6502nerdface (u/6502nerdface)

6502nerdface commented on Scientists may have found a way to eliminate chromosome linked to Down syndrome academic.oup.com/pnasnexu... · Posted by u/MattSayar

ghurtado · 5 months ago

See, it's stories like this one that make me really question just how ethical it is to completely eliminate Down's from the gene pool. I understand it's the correct medical and scientific thing to do, it's just that it sometimes feels a little bit like eugenics for me.

6502nerdface · 5 months ago

Wait what's wrong with voluntary eugenics? Perhaps the fact that something both "feels like eugenics" and is understood as the "correct medical and scientific thing to do" should cause one to reassess any unexamined, knee-jerk, blanket revulsion to the concept of eugenics that one may have.

6502nerdface commented on What were the MS-DOS programs that the moricons.dll icons were intended for? devblogs.microsoft.com/ol... · Posted by u/rbanffy

avidiax · 7 months ago

Yeah, the sense at that time was that you master the machine. Now, increasingly, the machines will master you if you aren't careful. Of course, the machines haven't really done anything to us. They've just been locked down and remotely controlled to deliver ads and misinformation.

6502nerdface · 7 months ago

James Yeh, Ken Griffin's "first quant" and eventual co-CIO of Citadel, used to say, when annoyed by a junior who was overfitting to the backtest, "I don't let the computer boss me around! I tell the computer what to do!"

6502nerdface commented on Retailers will soon have only about 7 weeks of full inventories left fortune.com/article/retai... · Posted by u/andrewfromx

anigbrowl · 8 months ago

This is a general cultural problem with liberalism at present. My social media timelines are absolutely full of Serious People analyzing how we got here and situating our present condition in historical and theoretical context. And they're mostly right! but what's lacking is any discussion of what to do about it. Even advocacy for legislative remedies or mass strikes are mostly dismissed in favor of throwing up hands and waiting for the midterm elections, as if the outcome were assured and a repeat of January 6 2021 were unthinkable. I can only conclude that a large part of the populace either can't believe what's happening or can't comprehend the implications.

6502nerdface · 8 months ago

All experience has shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

6502nerdface commented on Read the Obits thereader.mitpress.mit.ed... · Posted by u/EA-3167

hackable_sand · 8 months ago

That is okay. People deserve the right to die.

6502nerdface · 8 months ago

But not the right to be forgotten.

6502nerdface commented on OpenSSH Keystroke Obfuscation Bypass crzphil.github.io/posts/s... · Posted by u/pabs3

SoftTalker · a year ago

I'm not an expert in this area at all but I recall reading that trying to hide a signal in random noise doesn't really work, as you can still find the signal with statistical analysis or looking for distingishing characteristics that are not obscured. That was my first thought when I read about this new feature in OpenSSH, and it seems to have proven correct.

Edit: wanted to add that I recognize that the people working on OpenSSH know a lot more about this than I do, and I had assumed they wouldn't bother implementing this if it wasn't a good idea, so willing to accept that "proven correct" may be an overstatement or even flat-out wrong.

6502nerdface · a year ago

> trying to hide a signal in random noise doesn't really work

Actually it works perfectly and it's called a one-time pad!

6502nerdface commented on Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free nbcnews.com/politics/just... · Posted by u/amima

slg · a year ago

>I am not aware of anything he has leaked being problematic.

I hesitate to even bring it up because it tends to poison any online discussion, but the DNC leaks were a pretty obvious one. Even if we give him the benefit of the doubt that the leaks were truly whistleblowing despite not actually revealing any illegal behavior, the way he continued to insinuate that Seth Rich was his source despite Assange still being in contact with the source after Rich's death should make it clear that Assange was not acting ethically.

>but ultimately a clear net benefit to mankind.

And this was exactly my original point. This isn't how the law works. We don't throw the good and bad on the scales of justice to see which side is heaviest. He did plenty of good things. He committed some crimes. The good things don't excuse the crimes.

6502nerdface · a year ago

> This isn't how the law works. We don't throw the good and bad on the scales of justice to see which side is heaviest.

Shoot, there goes the argument I was planning to deploy against Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates.

6502nerdface commented on Group buys up large tracts of land in Romania to create 'European Yellowstone' english.elpais.com/intern... · Posted by u/geox

budududuroiu · 2 years ago

Visiting Romania :) Living in Romania :(

6502nerdface · 2 years ago

It's noticeably improving, though! Over the last 10 years or so, both their GDP per capita and household income per capita have roughly doubled. Now when I visit medium-sized cities there I am amazed to find latte-slinging coffee shops and craft beer-pouring gastropubs that would look right at home in Brooklyn.

6502nerdface commented on Goldman Sachs reportedly said Apple Card savings account was a mistake 9to5mac.com/2023/10/16/ap... · Posted by u/ksec

giarc · 2 years ago

The points can really be worth it though. In 2 years, over 3 cards (between my wife and I), I've racked up nearly 400,000 Aeroplan miles, which is valued somewhere around $8,400 (2.1c per mile). And this is regular spending, and pretty basic cards (AMEX Cobalt and TD Infinite). These aren't the $700+/year cards, all are $1xx/year.

6502nerdface · 2 years ago

$8,400 over three years is about $230/month. And aside from the opportunity cost of your labor to optimize that, you should also theoretically account for any purchases that you wouldn't have made if you weren't trying to optimize your points (if any; I'm sure it's hard to attribute).

With current interest rates of around 5%, one could get the same stream of income ($2.8k/y) by just plonking $50k or so into a high-yield savings account or money market fund.