docPangloss

Charles Schwab, Oracle (and Larry Ellison to Hawaii), HP, Macy's, Palantir Technologies, et al.

Cyberpunk Day is on Tuesday and Wednesday of the second week of December for CD Projekt RED and the video gaming industry. Are you ready for Game Day?

If you are an IT professional in America -- especially one who writes quality code -- then this article is for you.

According to moveBuddha, 16% of outbound residents from San Francisco Bay Area moved to Texas in 2020.

Also, Stripe Workers Who Relocate [to an affordable city] Get $20,000 Bonus and a [10%] Pay Cut.

Thanks for the link to ExplainShell; it'll help me a lot as a newbie.

Five Great Books for Introverts, by Five Introverts and Loners who changed the world.

Agreed , as I posted earlier about masks: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24984527

This post links to an article showing masks don't work (N95 masks that are worn properly do work, though).

"The Most Masked European Countries Have the Biggest Coronavirus Surges"

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/11/most-masked-europea...

HackerNews continually gets triggered by my posts: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24984527

This post links to an article showing masks don't work (N95 masks that are worn properly do work, though).

"The Most Masked European Countries Have the Biggest Coronavirus Surges"

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2020/11/most-masked-europea...

"Meanwhile in Sweden, only 5% wear masks. The authorities have never recommended them believing that they are a waste of time. Sweden has used a soft lockdown that avoided fines and mandates. And the media in lockdown countries has spent the months lambasting Sweden and warning the rest of the world not to use it as a model.

But Sweden isn’t alone. In Denmark hardly anyone wears masks. And in Norway, less than a sixth do."

"...heed the warnings of history and be very wary of Trojan Horses and enemies from within, as we alluded to previously regarding the spread of quasi-Bolshevism in the West and U.S."

Another massive M&A deal in the chip sector!

We are witnessing an 𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 of an industry in real-time, people.

• 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 (𝗡𝗮𝘀𝗱𝗮𝗾: 𝗠𝗥𝗩𝗟) confirmed yesterday its intent to acquire semiconductor manufacturer 𝗜𝗻𝗽𝗵𝗶 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗽𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (𝗡𝗮𝘀𝗱𝗮𝗾: 𝗜𝗣𝗛𝗜) for $10 billion.

As a combined entity, the two companies will have an enterprise value of nearly $40 billion.

My guess is France-based SendInBlue will begin acquiring even more MailChimp defectors; Amazon SES as well.[1][2]

[1] https://www.sendinblue.com/mailchimp/

[2] https://aws.amazon.com/ses/pricing/

Replying to the person stating I provided "false" info, which is all supported by links and sources!:

It’s always “conspiracy theory”...until it becomes “conspiracy fact” years later.

Read Google’s (or Apple’s, or Yahoo’s) denial of participation in PRISM. The statements are examples of “Lying by Omission.” Verizon actually shared documents/orders it received from NSA, astonishingly. If one understand the basics of law, the omissions and doublespeak deniability are the most revealing and damning:[1] [2]

* “We have not joined any program that would give the U.S. government—or any other government—direct access to our servers.”: The NSA is not “the U.S. government”; neither are the contract intel companies that have access to data as middleman for NSA.

* “...does not have direct access or a ‘back door’ to the information stored in our data centers.”: But Google does not deny “indirect” access or a ‘door’ – otherwise its crafty attorney would have stated “neither direct nor indirect” and certainly would not have narrowed the access point to only a “back door.” Doublespeak.

* Regarding giving data to the government upon request: “Our legal team reviews each and every request, and frequently pushes back when requests are overly broad or don’t follow the correct process.” ‘Frequently pushes back’ – that’s laughable.

* “Press reports that suggest that Google is providing open-ended access to our users’ data are false, period.” Perhaps the press stated ‘open-ended’ but that’s not what Edward Snowden stated or leaked in documents. The prism program is not about “open-ended” access.[2]

The similarity of statements by the legal teams of Google, Apple, and Yahoo leads one to believe they are adhering to NDAs and FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) restrictions about what they may say about PRISM or whether they ever heard of the program. So Apple, Yahoo, and Google all used doublespeak deniability in the carefully crafted legal pressers.

[1] http://www.thepaepae.com/google-denies-prism-direct-access-o...

[2] https://techcrunch.com/2013/06/07/doublespeak-denials-and-br...

Other resources:

[3] NSF / DARPA (indirect NSA) funding that backed the inception of Google: https://qz.com/1145669/googles-true-origin-partly-lies-in-ci...

[4] The PRISM slides: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/prism...

[5] References to Snowden’s leaked docs (one needs to investigate the offlinds to original leaked docs; difficult to obtain): https://www.cloudwards.net/prism-snowden-and-government-surv...

[6] A money paper trail: NSA paid the companies for compliance! (but these companies and their legal teams denied – and continue to deny – either having known about the PRISM program or making data accessible to the NSA and related contractors via said program): https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/23/nsa-prism-cost...

___

When in doubt, check your assumptions...because your assumptions are likely invalid.

I forgot to mention that Ocular is free (no cost). The Dev team also provides related software that is referenced in the link already provided:

* Evince

* Free Software PDF readers

* Poppler

* DjVuLibre

If one wants to keep one's privacy and use desktop software, then I can recommend Ocular, which is developed by KDE (think Plasma for Linux): https://okular.kde.org

* It's cross platform (not just for Linux) * Can read and markup/highlight: PDF, Postscript, DjVu, CHM, XPS, ePub and others.

I use it as an e-book reader for mostly books in PDF format. There are better e-book readers, but Ocular meets my needs of highlighting and taking notes in the PDF. Admittedly, Ocular seems to have some limitations with ePub files.

September 2020 ShadowStats Alternate Unemployment is 26.9% in US.

http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/unemployment-chart...

Alternate Unemployment Charts

"The seasonally-adjusted SGS Alternate Unemployment Rate reflects current unemployment reporting methodology adjusted for SGS-estimated long-term discouraged workers, who were defined out of official existence in 1994. That estimate is added to the BLS estimate of U-6 unemployment, which includes short-term discouraged workers. The U-3 unemployment rate is the monthly headline number. The U-6 unemployment rate is the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) broadest unemployment measure, including short-term discouraged and other marginally-attached workers as well as those forced to work part-time because they cannot find full-time employment."

There's a variation of Rodale's approach that is used in gardens. I just shared it on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24826386

about Ruth Stout and her no-till garden & farming approach.

Admittedly, during her initial year of the garden, she tilled the plot. Subsequent years she used mulch cover (and perhaps some strategic cover crops).

I referenced PRISM in a comment to a recent Apple article on HN a couple of days ago. It triggered HN and Apple fans and the comment ultimately got shadow-banned by moderators.[1]

Anyway, it’s astonishing that so many people willfully continue to use products/services offered by the core companies that are members of PRISM surveillance. Members provide access to ALL user data/information to NSA et al. Here are some technology/telecom company members (and approx. date joined):

* Microsoft (2007)

* Yahoo! (2008)

* Facebook (2009)

* Google (2009) / YouTube (2010)

* Apple (2012)

* Dropbox (tbd)

* Verizon (and probably T-Mobile/Sprint, AT&T, etc.)

These member companies are effectively an extension of three letter agencies (intel) and are above the law.

A dozen+ countries participate in PRISM, too.[2]

Want to Break Out of the PRISM? It’s relatively easy. The nonprofit Prism-Break provides people a path to get started.[3]

Resources/Notes:

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24738743

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program)#C...

[3] https://prism-break.org/en/

@desilentio pushed human development forward by informing the original commenter that its source, in this instance wikipedia, is flawed (to nobody's surprise).

There are many high-quality sources on the Internet and in books. No need to rely upon one source (wikipedia) that has a dubious reputation.

Nevertheless, @3pt14159, you do make a good point. So, please lead us lowly forum posters/readers to the best way to push human development forward and actually do as you are authoritatively telling others to do. Verify the veracity of the misinformation on wikipedia and submit an update(s). Glad you thought of this! Let us know when you finish this initial task.

Apple is more like a cult with totalitarian rule. Google is not too far behind.

Both track your every move/conversation and share ALL your data with government agencies via the PRISM surveillance program led by the NSA (Google joined PRISM in 2009; Apple in 2012).[1] These BigTech companies/PRISM members are beyond the law because they are defacto extensions of Big Brother Surveillance. If Apple were to make a PRISM break from membership, then it would likely receive lawsuits for tax evasion and monopoly behavior (antitrust). Understand the game?

Consider This About Apple:

• Apple uses offshore quasi-indentured-servant labor to bypass labor- and wage-laws;

• The rotten fruit evades the spirit of taxation by setting up shell companies in Ireland, tiny islands, Nevada, etc. to hoard billions of un-taxed dollars in these vehicles;

• The BigTech Global Company uses monopoly-like power to control its users behavior and even inserts forms of malware to make the OS perform slower and/or drain the battery to encourage users to upgrade their phone! . . .

> Remember, freedom (Liberty) requires continual effort lest one becomes enslaved.

Google, to its credit, still provides open source software of the Android OS for anyone to port and modify. It’s called Android Open Source Project (AOSP). Anyone who makes a modest effort can install AOSP on a non-apple device – even many older phones.

There are a myriad of open-source and partial open-source custom ROMs that are often built using AOSP, but not exclusively – Ubuntu Touch, Replicant, Resurrection Remix, PureOS, LineageOS, TizenOS, ParanoidAndroid, KaiOS, PostmarketOS, etc.[2]

One may simply flash a custom ROM on their used or new non-Apple device. Take 30 minutes to read instructions on any number of tech forums such as xda-developers.com, for one example. What you will realize is stable custom ROMS are more secure than native stock OS by Apple and Google. And, one may modify the custom ROMS as any lover of freedom chooses.

There are also devices coming to market that have kill switches that disable cellular tracking by PRISM, etc.: Purism’s Librem 5, Pine64's PinePhone, OpenPandora’s DragonBox, etc. And, these organizations are honorable and community-driven, either partly or entirely.

So, just because a lot of people won’t make the tiny effort to liberate themselves from evil (and continue to justify a “walled garden” implemented by said evil rotten fruit), doesn’t mean the small number of people who choose liberty over security should be sacrificed at the alter of evil.

No laws or regulations are necessary. Vote with your dollars and actions.

Wake the Flock Up, People!

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program)

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_custom_Android_distrib...

If you don’t like reading about Short Squeezes, WAFs, CDNs, IaaS, HackerNews, Class Action Lawsuits, M&A, and Greek Mythology, then you ain’t a FinTech Nerd!

Concise comment: Thanks for the tip about GoldBack dot com. It looks promising. ___

Long-winded comment: That article you shared references the “Utah Legal Tender Act in 2011.” According to the article shared by the Coventry League Blogentary, Utah is one of only six (6) states with gold/silver legal tender laws. The most recent state is West Virginia (2019).

Indeed, jurisdictions that enable a system – secondary or primary – that permits a free market for money/currency (paper/physical — such as the GoldBack or even digital) backed by publicly visible/verifiable stashes of physical gold/silver will be at a noticeable advantage to jurisdictions that only permit centrally-controlled currencies backed by the “full faith and credit” of the issuer (i.e, nothing; an ephemeral notion). This latter type of “fiat” currency has similarities to monopoly money with a central banker that controls the game (globally coordinated central banks peddling fiat like true charlatans, in our case).

Presently in Canada, the U.S., and some other jurisdictions, individuals may still legally own silver and gold coins to store a portion of their wealth.

For example, the government-issued Canadian Gold Maple Leaf coin has a face value of 50 CAN dollars but has a market-value of 1oz of gold (equivalent to about 2,500 CAN or 2,000 USD). Moreover, people are currently paying 10%-30% (or 60% as you mentioned) over this spot price to obtain these types of physical gold coins (or paper backed gold) in the secondary market.

Think of how the purchasing power of fiat currencies has plummeted over the years. One could walk around with a 1oz gold coin that is smaller than a U.S. metal dollar coin. However, the former has a purchasing power 2,000x that of the latter whereby it was only 35x just 50 years ago!

So, in one generation/lifetime (the last 50 years), the U.S. fiat dollar’s purchasing power relative to gold has plummeted by more than 98%!

I, too, can vouch for Automate the Boring Stuff with Python -- one of the first resources I used to learn a bit of Python since I wanted hands-on, practical lessons. I'll check out Think Python as well.

The map is an infographic that displays bubbles/gears proportional to a country's GDP (manufacturing only) worldwide.

The blog author then extends the analysis by including three tables about GDP and per capita data, along with footnotes/sources.

These tables are interesting and reveal insights about Germany, Ireland, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and the Top 10 Countries by GDP Manufacturing (China, U.S., India, Mexico, South Korea, Japan, etc.).

The U.S. is #2 regarding GDP Manufacturing, but #1 for GDP Total. The U.S. also has one of the largest GDPs per capita (not in the top five, though -- according to the tables).

Maybe I or someone else might want to write a Python script (pandas, etc.) to analyze the data set further. There is a link to the data by the United Nations and one other source.

I thought they were more for semi-privacy. They block the main line of sight of passers-by, but allow light, air, and sound to easily flow -- and entering/exiting is simple.

Some people still use these in house bathrooms by the toilet area -- especially if the bathroom is shared with others. Same thing with public restrooms.

The short answer: Yes, investors can time their exposure to PE.

How? By doing so synthetically and/or indirectly: that is, by not investing in the private funds directly.

Rather, investors can determine whether they want to be long, short, or neutral private equity.

Next, an investor can select one or more publicly-traded 'private equity' firms to either invest in, short, or buy/sell options (calls or puts).

Here are just a few big name publicly traded firms:

Firm.......Ticker

Apollo....."APO"

Ares......."ARCC"

Gladstone.."GAIN"

KKR........"KCAP"

Blackstone.."BX"

There are more, especially of the hybrid (debt/mezz/equity) and Business Development Corp. (BDC)-type firms.

It's interesting how two different news organizations report two different views about Renaissance on the same day (17 April).

* CNBC chose to only report on the Medallion fund, which is up 24% YTD.

* Bloomberg chose to primarily report on Renaissance's largest fund, REIF -- which is actually down 14% through March 31.

Link: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-17/renaissan...

Neither news outlet reported the weighted aggregated return of Renaissance, the firm--which manages several funds by different portfolio managers.

Seems disingenuous at best.

My sense is Renaissance might not be doing nearly as well as it wants the market and public to believe...