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narrowingorbits

85 karma · joined June 28, 2013

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narrowingorbits··on “My GitHub account has been restricted due to US sanctions as I live in Crimea”
With taxes, you do.
narrowingorbits··on Apple needs to change iPhone’s call UI because robocalls are killing us
Most spam calls in the US originate overseas (India) and ignore US regulation such as do-not-call registries.
narrowingorbits··on Teen electrocuted after dropping charging iPhone in bath
Cheap, off-brand USB chargers often have poor or no circuit isolation. Some have even been tested to expose one leg of full AC current to the USB ground. Not a problem until you're between that and a ground.
narrowingorbits··on Why Standing Desks Are Overrated
People whose reactions when confronted with something new, unknown, and unexpected are to laugh at it or respond sarcastically, instead of to accept the surprise, approach with curiosity and humility, and question if there is something they're not understanding, are unlikely to ever discover anything new.

Everything that we call science today was once alternately laughable or mysterious.

narrowingorbits··on Chrome is a Google Service that happens to include a Browser Engine
I also used to do exactly this. Except with Safari as my untrusted 3rd. Eventually, I just got tired of the trouble and found that having a complete, searchable web history was actually so much a useful feature for me. So I stopped pretending and sold out to Google completely.
narrowingorbits··on Analysis of USB fan given to journalists at North Korea-Singapore Summit [pdf]
One of those times I should have read the comments first. Thanks.
narrowingorbits··on Middle name initials enhance evaluations of intellectual performance (2014)
But that would be SQL injection! Unlike the parent. Barbaric.
narrowingorbits··on Researchers Learned to Use Facebook ‘Likes’ to Sway Your Thinking
*Conscientiousness
narrowingorbits··on Walmart Whistle-Blower Claims Cheating in Race with Amazon
A guy in my office ordered a 60-inch LCD TV. They delivered. Two weeks later another arrived. Customer service wouldn't acknowledge the first, so now he has two.
narrowingorbits··on CIA rendition flights from rustic North Carolina called to account by citizens
What you describe there is a broken and unusable value system.
narrowingorbits··on The CTO Journey at a Small Startup
Exactly right. For at least some of the 99% of startups that are not VC-backed, it can be the constant struggle between working /on/ the business and working /in/ the business, when resources are limited. That can mean a CTO deep in the code on a daily basis, or even the CEO taking a project from time to time. When you're small and broke, you just get what needs to be done, done, regardless of titles.
narrowingorbits··on Cloud Spanner is now production-ready
As I said, that makes sense, and I agree. That does not mean it's financially possible.
narrowingorbits··on Cloud Spanner is now production-ready
This makes sense. But, for many (at least bootstrapping) startups, $1800/mo for the database is not in the realm of the possible. Is not having to deal with (future) sharding headaches "worth" that much? Sure. But that doesn't mean it's possible.

So by pricing us out of the entry level, you will forgo having startups build their platforms on it and get hooked (while it's still at 1-node mysql scale).

When the sharding headache hits and they're scrambling to scale, will they switch to Spanner? Maybe. Probably. They'll want to, anyway. But there is a big market that will be missed.

narrowingorbits··on Google Earth Enterprise Open Source
The server.
narrowingorbits··on US government pushed tech firms to hand over source code
The demand for source code would likely include accompanying documentation necessary to build/use.
narrowingorbits··on Amazon Will Ban Sale of Apple, Google Video-Streaming Devices
Nope. Incorrect. Google and Apple both have open SDKs for streaming to their devices. Amazon has chosen not to support them
narrowingorbits··on Pump manufacturer programs their devices to fail prematurely and lowers price
Sounds like a market for an aftermarket service company to reprogram the pumps not to break!
narrowingorbits··on In Norway, a Prison Built on Second Chances
> Victims have every right to hate their offenders and a just society should do everything they can to help the victims...

Yes, society should do everything it can to help the victims---to help the victims to heal. Society has no imperative to help the victims to hate.

narrowingorbits··on FBI blasts Apple, Google for locking police out of phones
Or else they're making such a fuss specifically to help sell the supposed effectiveness.
narrowingorbits··on 3-D Printed Keys Can Pick High-Security Locks in Seconds
> If I 3D printed a set of lock picking tools would Wired run a story on me?

Yes.

narrowingorbits··on Google Imagery: Cost-effective, accurate imagery for your operations
This is not SkyBox related, but rather aerial. Note the 15cm resolution.
narrowingorbits··on Time Person of the Year 2013
> Seriously, he is more insignificant than any random educated citizen

Wow. You're really living in your own little bubble.

narrowingorbits··on Bill Gates: My Plan to Improve Our World, and How You Can Help
> I'd rather not be born than be born in a place where I have a high change of dying of malaria, or dysentery.

Seriously? You prefer a 0% chance, over, say, a 60% chance?

But then I'd jump at the offer of a 4% chance of making it over a 0% chance any day, so I guess it's just a different mindset.

narrowingorbits··on Bill Gates: My Plan to Improve Our World, and How You Can Help
> More people living doesn't necessarily mean people living better lives.

I rather think living is a necessary prerequisite to living better.

narrowingorbits··on How Rsync Works
Yes.
narrowingorbits··on MailChimp threatens legal action against an open source side project
OP is on flaky legal ground reproducing and distributing other's designs without permission as it is; but then to suggest that MailChimp is in the wrong, simply for, in a very polite, even friendly, letter, acknowledging their brand and their legitimate copyright, and asking OP to play fair...wow.

Also, he wanted someone from MailChimp's design or development team to reach out to him? Really? Maybe they're busy, you know, designing and developing things! This is not a design or development issue. They have legal council to worry about copyright and brand dilution issues.

narrowingorbits··on In America, Where You're Born Is Correlated With How Far You'll Go In Life
Sure, but I guess a question, then, is whether "social mobility" is the highest end in and of itself.
narrowingorbits··on In America, Where You're Born Is Correlated With How Far You'll Go In Life
And I guess that's the important dichotomy here. There are many, many choices that people can make in life that are qualitatively neutral. For instance, the decision of those female Ph.D.s to value marriage over a career utilizing their education. It saddens you, because it does not mesh with your priorities, and so it seems like a bad choice. But qualitatively, it's just a difference of taste and preference.

But there are certainly choices that are qualitatively worse. Such as building, or letting yourself be dragged down by communities that destroy you with shame, racism, classism, politics, etc. Or, as you pointed out, the choice to ignore the imperative to create a foundation for one's family, to have some way to provide, if family is your priority. Because that is actually a failure of their own priorities as well.

We've just got to not muddle those types of choices too much. Our preferences vs. other's preferences vs. truly damaging choices.

narrowingorbits··on In America, Where You're Born Is Correlated With How Far You'll Go In Life
This attitude--which I more often than not share with you--suffers strongly of confirmation bias and a lack of empathy. You, we, tend to believe that the priorities we've chosen are better than those of everyone else, and are obviously so. Pursuing knowledge, technology, wealth, is of course a higher aim than raising a family. It's obvious, right? But it's not. They choose "to follow the culture of the community" because the culture is important to them. Because, perhaps, success, to them is made up of different things than it is for us.
narrowingorbits··on Goodbye Google Analytics. Hello Piwik
The GA real-time view does really work well now, but I think I'll have to give Piwik a try; looks like a fantastic alternative!
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