owenmarshall

It's almost a HN meme at this point (and you might be referencing it ;-)). But for anyone unaware, SQLite's test coverage is _outstanding_ and well worth reading about[0].

[0] https://www.sqlite.org/testing.html

While I actually sympathize with your position, I think your argument has a significant flaw: the "unregulated pharmaceutical industry" you reference is actually quite regulated.

My company can put a GRAS compound like turmeric in a pill and sell it over the counter, but the moment I stop calling it a spice and make a treatment claim about it I face enforcement action. And I certainly can't put in an active ingredient that might actually /do something/ - like those gas station "sex enhancer" pills that, surprise, have sildenafil - because then I'm distributing an unapproved/mislabeled drug.

CBP, maybe not - there’s a lot more leeway for things that happen at the border, for better or worse.

But in general US law sets a high bar for claims of incitement. Your hypothetical statement would certainly be considered protected speech. That is, of course, not to say that you would not be a victim of vindictive prosecution ;)

The US had APKWS (anti-drone guided missiles) operational in the 2010s and these have been widely deployed

... on 4th/5th gen fighters that cost tens of thousands per flight hour[0] based on current evidence of deployment. We're still killing mosquitoes with hand grenades.

Iron Beam/the US systems are certainly interesting, but haven't been scaled up to meaningful deployments yet.

Meanwhile, those "considerably less sophisticated" systems were fielded in exercises by the Ukranians against NATO doctrine and won handily[1].

[0] https://www.defenseone.com/defense-systems/2026/03/fighter-j...

[1] https://www.wsj.com/opinion/nato-has-seen-the-future-and-is-...

This leans towards my belief that the US is fundamentally fighting last century's war against adversaries that have _massively_ evolved.

Look at the Ukranians: they are currently fielding an entire suite of counter-drone tech: fast pursuit systems to hit Russian drones on launch, cheap FPV drones for last-mile intercept, integrated radar/acoustic monitoring to target and respond to launches... and of course, the Russians are responding with IR floodlights and air to air launchers on their drones, or even just launching a bunch of cheap foam decoy Gerbera's in the middle of their Shahed's to soak up intercepts. Meanwhile, the front lines are basically static -- any infantry from either side that tries to go into the kill box gets picked off by loitering drones.

And the best the US can field today is "$1mm per Patriot" or "cover a tiny area with Land Phalanx (which also costs something like $4k/second burst)".

Your first option comes with the major caveat that each interceptor you fire comes from a limited stockpile whose replacement rate[0] today isn't sufficient for even going 1:1, let alone accepting that multiple interceptors are required.

I'd say the real options in the near term when faced with an inbound missile is a) deciding to deplete your stockpile of interceptors with an incredibly limited replenishment rate; or b) risking a hit to a lower-value target.

Could the US go to a war economy footing and scale production? _Maybe_? I'm not entirely convinced the US can stomach the costs.

[0]: again, numbers are hard to find, but https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/news/features/2026/Lock... gives a flavor of just what defenders are up against.

Two more sobering axes to introduce: cost and manufacturing capability.

Numbers are hard to find for obvious security reasons, but using the numbers most optimistic to the defender[0] suggests an adversary using a Fatah type hypersonic is spending 1/3rd the cost of an Arrow interceptor, and is launching missiles that are produced at a much faster rate. Interception is deeply asymmetric in favor of the attacker.

[0] https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-82314...

A friend of mine interested in model rocketry demoed a sun tracking model rocket at a state convention. Pretty soon after, he had a chat he described as "terrifying but friendly" with "a few dudes in windbreakers" who wanted to know what he was up to. He didn't get into any trouble but decided he'd stick to unguided rockets from then on.

Between that and playing spot the fed at the local machine gun shoot, I was surprised at just how much attention the state pays to these kind of hobby conventions, but I guess I shouldn't be.

I also enjoy `finger <cityname>@graph.no`

3) I appreciate the warning on the terms and conditions about seeing things you might not want to see.

I'd echo this. I found that to be exceptionally well-written and helped me understand the records I'd receive were unlikely to be the records I was interested in, so I cancelled at that point.

Your abandon rate at that step could make for interesting reading!

Sending a check via mail is infrequently done, but it happens. I just paid my annual property taxes that way. My options were:

* mailing a check

* paying via credit card over the phone for a hefty surcharge

* cash in person

In my case, I used my online banking to send the amount to the mailing address on the bill. In some cases - for large companies, typically - my bank can send the remittance electronically. In others, though, they fill out a paper check on my behalf and send it via the postal system. This service is fee free to me, or else I’d have sent the letter myself.

“Balancing a checking account” in American vernacular is typically used to mean reconciling the transactions your bank has posted to the spend you’ve tracked.

This used to be more important when you wrote paper checks and received a monthly paper statement from your bank. Most people who “balance” their accounts today seem primarily concerned that they are adhering to their personal budget. But the term remains.

Of important note, none of that requires any modification to the pager. Paging protocols are ancient and unencrypted: a little SDR stick and you can run your own sigint on your local pager network.

Airlines are already banning pagers and walkie talkies.

I wonder how many duds are currently being processed by Hezbollah right now.

(0): https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/07/world/middleeast/emirates...

Technically speaking that would be much harder: pagers don’t have microphones, and most don’t transmit - and those that do send very small messages.

You’d have to add significant new capabilities to pull off surveillance, which would increase the risk of detection.

See the classic Cormac Herley research: “Why do Nigerian scammers say they’re from Nigeria?”

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/why-do-...

Far-fetched tales of West African riches strike most as comical. Our analysis suggests that is an advantage to the attacker, not a disadvantage. Since his attack has a low density of victims the Nigerian scammer has an over-riding need to reduce false positives. By sending an email that repels all but the most gullible the scammer gets the most promising marks to self-select, and tilts the true to false positive ratio in his favor.

I’ve had a Blitzortung Blue sitting in a box just waiting to be soldered up - maybe this post kicks me into finally believing in my soldering iron skills and doing it.

Agreed entirely. My grandfather’s 5513 desk diver was passed down to me. It had scuffs and scratches and the lume had long since stopped glowing and turned to a mustard color.

And while I never planned to have any of that changed because I thought it added to the cool factor, the appraisal guaranteed that decision. I was recommended a local watchmaker who could service the movement only and ensure the seals were all intact. Or I could send it back to Rolex for servicing where they’d polish the case, relume the numbers, and swap the acrylic dome for sapphire - and by doing so chop ~50% off the value of the watch.

It turns out collectors love patinas and scratches and for a 60 year old watch to look its age.

One important note with mpox is that there are two distinct lineages of the virus at play: the outbreak in the US in 2022 was clade IIb, which seems to be difficult to spread - hence the “close physical contact” attribution. It also had a low observed CFR.

Clade I mpox is the current outbreak under discussion. It spreads far easier - most pathways are likely not sexual contact - and has an observed CFR 10x higher than IIb.

In other words: this is a very different virus than what we saw in 2022.

https://centerforhealthsecurity.org/sites/default/files/2024...

Anyone offering a discount of over 2500 basis points to participate in what might be one of the most accessible markets across the world isn’t offering actual value, they’ve just found a good mark.

Probably not enforceable != enforceable. Are you worth suing or does everyone sign? Are your state laws and jurisprudence going to back you up?

If you are ever going to sign an employee agreement that binds you, consult with an employment attorney first. I did this with a past noncompete and it was the best few hundred I ever spent: my attorney talked with me for an hour about the particulars of my noncompete, pointed out areas to negotiate, and sent back redlines to make the contract more equitable.

And if you do need to touch Java for reasons Clojure doesn’t impose, the interoperability story is really good.

I’ve done this with internal libraries - it’s easy to get them pulled into a Clojure code base, wrap them in such a way that the ergonomics of the rest of your code aren’t ruined, and still treat them as a first class citizen for stuff like your build system, artifact stores, etc.

90 minutes? At a _Dead_ concert?!

That’s enough to cover a typical Playing>Uncle John’s>Drums>Space, and probably not get all the way through the reprises. You’ve easily got another two hours of jam.

The Congress shall have power to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.

AWS pricing and optimization is just capacity planning, which doesn’t go away if you run on prem - it just looks different, with longer time horizons & financial implications.

“Will my data center run out of floor space & I need to expand?” (years+)

“Will I have enough cooling & power to support the new racks we need?” (6 months+)

“When do I need to get the server order out to ensure we meet our capacity needs?” (6+ weeks)

Every one of those are capital expenditures, so line them up with the annual budget cycle - be sure to keep enough spare capacity to be responsive for last minute asks.

Don’t think my intent is to romanticize the cloud, either. It’s not better, nor worse, just a different way to manage things.

Of course if your company is sufficiently small, do whatever you know and can do quickly - customer acquisition will be more important than debating the cost of either infra in aws or a colo’d server or two in some racks somewhere. But the complexity doesn’t go away if you go to the cloud, OR if you are all on prem. TINSTAAFL.

Popehat on 18 USC 1001, a good read:

https://www.popehat.com/2009/09/22/today-in-shut-up-moron-te...

First, invoke. Then one of two things will happen. The happy path is that the police can’t sustain an arrest, and you didn’t help them by talking. You’ll be released, and you can - and absolutely should - look for a lawyer on your own time.

Otherwise, you’ll be arrested and taken to jail for processing. Your bail will almost always be predetermined by a bail schedule. For minor crimes you can post bail to the jail and leave within hours. Some jails even take credit cards. Search for a lawyer on your own after you are out.

Otherwise the rules are varied across jurisdictions. “You get one call” is a TV trope” - but you can use any phone calls you are granted to secure an attorney. The state bar, as mentioned, will refer you. Call your family and have them secure one. Some jails have the yellow pages for your own selection. If you have a non-criminal attorney (a will, employment law, etc.) they can give you a referral.

No!

In the US, case law has ended up more protective of people who invoke their right to an attorney than those who merely invoke their right to remain silent.

In certain cases the police can restart interrogations after invocation of a right to remain silent, but if you invoke the right to an attorney any interrogation must stop until your counsel is present. These exceptions are narrow, but “being interrogated by the police” is the last place to chance stumbling into one.

The magic words are: “I will not answer any questions without a lawyer present.”

Obligatory sourcewatch link on FIRE: https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Foundation_for_I...

Sorta related: What is the current situation regarding testing for being actively under the influence of marijuana? For better or worse, breathalyzer tests have been generally accepted for testing being actively under the influence of alcohol. Are breathalyzer tests used for marijuana, too? Or, is it just a field sobriety test?

A quick and very important slight tangent that there are two kinds of breath tests at play.

When the police pull someone over for suspicion of DUI, they're attempting to establish probable cause for an arrest. The preliminary breath test is one of these tools, and in most (possibly all?) states it is voluntary & not admissible as evidence. You can look your own state's laws up, but here's a deep dive from Wisconsin on their laws[1].

If the police establish probable cause of intoxication because you volunteered to take a field sobriety test / preliminary breath test, because of their description of your physical condition (bloodshot/glassy eyes) or circumstances (open container, scent of marijuana), you'll be arrested & compelled to perform an evidentiary breath test on a stationary machine in a police station, or provide a blood sample to test for intoxication. And this is not a voluntary test – your refusal to provide an evidentiary test is considered evidence that you committed a DUI and you will be penalized accordingly.

So in general: it's almost best to keep your interactions with the police limited & refuse any voluntary tests to prevent probable cause from being built.

[1] https://www.wisbar.org/NewsPublications/WisconsinLawyer/Page...