</comment>