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inneson Battle for Tripoli

This is funny - reading the title of this post, I thought perhaps it was being sarcastic. A few hours ago a number of tweets appeared in my stream criticising the BBC for being slow on the uptake WRT Libya. Maybe they've caught up by now.

For Example: "BBC correspondent: "Rumours that rebels are advancing into Tripoli". Sky correspondent: sitting in truck with rebels advancing into Tripoli." https://twitter.com/#!/Mr_Eugenides/status/10538684278598041...

and

"Alex Crawford (female) is fab for Sky News in Tripoli while BBC guy is stuck in Gaddaffi surrounded hotel. BBC coverage is shambolic. Why?" https://twitter.com/#!/LesleyRiddoch/status/1055547826426511...

(Sky is the main non-state-funded News channel in the UK).

inneson Stay away from This* (thiswebhost.com)

Unprofessional behaviour from the host, but these guys should perhaps have employed a bit of professionalism too - I wouldn't be surprised if the 'perpetually indignant' twitter mode of address, and the tendency to want to summon up mob of the righteous whenever possible, has spilled over into their dealings with this company. Seems like twitter has given every angry person the opportunity to wave a banner of Truth and Justice 24/7. However, even seeing the twitter streams, all the facts are not out in the open, so this is just my unscientific take on it. I expect it'll be an unpopular view.

inneson Stay away from This* (thiswebhost.com)

What are the twitter accounts of the customers? All I've seen here is a couple of DM's from the host and a couple of emails from the host.

inneson [dead]

I like HN coming to for the links. I just wish I could refrain from poking fun at the sensitive egos of some commenters... sigh. Must try harder.

inneson Mono: A cure for Microsoft monotheism

Yep, to be honest I think we're agreeing.

inneson [dead]

Yes, that was the passive aggressive road, not the high road.

inneson [dead]

If I may be uncharitable, to summarise:

Guy: Hey, look at me guys! I did a sorta hack where you can put money on a card and people with smart phones can get free coffees!

Guys: Wow, that's... cool for some reason! It feels good when putting money into this card to think that people with smart phones somewhere can get a free coffee.

Guy#2: Hey! look at ME, guys! I hacked that hack thing that was somehow cool and good. AND I gave peoples' money to CHARITY! Pretty awesome of me huh?

Everyone: Wow dude. Saddened and appalled. You have ruined an altruistic and somehow cool enterprise.

Guy#3: Pfft, all a bit melodramatic don't you think.

Everyone: [scowls. downvotes guy#3]

Later...

Guy#4: Hey guys, look at this article about how iPhone/Android is better than Android/iPhone.

[normality resumes]

inneson Mono: A cure for Microsoft monotheism

I don't see how your elaboration on the history contradicts anything I said. This is all common knowledge. Totally understandable that Sun tried to lock MS out of tailoring their platform to Windows, and totally understandable that MS would want a good managed platform, instead of going with a flawed compromise system they didn't control.

inneson Mono: A cure for Microsoft monotheism

I don't think an old anecdote about GO/WfP sheds much light on the birth of .NET.

Microsoft wanted the goodness of a managed platform, while having the freedom to evolve it and generally make it a) not suck as much as Java, and specifically b) be better at interoperating with existing (Windows) software. .NET clearly wasn't rushed out the door as a panic response to Java. .NET arrived years after Java & J++. MS just realised that managed was the way to go for a lot of development activities.

Java was and still is available for desktop programming, but by now C# has clearly evolved to be a better language, and .NET a better platform for developing (Windows) desktop apps.

inneson Open Office Layout is Bad for Brain

Link?

inneson Anonymous Pledges to Take Down Facebook

Anon's principles

Very droll sir. Very droll.

inneson Zed Shaw: The wonderful Rob Sobers did a great job translating LPTHW to Ruby

I typed in CBM64 programs - not sure how helpful it was in learning to code though...

  2000 DATA 103, 20, 122, 58, 53, 240, 188, 86, ...

[ctd for 8 pages]...

inneson Andy Rutledge Redesigns NYTimes.com

Yes indeed. Maybe too deadpan for some.

inneson Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned

Hmmm, somebody changed the title of this HN post from "AirBnB: Crimes committed against a host"...

inneson Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned

You're right. This has the fingerprints of Big Hotel all over it.

It's clearly black-ops by a Hospitality-Industrial Complex team.

Gimme strength...

inneson Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned

You are aware that there exist nasty people? People who take pleasure in inflicting pain? That's the simplest hypothesis. There's no need to lurch into dark conspiracy theories without any supporting evidence.

inneson Violated: A traveler’s lost faith, a difficult lesson learned

Cui bono?

On some level, the bad bastards who did it.

Alternatively yes, of course. Building 7, Area 51, Chemtrails etc...

inneson Anonymous targets Norway killer’s manifesto

It's interesting in a macabre way - not the screeds of copy-n-paste so much, but the self-written sections.

inneson Andy Rutledge Redesigns NYTimes.com

Thanks for the heads-up. The problem with the Internet is that sometimes you end up reading things by people with inappropriate political positions, and it's not immediately apparent. Hopefully the addition of social networking features to search, etc, will help resolve this problem in future.

inneson When operating "at web scale", users often simply don't have "real names"

With the benefit of time and reflection, I now think that the term web scale is fine in this context and I was just being a curmudgeon. For what it's worth, which admittedly isn't much!

inneson When operating "at web scale", users often simply don't have "real names"

Implication of "NB" in this context: don't blame the author of the piece for the cheesy buzzword in the HN posting.

I twig now that the author and the HN poster are one and the same internet celeb. So... sorry about that :)

inneson Push It - Pure CSS Push Buttons

The heading above the images is somewhat misleading:

"Check out what these pushovers look like: Demo"

inneson Twice the height of the Empire State - massive solar tower for AZ

Not sure why I can't edit my post. Anyway - downvoted for asking for clarification on an unsupported assertion. HN at its most scientifically rigorous!

inneson When operating "at web scale", users often simply don't have "real names"

Hmm, actually global scale is wrong too - I retract that :) The problem arises regardless of 'scale' (number of users).

To reiterate: the number of users (scale) is irrelevant to the issue of problem names.

I can see why someone sprinkled buzzwords on the HN title that didn't exist anywhere in the article, and weren't applicable though. Makes the issue sound more 'techie'.

inneson Twice the height of the Empire State - massive solar tower for AZ

What makes you think that?

inneson When operating "at web scale", users often simply don't have "real names"

The naming problem is no greater proportionally 'at web scale' than it is at lower numbers of users. Used in this context, it's a cringeworthy bit of chin-stroking jargon.

At global scale would be a more sensible. 'At web scale' doesn't mean, 'With users from outside the US'.

inneson When operating "at web scale", users often simply don't have "real names"

NB: the nonsense phrase when operating "at web scale" doesn't appear anywhere on the linked page.

inneson Even a URL tells a story

I know of no-one who does, technically challenged or otherwise. Also, I don't have downvoting rights.

inneson Anonymous & Lulz Security Statement to the FBI

No. Human rights are the same for 'brown people' - their concerns are as important as those of privileged westerners. Their plight is much worse than that of young white hackers in the western world. Western hackers can by all means massage their egos by playing the rebellious teenager, but to claim that it's justifiably their top priority is not defensible.

inneson Anonymous & Lulz Security Statement to the FBI

NB: I deliberately characterised the anger as misdirected, despite the parent thinking otherwise.