vbtemp

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361.
Ask HN: Payment plans for age-restricted content
1 points by vbtemp 15y ago|0 comments
362.
by vbtemp 15y ago
I don't say LOL very often, but when I do, it's when I see articles like this.
363.
by vbtemp 15y ago
Right - no one wants to consider this null hypothesis. Not exciting enough, I suppose. Actually spoofing GPS - which would involve masking the actual GPS signal and producing the precise nanosecond differentials from a simulated fleet of
364.
by vbtemp 15y ago
How much certainty is there that the Iranians actually spoofed the GPS signal? How much evidence is there to overturn the null hypothesis (being that the GPS signal was either jammed, or the plane simply crash-landed inside Iran)
365.
by vbtemp 15y ago
That's the point - you're willing (we all are, usually) to pay a premium for that certainty. In the book he uses all sorts of figures or probabilities (I remember one case, when it was like 99% chance to win one million dollars, or 100% cha
366.
by vbtemp 15y ago
I think in Kahneman's book (unless I'm recalling in correctly), the situation wasn't "90% chance of $1000 or 100% chance of $900). It was more like "90% chance of $1000, or 100% chance of $850" (i.e., something a little less than P(X)*X).
367.
by vbtemp 15y ago
As Kahneman says in the book - every experienced gambler and trader knows that "you win some, you lose some". Although we may not get multiple chances to repeat the same exact gamble, our intuition tends to lead us to minimize risk when the
368.
by vbtemp 15y ago
I'd highly encourage everyone to read Kahneman's book. It really makes you appreciate the fact that what we consider "thinking" and "decision making" are usually just sequences of lazy cognitive biases that [poorly] approximate solutions fo
369.
by vbtemp 15y ago
Right. Website restaurants are usually overloaded with annoying flash and -- gasp -- music and/or other noises that tends to blare out loud when it's least convenient and most embarrassing. It's a case of poor taste gone even more horribl
370.
by vbtemp 15y ago
I live in DC and fly into reagan all the time. There is a small park at the very end of the runway where you can watch planes landing that fly just 100 ft above you. It's pretty awesome. The author of this post suggests you should rather fl
371.
by vbtemp 15y ago
My thought exactly -- does the author lack the self-awareness to realize that he is himself a smart ass?
372.
by vbtemp 15y ago
New Horizons has set the speed record for spaceflight, and is racing toward pluto and will make it in record time. However, its RTG doesn't have the longevity of Voyager's, so New Horizons won't last nearly as long. NH does have an extended
373.
by vbtemp 15y ago
On HN I would have expected more people to be super excited about the on-board computers, instruments, and particularly the RF subsystem on the voyager spacecraft (think about it - it's something like a 40 watt transmitter -- the strengh of
374.
by vbtemp 15y ago
No, its extended mission was designed to measure energetic particles at large distances from the sun (plus a few other field sensors). That's it. The whole "golden record" thing is just a monument to ourselves.
375.
by vbtemp 15y ago
When I was in Thailand, I was always a bit befuddled when people would greet me and say "Hi! Did you eat?", but not actually invite me to eat or something. "Have you eaten/did you eat?" seems to be the east-asian equivalent of "hi, what's u
376.
by vbtemp 15y ago
> I've learned in personal relationships is that logic is, in-and-of-itself, rather useless in determining relationship success. Absolutely. We are all far from rational actors in this endeavor. You can make all the sense you want, but
377.
by vbtemp 15y ago
Now this is hacker news (sorry, I've been fed up with some of the other posts recently that have nothing to do with software startups). Thanks for posting.
378.
by vbtemp 15y ago
It really is security-through-obscurity. Though that definitely isn't considered safe, a lot of spacecraft (especially deep-space ones) are pretty damn obscure. The true weakest link is the security at the ground station, not some fool wit
379.
by vbtemp 15y ago
There certainly are hackable things flying over your head. However, with your 15m dish men in black suits will zero-in on your location in a flash, and you'll be behind bars before you know it - probably before you can focus on the target o
380.
by vbtemp 15y ago
Point taken. However, my point wasn't to play gotcha. Of course everyone googles for solutions, that's how things work. It's how they should work. The point was this: what if you need to innovate something new, that necessarily needs to dra
381.
by vbtemp 15y ago
"I don't see why I can't do compilers if I have to. I didn't take the "compilers" course in my remote study, because I wasn't interested. But when you reach a certain level of computing knowledge, you can learn anything quickly" Well, consi
382.
by vbtemp 15y ago
I agree with both of you. As in politics, the two sides are talking past each other. I think the dropouts look at people like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, etc, and want to say "Look! You can be rich and successful and influential without requ
383.
by vbtemp 15y ago
The Russians (you mean Soviets) did nothing to preserve yiddish. They tried to exile the jews to a desolate remote corner on the fringes of siberia where they could practice their culture (not their religion) in a soviet communist framework
384.
by vbtemp 15y ago
"How does any college/institution know that I (or my children) are Jewish?" First - it would have been easier some decades ago. Just look at the neighborhood you're from, your last name (and check the mother's maiden name as well). I believ
385.
by vbtemp 15y ago
I grew up near Baltimore. It wasn't until the mid 50's I believe that Jews were permitted east of Falls Rd. It took my grandmother decades to be able to comfortably go through that area. In fact, when she and her husband bought their first
386.
by vbtemp 15y ago
I suppose I should also clarify: I'm not starting the business under a false name -- i.e,. I'm using my real name, credit card, address for my google apps account, web hosting, etc... It's just that for signing the blog posts and things lik
387.
by vbtemp 15y ago
That's a good point about legality. Thanks.
388.
Ask HN: Starting under a "nom de guerre"
7 points by vbtemp 15y ago|9 comments
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by vbtemp 15y ago
Almost all of my work is either in C or python. When I do my embedded system development in C, I generally spend my day swearing at myself and cursing the world. When I do other components in python generally thing "wow. that was easy and f
390.
by vbtemp 15y ago
I don't understand why Yahoo still exists (or at least why it still gets so much coverage). At this point it's just a cheap knockoff of everything google does. Has anyone ever used Yahoo mail? It's a POS, it's bloated, slow, prone to failur

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