Hacker News Reader

AkThhhpppton Google patents its augmented reality Project Glass

Even their specific design is pretty close to some old Mann hardware (http://www.glogger.mobi/userpub2.php?username=mann&i=201..., which I've linked to...well, it's "below" currently).

Never knew about that list; time for an archive trawl, I think. Thanks!

AkThhhpppton Google patents its augmented reality Project Glass

Even then: http://www.glogger.mobi/userpub2.php?username=mann&i=201...

AkThhhpppton Google patents its augmented reality Project Glass

...How? I mean, there's prior art all over: Steve Mann (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Mann) has been doing this kind of thing since the '80s!

AkThhhpppton Study: Teens Think Your eBooks Are Lame, Prefer Actual Books

Because they don't own enough paper books to be afraid of bookshelf collapse yet?

AkThhhpppton An Effort To Bury A Throwaway Culture One Repair At A Time

Knock yourself out; I'm not in the US, I don't even know which side proposed it. I was just pointing out some benefits other than increased commissions, ones that could be observed from the scrappage scheme we had a few years ago.

AkThhhpppton The FBI took -- and mysteriously returned -- their server

You're getting downvoted because you've just rephrased the "if you've nothing to hide, you've nothing to fear" argument. Here, have a counterargument: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=998565...;

AkThhhpppton An Effort To Bury A Throwaway Culture One Repair At A Time

I'm not in the US. Over here, the idea of a car worth driving costing only 100 euros is ludicrous, and was so even before the local scrappage schemes took plenty of 10-years-or-older cars off the road.

(100 euro cars used to be found; people who don't want to admit their car's worth nothing. They were often bought by teenagers, driven psychotically for a night, and burnt out. These days I assume they're being driven into the ground instead.)

AkThhhpppton An Effort To Bury A Throwaway Culture One Repair At A Time

And air quality, and road safety. That kind of scheme is an incentive to lower the externalities of motoring - older cars burn more fuel, produce more pollution, and have less safety features.

AkThhhpppton Google is making a huge and annoying mistake

"Very likely to be" - yes, definitely. "Doomed to be" - not even nearly. There are blog communities I've been a part of that knock HN comments out of the ring, with zero friction to comment (a name and email address are required, but that email address is never validated). It's about moderation and caring enough to grow a community, not the specific mechanism you use to do that.

AkThhhpppton "Gangbang Interviews" and "Bikini Shots": Silicon Valley’s Brogrammer Problem

Trying to tell people pulling this crap is wrong isn't doing something?

AkThhhpppton Tim Berners-Lee: Tell Facebook, Google you want your data back

If you need any ammunition to get it looked at more intently, here: http://www.identityblog.com/?p=1201

AkThhhpppton I Guess I'm Not A 501 Developer

No, the 40 hour week was fought for - before there was ever a software industry. The 8 hour day and the weekend are union accomplishments.

AkThhhpppton Spain Is Doomed

a) Not speaking German. b) Is there a job in Germany they can and will do? c) I'm in Ireland. There are currently >2 Spanish co-workers working within 20 feet of my desk.

AkThhhpppton Cookie-tracking deadline: Sites pressed to meet deadline

Because obeying the (spirit of) the law is so incredibly onerous?

AkThhhpppton Another Look at "The Limits to Growth"

There is the slight issue that no matter what energy source we use, we need to reduce energy growth. Postulating a meagre 2.3% growth in energy use forever, we'll get the surface temperature of Earth to the boiling point of water in 450 years.

Source http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/2011/07/galactic-scale-e...

AkThhhpppton The Royal Canadian Mint just announced a new alternative to BitCoin

I refer the honourable commenter to Jumpcrisscross' comment here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3787375, wherein they point out that to currency traders, Bitcoin's vulnerabilities have been known for a hundred years.

AkThhhpppton Humans hot, sweaty, natural-born runners

It's all endurance hunting; it's a question of how quickly the prey is exhausted, not how long the chase goes on. See the difference between spotted hyenas (endurance) and lions (ambush). http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/animals/mamm..., as well as plenty of other references.

AkThhhpppton Humans hot, sweaty, natural-born runners

Um... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endurance_hunting

AkThhhpppton Jessamyn Smith: Fighting sexist jokes with a Python bot

Ok: her colleagues disrespect her enough to ignore her request for them to stop doing something that makes her uncomfortable. Doesn't matter what the behaviour is, it should at least be addressed. Basic issue of respect for one's co-workers.

See you around. ",)

AkThhhpppton Jessamyn Smith: Fighting sexist jokes with a Python bot

Yes, but satire has to be done well to work (see unalone's "We want" comment for an example). Auto-responding "that's what she says" isn't.

AkThhhpppton Jessamyn Smith: Fighting sexist jokes with a Python bot

Whose definition, though?

"It is argued that sexual objectification is a form of sexism" - http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Sexism

AkThhhpppton Jessamyn Smith: Fighting sexist jokes with a Python bot

http://fuckyeahdisingenuousliberal.tumblr.com/post/180255328...

*Yes, people are so sick of "but I'm being ironic" there's Tumblr memes about it.

AkThhhpppton Jessamyn Smith: Fighting sexist jokes with a Python bot

This is a comment to print out and keep handy to staple to people-who-don't-get-it's foreheads. Thanks.

AkThhhpppton Jessamyn Smith: Fighting sexist jokes with a Python bot

Oh, well played. (",)

AkThhhpppton Jessamyn Smith: Fighting sexist jokes with a Python bot

Well said. And sorry for jumping up and down at you; hot-button issue, misunderstood your tenor.

AkThhhpppton Jessamyn Smith: Fighting sexist jokes with a Python bot

Asking you to think about the makeup of your audience and to take their feelings into account is such an onerous task?

We're not asking for Thought Police, we're looking for some bloody _politeness_.

I, for one, advocate innovation in humour. (",)

AkThhhpppton Jessamyn Smith: Fighting sexist jokes with a Python bot

And your qualifications for being able to make this decision for us all are?

They wouldn't stop using the bot when she asked them to because it made her uncomfortable. It's been pointed out in these comments that she could have sued this company into a hole in the ground with a chat log and that fact. I think "Judge will probably say it is" says it's sexist.

AkThhhpppton Jessamyn Smith: Fighting sexist jokes with a Python bot

We'd all like to think that. Unfortunately, there's a pretty widespread tendency to tell people who bring -ism issues to attention that they're Doing It Wrong, You Should Do It This Way That Wouldn't Upset Me Instead.

So while they might be reacting with their opinion of a better solution, there's a lot of form of using that exact form of argument to attempt to silence.

Also, she was the one in the situation; perhaps she's got good reasons to do it this way, rather than whatever way is being suggested? And isn't it kinda arrogant to think you (the group you, not pyre) know better?

AkThhhpppton Jessamyn Smith: Fighting sexist jokes with a Python bot

And if that complaint results in the rule "no bots on IRC," she wins.

She has co-workers who are ignoring how their thoughtless behaviour is impacting her, even after she's told them. She'd be entirely justified taking it to HR, but instead she's social engineering a more subtle solution. Nice work!

AkThhhpppton Jessamyn Smith: Fighting sexist jokes with a Python bot

So the one "funny" bot should be wasted on TWSS, which one of the team actively objects to? (And it is a waste: markov chain bots can provide moments of startling poetry. ",)