HN user
But over the phone you have to talk to a person. When I use an app, it's not because I want to save time. It's because I want to avoid having to talk to people.
English is a second language for me, maybe that's why, but even in my native language I dread making a call to a live person. I have to hype myself up for a few minutes, before I pick up the phone.
A poor translation. From Russian wikipedia [1]:
"""
Competent authorities are executive authorities endowed with jurisdiction and power to perform any specific tasks (“competence” here means “the right to make decisions”).
"""
[1] https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%BF%D0%B5...
this is comparable to bad flu year
Maybe he means the Spanish flu /s
Next you'll be asking whether lockdowns caused more harm than good. Oh-oh. I think we are 10 years too early for that particular discussion.
This is a fascinating topic, though, and I can't help myself. I have two competing perspectives on this:
1. Covid is deadly, but not that deadly, certainly not to children and younger (<60 y.o.) adults. The initial decision to hunker down was warranted, but as the stresses of the various lockdowns begin to pile up, it's no longer obvious that the lockdowns and strict health regimes are worth it. The "stresses" would include suicides, drug overdoses, domestic violence, depression, and general depravity due to lost income.
2. Covid is deadly, and if not for the lockdowns, it would have killed a lot more people than it did. The number of lives saved by shutting down the economy far outweigh the cost of the lockdowns. If we didn't shut down and later push people to vaccinate, millions would have died in the US instead of hundreds of thousands.
Anyone with an educated opinion wanna weigh in? Which perspective is correct?
My impression was that the extra hours are due to the factories being on a 24/7 uninterrupted production cycle. Having people work 12 hour shifts instead of 8 reduces the headcount required by 33%.
"Horseradish" aside (lol) my favorite Russian euphemism for this is:
"[I] spun [this] on my dick" (на хую вертел). Spun as in "to spin", "to rotate", "to twirl." The imagery is a bit absurd, as is the case with most of these. The Greek one with the flowers and the bees is 10/10 as well.
I had a good laugh. Thanks, author.
"Horseradish" is a euphemism for "dick." Whatever translation tool he was using didn't pick up on it ;/
This is a nice tool. I wonder, if with some additional bells and whistles, like machine translation, bookmarking, and tag search, this could be a product people would be willing to pay for.
"These people don’t last long and I have gotten pretty good at screening out this personality in interviews after having it cause huge issues at two different places I worked."
Well, now everyone is curious for more details on this. Do share :)
Well, for one, the US government prevents private actors from buying all sorts of things. I am surprised that selling tools which potentially "enable cyber crime" hasn't triggered some overzealous regulator in DC yet. It seems like low-hanging fruit.
Who buys this stuff? Other things in the shop:
Screen Crab: This covert inline screen grabber sits between HDMI devices - like a computer and monitor, or console and television - to quietly capture screenshots. Perfect for sysadmins, pentesters and anyone wanting to record what's on a screen.
Shark Jack: This portable network attack tool is a pentesters best friend optimized for social engineering engagements and opportunistic wired network auditing. Out-of-the-box it's armed with an ultra fast nmap payload, providing quick and easy network reconnaissance.
Key Croc: The Key Croc by Hak5 is a keylogger armed with pentest tools, remote access and payloads that trigger multi-vector attacks when chosen keywords are typed. It's the ultimate key-logging pentest implant.
They say "pentesters." What prevents a malicious actor from buying and using these tools?
I think I am missing something here.
"The 'publish or perish' mentality makes it easier to put blinders on when faced with something that's inconvenient."
I'd like to provide a competing take on this.
In my experience, it's the job of the peer reviewers to force the authors to test alternative hypotheses, especially if it's something obvious or inconvenient. I once published a methods paper, where the reviewers got aggrieved I didn't mention a complementary, but mostly unrelated, method in my discussion. At first I was annoyed, because it was OBVIOUS to me that their objection was flippant.
However, once I thought about it, I realized that the reviewer was probably representative of the audience that's going to read my paper. Their criticism while tiresome was entirely valid. So I sat down and spent a week coding a series of experiments that showed how the two methods (mine, and theirs) were different and how they could complement each other. That translated into a paragraph in the discussion section and a couple of supplementary figures, and overall a better paper.
So to go back to the original point of the GP ("maybe things got left out because they are obvious"):
Obvious things, unless it's something really trivial, are only obvious to the authors of the paper. If you expect an educated reader to raise an obvious/natural objection, you should really address it in your text head on. And if you don't, then hopefully the peer review will catch it.
PS
This is not meant to be a commentary on the paper linked in this thread. I have not read it, and have no opinion on it. I just wanted to opine on the general topic of peer review and whether "obvious" things should go into an academic paper.
I am still using a MacBook Pro from 2013. The battery doesn't hold charge as well anymore (down to ~2-3 hours), and I had to replace the rubber feet at the bottom of the case, but other than that the laptop has been rock solid. I've never had any serious problems with it.
I am somewhat surprised there are so many people reporting issues with the newer models. I plan to upgrade to a new MacBook soon, and this gives me pause.
You are right. We do need systematic trials to confidently makes statements like the one I made. Thank you for pointing out the error in my logic.
Russia isn't the only country to have trialed Sputnik. From a recent Nature article (July 2021) titled "Mounting evidence suggests Sputnik COVID vaccine is safe and effective" [1]:
---
Figures released by the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Health, on some 81,000 individuals who had received two doses of the vaccine, suggested 97.8% efficacy in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 and 100% efficacy in preventing severe disease.
Since then, an as-yet unpublished study from the Buenos Aires health ministry in Argentina, involving 40,387 vaccinated and 146,194 unvaccinated people aged 60–79, found that a single dose of Sputnik Light reduced symptomatic infections by 78.6%, hospitalizations by 87.6% and deaths by 84.7%.
---
Or, here is an article on Moscow Times published today reporting a trial from a different Russian group, independent from the manufacturer [2]:
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The study tracked outcomes for almost 14,000 patients who contracted Covid-19 in St. Petersburg between July 3-Aug. 9. It was led by Anton Barchuk, head of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Health Research at the European University in St. Petersburg, and eight other scientists from Russian universities.
Of the 12,154 patients who tested positive for Covid-19 in the study and were not vaccinated, some 467 were hospitalized — a ratio of 3.8%. Meanwhile just 17 of the 1,291 vaccinated patients who caught the infection — 1.3% — were hospitalized. After adjusting for age and sex, the scientists assessed the vaccine’s effectiveness at preventing hospitalizaiton among those who were infected with Covid-19 at 81%.
---
I am pretty sure Sputnik V is fine. It has been administered to tens of millions inside Russia itself. If there were massive problems with it, we would know by now.
[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01813-2
[2] https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/08/24/sputnik-v-gives-st...
Perhaps, I am a bit naive, but what qualifies as insider trading?
If I work at a company, I am bound to know things that are not public knowledge. This means that any trade I make is technically insider trading.
Example: I am an engineer, working on a new unannounced product which I think will do well. I buy shares of my company in advance of the release of that product. A few years later, after the product has shipped and delivered the expected gains, I sell my stock.
Will I go to jail for insider trading?
"This doesn’t even include the costs... "
that the locals paid.
https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/
I am sure Brown exaggerates the number of people killed and displaced, but even a conservative estimate is probably a pretty large number.
This sounds like something from a sci-fi novel.
The only tangible new thing in production is the Angara heavy rocket that will replace Protons. It's an actual thing that exists and flies. There is also a new piloted ship (Eagle/Federation) in development tailored for Angara, but I don't expect to see it in serial production until late 2020s.
Beyond these two things, everything else is basically concept art.
Here is a piece of commentary from a Russian insider covering the launch of Nauka, but not the docking, in Russian [1]. There was a litany of smaller issues with the launch, probably stemming from the fact that the module has been tossed around for 25+ years.
I generally don't expect Roskosmos to make any comments regarding Nauka unless it blows up or something. Part of the reason, apparently, is that Roskosmos is being assessed for new funding (from the blog post, Google translate edited for clarity):
"""
Docking is scheduled for July 29. The future of Russian manned astronautics depends on its success. With Nauka, the Russian segment will be able to operate for another 10 years, and be more effective as a research platform.
The future of the independent Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS) is also indirectly related to the success of Nauka. With Nauka, Roskosmos gets a chance to show that it has the ability to create and launch manned space stations. This, in turn, increases the likelihood of obtaining the funding for ROSS.
Probably, this is the reason that Roscosmos has been reluctant to voice any of the problems with Nauka. When half a trillion rubles is at stake, you will inevitably lose your voice.
"""
Half a trillion rubles is about $7bn American. I've been hearing about plans for this new station for a few years now. I don't really know if it's real. Involvement with the ISS, where Americans shouldered 80% of the financial burden, is really what kept the Russian space program relevant. So I don't expect us to pull out of the ISS voluntarily. If the ISS ends up being decommissioned this decade, hopefully we can piggy back with the Chinese on their new projects or something. That's assuming we have anything they want, which is a big question mark come year 2030.
I am curious as to how you would remove us from the ISS. A third of the pressurized modules on the ISS are Russian [1]. Do we just take them with us when we leave? How do we achieve that?
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_of_the_International_...
"""
The ISS is made up of 16 pressurized modules: five Russian modules ( Zarya, Pirs, Zvezda, Poisk and Rassvet), eight US modules (BEAM, Leonardo, Harmony, Quest, Tranquility, Unity, Cupola, and Destiny), two Japanese modules (the JEM-ELM-PS and JEM-PM) and one European module (Columbus).
"""
*Pirs was undocked to make place for Nauka.
I dunno what the author meant, but probably alluding to the fact that the electricity powering your EV comes from a plant burning fossil fuels.
I've been curious about this topic for a while: what contributes more pollution per mile traveled -- an internal combustion engine or a Tesla charged with power from a coal/gas/wind/nuclear plant. If anyone encountered an analysis like that, please link!
"well developed economically (punching far above its tiny weight)"
I am being a nitpicker here, but I think there is no correlation between country size and level of economic development. Many of the richest polities in the world are quite small. Places like Singapore & HK come to mind.
I think bigger countries, even if they are "1st world," can sometimes look rather rough, because there is a lot of variation between different regions / municipalities / neighborhoods. It can be surreal sometimes, but it is what it is.
I have not been to Japan, but I have read several fairly detailed accounts coming from multiple travel bloggers.
One thing they all pointed out is that Japan is full of what by our standards would be considered semi-antique technology like trolleys from the 1950s and computers and fax machines from the 1990s, that are all still being used, and maintained in really good condition.
Living in Tokyo, do you notice this as well? I assume this sort of commitment to maintenance / "orderliness" must be cultural?
What do the really bad parts of Tokyo look like?
WoW has been my main game since I was a teenager, and for the past decade it's been lurching up (Legion) and down (WoD), but mostly down (BFA, SL). It seems like Blizzard is out of ideas with WoW. They are like a tired writer who is trying to edit a paragraph trying to make it read better, but ultimately makes it worse with the edits.
Health of their games aside, here is to hoping that they at least take care of their employees moving forward. The thing that's most disheartening about the harassment allegations is how many former female employees (50+) came out on twitter to collaborate the claims of run-away toxicity. Not something I expected from a company that positions itself as the "wholesome gaming company of your childhood."
Whatever it takes for them to clean up their workplace, they need to do it. The games, too, will be better for it. Workplace toxicity doesn't just lead to harassment, it kills collaboration and creativity.
I don't understand why a game company is expected to have an opinion about international politics, outside of "we don't want our platform to be used for politics."
It's bad enough that Facebook mods are now in charge of deciding what constitutes the truth; don't also conscript game companies into fighting idealogical battles with foreign states.
Russians introduced standardized testing for college admissions in late 2000s. The stated goal was to curb regional variations in GPA (easier to get high GPA in a bad district), and to make it easier to apply to colleges outside of your immediate city [1].
The kids & parents have generally gotten used to the testing, but the teachers & educators absolutely despise it. You regularly see diatribes on social media against it. The crux of their criticism is that standardized testing emphasizes very niche test-testing skills as opposed to a holistic education.
But overall, I'd tend to agree - standardized tests are a good thing. They help streamline the admission process and make it less painful/variable, which is good thing for society as a whole.
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[1] Prior to standardized testing, each university in Russia held its own full-on series of admission exams that would take 1 to 2 weeks. Even if you were lucky and lived in a city with several universities, the logistics would limit you to 3 or 4 college applications at most. The "SAT" alleviates this, as most universities now use it as the sole application metric. So you can apply to an unlimited number of schools.
That being said, universities retained the capacity to do their own testing, for example for foreign students who didn't take the SATs. I think elite schools & programs (like a physics program at a top technical college in Moscow) may require additional testing. But overall, the admissions system they have in Russia now seems to closely approximate what you describe for Slovenia.
"functioning real estate markets"
Is the housing market in the Bay area really uniquely dysfunctional? High property prices are a result of demand outstripping supply. It's what you get for concentrating the entire tech industry in one place. Similar to Manhattan and the financial industry.
In that regard, the real estate market in the Bay area is basically working as intended. Or am I missing something?
From their abstract:
---
After decades of effort, 17% of the total residues in human protein sequences are covered by an experimentally-determined structure1. Here we dramatically expand structural coverage by applying the state-of-the-art machine learning method, AlphaFold2, at scale to almost the entire human proteome (98.5% of human proteins). The resulting dataset covers 58% of residues with a confident prediction, of which a subset (36% of all residues) have very high confidence.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03828-1
---
The metric they use (residues) is a bit unusual (I would have used number of proteins instead), but I assume they wanted to account for ambiguity (such as proteins with partial structures).
This is awesome! When they announced CASP results a few months ago, I was wondering if AlphaFold will be accessible as an API, where you can submit a protein id or a sequence and get back a 3D structure. This database is basically that, except it's free & open to the public. Major props!
Can confirm most of the above :)
Specifically, let's talk about "cost." I did a biology PhD at a respected school in a low COL area. The annual stipend, when I graduated in 2019, was around $31k. It was enough to afford basic necessities (rent, food, car) with a few hundred dollars to spare. Obviously, not enough to start a family, but I wasn't subsisting on ramen noodles either. Plus, the work I did as a researcher is something I can put on my resume as actual work experience.
Stories like the above, about people going into massive debt for graduate degrees, send chills down my spine. I can't imagine the cost/benefit calculus that steers people onto that path.