hugh_'s comments | WingNews

hugh_ | 16 years ago | on: Schneier on Security: Post-Underwear-Bomber Airport Security

Without any suggested strategy that would defend against all possible attacks, though, it's not much of a suggestion. The current strategy may be the best one available. If unreliable two-component powder+syringe underpants bombs are the best option currently available to potential aircraft bombers, then that's definitely something.

hugh_ | 16 years ago | on: A Mad Scheme To Kill A Scientist

I have adopted a "we are homosapien" (note: not plural) outlook towards the humanities

While I have no idea what that means, I would like to point out that "homo sapien" is not the singular of "homo sapiens"

hugh_ | 16 years ago | on: Blink-182's Tom DeLonge tries to sell Vampire Weekend a social network

Does he consider Blink 182 to be more "mainstream" than Vampire Weekend?

hugh_ | 16 years ago | on: EnviroMission Plans Massive Solar Updraft Towers for Arizona

They're still a helluva lot more expensive than coal-powered plants, which is what the third world is actually building.

hugh_ | 16 years ago | on: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad founded the Iranian Tunneling Association in 1998

Except Iran isn't a sovereign nation, it's just a patch of soil run, in practice, by a bunch of unelected mullah-thugs. The doctrine of sovereign rights should be restricted to democracies. The mullahs have no more sovereign right to the territory they happen to control than the Crips or Bloods.

hugh_ | 16 years ago | on: Blink-182's Tom DeLonge tries to sell Vampire Weekend a social network

Perhaps, but the social dynamics are made extra interesting by the fact that the "passionate entrepreneur" is the too-cool-for-school kid of a dozen years ago, and he's having trouble coping with it.

I'm not sure whether it's pathos or schadenfreude, but there's something fascinating about the weird approval-seeking behaviour exhibited by this former cool kid towards the new cool kids, especially given the enormous stylistic gulf between the two bands.

hugh_ | 16 years ago | on: Gloomy pronouncements from some of the most bearish folks out there

Why was the abridged, no-value-added version linked instead of the original?

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/story/print?guid=83A47014-F...

hugh_ | 16 years ago | on: Apple Tablet Has No Intel Inside

I'm pretty unconvinced that it's a worthwhile product. I don't see a worthwhile gap in the market in between smartphones and laptops.

Smartphones are great because they fit in your pocket, but annoying because they lack some of the features of laptops. Laptops are great because they have full keyboards, optical drives etc but are annoying because they won't fit in your pocket. I don't really have any desire, though, for a device which has no keyboard and still won't fit in my pocket.

hugh_ | 16 years ago | on: Ask HN: Is asking your friends to vote your HN postings to the front page ok?

Perhaps solutions should be aimed at slowing down the churn rate on the "new" page, then? What if everybody were limited to submitting, say, one article per day?

hugh_ | 16 years ago | on: Analytics X Prize - Predicting Homicides in Philadelphia

This is probably a good thing. A large prize might create some rather perverse incentives for, uhh, direct intervention in the data set.

hugh_ | 16 years ago | on: Why do so many terrorists have engineering degrees?

How about the role played by sexual frustration? It seems to be relatively common among engineers, and is probably a necessary, though not sufficient, condition for becoming a suicide bomber.

hugh_ | 16 years ago | on: How do I know China wrecked the Copenhagen deal? I was in the room.

Why should a changed climate result in worse droughts in places that are susceptible to drought? Might it not lead to more rain in some drought-stricken places and less rain in some rainy places?

hugh_ | 16 years ago | on: SF author Greg Egan reviews Avatar

A simple script isn't the same thing as a bad script, though. Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Die Hard, Alien... these are simple scripts, but they were all turned into good movies.

The problem with Avatar's script is not so much its simplicity, but its preachiness. A story set in a simplified world of good and evil isn't so annoying (cf Star Wars) unless it's supposed to be making some kind of political commentary on our own world.

hugh_ | 16 years ago | on: SF author Greg Egan reviews Avatar

I knew a girl who had seen it twenty-something times. She had issues.

Personally, though, I still think it's quite a good film. Some aspects of the love story grate a little (in particular Leonardo DiCaprio's always-perfect character) as does the characterization of all first class passengers as snooty jerks and all third class passengers as idealized salt of the Earth (come to think of it, that's pretty much the same problem as Avatar) but as soon as the ship starts sinking it becomes a fairly gripping story. Hardly the greatest film in history, but perfectly watchable and rewatchable even if you're not a 17-year-old girl.

hugh_ | 16 years ago | on: SF author Greg Egan reviews Avatar

So they use a non-risky script, with nothing objectionable in it.

How did we get to the point where "Humans are evil, kill them all!" is a non-risky script with nothing objectionable in it?

hugh_ | 16 years ago | on: Parish priest argues rationally for shoplifting

Indeed. Christianity, as a religion, is designed to appeal to folks at the low end of society, so it's not too surprising. Nietzsche goes on about this kind of thing a lot:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master-slave_morality

hugh_ | 16 years ago | on: Parish priest argues rationally for shoplifting

The observation that shoplifting is the best option that some people are left with is a grim indictment of who we are.

Britain is already a welfare state. How much more welfare-y does he want it to be?

Also, doesn't "caring for the truly needy" fall into the Church's mission statement? If a starving person comes to a priest, shouldn't the priest share his own food rather than telling him to go steal from someone else?

hugh_ | 16 years ago | on: Parish priest argues rationally for shoplifting

I think just the fact that so many are now considering the position of the poor facing moral choices of theft or starvation makes this an excellent sermon.

When was the last time anybody actually managed to starve to death in Great Britain? Great Britain is already a welfare state. It's easy to get paid for not working. If you fall through the cracks of that system there are dozens of charities devoted to helping those in genuine need. In addition, there's a beggar on every street corner. Oh, and there's always the Church, which really should be working on feeding the hungry itself (perhaps by reducing its own gold-plated candelabra budget) instead of sending 'em to knock over Tesco's.

Finally, if you somehow manage to be completely unable to find food anywhere, and you haven't eaten for days and you're actually in danger of dying of starvation, all you need to do is go to hospital, where they'll say "hey, this guy is dying of starvation" and give you free food and medical treatment.

In conclusion, dying for lack of food in modern Britain is very, very difficult.

hugh_ | 16 years ago | on: Parish priest argues rationally for shoplifting

But for the example of the recently released prisoner he cites, I'm not sure which obvious ones he's failing to consider.

Begging and dying would seem to both be more morally acceptable than stealing.

hugh_ | 16 years ago | on: The Avatar storage effect

I haven't seen Avatar, but at the very least it seems to be a masterpiece of PR. I forget, now, how many articles I've seen describing every random aspect of the production. How do they manage to get these written and published?