Hacker News: wool_gather

New comment by wool_gather in "Swift for TensorFlow Shuts Down"

wool_gather — Fri, 12 Feb 2021 20:46:26 +0000

What does this mean? Runtime is the only time that Python's existing type system has an effect.

New comment by wool_gather in "Stop defacing quotes with brackets"

wool_gather — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 17:06:07 +0000

It doesn't really affect your point, but the term was "enhanced", not "extended". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_interrogation_techniq...

New comment by wool_gather in "Python's Type Checking Renaissance"

wool_gather — Tue, 26 Jan 2021 17:45:13 +0000

That comes with its own tradeoffs: increased compile time and more effort needed to create error messages that are helpful to the user.

New comment by wool_gather in "Misinformation: The First Digital Drug"

wool_gather — Sat, 16 Jan 2021 21:01:15 +0000

> > QAnon is just more fun.

> Citation desperately needed!

You might find this take on QAnon from a game designer's perspective interesting:

https://medium.com/curiouserinstitute/a-game-designers-analy...

> It uses many of the same gaming mechanisms and rewards [as ARGs and LARPing].

> When players arrive at the “correct” answers they are showered with adoration, respect, and social credit.

> ... the breadcrumbs [from Q] are not facts, they are [...] Puzzles and clues for the “investigators” to uncover. [...] solving puzzles is extremely rewarding from a biochemical standpoint and the thoughts we gain from them are special to us.

New comment by wool_gather in "Misinformation: The First Digital Drug"

wool_gather — Sat, 16 Jan 2021 19:39:39 +0000

It seems to me that higher visibility is all but guaranteed to lead to an increase in belief. Simple exposure is one thing: most people aren't going to concoct new conspiracy theories on their own, but they may decide to go in for them when they see them.

Social persuasion/cohesion is another: we're all influenced by the views of the people around us (like it or not). When you see half a dozen people in one of your peer groups talking about $WEIRD_THING, you're naturally inclined to give it some time, and maybe some credence.

I don't disagree about the deep problems with regulating it, though.

New comment by wool_gather in "macOS 11.2 Beta 2 reallows Lulu and others to monitor Apple's core services"

wool_gather — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 23:38:15 +0000

Is it possible that this is just because it's a beta and the flag will be back for the release? There doesn't seem to be anything indicating one way or the other.

New comment by wool_gather in "U.S. to require negative Covid-19 tests for international air passengers"

wool_gather — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 18:11:32 +0000

That's possible; I don't remember the exact dates, just that it was at the "I really need to buy tickets" timeframe for the end of Feb.

New comment by wool_gather in "Airbnb to Block and Cancel D.C. Reservations During Inauguration"

wool_gather — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 17:18:29 +0000

The U.S. has NPR and PBS, but, to put it politely, they have variable amounts of trust depending on one's position on the political spectrum. They also indeed have government officials "breathing down their neck" at least in a budgetary sense.

New comment by wool_gather in "U.S. to require negative Covid-19 tests for international air passengers"

wool_gather — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 23:07:35 +0000

It was on my radar in mid January; I know this clearly because it made me choose not to buy plane tickets for a big family celebration scheduled for the end of February.

New comment by wool_gather in "70TB of Parler users’ messages, videos, and posts leaked by security researchers"

wool_gather — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 20:00:27 +0000

I didn't say it shouldn't be posted; just a warning to be prepared for what you're going to see.

New comment by wool_gather in "70TB of Parler users’ messages, videos, and posts leaked by security researchers"

wool_gather — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 17:45:47 +0000

Yes. In many cases, the only "winning" move is to say what you have to say and then step back.

You can't usually "win" the argument, just your own time.

New comment by wool_gather in "70TB of Parler users’ messages, videos, and posts leaked by security researchers"

wool_gather — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 17:28:37 +0000

Hey, spoiler alert for people regarding that link -- there's some very strong, graphically violent language. Don't click if you're not in a good head space at the moment.

New comment by wool_gather in "The Capitol Attack Doesn’t Justify Expanding Surveillance"

wool_gather — Sat, 09 Jan 2021 20:17:55 +0000

There's a similar organization in Eugene, OR called CAHOOTS: https://www.usnews.com/news/cities/articles/2020-07-06/eugen...

New comment by wool_gather in "The deplatforming of a president: An unprecedented week for the tech industry"

wool_gather — Sat, 09 Jan 2021 19:15:50 +0000

Disregarding the hyperbole, rural areas have their own set of problems that seem outrageous in turn to city dwellers. It's easy to scorn the speck in your neighbor's eye; removing one's own is more constructive.

New comment by wool_gather in "U.S. Capitol Locked Down Amid Escalating Protests"

wool_gather — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 01:28:54 +0000

I will never understand why pure statements of fact get downvoted on this site.

At the time I looked, 4 hours ago now, this was correct.

New comment by wool_gather in "Twitter appears to have removed the president's last two tweets"

wool_gather — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 00:10:44 +0000

Full text was:

> These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!

(By searching portions you should be able to confirm that this is accurate -- please let me know if I mistyped.

This is the link; it's probably cached somewhere, too https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/13469549709107077...)

New comment by wool_gather in "U.S. Capitol Locked Down Amid Escalating Protests"

wool_gather — Wed, 06 Jan 2021 21:21:53 +0000

Good question; I just looked at OAN and there is nothing, just an earlier article about Trump's speech and one from early this morning "Citizens Gather in Washington, D.C..."

New comment by wool_gather in "What I’ve Learned in 45 Years in the Software Industry"

wool_gather — Wed, 06 Jan 2021 18:14:36 +0000

> new hires start as a T3

This makes me curious about what T1 and T2 would mean.

New comment by wool_gather in "An automated pipeline for the discovery of conspiracy theories"

wool_gather — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 17:57:05 +0000

Illuminatus! is deliberately a send-up of the kind of stuff that Dan Brown writes, though. He's sincerely trying to make thrillers; Wilson and Shea were (partly) making fun of authors like him.

New comment by wool_gather in "The Great Suspender: New maintainer is probably malicious"

wool_gather — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 18:25:07 +0000

This may be fine, but do note that you're inserting an extra layer that you have to trust compared to inspecting the source that you know is on your local disk.

Should they choose to, nothing stops the site you've linked from masking malicious tidbits in code you request.