Hacker News Reader

mshanowitzon US Published National Debt: $28T. The Truth: $146T. Each Taxpayer's Share: $951k

Until money no longer becomes a reliable measure of value and then everything goes to hell.

Right now we are benefitting both from the stability of the US Dollar, as well as from the benefits of pumping more and more of it into the system (rising asset prices etc), if they lose the ability to maintain this balancing act it won't be pretty.

mshanowitzon Test Coverage Is Not Strongly Correlated with Test Suite Effectiveness

Coverage is still a good target to aim for because it ultimately does lead to people writing bigger and better tests.

"…there is a moderate to high correlation between the effectiveness and the coverage of a test suite when the influence of suite size is ignored."

mshanowitzon Cuomo pushes employers to force their employees return to NYC

Are you implying that the NY Times is promoting conspiracy theories?

mshanowitzon Pegasus spyware seller: Blame our customers not us for hacking

I don't dispute that there is evidence that 67 phones had been targeted with Pegasus software. I am however skeptical of that justifying an international breaking news story that so-and-so is on the "list" without having checked if their phone has been infected.

mshanowitzon Pegasus spyware seller: Blame our customers not us for hacking

I'm not suggesting we take their word for it at all. I brought this point because some times in the "denial" you see their admittance (which isn't the case here).

It's just a bit weird that media couldnt bother to test more than 67 phones before coming out with this breaking international story.

mshanowitzon Pegasus spyware seller: Blame our customers not us for hacking

I've seen no PR blitz. I'm honestly just a little skeptical seeing how some stories gained mainstream acceptance over the years without much basis in fact

mshanowitzon Pegasus spyware seller: Blame our customers not us for hacking

Another part of this story is that the company completely denies their connection to this "list".

The media thus far has presented very little evidence that this list is actually from NSO Group.

They have provided no information on how this list was obtained and 67 phones (out of 50k) seems like a very small amount of phones (with a 55 percent success rate) to use as a basis for an international story across many major media outlets. These stories only consist of that this or this person is on the "list" (no evidence at all of spyware on their phone).

mshanowitzon Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

Perhaps the basic functions of the internet that Google provides like mail and basic document storage should be treated as public utilities as well

mshanowitzon Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content”

Act II is grossly misrepresented. It wasn't just the GOP and a lot of evidence was presented. In fact, there hasn't been a whole lot of new evidence presented since then.

mshanowitzon The lab-leak theory: inside the fight to uncover Covid-19’s origins

Read the article. The author lists 5 or more such smoking guns. All together, it is quite compelling.

mshanowitzon I found my Grandpa’s notes 20 years after he died (2020)

Indeed, however there was something uniquely terrible about the Nazi atrocities.

The Nazis invaded countries and then systematically got to the task of murdering their entire totally harmless Jewish population, simply because of their ethnicity.

There was no possible military or tribal gain or anything, it was just pure racial hatred.

What's especially horrifying is that Germany was a very advanced civilization using sophisticated and systematic means to accomplish this.

mshanowitzon Elevator Sabbath service mode (SHO)

There is an organization in Israel, Tzomet, dedicated to these kind of stuff. I believe they manufacture such products.

But they're explicitly dedicated for times of need and not for leisure purposes.

mshanowitzon Elevator Sabbath service mode (SHO)

Just want to point out that this argument is not universally accepted by modern halachic (Jewish law) authorities.

Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, a very prominent orthodox Jewish halachist held that closing/opening an electrical circuit does not constitute the biblical prohibition of building and destroying.

Instead, he held that that electricity was prohibited "Rabbinically" for an unrelated reason (which is of a lower degree of severity, which has practical implications).

Notwithstanding this, if one say, turns on an incondescent lightbulb I believe that is biblically prohibited according to all because of the heat it generates.

mshanowitzon Phones and apps reduce your ability to focus even when they don’t distract you

Also inability to reply to specific text messages.

I find this to be a very useful feature that you only get with "smart" messaging apps like WhatsApp.

mshanowitzon Amazon, Apple and Google Cut Off Parler

It just happened to be that Google, Apple and Amazon all banned Parler within hours of each other, shortly after all the big social media companies banned President Trump, thus boosting Parler as an alternative social media platform.

This is not about fiduciary duty, nor is it about legal liability, this is a Silicon Valley hivemind moving in unison, arguably as a result of unhealthy discourse on their own social medias.

mshanowitzon Slower News

Jordan Peterson?

mshanowitzon Firefox Was Always Enough

But it is your position that he should have been fired, correct?

mshanowitzon Twitter and Facebook's action over Joe Biden article reignites bias claims

https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/9980/jewish/Cha...

Deuteronomy 16:18

mshanowitzon Twitter and Facebook's action over Joe Biden article reignites bias claims

Since the beginning of time, civil societies have had police and a justice system. I know it's in the old testament.

Society needs an authority to turn to to resolve disputes or injustice and to maintain order, the alternative is chaos.

That authority may not be perfect, it may have certain biases that need to be worked on, but without it, disputes will be won by the superior marksman.

mshanowitzon Facebook Employees Slam Zuckerberg over Militia Groups and QAnon After Kenosha

Banning militia groups or similar groups or speech has upfront benefits but hidden costs.

Facebook taking responsibility for such activity will inevitably to other very difficult decisions down the road.

One mans terrorist is another's freedom fighter. There are many such conflicts all over the world, and at a certain point no objective criteria can be used to censure.

mshanowitzon The Fed now owns Walmart debt

Notwithstanding the relatively small amount purchased, the question remains still: is this something the federal reserve should be engaged in in the first place? And what are the long term consequences of even the perception of such behavior?

mshanowitzon How Devastating was the Black Death?

FYI, the Jewish population was almost completely expelled from that region by the year 135 CE.