Hacker News Reader

gotocakeon Assange tried to use embassy as 'centre for spying', says Ecuador's Moreno

The allegation in the indictment claims otherwise, hence the indictment and extradition request. Then there’s the rape issue in Sweden, although I really have no idea how that will stand up if it’s reopened. Still, answering those questions f fact are why courts exist.

gotocakeon 1060-hour image of the Large Magellanic Cloud captured by amateur astronomers

You won’t see anything like that with the naked eye, period. We can’t build up a composite of all photons our eye gathers over 1060 hours! There are places where you can get minimal light pollution and see amazing things though.

https://darksitefinder.com/map/

That site will help.

gotocakeon Assange tried to use embassy as 'centre for spying', says Ecuador's Moreno

You can't argue that being holed up in an embassy is that much better than prison.

I’ve seen footage of where he was in the embassy, it’s a lot better than prison. He also didn’t have to be counted five times a day, no one was trying to rape him or stab him, he woke up and went to sleep when he wanted, ate an array of foods, and until the end had access to people who wanted to visit in person. No guards abused him, and if he wanted to he could leave. Plus, he made a choice to enter the embassy and stay there.

What's more none of that ~7 years counts towards actual jail time he'll like serve in the UK (for absconding) and the US (the publicized charges are only the beginning). The one (?) remaining charge in Sweden will quickly fall apart no doubt.

On what planet would time spent after jumping bail and seeking asylum in an embassy count toward time served? That’s... insane. As far as the charges falling apart we’ll have to wait and see, if they’re even filed. Of course if the charges were nonsense then 7 years in an embassy was a really stupid choice.

Arguments that Assange deserve protection as a journalist are (IMHO) a stretch at best. Getting a hold of classified information is one thing. Aiding in defeating security measures to obtain it is quite another story. But to me at least, the big problem is that Assange lost all credibility as a journalist over the Wikileaks handling of the 2016 election and related hackings (eg the DCC emails). You'll have a hard time arguing that Assange (and Wikileaks by extension) wasn't picking a side here and doing what they can to influence the outcome of the election. A traditional media outlet with an op-ed section is one thing. Playing an active part in illegally obtaining emails and other materials as well as arguably passing on that information to a presidential campaign is quite something else. Even Snowden filtered his classified material through reputable media outlets.

Yes, that all sounds about right. He’s also not being charged with what he carelessly published, but rather how he attempted to obtain it. Journalism isn’t even in the room.

So now we have embassy (~7 years), fighting extradition to either the US or Sweden (2+ years probably), whatever prison time he has to serve in the UK (which will run concurrently to fighting extradition no doubt as it's typical to serve that time first) and then years, perhaps many years, in US prisons. He may not see the light of day until 2030, maybe 2040.

The common factor here is his series of bad decisions.

gotocakeon Japanese F-35 in the Pacific, cue biggest counter-espionage ops since Cold War

No, and why would they? What they could do is tune their radars and missile guidance systems to combat it, and that is a much greater concern. They could also use aspects of the F-35 such as fiber-mat RAM without having to go whole hog on building a clone.

gotocakeon New paper quantifies how quickly Southern planters recovered from the civil war

They also created the KKK to accomplish with terrorism what the legal system and social norms couldn’t rig for them. That really persisted unabated into the late 50’s, and to an extent still exists. The violence has been reduced, but the economic devastation remains. There’s a reason that you can use zip code as a proxy for race in America.

gotocakeon U.S. senators introduce social media bill to ban 'dark patterns' tricks

That’s not A/B testing, or at least not just A/B testing, that’s a full blown psych experiment.

gotocakeon Ecuador to Expel Assange Within ‘Hours to Days,’ WikiLeaks Says

War is messy, imprecise, and inevitably involves unintended (or possibly intended) civilian casualties. It’s a great argument for avoiding wars that aren’t absolutely necessary.

gotocakeon German chemicals giant Bayer victim of year long cyber attack

Don’t forget their newest ongoing issue with Primodos in the U.K.! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primodos

https://news.sky.com/story/primodos-drug-linked-to-birth-def...

Of course Bayer is still insisting that everything is kosher. Well, not kosher, their response to that was creating Zyclon B when they were still part of IG Farben. It would seem that their commitment to morality remains broadly unchanged.

gotocakeon A once abandoned drug compound shows an ability to rebuild organs

Remember the initial human trials were using it systemically to control blood sugar, and specifically looked for carcinogenesis. Obviously there’s room for something to have been overlooked, but in the narrow case of this particular molecule I’d be hopeful. As for BPC-157 we’re very much on the same page, and I’d be very concerned about cancer.

gotocakeon A once abandoned drug compound shows an ability to rebuild organs

The article makes the point that despite human trials originally, and later one-cell zebrafish embryo tests, no sign of carcinogenesis was detected. They further explain that given its limited range within the body, it only impacting damaged tissue and the short period of time it would be used, it’s unlikely to be carcinogenic.

gotocakeon Google’s constant product shutdowns are damaging its brand

I agree with most of what you’ve said, but I’m curious about whether or not YouTube actually makes money. I was under the impression that on a good day it just about breaks even, but has that changed?

gotocakeon Burger King is introducing a vegetarian patty from the start-up Impossible Foods

Speaking as a Jew, while this is accurate, it’s not that common in the US among non-orthodox families. There was a poll of American Jews a while ago that found less than a quarter keep kosher.

gotocakeon The sexes don’t feel pain the same way

I’m the same, I’ve been in extreme pain before and just lived with it, but discomfort drives me up the wall. I had an impinged nerve in my neck and it took me months to see a doctor, who was shocked that I hadn’t come screaming in on day one. Meanwhile a humid day brings me down like a sack of dirt.

I don’t get it.

gotocakeon The mystery of my desktop that locks up when it gets too cold

It’s a type of silicone rubber: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTV_silicone

gotocakeon The mystery of my desktop that locks up when it gets too cold

Be careful when using duster that way, some of them leave a white, powdery residue.

gotocakeon Yelp tried to strong-arm us

I ask this every time a Yelp story emerges: where is the evidence commensurate to the claim about Yelp’s reputation? It would make a fantastic news story, any reporter would leap at it, so where is it? Every time I ask this people “cite” Reddit and a bunch of blog posts, so I’m still waiting for evidence.

Now I don’t like Yelp. Fakespot often finds loads of fake reviews and that’s a problem, but one unrelated to Yelp’s social media “reputation.”

gotocakeon Yelp tried to strong-arm us

I’d trust a reputable news outlet to do the vetting of the story, but that never seems to happen with these Reddit posts. They just become cultural artifacts and get repeated ad nauseum.

gotocakeon Yelp tried to strong-arm us

Nothing about this seems credible or interesting enough to be posted here. These stories emerge every so often, and they rarely seem to exist beyond Reddit. I’d be interested in this if it could be verified, but as it is this is internet rumor momgering.

gotocakeon No call for simulators in new Boeing 737 Max training proposals

No, I’m working on the same assumptions as every aeronautical regulatory body on Earth though.

gotocakeon I Now Have a Cardiologist

You placed that possibility in, and I quote, “the faraway future” and all in the context of your fitness regime being an early warning system better than a cardiologist. Even taking your post with a generous helping of charitable interpretation, it seems Ill-conceived.

gotocakeon I Now Have a Cardiologist

The downside to all of this, in the faraway future (I am currently 42 years old) is that "heart trouble" might manifest itself during exercise in a sudden and acute fashion that leaves me dead. On the other hand, the exercise makes that, statistically, less likely.

Actually depending on your condition and your activities, it’s entirely possible that the first warning you’d have is dropping dead. I’m also not being flip or self-satisfied, and I also have an anecdote to share. A good friend of mine who was a serious tennis players, and later an equally serious swimmer and runner got his “warning” about two years ago. He was at a conference and complained of feeling a bit ill. Then he experienced sudden cardiac arrest and despite an AED on premises he died.

He wasn’t much older than you, was in perfect shape and ate well his whole life, saw his doctor and had good lab numbers. The “far future” you imagine is hopefully just that, far in the future, but it might not be. Like a lawyer as their own client, don’t be a fool and pretend to be your own cardiologist.

gotocakeon An amphibian fungus has become “the most deadly pathogen known”

Putting aside the bait, the whole story with a Kinder Eggs has become a tale told to illustrate a point, but the story itself is nonsense. The US didn’t specifically ban them, they simply fall under a (sensible) pre-existing law and no one gives enough of a crap to change it. Simply put it’s banned to sell candy with something inedible inside of it. This law goes back to the 1930’s and frankly, makes a lot of sense in the general case.

Besides, slightly modified kinder eggs are sold in the US.

gotocakeon The Unexpected Philosophical Depths of the Clicker Game Universal Paperclips

Having humans being the ones playing Universal Paperclips is a very interesting phenomenon, though. What does it say about us that as we fear a paperclip automaton annihilating us, we find it irresistable just to see some numbers get bigger? Would anyone NEED to build a complex AI in order to get us to annihilate ourselves? Would calling it Universal Banknotes make it clearer?

It says that when it comes to a Skinner box, we’re the same as those poor rats. It also suggests that keeping humanity busy while an AI turns us into paper clips would be a more trivial exercise than some might hope.

gotocakeon A woman who doesn't feel pain

That was such an amazing series, and I found it had a lasting emotional impact. I still feel vaguely hurt and angry when I think about it!

gotocakeon No call for simulators in new Boeing 737 Max training proposals

Except it has failed, twice. It’s not as though shoving it back out the door and crossing fingers isn’t potentially going to lead to more tragedy and an even worse image, plus the potential for ruinous lawsuits. Boeing is in a terrible position they created and the only way out will hurt them, but less than staying the course.

gotocakeon A woman who doesn't feel pain

Naively it makes sense, pain is just a sensation, but suffering is more complex. I doubt that we can truly shit off sensitivity to noxious stimuli, but meditation (and maybe some generic factors) seem like a way to manage reactions to that stimuli. Having said that, and skimming the links, I’d guess there’s a limit. A lot of what we’d naively expect to be excruciating is more upsetting and distressing than purely painful. Some things however, like inflammation of the trigemanal nerve, is really a source of intractable pain. I have my doubts that meditation would be of much use in that context, or extreme osteogenic pain.

gotocakeon New Bill Would Stop NSA’s Mass Collection of U.S. Phone Data

The people who talk about opposing mass surveillance are, on average, better educated and higher paid than the average American. When they can't bother to show up, it's noted.

It’s expected, because they are a minute fraction of the population and concentrated on the coasts. They are not needed to win elections, and generally have the most to lose through radical action.

In order for something to be divided it must first exist as a unit. It takes a shockingly-small number of people organizing to a shockingly-little extent to exert change on representatives. Particularly if those people are geographically spread out.

It depends on what that change is. If it’s some minor policy issue or a social issue, you can be right. If it touches the MIC then frankly you haven’t paid attention to the last century of American politics. We are divided, and we are conquered, and showing up at your shindig isn’t changing that. For most people life is too hard and their place in society is too tenuous to care so deeply about mass surveillance. If you want them to care, improve their lives in tangible ways first. People struggling with two jobs and a mountain of debt, who are one hospitalization away from bankruptcy have more immediate concerns.

gotocakeon New Bill Would Stop NSA’s Mass Collection of U.S. Phone Data

Simply labeling anyone without the time to join you, or the belief that it can help as the problem is bullshit. Your premise, that if more people banded together is a false one. The ability of politicians and corporate entities to divide people with wedges, to destroy public education and healthcare, and to gerrymander is potent. You see the end results of that in a broad population and conclude the problem is with the population not seeing your point, but that is the point.

gotocakeon Facebook’s handling of Alex Jones is a microcosm of its content policy problem

I despise Facebook and never use it, but I don’t buy this. All of the fringe nuts, hatemongers and free speech absolutists combined are a drop in their DAU bucket. Most people don’t care if anti-vaxxers, Nazis, or the extremes of civil libertarianism dislike this. Facebook doesn’t need to optimize for “please everyone” they need to spin PR in their favor, and they need to grow internationally. Stomping on someone like Alex Jones won’t even register outside of a handful of people in this country and maybe Canada.

gotocakeon Saudi Arabia Using 140-Year-Old Loophole to Soak Up California's Scarce Water

I think “loophole” already covers the fact that this is technically legal. The issue raised in TFA is a question of whether or not this should be legal.