Hacker News: nrmilstein

New comment by nrmilstein in "Reform Government Surveillance"

nrmilstein — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 05:32:18 +0000

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/09/technology/tech-giants-iss...

New comment by nrmilstein in "NSA morale down after Edward Snowden revelations, former U.S. officials say"

nrmilstein — Sun, 08 Dec 2013 16:16:12 +0000

You make leaving a job seem simple. Not everyone can just "choose any moment to leave." People have careers and families.

New comment by nrmilstein in "Crime Lab Scandal Leaves Massachusetts Legal System In Turmoil"

nrmilstein — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 03:32:41 +0000

I agree. Without knowing much about penology, punishment for the sake of punishment seems overused in the US. Her prison sentence is short relative to all those given out because of her acts, but I think prison sentences in the US are too long to begin with.

New comment by nrmilstein in "Bruce Sterling: Internet (1993)"

nrmilstein — Fri, 29 Nov 2013 15:32:34 +0000

Apparently, the opening part about the internet spawning from a RAND Corporation study is just a myth:

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bl_Charles_Herz...

New comment by nrmilstein in "[dead]"

nrmilstein — Sun, 10 Nov 2013 17:21:28 +0000

I have never heard anyone herald the Twitter IPO as a sign of economic recovery. The IPO is in the news constantly because it's a minute-by-minute spectacle of wealth lost and wealth gained – not because people think it's a sign of easing economic times.

> Meanwhile, in the real America – the one where you can't call Uber to take you to a launch party – people are dropping out of the workforce, the recovery is weakening and early cuts in food stamps are already slamming the poor. That real America is the one that's not getting much attention.

I don't think the economic slump that affects such a large segment of the population is not getting much attention. The shoddy economy has basically dominated economic news for the past five years; I see articles about its poor state every time the jobs numbers come out. The public doesn't believe the economy is recovering either: http://www.gallup.com/poll/151127/Economic-Conditions-Weekly...

This article draws the wrong conclusions.

New comment by nrmilstein in "New FAA Guidelines Permit More Device Use"

nrmilstein — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 07:22:46 +0000

San Francisco. That's the Bay Bridge.

New comment by nrmilstein in "NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide"

nrmilstein — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 20:18:08 +0000

I doubt the NSA is foolish enough to make external requests to load images in the emails they read.

New comment by nrmilstein in "NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide"

nrmilstein — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 18:46:54 +0000

Do you have evidence that Larry Page or Google knew about this? How is the CEO of Google stepping down an adequate reaction to a something that Google doesn't seem to be behind?

New comment by nrmilstein in "Tycoon Warning"

nrmilstein — Fri, 25 Oct 2013 05:30:02 +0000

javascript:$('#TB_window').hide();$('#TB_overlay').hide()

New comment by nrmilstein in "Report: 110 people own 35% of Russia's wealth"

nrmilstein — Thu, 10 Oct 2013 23:04:16 +0000

> What is happening in the Western world (rise of inequality due to skills being prized higher owing to technological change) is very different to what happened in Russia.

Is this really the source of inequality in the Western world? Technological change leading to different desired skills seems like something that's been around long before our current inequality troubles. In any event, I thought average wage in the US hasn't risen since the 70s, before the information age. I would guess it's more a combination of several factors, perhaps the college no-college gap, changes in the finance world, and political changes.

New comment by nrmilstein in "G.K. Chesterton: The fallacy of success (1909)"

nrmilstein — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 03:58:24 +0000

That's a great quote. Do you have a source? I can't find it online from him.

New comment by nrmilstein in "G.K. Chesterton: The fallacy of success (1909)"

nrmilstein — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 03:47:40 +0000

Wow, what fantastic writing. I often find tech entrepreneurs and HN readers are too obsessed with success and wealth, often explaining away any accusations of greed by claiming it's their "passion" and talking in mystic terms of the tech revolution they're a part of.

The biggest thing I would call a "success" in my life is the joy I've received from good friends and family, and the experiences I've had with them. Things that take a long time to cultivate and over which I often have little control.

New comment by nrmilstein in "Ocean acidification due to carbon emissions is at highest for 300m years"

nrmilstein — Fri, 04 Oct 2013 05:35:05 +0000

Not all journalism or scientific reporting is about presenting solutions, and pointing out the problems (especially of this severity, if the article is to be believed) is an important step. Furthermore, as the article says, I don't think anyone knows the solution. Even if we drastically reduce carbon emissions, it probably won't help.

I often find an attitude of dismissal and disdain towards environmental reporting like this on Hacker News. I think it stems from how we're so used to the optimism and can-do attitude of Silicon Valley that it's hard to digest how we may have created a problem we can't solve. It feels better to think "oh, they're just not being innovative enough in their solutions" and present oneself as above the fray.

But the stark reality, if the science is to be believed, is that we're on the path towards major environmental changes in the foreseeable future, and as of right now, we don't have a solution.

New comment by nrmilstein in "Dude, What's with the Web Site?"

nrmilstein — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 21:57:30 +0000

If his underlying point is just "simple is best," then I think we all agree. But he goes on with a tone of distaste about the state of the web, as though everyone is just stuffing their sites with flashy gimmicks these days. Sorry, this isn't 1999.

Also, sites like Facebook, Google, etc. have done some pretty amazing stuff with this web platform, going well beyond what it was originally intended and "text and images." Has he ever looked at Google Docs?

New comment by nrmilstein in "What killed Blackberry? Employees started buying their own devices"

nrmilstein — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 03:42:13 +0000

Everything kind of looks bad to me now pre-iPhone – the things was seriously years ahead of its time.

New comment by nrmilstein in "Heathrow Airport recreates departure day 4x a year for young man with autism"

nrmilstein — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 03:31:11 +0000

And what do you suggest we do for Aaran Stewart? Tough luck? People can handle losing their luggage once in a while. I doubt putting the money it costs to do this (how much is it anyway? Just paying for staff and a couple rearrangements made well in advance?) would improve baggage handling anyways. Aaran obviously can't handle flying differently, and it sounds like an important flight.

New comment by nrmilstein in "What killed Blackberry? Employees started buying their own devices"

nrmilstein — Sun, 22 Sep 2013 00:02:09 +0000

The author says, "BlackBerrys have never been particularly attractive, cutting-edge, or user-friendly." I've never actually owned a BlackBerry, but I was under the impression that they were some of the best devices around, especially for doing business, before the iPhone came along. I've heard people say that they still believe the BlackBerry had the most superior email functionality of any device to date. The iPhone changed all that, of course, but before, I think they were very good devices.

New comment by nrmilstein in "N.S.A. Foils Much Internet Encryption"

nrmilstein — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 20:40:44 +0000

Saw that too. Thanks!

New comment by nrmilstein in "N.S.A. Foils Much Internet Encryption"

nrmilstein — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 19:20:38 +0000

Can someone elaborate on how secure the underlying algorithms still are? Most of the NSA's "foiling" seems to be done via coercing corporations and side-channel attacks. Are TLS, AES, etc. still thought of as secure?

New comment by nrmilstein in "The NSA has its own team of elite hackers"

nrmilstein — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 15:48:05 +0000

Public scrutiny? I, for one, don't really care if the NSA does these things, and I don't think most people in the US do. Or do you mean scrutiny from other governments, and people outside the US? Then yes, it seems like a pretty good idea to keep it covert.