India as a great power - <AUTHOR> http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21574458-india-poised-become-one-four-largest-military-powers-world-end

<comment><USER3> Uhh.. India buys so many tanks, aircrafts, etc. because politicians here take a healthy cut on those deals. There's no strategy involved, it's pure business. Also, pointing at Pakistan as the enemy works because of long term cultural issues. The one time that the navy chief mentioned China's a worry - everyone scoffed at him and he was almost fired.

Source: My father was a senior air force pilot and was being coerced into buying obsolete airplanes from a dealer since the home minister's son was involved in making the deal.

<comment><USER4> sorry no offence, but that story sounds like less believable to me for some reasons. 1\. airplane deals are not cleared by anyone but the senior most of general rank airforce officials, so can you please mention your father's exact rank level again?

2\. Home minister's son you say? which home minister if you can mention?

3\. If my father was a such a senior air force pilot, I would rather not be even mentioning this, because this is a accusation, and it really means a great deal to do so without proof. A family member of a senior airforce official, sounds a lot unbelievable to me. Sorry, but I can't believe your 'sources'

<comment><USER3> I'd rather not share any details even though my father passed away earlier this month. Rest assured, when I say senior pilot, I mean at the highest echelons of the forces. Yes, General Rank level indeed.

Maybe you don't know how deals work but they often require a recommendation from the people who are going to actually USE the equipment.

I don't see why you seem to be so upset about this. It's hardly a secret in India. I didn't say that my father agreed to be party to this, and neither do many other senior military officials, but this is a dirty game and no one denies that.

As for you not believing my sources, frankly, I don't really care.

For reference, this was within the last 10 years.

<comment><USER5> I up-voted your parent and would down vote you if I could, here is why

(a) Defense deals are not the domain of the home minster, their oversight is the responsibility of the defense ministry.

(b) There have been 2 home minsters in the last 10 years Shivraj Patil P Chidambaram

Shivraj Patil and his children, Shailesh Patil and Archana Patil have faced regular accusations of corruption. The reports of their corruption are in the domain of land acquisition and obtaining permits for business that they would not otherwise have likely received. This was largely done using their fathers name and listing their home address as the home ministers residence in New Delhi. But neither of them are involved in the business of arms.

Chidambaram has 1 son Karti Chidambaram, who likewise has benefited from his fathers association. Chief among which was accusations that he received 5% stake in Aircel as kickbacks for other approvals from his father. Quote from wikipedia "according to The Pioneer and India Today reports, documents show that approval to the foreign direct investment (FDI) proposal was indeed delayed by about 7 months by P Chidambaram.". This was during the time that Chidambaram held the position of Finance minister. It would be likely that Karti benefited later from his father holding the home portfolio in the same manner as Shivraj Patil's children.

(c) From your own admission in this response, your father was to only make recommendations for purchase of equipment which is vastly different from have the authority to make purchase, which is what you claim in the first. I take it from the 2 comments that he recommended their purchase. Your comments show poor form for claiming something that is clearly not true.

(d) Last but not the least, your father spoke about matters that he had no reason to be addressing outside of his work place. The exceptions could be his role as a whistle blower which is definitely not the case here.

As someone whose father worked as director of DRDO organization and had purchasing authority for research equipment for a lab that employed 100000+ employees and 1000+ scientists, I can assure you my father never even in passing mentioned any work related information outside of work for obvious security implications.

EDIT: edited for formatting.

<comment><USER4> point (D) mentioned by you is the exact reason, I first doubted him. This is not something someone of that senior level usually does, nor does any of his family members do the same.

<comment><USER5> In his defense his father was in the Air force, he retired at the rank of Air Vice marshal and I would guess at the time when he claims to have heard from his father of the incident his father was the rank of Air commodore.

On "Air commodore" from wikipedia "Air commodore (Air Cdre in the RAF and IAF, AIRCDRE in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly A/C in the RCAF) is a one-star rank and the most junior of the air-officer ranks". Note air-officer ranks are fairly high and take a number of years of service to achieve. However these ranks are fairly low when it comes to procuring equipment.

"Air Vice marshal" is one rank higher.

I do think he believes what he claims in his comments, I am just pointing out that his beliefs are vastly exaggerated. His father was likely asked about his recommendations of the aircraft but is unlikely to have any knowledge beyond that about the reason that a particular aircraft was procured. Everything else that he has heard is hear say.

Far more relevant is that the defense ministry has been headed by A.K. Antony since 2006. Antony is known for his incorruptible record and simple personal life, wikipedia has about 10+ references on where this claim originates from. Antony like wise has a very low profile and is rarely in the news. For anyone following Indian politics it is fairly well know that there are a handful of non-corruptible politicians across all affiliations in India. Antony has always been included amongst those.

<comment><USER3> Well, I would have rather not shared all this information but at the time my father was an AVM (i.e. a two star general) and was also the head of the air wing of the border security force. As head of an entire fleet, he pretty much had the authority to decide and recommend what he pleased. Also, his recommendations were of paramount importance, especially concerning new purchases. Obviously he wasn't happy when he was asked to recommend something in particular - and he didn't, that's probably why the deal failed.

So no, my beliefs are not highly exaggerated. They are just based on whatever was going on at the time. Take it as hearsay, take it as whatever you want.

I do however request that you remove/edit your post as it is personally identifiable and I will delete this post as well. I'd rather not have an online archive of all these things directly related to my father.

<comment><USER6> >I do however request that you remove/edit your post as it is personally identifiable and I will delete this post as well. I'd rather not have an online archive of all these things directly related to my father.

It would have been smarter to not post any information that could be linked to your identity in the first place.

<comment><USER3> Yes, but I wasn't being specific for that very reason. It's one thing to say "My dad was a senior official and had so and so experience" and it's another to have other people post personally identifiable information.

But in retrospect, it's probably not worth it because I'm not as invested in the argument as the other side. It was just to share an interesting story and nothing more.

<comment><USER4> I will apologize right now, of my free accord, if I doubted you wrongly. I'm going to be less of a skeptical person, and accept that yes he is what you said.

But I do want to make a note, that the opinion stating, that corruption is like bonfire in India, is wrong, it is not that rampant, it appears large, because of recent wave of it getting much media and public attention. Its like mud, it shouldn't be tossed in the air so it can fall on those who are not corrupt. Its too easy to say everyone is corrupt, hard to recognize who is corrupt and who is not. Plus point (D) above was something, I was not able to put in more clear words myself. It is not a good behavior, something, a lot of people in armed forces and alike avoid.

<comment><USER7> Are you joking? I travel to India frequently for business. I can assure you corruption is rampant at all levels I've had the misfortune of being in contact with (which is not very high level at all). You need to bribe everyone in Indian govt. to get them to do their jobs, for which they already get a salary.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> The article uses "great power" as a synonym for 'buys lots of weapons' or more charitably "has a strong army". By these definitions, North Korea is a "great power".

India is decades away from being a 'great power'. Lots of internal problems to solve first (said as an Indian living in India)

<comment><USER9> I have never been to India but my girlfriend spent six months there. She would laugh at the title of this article. In her eyes, India has to radically change culturally before the country may blossom. For example, one cultural problem is that too many people just acquiesce in the face of difficulty.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> "Great power" ROFL. We are a nation where most of the country lives in poverty and have a truckload of economic and social problems that we like to sweep under the carpet. Importing weapons does not make us a "great power".

</comment><comment><USER11> India is trying to be a "great power" in the 50s Soviet-era style.

Today's world is about soft power. India is woefully lacking there. It is beset by internal strife (the entire Northeast has been under some form of "martial law" (AFSPA) for 50 years). The central-western region has the Naxalite problem, which keeps on simmering and growing. And then there's Kashmir.

Aside from Bhutan, none of India's neighbors take it seriously. If India can't even project its power on its own borders, how will it do anything beyond?

The reality is: India's defence budget is basically a piggybank for political parties to fund the elections (and pad the bank accounts of senior politicians). The first thing a party does when it comes to power is sign some major defence deals (or "modify" deals in the pipeline, so they can get their cut also).

</comment><comment><USER12> Companion piece, India's political system is nonfunctioning:

[http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/21/zakaria-i...](http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/21/zakaria- india-as-the-broken-bric/)

I think it even subsumes and helps explain the lack of a coherent military strategy - there's a lack of any direction at the highest levels of governance.

"If it doesn't get its act together, 10 years from now people might still be praising the BRICs, except that the "I" in BRIC might stand for Indonesia, not India."

</comment><comment><USER13> Having personally experienced the massive dysfunction at all levels in India, this article makes almost no sense. India's is ruled by corrupt and incompetent bunch of sycophants & dynasties that are incapable of thinking strategically at any level. The massive and entrenched corruption means that rather than tanks and planes, all an adversary needs is a chunk of cash - <USER2> could paralyze any decision making and ensure a Military dominance.

</comment><comment><USER14> It's a pity that India and Pakistan both prefer spending insane amounts of money and effort in upgrading their military toys, rather than improving quality of education, health, and life in general for their citizens. In both countries, poverty rates, education standards and quality of life are among the worst in the world.

Pakistan and India need to invest more money and effort in being partners rather than enemies, they share almost the same grass root problems, so an increased cooperation will only improve the situation. I say this as a patriotic Pakistani who has spent his entire life (except for the last three years) in Pakistan.

Peace.

</comment><comment><USER15> eh this is useless postering getting reported for no reason.

why does importing tech ever matter? especially tanks? they need to have independent defense contractors within india fighting for contracts fairly; until then this is useless reporting because it won't even mention the incentives for politicians for importing this tech.

<comment><USER16> What happens when your importer cuts off supply? For a small country, you really have no option, but India is a huge country that is more than capable of domestic supply.

What if India was dependent on US arms, and war erupted with China? And what if the US, wanting to keep China and Pakistan onside for their own affairs, bottlenecks the supply of arms to keep them happy?

Or currently, with 50% of India's arms coming from Russia - overland they've either got to go through hostile Pakistan or China itself. By sea it's vulnerable to a strong navy, and you'd see a lot of Chinese naval activity east of Africa. With satellites and other modern tech, you can't play the hide-and-seek naval supply of yesteryear - surface shipping is incredibly vulnerable.

<comment><USER17> For a short notice (such an) event India might be in trouble unless some other nation/supplier comes forward with a better cost or commitment to some sort of alliance/favour or support and solidarity.

If it happens not in a war like situation then the contract was broken by the supplier and India is fully capable of using those manufacturer's patents and manual as recipe book just like China has been doing for decades. Now, that country can't go their government or Indian government and say - "hey, look we screwed India and now it's screwing us back".

If you wanted a short an final answer - then yes, India will be in trouble.

<comment><USER16> They were rhetorical questions in response to 'why should it be an issue'.

 _India is fully capable of using those manufacturer's patents and manual as recipe book_

The article gives some examples of India failing to do exactly that. "It'll be alright on the night" is okay in theatre productions, because the worst that can happen is an evening's spoiled entertainment and you get a do-over the next night. Doesn't really work that way with national security if you're expecting it'll all come together once a war sparks.

<comment><USER17> >> _The article gives some examples of India failing to do exactly that._

No, it doesn't. It mentions DRDO being not very efficient but that's because politicians are more interested in buying than start manufacturing. Engineers are made to sit duck, do bullshit PPTs and just sign the papers, oversee tenders and purchases. And I don't know about tank story. DRDO cannot start making copies of Ak47 and GE engines on a whim. State decides that.

>> _Tejas_

It's a pretty good fighter plane. You can see it in action on tube :-)

>> _It'll be alright on the night_

Atleast I never said that. Fine if you are making a general benevolent observation.

That article talks about a lot of things that stands good and there other (majority) which pure speculative bull.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> I don't claim much knowledge of the far east, so this is just a gut reaction: to me (in the USA) I have always looked at India as being a very good partner for the USA. I think both countries share a lot of common values and have aligned interests.

I hope for an as good as possible relationships with China, but it seems like China's interests are not so well aligned with ours. (I am still waiting for China to join with possibly Russia, South America, and other regions to jump off of the US$ as their reserve currency.)

</comment><comment><USER4> India, or rather its military expansion/presence is in my view as an Indian citizen, is in the right direction. Firstly this is in line with the fact, that we are a founder of Non Alignment Movement (1961), a movement, that in the shadows, kept the rest of the world powers out of the Cold War, as many might not know or think, NAM is one of the actual reason, that a war between the West Bloc and East Bloc never really happened. So yes, today, if we are not positioned as a anti-matter to any country, it is because of our roots. In fact, the whole conflict against Pakistan is passive, if we were US, we might have made permanent bases in Pakistan to keep them in check, like US did in Japan, but we didn't. With China, growing, we do not share the same sense of hostility as some do in the west. Anything India does is just actually a strategic action to balance its interest between this hostility. No offence, meant.

Anyways, the spending over the last few years in India, has rather been of modernizing nature than expansive nature. An example of that is 1.5 billion spent on a SECOND HAND aircraft carrier by India, of which we have near zero.

India as a great power? yes, India is becoming a great power military, politically, economically , socially, etc, but we would rather like the world to see our opinion on handling our military. This is actually a good article about India to make frontpage, since it allows the opportunity for us to showcase, that this is the land of Gandhi, we could have done a lot of things to Pakistan, but we knew, that our differences are deeper than any military discord.

As a muslim, I have also realized, that over the years, the problems of muslims of pakistan is NOT the problems of muslims of India, and they really need to work a lot of things up in Socio-Economic factors. A stable democratic govt, free from military control is one. We never had any coup, but pakistan did quite a few. This I'm saying not to offend anyone, but to highlight, how in India, Military and Civil establishments are parallel close lines, but in Pakistan, they are intersecting lines.

with proper education, the next generation of Indians and Pakistanis, will see and solve our basic problem of discord, that is to say, if other countries (none named) do not intervene for their own interest, which are quite a few, for example, a amalgamation of India-Pakistan would almost instantly increase our cotton production capacities, which are fundamentally supplementary to each other, and today are actually struggling because of our relations. Besides, we have near about same economic standards, and it would be like a catapulting India ahead of China almost instantly. But this is something, a lot of people don't see.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-Aligned_Movement>

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo- Pakistani_wars_and_conflic...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo- Pakistani_wars_and_conflicts)

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_carrier#India>

<comment><USER19> "NAM is one of the actual reason, that a war between the West Bloc and East Bloc never really happened."

This seems to be a view not widely held outside of NAM countries. Do you have any facts, events e.g. to support that claim? e.g. how NAM countries worked during the Cuban crisis? Or how NAM countries helped during the Able Archer crisis? Or how they were involved in the Berlin crisis of 61 with the T-54 and M-48 tank standoffs? (three events that come to mind where the cold war was nearly going hot)

<comment><USER4> yes, Please read the NAM wiki. The design of the NAM was actually for as per the official definition, was to break the cold war. And ever since, it so happened, it has been struck with a lack of direction.

Well, isn't it obvious? During cold war, countries were being pressed to join either of the blocs, but NAM provided a barrier against this pressing, when countries unanimously agreed to stay neutral and share the opinion.

Due to its nature, that whatever was happening, was on a diplomatic behind closed doors basis, where discussions were being held about stances hiding it from both US and USSR bloc, it is very hard to trace, what they really did, and how they did it. But, with a attendance of 55% or 115 countries, you cannot rule it out as just another organization.

EDIT: <http://mealib.nic.in/?2029>

please check out this official foreign policy extract from 1983, it was a big event in world politics. reading only the Introduction will let you know.

<comment><USER20> I have a plush toy on my desk here that keeps my town from being hit by asteroids. It works fantastic, no asteroids have hit this town since I put it there.

<comment><USER4> I'm judging that you are trying to say something in a sarcastic manner, but can you elaborate please? It did not connect.

<comment><USER20> My claim that a plush toy has been keeping this town from being hit by asteroids is roughly equivalent to your claim that NAM countries were "the actual reason that a war between the West Bloc and the East Bloc never really happened".

<comment><USER4> A plush toy, is only a non-living thing, that sits and do nothing, NAM is a 115 country strong organization, most of which are countries that joined it to not align based on military issues, but on development issues, with someone like India, who have also been under colonial rule like them

<comment><USER21> > NAM is a 115 country strong organization

Thus not India.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> I have spent 13 years in the area and am currently/mostly in China's south- western area bordering Myanmar (very close to the disputed region in far north-eastern India). I am very lazily writing a history on the area, purely out of personal interest.

It's probaly worth pointing out that all of the borders in this area are essentially modern / historically largely irrelevant, dating basically from colonial times, and falling arbitrarily across significant ethnographic and cultural boundaries. In addition, the proxy economic/diplomatic conflict in Myanmar (nicely summarized at [http://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/03/china- didnt...](http://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/03/china-didnt-see- this-coming/274042/)) is a serious concern for all parties at present, and entirely excluded from the article.

The US is deeply involved there, and not for the first time, having operated a dangerous, famous and still well remembered and locally celebrated air route over the Himalayan foothills from eastern India known as 'The Hump' in support of Chinese resistance against the Japanese. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hump>

Still earlier, the Americans were also to be chief suppliers of the ultimately failed English Myanmar-China train project much discussed in early 20th century English parliament (they were pretty jiffed the French beat them to it from Northern Vietnam). <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yunnan-Burma_Railway> (I snapped the pic there!)

I don't see India projecting any influence in this part of China, really. There are few Indian businesses, commercial envoys or students (unlike Bangladeshi, Burmese, Korean, Thai, etc.). Of late the eastern Indian area (Brahmaputra valley) at which the northern section exists the greater disputed area has been mostly opened to tourists for the first time. Most of the 'Burmese' present here are actually Bangladeshi Muslim traders who have acquired Burmese documentation. Buddhists are few and far between.

My understanding is that local governors of that part of India are keen to trade with China and re-open the (American-army-corps engineered, but largely local labourer-built) Stillwell Road ("Burma Road"), and there have been India/China discussions to that effect for many years now. No action though, and the proxy political conflict in Burma is probably going to result in further delays. Though plans have been announced for railways to Myanmar from China (and early political posturing for onward links to Bangladesh), nothing seems to have moved and recent politicking probably means long delays on any concrete development.

This is all further complicated by Chinese relations with the Kachin, Wa and Shan armies along Myanmar's northern periphery, their not insignificant presence on the Chinese side of the border (especially the Wa and Shan/Dai/Tai), the presence of opium, the China government's widely assumed and somewhat evidenced involvement in its large-scale trans-shipment, the historical presence of nationalist (Taiwanese) anti-communist warlords in the region.

NB. Earlier in my career I had some experience dealing with the Indian Military. Lots of posturing culminated in untold swathes of military officials listening to technical presentations for which they obviously had no competency (asking irrelevant questions, etc.)</comment>


Show HN: A community based financial independence progress tracker - <AUTHOR> http://www.fireleap.com <comment><USER2> What is FIRE? Page doesn't seem to say before using the acronym.

<comment><USER3> Financially Independent, Retired Early.</comment></comment>


What makes Jewish comedy Jewish? - <AUTHOR> https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/jewish-comedy-david-baddiel/ <comment><USER2> Anecdotally, if I've learned anything from watching comedians like John Stewart: self deprecation is the keystone of their entire act.

Every comedian seems to have some level of it, because not taking yourself too seriously is like a vital component of turning comedy in to a job. But Jewish comedians go to that well a lot more than, for example, Black comedians like Katt Williams.

<comment><USER3> I can partly echo what you've said about Black comedians, although there has been a great progress if you compare Katt Williams or Chris Tucker with Kevin Hart, JB Smoove or Chris Rock. Maybe progress is also the wrong word, since Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy were brilliant stand ups of their time.

One quality of good comedians I might add is observational skills: To see the weird in everyday situations.

<comment><USER4> Richard Pryor was an all time master of self deprecation.

<comment><USER5> Case in point:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjD4PHojNBU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjD4PHojNBU)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> As a Jew, I don't know how I should feel about articles like that these.

This is blatantly racist, in a confusing era where we are to acknowledge positive differences among ethnicities, and ignore negative differences.

One simply cannot do both. It is fundamentally irrational to, with one hand, speak of how a certain race is superior in some way, while pretending this doesn't imply that other races are inferior in some way.

Which is it? This kind of glaring contradiction drives me crazy.

<comment><USER7> If people are saying Jewish humor and culture is something genetic, then that's racist. But Jewishness is a culture in addition to ethnicity. Jewish humor is an aspect of it, much like forms of humor in other cultures. Comparing styles of humor across cultures is perfectly fine.

<comment><USER8> I don't think your definition of racism is correct; in modern parlance, racism often includes ethnicity (not to mention that we cannot objectively, based on genetics, define race). Chauvinism would be a more fitting term, anyway.

> Comparing styles of humor across cultures is perfectly fine.

I also take issue with this. Humor reflects culture, and if you compare different cultures, aren't you stereotyping?

<comment><USER9> For there to be different cultures, there must be differences between them - by definition. To compare is to examine differences. If such a rudimentary line of inquiry triggers guilt about "stereotyping", then you ought to take time to examine your words more carefully. If by stereotyping you mean assuming that all Jewish people are comedic in an identical way, no one here is saying such a thing. But unless your head is buried deep in the ground, there is a much-celebrated phenomenon called Jewish humor, and interest in it by non-Jewish people is something to be celebrated, not censored.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> > It was often said of Friends that it was written as if for six old Jews

Not wrong—for a lot more of it than just _Friends_. Adolescent sexual themes, adolescent preoccupation with what the rules are and how to subvert them, but all of it with verbally precocious execution.

Maybe the single word answer to the headline question is _neoteny._ [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoteny](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoteny)

</comment><comment><USER11> This article reminded me of the time when Tim Whatley on Seinfeld turns Jewish just for the jokes.

</comment><comment><USER12> What a wonderful read. I'm sitting here on a bed with my girlfriend, Mars, having just read it to her.

It reminded me of my Jewish mother and her vibrant storytelling. There's great pleasure in telling a riveting tale of a small slight.

It reminded Mars of my not-Jewish (but somehow more Jewish) father. Both respectful and subversive, he'll make a joke to an armed guard if he can.

</comment><comment><USER13> Page is blank for me... is it a long read?

</comment><comment><USER14> It is not "Jewish humour", it is American Ashkenazi Jewish humour of a specific era. Humour in Israel is different, humour in non Ashkenazi communities is also different. Even if you look at Jewish comedians in the UK like Sasha Baron Cohen it is a completely different style of humour.

<comment><USER15> Yes! I've been in Israel for the better part of this last year. One of my neighbors is a comedian. The prevailing humor is very specific to country of origin.

There is so much Ashkenazi American Jewish culture that wouldn't make any sense to Ashkenazi Jews in Israel.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> The author actually argues that one of the reasons is "the bible isn't funny"? My own guess would have to do primarily with nepotism and secondarily with the appeal of a different perspective of a foreign culture to an American audience. Whether people like it or not, the Jews actually have a strong lobby in the entertainment industry, and they like nepotism, probably even more than the average american.

<comment><USER17> I wouldn't underestimate the influence of the Borscht Belt. Successful Jews in entertainment vacationed there, while young up-and-comers performed in the comedy clubs. Who got seen? Whose names got circulated around? It was a self- perpetuating cycle until the Catskills clubs fell out of favor.</comment></comment>


Fundraising Advice from eight top blockchain VCs in 2020 – Part Two - <AUTHOR> https://steemit.com/dgen/@mortonj/fundraising-advice-from-eight-top-blockchain-vcs-in-2020-part-two <comment><USER2> Good one</comment>


Will Mobile Social Networks Be Thrown for a Loopt? - <AUTHOR> http://www.eweek.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=49081&Itemid=28&limit=&limitstart=&mosmsg=Thanks%20For%20Your%20Vote! <comment><USER2> When I arrived at the URL, I got a JavaScript alert thanking me for rating the article (presumably as "best," which is what the radio button was set at). I'm not sure if any vote actually got recorded, but it would be totally bogus if one did, since I certainly didn't choose to rate anything.</comment>


Cybercrime loss estimates about as reliable as piracy estimates - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/04/study-shows-cybercrime-estimates-to-be-overblown.ars <comment><USER2> When I worked on a cybercrime startup idea in 2008-9, every single "cost of cybercrime" calculation I found - even from government agencies - was based on the same original, unsourced estimate from MarkMonitor, which sells various brand protection services to IP holders (e.g. they'll watch eBay for counterfeit auctions of Rolex watches). After a few years, MM was able to cite the more "official" sources with a circular reference.

There's no financial incentive for anyone to say "nah, it's not that bad".

</comment><comment><USER3> While I concur that objectivity is important, I would not completely discredit that there are severe economic concerns with cyber crime. I've seen first hand vast amounts of intellectual property being obtained illegally through coercion and manipulation of private and federal systems. Working in a position to detect and prevent you'll find often that the victims are not aware of their losses nor the secondary conditionals that drive associated costs. Most cyber crime in't as clearly defined as say a list of credit cards stolen from a services provider. These are the models you can somewhat quantify a worse case estimate for. All that's required is that you tally up the limits on all the cards and say the potential was for x amount of monetary loss. Is the number a realistic answer or projection? Not really, often it's way out of touch with reality, the question then becomes how do you define realistic loses?

It's true that there aren't models that can clearly and appropriately estimate losses for an entity. This is due in part to the large costs that aren't a known in that exposure of credit card numbers. Addressable's such as client confidence, the manpower and time to disseminate information to the victims, the time spent eradicating all flaws being levied by the actors which alone are not inclusive of your overall downtime and even public shame, all items hard to quantify a numerical value for. We can argue about models, but the truth is there is never a model for every scenario. You can only go by speculation and assumption. So it's with that understanding that I somewhat allow an inflated estimate of real damage. If at the end of the day, the horror stories read online push users and admins to educate themselves, even if out of fear of overly estimated loses, I see no harm.

Personally, I fell the more appropriate response is to give clear guidance as to how these incidents were born. It's only through proper education of users and admins alike, that we'll be able to stymy those attempting harm.

In concurrence with your comment, there is no doubt that there is sensationalization on the part of everyone at play. Antivirus and malware removal manufacturers want to project an image of fear. It's this sense of fear that drives their market. However inappropriate it may be, it at least drives discussion. It's only with proper education that users see the difference between realistic threats and the hollywood movie projections.

</comment><comment><USER4> Interesting that this came out of Microsoft Research. Perhaps Microsoft was getting really annoyed with overblown estimates of losses from compromised Microsoft products.

There are political and economic forces that benefit from fanning alarmism about cybercrime, just as there are companies like MS that incur losses from such alarmism. When there's so much uncertainty about what reality looks like, either side can cite figures that support their own agenda. Kudos to the researchers for bringing some cautious sanity and objectivity to the issue, instead of just running away in the other direction.</comment>


No, Apple Music is not deleting your music – unless you tell it to - <AUTHOR> http://www.imore.com/no-apple-music-not-deleting-tracks-your-hard-drive-unless-you-tell-it <comment><USER2> This article provides some technical details on how Apple Music stores songs.

More interestingly, at the bottom are links to other articles which supply more detail. Those details aren't obvious to casual users. For example, music files on the "primary" computer are treated differently than files on other devices.

Edit: see also comments at the bottom of the articles. This stuff is sure confusing many people.

</comment><comment><USER3> What is not addressed is that the article that inspired this post says in its second paragraph:

> they were all dismissed by condescending "gurus" who simply said that we had > mislocated our files (I had the free drive space to prove that wasn't the > case) or that we must have accidentally deleted the files ourselves (we > hadn't).

Further, even if it was operator error, "Is this Apple's fault? Sort of." is a pretty bizarre way to lead into "it's 100% Apple's fault that the UX is confusing"(last quote paraphrased).

</comment><comment><USER4> Personally I think the problem exists between chair and keyboard.</comment>


Ask HN: What do you think of Google (as a company)? - <AUTHOR> That is, how do you perceive the company, its work environment, its employees, and its future prospects? <comment><USER2> There are pluses and minuses to working for Google. On the plus side, they pay well, your colleagues will be uncommonly capable, and you'll get a chance to work on a vast scale. It's cool.

On the minus side, the company is very, very strict, particularly around its codebase. For each language, there is an extensive set of coding guidelines (actually rules) covering even minute issues like spacing. And it's actually enforced. If you're looking for a high-trust environment, or just some elbow room to do things your way, stay the heck away.

The company is also very bureaucratic, particularly around hiring and promotion. Promotions are done by independent boards, based on extensive documentation (the "perf packet") provided by the candidate and his manager/lead. At this point, these packets are hefty enough to beat a man to death with. To submit code, you'll also need to get certified for "readability" in each language you will be working in, a process that takes months.

Finally, I'd say Google has a bit of false consciousness around what sort of culture they actually have. They want to think of themselves as a free, loose sort of place where people are empowered to look for problems and go fix them. That's why they still have 20% time, for example. In truth, what you'll be rewarded for is doing what your boss wants, to his satisfaction; everything else is at best marginal. And you know, I think the employees know that, since 20% time is taken by less than 5% of the engineering staff. A culture of "do what your boss tells you" isn't bad of course; what it is, is ordinary.

So, some big pluses, oh yeah, but some big minuses too.

<comment><USER3> I'm sure you're right about not having quite as much elbow room at google compared to other companies - but saying that I'm not sure strictly enforcing a style guide is great example a developers freedom being quashed.

Anywhere you're working on a codebase that you want to be maintainable having a style guide that is strictly enforced seems like a no brainer. Keeping in my mind google could have any number of developers working on a codebase

<comment><USER2> I don't object to having a style guide. I object to the extent of it. Some rules of good practice make sense. But having a really extensive style guide shifts code review away from what it should be focusing on -- correctness, clarity, efficiency -- towards punctilious enforcement of minutiae.

Here's Google's Java style guide, if you want to have a look yourself: [https://google.github.io/styleguide/javaguide.html](https://google.github.io/styleguide/javaguide.html)

<comment><USER4> When the codebase is so big and you're hiring so many engineers it might be actually a good idea to have such an extensive style guide.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> They're one of the worlds biggest (my share market value, and mind share) companies, and almost the entirety of their revenue is generated by collecting huge amounts of personal information about people all over the web, and using that data to sell adverts, all over the web.

Yes, a percentage of their revenues have been spent on things that help people without inflicting more harm (e.g. _some_ of their software contributions to the world, some services they run "for free" which the industry uses for security purposes).

That doesn't mean their other actions should be ignored or accepted as OK.

Edit:

Based on the other comment maybe this is about considering working for Google?

I wouldn't work for Google for all the money in the world. I've had a high paying contract position doing work I didn't really enjoy that much, on projects that made questionable choices (I don't mean tech choices).

The saying "you can't buy happiness" is fucking true. If you are doing something you hate, all the money in the world won't make you enjoy it.

<comment><USER6> Is your issue just that you hate all advertising?

If so, shouldn't you take your ire out on the web itself rather than Google, as Google is hardly unique in using advertising to sustain itself. Many websites do.

And what is the alternative? Everyone pays for everything, thus providing bank-authenticated billing data to every company? At least with ad supported services you can use them anonymously, if you want to. Besides, Google has their Contributor product that (in some cases) lets you pay to not see adverts. So it's not like they aren't trying to find a good balance.

Is your issue that you dislike targeted ads specifically?

If so, doesn't the fact that you can opt out of ad targeting and/or edit your own profile change anything? Surely you can see that many people would prefer to see relevant ads rather than ads intended for the wrong gender, age group, regional populations etc?

It's unfortunate that you feel so strongly about something as mundane as online advertising. Google is not the military or the CIA, where the actions of the employees can result in people getting randomly drone striked. It's just a software company.

I say these things because I used to work for Google and the people there are usually very happy. It seems a shame to rule out a company that's always tried so hard to find the right moral balances in things on grounds as flimsy as "advertising sucks".

<comment><USER5> > Is your issue just that you hate all advertising?

If I'm looking at a site about fish ponds, or gardening, I would absolutely be OK with seeing adverts about where to buy a pond liner, or a contractor who builds fish ponds.

I would even be OK with that ad being somewhat location specific based on my IP address.

The above situation would have literally _helped_ me in a real word situation in the last month. But, because of the way the vast majority of web advertising works, there was no opportunity, because I have to block ad networks because:

I am not ok with seeing ads about "rent a cheap server today" because there's an email from a hosting company in a google apps mailbox, or because I got an email from a client asking about where to host something.

That is objectively fucking creepy.

> If so, doesn't the fact that you can opt out of ad targeting and/or edit > your own profile change anything?

This is like the argument that I can go to [http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/](http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/) and choose to "opt out" of aggressive web tracking. The problem is, it works on a cookie basis, meaning I have to lower my privacy settings for the whole thing to even work, and then _hope_ that some other bad actor doesn't take advantage of that, and that the NAI members even do what they say.

Creating a google profile (and being signed into it on every device i use) so I can tell them not to track me when I view sites they don't own/run is fucking ridiculous.

> It seems a shame to rule out a company that's always tried so hard to find > the right moral balances in things on grounds as flimsy as "advertising > sucks".

I never said advertising sucks. I said Google are a creepy mega corporation collecting every bit of information they can.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I know many people at the company and have visited several times. My perception: massive, massive company, with a stellar engineering-talent brand, and raw technology that is across the board superior to all competitors.

They are mostly likely the technological leader in databases, search technology, operating systems, distributed computing, cloud computing, machine learning, and self-driving cars. I say technological leader, because while they are still pretty decent at it, product design and marketing is _not_ their strength - which explains why IMO Apple beats them in mobile (yeah, yeah, please don't argue with me on this, this is just an opinion) and Amazon beats them with cloud computing.

Great perks, high pay (especially since the stock is doing so well). Contrary to the HN popular opinion, I have never heard anything negative about work life balance at Google, although I'm sure lots of companies are better at this than Google - I think the stereotype comes from Google's earlier days and the fact that workaholic types tend to be attracted to companies like Google.

The major negatives relate to the fact that Google is massive and somewhat elitist about credentials. Because it is so huge, it is unlikely you will get to work on any of these cool technologies (or any exact team you want to work on, for that matter) when you're just starting out at Google, unless you have some sort of "in" into Google, are from a top school, did an internship at Google already, or otherwise have some sort of significant leg up over everyone else. But regardless you'll be exposed to lots of engineering best practices. A related problem is that because many of the infrastructure/tools are internal (not to mention light years ahead of the competition), a lot of skills you learn won't be transferable to the startup world, for example.

</comment><comment><USER8> This article pretty much sums it up: [https://medium.com/insurge- intelligence/how-the-cia-made-goo...](https://medium.com/insurge- intelligence/how-the-cia-made-google-e836451a959e#.8pmgy7nzn)

I wouldnt work there even if I was smart enough to do so, for moral reasons.

</comment><comment><USER9> I have a dozen+ friends who work at Google(Engineering). Most of them are _very_ happy with their jobs.

As with any large company,the key to happiness is getting to work with the right team on the right problem. . The other factor here is that the specific projects you want to work on might be concentrated in (say) Mountain View and you want to live in Bangalore (or wherever)in which case (unless you are a superstar) you are out of luck.

The best way to get hired (again from what my friends tell me) is to be actively sought after by a specific team for your specific expertise. Else you end up wanting to work on Search Quality and/or self driving cars, and end up fixing bugs in Gmail (nothing wrong with that if that is what you want to do.

In any case, having a Googler submit your CV to HR is much better than a blind application/recruiter driven application. The good news is that they are now so large, that most tech people know someone who works for them.

</comment><comment><USER10> They know too much about everyone, I don't trust them, they are quick to drop software / platforms they develop. Their products are generally appear to be ugly to me. Their search result quality is good.

</comment><comment><USER11> I worked for Google as a contractor for a small team a few years ago. What's most impressive looking back is that everyone I worked with was genuinely nice and smart including the cooks and janitors. I would be willing to hire literally everyone I worked with, no exceptions. Overall, Google treats its employees really well and receives good work from them. Working at Google exposes you to best practices. Overall, Google will continue to do well for the foreseeable future as they control ~90% of the online advertising market.

</comment><comment><USER12> Great company, would love to work there but I lack the knowledge and motivation - my current company have worn me down too much.

Obviously they harvest + use personal information on a global scale, but for the amazing free products they put out that enhance my life (I ride my motorbike a lot and get lost, I live in Google Maps), that's a fair trade.

They do make some dumb decisions (i.e. the whole YouTube + Google+ thing) but what company doesn't.

</comment><comment><USER13> As a software dev I perceive Google to a place where people live to work for instead of working to live.

As a normal person, I see Google as a company looking to collect all of my personal info.

EDIT:

To add:

They really pissed me off joining all their services under one account (YouTube really).

Their search is getting worse but it is still the best out there. I use DuckDuckGo normally but often have to go back to Google search.

</comment><comment><USER14> Great company. Too arrogant. It may require a kick in the pants to become what it wants to become. Something more human altering than websearch. As far as one trick ponies go. It's not too bad. I wish they hadn't given up on space.

</comment><comment><USER15> On the personal side, these days I find myself rather skeptical about Google's aims and interests and have worked to slowly divest myself from using their services (that remain [1]), several of which I do worry that I rely on but are on one sort of life support or another. Even as someone that has paid in the past for Google Apps services, I've never really felt like a customer of Google, per that adage that we aren't Google's customers, but its products (to advertisers).

As for the culture and work environments, here's my very tiny slice of exposure, for what it may be worth:

Interviewed twice last year for decreasingly technical positions. Impression I received was that I was not the hyperfocused autism-spectrum specialist insect they were looking for technically, and I definitely understand why they might feel that way. I preface with that so that you may take what follows with the appropriate grains of salt.

Across two trips out to the Bay Area the majority of interviews were still held remotely over video conferencing, which was frustrating because I could have done Hangouts just as easily from home. This seemed to underline a sort of contradictory stance on remote work in the company to me. (I don't know how much of that was due to the nature of the specific groups I interviewed with, but certainly sounded somewhat par for the course given discussions with recruiters there.) I suppose it wasn't entirely a waste of time as I did get to see some impressions of the culture in the buildings themselves.

I did not like Mountain View, but largely because I'm spoiled by where I live now and don't like driving and suburban sprawl all that much. The parts of the Google campus I saw seemed nice and happy places to be, but still seemed to be mostly a drive from anywhere interesting before/after work and even parts of themselves.

The Google office in San Francisco proper was great and in an interesting part of downtown. It was also apparently woefully undersized, largely due to Google's contradictory unwillingness for bulk remote work from home but allowance for "work from another office" and the number of employees that wanted to live/work closer to SF downtown than commute out to Mountain View.

Most of the employees I encountered seemed like good, smart people. I wish I would have had more actual face-to-face interactions. I had one technical interviewer I thought was not very good at social interaction, and I felt that unduly soured the already stressful and ugly reality of a non-face-to-face "whiteboard technical interview" performed via Google Docs and conference screen.

I realize that a lot of that comes out seeming particularly negative and sour, and I'm probably an edge case in more than one way in my experiences. That said, hopefully my anecdotes here are helpful to someone else.

[1] I was a heavy Reader user and its shutdown did a lot to lose favor from me.

</comment><comment><USER16> Most of what I know from the company comes from watching the movie The Internship. It seems to be packed full of eunuchs.

They seem to pay and treat their employees well though.</comment>


The exercise habit - <AUTHOR> http://joel.is/post/24064139389/the-exercise-habit <comment><USER3> Perhaps the only thing I really gleaned from this article is how brands apparently play such a key role in this man's habits.

 _Macbook air_ , _textmate_ , _Octopus card_ , _Fitness First_ , _Red Bull_ , _Volvic_ , _iPhone_ , _Gmail_ , _Caffe Habitu_. All of these were jarring to me as a reader, as the article would read more naturally with generics-- laptop, text editor, charge card, gym, energy drink, water, phone, email, coffee shop--with no loss of meaning. Many of these brands are mentioned 4 times or more during half a dozen paragraphs.

Whether intentional, it demonstrated the power of good branding; get inside someone's head, make them associate good habits with your brand, and you will become part of their daily ritual. They no longer 'go to coffee shop', they go to Caffe Habitu. It's not buying a bottle of water and hitting the gym, its "purchasing a Volvic in the 7/11 then doing the 3 minute walk to Fitness First". They don't check email, they check _gmail_.

A related takeaway from this blog post is the inherent "bragging rights" people feel when they stick to a habit. This guy doesn't just get up in the morning, it gets up at _5.50am people_. Now that's early! Now it's time for _12 reps at 30kg_ at Fitness First as I knock down my redbull after crushing some sick bugs on my macbook air at the crack of dawn working in the cloud at my webapp startup.

Premium brands do the same, and it's part of the reason for the consistent brand-dropping here. People don't have phones they have iPhones, not because they are ubiquitous (like hoover became the vacuum) but because people must differentiate normal phones from their phones, due to the premium pricing they paid. And by using the new product as part of a habit (like your iphone is an integral part of a morning workout), it becomes more justification for the purchase.

<comment><USER4> The Red Bull and Volvic seemed particularly out of place to me, especially in that he made buying them one at a time a part of his daily ritual. Maybe he wakes up in the morning with a compulsion to throw his money away at a 7/11 instead of getting a 12-pack from the grocery store? Instead of filling his own bottle from the tap and drinking coffee for his caffeine like normal people who don't attach brands to all of their routines?

I don't know the exact price of Red Bull or Volvic, but at $5 a day and 260 weekdays in a year he'd be spending $1,300/year.

<comment><USER5> Red Bull is $40 for 24 cans on Amazon, probably twice that at 7-11. Call it $3.20/can.

Volvic is $28.81/12 on Amazon. At the same 100% mark-up, it's $4.80/bottle at 7-11.

That's $8/day, plus local sales taxes, or nearly $2100/year.

Getting a good water bottle and filling it at home is likely too cheap to meter. Making good coffee at home and using that for the caffeine boost is a lot less than $3.20/serving, and then there is this:

[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1443950608...](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1443950608002436)

The results of a study showed that the ingestion of one, 250mL can of sugar- free Red Bull, in a sample of 30 healthy young adults, had an immediate detrimental effect on both endothelial function, and normal blood coagulation. This temporarily raised the cardiovascular risk in these individuals to a level comparable to that of an individual with established coronary artery disease.

Finally, he jumps straight into 12 reps dumbbell press @ 30kg (66lb per hand). Riiiight!

<comment><USER6> >he jumps straight into 12 reps dumbbell press @ 30kg (66lb per hand)

That really isn't that much weight- imagine bench pressing 60 kilos.

30 kilo dumbbell presses shouldn't all that strenuous for someone who works out regularly.

<comment><USER7> _That really isn't that much weight- imagine bench pressing 60 kilos._

A more general rule is Bench Press = 3 x 1 dumbbell weight. Pressing dumbbells is harder because it involves more balancing, so it is harder to press 30kg dumbbells than one 60 kg bar.

<comment><USER5> my bench is currently around 5x6-8 @ 85kg (5 sets, 6-8 reps, 185lb) That's a workout set

So, I could probably handle 65lb dumbbells @ 12 reps, but I wouldn't start there for a warm-up.

Which was my point.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> > I live in the American Gardens Building on W. 81st Street on the 11th floor. > My name is Patrick Bateman. I'm 27 years old. I believe in taking care of > myself and a balanced diet and rigorous exercise routine. In the morning if > my face is a little puffy I'll put on an ice pack while doing stomach > crunches. I can do 1000 now. After I remove the ice pack I use a deep pore > cleanser lotion. In the shower I use a water activated gel cleanser, then a > honey almond body scrub, and on the face an exfoliating gel scrub. Then I > apply an herb-mint facial mask which I leave on for 10 minutes while I > prepare the rest of my routine. I always use an after shave lotion with > little or no alcohol, because alcohol dries your face out and makes you look > older. Then moisturizer, then an anti-aging eye balm followed by a final > moisturizing protective lotion.

<comment><USER9> Do you like Huey Lewis and the News?

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Great post on the benefits of habit-forming. I've certainly found something similar in my own exercise experiences.

On a more humorous note, the first portion of the piece reminded me of this gem:

"I live in the American Gardens Building on W. 81st Street on the 11th floor. My name is Patrick Bateman. I'm 27 years old. I believe in taking care of myself and a balanced diet and rigorous exercise routine. In the morning if my face is a little puffy I'll put on an ice pack while doing stomach crunches. I can do 1000 now. After I remove the ice pack I use a deep pore cleanser lotion. In the shower I use a water activated gel cleanser, then a honey almond body scrub, and on the face an exfoliating gel scrub. Then I apply an herb-mint facial mask which I leave on for 10 minutes while I prepare the rest of my routine. I always use an after shave lotion with little or no alcohol, because alcohol dries your face out and makes you look older. Then moisturizer, then an anti-aging eye balm followed by a final moisturizing protective lotion. "

<comment><USER10> 1000x better than the movie, which in itself is not terrible. One of the few novels I've taken the time to read since leaving school.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> The one piece of advice I curated from the many articles I read and have put into practice is: "Make it easy".

I moved all the things I need to exercise into one place, streamlined the entire process, and reduced the mental inertia it takes to do things that are good for me.

Part of it is simplifying the process, the other half is making it a habit. I'm also a fan of picking some rationalizations. For stopping caffeine - <USER2> time I drink Coke I'm just thirsty for water, and should just drink water. For the gym - every time I've ever gone to the gym I feel good when I get home and don't regret going. For food - I'll enjoy this for 5 seconds and won't even remember it by tomorrow, but it's got the caloric value of 30 minutes of exercise.

<comment><USER12> The other way to look at it is "resign yourself to doing it." It's amazing how easy thing become when you just decide they must happen. I made the decision that I don't go to work until I've gone for a jog in the morning and it's amazing how much easier/enjoyable it becomes.

The disclaimer is I work where I can be into the office a little later in case I have a late night. But the main point is once you convince yourself you're going no matter what, suddenly your lizard brain has a hard time saying no.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> While I recommend exercise, and know that the kind of routine described here can be a very useful tool, doing this all the time seems absurd to me. Humans have managed to remove almost all natural physical stressors from their lives, but then we figure out we need "exercise", and set about to find a half hour activity that optimally affects some fitness parameter. This local optimization can easily become a stressing madness with constant driving here and there to move your muscles in extremely boring ways.

I think, for cardiovascular workouts, it's a much better solution to try to hack your commute into a run / bike ride, if that's possible. You get to use that time twice, since it is both commute and exercise, and this kind of multitasking actually works well. Sure, the workout may not be as "efficient" (locally) as doing everything under perfectly controlled conditions, but this is really not the main concern unless you are inte competing.

Walking desks are a similar kind of hack, even if I find them a somewhat perverse use of electricity.

For muscular workouts I haven't yet found anything that would function as well as the gym, but with less life-overhead.

<comment><USER14> > Walking desks are a similar kind of hack, even if I find them a somewhat > perverse use of electricity.

You can get non-electric treadmills.

<comment><USER15> And I am fairly sure the daily Volvic has a bigger negative environmental impact.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Are there any scientific studies to back the common meme of "Fitness is a cornerstone of success"

Does Mark Zuckerberg work out? How about John Lasseter?

It honestly doesn't seem fitness has any relation what-so-ever to success but I'd be happy to be proven wrong with actual data rather than anecdotes.

<comment><USER17> Zuckerberg did 5000 pushups throughout the course of a week[1], which proves that he's at least moderately fit.

Richard Branson's main piece of productivity advice is "work out"[2].

A strong counterexample would be Warren Buffett, who was once the world's richest man, never worked out, and ate terribly.

Ultimately though it's best to look at the studies other responders to your post cited, which do show some correlation between exercise and mental performance.

Edit: forgot my links

[1]: [http://venturebeat.com/2009/10/02/mark-zuckerberg-the- evolut...](http://venturebeat.com/2009/10/02/mark-zuckerberg-the-evolution-of- a-remarkable-ceo/)

[2]: <http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/222739>

<comment><USER18> Buffett was into bodybuilding as a teenager/young adult.

<comment><USER17> Source? I didn't see anything like that in his authorized biography _The Snowball_. And it specifically mentioned several times that Buffett always hated manual labor, always ate badly etc.

<comment><USER18> It is in his biography where it appears. Though it is not talked about a lot.

<comment><USER17> Oh wow, totally forgot about that. It's covered in a couple of pages in section 11...good to know.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> For anyone else who was wondering:

Octopus card: _The Octopus card is a rechargeable contactless stored value smart card used to transfer electronic payments in online or offline systems in Hong Kong._

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

<comment><AUTHOR> Good idea. Linked it in the post. Thanks.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> I've heard countless times that if you're going to start exercising and stay with it you should compete -- for most people that means running and running races on the weekends once in a while or even training for a marathon.

I've done this in the past and I always overtrain and race too early. I have a bad race and stop training shortly after that.

I've found a much more effective way: Between my wife and I whoever is in the gym less in any given week has to pay the other person on Friday -- around $50. There is still competition (neither of us want to admit to losing) but there is also a very tangible penalty.

The combination is an excellent motivator and neither of us have missed a single day since we started it. It's similar to having a partner (a partner got me through 3 years of weight training in college) except that you don't have to work out at the same time, which is much better for busy people.

<comment><USER21> Why do people choose running over biking, with the damage that running can cause?

<comment><USER22> I'd rather ask:

Why do people prefer to run for hours instead of a more intensive workout in a minutes?

Looking at the typical runners [0], why would you desire a physique like that?

[0] [http://diaryofakalechic.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/marathon...](http://diaryofakalechic.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/marathon2.jpg)

<comment><USER23> Some people simply like running for the pleasure it gives them. I guess it's the same with weight lifters. At some point the physique is a side-effect of one's regulard and healthy practice.

Note that sprinters as well as endurance runners have to lift some weight at one moment or another. When I run my first half-marathon I was surprised that my arms were more sore than my legs.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> two small things bug me about this. 1. Why is he buying a single can of red bull and a single bottle of water from 7-11 every day? Why not buy in bulk and keep at your house? 2. Is there really much advantages to drinking red bull before a workout? I know there are advantages to caffeine, but I am not convinced red bull is the healthiest way to deliver that caffeine.

<comment><USER25> He is hong kong, unless he is paying a lots for a nice apartment he is probably living in a tiny shoe box of an apartment, if he bought all those bottles where would he keep them? the fridge would be tiny also. In hong kong there is literally a 7-11 or circle k on every city block. If you are on a major road you are no more than 100 meters away from the nearest 7-11

<comment><USER26> In fact, the 7-11 and Circle K here are so cheap that often times even buying in bulk, you can't beat their prices. And then there's the convenience factor: literally 30 seconds to grab what you want from the fridge and pay for it with the Octopus RFID tag.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> As someone with perpetual difficulty maintaining a 24 hour-based sleep schedule, when I see these "my routine" posts I'm always most curious about their sleeping habits.

<comment><USER21> These people don't go out and enjoy nightlife, staying up until 3am since that would put you off kilter for a few days in a row with this kind of schedule.

<comment><USER27> I rarely "enjoy nightlife." I just sit at home not tired for several hours, then lay in bed not tired for a couple of hours. If I get "enough" sleep to not be tired in the morning (7-8 hours), then I won't be tired the same time that night. If I get "too little" sleep (<7 hours) I will be tired all day.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> "All it takes is putting your running shoes on, and getting out the door." -my cousin

<comment><USER29> And then running. I guess the point is to make the first step. After that, you just keep making the first step.

<comment><USER30> Until you run into the recursive base case, then you stop. ;)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> I agree that exercise is important, but this guy's life seems so planned out in advance it's almost creepy.

<comment><USER32> I was going to post something similar. I _cannot_ stand letting my life fall into any sort of repetitive routine. I exercise, but I vary type, locations, duration, time, and everything else.

When I find myself doing the exact same thing every day I think of it as grinding towards the grave without ever doing anything original. Life is full of new experiences, unless you are just placing one foot in front of another for 2 hours a day on a treadmill while watching a screen.

It's a pretty dim view of a lifestyle others love but I don't care of it at all. I guess I guess love chaos too much.

<comment><AUTHOR> I totally understand :-) I actually agree with you.

The cool part is, I can keep building on top of the repetitive routine, and these additions are the variation for me. The hour of coding before the gym (and getting up an hour earlier in order to do it) was a recent addition, and took some time to achieve as a habitual thing. That's what keeps it interesting and exciting. I don't succeed right away with these additions, they take time. However, the power of habits is when they are actually habitual (and are good habits) and you don't use energy and willpower to accomplish them - that's what I tried to focus on here.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> In case you missed it, download the recent Mixergy interview with Charles Duhigg on this topic:

[http://mixergy.com/cheat-sheet-how-to-use-the-power-of- habit...](http://mixergy.com/cheat-sheet-how-to-use-the-power-of-habit/)

Its true, this habit stuff is powerful.

</comment><comment><USER34> I love all of these posts that discuss exercising and coding at x time. Wake up, code, exercise, rest of day. But I would LOVE to see a post where the person involved has at least one child under the age of 5. It changes everything. You can't just be out of the house at X time, ready to do your exercise - because Junior has to be fed, changed and taken to school.

(Disclaimer: I have 2 kids, I manage to exercise each day, but it definitely comes at the expense of other things).

<comment><USER35> I am in the same situation. Two kids, 3 and 1, one more on the way. I had to start taking a long lunch to go to the gym. Thankfully I have the flexibility to work a little extra in the evening after the kids are asleep. I find it a lot harder to tear myself away from the desk in the middle of the day and go work out.

</comment></comment><comment><USER36> For those looking for an easy way to begin forming new habits, I'd definitely recommend professor Fogg's "3 Tiny Habits" guide. link - <http://tinyhabits.com/>.

</comment><comment><USER37> He should have recycled the Red Bull can and just filled up a bottle of water from the tap in his apartment.

</comment><comment><USER38> Fitness is a cornerstone of success. I wish more people took it seriously.

<comment><USER39> Plenty of people take it too seriously. Everything in moderation.

</comment></comment><comment><USER40> So what's your evening routine, and what evening habits do you find most helpful?

I feel like there was a tiny bit of prep work before you could just wake up and run in a circle :D

<comment><AUTHOR> Absolutely! I have an evening routine, and it's key to achieving the morning routine. I need 7-8 hours of sleep or I'll burn out within a few days and fail with the routine one morning. I'm still following it pretty much how I describe in this article from last year: <http://joel.is/post/5303723252/creating-a-sleep-ritual>

</comment></comment><comment><USER41> Instead of all the Red bull crap, just start doing some Pranayam and Meditation for 5 to 10 minutes. All your other dependencies will drop off, I promise

</comment><comment><USER42> This doesn't seem like a habit. It sounds more like an addiction.

</comment><comment><USER43> The power of habit:

1) Notice how patio11 isn't commenting here.

2) Closes tab.

</comment><comment><USER44> Working out on stimulants is one of the easiest ways to overstress your heart and can cause permanent cardiovascular damage. Happened to a friend of mine, his CK levels were through the roof, he ripped his heart muscle because he used adderall before workouts.

For a hacker news post, I'm sorely disappointed. The body will secret epinephrine once you start working up a sweat, there's no need to add caffeine and shitty simple sugars to your body before a workout. Eat a brown rice granola bar or bring some Gatorade with you if you really need the sugar boost to get going. Usually, glycogen stored in the liver from previous days will suffice to rocket the body's bloodstream with sugar.

<comment><USER9> For an xkcd fanboy, you sure aren't putting any science or facts behind your claims. Randall would be ashamed.

Adderall is an amphetamine, lasts about 10 hours and is basically a controlled substance, banned by major competitive sports organizations as a performance enhancer. Caffeine lasts about five hours and (as far as I know) isn't banned anywhere. There's more sciencey ways to compare them but i'm lazy. Check the wikipedia pages.

There is also little to no risk of cardiovascular disorder from using caffeine in "normal" doses (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine#cite_note- Dam08-18>). The thing that actually strikes me as interesting about the Red Bull thing is its ingredients and perceived benefits. Here's a brief description of the ingredients: [http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/15-07/st_r...](http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/15-07/st_redbull)

Apparently not only can the caffeine make you more likely to be dehydrated, it takes between 45 mins and 1 hr to absorb fully into your blood stream. So really, if you want to try to use caffeine (or a caffeine-like substance like Guarana) make sure you take it about an hour before your workout for peak results. And i'll remind you all that continuous use of caffeine can make you dependent and dull the supposed benefits over time. And also, stay hydrated 24 hours before you work out; chugging a bottle of gatoraid while you run is not being hydrated.

(All that being said, I think it's a lame cheat to use a stimulant or performance enhancer when working out. Unless you're trying to win a marathon (which is still cheating) you don't need any "extra edge" provided by $2.50 sugar water. Do the reps and get sleep and eat good food and you'll benefit the most)

<comment><USER45> The "sugar water" is better than normal water because it's isotonic. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotonicity#Isotonic>

<comment><USER46> You don't need anything other than plain water for normal exercising (anything under 2 hours will generally count here). --Sports drinks will simply add calories and are not going to enhance your performance.

If you're going to be working out all day or doing something like a marathon, then you need to consider something to help replace the salts you lose when sweating.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER47> Man, I feel like I did a week's worth of exercise just reading that. If you want to sell the exercise habit, this blog post isn't the way to do it.

To be honest, I only even read half of it. (All of the above says nothing about the exercise habit, nor the point of the post. Just the actual effect of reading the post.)

I feel like: if I had the actual habits described in the post, few things in life would feel as good or as rewarding as immediately breaking them, forever.

This isn't to say this is true: just that this is the impression the blog post leaves me with, due to the style, writing, format, etc.

</comment><comment><USER48> Unsure if Red Bull is the best pre gym workout drink. What about eating something? What about buying the drinks in bulk and keeping them in the apartment instead of going to 7/11 everyday?

Nevertheless humans loves routine and working effectively for two hours (coding, then gym) is a productive use of those early hours of the day. Many waste it in bed.

<comment><USER49> I'm no doctor, but Red Bull on an empty stomach before the gym in the morning sounds like the worst drink possible. I knew a guy who drank Red Bull before and after the gym, immediately after he ate 2 snickers to "restore his energy tank", I think he lasted 2 months before he stopped his exercise efforts. Where do people get the idea that Red Bull and exercise is related? Have they started to market it that way perhaps?</comment></comment>


Thomas Cromwell: A Revolutionary Biography - <AUTHOR> https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/12/book-review-thomas-cromwell-biography-sets-record-straight/ <comment><USER2> For a great BBC mini-series based on Cromwell's story watch Wolf Hall ... [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Hall_(miniseries)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Hall_\(miniseries\))

<comment><USER3> Yes, though also mentioned very early in this article as perhaps not the most accurate portrayal :)

<comment><USER4> Based on what the article says about Cromwell, most of Wolf Hall is roughly the same, apart from Cromwell's family background.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> The Guardian featured a podcast with Diarmaid MacCulloch - the author of Thomas Cromwell: A Revolutionary Biography. As an added bonus the podcast also features a discussion with Ken Krimstein who wrote a graphic novel about Hannah Arendt [0]. The discussion of Cromwell begins at 26:05.

[0]: [https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2018/nov/27/the- art-...](https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2018/nov/27/the-art-of- biography-with-diarmaid-macculloch-and-ken-krimstein-books-podcast)

<comment><USER6> Also on the BBC Booktalk a week or so ago :

[https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0bvxl31/booktalk- diar...](https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0bvxl31/booktalk-diarmaid- macculloch)

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Irish person here. It should be noted that the Irish have a completely different perspective on Cromwell. He is usually regarded here as a genocidal maniac because he wiped out between 15% - 80% of the Irish population [1], depending on the historian you believe. Not a nice man in any case, or someone to be admired.

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

<comment><USER8> That's a different Cromwell.

<comment><USER5> Oliver and Richard Cromwell are collateral descendants of Thomas Cromwell [0]. I'm unsure if it's true but apparently there also a belief that, notwithstanding Oliver Cromwell's actions in Ireland, the Cromwell family has partly Irish origins.

[0]: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cromwell_family](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cromwell_family)</comment></comment></comment>


FCC receives record 3m comments about 'net neutrality' issue - <AUTHOR> http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/sep/15/fcc-receives-record-3m-comments-net-neutrality

<comment><USER2> It's not too late to submit comments. We'll be pushing new comments to the FCC right up until the deadline at [https://www.battleforthenet.com](https://www.battleforthenet.com) (we have a more reliable way of delivering than the FCC's own ECFS site, which tends to go down under periods of high load)</comment>


Show HN: Pdf.to – PDF Editor, PDF to Word, PDF Combiner - <AUTHOR> https://pdf.to <comment><USER2> This looks nice, I think you could increase payed users by offering an API. I wouldn't pay for this outside of work because I wouldn't need it often. I wouldn't pay for this at work because I need integration. Where I work we always need PDF to something conversions, but we also need to have that functionality integrated to our apps. We have been user pdftk, and it's been great.

<comment><USER3> There are a lot of libraries that do most that this service does. Usually if you're processing pdfs, the pdfs might be sensitive or you have a lot of them, so its better to not share them with other companies / people and to use the library to parse it yourself in-line (or hosted as a lambda service).

The pricing would have to be really low or I would need to be unable to find a good library for me to want to use an external tool for this.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I like the wide array of formats, but: I know people are going to ask, so I'll bring it up:

1) why is this something we should pay for (when there's a variety of free PDF conversion websites)?

2) how long are files retained for? The Privacy Policy has no mention of retention or deletion.

<comment><AUTHOR> thanks for checking it out.

1)It's already free, just with a limit to number of free conversions. Pdf to word when OCR is a pretty expensive CPU task. And a lot of people have pretty large files (epubs with images etc..), so I tried to strike a balance between cost and profit.

2)Files are on the server for two hours, says it below all the converters, I'll also go ahead and add it

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Are you tracking my conversions by IP - to keep me on wait for an hour?

<comment><AUTHOR> Only log that a IP address did a conversion, not what conversion or what file it convereted, there is no association to files and IP address.

After one hour the cache key of that IP address expires. I have gone ahead and updated the privacy policy to make this clear as well.</comment></comment>


Seinfeld Adventure - <AUTHOR> https://www.seinfeldgame.com/ <comment><USER2> This is so good! When I was a kid I wanted to make a billion dollars so I could buy the Philadelphia Eagles and guide them to their first Super Bowl victory. Now I want to make a billion dollars so I can buy Castle Rock Entertainment and let these guys make Seinfeld Adventure.

> Well, firstly, here's what we DON'T want to make. We don't want to just > create a fan service game that repeats jokes or plots that people already > are familiar with.

> Elaine reminds him that the publicist was supposed to get them all tickets > to the opening night of the new movie "Rochelle, Rochelle 2"

You can't have both!

<comment><USER3> Can't help but say that your childhood dream reminds me of Homer Simpson's childhood dream of buying the Dallas Cowboys - he ended up getting the Denver Broncos. Needless to say, he wasn't very impressed.

[https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/Dallas_Cowboys](https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/Dallas_Cowboys)

<comment><USER4> I always enjoyed the fact that this episode aired in 1996 and the Broncos went on to win the Superbowl in 1997, 1998, and then again in 2015. There is no question that the Broncos have been a much more successful franchise than the Cowboys since the air date of that episode. I guess Jerry Jones isn't as smart as Homer.

<comment><USER5> Or Jerry Jones wasn't as lucky as Homer. Don't judge intelligence on outcomes, money is just a proxy for success which is a proxy for how smart a person is perceived. Drawing causal relationships on 2nd order effects is inferior and goes against Occam.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I'm not a big Seinfeld fan but everything about this feels right. It's the right art style. Right era. Right genre. Point and click adventure leaves a ton of room to explore all the various locations and relevant objects to Seinfeld lore.

Though I think it's just gonna be a rolling show of Seinfeld references and that will disappoint me.

<comment><USER7> >I'm not a big Seinfeld fan

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

<comment><USER8> Are you an anti-seinite?

<comment><USER7> Oh, No. I have been outed. I wasn't even in!

<comment><USER9> I got a lot of problems with you people, and now you're gonna hear about it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> This painfully reminds me of the fact that @SeinfeldToday [0] is no longer updated. So many episode ideas!

> Jerry gets paranoid about his girlfriend's past when her iPhone > automatically connects to the wi-fi at Newman's apartment.

[0] [https://twitter.com/seinfeldtoday](https://twitter.com/seinfeldtoday)

<comment><USER11> Reddit has you covered: [https://reddit.com/r/RedditWritesSeinfeld](https://reddit.com/r/RedditWritesSeinfeld)

<comment><USER10> [http://gold.jerry.gold/](http://gold.jerry.gold/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I want to like this but the part that seems missing is the writing. They have somebody who can make games and who can make pixel art, but do they have somebody who can write seinfeld jokes?

<comment><USER8> Hey, it's a game about nothing.

<comment><USER13> No writers! NOTHING!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I feel they are going to have a hard time convincing Jerry and Larry if they keep calling it "show about nothing", show about nothing was supposed to be a joke about the show within the show - here is Jerry confirming as much in an AMA[0]

[0] [https://old.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1ujvrg/jerry_seinfeld...](https://old.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1ujvrg/jerry_seinfeld_here_i_will_give_you_an_answer/ceitvvp/?context=8&depth=9)

<comment><USER15> This gives me an idea of how they could maybe get Jerry and Larry to sign off on it...make this game about the show within the show. Then the writing could actually stray from the actual show. (Larry has more or less said the "Modern Seinfeld" Twitter sucks.)

I doubt they will sign off on it though, or will care if it disappoints people that they won't. I'm a HUGE Seinfeld (and Curb) fan, and would play the hell out of this, but having heard and read about the two comic geniuses, I wouldn't get my hopes up.

<comment><USER14> You might be onto something, if this can be pitched as a bad cash grab thought up by Kramer and George that Jerry and Larry officially "disapprove" of but "can't" shutdown

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> People need to eat, but ignoring that for a moment, it'd be very cool if they just dropped a torrent link on /r/Seinfeld and did the whole thing anonymously... this is the sort of things legends are made of. Hell, make fake CD manuals and boxing and put the images in on imgur. Spin it into an AR game! The possibilities are endless, Jerry!

<comment><USER17> I'm sure Kramer! :)

<comment><USER18> Nobody can control Kramer, not you, not me, not Jackie Chiles

<comment><USER19> what about Chuck Norris? ;P

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> the new story pitch is actually very good. i just rewatched the whole 9 seasons in the past weeks, and it feels right at home.

edit : now that i think about it, i wonder how they'll manage to get multiple variation of the story unfold depending on your choices. it's already hard enough to write one linear... i suppose they'll just block you until you click on things in the right order. Wonder how interesting or funny this could be in that context. Maybe a lot ? Like, making the absurd choice and bad decisions the character usually make and see the consequences unfold... this could be fun.

<comment><USER21> There are so many possible ways to not deserve soup!

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> Great execution pertaining to the "unofficial pitch" website. Great organization of explanation. Transparent, open, and direct. Great UX. (Also my dad says he will preorder).

</comment><comment><USER23> I remember someone asking Jerry what he thought of the "modern seinfeld" twitter account and his response was a really dismissive "eh not a fan". Id totally play it but I have trouble seeing it ever being approved.

<comment><USER24> To be fair, that twitter account is incredibly far from funny.

<comment><USER25> Jery get ipad.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> The perfect Seinfeld game already exists: [http://www.pippinbarr.com/games/thejuniormint/](http://www.pippinbarr.com/games/thejuniormint/)

</comment><comment><USER27> Excerpt:

"Turns out Seinfeld is actually still an incredibly relevant show whose relatability is timeless, with the show's streaming rights bought by Netflix recently for _half a billion dollars_."

</comment><comment><USER28> LOL This looks exactly like the animation from the old LucasArts game "Full Throttle." Amazing!

<comment><USER29> It's like the animation from all LucasArts games. If you haven't played the others, you're in for a humongous treat!

My favourites, in no particular order: monkey island 1 and 2, Indiana Jones, the dig, Sam & max, day of the tentacle.

There's a project called ScummVM that allows you to play the games on Linux, windows and Mac.

<comment><USER30> Thimbleweed Park needs a mention. It was very cool. Ron Gilbert is a legend.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> So, isn't the trick here getting 1) someone high up / creative type at the copyright owners level to notice this and give approval before the 2) lawyers / corporate sharks at the knee-jerk level send a cease-and-desist or copyright notice and decide to shut you down and steal the idea to develop themselves?

Because I imagine what lawyers worry about is (at worst) whether letting you go on with this website shows that they did not assert their rights in the face of a derivative work, or (at best) whether the trouble of negotiating with you on the terms you want for the development you've already done is more trouble than just taking the idea and doing it themselves?

I would guess you have a bit of a ticking clock to spread as much word about this and try to reach the person in the first category (through contacts, "phone-a-friend-who-might-know-xyz", etc), before inevitably the 2nd category catches wind of it.

Good luck with it though!

<comment><USER30> I imagine that with lockdown rules, it has more chance of being noticed and approved. It'd be cool to see Larry or Jerry mention it. Even cooler if they wanted in.

</comment></comment><comment><USER32> Fantastic idea but the episode #1 plot sucked. Seriously there's nothing new there. They should go to [https://www.reddit.com/r/RedditWritesSeinfeld/](https://www.reddit.com/r/RedditWritesSeinfeld/) and pick one if the top plots there.

</comment><comment><USER33> Heck yeah! I grew up watching Seinfeld and continue to watch re-runs pretty often. I really hope this gets made.

<comment><USER34> Yeah, I'm looking forward to when it lands on netflix!

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> This has to be some of the best pixel art ever created. Astonishingly good work!

BUT: I've spend a few minutes on the site and it is totally unclear how I can support the team / get the game / sign up for anything.

In fact, there doesn't seem to be anything other than an email?

<comment><USER36> Under "What do we need?":

> We need an official contract providing us the rights to create a game based > on the IP. Even a "Yeah cool" from Jerry or Larry would help. Without it, > even releasing a "free fan game" can get us into deep waters if they so > choose to target us.

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> They should just pitch this to Jerry Seinfeld. He could bankroll the whole thing and one up John O'Hurley becoming a partner in J. Peterman.

<comment><USER38> They're trying...? He doesn't take a lot of meetings with strangers from the Internet.

The goal here is to get a warm introduction so they can make that pitch.

</comment></comment><comment><USER39> There's an interesting copyright case where a court held that Seinfeld "facts" aren't real facts (which would otherwise be excluded from copyright protection).

Epistemological issues aside, the case unfortunately seems to come down pretty heavily in favour of the Seinfeld rightsholder.

[1] [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Rock_Entertainment,_I...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Rock_Entertainment,_Inc._v._Carol_Publishing_Group_Inc).

</comment><comment><USER40> Seems to me that without the actors, some Seinfeld fan fiction in game form would just fall flat. Just make a funny point and click game with original IP.

<comment><USER41> Read the "Modern Seinfeld" Twitter account posts which read like mini episodes (Jerry's new GF's phone automatically connects to Newman's WiFi so Jerry is freaked out). Also the Reddit story of George dating the "slow walker". The great thing is that if you've watched enough Seinfeld, you can actually hear the actors saying the lines in your head.

<comment><USER42> Someone made a Seinfeld spec script about 9/11 that was good: [https://twitter.com/BillyDomineau/status/760505768311304192](https://twitter.com/BillyDomineau/status/760505768311304192)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER43> I would buy this game instantly, no questions asked. I grew up watching reruns of Seinfeld (I was too young to understand it in the 90s). To this day, I stream a few episodes every month when there isn't anything else to watch. I think I've watched every episode at least 5 times and some, even more than that!

</comment><comment><USER44> Will the game have a Bob Sacamano character?

</comment><comment><USER45> Also check out The Senpai which is... a parody of both Seinfeld and dating sims.

[https://www.pntgrm.com/the-senpai](https://www.pntgrm.com/the-senpai)

</comment><comment><USER46> I really want this... but haven't larry or jerry said that it's not a show about nothing, but a show about where comedians get their material?

<comment><USER47> Yes, but there was a whole "meta" episode where the characters tried to make a sitcom about nothing, which was clearly a commentary on the show itself.

</comment></comment><comment><USER48> Someone once said Seinfeld is the best comedy ever made and can ever be made (non-causal optimum). I welcome the awesome looking game!

</comment><comment><USER49> They should call it 'The Seinfeld Chronicles.

</comment><comment><USER50> This looks fun. I've watched the video and want to play it.

What do you need me to do?! It's such a long pitch with barely any call to action at the end!

</comment><comment><USER51> For some some reason, this really reminded me of _Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders_ : [https://www.gog.com/game/zak_mckracken_and_the_alien_mindben...](https://www.gog.com/game/zak_mckracken_and_the_alien_mindbenders)

They really did well with the graphical style!

</comment><comment><USER52> So ... it's a game about nothing?

<comment><USER53> This response right here... this could be a level. My comment? Another game level!

<comment><USER54> "Levels Jerry... Levels"

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER55> Really great animation by the way...it really captures some of that old magic/chemistry.

</comment><comment><USER56> "Kramer says he knows who can help. Someone with a sworn vendetta against email. Someone who has devoted their whole life to analogue mail and sees email as a threat to his livelihood. Someone named Newman."

</comment><comment><USER57> Reminds me of this masterpiece: [https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/547307](https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/547307)

</comment><comment><USER58> A Seinfeld game huh.Not that there is anything wrong with that.

</comment><comment><USER59> This is great, except for the writing. But I'd buy it!

</comment><comment><USER44> Does anyone know of a comedy show similar to Seinfeld?

<comment><USER60> Curb Your Enthusiasm on HBO - Larry David co-created Seinfeld and was head writer for the first 7 seasons.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia on FXX, Hulu, Netflix

Mythic Quest on Apple TV+ - created by people who work on It's always Sunny

Veep on HBO - staring Julia Louis-Dreyfus!

Avenue 5 on HBO - same producers as Veep

<comment><USER61> It's Always Sunny absolutely takes inspiration from Seinfeld.

They're even self aware about it in the episode "The Gang Does a Clip Show" where they mistake a bit from Seinfeld as one of their own memories - [https://youtu.be/fCwI3KDGtRk](https://youtu.be/fCwI3KDGtRk)

How did you like Mythic Quest? I'm really glad to see Rob and Charlie involved but it's definitely a bit more tame. I really like Danny Pudi playing a Dennis-esque character and the actress who plays Poppy is hilarious.

<comment><USER62> I really enjoyed MQ. It is ridiculous but also quite true to life according to my wife who is a video game producer. A lot of big personalities, egos, etc.

I loved F. Murray Abraham's character. Quite the departure from Dar Adal in Homeland. Overall the whole cast on MQ was very good though.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment> ryan-allen This looks great, but I kind of think Jerry is the kind of dude who will shut this down because he doesn't get 21 Porches out of it.

</comment><comment><USER63> I know its's not thier intent but the promo video comes across as snarky, in my opinion the spirit of of the show was a true comedy in a sort or zen way with a flash of synchronicity, laughing in the face of tragedy and how rediculous everything is. Possibly just the voice actor that adds the odd vibe, but it seems to miss the underlying spirit of the show, its not just about Jerry's snarkiness.

</comment><comment><USER64> A modern Leisure Suit Larry?

</comment><comment><USER65> Looks fun to play for 5mins

</comment><comment><USER66> Please also Larry

</comment><comment><USER67> Genius. Will buy.

</comment><comment><USER68> This seems to make fun of the show and not celebrate it.

</comment><comment><USER69> Yes please.

</comment><comment><USER70> Want

</comment><comment><USER71> shut up and take our money</comment>


Amnesty International introduces Detekt, a government spyware detection tool - <AUTHOR> https://resistsurveillance.org/

<comment><USER2> Link to Amnesty International press release page: [http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/detekt-new-tool-against- gover...](http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/detekt-new-tool-against-government- surveillance-questions-and-answers-2014-11-20)</comment>


Ask HN: How do you keep up with taxes for international sales? - <AUTHOR>

I've just taken a look at taxation for software sales. I wonder how anyone can keep up with the legality of it all.
For example I was looking if I (in Austria) would have to pay taxes in the USA if I sold something using the Apple App Store and how things change if I sell software from my own website. Finding any information about this stuff seems impossible without paying someone. Something that isn't cheap for someone just starting out.
Are there any resources online I haven't stumbled upon yet or is paying someone to look through this maze the sole solution? <comment><USER2> I know nothing about taxes in Austria, but my point of view over here is that you would simply be earning income in Austria from a US company. You pay Austria taxes on income earned in Austria.

I am in the US and get affiliate commissions paid from an Australian company. This does not subject me to Australian income taxes.

You may be imagining things are more complicated than they are.</comment>