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cik2e

>> Atleast SBF took the extra step of first funneling money to Alameda and then directing Alameda to send it back to him and then send it to his dad as a tax free gift.

I am pretty sure it's the source of the money that matters more (legal vs. illegal) than whether the accounting tricks are legally sound.

What you're saying sounds like "at least he wasn't a complete numb-nuts", but that's not much of an "at least" in this scenario.

I am pretty sure the courts will be looking for an "at least he wasn't stealing from his customers".

At least, that's the sane hope.

Re:Fireball Spotted over Northeastern USA on Wednesday March 15, 2023 @11:49PM (#35177930)
Not sure what you're getting at but 400 mph is 0.178816 km/s. Off by two orders of magnitude from 11 km/s.

I am sure everyone has seen a shooting star. Planes don't move like shooting starts or whatever is in this vide.

I think it's safe to conclude that this is not a plane nor a meteor.

Re:Fireball Spotted over Northeastern USA on Wednesday March 15, 2023 @09:22PM (#35176985)
So this can't be a meteor then. That's not 11 km/s unless the video has been drastically slowed down.
Re:Bank of England, 1914 war bonds cover-up on Wednesday March 15, 2023 @08:37PM (#35176674)
>> So instead of allowing the disappointing truth to come out, the Bank of England secretly funneled money to hide the gap.

I believe that's what was meant by "fake". In other words, inauthentic.

As far as the transformation from "private institution" to central bank, are you suggesting that this was a form of Open Market Operations?

Re:Abraham Lincoln, America’s First Tech-Lawyer on Monday February 20, 2023 @12:16PM (#34870247)
I'm only suggesting that the official story doesn't stand up to any sort of critical analysis. Yes there were many witnesses. I don't know what all of the witness accounts were and how those filtered down into the official story.

What I'm suggesting is that the official account makes no sense. Mary Lincoln Todd waits for Booth to do all of his theatrics, instead of immediately screaming "EVERYONE WITH A GUN SHOOT THAT MAN".

I am not suggesting it anything beyond that. But I am not terminally naïve.

I challenge you to look for good historical analysis of the situation. There isn't that much.

Re:Abraham Lincoln, America’s First Tech-Lawyer on Monday February 20, 2023 @12:08PM (#34870133)
But the story is that he WAS injured. So fine, let's say it's minor and he's jacked up on adrenaline and doesn't notice.

And as Booth is being a Marvel action hero (a man in his 40s), everyone is standing around twiddling their thumbs? Including the military detachment outside. The story is not realistic on any level.

Re:Abraham Lincoln, America’s First Tech-Lawyer on Monday February 20, 2023 @12:03PM (#34870071)
So he was given more time to limp around and retrieve the knife while not being apprehended or shot at?
Re:Abraham Lincoln, America’s First Tech-Lawyer on Monday February 20, 2023 @12:01PM (#34870047)
You are kidding right? Of course Lincoln had bodyguard. Maybe they weren't called the Secret Service but he had bodyguards. This was a time of war and the president is going about unprotected? Guarding your most important politician is not a modern invention.
Re:Abraham Lincoln, America’s First Tech-Lawyer on Monday February 20, 2023 @11:03AM (#34869369)
The most interesting thing about Lincoln is that absolutely nothing about his assassination makes any physical sense.

Alleged sequence of events:

1. Booth shoots the president. 2. Jumps down 15 feet while holding a knife. 3. Injures his leg but manages to hold on to the knife. 4. Dramatically waves the knife around and yells "SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS". 5. Runs off on his injured leg.

None of this is actually possible.

You're not going to get away from Lincoln's bodyguards or any military personnel on an injured leg/foot. Anybody who's had an injury like that knows this is not possible. Also, doctors and physical therapists of any kind, know this is not possible. Any military or police people who read HN know that this is not possible. They had guns back then too you know. He would have been blown away instantly by many angry Lincoln employees.

You're not going to be getting away period. Even if you're not injured. Guards were posted outside, along with a military detachment. This military detachment was used to do crowd control in the theater after the event.

It's also not possible to land a 15 foot drop onto a hard stage while holding onto anything. This isn't Marvel. You're going to have to use both your arms and roll in order to avoid life-threatening injuries. Anyone who has done any number of sports can back me up on this one.

I'm not even gonna go into what everybody else in the theater was doing while Booth was allowed to do whatever he wanted and limp off, as it would appear from the story.

The rest of the story also defies all credulity. But this is HN, not a history forum. So I am simply pointing out that the physics of the official history are entirely laughable.

And how was it the train company's decision to burn the hazmats?

I don't think that's how hazmat cleanup works in the real world. On a local level, I believe hazmat teams are part of the fire department. At least that's how it is in Boston. I briefly chatted with the guy who is in charge of hazmat cleanup for the city and he said they do hazmat cleanup all day every day. Constant incidents in a big city.

Nothing about this train situation makes any sense. Why has the federal government not reassured everybody by hiring a slew of independent testers?

Not to mention the preemptive Netflix movie about this exact thing: https://www.google.com/search?q=white+noise.

Yes google it if you don't know what I'm talking about everyone. A movie made about the same thing in the exact place where this current thing happened. The townspeople were extras in the movie. I feel like we are all being taken for a huge ride.

I am not a lawyer either, but we can deduce logically that Walmart's lawyers approved it, so it's cool.

If companies are "allowed" to lay people off, then why not this? I'm pretty sure this is within the boundaries of "at will employment". You'd have to show some kind of civil rights violation.

Companies don't have to show cause to fire anyone. That's a cover your ass situation. This ass-covering makes sense with more than half of the US population now falling into some kind of protected class.

Ironically, here in the United States, they have everyone distracted with race wars and gender ID while workers' rights are still nonexistent.

That's why corporations love Corporate Black History Month and Corporate LGBTQ Month so much. They get to virtue signal that they don't discriminate while continuing to rob everyone blind.

Re:“Open Source” Seeds Loosen Big Ag’s Grip on Farmers on Saturday February 11, 2023 @07:16AM (#34751684)
>> Restaurants can be forced to limit portion sizes (which might also have side effects to improve public health, aka obesity epidemic).

Pricing out poor fat people from restaurants will not solve the obesity epidemic. It will drive them to Doritos.

Re:“Open Source” Seeds Loosen Big Ag’s Grip on Farmers on Saturday February 11, 2023 @07:12AM (#34751669)
>> wasted because restaurants prefer to deliver too large portions because they are afraid of bad Google/Yelp/... reviews...

Not everybody eats restaurant food for entertainment. Sometimes you can't cook and a larger portion means leftovers and usually more calories per dollar.

There's nothing wrong with large portions. If you didn't want that much food, go to a different restaurant, or a buffet where you can select exactly how much food you want.

And what large portions are we talking about anyway? That peaked in the 90s just like your bug splattered windshields.

Re:The Games People Play with Cash Flow on Monday January 02, 2023 @06:17PM (#34225112)
That sounds like some good practical advice, but also slightly vomit inducing.

>> Economists such as Lord Adair Turner, the former chair of the British Financial Services Authority, have argued that innovation in the financial industry is often a form of rent-seeking.[24][25]

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking

Do they not teach this stuff in an undergraduate business classes any more? "Float" was BIZ101 and in BIZ102 you learn how to read financial statements...

The "genius restaurateur" in the article rediscovered the art of not paying your bills with a credit card, i.e., the "debt trap".

Re:The Games People Play with Cash Flow on Monday January 02, 2023 @06:01PM (#34224926)
Great read. The real problem with "the skin in the game argument" is that it's a matter of opinion, but one opinion is more likely to be right.

>> Raising capital to do a startup reduces skin in the game (you’re spending other people’s money, after all).

The more likely correct take is as follows. Note that I am changing just one word.

The right version:

>> Raising capital to do a startup INCREASES skin in the game (you’re spending other people’s money, after all).

The naïve take seems to place no value on reputation (ability to get more financing in the future).

Re:Musicians Wage War Against Evil Robots on Monday January 02, 2023 @03:50PM (#34223457)
Probably, UBI is the best first solution. In the sense that it acts as a collective bargaining system for all citizens who are forced to trade their time for income.
Re:Musicians Wage War Against Evil Robots on Monday January 02, 2023 @03:46PM (#34223422)
What exactly are you even saying? What is "rubbish" and what do you mean by "certain sounds"?

People have been paying for live performances of music, i.e., "certain sounds", throughout all of recorded history. So it's the opposite of an aberration. "Paying to hear certain sounds" is a time-honored human tradition. If we broaden our definition of "paying" to include barter, I would guess it goes back to the invention of musical instruments.

>> Because the creator of crypto concept never understood why there are centralized institutions in the first place.

You are totally missing the point. Having to rely upon central banks was the fundamental problem being solved.

> The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that's required to make it work. The central bank must be trusted not to debase the currency, but the history of fiat currencies is full of breaches of that trust. Banks must be trusted to hold our money and transfer it electronically, but they lend it out in waves of credit bubbles with barely a fraction in reserve. We have to trust them with our privacy, trust them not to let identity thieves drain our accounts.

-Satoshi Nakamoto [0]

Getting central banks out of the picture is original philosophical motivation for developing a digital currency. All of the "cashless society" convenience aspects are secondary features. Everything that follows, regarding ledgers/records/blockchain/double-spending/trust-less is what's needed to make a digital currency work without a centralized authorities that mint money and validate transactions.

> A lot of people automatically dismiss e-currency as a lost cause because of all the companies that failed since the 1990's. I hope it's obvious it was only the centrally controlled nature of those systems that doomed them. I think this is the first time we're trying a decentralized, non-trust-based system.

-Satoshi Nakamoto [1]

Next up, the irreversibility of transactions is a feature, not a bug.

> For many purposes, reversal and arbitration is highly desirable, but there is no way anyone can compete with the arbitration provided by Visa and Mastercard, for they have network effects on their side, and they do a really good job of arbitration, at which they have vast experience, accumulated skills, wisdom, and good repute. So any new networked transaction system has to target the demand for final and irreversible transactions. [2]

[0] http://p2pfoundation.ning.com/forum/topics/bitcoin-open-sour...

[1] http://p2pfoundation.ning.com/forum/topics/bitcoin-open-sour...

[2] https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/emails/cryptography/th...

I don't think "expected" is the right word when a) it's the only option and b) women suffer most of the consequences of unwanted pregnancies.

I guess there are child support for males wrt to (b), which could very well incentivize the use of a male pill.

Western Europe, the US and China are already below replacement. If you have bought into this line of thinking then you should be saying:

>> Right now the absolute worst thing you can do for the environment is to have a child as an African. [0]

Because today's African babies are tomorrow's European migrants, who will bolster the ranks of the polluting global elite.

But we don't want to go here do we?

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_d...

Re:FDA Approves First CRISPR Cows for Beef on Saturday March 26, 2022 @09:07AM (#30811491)
I pictured a whole live cow covered in breadcrumbs instead of fur when I read that. The southern US would be a huge importer.
Re:Kharkiv Rubyist during the war: We are still here on Friday March 18, 2022 @09:12AM (#30721759)
Too many people have let their vision become consumed by the fact that Trump was an insufferable asshole. A nuanced discussion can be had about his time in office and his actual actions, without giving undue weight to the shit that comes out of the man's mouth. Just as an example of something most democrats would applaud, he signed an executive order to keep federal unemployment assistance flowing, while congress was happy to keep bickering and holding millions of Americans hostage. I'm not trying to break down the man's presidency here, but I would say that this provided more good to the average American, in a time of great need, than anything any recent president had done.

I do feel compelled to mention the following in regard to the comparison with Bush. The man, Cheney's puppet as he was, started an illegal war that killed a few hundred thousand people. Using the intelligence apparatus to manipulate Congress and the American people, in my view, is much worse than anything Trump had done. Same with enabling the domestic spying apparatus with the Patriot Act. If that's not undermining our institutions, I don't know what is.

I guess I should preempt the obvious counter argument about Trump's allegation that the election was stolen. The Democrats did the same exact thing with Russiagate. Both in terms of the accusation and pursuing it through legal channels, all based on fictional evidence to boot.

We should not allow us to miss the bigger picture while falling for the manufacrured distraction of "my party vs their party." But rather look to understand the special interests that are amplifying our division, and benefitting from it.

Chrome loves to eat huge chunks of available CPU on my MacBook while watching YouTube videos. I use ublock origin so my fans are basically never running otherwise, even on other streaming platforms. Netflix does tend to run the fans continuously, but at a very quiet, low rate.

This machine is ooold so having the fans run at max always makes me nervous. This never happens in firefox. I've talked to friends on relatively new MacBooks and they all run into the same issue with Chrome + YouTube.

Anyone know what the he'll Chrome is up to with this?

Re:On Being Indispensable on Wednesday March 16, 2022 @04:07PM (#30703376)
I have been in this situation myself, but my former boss has a conscience, as it turned out. My wife and I were on a vacation that was timed to celebrate an important birthday. I had spend days during the preceeding week training up two people on my team, and maybe one or two others, on various processes and contingencies. Yet still, when push came to shove, I was asked to get online to put out a fire. Luckily it only took an hour or two. A few days later I was surprised to find $1000 bucks deposited into my account from my boss as a thank you.

This system that I had hacked together, built out and maintained, kept on growing in size, complexity, attributable revenue and potential compliance liabilities. Within the year, I had to call the execs into a meeting to drive home the point that this wasn't a tenable way for us to operate. Everyone had known as much but it was still a tough pill to swallow. I let them get too spoiled at a huge cost to my own mental health.

I had to paint a dire picture to make my case that the system had to be rebuilt from scratch in order to be integrated into the main infrastructure. I ended up leaving a few months later as the rebuild was nearing completion. A couple of months down the road I was surprised to learn that they were still using a part of my system alongside the rebuild. Apparently their architecture couldn't support an algorithm that this component had relied on.

What a mess!

Just a wild guess, but it may have something to do with the federal government having the sole power to regulate interstate commerce. Which makes me wonder if weed sold in a state has to be grown in that state.
Re:Deep learning is hitting a wall? on Friday March 11, 2022 @05:46PM (#30647019)
Which leads to deforestation, the depletion of ground water supplies and still produces CO2 on both then front end and back end. Renewables aren't interesting just because they are renewable. We're not going to run out of fossils today so burning something else instead makes no sense. Especially when it becomes a form of geewnwashing to cover for a lack of progress in wind and solar.
Re:Deep learning is hitting a wall? on Friday March 11, 2022 @01:08AM (#30636848)
The car beeps and by the time the driver returns to earth and figures out what the fuck is going on, it will almost certainly be too late.

What you're really asking for is a car that predicts when it needs to beep. I'd imagine that in most of the serious situations, the maximum warning time will be shorter than the minimum spaced-out driver reorientation time. In fact, no meaningful scenario comes to mind where the car would want help but with a handful of seconds to spare.

I think Cold War 2 has already begun. I just don't see how the pre-invasion state of affairs could be restored in any realistic scenario. To hit the undo button Putin would have to stop the invasion, profusely apologize, pay reparations and make other concessions like returning Crimea. And of course he will do nothing of the sort. There's no scenario that I see under which which Putin is still running Russia and it stops being an international pariah.
Brain-computer link bypasses the gorilla arm problem entirely.
Re:YouTube Kids cleaned up its act on Tuesday March 08, 2022 @09:25AM (#30600184)
Kids like princes and princesses, I would guess. It's a theme that goes way back in children's literature.

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