Boeing CEO warns of possible industry bankruptcy - <AUTHOR> https://www.marketwatch.com/story/guid/0B2733B6-946D-11EA-91ED-88BEE36E663F <comment><USER2> If it happens it's their own fault. Over the last decade their leadership have spent ~96% of their free cash flow on stock buybacks. Boeing itself while not the bankruptcy target of this article has spent 74%. Stock buybacks are designed to simply prop up the share price to allow the leadership teams to hit their bonus targets. If they had simply done what individuals are expected to do and save money they would likely be fine. This collapse is a reminder that we need to fundamentally change the way corporations are structured and start encouraging more focus on the business as a whole, especially its employees rather that obsess over stock price and executive compensation. 2008 was a reminder as well but we ignored it, just as I am sure we will ignore this one. In the meantime they get massive bailouts while letting employees go.

<comment><USER3> No non-trivial company can reasonably be expected to stay in business when 100% of their client base is literally prevented from doing any significant business for months and likely to go bankrupt themselves.

The stock buyback thing is just idiotic. It's just dividends by another name.

Boeing/Airbus are not responsible for the current crisis, unlike the banks in 2008.

<comment><USER4> Right, but should they spent 90% of their free cash flow doing a stock buy back? Not a sound business practice IMHO.

<comment><USER5> When a company (or anybody) has cash can do 4 things. (Assuming that the level of debt is sustainable.) 1 reinvest in new projects 2 put the cash on safe assets (bonds) 3 buyback 4 give back as a dividend

Buyback is more tax efficient than dividends.

What would you have done,if you were Boing CEO?

<comment><USER6> _> What would you have done,if you were Boing CEO?_

If you're Microsoft or Apple or Google, the answer is "Hold hundreds of billions of dollars of cash" [1]

That article, from late 2019, feels such holdings are in need of explanation; today, they seem like common sense.

[1] [https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/07/microsoft-apple-and- alphabet...](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/07/microsoft-apple-and-alphabet-are- sitting-on-more-than-100-billion-in-cash.html)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> What I want to see is antitrust action against them. Split them into 2 entities, commercial and military. If you're too big to fail, then perhaps you're too big to exist.

<comment><USER8> Having those two entities under one roof certainly creates some problems (subsidising the civil through the military). But either of the two entities would still be strategically important on its own and wouldn't allowed to go bust.

<comment><USER7> If they were split into 2, the military entity would still continue to exist due to the fact that its primary customer would be the US military who isn't in danger of running out of money anytime soon. The commercial entity may be in trouble due to market conditions or poorly received planes like the 737 Max, but then they could declare bankruptcy and move on.

<comment><USER9> > poorly received planes like the 737 Max

Oh, they were received with open arms; they were just delivered with 2 crashes that led to their grounding.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I'd like to see more innovation/players as an outcome of Boeing's and Airbus' problems :)

<comment><USER11> You probably won't. The aerospace industry has one of the highest barriers of entry in cost, know-how, regulations and political connections.

Both Boeing and Airbus received _a lot_ of government funding to get started and grow and still do to this day.

What will happen most likely is that the US and France/EU will just bail them out since they're not only vital for jobs but for defense and national security as well as their execs having strong ties to politicians in their respective regions who can push for a bailout package.

<comment><USER12> I think you would be surprised. Somehow we've ended up with privately owned and founded rocket companies, which are higher entry in cost than airplanes.

Just because in the current situation we can't imagine it being different doesn't mean there wouldn't be possibilities if it wasn't so government focused.

I think a much bigger risk is that fact that I doubt many people will confidently fly like they did before for the next 10 years. I think airline travel will dramatically decline.

<comment><USER13> > Somehow we've ended up with privately owned and founded rocket companies, > which are higher entry in cost than airplanes.

Are you sure? There's a big difference between building single-purpose, unmanned rockets and commercial jets that carry hundreds of people, fly for 20 hours a day, and last two decades. According to Wikipedia Falcon development 9 cost $300-390 million [0]. The 787 program cost $32 billion [1]. Even the A320 neo, which is a refresh of the original A320, cost $1.3 billion [2].

[0] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_9_v1.0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_9_v1.0) [1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner#Market,_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner#Market,_costs,_and_production_issues) [2] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A320neo_family](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_A320neo_family)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Bankruptcy is: a good thing.

It corrects the price of the assets to match current market.

It transfers assets to more efficient owners.

Bankruptcy is not: a vaporization gun.

The assets remain in the physically existent universe, as do the employees and even the entire industry, even if it is diminished.

<comment><USER15> > Bankruptcy is: a good thing.

This comment represents, unfortunately, what's wrong with capitalism and, at the same time, what makes it work. Bankruptcy is used by companies to get rid of debt and refocus their business, which is good. In the case of Boeing, an eventual bankruptcy comes as a consequence of a decade of buybacks to fill investor targets and lousy engineering in the case of the 737 Max. But hey, with infinite FED money, Boeing is not going down that easily.

<comment><USER14> > > Bankruptcy is: a good thing.

> This comment represents, unfortunately, what's wrong with capitalism and, at > the same time, what makes it work. Bankruptcy is used by companies to get > rid of debt and refocus their business, which is good. In the case of > Boeing, an eventual bankruptcy comes as a consequence of a decade of > buybacks to fill investor targets and lousy engineering in the case of the > 737 Max. But hey, with infinite FED money, Boeing is not going down that > easily.

The Federal Reserve system is anti-capitalistic because it removes choice and agency from the market, which are critical components of capitalism.

Bankruptcy is also used by creditors to take possession of the assets of bad borrowers, which typically is not to the benefit of the borrowers.

Financing issues rarely impact engineering decisions. If there is something outside of Boeing influencing this, the more likely culprit is regulatory capture effectively blocking innovators from entering the market.

<comment><USER15> > The Federal Reserve system is anti-capitalistic because it removes choice > and agency from the market, which are critical components of capitalism.

I can completely agree with this if Boeing is nationalized. While it's not, if they receive FED money, they would just use it to keep operating, come back to profits in a few years and distribute dividends then. This is a capitalist behavior.

I wouldn't generalize the fact that financial issues can't impact engineering decisions because I've seen that happening in the past. In the case of the 737 Max is evident: they adapted the 737 with a new engine that was too big and because there was no space to put it, they placed it in an odd position and compensated with Software that was operating silently. They did this to avoid developing a new plane, which would cost them time and money.

<comment><USER14> > > The Federal Reserve system is anti-capitalistic because it removes choice > and agency from the market, which are critical components of capitalism.

> I can completely agree with this if Boeing is nationalized. While it's not, > if they receive FED money, they would just use it to keep operating, come > back to profits in a few years and distribute dividends then. This is a > capitalist behavior.

> I wouldn't generalize the fact that financial issues can't impact > engineering decisions because I've seen that happening in the past. In the > case of the 737 Max is evident: they adapted the 737 with a new engine that > was too big and because there was no space to put it, they placed it in an > odd position and compensated with Software that was operating silently. They > did this to avoid developing a new plane, which would cost them time and > money.

Agreeing that the Federal Reserve system is anti-capitalistic but things under it are capitalistic is a nonsensical argument. You seem to be applying "capitalism" to anything you don't like. This is poor argumentation and makes for very poor discussion.

Every engineering project has some sort of budgetary constraints, no matter the source of the funding. Even under ideal conditions, poor engineering decisions have been made. Attempting to just blame everything on a singular cause that you happen to not like does not result the important critical thinking required to uncover and correct actual causes of actual problems.

<comment><USER15> I honestly don't see a lot of sense on your answer, mainly because I never said I liked or disliked a certain attitude from the FED or Boeing. You're generalizing what I said, and this is a recipe for misunderstandings, but even knowing this is poor discussion, I'll still make an effort: The FED can perfectly take anti-capitalistic actions (i.e. inject money to keep liquidity and thus interfering in the free flow of capitals) and Boeing can use that money to keep operating and pay dividends in 2 or 3 years, which is a capitalistic behavior. A similar situation is happening with BMW at the moment and here I'm clear with my statement: this is inherently bad because that money comes from our taxes.

You were the one bringing up there was some kind of connection between money and the engineering mistakes with the 737Max. If you read my critical thinking above, I'm just saying that capitalistic behaviors (stock buybacks to pursue investor targets) together with lousy engineering (proven in the case of the 737Max) are the actual cause of the problem. Now I clearly don't know enough about plane engineering but from what is known, the main reason for the issue was cost.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> If the virus disappears tomorrow, the airline industry would take many months to return to its previous patterns and volumes.

But the virus will not disappear tomorrow. It will be with us for at least a year, probably two. Other pathogens will follow. Passengers and airfreight will not return to 2019 volumes in the foreseeable future.

That means fewer flights, smaller planes, point-to-point instead of hub-and- spoke. Short hops will fall even more than long-haul as people trade flying for driving.

The airline industry is inherently mal-configured for this new world, and cannot be profitable with even 20% less volume.

So the airline industry cannot, and should not, survive in its present form. But Boeing and the dinosaur carriers can't manage the re-configuration on their own because they'll keep trying to re-invent the past.

We'll trade a few massive, lethargic, inefficient and customer-hostile megacorps for many more small, nimble, innovative, clever and customer-focused niche players.

Bankruptcy, liquidation, and reorganization of the underlying assets by new entrants is the only way.

Transferring even more billions of borrowed government money to the dinosaurs only delays the inevitable.

<comment><USER17> > Transferring even more billions of borrowed government money to the > dinosaurs only delays the inevitable.

And costs tax money.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> Good. Someone else will buy their assets and continue. Hopefully but people with integrity

<comment><USER19> This is what should happen. Unfortunately, state parasites will probably say they're "too big to fail" and bail them out, sending money from everyone their way.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> We really need to cut air travel because of the climate crisis, it would be good to reduce production of new airliners but it's not nearly enough.

<comment><USER21> Here's the thing: I'm very aware of the fact that our climate is going to shit, and I try to conciously help however I can, but airplanes is one thing where I can't seem to figure out how to replace.

It is extremely practical and at times without alternative (e.g. long distance flights, think 12 hours). I am however not anywhere near the field, so I'm pretty sure I'm ignorant in regards to alternatives.

Do you happen to know any alternatives ? Or maybe some strategies, new fuels, or anything that can help with emissions in regards to airplanes ? I'd love to read more about that stuff.

<comment><USER22> I don't think there is a short term alternative that isn't simply "Stop travelling, even for work". It takes energy to fly, and we currently only know how to make it work commercially and at the scale we need it with fossil fuels.

It's a hard pill to swallow, and I think we're going to be seeing more of those situations popping up. We're very much used to "Progressing" our problems away and never compromising, making our lives better by making the problems disappear with technology. But we're starting to see some hard barriers in our planets ecology, and we're going to need to sacrifice instead. At least for now.

Plastic is a good example. Coke won't stop making plastic bottles because it's not what consumers want, but of course it's not what consumers want. Consumers, myself included, want the continued march of progress to make our lives better without compromise.

<comment><USER20> It's not quite as dramatic as that, you can take the train or bus for some travel (either shorter trips, or long ones where you stay for a good while at the destination). How limiting this is depends on where around the world you live...

The COVID-19 crisis teaches us a lot about remote meetings and remote work, and will impose friction on air travel for a while yet, so hopefully this will become a culturally easier choice to make for business meetings.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> The US needs to invest in alternate modes of high speed travel. We need more options than just the airline industry.

Edit: Hmm... I guess not. Wow.

<comment><USER24> Like what exactly? High powered skateboards? Or maybe rockets?

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> During the Bronze Age Collapse [0], we lost the ability to write in many civilizations around the Mediterranean. Literacy rates could have been as low as 10% in these places, and so when systems collapsed, literacy couldn't be sustained. To this day, we have not yet recovered the ability to read languages like Linear A [2] and the Byblos script [3]. Not every civilization lost writing, and eventually the Phoenician family of scripts flourished and everybody switched to alphabets and abjads.

Could we be on the verge of losing the ability to fly? We would still have airplanes, and some parts of the world might retain the ability, but without Boeing, we could see a dramatic reduction in the amount of airplanes, flying, airports, and tourism.

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

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

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

<comment><USER26> This is just ridiculous. Boeing CEO wants bailouts, this is why he released the statement.

Without Boeing other companies will emerge. There is no way in this day and age (globalization) tourism/traveling will cease to exist.

<comment><USER27> I would agree unlikely, but if the virus continues to be a problem, or others emerge then tourism as we know it could come to an end.

Once you have a drop in traffic, the remaining traffic could become more expensive to operate, further reducing demand, making air travel rare rather than everyday again.

It's only cheap now because of the number of people travelling it's a virtuous spiral up, but there is also a sister spiral you can travel down.

<comment><USER28> That kind of happened to supersonic travel. We don't have Concorde any more but we still know how to make them, and there's a lot of development into unmanned supersonic flight. Now I have a hankering to go to an airplane museum.

<comment><USER29> Supersonic travel in the Concorde era was never profitable due to expensive aircraft, insane fuel consumption, and sonic booms limiting possible routes. (Yes, BA/AF eventually figured out how to making _operating_ them profitable simply by charging through the nose, but not at sufficient scale to build more planes, much less improve them.)

There are various startups like Boom who think a new generation of supersonics could be a profitable niche, but they were a long shot at best of times and much more so in these times. [https://boomsupersonic.com/](https://boomsupersonic.com/)</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


"We have hard/challenging problems" replacing "Looking for Ruby Ninja"? - <AUTHOR>

It seems that this years "we have hard/challenging (technical) problems" is replacing last years "looking for programmer Rockstars/Ninjiutsu-Ninjas".<p>Am I the only one that gets slightly annoyed by these generic drink-the-kool-aid slogans? <comment><USER2> Not at all. I just make sure to fill in the blanks when reading. It goes like this:

We have hard/challenging (technical) problems _that are mostly of our own creation and despite hiring you specifically to solve these problems, you will by no means be allowed by your managers solve._

No only is it good for a chuckle, but its a nice reminder that on the balance, anyone who hires with catch phrases is probably not somewhere you want to work. Hire with catch phrases, get resumes full of buzz with absolutely no fizz included to go with that buzz.

<comment><USER3> I know it's usually that, but it's at least nice to see them trying to figure out what motivates people.

I'm still much more likely to bite if they actually say straight out what a few of those problems _are_ instead of spewing a list of every library used in their stack and asking for 5+ years experience with them when better than half haven't been around for more than two. If it's legitimately interesting work, I'll happily learn any and all tools necessary to do it.

<comment><USER4> The magic word in your post is _interesting_. Everyone has hard problems to solve, and most of the time those hard problems are borne of stupid decisions made 5 years ago by people who don't work there anymore. Then perpetuated by people currently working there who will, as pointed out, completely defeat at least half your efforts to make any actual useful progress. I work on hard and challenging problems, which are by no means interesting, and I've often contemplating throwing myself out of a window just to experience some new shit :-)

If you have _interesting_ work, let's talk, but you probably don't.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> They can't exactly be honest say "we used Rails and didn't build this right so we need someone who knows what they're doing to fix it for us, oh and we're VC funded and offer generous 0.25% equity vested over 4 years"</comment>


Upcoming Fedora 10 Release Has Style and Substance - <AUTHOR> http://ostatic.com/176574-blog/upcoming-fedora-10-release-has-style-and-substance <comment><USER2> Everyone these days can install Linux. The boot process improvements are good, but what I care about most is the ability to do my work.

How easy can I get and install apps on Fedora? Are Fedora's repositories filled with updated, good quality apps?

<comment><USER3> It probably depends what you need. Livna is the showcase repo: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livna>, along with the fedora repos themselves. Also, FreshRPMs is good. <http://freshrpms.net/>

I'm using Open Office, Gimp, vim, and Netbeans. For any Java to work, I downloaded Sun's Java (not included in the repo). Music and video is just play for me, so I haven't chased that too much.

This laptop was originally just a way to test stuff in Vista. On a whim, I made it a dual-boot with fedora. Now it's my main dev rig.

There are still issues that would drive "mainstream" users batty, though, like having to fuss around to get wifi working, not returning properly after hibernating, etc.</comment></comment>


Sharecropping in the Orchard: Everything old is new again - <AUTHOR> http://weblog.raganwald.com/2004/11/sharecropping-in-orchard.html?reason_for_repost=app_store_fuss <comment><USER2> That's a great essay.

I've since long forgotten where I first red the sharecropping metaphor for software development. But I recall successfully convincing my manager that it was worth it to build on top of open source instead of proprietary platforms.

When you describe things in terms of business risk, managers understand.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you! I heard the expression "sharecropper" from Tim Bray:

[http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/07/12/WebsThePla...](http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/07/12/WebsThePlace)

It came to mind again with all the posts about the app store.

<comment><USER3> What's supposed to stop open source OSes from including a copy of your commercial function in their next version? Isn't recreating commercial products for free of the point of open source?

By your definition anyone who doesn't own the OS is a sharecropper.

The real danger is in writing software that is easily recreated.

In the end, all software is made obsolete by better (or better marketed/distributed) software. The only difference with the OS is that it's a little faster.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> the phrase everything old is new again makes me wonder how many times great inventions had to be invented before they gained traction. Everyone knows that iPod wasn't the first portable HDD music player, but will people know that in 200 years? What inventions from 200 years ago do we attribute to the wrong people? (tesla/edison is one obvious example, but I'm sure there are some that no one knows about.)</comment>


Graph theory suggests Covid-19 might be a 'small world' after all - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> This sounds interesting, but I think you forgot the link.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks, here it is: [https://www.zdnet.com/article/graph-theory-suggests- covid-19...](https://www.zdnet.com/article/graph-theory-suggests- covid-19-might-be-a-small-world-after-all/)</comment></comment>


Psychosocial diversity in predicting Covid-19 transmission - <AUTHOR> https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.08.12.20173252v1 <comment><AUTHOR> I co authored this, contributing the Bayesian model. Happy to answer any questions.</comment>


Show HN: what do you think of our new web app, PrioritizeMyWork.com? - <AUTHOR>

Howdy, Hackers; dustball and I just launched a new web app called Prioritize My Work ( http://prioritizemywork.com ). We've been working on it off and on for about a month, and we figured it was time to share it with the world (i.e. you guys) and see what you thought.
The basic pitch is that you've got a bunch of things to do and not enough time to do them all. You can use Prioritize My Work to build a todo list and then send it to your boss/client to let them arrange them, so you know what to work on first. Assuming you've got good time estimates, we even show you when you're going to run out of time, so you know what's actually going to get done.
We tried to model the interaction model on EtherPad a bit -- you just go there and start working. You get a URL you can copy and email or IM to people. For now, there are no user accounts to speak of.
So -- what do you think? Would you use this? What's it missing? <comment><USER2> I like it! Task nesting could be good but obviously you don't want it to get complex and thus unintuitive. Templates might be nice too.

Also, how about 'on it...' and 'stop' buttons, so that you can track the time spent?

</comment><comment><USER3> I wouldn't use it personally (no boss) but I like the overall spirit of the site. I'm kinda sick of sites presenting themselves like they're going to change my life and/or make my brain explode. I also applaud the no-accounts design.

One thing I would suggest is pre-formatting an email in a mailto link. Being able to click and bring up my mail client with the link and a short note would be cool.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Clickable link: <http://prioritizemywork.com></comment>


HTML5 2FA pin pad UI eradicates usr/pswd - <AUTHOR> https://m-pindemo.certivox.org/

<comment><USER2> Anyone tried this out? Looks intriguing... as does the price

<comment> doc-m Just installed and ran their server - there's a demo site built in. Looks neat, but I'm not sure how secure it is. Saw a demo of their qr code-reading mobile auth app earlier this year that looked interesting.</comment></comment>


WhiteboxTools: A Rust-based platform for advanced spatial analysis - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/jblindsay/whitebox-tools <comment><AUTHOR> This is a project that I started some two years ago to provide support for raster/vector GIS operations, image processing tasks, spatial hydrology analysis, and LiDAR data processing. It's a pure Rust codebase with a Python interface that allows it to be easily integrated into other software. There is a QGIS plugin for WhiteboxTools as well. More details are provided on the homepage for those that are interested: [https://www.uoguelph.ca/~hydrogeo/WhiteboxTools/index.html](https://www.uoguelph.ca/~hydrogeo/WhiteboxTools/index.html)

</comment><comment><USER2> Interesting!</comment>


Diamonds on Demand  - <AUTHOR> http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/diamonds-on-demand.html?c=y&page=1

<comment><USER2> Hopefully they will make the production as cheap as that of glass, thereby destroying the despicable diamond trade forever.

<comment><USER3> Right now the jewelery grade diamonds are about 1/4 the price of evil diamonds. They don't have much of an incentive to make the jewelry grade diamonds cheaper. I suspect that even if diamond production gets to be almost as cheap as glass the price of diamond jewelery will still be inflated.

<comment><USER4> Not a chance. Given diamonds the same price of glass, you can bet that in three months you could buy cheap (and tasteless) diamond jewelry in the same stores you can buy cheap (and tasteless) glass jewelry. Diamonds look better than glass, so why not use the real thing? There will always be markup for good design, but cheap design is cheap. Most diamond pieces would be much cheaper.

The instinct of demonstrating class with expensive jewelry will not go away, however. Some other material will take the place of diamond - maybe some alloy of rare metals. Or maybe new luxury brands will arise, with a 30,000% markup on some quality, (well-)designed piece, maybe or maybe not containing diamonds.

This is, of course, assuming that diamond reaches the price of glass, which I strongly doubt that it will.

Last, in response to the OP, it is not the diamond trade which is the main problem. It is people doing evil things to one another. Just as crushing one monopoly will not end the practice of monopolies, crushing one evil empire will not end the practice of evil empires. Just wait 20 years and some evil trade will pop up in some other place. This focus on one particular phenomenon is counterproductive, because it blinds us to the general principles behind it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> The value of diamonds will eventually crash when the manufacturing process becomes widespread enough.

The raw material, carbon, is cheaply available. The scarcity is an engineering problem, which is being solved.

<comment><USER6> _The scarcity is an engineering problem, which is being solved._

But scarcity is what makes mined-diamonds valuable.

<http://www.google.com/search?q=exclusivity+luxury>

How did you get the idea that diamond-scarcity is a problem?

<comment><USER5> Diamonds being scare and high-priced is not a problem for DeBeers, no. But it is for most other people who would like cheaper diamond for jewellery or for industrial/consumer uses. Wouldn't you like a iPhone with a screen of solid clear diamond? It would be hard to scratch.

IMHO, DeBeers and the perception of diamonds as scarce and valuable can only stand against engineering progress for a limited time.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> This article reminded me of a Wired article I read years ago. After a quick look I found this: The New Diamond Age - <http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/diamond.html>

Some lines in the Smithsonian article are almost word for word right out of the Wired one which seems slightly odd.

Either way, a very interesting topic.

</comment><comment><USER8> diamonds are common but the monopoly (De Beers) control the supply and nobble the compertition.

<comment><USER9> I heard that, too. Do you recall any sources?</comment></comment>


PubPeer - Public Peer review of scientific papers - <AUTHOR> https://pubpeer.com

<comment><AUTHOR> Very often I see clear and cogent "discussions" (aka complete shredding!) of scientific papers on the Hacker News site.

This site seems like a great place to give feedback directly to the authors, and to get their responses / feedback. I really hope it turns into something useful, given the extremely long feedback cycles in scientific publishing.</comment>


Show HN: Unsure Calculator – back-of-a-napkin probabilistic calculator - <AUTHOR> https://filiph.github.io/unsure/ <comment><USER2> And now I'm sat here wondering why this isn't a default feature on calculators. It's great!

I think the simplicity really makes this work. just about anyone who can use a calculator can operate this calculator -- but that doesn't make it any less powerful. Humans are notoriously bad at intuitively dealing with uncertainty, and this calculator might very well help get a feel for it.

The only thing I'd like to see improved is the histogram, the old timey console-like graphing is cute, but not exactly easy to read or interpret. Going for a modern graphical graph and marking it with some useful percentiles would go a long way towards making it more usable.

EDIT: also -- only half facetiously -- is there a CLI/desktop/mobile app yet? Doing quick back-of-a-napkin math on your phone is a pretty useful thing.

EDIT2: Is the source available somewhere? I'm having the hardest time finding the github repo related to this page...

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you!

I already have a CLI tool and a library, but I'd like to make it a bit less hairy before releasing. I also want to build an iOS / Android app. But I wanted to release a web app first because that has by far the lowest barrier to entry.

<comment><USER2> ah so you _did_ think of everything ;-)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Can someone explain the math here? How is he generating the histogram from just the mean and the range?

UPDATE

Found this:

"Range is always a normal distribution, with the lower number being two standard deviations below the mean, and the upper number two standard deviations above. Nothing fancier is possible, in terms of input probability distributions."

So the range is two std dev from the mean. He also mentions somewhere early that he's assuming the input range is 95% confident.

If I am understanding this correctly, I have a second question: if he has the mean, and the std dev, what is the purpose of the monte carlo simulation exactly? Can't you just subdivide your range, and compute frequency using the gaussian function?

<comment><USER4> This will work for simple equations, for more complex ones you will run into the curse of dimensionality. That's why MC was invented in the first place by Stanisław Ulam et al.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> This is great. I often test assumptions by picking a set of low/high numbers to get a feel for the range of likelihood in a very crude way. This is more sophisticated and gives more confidence in the correctness of the answer.

</comment><comment><USER6> I haven't bookmarked something in ages. I bookmarked this. The value added with a single new operator is amazing. Feel good about this work. Not many people can create something so unique and valuable by adding so little.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you! I've been thinking about this problem for years, and had several ideas in that time. But the complexity always grew out of proportion as I started adding "features" to the notation and the tool. In the end, I'm happy with how it looks like now, even if it isn't perfect by any means.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> This is great, I've done calcs to get the upper and lower bounds, but to get the full range like this is super. The example of moving was perfect, I had done a similar calculation by an excel sheet and it was a pain.

Nicely done!

</comment><comment><USER8> Maybe related: Interval Analysis ? [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interval_arithmetic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interval_arithmetic)

</comment><comment><USER9> Every project you release is impressive, I gotta say. Love the UX of this one, making statistics accessible is soooo hard. Eager to see the Flutter version!

</comment><comment><USER10> Very nice project but I broke it though:

Input: 100 / 0~0

UI: Please wait...

Console: worker.dart.js:348 Uncaught Invalid argument(s): Cannot make stats from empty list of values

<comment><AUTHOR> Fixed! Thanks for the report. This also fixes `sqrt(-10~-5)` and other fun inputs.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Amazing writeup, kudos.</comment>


Danish study: moderate jogging, higher benefits - <AUTHOR> http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-running-health-20150202-story.html <comment><USER2> The error bars for strenuous exercise in the publication are laughable. Out of a population of ~1000, only 36 were strenuous joggers and only 2 of them died.

<comment><USER3> This is not the first time I've come across badly executed studies on running and long-term health. It's unsettling, and misleading.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> 7mph is a speed a lot of people can't run. Those are 8 1/2 minute miles. It corresponds to a speed of 26min for a 5k.

This article

      http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=4612823

has some stats for a 5k race. The average time for men was 28min, and only 10% of the women were faster than 26min.

Slower speeds might skew towards women, who naturally live longer.

Another thought is that people who run fast do so over shorter distances, and their volume isn't sufficient to see a health bump.

<comment><USER5> If someone wants to work out these stats properly, Parkrun[1] has an excellent dataset ready for scraping.

Eyeballing [2] 26:00 will get you 93rd out of 300, ie top 1/3rd. That's probably achievable by someone who runs regularly (3 times a week). On [3] it gets you 362/844.

[1] [http://www.parkrun.com/](http://www.parkrun.com/)

[2] [http://www.parkrun.org.uk/aberdeen/results/latestresults/](http://www.parkrun.org.uk/aberdeen/results/latestresults/)

[3] [http://www.parkrun.org.uk/bushy/results/latestresults/](http://www.parkrun.org.uk/bushy/results/latestresults/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Anecdotal opinion of someone that ran 6:50ish per mile pace yesterday in the SF Kaiser Half-Marathon and thus am apparently shortening my life... Those of us trying to run faster and be competitive (whether with ourselves or others) really don't care if we lose a few years of life. Quality over quantity! These articles come up every so often and seem to just serve as reasons for sedentary people to feel smug about their life choices.

<comment><USER7> I highly disagree with the last part. There are 2 reason to run as you mention: for health and for competition. Those running for health should be careful about emulating the routines of those running for competition.

<comment><USER6> A fair point. You're _probably_ not running _on average_ sub 8:30 miles unless you are training for performance in some form or fashion. Because it generally hurts quite a bit. :-)

With the "speed cutoff" You are also probably getting a higher percentage of males who of course have shorter life expectancy rates than women.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Since the study did not report nor account for other physical activities, it should be noted that a vast number of people in Copenhagen ride bikes around town. [1] 36% commute by bicycle; municipal ambition is 50% by 2015.

[1] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_in_Copenhagen#Cycling](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_in_Copenhagen#Cycling)

<comment><USER8> Yeah, "couch potatoes" in Copenhagen likely rank in the 90th percentile in terms of overall physical activity for most American cities.

What this study says is, "Running _really fast_ (> 7mph for four hours a week is not exactly a cakewalk) for long periods of time _might_ reduce your mortality.

<comment><USER9> > might reduce your mortality

might _increase_ your mortality, actually. That is reduce your _life expectancy_.

<comment><USER8> Argh, you're right, reduce your life expectancy.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Strenuous jogging is called running. </pedantic runner>

</comment><comment><USER10> Here are the charts with the confidence intervals: [http://content.onlinejacc.org/article.aspx?articleID=2108914](http://content.onlinejacc.org/article.aspx?articleID=2108914)

It is crazy they would present a subgroup analysis with 40 people, the effect would have to be enormous to find anything.

<comment><USER11> And yet the difference between the strenuous and light joggers are significant (the light jogger mean is outside the strenuous jogger 95% confidence interval and vice versa).

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> Actually, life expectancy of world class aerobic athletes (unlike power (anaerobic) ones) is a little higher than average according to studies in US, Spain, Germany, Poland... Could be a little lower than life expectancy of those involved in moderate aerobic activities though, I guess.

</comment><comment><USER13> TL;DR; strenuous jogging doesn't have health benefits. There isn't enough data from the study to support any stronger conclusions.

<comment><AUTHOR> The study indicates that strenuous jogging has the same benefits as no jogging, while moderate jogging improves life expectancy.</comment></comment>


Tiny web app for sharing youtube moments with each other - <AUTHOR> http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/ak448/tiny_web_app_for_sharing_youtube_moments_with/

<comment><AUTHOR> Direct link: <http://www.synchtube.com/></comment>


Why Skilled Immigrants Are Leaving the U.S - <AUTHOR> http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2009/tc20090228_990934.htm <comment><USER2> I would argue that while this certainly sucks for the US in the short term, it's awesome for the world in the long term. This is exactly what globalization is good for -- expose talented people from all over the world to the free market, get them to our level of expertise, and then have them go back home and start the arduous process of improving local standards of living.

<comment><USER3> Except the US has lower standards of living, a worse education system, a terrible human rights record, really high obesity levels, and more poverty than many other counties.

No wonder they are leaving... there's many better places to live:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_Most_Livable_Cities>

They also might be scared of being put in jail... with the US having 1 out of 100 people in jail... a massive percentage of them being non-white. The highest level of incarceration in the world: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisons_in_the_United_States>

<comment><USER4> Your comment is ridiculous, irrelevant (true or not, none of those things apply to the "skilled immigrants" in question), and intellectually dishonest. Save it for reddit, please.

<comment><USER3> It directly applies to the skilled immigrants in question. Since there are many better places in the world to live than in the US - what I said listed some reasons why the US is not a very good place to live.

Why are highly skilled immigrants choosing to go elsewhere? The reasons listed could be why they are leaving, and some of the reasons I listed are mentioned in the article.

As a highly skilled immigrant myself(who isn't in the US), those are a few of the problems I see with the US. There's lots of other good things, and bad things about it of course, those are just some important reasons not to live there.

I notice how you made a personal attack, rather than address any of the (true) facts I listed. You're also living in the US, which makes your comment even more questionable.

If you'd like to check what I said, the links listed have references to back it up.

<comment><USER4> I'm not interested in getting into an internet battle, especially not at HN. But I did not make a personal attack, I only criticized your comment (however, you did question my credibility based on where I live).

The problem with your comment is that it was irrelevant to the issue at hand. You're entitled to hold whatever political opinions you want, informed or not, but this isn't a site about politics and it wasn't a topic about politics, which is why your comment was inappropriate. If you want to rant about politics, there are plenty of other places to do that. But I would request that you allow HN to remain free of that sort of thing.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> "Returnees said they were generally making less money in absolute terms, but they also said they enjoyed a higher quality of life."

That is exactly my case.

The only thing I miss about living in the U.S. is the opportunity to work for the very smart companies. (e.g Google, Amazon, etc.) But in any case if you are successful in your start up, you can create the smart company atmosphere yourself.

The barriers to migrate to the U.S. are absurd. I know people that have been waiting for ten years.

</comment><comment><USER6> This is sad. In my opinion immigrants are the best Americans. They work the hardest and they expect the fewest handouts. In DC the Ethiopian immigrants had the highest rate of employment of any demographic group. At first they work in parking garages and as cab drivers. But after a few years they own restaurants and small businesses. In Silicon Valley I'd say over half the people pitching VC's have a foreign accent. I think it's amazing that somehow people who barely speak the language can figure out where the money comes from and how to fund their dreams. Yet people who have been here for generations complain about a lack of opportunity. Immigrants are our greatest asset. We should be fast-tracking highly educated immigrants and make it nearly seamless for them to move here.

</comment><comment><USER7> I hate to say it but, the ones with options are the good ones. The US is likely still the more attractive for those who come by the shovel-full.

Also, this was surprising:

> Chinese complained of pollution, reverse culture shock, /inferior education/ > for children, frustration with government bureaucracy, and the quality of > health care.

That Chinese elementary education is worse than the US' would come as a surprise to most people I'm sure.

<comment><USER8> I wonder how much of that is due to difference rather than genuine inferiority. My understanding is that the learning style in the US and China is very different. Disclaimer: I've never visited China and I've spent a grand total of 3 days in the US. This may limit my ability to comment.

<comment><USER7> I've /heard/, only, mind, that Chinese reading/writing is so hard that kids spend up to 5th, 6th grade on it. Sure, schools in countries with Western languages do too but, my impression from where this info came was that it ate up a few more years of schooling all by itself.

<comment><USER9> I really doubt that learning a hard language would be detrimental to their education.

In many countries kids study 2 or more foreign languages and they are much better off because of it. The more you learn, the easier it is for you to learn more.

Plus, I've been studying Chinese writing and I don't think it's as hard as it looks to an outsider.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I heard from some of my international friends that new regulation has been passed that makes it increasingly hard for foreign nationals to stay in the US after university for skilled professions.

If this, I think that this will only be a detriment to the US, as we need the best skilled workers to maintain our global edge.

<comment><USER11> What American shouldn't want to import more taxpayers? The income threshold over which a family is a net contributor to the government probably isn't much about $60K. So, importing just about anyone with a skill would lead to a lower tax burden for all. And, it would improve the lives of the lowest paid Americans by creating more demand for basic services (house cleaning, lawn mowing, etc.)

I understand the labor unions' reluctance to allow unskilled immigration, but they ought to press toward allowing more skilled people as it would increase the demand for their members' services. Interestingly, I think most unions are now in favor of legalizing illegal immigrants -- kicking out 10M people seems undoable, so they're best served by eliminating the illegal, un-unionizable underclass.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> I heard from some of my international friends that new regulation has been passed that makes it increasingly hard for foreign nationals to stay in the US after university for skilled professions.

If this, I think that this will only be a detriment to the US, as we need the best skilled workers to maintain our global edge.

</comment><comment><USER12> Globalization sounds rational only when Wage Slavery is prevented in developing nations.

</comment><comment><USER13> Well, If skilled immigrants are leaving U.S., and consider that there are many skilled workers that are not in U.S., then maybe it's the time to make a virtual Silicon Valley on the internet?

So regardless where you are, you can enter "the virtual" Silicon Valley, and you won't have to apply for a visa!

<comment><USER14> > virtual Silicon Valley on the internet?

Yeah, that's called the Internet.</comment></comment>


App for Kids Makes iPhone App Programming Easy - <AUTHOR> http://www.fastcodesign.com/3050238/this-app-for-kids-makes-iphone-app-programming-as-easy-as-lego

<comment><USER2> I don't get why people always think that "programming for kids" has to be done with blocks and drag-drop interfaces. It feels like it limits the complexity of what you can build to what fits on a screen, and makes applying anything beyond basic programming logic (like functions) more complex. It also feels like talking down to them instead of letting them experience an actual challenge.

I think it would be far more pedagogically correct to build a simple scripting language than to limit kids to these interfaces. If it weren't for the sheer age of it, I'd still recommend [http://tedfelix.com/qbasic/](http://tedfelix.com/qbasic/) as a way to wrap your head around the basics.

<comment><USER3> Before I reply, can I just say the fastcode site is one of the worst reading experience I've had in years. Truly appalling.

For young kids, the problem with traditional languages is that you have to spend a huge amount of time dealing with syntactical issues like whitespace, nesting brackets, the right kinds of colons, singe/double quotes, etc, etc on any non-trivial program. I've taught my girls (10 and 11) a little Python, but kept it small scale largely because of this. On the other hand they can create pretty complex interactive animations in Scratch without having to deal with any of that, because they can focus their attention on the logic and the functionality of the commands.

I suspect that once they get to 12 or 13 this will be less of an issue, and my eldest coped with the syntax issues better than her sister when writing a bit of Python, but when they first started learning Scratch at age 8 and 9 I think it would have been extremely challenging for them to use something like Python or BASIC.

<comment><USER4> One thing I loved about the default BASIC on the computers of the 70s and 80s was the ease of doing graphics and easily seeing something tangible on the screen.

What is the equivalent of that today? For instance, is there an easy-to-use Python library that lets kids do simple drawing with ease?

Ie, on the TRS-80's Level II BASIC, just doing SET(X,Y) coloured a white pixel at that coordinate, and RESET(X,Y) turned it black. And you could see immediately the utility of applying FOR loops to make horizontal and vertical lines, etc.

I don't remember QBASIC, but the customized BASIC on my Tandy 1000 In the late 80's had graphics modes with I think PSET(X,Y,C) to light pixel with color C, and even had some built-in commands for making line, rectangles, circles, and ellipses.

So it was very easy to type a few lines and get something cool on the screen, but still required a bit of thought on x,y coordinages and some programming constructs to do anything complex.

I only dabble a bit in Python, but what's the best way to do something like that today?

I think there's much more of a feeling of "Wow, look what I made!" after drawing something this way than just using the painting mode for sprites in Scratch.

<comment><USER3> Modern computer operating systems won't let you arbitrarily switch pixels on the screen on or off, so you'd need to either write a program that uses a GUI library to create a window, controls, etc, or generate an image file you can open in a viewer.

For Python, matplotlib(1) will let you generate plots and graphs, including simple x/y graphs, or you could use the built-in TkInter(2) library to do a simple GUI with a drawing canvas.

(1)[http://www.labri.fr/perso/nrougier/teaching/matplotlib/](http://www.labri.fr/perso/nrougier/teaching/matplotlib/) (2) [http://www.python-course.eu/tkinter_canvas.php](http://www.python- course.eu/tkinter_canvas.php)

<comment><USER4> Thanks. The drawing canvas seems just what I'm looking for.

(And yeah, I totally get I can't just flip arbitrary screen screen pixels, any more than I can access arbitrary system memory like I used to be able to with PEEK and POKE).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> _" The Everything Machine, aims to change all that. The second part in their Diguital Toys series of apps, The Everything Machine turns all the components and sensors in an iPhone or iPad into Lego-like bricks of programming logic, allowing kids to program anything they can imagine: from a simple flash light app to a face-detecting fart machine."_

I know this is a Sub, I've included because of the silliness of this idea: A _" face-detecting fart machine"_, now that's something worth building.</comment>


Martin Fowler – Kinesis Advantage2 – Review after three years of use - <AUTHOR> https://martinfowler.com/articles/kinesis-advantage2.html <comment><USER2> I love my Kinesis Advantage, have been using it for 10+ years at this point.

I have recently released the kinT replacement keyboard controller: [https://twitter.com/zekjur/status/1281130647776608257](https://twitter.com/zekjur/status/1281130647776608257)

Why would you replace the controller? There are a couple of good reasons:

* to build or modify your own keyboard

* to work around bugs in the standard controller, like I did back in 2013: [https://michael.stapelberg.ch/posts/2013-03-21-kinesis_custo...](https://michael.stapelberg.ch/posts/2013-03-21-kinesis_custom_controller/)

* because you prefer to run open source software such as the QMK firmware ([https://docs.qmk.fm/](https://docs.qmk.fm/)), even on your keyboard

<comment><USER3> Also bluetooth: [https://hackaday.io/project/161578-wireless-ble-kinesis- adva...](https://hackaday.io/project/161578-wireless-ble-kinesis-advantage- custom-controller)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> If anyone likes the ergodox / moonlander, but wants a keyboard with curved keys, look up the Dactyl Manuform / Dactyl keyboard. It's a split keyboard that also has curve keys so it takes less movement to reach keys.

Unfortunately you have to have them custom built or build one yourself, but there are sites that let you easily order one.

Here's an example [https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/ak8d0m...](https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/ak8d0m/dactyl_manuform_5x7/)

</comment><comment><USER5> I use it too. For anyone questioning Dvorak vs QWERTY layout I recommend Dvorak. You're learning a new layout anyways when switching to this thing. Dvorak won't speed you up even after years of using it, but you can be essentially just as fast as QWERTY and it's much more zen in the sense you have to stretch for keys less often. However you may find you need to change keyboard shortcuts as some chords that are natural in a regular QWERTY keyboard are no longer natural with the unique layout. Luckily you can buy foot pedals and program macros for common keyboard inputs right in the onboard computer in the keyboard. Well worth it if you have any kind of pain or uncomfortable experience with a traditional keyboard

<comment><USER6> After 10 years of switching to Dvorak, I wouldn't do it again. I don't live in one app, I use Office, Photoshop, Emacs, IntelliJ, Visual Studio, and each one, obviously, has different shortcut keys. I often have to think whether I'm in Dvorak or qwerty mode; and the muscle memory of shortcuts went away.

I can't deny that typing prose in Dvorak is extremely pleasant. But switching between Dvorak and qwerty (I often use others' computers) and between a regular keyboard and a Kinesis requires me to remember 4 different shortcuts sets for each program that I use.

If you are mostly a writer of prose, I recoomend the switch. But the ROI is not there for the jack-of-all-trades programmer.

Life is too short to forgo muscle memory.

<comment><USER5> For me personally switching has been surprisingly transparent.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I have one of these, nearly 12 years old at this point. Around two years in, it took nearly a full pint of double imperial stout head-on during a buzzed coding session. Was sticky for a little bit, but otherwise no ill effects. Built like a tank.

</comment><comment><USER8> One caution about folks thinking about foot pedals: your operating system might get in the way.

OS X, for example, can't use the foot pedal for "Shift" and apply it to the "A" that you hit on the keyboard if they are two different USB devices.

So, you may _need_ a keyboard that the foot pedal plugs into in order to avoid this.

<comment><USER9> I can't be 100% sure, but I've been able to solve that problem by using Karabiner and making sure both devices were checked in the preferences of that app.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> I'm still banging away on my original one from the mid 90's (PS/2 adaptor and all!) and it's still going strong. The ESC has all but worn off the rubber F key strip but other than that it's in fine shape.

I understand the new fangled 2 comes with real switches for the F key strip?

<comment><USER11> Yes, that's right. I switched from an advantage to an advantage2 (which has the non-rubber keys) a few years ago as my new gig purchased the advantage2 for me. Honestly, I didn't even notice a difference. The new f keys are slightly larger (but not full size) and plastic, but I would personally say that I wouldn't drop $350 for the plastic ones. I used the advantage for 15 years, so I was well used to the rubber ones. A few months after the switch, I realized they weren't rubber - that's how insignificant the change was for me.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> I had one of these at a previous job, great keyboard. I still miss the reliability of the thing. Ended up building an ergodox the year after I left, and I've kept with that for the last 6 years.</comment>


Google Launches Fuchsia OS That Might Replace Android - <AUTHOR> https://fuchsiatalks.com/2017/05/12/google-launches-fuchsia-operating-system/ <comment><USER2> If anyone's interested you can build Fuchsia and run it in Qemu [https://fuchsia.googlesource.com/docs/+/master/getting_start...](https://fuchsia.googlesource.com/docs/+/master/getting_started.md)

</comment><comment><USER3> One of the reasons? [https://www.slashgear.com/microsoft-claims-collecting- royalt...](https://www.slashgear.com/microsoft-claims-collecting-royalties- on-70-of-all-android-devices-09237778/)

</comment><comment><USER4> 1) Fuchsias' initial release was 2016 2) This website seems to be... only about it?

</comment><comment><USER5> Wow that's a painful read. Non native speaker or just terrible writer?

<comment><USER6> At times I thought it was like those ai-generated articles.</comment></comment>


On Informed Complacency and the Potential Decline of Curiosity - <AUTHOR> https://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2018/03/13/on-informed-complacency-and-the-potential-decline-of-curiosity/ <comment><USER2> I've always been fascinated with the appeal to authority. I suppose the ultimate authority is a repeatable experiment that demonstrates a fact to an acceptable level of certainty.

Such experiments are often not possible when considering the fuzzy structures that have concrete effects on our daily lives. How do we come to conclusions on sociological or economic theories for example?

When the going gets tough, we all tend to appeal to authority.

"Look I don't know why it's true per se, but this book right here says it's true, and it was written by this guy that everyone agrees is really smart!"

At some point, we all must appeal to another authority in some way. We can't know everything, so we must rely on and trust in others. How can we possibly do that now in the age of Google and Facebook? What about when images and even live video can be convincingly faked?

I have this sense of dread that we may reach a point where we all stand around and go "huh... I don't know what the truth is. I guess we'll never know. Oh well." And from then on we will live in our own simulations divorced completely from reality. I mean, it feels like we're already there in some cases.

<comment><USER3> Instead of a sense of dread, how about learning to be comfortable with uncertainty? There's a lot going on in the world where we rely on others for information, and probably can't know for sure without doing a lot more research. Admitting you don't know something is a _good thing_ , particularly when there's no need to know.

I see a lot of the opposite: people pretending to be instant experts about whatever issue is in the news, when they knew nothing about it yesterday. It makes it harder to tell what's going on.

<comment><USER4> Yes, learning how to deal with uncertainty is necessary. I think the analogy though is something like this: Your mind was running on hardware, now its running inside a container inside a container. Do you have a reasonable chance of figuring out how things work, also will it even be relevant? Inside the filter bubble / matrix everything seems consistent.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Ha. With my friends, if we have one of these "we don't know" scenarios, and my friend tries to take out their phone to look it up, I tell them to put that goddamned thing away. Knowing is not fun. Reasoning is fun, asking around is fun, guessing is fun, bullshitting is fun. If you don't need to know, don't look it up!

Would you rather get to know someone through many conversations and shared experiences, or by reading a (hypothetical, futuristic) brain scan? And so with the world.</comment>


Ask HN: What did you learn at work last year? - <AUTHOR> After reading Bill Gates's 2018 review[1], I wonder what the HN crowd would have to say on the same topic. Was your job conductive for some important learning experience(especially if not technical) in 2018?<p>[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18803923 <comment><USER2> 4 hours in this year, I need better internet connection for handling Zoom calls from home :)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks, title fixed ;)</comment></comment>


OSIRIS-Rex – Asteroid Sample Return Mission - <AUTHOR> http://www.asteroidmission.org/objectives/bennu/ <comment><USER2> I'm glad to see the launch went well. Can you imagine how much planning has to go into a mission that plans to rendezvous with an asteroid, take a sample, and fly it back home?

<comment><USER3> Yeah watching that single SRB on the Atlas V was fun, never works for me in KSP gotta ask JPL for their version of mechjeb =)

<comment><USER4> Scott Manley recently did a great video on this. You just need more gimballing (basically). If I wasn't on my phone I would post a link.</comment></comment></comment>


SF DA sues drone maker Lily for false advertising - <AUTHOR> https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/12/sf-district-attorney-lawsuit-against-lily-may-have-prompted-refund/ <comment><AUTHOR> "at some point, you cross over from aspirational to fraudulent, and the DA's suit alleges that Lily's video is demonstrably the latter."</comment>


Barbie challenges the 'white saviour complex' - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36132482 <comment><USER2> Does this even count as news</comment>


Don't ever forget that BitDefender checkbox for auto-renewal - <AUTHOR>

I bought BitDefender totalsecurity more than a year ago. And there is a tiny checkbox to enable Auto-Renewal that I overlooked. Now they are gonna charge me every year and there is no way to cancel it!<p>Sent 3 request e-mails, talked to their customer support chat. No use. They said they will forward the request to the relevant department! WTF. There is no "Unsubscribe" anywhere. You have to fill-up a form and submit it! <comment><AUTHOR> This is what I receive when I send them e-mail for canceling Auto-Renewal.

Dear Customer,

Thank you for your message. Please be advised that this inbox is not being monitored and you will not receive a response. If you already have an open support ticket, please reply to the last message you received from us. If you do not have an open support ticket please contact us through the contact form at [http://www.bitdefender.com/support/contact- us.html](http://www.bitdefender.com/support/contact-us.html) Once we receive your message we will respond in the shortest time possible,

Thank you for your understanding, Bitdefender Customer Care</comment>


Microsoft misses memo, launches DRM-laden mobile music store - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/01/microsoft-misses-memo-launches-drm-laden-mobile-music-store.ars <comment><USER2> Can't this be generalized? (At least as far as the web goes.)

 _Microsoft misses memo, launches <some clone of an existing service that is actually worse in some way>_</comment>


Help HN: Laid off due to Covid, almost out of runway - <AUTHOR> Hello HN, It's been a long month of interviewing since I was laid off due to the market shrinking from COVID.
My position (Frontend/Full-stack Engineer) became redundant as the company had to change direction. A lot of really great engineers were let go of.
I've been interviewing for full-time positions but the process is slow going and  I have not yet received an offer. I don't have much more time before my own savings runs out and I am the sole provider for my family, so I am reaching out to the community for help with any leads.
About me: full-stack/frontend engineer with 5 years of development experience (all remote)
What I'm looking for: remote contract projects utilizing the technologies below - or - remote full-time position as a full-stack or frontend engineer
(US citizen in the US, no visa sponsorship required)
Skills: - Node.js - Go/Golang - React, Redux/Flux - TypeScript, JavaScript - CSS, SASS, HTML - Mocha, Jasmine, Enzyme, Cypress, Unit/Integration testing
- Mongo, Dynamo, Redis, Postgres - Docker - AWS, AWS Lambda, Serverless - Jenkins, CircleCI, Grafana
- Microservices, SOA - Linux, Ubuntu, bash, ssh, git
- API and EHR/health system integrations across multiple protocols and dataformats - Scrum rituals, Agile
If you are hiring or know of any teams hiring (ideally that you could introduce me to) then I'd be glad to know.
You can reach me at email@example.com — I'd be glad to forward my resume and LinkedIn profile.
Thank you for your time! I would greatly appreciate any help. <comment><USER2> In my line of work (non engineering, strategy and other business side leadership roles) there's also the problem of a very tiny pool of jobs to begin with, so I decided to be very proactive and I have started reaching out to companies that raised money recently or who have "we're hiring" on executives LinkedIn profiles and cold emailing them something to the tune of "I have helped many companies with various hard to define problems and taken a variety of roles that may not fit the traditional job titles paradigm, I like your company and you're growing your team at the moment, could I get a chance for a quick chat to see if you have problems or opportunities I could help solve?"

One week in, I've already had a handful of informational interviews, while my applications to actual postings go into a black hole.

I bet that approach could work for your profile as well, I've even deployed a sales enablement tool and a CRM to automate, track and document (for unemployment claims) my process

Good luck

<comment><AUTHOR> Oh that's very interesting. Can you share more about your strategy for filling the top of your funnel? Where are you finding companies that recently raised? I can only think of maybe Angel.co or Crunchbase

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Have you looked through the July Who's Hiring thread? Also probably worth going through the last few months of submissions and reach out to any of those companies looking for front end devs.

Also post this in the Who wants to be Hired thread, although I don't know how effect that thread is (I never got any contacts from that one)

Edit: also sorry I don't have anything to offer you, my job isn't hiring right now. But any time I see these posts I always give them an upvote. I hope you the best!

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the suggestion! Yes I've gone through the recent thread and submitted my resume and cover letter to a number of jobs but haven't heard anything back yet. I'll try like you said the older threads, thanks!

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Yeah, really sucks, am in similar boat. Also single income household with runway running out. Am a freelance contractor, projects are rarer than last year. My last long contract ended earlier than I thought. Was able to get a one month project through a colleague, but that also ended now. Most of my leads have dried up. And my side project usually brings in 20-50% of monthly income / profit, but the last months was actually losing money (it's a niche jobboard, so yeah).

Did calculations, and will reduce my regular rate by 15%, because 6 months at 85% is better than 5 months at 100%. Got a 1 day/week contract for now, and will look for something additional 4-5 days / week.

I assume you have looked into weworkremotely.com and remoteok.io? Maybe reaching out to recruiting agencies like Michael Page or Hays are worth a shot.

Good luck to you!

</comment><comment><USER5> I've had luck working through Toptal, but that was about two years ago. But when I worked through Toptal I could usually get a gig in two weeks. The pay is roughly equivalent to what I would earn in Sweden, or at least fair, if I consider that I don't have to do sales, billing etc, and can invoice 40 hours a week.

I think Toptal is better than UpWork or other platforms where the price is driven down by competition.

If you have any questions about Toptal or the application process feel free to reach out to me on mail[at]danielk.se

ps. not sponsored by Toptal, but I used them when I was in a similar situation to yours

</comment><comment><USER6> Have you heard of upwork? Create a profile on it... and if I were you, I'd focus on marketing yourself for cloud services. Hourly rates range but the experienced contractors charge around $150 and there seems to be a lot of companies hiring off of it (some of the top guys have a couple thousand hours with over $500k earned).

<comment><USER7> Upwork is terrible

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> So you got laid off maximum 4 months ago. Did you only have 5 months of living expenses saved up? That's like 10k max.

The market is def ripe for >mid-level devs, esp with Trumps H1b thing. Just keep applying, use Hackernews whos hiring, and use LinkedIn. You will def find something in 2 months.

<comment><USER9> You're saying the "max" figure for living expenses for a family (which GP says he has) is $2k per month?

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Hope this helps: Reach out in my HN profile and I'll give you a free pro version of my job search app for 12 months.

</comment><comment><USER11> Why don't you apply for unemployment benefits?

<comment><AUTHOR> That could help definitely, but would only cover my rent, and I am discouraged by what I've heard about it, i.e. taking weeks/months to be approved.

<comment><USER12> I am in the same boat. My runway is gone, and now I have to choose between rent or debt. I am choosing rent. Still, apply for unemployment. Do it if you're not even eligible for it yet. Then when you are eligible it'll be a breeze. Use it to supplement your life while you continue your search.

Sorry you're in this boat with us. Good luck fren!

<comment><AUTHOR> Ah, that's a great idea, thank you! And good luck to you, too!</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Rust FFI: Sending strings to the outside world - <AUTHOR> https://thefullsnack.com/en/string-ffi-rust.html <comment><USER2> It's nice to see a demonstration of how to do this by hand! But at work, we use Neon [https://github.com/neon-bindings/neon](https://github.com/neon- bindings/neon) to write production Node.js modules in Rust.

<comment><USER3> I appreciate the OP's desire to learn how Node's FFI works, but for production purposes utilizing an existing project like Neon is almost certainly the right answer. Interfacing interpreters with native code can be hairy and no two interpreters are alike, so going it alone is going to take a lot of time understanding the nuances and pitfalls of each individual system. Neon is still young yet, but it's from Dave Herman, the head of Mozilla Research, so I'm hopeful that it has a bright future ahead of it.

<comment><USER4> FWIW, ffi is just a third-party node module, which makes it pretty similar to Neon. Both are solutions that require you to write a bit of glue code and both have their caveats/pitfalls/landmines. Which one is the "right answer" is situational and neither is universally correct. For instance, if you needed to call into both Rust and C/C++, ffi might be a cleaner solution since your JavaScript could basically be the same for both. Using ffi can also be more dynamic than Neon, so if you wanted to do something akin to Java's URLClassLoader that downloads and runs native code at runtime, using Neon would make that a bit harder. The main difference between the two is where you write your glue code...with Neon, you write your glue in Rust and with ffi you write in JavaScript.

BTW...I'm a big fan of Neon and have even sent in a PR for an issue I found. I've used it to write Google Cloud Functions without having to write a single line of JavaScript and it's been pretty easy to work with. Rust is the perfect language for Cloud Functions/Lambda since those services are billed per CPU time/memory and Rust has very little overhead in those regards. Writing services that use the minimum allowed resources makes using these serverless platforms very price competitive with running your own servers, even when you reach a pretty considerable load. I do find the current direction Neon is headed (using macros to essentially write JavaScript code in Rust) to be not particularly useful (I'd rather my Rust code look like Rust), but the project is already at a point where I can build around it, so I'm not complaining.

Anyways, your comment seemed to imply that ffi was part of the Node platform and that it wasn't appropriate for production, and I disagree with both of those. Ffi is just a different approach that's suitable for different situations.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5>
        #[no_mangle]
        pub extern fn string_array() -> *const *const u8 {
            let v = vec![
                "Hello\0".as_ptr(),
                "World\0".as_ptr()
            ];
            v.as_ptr()
        }

This has exactly the same problem as with `CString`; the `Vec` is deallocated at function exit.

<comment><AUTHOR> You're right. I just ran the code again, it produces something funny:

       [ '��\u0002\u0002', '8+���~', buffer: <Buffer > ]

I will update the post. Thanks for pointing it out! :D

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> And there is a memory leak in all of that.

<comment><USER7> I was going to ask, how does Node then know to free the string when all JS pointers to it are gone?

... guess it doesn't?

<comment><USER8> When the program exits memory will be reclaimed by the kernel. Memory leaks aren't horrible if they don't appear in loops or recursive functions (that is to say the leaked allocations do not grow with the uptime of the program). In this case it's pretty much identical to allocating memory that has the lifetime of the program. Pretty obvious stuff but it's important to keep in mind.

<comment><USER7> True, but I'd imagine the primary use case for NodeJS wrapping a Rust binary is a long-lived server process, where I'd expect this to actually matter. (Even on Lambda it might matter, given container reuse.)

<comment><USER8> Absolutely.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> > First, we store the Pointer of s string in a variable (p).

> Then we use std::mem::forget to release it from the responsibility of Rust.

CString::into_raw does that whole song and dance for you.

For Vectors you probably want to convert them to boxed slices first, at which point you can use Box::into_raw (to get the slice's head pointer).

</comment><comment><USER10> I think the article inadvertently reinforces the idea that it's really only practical to scale code that segregates processes and uses streams instead of shared memory. New languages should probably focus on things like the Actor model and optimize stream passing with things like copy-on-write so that no data is actually copied until it's mutated.

For this and many other reasons (mainly pushing the onus of managing memory onto the developer instead of automating it) I can't really get behind Rust. I think many other languages like Swift are also barking up the wrong tree by being too pedantic.

<comment><USER11> Rust puts a reasonably large amount of effort into making shared memory concurrency safe. Move semantics, borrow checking and the Send/Sync traits combine to eliminate/reduce many of the pitfalls (e.g. data races) which motivated people to move away from shared memory. Additionally, Rust's semantics mean that things like actors/message passing and copy-on-write can be very efficient (e.g. move semantics means any copy-on-write overhead doesn't need to exist if the code will statically never read/write concurrently): [http://blog.rust-lang.org/2015/04/10/Fearless- Concurrency.ht...](http://blog.rust-lang.org/2015/04/10/Fearless- Concurrency.html)

Of course, the fairly explicit nature of Rust is annoying/inappropriate for some tasks which don't need quite that level of control, but I think you're missing the power Rust brings to concurrency. (Of course, whether this particular article uses that power is a different question.)

</comment></comment><comment> Michael-F-Bryan I'd recommend against using `std::mem::forget`. Even though it does pretty much the same thing you should probably use `some_cstring.into_raw()` instead. Semantically it's indicating that you are passing ownership of the string to the caller, while `forget()` just indicates that you want to leak the thing.

</comment><comment><USER12> To the author: it would be nice if your site had a small screens layout.

I can't read the article on my phone because too much code is cut off (and the right margin is unpleasantly close to the main text, unlike the left margin).

<comment><AUTHOR> Hey, thanks for the feedbacks and apologize for that. I made a quick fix for the style, the code can be scrollable on mobile now :D</comment></comment>


Certified Pre-owned Teslas for Less Than $40K USD - <AUTHOR> https://electrek.co/2017/06/06/tesla-cheap-new-certified-pre-owned-model-s-vehicles/ <comment><USER2> So what's the current situation with battery life on the Tesla and other full EV vehicles? I have a Prius (which uses NiMH, so not really the same but still) - some people have had the battery die under 100,000 miles, and others have everything still working fine at 300,000 miles. With the Prius it seems that concerns about battery life are rather unwarranted.

<comment><USER3> Currently Nissan Leafs can be bought here in the Bay for about 7k at under 50K miles, with 80%+ capacity on them. Depreciation on those things is crazy due to the tax subsidy, and the fact that better electric cars are coming to market.

I'd consider getting one of those when prices tank even further thanks to the Model 3, and upcoming Lea,f to supplement my hybrid.

Incidentally, I don't think battery life concerns are completely unwarranted - my hybrid's battery failed, and if it weren't for the extended emissions warranty in CA, I'd have been SOL. People seem to be aware of this, and it is evident in used hybrid prices, which many times cost about the same, and sometimes less that it's conventional counterpart.

Due to its severe depreciation, I believe that if a Leaf's battery failed outside the warranty, the car is totalled.

<comment><USER4> I think that may also be a little bit buyer's remorse as people discover what exactly a sub-100 mile range means in practice. According to Wikipedia 80% charge implies a 66 mile range. However that's for a _new_ battery, so you'll have to assume a further haircut as the battery ages since to baby the batteries you're supposed to only charge them to 80% of their remaining capacity, whatever it may be.

My wife would normally be the ideal Leaf consumer - most of her jobs are no more than 10 miles from our house. But still that's 20 miles out of a pool of 66 before she a) turns on the air conditioner, b) runs any errands, c) runs into any traffic that delays her, and d) forgets to charge the car at home or finds the charger full at her grocery store.

The Leaf comes with a contingency planning overhead cars with longer ranges do not and that has to factor into any future decisions; could my wife take a job say 20 miles from home? Maybe but any of the factors listed above could easily result in a dead battery tow.

If I mapped that into my own use case even as an inner city dweller the short legs on the Leaf would preclude some practical applications I have now when a car with say 50 more miles of range would handily meet. If the Leaf ever gets to 150 miles new, which implies 120 mile range when new @ 80% charge and 96 miles when the battery has lost 20% of its capacity (also @ 80% charge) that would be workable for inner city driving with the air conditioning on and enough reserves for the unexpected.

<comment><USER3> I agree with the limited milage being a huge constraint.

Deep charging and discharging would severely degrade a battery's lifespan. Therefore all cars - From Model S to Prius - limit the battery's SOC to about 20-80% (Varies by chemistry and car model). The user may see 0-100%, but that is merely in regards to the usable energy available.

So a Leaf reporting 80 miles of range is already taking into account degradation and provisioning.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Expect more and lower prices as the non-autopilot cars get traded in for cars with second-gen autopilot hardware. It will be interesting to see how Tesla owners handle cars with an iPhone upgrade cycle. [https://www.slashgear.com/teslas-elon-musk- promises-12-18-mo...](https://www.slashgear.com/teslas-elon-musk- promises-12-18-month-hardware-upgrades-24472698)

<comment><USER6> Maybe not. The "second-gen" autopilot hardware is just more cameras and a new radar. No LIDAR yet. Tesla is struggling to get back the performance of their own first-generation autopilot, hopefully without the "crashes into stationary objects partially blocking lane" feature.

Tesla is at least one or two more hardware upgrades from Google/Waymo level performance.

<comment><USER7> I've yet to see one Google/Waymo car doing 90mph on the highway with Lane Keeping Assist Level 3 Autopilot. Not ten, not five, or even one. Tesla has thousands of them doing it as you read this.

<comment><USER8> and how does that make their computer vision hardware any better?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Ah, "pre-owned"... The soft language [0] version of "secondhand". You see, poor people buy secondhand cars and ewww that's icky and definitely not meant for the temporarily embarrassed millionaires looking for a Tesla.

[0] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h67k9eEw9AY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h67k9eEw9AY)

<comment><USER10> Or actually "used", I would say that "Would you buy a pre-owned car from this man?" doesn't sound as good as the original.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Their list: [https://www.tesla.com/preowned?sort=price|asc](https://www.tesla.com/preowned?sort=price|asc)

I guess the cars in the $30K's are sold.

<comment><USER11> According to EV-CPO a few under 40k still available:

[https://ev-cpo.com/hunter/](https://ev-cpo.com/hunter/)</comment></comment>


I'm trying to make a better voting site: I call it Mushpot. I'd love to hear your comments - <AUTHOR> http://mushpot.net/item/145

<comment><USER2> I find it pretty hard to read - the text is too light on my screen (MBP).

<comment><AUTHOR> I appreciate the feedback. The body of each item is black, so I figure you're referring to the header text for each item ("by:", "submitted:", etc.) and the links. I've darkened them up a bit.

<comment><USER2> That's a lot better - but I still find it a bit of a strain to be honest.

Think it's a few factors - it's still too light (imho) - also it's above the text, so the eye is automatically drawn to it. I keep trying to read it, whereas (I guess) you're actually trying to de-emphasise it. Perhaps try at the bottom of each entry?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Hate the name, but like the idea. Ties in with some stuff I'm working on myself. Get in touch if you want (oh and update your profile.. maybe an idea for your site - verified logins count more?)

<comment><AUTHOR> When I played Duck Duck Goose as a kid, we called the center of the circle the "mush pot"...that was where you had to sit if you got tagged. I'd consider changing the name, but trying to find good domain names that aren't being squatted on is such a pain.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> You need to let the site fail gracefully if JavaScript isn't enabled.

You can't even view the about-page without JS.

From your description it isn't clear what will happen if you run out of votes. Do they regenerate over time?

What's keeping the top-voted from keeping all his votes to him self and ruining the "economy" that way?

<comment><AUTHOR> You only get votes when another user votes on something you post. The original source of all votes is an administrator/editor with unlimited votes. If there were rampant hoarding, maybe some sort of stimulus package would be in order, like giving all users free votes, but I have no plans for that.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> I like the concept. I would have to agree with the other commenter who mentioned that finding a designer would be a good idea. I was also unable to read parts of the site.

The thing about the name 'mushpot' is that I'm not going to forget what your site is called any time soon.

</comment><comment><USER6> Interesting. I would up the font size and review the "no likey" system. It might encourage flame wars.

</comment><comment><USER7> FYI Tapestry.ScriptManager is undefined [Break on this error] Tapestry.ScriptManager.initialize();

<comment><AUTHOR> should be fixed. sorry about that

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> You need to find a designer. Also, what does this do that Reddit doesn't? I'm not suggesting that your site lacks innovation, but you certainly don't make it clear what this does differently.

</comment><comment><USER9> So, no IE support? Are you adding IE support anytime soon?

</comment><comment><USER10> stop focusing the login text box on pages with content.

it's fine if you're on a dedicated login or search page, but for other pages it's very annoying.

<comment><AUTHOR> Ah, hadn't thought of that. I'll fix it tonight.</comment></comment>


Official Android writing style guide - <AUTHOR> http://developer.android.com/design/style/writing.html

<comment><USER2> "Your phone needs to communicate with Google servers to sign in to your account. This may take up to five minutes"

Programmers, in trying to be completely transparent, sometimes get confused and think that the user actually cares how the app is doing what it needs to do.

<comment><USER3> _... sometimes get confused and think that the user actually cares how the app is doing what it needs to do._

Can you share some links to research showing what users _do_ care about, or research showing that they actually not not care how the app is doing what it needs to do?

<comment><USER2> A user might be interested in knowing that the app wants to "connect to google" but that same user might not care to know that the app wants to "start a tcp session with google servers in order to connect to a web service that gives it the required data"

Obviously I'm exaggerating, but you get the point.

<comment><USER3> _Obviously I'm exaggerating, but you get the point._

I understand what it is you think is true, and anecdotally it sounds about right, but I'm hoping to get past folklore and guesswork to understand what does or does not work for users.

I've been surprise, when helping ostensibly non-tech people, the number of times I get asked, "OK, but _why_ " when I try to offer a simplified description of what an app is doing.

If something seems to take a long time, and I were to say, "The program needs to connect to Google," I am certain the people I've helped would want to know a bit more.

Maybe details about TCP sessions would be too much; the question is, based on _actual research_ , what is the right amount of detail, and how should it be presented?

Maybe there is no such research; even knowing that would be helpful.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I like how the bad examples all come from previous versions of Android!

</comment><comment><USER5> They compare "77 other people +1'd this, including Larry Page." to "Larry Page and 77 others +1'd this."

The latter definitely sounds better, but I suspect most users care more about # of likes than an individual person, as usually the individuals aren't particularly noteworthy.

I'd rather separate these two pieces -- a larger icon with # of likes, and a list of people to the right

<comment><USER6> The significance is not in the individual person itself it is in that they know the individual person and will have a deeper connection with them than a number of unknown people they have never met.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> I feel like the third example should be "What do you want to do?" rather than "Do you want to close it?" The way it is now, I expect a Yes/No question, but instead I get 3 actions.

</comment><comment><USER8> lol android

<comment><USER9> I sometimes wonder what's wrong with humanity when someone creates an account just to say something like this.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Good newsletters/blog to sponsor? - <AUTHOR> My company is interested in the tech community and we'd like to sponsor or advertise in some good blogs/newsletters.
What are your favorites that might be open to this?
Thanks! <comment><USER2> Pretty much what [http://upstart.me/](http://upstart.me/) does. "Find targeted email newsletters that you can sponsor"</comment>


The Plan to Use Fitbit Data to Stop Mass Shootings Is Terrifying - <AUTHOR> https://gizmodo.com/the-plan-to-use-fitbit-data-to-stop-mass-shootings-is-o-1837710691/ <comment><USER2> This is scary and dumb with so many false positives.

Every single instance the police were called, FBI notified, many red flags on social media yet everyone screams that THERE IS NO WAY TO STOP them. People/Police/Govt ignoring the data, while trying to push for gun control, gun confiscation etc. How about we enforce existing laws??? Murder is against the law, yet it still happens everyday. It's hard to figure out the root cause, but blaming an object is easier than trying to solve the bigger picture with mental health, social media etc. We dont blame cars when people are killed in an accident, we blame the driver. Emotional-knee jerk reactions that do not have a place in this discussion.</rant>

<comment><USER3> Cars have a purpose besides destruction. Guns don't, and give individuals unproportionate power.

<comment><USER4> Guns primary purpose in a civilian setting isn't destruction it's intimidation.

<comment><USER3> 1\. That is your unthoughtful opinion not a fact. The intended purpose of a gun is destruction. That is a fact.

2\. Did you notice you had to change the parameters? I was talking about the general purpose, but you didn't like what I said and you couldn't contradict it. So you changed the argument, but that failed too.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Let's see how far we can take "mental health issues". I'm pretty sure that we could make a case for every person in the world having "mental health issues". I think we can collectively agree that our society is profoundly sick; a sick society creates sick people. But "mental health" can easily be construed as a catch-all for anyone who has thoughts that do not align with the agenda of the overseers. As an aside, maybe not all mass shootings are "organic". Why do we never get a full picture of the events? Why are they "covered up"? For our safety, of course. Trust 'em! Maybe it's time that we start to take a hard look at how our smart phones and smart watches and smart homes and fitness trackers can be abused. How does anybody shrug off the implications of uploading the intimate details of your daily life to a corporate-owned, government-subpoenaed cloud (if such a subpoena is even necessary, and the data isn't simply siphoned immediately, or extracted and decrypted in- transit)? One common vision of a modern dystopia is the very real possibility of micro-chipping people, which we are already doing! We micro-chip our pets. Our credit cards, IDs, passports, which we carry with us, are micro-chipped. Our phones and our cars give up our location everywhere we go, and we're scared to turn them off, lest we miss receiving a text message immediately. Some people voluntarily microchip themselves, or are coerced into doing it by their employers. Some people have called this phenomenon the "mark of the beast". I am no scholar of religion, but that seems like a pretty salient analogy. Microchipping for reduction in health insurance premiums seems like an obvious next step.

Here's a great line from the article that sums up the moronic tone-deafness with which we treat our current climate: "Should we create a list of all men in the United States and keep tabs on them?" she said.

What? As if we do not already have this? Are we going to just act as if the intelligence agencies are not surveilling every single person, tracking phone calls, texts, emails, movements, purchases, associations? It's called "mass surveillance" for a reason. What do we think these ultra-secret spy agencies do all day with their billion-dollar budgets? Are we more content just to pretend there is no man behind the curtain, no curtain?

People _want_ the smart homes because they're tired of raising and lowering the blinds, or having to use light switches. How on Earth are so many people content with live microphones in their homes? Can we not rise above and consider the implications in our mad pursuit of "convenience"?

We are being trained not only to accept this as our reality, but being trained to actively participate in its construction. We're being trained that it's "progress" and it's "good" because we need to be turned on to the internet at every moment in our lives. Please talk to each other in person. Turn your phone off and go outside. See what the world is becoming. Do you know any of your neighbors? Stop using these devices and "services". They will always be exploited. Governments historically institute "fear" as a matter of routine to control their subjects, and fear is synonymous with terror. Connect the dots.

<comment><USER6> "Here's a great line from the article that sums up the moronic tone-deafness with which we treat our current climate: "Should we create a list of all men in the United States and keep tabs on them?" she said.

What? As if we do not already have this? "

"Men living in the U.S., citizen and non-citizens alike, are required by law to register with Selective Service at 18 years old."

[https://www.sss.gov/Home/Registration](https://www.sss.gov/Home/Registration)

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Page seems to have been removed?

</comment><comment><USER8> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psycho- Pass](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psycho-Pass)</comment>


CloudStatus (real-time health status of Amazon Web Services) - <AUTHOR> http://cloudstatus.com/ <comment><USER2> C'mon Amazon, we could use an official S3/EC2 status twitter broadcast account. @ComcastCares why not Amazon?</comment>


Mobile Browsers  - <AUTHOR> http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/03/22/fennec-beta-1-goes-live-on-maemo-platform/#continued It's interesting to see what's been happening with mobile web browsing.  Gone are the days of struggling with Windows Mobile's Internet Explorer or other basic browsers found in phones.  Apple's Safari for the iPhone OSX felt like a huge breakthrough, but lacked Adobe Flash support.<p>It's amazing to see products like SkyFire and now Mozilla's own Fennec mobile browser building in plug-in support to bring the mobile browsing experience even closer to the desktop experience!  These startups and smaller companies are truly taking big steps forward and filling the need for a better mobile browser that larger companies are struggling with. <comment><USER2> So Bruce, are you just getting into the SEO business and trying to link "Fennec" to "mobile browsers", or are there more than one browser shown at this link? :(

<comment><USER3> Just to even it out:

I tried SkyFire on someone's WinMo phone. It works so well I'm considering ditching the iPhone for it on a Nokia.

<http://www.skyfire.com/product>

<comment><USER4> I was disappointed with Skyfire on my HTC Titan, but it's way out of date so it runs many apps sluggishly. Opera Mobile is very slick and iPhone-ish, but I ran into device RAM issues with it. NetFront is decent although not as fast as other browsers. Opera Mini is great for speedy browsing and I know a number of people who use it in a J2ME VM on Windows Mobile.</comment></comment></comment>