jackhack

meanwhile deliberate inflation is stealing the value of that money over 50 years. For reference, today's dollar has half the purchasing power it had in 1970. So for your example, 50 years of savings = $25,000. That barely covers the cost one year of health insurance for someone 70 years old.

And that is all based on the premise of living to age 70.

if free speech is only for the enemy, I fear what victory looks like.

Yes, it is precisely a cultural thing. America was formed as colonies declaring war against the strongest empire on earth, refusing to be ruled by a King and both occupied locally and abused from afar. The US Constitution and the balance of power between the three branches is designed to prevent consolidation of power in any one person because the government gains it's authority from the consent of the governed. (the people) And yes, as a final check against abuse of that power, the people have the means to overthrow. It is essential if free people are to remain free.

Most things seem hypothetical until they happen. Hundreds of millions of dead souls in the last century died from what was (at the time) a "hypothetical, apocalyptical scenario." And not only the death camps - think of how many people started their day normally, never knowing they would be murdered by a government by nightfall. History repeats itself so long as the basic flaws of human nature persist - and they will.

why? Because the history books and graveyards (marked and unmarked) are full of examples of hundreds of millions of unarmed powerless peoples being marched off to their deaths by power-hungry dictators and their supporters. The authors of the American political system were exceedingly well educated and understood that a new American constitutional republic experiment where the people held the power would revert to a dictatorship unless the people themselves had some mechanism to retain authority. In addition to the checks and balances in the government, a large part of that authority is established (and guaranteed) through the availability of militarily-useful firearms as a last resort.

It's about perspective. Imagine being pinned down by a squad of these things for "only" 60 minutes. Or being pursued through the forest or an urban environment. That 60 minutes would feel like a very long time.

For a glimpse of this, check out the videogame Generation Zero (1980's Sweden overtaken by armed robots, including robot dogs).

One of the reasons for the formation of worker's unions (such as screen actor's guild) is to protect the rights of actors and film workers, at all levels. Receiving proper credit is a big part of compensation. There may be a fine line between a "film" and an "advertisement", and what's more this is surely not a SAG film, but it seems to me that credit for choreography on something like this - where the dance is the core of the content - is appropriate.

Michael Abrash's Graphics Programming Black Book https://www.drdobbs.com/parallel/graphics-programming-black-... released online for free in 2001

there is certainly room for savings/efficiency. I've 100% made my mind up, but my mailbox has been BOMBARDED with giant-format postcards promoting the candidates I'm already voting for.

These can not be cheap to print and deliver, and as such they are an enormous waste of money; money that could be used to educate/inform/persuade voters who are undecided or registered with a different political party.

I wonder if a thousand years from now, archeologists digging tough landfills will see a 4-year-periodically-repeating-layer (like a geological sedimentary layer) of these mailings and wonder "what was that all about?"

closely related: the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

https://digital.gov/resources/paperwork-reduction-act-44-u-s...

it requires the office of management and business to calculate the impact of records-keeping requirements impact on time and privacy, among other things.

I do not believe it has resulted in a reduced recordskeeping burden. For the most part I simply see an estimate of how long it will take to complete my tax forms and permits, on the form itself. Perhaps others have different views.

Then you need to have a speak with someone in HR. (ed: to understand the impact) Attorneys on the other side of the courtroom dream of the payouts such a "comedic" situation would provide.

>wisecracks that are wildly out of line for most white collar business environments.

I would daresay out of line for all business environments. Blue collar doesn't mean one must suffer boorishness.

A reminder to those in poverty, that the council was willing to spend 60,000 on "art" which was prioritized over funding low-income housing among other things.

>‘How can they get grants for arts projects when we can’t get grants for homes? I could have bought a new home for my family with this money.’

I realize you're being sarcastic but with a line of logic like that, you have a bright career in Congress, should you want it.

for future reference McMaster-Carr (https://www.mcmaster.com/) sells almost any mechanical thing a DIYer could ever want. Shipping on big items might be prohibitive but the selection is vast.

thank you for this insightful view of the importance of family and parental guidance. it adds a lot to the conversation.

Am I the only one who cannot load this page? It renders for a brief moment, I can just begin to see the rocket animation, then it renders as a plain blue page. Same results on Firefox 78.0.2.esr (64 bit) and Safari Version 11.1.2 (11605.3.8.1).

Nonsense. Almost free speech is censorship by another name.

Working "pretty well?" Sure, unless one tries to talk about things that really matter and strays outside the dotted lines of permissibility.

Some topics are verboten.

When you say "other side of the ocean," I assume you're talking about Europe.

Try to discuss the muslim rape gangs in the UK.

Try to discuss the surge in grenade attacks and many-fold increase in rape in Sweden.

Try to discuss the homeless migrants living on the streets and the Aljerian street wars in France.

Try to discuss Fulan Gong in China. Or tiannamen square.

Try to discuss political assassinations in Russia, or the bribes the wife of Moscow's mayor hands out.

Try to discuss alternative political parties in Ukraine.

I think there are scores of political prisoners serving time for wrongthink who might disagree with your assertion that almost free speech is working pretty well.

If you want to discover who your masters are, learn who you are not allowed to criticize.

>If someone is worried about GMO, they will stop eating it.

not if the industry prevents you from knowing you are eating it

Will they be running automatic object detection/classification on the video streams?

Is that a completely legal firearm/sword in the background? Is that a MAGA hat on the desk? Care to explain that Antifa flag on the wall? Maybe you supported that politician that lost the last election?

Could you have a Falun Gong book on your shelf, or a poster with Tiananmen Square's "tank man"? Maybe an image mocking a country's leader as a cartoon character?

What if SpyCam2 sees/hears something "islamophobic"? This is merely illegal in some countries, but a ticket to a death penalty in others. What then? Should the authorities be notified? Will Facebook turn over recordings if asked or demanded by a court or pre-emptively send them?

All reasonable questions in my mind.

Let's go just a bit further. Are you prepared to adjust your surroundings and life to be completely PC, a sterile pokerface world devoid of any Anti-whatever-that-isn't-politically-correct items which might offend? That's the world that the East Germans suffered under, while the Stazi collected every available fact, trying to ferret out "traitors" among the populace. at least they were safe in their own homes, for the most part (although some important conversations took place in the rest room, with the water running, to hide from microphones).

So should you fail to hide your unpopular thinking, at the least you'll face a 30-day ban from the hardware+software you paid for. If you're not so lucky, they might just have to call the authorities, or the religious police, you know, "for your protection."

Now add monitoring/recording/cataloging of your speech... are you comfortable knowing everything you've said is TOS-approved? Will it remain so, forever? doubtful.

Think this is absurd? It's not. Oculus just became part of Facebook's platform. Try any of the behaviours above on facebook and see what happens. (hint: enjoy your ban)

That's not entertainment. That's Dystopia: Big Brother invited into your home, re-imagined as a face-hugger with cloth straps.

indeed.

I'm sure the deer congregating at the corn feeder feel the same way, at least until opening day of hunting season.

And the Turkey must think "The farmer must love me. He feeds me and tends to my needs. Why look at the calendar, with Thanksgiving day just around the corner..."

I know I wouldn't. I have stayed off FB -- active avoidance -- for a reason. Now that they have taken over the Oculus (I was an early Rift developer, and have the production Rift now) my journey with them is complete.

I don't trust Facebook and at this point I simply cannot imagine any possible action they could take to restore that trust.

It's a real disappointment. I admire the product and appreciate the contributions of the engineering team to advancing the state-of-the-art.

I appreciate your eagerness and positivity but I fear it's not a solution. After all, who defines 'hinder', 'adware' or 'spyware'? (I'm reminded of the phrase "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter".) Any company willing to make adware/spyware probably isn't above ignoring a plea in a license agreement. There are laws against burglary, assault, embezzlement, murder, too, and even with very harsh penalties (e.g. death penalty) they are not always sufficient to deter all criminal behavior.

A $1B limit? no problem - "we'll just send this over to our little 500M subsidiary."

the root problem is the consumer doesn't care and there is a cultural lack of care and trust and humanity. I don't know of any solution to this but the problem runs extremely deep. In fact, there may be no cure, as these problems are noted as the cardinal sins the Christian bible documented and Dante' famously illustrated : Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, Pride. Solve that and the rest comes easy.

as someone who has worked his share of minimum-wage jobs, this seems obvious. Perhaps it's a case of academics in their ivory towers not having sufficient exposure to the real world? That kid hired for $8/hr doesn't care about the success of the business. Their concern ends when the shift changes.

I must mirror what many other have said -- this is one of the more interesting and hopeful things I've read, not only on HN, but any place. Thank you for taking the time to share. And best wishes to you and your bird's offspring. You've done a good thing, worthy of celebration.

No, not good. Not good at all. "...because Fear drives you..." yes it does. It drives you to a heart attack, or to the offices of a different employer once you wise up and realize that is a terrible way to life your life, and you are borrowing time from your lifespan due to the increased stress. I despise employers who play psychological games like this. Despise it. Are these people who burned ants with magnifying glasses as children?

Build an acoustic guitar in your kitchen: http://acousticguitarbuild.blogspot.com/

additional temporary "towers" are sometimes added when very high but transient network loads are anticipated (such as a music festival, or county fair, etc.). not all new towers are sniffers.

The problem may be more widespread than first considered - flame retardant chemicals are mandated for large categories of children's sleepwear. Surely direct-to-skin contact (absorption?) is at least as great a threat as off-gassing chemicals from a sofa or mattress.

yet.

I don't think it solves anything, it just "moves the cheese" by referencing (requiring?) an undefinable "consciousness". In the spirit of Gestalt, let's break this down a bit further to try to find the fine line.

A person is a conscious being. What if said person is asleep or intoxicated and observes the The Double-Slit Experiment? What if person is sedated ("unconscious")? What if there is damage to the optic center of the brain limiting perception? What about those who believe they can see but are quite blind (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton%E2%80%93Babinski_syndrom...) ? And what about those who can see but falsely believe they cannot?(https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-blindness-is...) Does this still impart consciousness upon the system?

What if one's optic nerve is severed but the eye is otherwise functional? Is a dissected eyeball sufficient to cause wave collapse. If not, what additional elements of the mind are required? How much additional processing is enough?

Must it be an advanced, self-aware mind with a complex eye as found in a mammal or a cephalopod? What about a single-celled organelle in plankton which can observe light and react? (https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/plankton-s-eye-made-up-of...) I think you're proposing that this is sufficient.

And what is special about just the visible spectrum of energy? What about radio waves? Does my Sony Walkman or a cat-whisker radio collapse the quanta? What about Infrared? etc? Do the leaves of a houseplant perform this act? What about physical vibration? Does a seismometer or accelerometer perform this quantum task?

>>consciousness is better defined as something that is capable of updating its state as a result of observation This is extraordinarily broad. The Heisenberg uncertainty principle would then seem to illustrate that every subatomic particle is conscious.

This seems a most unsatisfactory conclusion.