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> P.s. You didn't "hack" shit. Stop misusing that word please. In fact, they didn't even do shit. Unless I missed something, the title is completely false. The

> P.s. You didn't "hack" shit. Stop misusing that word please. In fact, they didn't even do shit. Unless I missed something, the title is completely false. They had an idea, but were prevented from executing it by the South Korean government.

joyeuse6701 13y ago
Yeah, what's up with that title? How disappointing.
jpatokal 13y ago
They've been doing this for years. This particular launch was stopped, many others have succeeded. Whether they're making a perceptible impact is, of course, a question mark, but given the extent to which the DPRK fulminates against them, at least they're viewed as a threat. http://www.seoulusa.org/balloons/ http://www.seoulusa.org/balloons/
- markdown 13y ago
  > They've been doing this for years. Which makes the title of the article even more disingenuous.
  - jpatokal 13y ago
    Well, that past tense is a bit weird, but "We're Hacking" or "We're Trying to Hack" would be acceptable (if still linkbaity) in my book.
ChuckMcM 13y ago
I believe you misread the article, it talks of a 'current' activity which was successful "after our previous launch attempt was thwarted by South Korean police forces." They did indeed get their balloons off. It is entirely unclear to me how far north though you can expect such a balloon to go given the prevailing air currents.
tptacek 13y ago
PBS Frontline has footage of them doing it.
- ddeck 13y ago
  The documentary referred to: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7067402 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7067402
dmtzz 13y ago
just signed in to say the exact thing.. why is everyone using the the term "hack" for every expression? It's really annoying and cringing..
- forgottenpass 13y ago
  >why is everyone using the the term "hack" for every expression? It makes your thing sound cool even if it has none of the things that gave word "hack" the cachet it has. It's a watered down, mailable enough descriptor that you can stick it on anything. See: 99+% of "hack"ing on "hacker" news.

joyeuse6701 13y ago

Yeah, what's up with that title? How disappointing.

jpatokal 13y ago

They've been doing this for years. This particular launch was stopped, many others have succeeded. Whether they're making a perceptible impact is, of course, a question mark, but given the extent to which the DPRK fulminates against them, at least they're viewed as a threat. http://www.seoulusa.org/balloons/ http://www.seoulusa.org/balloons/

markdown 13y ago
> They've been doing this for years. Which makes the title of the article even more disingenuous.
- jpatokal 13y ago
  Well, that past tense is a bit weird, but "We're Hacking" or "We're Trying to Hack" would be acceptable (if still linkbaity) in my book.

ChuckMcM 13y ago

I believe you misread the article, it talks of a 'current' activity which was successful "after our previous launch attempt was thwarted by South Korean police forces." They did indeed get their balloons off. It is entirely unclear to me how far north though you can expect such a balloon to go given the prevailing air currents.

tptacek 13y ago

PBS Frontline has footage of them doing it.

ddeck 13y ago
The documentary referred to: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7067402 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7067402

dmtzz 13y ago

just signed in to say the exact thing.. why is everyone using the the term "hack" for every expression? It's really annoying and cringing..

forgottenpass 13y ago
>why is everyone using the the term "hack" for every expression? It makes your thing sound cool even if it has none of the things that gave word "hack" the cachet it has. It's a watered down, mailable enough descriptor that you can stick it on anything. See: 99+% of "hack"ing on "hacker" news.