lvryc

I read the grandparent as being a parody of how the stereotypical engineer thinks. Poe's law in action?

Do you use org-mode?[1] It's perfect for outlining and managing lots of information. Once you've written your paper, you can easily export it to HTML, PDF (through LaTeX) or plain text to be copied into a Word document, if that's the way you swing.

[1] http://orgmode.org/

They're also running a kickstarter-style crowdfunding attempt at https://pledge.immunityproject.org/the-free-hiv-aids-vaccine .

(I'm looking to extract audio clips from video files by using the subtitles and timing information, to create listening flashcards. Since Anki doesn't really do this, not reusing their code isn't really a big deal.)

Just fyi, I recently hacked something up that did exactly this, using a bit of csv parsing in python and ffmpeg to extract the clips. It wasn't too hard to write, though I can see it becoming more difficult if you want more sophistication.

To anybody else who first skimmed over this quote: the first half is funny, 'classic Feynman.' The last half is not.

Google is a 350 billion dollar advertising company...

The Suits references on http://getinch.com/how-it-works made me smile.

I quite like the 'apology' he received from the conference organizers:

In July 2013 I told the NSA-affiliated conference organizers that I was having some problems in getting my visa, and gently asked whether they could do something about it. Always eager to help, the NSA people leaped into action, and immediately sent me a short email written with a lot of tact:

“The trouble you are having is regrettable… Sorry you won’t be able to come to our conference. We have submitted our program and did not include you on it.”

Some context: I don't actually know how useful this will be. Most foreign companies already use VPNs to Hong Kong or the US. Almost all the expatriates I know have personal VPNs set up as well. Astrill (https://www.astrill.com/) is the name I've been hearing nowadays.

I also discovered recently that more tech-savvy locals can also buy ways to jump the "Great Firewall" ridiculously easily - even right off of Taobao, which is the Chinese version ebay. (If you're interested, just search for "IP代理." I think it's about 8-15 RMB a month?)

This free-trade zone is tiny, and in the middle of nowhere. [Edit: things may be different if it's by Shanghai's port; I wasn't aware of that.] The most potentially exciting part about this news is that the government is thinking about extending this relaxation to all of Pudong, which is home to Shanghai's new financial and business district. Pudong effectively the CBD of Shanghai, but otherwise essentially is like the south side of London's Thames: most people live on the other side of the river, where the culture, excitement and history is. In other words, the vast majority of Shanghai's 20 million residents still won't be able to access Facebook... which is why this isn't half as big of a deal as it appears. Then again, I suppose it is exciting that there will now be a portion of mainland China where the government is actively letting people access Facebook.

Trevyn, above, mentioned,

The conversion from LaTeX to HTML was expensive: we raised considerable funds, but ran out before finishing Volumes II and III, so we are only posting Volume I initially.

I don't know too much about digitalisation, but why does it cost so much?