Netflix To Come To Linux Via HTML5 - <AUTHOR> http://www.thechromesource.com/netflix-plug-in-for-chrome-and-chrome-os-is-on-the-way/ <comment><USER2> This doesn't make any sense. Netflix will not (cannot) stream anything without DRM protection due to licensing agreements. The video element from HTML5 obviously doesn't have any mechanisms for content protection. Perhaps Netflix is producing a NPAPI video player plugin for Linux browsers but that would mean they are not using the HTML5 video element.

<comment><USER3> I wonder if it's feasible (legally and technically) to encrypt the stream between their servers and the plugin, but have the plugin send a local, unencrypted version to the built-in HTML5 plumbing.

<comment><USER4> That is no more secure than just sendimg a plain stream, as a sufficiently inclined user could man-in-the-middle that stream.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> What's the point of DRM when I can just connect gdb to this process and suck the video right out of memory after it's been encrypted? Or, what's the point of DRM when I can just write my own video driver?

Wait, what's the point of DRM again? I can already get every movie ever made for free in HD on the Internet.

<comment><USER6> Exactly. The important part is on the "video driver" part.

People have asked us to implement DRM in VLC since a long time, over and over. At the end it is impossible, because when an code interface is know, you can always switch one part and dump the stream; the part being a filter, a video renderer or just a video driver.

This is why HDCP was implemented (and failed, btw) to have a chain of trust.

<comment><USER7> Right, but the lower down in the stack they go, the more they deter the "casual" hacker. I think they want to bring down the sheer number of pirates to a level where the vast majority of media won't be pirated.

<comment><USER5> This doesn't make sense, though. You can just share your account credentials and activate your friends' TVs. Then they can watch all the video they want.

Similarly, people don't pirate movies by having a close friend rip Netflix streams. They go on The Pirate Bay and download the torrent. Preventing piracy means you need to prevent people from ripping the disks or streams in the first place... but the people who do that aren't "casual hackers", they are as hardcore as priates get. And if just one person figures out how to do it, it's broken forever. (I assume there are plenty of programs available to rip Blu- Ray disks now, since the key for each disk is known and publicly available. It only takes one person to do that, and then the DRM is nothing but a waste of CPU cycles and engineering talent.)

<comment><USER8> I wouldn't go authorizing other people's devices with your Netflix account willy-nilly, because I'm pretty sure they'll cut you off pretty quick.

To your point about the security of DRM, that's an overly idealistic view of things. It's simply not true that the one person with expertise to break an almost-perfect DRM is going to rip every movie and torrent it. Hell it's trivial to rip any DVD and that's more than Netflix quality already. The studios are not the blundering idiots that the hacker community would like to believe; they realize all this, but they're not just going to roll over and go DRM-free just because of an absolutist argument. Instead they're going to keep pushing the envelope (and paying!) for ever-improved DRM to cut down on piracy as much as they can. It may be a losing battle, but if it is it's lose-lose for them so they'll keep fighting it.

<comment><USER9> How are the torrent videos made available in the first place? Are people just ripping DVDs?

<comment><USER10> Rips of DVDs and blu-rays are the most common (and high-quality) way for anything that has been put on a disc. Note that this may still be before commercial release, as screeners are made available for critics et. al.

For movies that are newly in the theater, the movie is captured with a video camera. This varies in quality from some guy pointing a cam-corder at the screen with a microphone (worst quality) goes up when they hook the audio directly in using the system for the hard-of hearing (often called a telesync, though it's a bit of a misnomer) and is even better when done from a tripod in the projection room.

Something that is still done, but is more rare, is to take the film and run it through a piece of dedicated equipment for converting from film to video, caled a telecine.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> My guess is this is using NativeClient to manage the DRM.

You don't need Silverlight to implement the DRM stack for PlayReady. Once you license it, you can implement the DRM stack any way you want, be it hardware, software, etc... otherwise this wouldn't work on iPhone either.

<comment><USER12> This doesn't even work in Chrome unless you enable it. They are not using this, it would make them to dependent on an immature technology.

<comment><USER11> Netflix doesn't work in Chrome on Linux period, what makes you so sure they won't use it in the future when they are ready to release? Despite being immature, it's a very logical choice.

<comment><USER12> There are more Firefox/Windows users than there are Chrome/Linux users.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> This means I can finally get rid of the part of my laptop I call a Netflix player...aka Windows 7.

</comment><comment><USER14> This will be great, I won't have to downshift to Windows to watch a Netflix movie.

Hopefully the quality will be better in HTML5 than Netflix's current offering. While the price is right, dark scenes are pixelated in NF movies over cable internet.

I have recently watched a few movies over Google's Youtube movie service, and Amazon's. Both use flash, and both have much better quality, at least on my laptop. As I watch a movie on flash I wonder why NF can't figure out how to get equivalent quality.

And there's also Silverlight, which freezes up my laptop on about 10-20% of attempts to watch a NF movie. Be good to have that gone.

</comment><comment> d135-1r43 They should come to Europe before they come to Linux ;)

</comment><comment><USER15> Netflix has already used HTML 5 for the movie browsing interface on the PS3 (with a custom webkit build IIRC). I highly doubt that they are using <video>, they wouldn't stream the video without some kind of DRM. Unless perhaps the plugin allows use of <video> with DRM content. My guess is that the plugin handles all of the video playback with some kind of <object>.

<comment><USER16> They are in fact not using <video> for the PS3 player. Here's a source: [http://techblog.netflix.com/2010/12/why-we-choose- html5-for-...](http://techblog.netflix.com/2010/12/why-we-choose-html5-for- user.html)

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> This is fascinating. How does the DRM work?

<comment><USER16> This is probably what the plugin is for. It wasn't clear to me whether this is a normal Chrome extension, or a "full" plugin on the order of Flash or Java. In either case, it's likely not pure W3C HTML/JS.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> According to the byline, this article was posted well over a month ago. While it might still happen, it would be really hard to pin a time frame on it, considering that Google I/O has come and passed.

Still would be looking forward to this though.

</comment><comment><USER18> Why don't they just use flash? Hulu uses it without a problem. It's obviously secure enough. It's available on most computers, including Chrome (and Chrome OS). What's the fuss about?

<comment><USER19> On my netbook, hulu/flash uses 100% of the cpu to produce unwatchable video in full screen, while netflix (today) uses around 10% and looks just fine.

On my linux desktop, flash in full screen is even worse than my netbook.

<comment><USER20> Thank you for posting this. Linux Flash is insane, and it is crazy that Adobe can have any respect for putting it out the for download in the state it seems to be perpetually in. It is nuts specifically because Compiz can zoom into this video fullscreen without issue, but hitting a fullscreen button 9 out of 10 times is cause for flicker and tearing. The only two instances I've had some good success are 1) Google Video and surprisingly 2) Amazon Prime.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Excellent! I've been holding off on renewing my Netflix subscription for just this reason. Maybe it's time to reactivate?

</comment><comment><USER22> Their iPad app is also clearly HTML5. Sadly this means the UX is pretty crappy.</comment>


How the Impeachment Process Works - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/24/us/politics/impeachment-trump-explained.html <comment><USER2> It's been 3 years and they are still trying to throw spaghetti on the wall and see if anything sticks.

I'm getting tired of the Us vs Them tribalism that is happening at a more and more rapid rate, or at least it appears that way on the internet.

I don't understand how people assume their party is not corrupt.

Democrats can be bought and paid for.

Republicans can be bought and paid for.

Imagine if instead of everyone fighting over which tribe is best, people came together to admit that both tribes need to be reprogrammed for the benefit if everyone rather than one's own particular tribe.

2020 will be an interesting year that is for sure.

<comment><USER3> I wish all this energy on all sides would be put into making this country stronger, instead of creating more of a political divide. MSM does not help when they spread lies and misinformation. aka propaganda.

Both sides are to blame. The issue at this point is Dems wont take any accountability for their actions. Look at the Obama admin for example and how many shady things that happened and Dems just want to look past it. Seems like the ones who are speaking the loudest against trump are the ones that are guilty.

Its like when your gf says your cheating, when its actually her.

<comment><USER2> I totally agree, a prime example of projection.</comment></comment></comment>


Sleep problems could jeopardise future missions to Mars - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20937729 <comment><USER2> This is good stuff to know before a Mars mission, but the headline is unnecessarily dire-sounding. It's a problem, yes, but it doesn't sound particularly hard to solve. Get bright, sun-spectrum, non-gloomy lighting for the "day", get dim-to-nonexistent lighting for "night", and establish a schedule for switching between them. This should help, probably quite a lot.

<comment><USER3> It's possible that some people won't be able to adjust to reasonable indoor lighting; it's pretty difficult to artificially replicate daylight. Or there may be energy constraints.

The article suggests that they'll just screen astronauts for irregular sleep cycles, which should only take a couple weeks of simulation at most.

<comment><USER4> Or they could just use windows and shades. The lack of windows was an unnecessary constraint in the study.

<comment><USER5> It would break the experience. Wouldn't it also facilitate depression by constantly reminding them that they are on Earth and could leave at any time they wanted to?

<comment><USER4> Perhaps I should have said that it was a constraint that is not necessary on an actual Mars mission.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Ask anyone who has gone through long term sleep disruption (parents). It will mess you up.

</comment><comment><USER7> An irregular sleep cycle seems pretty mild compared to super space bacteria, a weakened immune system, and problems with radiation.

[http://boingboing.net/2013/01/07/another-danger-for- astronau...](http://boingboing.net/2013/01/07/another-danger-for- astronauts.html) [http://boingboing.net/2013/01/04/how-space-radiation- hurts-a...](http://boingboing.net/2013/01/04/how-space-radiation-hurts- astr.html)</comment>


Using GraalVM to Run Native Java in AWS Lambda with Golang - <AUTHOR> https://engineering.opsgenie.com/run-native-java-using-graalvm-in-aws-lambda-with-golang-ba86e27930bf <comment><USER2> You might be able to even compile Go as a static library and embed it in your binary instead of carrying a .so file around. Regardless, Go's FFI story (especially in that direction) is hobbled and you can't do things like share structs easily (for obvious reasons, but still annoying). But yes, as soon as you get to C-level, you can mix and match anything and write about it. Running Go in Rust, or Rust in Go, or Go in JS, or whatever.

What would really be neat is to leverage Graal's polyglot iface a bit higher. I am not sure the status of llgo these days, but compile Go to LLVM bitcode and then leverage that from Java and compile to a single binary. Or even expose Go's awesome stdlib to JVM developers that way. But the practicality of doing some of these things becomes a bit lost beyond toy use.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah, Making use of Graal's polyglot interface would be better, but I did not have much luck to compile Go to LLVM, as I am not so familiar, but would try that soon more intensely.

<comment><USER2> Word. Another fun transpiling project I have been mulling over is a Go-to- Kotlin transpiler. With Kotlin coroutines (and accompanying kotlinx lib) I think it has the entire feature set covered though duck typing requires a creative solution but it's not too bad.

Keeping on the non-practical, fun note, I wrote a transpiler in the other direction[0]. It compiles Java bytecode to Go code. It works decently actually but I stopped work on it because my approach strains the Go compiler too much[1]. I even started emulating some of the base Java calls as Go calls, but that became tedious too.

0 - [https://github.com/cretz/goahead](https://github.com/cretz/goahead) 1 - [https://github.com/golang/go/issues/18602](https://github.com/golang/go/issues/18602)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> the other alternative is to just implement the go-aws-lambda protocol. it is basically a bunch of go RPC calls that AWS makes to a port that you listen on. if you do it correctly it should be safe to run because AWS can't change the protocol in a way that is not backwards compatible with existing go projects. any language that can compile statically and be run on linux can run on AWS lambda because static-go binaries can be deployed to AWS lambda.

but this is probably a little less riskier because i'm sure if AWS made a change to the go protocol they would test it against their existing go libraries they have published but they can't test it against your <insert language> implementation.

<comment><USER4> The RPC mechanism uses Gob, not something like gRPC, so first you'd have to write a Gob parser. It's not clear to me that that's better.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah, I already mentioned that in the blog, Although Gob is simple enough, this was better as an experiment. But implementing Gob would be more mature choice in the long run.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> So, clearly you can't use the real Java runtime because it expects to load an endpoint from a jar, but I wonder what the equivalent Python runtime version would look like. Prior to explicit Go support, people used the Python runtime as a shim to start a Go binary.

Is there anything about the way the Go runtime works that makes it fundamentally better than the Python runtime's semantics? Is the entirety of it that you really don't need to do a lot of work but Go is going to be marginally faster at doing that tiny bit of work (dlopen and ferry bytes across)? I think the underlying serialization format in Python is JSON. I have no idea how fast Gob is.

Any idea how much you lose on the FFI bridge? (My understanding is you need to copy the Go struct you get out before you can pass it to FFI. I'm very familiar with FFI in general and especially on the JVM, but only superficially with Go's in particular.)

<comment><USER5> Lambda's design is a little perplexing in this regard.. latencies to invoke a function, even for a warm function are pretty ridiculous, and any on-host copies will be totally invisible given the networking environment.

Despite that, e.g. the Python runtime implements RPCs by sharing a memory segment with the host process running outside the container, which seems like massive overkill to me.

I played with writing a library that would exec a new binary over the top of Python (for fun), but doing so loses access to the segment. There doesn't seem to be any UNIX API that would allow access to it to be recovered across exec. It might be possible by leaving the Python process idle and mmapping from /proc/parent_pid/mem in a child, but that requires debugging privileges almost certainly absent in a container.

The segment is created by mmapping a passed FD, which is then closed by the bootstrap code. I couldn't find any mechanism for moving that segment across processes, or inheriting it across exec.

So much simpler if they just implemented HTTP over a socket or suchlike

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Christ, I'm officially old now. Current PhD candidates think cars needed to warm up in the 80s.

<comment><USER7> Wait, don't cars have to warm up so you don't damage the engine when it's cold outside?

<comment><USER8> Modern cars don't.

[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/12/29/the-b...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/12/29/the- biggest-winter-energy-myth-that-you-need-to-idle-your-car-before-driving/)

<comment><USER7> That doesn't say anything about engine damage though. It just comments about the obviously wasted fuel during the idle period.

<comment><USER9> > Moreover, older cars -- which relied on carburetors as a crucial engine > component -- did need to warm up to work well, according to several auto > industry experts. Without warming up, the carburetor would not necessarily > be able to get the right mix of air and fuel in the engine -- and the car > might stall out. During the 1980s and into the early 1990s, however, the > auto industry did away with carburetors in favor of electronic fuel > injection

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> FYI There is a blog post for interested, a reverse engine of AWS Lambda for Python, which does not use RPC/network at all, instead uses shared memory to communicate, which could be more of a challenge.

[https://www.denialof.services/lambda/](https://www.denialof.services/lambda/)

</comment><comment><USER10> Sweet... I feel like someone should do this for a Jython program as a joke.

Then you'd have Python code executed by an interpreter written in Java compiled by Graal to produce a native binary which will be registered on AWS as a Go executable and will communicate via Go's net/rpc.

... as opposed to switching the runtime to Python ;-)

</comment><comment><USER11> Is there any advantage to this over using Lambda's python runtime to run a binary? That seems to be what this project is doing to run a natively-compiled Clojure project: [https://github.com/uwcpdx/clombda](https://github.com/uwcpdx/clombda)

<comment><USER12> bootstrapping time is the first thing that comes to mind.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> > This title might seem like generated by a Markov Chain on Hacker News > submissions, but it is real.

I smiled. But a more plausible Markov-chain headline might be "Using GraalVM to Run Native Java with Rust, Machine Learning, and the Gut Microbiome".

</comment><comment><USER14> Side note: great dek on this story.

</comment><comment><USER15> Okay, I can see what you're doing. I'm a little confused why. This seems like a potential rube goldberg machine that may exhibit some strange and unpredictable behaviour.

Maybe I'm crazy, but I much prefer to keep things as simple as possible. Pick a technology stack and use just it. Don't play mix and match games.

If java is just not working for you in lambda, due to the startup cost, is it time to consider that Java might not be the right technology at all for you to be using there?

If you're determined to stick with lambda, maybe it's time to bite-the-bullet and use Go (or something else with fast startup times).

If you're determined to stick with Java, maybe it's time to consider that maybe Lambda isn't the right solution for you? How much benefit are you really seeing vs the engineering cost and complications?

<comment><USER16> To be fair, there's a disclaimer right in the first paragraph: "But in this blog, we will introduce you a probably not practical but a cool use case using GraalVM." (sic)</comment></comment>


Linux Marketshare on Desktops Apparently Hit 6.91% in September, Higher Than Mac - <AUTHOR> https://netmarketshare.com/report.aspx?qprid=9&qpaf=&qpcustom=Linux&qpcustomb=0 <comment><USER2> OMGBuntu doesn't believe the figure [http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/10/linux- marketshare-6-91-pe...](http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/10/linux- marketshare-6-91-percent-september-2017)

> The figure is impressive but is also highly irregular and out of sync with > the reported Linux marketshare from other companies like StatCounter and > Wikimedia.

> [...]

> Netmarketshare also stress that the graph showing Linux's big leap is based > on "preview data that has NOT been reviewed by Quality Assurance".

Anecdotally, I was at an Erlang and Elixir event on Saturday morning. The first three speakers were using Ubuntu machines. I didn't notice what the fourth one used. Maybe it's the subject but conferences use to be MacBook monocultures with an occasional Linux or Windows machine.

<comment><USER3> September is when school starts in the US, leading to increased Chromebook usage(?)

That's one likely reason.

<comment><USER4> [http://gs.statcounter.com/os-market- share/desktop/worldwide](http://gs.statcounter.com/os-market- share/desktop/worldwide)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> The last few times this stuff has appeared here and elsewhere, most assumptions are Chromebooks and school year are accounting for a big part of it.

Technically Chromebooks are Linux, but it doesn't seem right to combine them with Linux when doing broad charts or data like this. It would be better to separate it out.

A smaller part could be headless Chrome being fully unleashed. Though I'm not so sure about this.

<comment><USER6> I would wager its a mixture of people frustrated with both Microsoft and Apple recently going all in on Linux maybe, but it's hard to prove that I suppose?

<comment><USER7> I've never seen anyone aside from devs running a linux desktop device, so while I'm not saying this can't be right, I am a bit sceptical. For an average user, Linux can still be quite challenging to use as their main OS.

<comment><USER8> My wife uses Arch on her laptop - she doesn't really know what it is and doesn't really care. She does know that she has less down time than with Windows when updates happen. She uses Facebook (the internet _sigh_ ) very heavily, email (Evolution to an account on my office Exchange server) heavily plus a fair few other things - basic word processing and spreadsheets via LO.

I'm a KDE aficionado for good reason. I put a few large icons (KDE allows you to scale your icons really well) on the desktop, with a pretty wallpaper, that have easily understandable functions, that are locked in place. The ability to lock the desktop layout is a killer feature that I do not see available on Windows or Mac or most Linux WMs.

Obviously, it does help that I'm an IT Consultant but "For an average user, Linux can still be quite challenging to use as their main OS." No it doesn't need to be so. The KDE Plasma UI can be made very simple or unbelievably complex to suit the required UX.

<comment><USER9> I've installed Linux on family member's computers before just to get calls when an update broke the graphics driver. Just try and let your wife install and update Arch herself, I'm sure she'd give up quickly. That being said, most users just need some icons and a web browser, almost any OS works for that.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Anecdotally, I have to say yeahhhhhhhh riggghttttt. Especially since this seems to have happened suddenly in Aug / Sept. Headless Chrome seems like a far more likely explaination than "2017 is actually finally the year of desktop linux".

<comment><USER11> Could be. There is a similar, but much smaller, uptick in Chrome browser usage for the same period.

Edit: And now it is gone. Seems there is some tweaking of the numbers happening...

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> Do Chromebooks count?

The uptick from August to September looks enormous, but if Chromebooks did well in back-to-school sales to students and schools, it might be real.

<comment><USER13> Not just sales to individuals, but schools are adopting the Chromebook as a part of their infrastructure. They are actually a really awesome solution for the EDU space.

<comment><USER14> Indeed. Every single kid in my kids district has a chromebook. 800ish right there.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> I think in the last 20 years Linux has become many orders of magnitude better on all fronts. It's a rolling snowball that has already surpassed other platforms on many levels. The only reason there's only 6-7% market share is that's there very few people selling it. I would say it's an huge market opportunity.

<comment><USER16> uuuh, no.

i've got ubuntu (i3wm) on my home machine and would never consider anything else for my development environment. Not having to manually manage windows was an eye opener to me.

but from my experience, most people aren't open to change. they don't want to relearn anything. they just want their old way, forever and ever on.

there will be some software that they've used for years. This software will probably be (at best) similar to the linux alternative. But it will be different. And they don't want different. They want the same UX.

This applies to both Windows and Apple Users. Its especially confusing if said person knows jack shit about their chosen platform.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Err, it seems netmarketshare is actively tweaking their data.

I just hit refresh on the page, and the number dropped from 6.91 to 4.94...

</comment><comment><USER17> Based on the chart the share was a stable 2.5% this year. Then there was a slight uptick in July, and a rapid increase from 2.5% to 7.5%.

Was there any major Linux release that would explain that ? Otherwise, i'd go with "This report contains preview data that has NOT been reviewed by Quality Assurance."

<comment><USER5> Seems like here in this thread like before, casual consensus, is Chromebooks and headless Chrome.

The data could be a bit wrong too like you're saying. It doesn't seem like Chromebooks should've made that big of an effect. Maybe a ton of schools are using them now though?

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> Maybe its te headless rendering support in chrome.

<comment><USER6> I would easily blame Windows 10. Automated forced updates, in file-manager advertising (although to be fair it's just for their cloud file hosting offering so it doesn't bother me half as much as it bothers most). There's other things as well, and Windows 8 the previous incarnation was not well received either. Microsoft really needs to revamp their entire OS team because everywhere else in MS land people are getting happier, but when it comes to the OS itself people are still upset. I've been using Ubuntu / Linux for as long as Windows 10 has been out. I used to use it on and off, but now that Linux is usable on some of my more modern hardware it's hard to switch back. I only use Windows at work for .NET development.

<comment><USER5> Why would some backlash against Windows present itself all of a sudden in a 1-2 month span now?

You're also using a lot of "I". Windows 10 has been received decently by the public. Windows 8 wasn't but it wasn't the worst reception either since a lot of people were so happy with Windows 7. This could possibly make sense if Windows 10 hadn't come out. But even then the number increase is too great in a short time span to blame Windows 8/10

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Simple explanation: Chromebooks in schools being powered on.

</comment><comment><USER20> I've always wondered about the people using linux for privacy reason going the extra step to mask their operating system and block trackers. Would they appear anywhere here ?

Out of all people using linux as their desktop/laptop I know about a third are privacy minded and take this extra step.

</comment><comment><USER21> From 2.5% in July to 4.9% in September. Seems highly unlikely that many millions of people decided to switch desktop OS within a couple of months, without anyone noticing.

</comment><comment><USER22> It seems that they are tweaking the results live because I see 4.94% now. Almost 2% lower than Mac.

</comment><comment><USER23> Linux will dominate the desktop share and we are all waiting for that day. Cheers :)

</comment><comment><USER24> I wish MGTO and photoshop worked on Linux. I would switch in a heartbeat.

</comment><comment><USER25> Is this because of the popularity of Chromebooks?</comment>


Ask HN: A discussion on Ethics - <AUTHOR> In light of recent events, can we please have a discussion about ethics? What does ethics mean to you, particularly when it comes to code? Where is the line? Who is responsible if something is deemed unethical? How can we educate ourselves more on these matters so that we aren't caught in a illegal spiderweb later. <comment><USER2> Ethics is too broad a topic to have a useful discussion on. Better to start with a proposition like "programmers should refuse to participate in X", where X is specific enough to predict the consequences of it existing or not.

<comment><USER3> > where X is specific enough to predict the consequences of it existing or > not.

So, which X would you start with?

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Here are some ideas:

[https://hackernoon.com/can-we-be-honest-about-ethics- ecf5840...](https://hackernoon.com/can-we-be-honest-about-ethics-ecf5840b6e07)

[https://towardsdatascience.com/an-ethical-code-cant-be- about...](https://towardsdatascience.com/an-ethical-code-cant-be-about- ethics-66acaea6f16f)

[https://hackernoon.com/on-the-difficulty-of-creating-a- data-...](https://hackernoon.com/on-the-difficulty-of-creating-a-data-science- code-of-ethics-9ab44f71af52)

</comment><comment><USER5> I ascribe to the ACM Code of Ethics.

[https://ethics.acm.org/code-of-ethics/](https://ethics.acm.org/code-of- ethics/)

In practice that means I...

* refuse to work on adtech/corporate social media

* refuse to do work for the military or with military applications

* refuse to do work for law enforcement or work that might prove useful to law enforcement

<comment><USER3> > * refuse to do work for law enforcement or work that might prove useful to > law enforcement

Is this meant as a universal refusal or does it apply just to US law enforcement?

My point is that law enforcement is generally regarded as necessary to the proper functioning of society and while some of those involved in it might be bad people the concept itself is not.

<comment><USER5> Right now, US law enforcement. I haven't gotten recruiter spam offering contracts to code for INTERPOL, for example.

I'll change my mind when driving while black is no longer punishable by summary execution in at least half of the US.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> > How can we educate ourselves more on these matters so that we aren't caught > in a illegal spiderweb later.

I think you are conflating two related but distinct matters: ethics and the law. It is perfectly possibly to behave unethically while obeying the letter of the law and to break the law while behaving ethically.

</comment><comment><USER6> this is a good book to educate [https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Ethics- Russ-Shafer-Landa...](https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Ethics-Russ-Shafer- Landau/dp/0199997233)</comment>


Ask HN: Is there a resume/CV version management app? - <AUTHOR> Nowadays, job seekers need to constantly tailor their cover letters or resume/CVs to any specific job posting in order to pass the stupid ATS system that most of the companies use for application screening. It kind of becomes a headache when you need to manage multi-versions of your resume. Is there any app or web service designed for resume version control? <comment><USER2> I don't think version control is the issue here. I think the real issue is that we keep trying to manage the resume as if it's the source of truth.

We need a source of truth for our careers. And from that source of truth we should be able to generate resumes, portfolios and anything else an employer might want to see. This source of truth needs to be smart/data. You should be able to view/edit/filter/generate by company, position, date, tags etc.

That's what i built [1]

The resume is the output of a process. It's not the process itself. It's not you.

[1] [https://jobrudder.com](https://jobrudder.com)

</comment><comment><USER3> I use [https://www.overleaf.com/](https://www.overleaf.com/) (formerly writelatex.com). Here are some features:

* Dual view: LaTeX on the left and rendering on the right.

* A file manager for images, etc within reach.

* \usepackage{} is enough: No need to download packages.

* You can open a new copy of a document and start working on the copy right away.

* You can name versions, etc.

* You can also clone with git for a local copy.

* You can share: read/write or read only. Here are examples of read only links (one is a document I started translating, the other is a course notes doc. Both unfinished: [https://www.overleaf.com/read/nrxgjrnbfyqz](https://www.overleaf.com/read/nrxgjrnbfyqz) [https://www.overleaf.com/read/mcggsjvtxgdd](https://www.overleaf.com/read/mcggsjvtxgdd))

</comment><comment><USER4> You can have a look at Resumonk - [https://www.resumonk.com](https://www.resumonk.com)

The paid plan allows creation of multiple resumes/cover letters each customized for a particular job opening. It gives a 'Clone' option that creates a copy of the existing resume and you can then tweak it based on the job you are applying. All these versions of your resume/cover letter are available from your Dashboard for future reference.

Full Disclosure: I'm the Co-Founder of Resumonk.

</comment><comment><USER5> For many years now, I have been maintaining my resume in rst format and then exporting to pdf (using rst2pdf and a custom style). I version control it using git. Custom modifications for job applications are done on branches that live as long as the interview process. (As I wrote this out I thought it would be nice to also keep a record of the experience in a separate file)

fwiw, I also have tried html, latex and markdown before using rst.

</comment><comment><USER6> I use github for cover letters and have branches for tailored companies, with the company name as the branch name.

I have only one acting copy of my resume. I do not change it per company.

</comment><comment><USER7> would something like jekyll + git and some extra export script work?</comment>


YC Open-Source Sales Agreement with Formating Freebie - <AUTHOR>

Saw the docs and said, why not?
For the most part I tried to stick with common fonts, included in most computers to ensure maximum fidelity.
Available here:
http://www.grvnt.com/ycsalesagreement <comment><USER2> Do "formatting freebies" include breaking the layout of the page numbers? :p

<comment><AUTHOR> Maybe some bugs were added, also 100% free.

Thanks, I'll take a look.</comment></comment>


Nokia launches a trio of Android platform phones  - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/02/nokia-launches-a-trio-of-android-platform-phones/ <comment><USER2> I wondered how long it would take for Microsoft to basically make their own Android phone with MS only services on it. This is the beauty of open source. This is actually I think a good thing and it sort of reminds me of Apple having the X86 OS X build in the background and finally releasing it. It's not quite the same deal as Android is not replacing Windows Phone anytime soon, but it's an interesting way for Nokia to keep pace in key markets they need to be in.

</comment><comment><USER3> Poor Peter Bright, he must be so confused.

And poor Google, for the most exciting Android handsets don't have their services on them.

</comment><comment><USER4> I really don't get why they have done this.

Anyone care to explain how this works/will work with the whole MS purchase?

<comment><USER5> > The Nokia X range will run the Andrcusoid Open Source Project (AOSP) > operating system, but without Google's stack on top of it. Instead, it'll > have a Nokia store, Microsoft services, and a custom front-end.

Classic microsoft embrace and extend. Also : they look horrible.

<comment><USER6> Without the Android app ecosystem via the Play Store it isn't really Android anymore. Same way I don't really see the Kindle Fire series as Android devices either.

I honestly don't get why they are still going ahead with these devices either with the Microsoft deal pretty much done and dusted. Nokia should have got into the Android game (and I mean _real_ Android) a long time ago.

<comment><USER7> To most people a phone is a phone. Yes they know iPhones are made with apples. Everything else is largely noise. Downloading apps is a form of entertainment - which store is not critical to enjoyment.

App stores are not the future. The future of mobile is that I can show you an app. If you like it, I 'send' you a copy and you complete the transaction via the app developer's mechanism which might be facilitated by some processing infrastructure. The future resolves to PayPal and Visa and Amazon not iTunes.

These are the early days when IBM's business was selling punchards on leased equipment.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


New Default WordPress Theme: Twenty Twelve - <AUTHOR> http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2012/08/28/new-theme-twenty-twelve/ <comment><USER2> This theme is really, really good. I like the elimination of the stupid header images that no one used and the greater focus on type and large images. This theme, more than the other twenties is really a good starter. It comes with all the support you'd expect and not a ton of layout-related styling. I could actually see myself using this as a base to edit in the future.

<comment><USER3> Is it really good, or is it just not bad like the last one, with a header image that took up a huge area of the screen.

<comment><USER4> It is really good. I switched to it late last night, from one of the "premium" themes. I still need to tweak/optimize a bit (particularly the sidebar), but I'm really happy so far.

There are a lot of little details I keep finding which were a big improvement for me (author pages in particular).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I'm interested to see the designer for this theme is none other than Drew Strojny, founder of the company behind The Theme Foundry.

His backstory is remarkable — he was an offensive tackle selected in the 2004 NFL Draft. Really. You can hear him tell the story in an episode of Founders Talk:

<http://5by5.tv/founderstalk/22>

</comment><comment><USER6> Live Demo: <http://twentytwelvedemo.wordpress.com>

Very nice, but not quite enough distinction between different post types for my liking. Reading the blog page[1] I couldn't help but feel the Quote and Image post types blended into the full post above... I'd darken the separator lines slightly.

Love it otherwise, will definitely use on projects!

#edit: Just realised it has a kickass gallery viewer. Sold! [2]

#edit 2: Gallery viewer screws up on latest Chrome/mac when scrolling the page up and down to view comments. Bummer.

[1] <http://twentytwelvedemo.wordpress.com/blog/>

[2] [http://twentytwelvedemo.wordpress.com/2011/07/07/fall-in- lux...](http://twentytwelvedemo.wordpress.com/2011/07/07/fall-in-luxembourg/)

<comment><USER7> > Just realised it has a kickass gallery viewer

Actually the kickass gallery viewer works on all WordPress.com blogs regardless of the theme.

We call it "Carousel" [1] and it is also available for self-hosted WordPress installs in Jetpack [2]

[1] [http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2012/07/12/around-the- carousel-...](http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2012/07/12/around-the-carousel- again/) [2] <http://jetpack.me/2012/07/13/jetpack-1-5-with-carousel/>

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> They are moving in the right direction. Responsive and minimalistic. I like it. I'm glad they removed that banner picture from the top.

</comment><comment><USER9> I was totally expecting to see bootstrap ... heh.

<comment><USER2> Oh man, I'm pretty sure I would have had an aneurysm if that were true.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Finally. I've been waiting ages for Wordpress to come to their senses and remove the header images because nobody used them anyway. Easily one of the nicest and best Twenty-something Wordpress themes by far, really aesthetically pleasing.

</comment><comment><USER11> Isn't it a bit late in the year to be introducing the "theme of 2012"?

<comment><USER12> It will be packaged with WordPress 3.5, which is slated to be released around early December.

It's probably called Twenty Twelve because (1) they're trying to be optimistic about the 3.5 release date and (2) the theme was meant to be included with 3.4, but didn't get done in time.

<comment><USER7> It's called Twenty Twelve because it's the default theme that was released this year.

Next year we will have Twenty Thirteen and so on ...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I was just shopping for quotes on a custom theme along these lines. Really hard to pay for the default...

<comment><USER14> <http://wordpressfoundation.org/donate/> ?

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Demo site: <http://twentytwelvedemo.wordpress.com/blog/>

</comment><comment><USER16> It's better than the old theme, but the PHP code is still a mess, like the whole codebase of WP in general. For example, there's lots of duplication in the HTML in many templates. The functions.php still uses lots of global functions with long_underscored_functions_with_prefixes instead of a simple class with short method names.

</comment><comment><USER17> I'm not certain if this is ready for the public. When I visited the demo site with Chrome for ICS there were rendering errors with the bottom bar. <http://www.imgur.com/WVKzi.png>

<comment> X-Istence Chrome for ICS and the standard browser on Android 3.x never rendered my site correctly [1][2], especially segments containing code (they were completely misplaced)

I wasn't able to reproduce the error on any other platform, iOS, Opera for iOS, Chrome on the desktop, and off course not on FireFox, Safari, and IE...

At that point I just gave up.

[1]: [https://plus.google.com/photos/113979921696834019350/albums/...](https://plus.google.com/photos/113979921696834019350/albums/5714292989238022593#photos/113979921696834019350/albums/5714292989238022593) [2]: <http://funcptr.net/>

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> Looks really good, but is strikingly similar to another of Drew Strojny's themes: <http://demo.thethemefoundry.com/linen-theme/>

</comment><comment><USER18> when it's available for download? I search it in my wordpress blog dashboard but not found.

<comment><USER19> right now if you don't mind pre-release code:

browse source:

        http://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/trunk/wp-content/themes/twentytwelve

check it out:

        svn co http://core.svn.wordpress.org/trunk/wp-content/themes/twentytwelve /path/to/your/themes/dir/twentytwelve

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> the homepage template concept is brilliant -- kudos to wordpress for a HUGE improvement over their last default template

</comment><comment><USER21> I wonder what the nested drop down menus look like on mobile formatted size...

</comment><comment><USER22> Is it just me, or does it seem inspired by MS' Metro/Modern UI looks?

</comment><comment><USER23> I like Twenty Eleven better to be honest.</comment>


Company hashtags could drown Twitter in spam - <AUTHOR> http://tedchris.posterous.com/moonfruit-math-could-drown-twitter-in-spam-fi-0

<comment><AUTHOR> I just saw that moonfruit gave away an iPod Touch to a "creative" entry where a girl made a youtube song about moonfruit. Interesting development because at least this was more than a random giveaway, it actually took some effort.

</comment><comment><USER2> These things tend to be one or two hit wonders. Most professionals will see this as the Titter equivalent of chain letters and won't take part in the future.</comment>


Texas Has the Highest Maternal Mortality Rate in the Developed World. Why? - <AUTHOR> http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-has-highest-maternal-mortality-rate-developed-world-why-n791671 <comment><USER2> I've seen this story reported roughly a bajillion times, with very little context.

(1) The study chose to adjust official numbers for Texas (and other states) rates because death certificates didn't inquire about pregnancy for a full year previous to death. This isn't necessarily wrong, but it is a guess.

(2) There were 15-20 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in Texas each year 2000-2010. Then the rate almost doubled by 2012. [1] Something very interesting (whether in methodology or reality) happened in that time, but most news outlets just want to tell the narrative without the details.

(3) Texas has 400k births per year. [2] Twenty deaths per 100k births is 80 deaths. Statistically, p=0.05 is going to give you something like +-50% on that number. Do this for fifty states, and you've got some serious reporting bias.

(4) But even using the adjusted numbers for Texas, this is 1% of 1% for cause of death. My wife gives birth next month (in the U.S., not in Texas); I'm nervous about it. But there's a lot of other things to worry about.

[1] [http://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2017/jun/29/shawn...](http://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2017/jun/29/shawn- thierry/shawn-thierry-says-texas-leads-nation-mothers-dyin/)

[2] [https://www.dshs.texas.gov/chs/vstat/vs14/t09.aspx](https://www.dshs.texas.gov/chs/vstat/vs14/t09.aspx)

</comment><comment><USER3> I think the main problem is the medical guild exterminated midwifery in the early 20th century and "medicalized" women's normal pregnancy experiences. Doctors are doing better taking care of pregnant women in the modern era (more female doctors, etc), but I think they're still 'missing the forest for the trees'.

This was my comment on this general topic from a month ago: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14708472](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14708472)

<comment><USER4> While I agree that midwivery was given an unfair shake, it does not seem to account for the age distribution of deaths represented here. Or am I missing some way midwivery may change outcomes over that long a time...

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Violence is never the answer, statistics is.</comment>


Snowden Seeks Assurance from Norway It Won't Extradite Him - <AUTHOR> http://www.wsj.com/articles/snowden-seeks-assurance-from-norway-it-wont-extradite-him-1461270001 <comment><USER4> Sounds like a great way to get nabbed by a CIA snatch-and-grab operation. Even if his FSB protection plans the field trip _and_ accompanies him, it's still a huge risk. It also provides an ample opportunity for Russia to divest themselves of Snowden should they wish, making the West look bad in the process.

Norway's NIS maintains a friendly relationship with U.S. intelligence.[0] NSA documents leaked by Snowden refer to Norway as a "Tier B" country.[1] The only thing higher is "Tier A"— _Five Eyes_ member nations.

[0] [http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KW_21XnezyY/Usdezt9SifI/AAAAAAAABH...](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KW_21XnezyY/Usdezt9SifI/AAAAAAAABHE/9DJaHKzSayY/s1600/norway- usa-relationship.jpg)

[1] [http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NRWNh0OgZwQ/UrEBhQltzrI/AAAAAAAABF...](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NRWNh0OgZwQ/UrEBhQltzrI/AAAAAAAABFg/98_mh5CocKw/s1600/elmundo- list.jpg)

<comment><USER5> Norway does at lot of intelligence gathering around Svalbard/North Atlantic against the russians due to the large fleet base at Murmansk. The ships used is typicly equipped in the US before entering service.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Whatever we can speculate about the ifs and hows of this situation, let's keep in mind that incredibly courageous people like Snowden have to endure what they endure because people like us, citizens, don't seem to stand up to corrupt governments anymore.

<comment><USER7> From a recent interview with Snowden by Reason magazine

        I mean again, this sort of political direction gets
        beyond my expertise so I don't like to talk too much
        about. You know you brought up an interesting point
        there about Russia that I think is actually important
        to contextualize. There's a lot of fair criticism
        that's like, "Hey, this guy's in Russia."

        It's important to understand that I never intended to
        end up in Russia. Originally I was hoping to get to
        Iceland. After that, Latin America when Iceland fell
        through. But the State Department cancelled my
        passport, trapping me in Russia when I was initially on
        the move, as soon as they heard I was in the air.
        Despite the fact that I've asked several times, they've
        refused to reinstate it, which is quite interesting.
        The United States of course criticizes me for being in
        Russia but at the same time they won't let me leave.

Full arcticle here [http://reason.com/archives/2016/02/25/edward- snowden/](http://reason.com/archives/2016/02/25/edward-snowden/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> I think if the US can have a President's plane redirected, forced to land, and searched, with that President on it, they wouldn't have much trouble getting Norway to look the other way for a few minutes. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden#Morales_plane_i...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden#Morales_plane_incident)

<comment><USER9> Sadly, I have to agree. In Germany, some people demand that the government should offer Snowden asylum, but while I would appreciate the gesture (not that the government would seriously consider doing something like that), if I were in Snowden's place, I would not set foot in a country that is so deeply in bed with the USA (not to mention the US military bases in Germany).

Which does not leave many places where Snowden could go and be safe.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> On Reuters (i.e. free): [http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-security- snowden-norwa...](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-security-snowden- norway-idUSKCN0XI1WU)

<comment><USER11> It's also free on WSJ when you come in with a Google referer. Google search for "wall street journal snowden assurance" worked for me.

<comment><USER12> I use the "web" link below the title for that ;-) (Didn't want to be snarky just friendly)

<comment><USER10> Well, TIL :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I assume Norways laws work similar to Swedens, meaning there can be no guarantees of non-extradiction (because preempting a legal decision usinga a political one is illegal, and the extradiction would be handled only when it is requested - which can only be done once he is actually in norway).

So the same thing might happen to Snowden that happened to Assange - <USER2> guarantees up front.

The best they can do in that case is make broader statements that e.g. "we do not extradite anyone who faces political charges and/or risks the death penalty". It's safe to say Snowden fits into both categories.

<comment><USER14> Exactly! It is up to the court system to decide what to do about a particular case. Any promise from a government official will be a lie.

<comment><USER13> They can circumvent it pretty easily by not saying "We will not extradite Edward Snowden" but simply doing by making a very clear statement of two facts: i) "We do not extradite anyone who would risk a death penalty" and ii) "We believe it is clear that Edward Snowden would risk a death penalty in the US".

Having said those two things (which they can), they have implied the what he wants to know, without breaking any laws.

<comment><USER15> It's also a myth that Sweden can't do the same for Assange (although one defended by certain lawyers for political reasons).

The courts can only stop extraditions, not non-extraditions. Politicians like to pretend their hands are tied because they would like to blame the bureaucracy for unpopular decisions, but they have full freedom to interpret their own bilateral treaty obligations. If the Norwegian government says he's a political refugee, he is as far as Norwegian law is concerned.

<comment><USER13> > The courts can only stop extraditions, not non-extraditions.

Not sure what you are implying by that. An extradition is tried in a court (if the person to be extradited does not want to be extradited). The supreme court tries the extradition against the legislation and then hands it to the government for decision [1].

I think you may be thinking about this passage from[1]:

"Anser Högsta domstolen att det finns hinder mot utlämning, får regeringen inte bifalla framställningen. Regeringen kan dock neka utlämning även om Högsta domstolen inte har motsatt sig en utlämning; i lagen anges nämligen att en person under vissa förutsättningar "må" utlämnas - inte "ska" utlämnas."

It says that if the courts find that extradition is NOT legal, then the government may not extradite, but if the court recommends the extradition (i.e. find it legal) then the government can still deny it.

So while it is true that the govrenment CAN in any situation reject any extradition - it is out of the question for a government to forego the court process. This would be known as "Ministerstyre" (an action by a member of a government or a cabinet, which is to be interpreted - or can be interpreted - as dictating, or interfering with, the daily workings of a government agency, court of law or similar.).

One can call that "bureaucracy" but the fact remains - the swedish government would just not do that.

[1] [http://www.regeringen.se/sveriges- regering/justitiedeparteme...](http://www.regeringen.se/sveriges- regering/justitiedepartementet/internationellt-rattsligt-samarbete/utlamning- for-brott/)

<comment><USER15> If the government can see beforehand that they would not agree to extradition, I think it's just a waste of money to ask the courts whether it would be legal.

There's nothing legally stopping the Swedish government, at best notions of procedural propriety that are not binding. Truth is even so, ministries meddle with the departments - or are accused of it, with varying degrees of reasonableness - all the time. When the case against Assange was revived (the first prosecutor dismissed it in unusually clear terms), that was as I see it far more pernicious meddling than pre-rejecting extradition of a political refugee would be.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> It's good we have countries like Russia and China that the US cannot bend to their will.

Imagine if all countries in the world were stooges of America. Scary.

</comment><comment><USER17> How hard does the US government want him back, now that the cat is out of the bag? Obviously, the US don't want to appear "soft" on the matter - <USER3> interest of the administration is to avoid future whistleblowers by having a tough posture.

But Snowden has a pretty massive following worldwide, on a scale that Assange and Chelsea Manning don't have. Wouldn't a trial be a terrible PR move, on top of raising embarrassing question about the activities of the NSA and their legality?

<comment><USER18> At this stage I'm certain one of three things will happen if the US can get a hold of him:

1) he will be secretly disappeared in a way that gives the US plausible deniability.

2) he will die in an "accident".

3) he will be taken to trial and put away for life, most likely in solitary confinement ("for his own safety").

It is obvious nobody actually cares about the activities of the NSA and their legality at this point. There has been some bad PR around it but all in all the American public hasn't revolted and the allies are still under control and don't want to risk it. Also, to this day, Snowden is routinely referred to as "a leaker" and US politicians' calls for his death and branding him as a traitor have been met with nary any criticism.

At this point it's no longer about what secrets Snowden can reveal, it's just about neutralizing what the US government (as in: politicians and state officials) considers a threat to its interests (as in: _their_ interests, not those of the nation). And to make an example of him, obviously.

<comment><USER17> 1) Would demand a lot of creativity. "Plausible deniability" when you are the prime suspect is hard to achieve. 2) I don't believe that for a second. Not because the US are not willing to kill people, but because of the level of scrutiny. 3) He would certainly go to trial. I don't know how that'd turn out, but I don't see that advancing the political career of anyone (that said, I'm not American, maybe I'm misjudging the American public).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Although technically Russia and Norway share a land border, you would have to drive thousands of miles through extremely remote arctic areas, where the major routes are single-lane roads and the nearest settlements may be hours apart. If one is worried about underhanded tactics by the US, this seems quite a dangerous way to go.

<comment><USER20> Possibility, yes, but realistically no. I don't see them kidnapping him as a way to bring him before US courts. If I were him I'd be a little more worried about local gangs with little to do and one too many crazy ideas knowing who he is and trying to kidnap him and avail him at some price.

<comment><USER10> _> If I were him I'd be a little more worried about local gangs_

Yeah, all those famous Norwegian kidnapping gangs. /facepalm

<comment><USER20> Rural Russia isn't exactly the manicured place you imagine it to be.

<comment><USER10> Ah yeah, I thought you referred to the situation once he crossed the border.

Inside Russia, I would expect his transport to be Putin-approved, which is probably the safest you can get.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Would he have a guarantee he would be allowed back in Russia? If not I guess he can stay in Norway indefinitely but would need a work visa as well.

<comment><USER22> Would Putin even let him leave Russia?

<comment><USER23> It would look really bad for Russia if Snowden was held against his will.

<comment><USER24> They would care you think?

<comment><USER25> Actually the better question is why would they care about Snowden leaving (or not leaving) Russia? Or why wouldn't Putin let Snowden leave? Snowden is a minor liability for Russia.

<comment><USER22> I think Snowden is valuable to Putin, he's not just a liability.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> Seems unlikely.

He also needs assurance the flight between Russia and Norway won't be grounded or redirected on route.

<comment><USER27> Presumably he'd drive, as Norway and Russia share a border.

What isn't clear to me from the article is why he'd risk it for an award from a group of writers who have branches in Russia..

<comment><USER28> One obvious guess would be that it's a dress rehearsal for a possible Nobel peace prize win.

<comment><USER29> It would also be a powerful statement if he could visit western countries without being arrested.

<comment><USER30> > It would also be a powerful statement

It would be powerful. It's actualy shameful that Assange and Snowden are so constrained, especially for telling the truth. Ironically, Roman Palanski plead guilty to raping a 13 year old. Later, he was detained in Switzerland but they denied a U.S. extradition request.

It's sad basic travel would send a powerful message, just because that means many assume that these constraints are a foregone conclusion.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> So I'm curious how Snowden supports himself while exiled in Russia. How does he pay for these law firms representing him?

<comment><USER32> > In May 2015, Snowden's lawyer Ben Wizner said that Snowden's main source of > income was speaking fees, which sometimes exceeded $10,000 per > appearance.[308]

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden#2015](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden#2015)

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> Even if Snowden gets this assurance from the Norweigans, how can he be sure they're not lying?

E.g. the US tells Norway they should say "yeah sure we won't arrest and extradite you," then go back on their word and arrest him as soon as he enters the country. The US makes some under-the-table bribes or threats to be sure Norway goes along with this scheme.

Something along the lines of "It sure would be a shame if we tanked your economy by making it illegal for US businesses to operate in Norway...those juicy Internet taps Snowden claims we have, well we can't confirm or deny them, but we might or might not know certain delicate things that were said in private by Norwegian politicians, and we might or might not know about certain financial relationships between certain wealthy Norweigans and high-ranking politicians, and it sure would be a shame if the things we might or might not know became public and had unfortunate consequences for your party's political position...now let's talk about how you're going to handle this Snowden situation..."

Also as other posters have pointed out, the US could simply send a CIA team to kidnap or murder him. Norwegian counterintelligence is presumably a lot weaker than Russia's, and their politicians presumably a lot more afraid of the US, so it's probably a lot less risky for the US to run an op like that in Norway than in Russia.

<comment><USER34> First of all because extradition is handled in the courts, not the parliament. And given how popular he is in most of Europe it would surprise me if any politician want to touch it. Helping the US would ensure political suicide.

And come on, snatch and grab inside a sovereign state, that is a close ally and with all the media attention his has. You don't really need to be an intelligence service to notice a guy like Snowden suddenly disappearing.

Ask Israel how much we like it when foreign states interfere within our borders. They are still more or less out in the cold after they executed the wrong guy. A Norwegian citizen, within Norwegian borders. You just don't do that.

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> Remember Anders Behring? He was sentenced for 21 years for his terrorist attack in 2011. I find it hard to believe a country that has the most humane prison system in the world would extradite Snowden back the the US...

<comment><USER36> The Norwegian government is too entangled with US interests, due to our defense doctrine and role in NATO ("hold out for 24 hours while the rest of NATO mobilizes"). Although many Norwegian politicians probably have personal sympathies for Snowden's legal situation, it's very doubtful that anything short of a Supreme Court ruling would prevent Norwegian authorities of cooperating with the US when it comes to arresting and extraditing Snowden.

<comment><USER10> _> it's very doubtful that anything short of a Supreme Court ruling would prevent Norwegian authorities_

Considering how international laws are now completely ignored by our imperial masters (see Abu Omar, rendition flights, the raid on Kim Dotcom, etc etc), I would say it's very doubtful anything short of a couple of panzer divisions would prevent any US-friendly authorities from helping out.

</comment></comment></comment><comment> cat-dev-null There's direct Aeroflot flights between Moscow and Oslo (SVO - OSL).

US fighters and/or ships could _arguably_ intercept a civilian aircraft in international waters and force landing in another country.

<comment><USER18> "Arguably". Remember Morales. You don't need fighter jets to intercept/divert a civilian aircraft in "friendly" airspace. Just pull the right strings.

<comment><USER37> Russia shares a tiny bit of border with Norway. Even if Finland, Sweden and the Baltic states don't want to cooperate, as long as Russia and Moscow agree, the plane could simply take a detour through the far north.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> Why would Snowden get assurance from the the Norwegian government? There is nothing special about him.

</comment><comment><USER39> So many threats along the way: 1) kidnap before reaching the airport 2) not be allowed to leave Russia 3) be intercepted between Russia and Norway 4) be caught in Norway after arrive 5) be caught in Norway before departure back to Russia 6) be caught during travel back to Russia 7) not be allowed to go back to Russia at all 8) be caught after arrive in Russia 9) be caught before going back to his apartment 10) be caught soon after arriving on his apartment 11) be caught later on

<comment><USER11> Numbers 1 and 9 through 11 are not really relevant for this discussion. Or is there evidence that he is restricted to his apartment (either by his own choice or by force)?

</comment></comment><comment><USER40> One thing yo remember is Norway isnt partnof NATO, which makes quite a bit of difference in this. Still not sure what the end result will be, but good luck to Snowden and I hope Norway does it. If only so I dont have to hear any more ignoramouses talk about how Snowden went to Russia on purpose.

<comment><USER41> Norway IS a full NATO member.

<comment><USER42> Yes, it's a founding member at that.

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

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER43> The US government isn't going to kidnap Edward Snowden at any point. He's too high profile and the press would eventually find out. And I don't think Putin will let him leave Russia unless it would hurt the US in some way. If Snowden really wants to leave, he can probably leave. But the Russian government won't make it easy for him.

Snowden should just come home and face the music. He'll probably get a pro bono all-star legal team and have 50/50 odds with a jury of his peers. With sufficient lawyering he could probably get away with five years at worst, and then go back to life in America as even more of a hero.

<comment><USER44> > ...face the music.

I've never heard that phrase used but to describe the consequences of a malevolent action. I'm interested to hear a rational explanation for why anyone would think that Snowden's whistleblowing was anything but altruistic. Some may say that the good intentions were misguided, but again - I've never heard the phrase used that way. The man wearing full plate armor, while trying to save a horse caught in a flash flood, ended up facing the music and drowning... doesn't sound right does it?

> ...50/50 odds...

You must have very little regard for your own freedom if you don't see that as being super bad advice to give.

<comment><USER45> > _I 'm interested to hear a rational explanation for why anyone would think > that Snowden's whistleblowing was anything but altruistic._

He divulged a lot of information about America's foreign intelligence operations as well. Spying on other countries is the original and core mission of the intelligence services. There's no question as to its legal legitimacy and he directly undermined it by revealing the nature and extent of our capabilities. It also caused serious diplomatic and political problems, with Germany for example.

<comment><USER46> > It also caused serious diplomatic and political problems, with Germany for > example.

It didn't really look like a serious problem from within Germany. Our administration is as pro-US as before. We've stopped sharing some information, but I doubt that has caused the NSA much trouble.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany–United_States_relation...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany–United_States_relations#21st_century)

<comment><USER18> The only thing that changed is that there's the NSA Untersuchungsausschuss, which is "investigating" the NSA spying affair.

It's pretty clear that the investigations will not yield anything we don't already know and will have no consequences on US-German relations. Our NATO membership alone is enough to make us avoid upsetting the US at all costs (just as we've been turning a blind eye on Turkey all this time).</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Lean and mean data format Colfer - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/pascaldekloe/colfer <comment><USER2> If it meets the guidelines, this might make a good "Show HN". Guidelines: [https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html)

<comment><AUTHOR> Missed that feature. Thanks!</comment></comment>


Hex Invaders - <AUTHOR> http://www.hexinvaders.com/

<comment><USER2> Previous discussion: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8909927](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8909927)

</comment><comment><USER3> Keyboard controls would be great for this.</comment>


WikiLeaks' Assange urges support for Snowden - <AUTHOR> http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/22/world/europe/uk-wikileaks-assange/index.html <comment><USER2> Here it would be worth mentioning Ecuador's track record on press freedom, which is among the worst in the world:

[http://www.cpj.org/americas/ecuador/](http://www.cpj.org/americas/ecuador/)

<comment><USER3> Its worth noting that most of the press issues in Ecuador centre on national politics. The big news organisations are highly partisan (fox-news like), pro- right wing and anti-Correa. Correa won a big law suit against one last year for libel (mentioned in your link). Is this state-enforced intimidation of journalists? I don't think there is an easy answer...

(Not trying to put my own opinion on this, just state some complexities of the issue)

<comment><USER4> In that case, which was decried by Ecudorean media as a crackdown on press freedom, the journalist wrote Correa "...ordered fire at will and without warning against a hospital full of civilians and innocent people..." and "committed crimes against humanity". Correa later pardoned the defendants. This was in relation to an attempted coup where the police force trapped Correa in a hospital.

Also important to note owners of the media in Ecuador are opposed to Correa since he does not support their interests.

As Chomsky said about this incident: Can you imagine if a coup against the President, supported by the press and executed by the police occurred in the United States? They would be put against a wall and shot.

So while there may be problems with press freedom in Ecuador they should be put in the proper context and investigated more carefully than a "freedom of the press index" can convey.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Correa#Lawsuit_against_t...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Correa#Lawsuit_against_the_El_Universo_newspaper_and_Big_Brother_authors)

<comment><USER2> Correa pardoned the defendants who were later brought back up on civil charges in the same matter.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Iceland's Pirate Party lawmaker advised him to go to Cuba.

 _" If I was his legal counsel I would urge him to look at many countries, not just Iceland," [Jónsdottír] added. "Maybe New Zealand, Ecuador, Cuba—many countries."_

[http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/06/icelandic- lawmake...](http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/06/icelandic-lawmaker- asylum-for-nsa-leaker-far-from-a-sure-thing/)

<comment><USER6> I know little about the legal issues, but that strikes me as ill-advised. It's clear that US intelligence agencies aren't concerned by laws, so the power these organizations are able to project in a country is at least as important as its legal framework for extraditions. Snowden may be safe legally in Cuba, but would he be safe extralegally and safe physically? It seems that Hong Kong was chosen specifically as a place that would present more than just legal obstacles for the US.

<comment><USER5> I'm amazed there's any expectation of ideological commonality with Cuba, a repressive state with near-totalitarian control over information, where connecting to the internet is functionally illegal:

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

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> How did that advice work for McAfee, or the _2_ instructors that have been caught in the past year on the FBI Top 10 Most Wanted list?

</comment><comment><USER8> This works well for alimony non-payers and for puny tax cheats. For global- scale celebrity like Snowden - anyone's guess. Too much at stake.

</comment><comment><USER9> These two are nowhere near the same. Assange leaked information that actually put people's lives in danger. He directly named operatives undercover in places with governments that wouldn't think twice about chopping their heads off. This gives Snowden a bad name, and in my opinion devalues what he has done.

<comment><USER10> That wasn't Assange ([http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/62299.html](http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/62299.html)).

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> So where _is_ the best refuge for whistleblowers? Is going underground (figuratively!) the best option?

<comment><USER12> Sealand? Vatican City?

<comment><USER13> Yeah, no one ever raids Sealand...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I find it kinda cute that the advice is that in order to get further away from the US, one should move closer.

<comment><USER15> assuredly, I think it wouldn't be a dumb move for him to wind up in say, northwest idaho, or somewhere seriously remote.

<comment><USER16> Like where Ruby Ridge happened?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> No can do. The LatAM will change leadership and he'd be screwed sooner or later. Sadly, USA probably pushed him to commit treason and spill the guts on what USA does to China. He's very valuable to the Chinese; USA should have granted him a pardon, if he stopped talking and secured the materials. Bad precedent but...

<comment><USER15> how is what he spilled treason? Article III:

"Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court."

<comment><USER18> They don't need to actually convict him, only accuse him so he can be locked up indefinitely.

<comment><USER15> point taken</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Robert Rodriguez's 10-minute Film School - <AUTHOR> http://www.macalester.edu/~fines/filmschl/index.htm <comment><USER2> As I read through the article, I couldn't help but notice the parallels between making a good film and building a successful startup venture.

Both are highly creative and technical processes. Getting a motley crew of crazies together, (almost) irreverent belief in your vision, passionate director/founder(s), willingness to work long and hard, working creatively within budget, and zealously promoting your wares.

It matters not how many movies you watch, or how many business books, or blogs you read. Learning comes from doing.

Except, with a movie, you don't get a do-over. With startups, you can iterate, pivot, evolve, and march on.

<comment><USER3> EXACTLY! As a big movie fan, I also have that same theory. In fact I have read Robert Rodriguez's "Rebel Without a Crew" (from where the "10-minute Film School" comes from), and I see so many parallels between indie film-making and bootstrapping a company.

[http://www.amazon.com/Rebel-without-Crew-23-Year-Old- Filmmak...](http://www.amazon.com/Rebel-without-Crew-23-Year-Old- Filmmaker/dp/0452271878/)

I would argue that with a movie you actually do iterate and evolve: That's during the editing process. I believe Scorcese once said that his key job as a director was not during filming per se, but during editing.

Also, a curiosity: Rodriguez is a major geek. He does his own special effects on his own studio in San Antonio.

<comment><USER4> Editing _is_ filmmaking. Writing, acting, photography, recording, those are all arts in themselves, and if you're good at just one of them you don't need a film to be successful. Add editing, and you've turned it into filmmaking.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I'm actually more of a filmmaker than I am a startup guy, but I can see lots of overlaps.

Each film project essentially _is_ a startup. Most are the results of special purpose, one-off companies. You might work with a lot of the same people, but the situations are always fluid. You're creating something from scratch, most of the time, building up something from nothing.

I've made dozens of short films, most via a loose collective of filmmakers, mostly for festival screenings and for the learning experiences. Some with a slightly more formal organization, intended to make money via short film distribution networks online and on cell phones. Which we did, by keeping our production costs very , very low. Some lessons learned there about cofounder selection and clear responsibilities.

Working now with some established producers on securing funding for a indie sci fi feature film. The whole funding cycle is a long, drawn out process, like it is in most businesses. A real roller coaster of emotion, like a startup. In the end, like a startup, the funding is as dependent on establishing belief in the people involved as it is in the idea itself. If not moreso. And of course it's all spare-time after-the-day-job stuff, like a lot of startups.

It's fun, though, and I wouldn't trade the ride for anything else.

</comment><comment><USER6> Many of his DVD commentary tracks are packed with similar info. Spy Kids 2 hardly references what's happening onscreen and is one long discussion about his creative process. It's great.

<comment><USER7> Does this mean I should rent Spy Kids 2 so I can listen to interesting commentary about making films? The world still has a few surprises left, I guess.

<comment><USER6> I've gotten all of his kids movies just for the commentary tracks. It's been a while since I listened to all the commentary tracks, but I remember Spy Kids 2 being the best, Spy Kids 3D being decent, and Shark Boy & Lava Girl being a letdown.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> "Too many creative people don't want to learn how to be technical, so what happens? they become dependent on technical people. Become technical, you can learn that. If you're creative and technical, you're unstoppable."

Really great quote.

</comment><comment><USER9> The similarity one notices between "making a movie" and "building an app" is something more commonplace.

In all activities that involve significant investment of time/money in the start and a big cheque at the end require this kind of thinking.

1\. Bootstrap 2\. Play ur bootstrapped tag to your advantage (get customers who like offbeat things/ don't like big brands/ love promoting newbies etc) 3\. Collect fat cheque at the end if 2 gets u mainstream</comment>


Computer music: a bastion of interactive visual dataflow languages - <AUTHOR> http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/node/3316

<comment><USER2> Max/MSP is commercial/proprietary ; Pd ( <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure_Data> ) is a BSD-licensed alternative (Miller Puckette is the original author of both).

In the commercial arena, see also Reaktor ( <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaktor> ).

</comment><comment><USER3> I loved how Steele ridiculed visual programming in his "50 on 50" talk* by showing Piet † as exemplary for the paradigm.

* <http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/node/3101>

† <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet_(programming_language)>

</comment><comment><USER4> I think it's pretty safe to say that dataflow is one of the most severely underused programming paradigms today.

(I'm not fond of "visual" programming however, except where it opens new possibilities to someone who would never dream of programming the "real" way).

<comment><AUTHOR> Ptolemy is an academic project work looking at. From this perspective, its an attempt to incorporate some of the advantages of 'real' programming into a visual environment. <http://ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu/ptolemyII/ptIIlatest/></comment></comment>


Channel 10's demise reflects an industry 'splintering' under the digital age - <AUTHOR> http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-15/channel-10-demise-reflects-industry-challenges/8618622 <comment><USER2> Crazy. I grew up watching channel ten.

I wonder if there will be any Australian television that isn't funded by the public in 20 years?</comment>


How Big Oil Dodges Facebook's New Ad Transparency Rules - <AUTHOR> https://www.propublica.org/article/how-big-oil-dodges-facebooks-new-ad-transparency-rules <comment><AUTHOR> Money quote:

> Rob Leathern, Facebook's director of product management, said Facebook > doesn't try to verify the provenance of every political ad. The lack of a > "reliable source to look and see every possible entity name that would be > valid, including 'doing business as' names," would make it a herculean task, > he said. "We have to rely on the things that we can scalably look at." > Facebook primarily monitors disclaimers for profanity, names of hate groups > and "vague or inaccurate" descriptions, as well as URLs (banned because > they're not official names), he said.</comment>