john_b

30 ms·

271.
by john_b 13y ago
Full report here: http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-14-81
272.
Carmakers keep data on drivers' locations(detroitnews.com)
1 points by john_b 13y ago|1 comments
273.
by john_b 13y ago
From a quick scan through Jacques' list of domains, I didn't see anything that looked like an existing trademark. There's nothing wrong with owning something and not immediately developing it. It happens with physical assets
274.
by john_b 13y ago
He put himself in this position, likely with the intent to lie. Both intelligence committees submit questions to intelligence agencies in advance, who can then comment on these questions and make requests for change (such as moving some to
275.
by john_b 13y ago
This is definitely tinfoil hat territory. Some very high level people in the intelligence community may lose their jobs or (if things go very well) face charges in the next year or two. If the whole Snowden affair is an inside job then thos
276.
by john_b 13y ago
> "This argument can only hold on water by having a complete lack of faith in the rule of law. The biggest issue I have with this is that this describes a massive , coordinated system to use all this location data in ways that are
277.
by john_b 13y ago
This is what bothers me about most of America's large tech companies' recent opposition to various NSA programs. They pioneered many of the techniques (albeit independently...usually) yet now point their fingers at the government.
278.
by john_b 13y ago
Earlier discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6828169
279.
by john_b 13y ago
It's an analogy. "We do not respond to ultimatums" would also work, but then this post would belong more in their FAQ or policy section than a blog post. And if anyone has diluted the word "terrorism" recently it ha
280.
by john_b 13y ago
If you look at these things at an individual level, individual morality is a useful lens. But this topic is really about a class of professionals within a whole society. Influencing behavior through moralizing unfortunately works much bette
281.
by john_b 13y ago
I'm going to play devil's advocate here. Assuming that an engineer is aware of the eventual applications for his or her work and is ethically mature enough to recognize that some of those applications are evil, destructive, or vio
282.
by john_b 13y ago
That is common Buffett-style advice. But he also advises that price matters. Matters a lot, in fact.
283.
by john_b 13y ago
> "Suppose you have knowledge (e.g., the next iPhone causes cancer) that the market has not incorporated." The EMH is based on the assumption that prices perfectly reflect the available information on the underlying. This is
284.
by john_b 13y ago
This is yet another reason to use a Javascript whitelist in your browser.
285.
by john_b 13y ago
The critical difference is that Bitcoin is intended to be a currency and not an asset . People use assets to store (and hopefully appreciate) value over time. People use currencies to conduct business and as mediums of exchange. If you t
286.
by john_b 13y ago
Except that Bitcoin's intended purpose is as a currency, so to make meaningful comparisons you would need to look at other currencies or currency substitutes (gold/silver/jewelry/etc). Assuming that it reaches widespread
287.
by john_b 13y ago
The whole article (willfully?) misunderstood Bitcoin's nature. It even implied that Bitcoins are issued by Satoshi himself. I think it's good to take a critical look at Bitcoin when the price rises so rapidly, but this article is
288.
by john_b 13y ago
What incentive would he have to lie about any of this?
289.
by john_b 13y ago
I think you missed the point. The difference brador highlighted is the difference between unrealized gains and realized gains. "Paper money" is just "(gains of) money on paper" if I'm reading his comment right.
290.
by john_b 13y ago
> "That brings me to bitcoin and it's deflationary nature. Well, you're still going to buy the stuff you want to buy. Then, you'll save more because you know it'll be worth more later. Why wouldn't you buy
291.
by john_b 13y ago
Honest question, what do people "need" Bitcoin for that cash or other payment systems can't do? The only unique advantages I see are those that are illegal in many jurisdictions and those that are related to speculation. The
292.
by john_b 13y ago
Redistributing wealth from a rich, out of touch heiress might count as a superior allocation of capital if it were taxed and used to fund construction projects or given to responsible charities, but when it is redistributed to opportunistic
293.
by john_b 13y ago
What marginal value would a union lawyer add over an individually hired lawyer here?
294.
by john_b 13y ago
> It is wrong to act as if you somehow should be looked at differently by the law because you had a "legitimate political cause." You've got it backwards. The point of all political protests, whatever form they take, is
295.
by john_b 13y ago
Except throughput of course.
296.
by john_b 13y ago
Note: article is NSFW.
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by john_b 13y ago
This assumes that everyone within such a large group would end up ranked accurately. But the truth is that when you assemble such a large group, you end up comparing apples to oranges. Jane works on a doomed software project and valiantly m
298.
by john_b 13y ago
> "Second, this is a redistribution of tax money, so society is not getting poorer that way" Unless it turns out to be more efficient than the social welfare programs it would replace, it would be a redistribution of additio
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by john_b 13y ago
While we're stereotyping strawmen, I might as well point out that Captious Guy is just the mirror image of the the Pointy Haired Boss, the guy who doesn't care about any details and only uses language so vague and meaningless that
300.
by john_b 13y ago
The original comment was asked in the context of traveling to the US. If you travel to Russia, you are most definitely subject to Russian laws.

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