Jeroen Hellingman 's BestNetTech Comments

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  • On the post: Will COVID Become Australia's 9/11?

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 10 Sep, 2021 @ 02:44am

    Re: Re: Re:

    There is indeed a group of immune-compromised people who would have to take special care. That is, unfortunately, nothing new to them. You also have the risk of new mutations to develop, but most vaccines so-far protect reasonably well against those as well: remember that the mRNA vaccine aims at the virus' weapon, its spikes, a mutation to those is far more likely to make the virus less effective (that is also why the vaccine in most cases works better than natural immunity: your natural immunity could attack some other aspect of the virus, good enough to heal you, not good enough to arm you against mutations on those aspects). We already have to be on the look-out for mutations of many other viruses that are out in the wild. With vaccinations, we basically restore the status-quo from before 2020.

  • On the post: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Announces On Twitter The Livestreaming On Facebook Of His Signing Of A Bill That Removes 1st Amendment Rights For Both

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 10 Sep, 2021 @ 02:38am

    Re: Hypocrisy

    Wouldn't it be better for them to move to Afghanistan, where the Taliban has already established such a state? (with a sufficient flexible definition of what it means to be white)

  • On the post: Sci-Hub Celebrates 10 Years Of Existence, With A Record 88 Million Papers Available, And A Call For Funds To Help It Add AI And Go Open Source

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 10 Sep, 2021 @ 02:16am

    The problem here is that under the guise of AML (Anti-Money Laundering) and CFT (Combating the Financing of Terrorism), governments force private parties to exclude customers, which governments themselves cannot do, due to legal requirements for due process. These AML/CFT measures are a large financial burden to institutions, and the risk of fines is huge, so they rather err on the side of overblocking than underblocking.

    Financial institutions would love it, if there would be a government organization to which they could send all their customer applications and transactions, and get a OK/NOK back, so they can offload trying to interpret a terrorist list that includes such things as: "a person with 'JAN' in his name is a suspected terrorist".

  • On the post: Will COVID Become Australia's 9/11?

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 09 Sep, 2021 @ 02:49am

    Re:

    I think we will have to live with the virus for the foreseeable future: we cannot root it out, only reduce its impact. We also cannot maintain the current rules for much longer, however, seeing that vaccination is highly effective at preventing deaths, I think we should simply drop all restrictions once everybody has had a reasonable chance to vaccinate themselves (except for hospitals and a few other places where immune-compromized people come together), keep a close eye on possible dangerous mutations, work on updating vaccines if needed, and accept that people who refuse the vaccine from that point on are mostly a danger to themselves -- and that fear of that danger will be the only thing that will enable them to overcome their fear for needles. We can nudge them, help them by having mobile vaccination services that work discretely, but not force them.

  • On the post: A Guy Walks Into A Bra

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 03 Sep, 2021 @ 01:56am

    Re: Re: myth and legands

    Yup, in a true meritocracy, everybody would have the same starting position, which would mean, for example, that we introduce a 100% inheritance tax. Even then, nature is unfair with the skills it distributes. I therefore reject meritocracy. A much better alternative is to organize society in such a way, that everybody can contribute according to his or her skills and aptitude, and everybody is rewarded at least a decent income for that. Economically and technically we have the means to do so, only the political will and understanding is missing. (Reading tip: The Tyranny of Merit by Michael J. Sandel).

  • On the post: A Guy Walks Into A Bra

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 03 Sep, 2021 @ 01:50am

    Re:

    If you are talking about merit, you should also focus about what merits you actually want to look for and reward, because often, the merits that are rewarded are those that happen to be more prominently present in men -- which in itself is already discriminatory. This also means organizations do not function optimally, as perfectly illustrated in this article. If we refocus on what skills and personalities we actually want positively contribute to an organization, and recognize that diversity in itself has significant value (read Rebel Ideas by Mathew Syed), we don't even need discriminating methods to get a more diverse workplace. With a proper understanding of who adds value, we don't get to hire only those minority people that show majority traits as token representatives to meet some arbitrary quota, which will not lead to a healthy viewpoint diversity, and that latter is what is actually called for.

  • On the post: Error 403: Syrians Blocked From Online Learning Platforms

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 03 Sep, 2021 @ 12:53am

    Re:

    Believing that this is an intentional tactic is grossly over-estimating the intelligence of those who cause the trouble in the first place, which is mostly short-sighted greed by people accidentally in positions of power (both inside and outside the country: in Syria, the Assad family aren't exactly known as friendly chaps with prudent forward looking policies either). Also, if we have a shortage of skilled labor, there are much better ways to lure those in than creating a holy mess abroad. Just paying a better salary or creating better living conditions here already works.

  • On the post: GOP Hollowly Threatens To 'Shut Down' Telecom Companies For Cooperating With Legal January 6 Inquiries

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 02 Sep, 2021 @ 06:52am

    Re: Re:

    Agreed, that law is wrong on more than front.

  • On the post: GOP Hollowly Threatens To 'Shut Down' Telecom Companies For Cooperating With Legal January 6 Inquiries

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 02 Sep, 2021 @ 06:12am

    Considering the anti-abortion law that was passed in Texas, and ignored by the Supreme Court, I wouldn't bet on what the American Taliban is willing to do to push through their agenda.

  • On the post: Fake 'U.S. Copyright Office' Imposter Gets Google To Delist URLs On Section 1201 Grounds

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 26 Aug, 2021 @ 02:28am

    Wouldn't a fake imposter be the real thing pretending to be an imposter? That is how I read the title of this article. :-)

  • On the post: Appeals Court Denies Immunity To University Officials Who Apparently Banned A Christian Student Group Just Because They Didn't Like It

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 28 Jul, 2021 @ 05:57am

    Re: Re: Good idea, abhorrent application

    Joining such an outlet in a large number could be used to actually change the charter and remove all such bigoted ideas from it. Just make sure you get the majority.

  • On the post: Naturopath Sues Twitter After It Bans Her Account For Spreading Medical Misinformation

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 27 Jul, 2021 @ 12:53am

    Re: Re: Re:

    Should have quoted a fee high enough to retire immediately after the case, because that is what such a case does with your reputation. And don't forget to require payment up-front.

  • On the post: 10 Steps The Biden-Harris Administration Should Take To Bring Equity To Our Patent System

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 26 Jul, 2021 @ 12:36am

    I must vehemently oppose the idea of collecting information about a persons race, ethnic background or gender (point 2). I am actually in favor of a total ban for governments and legal entities to collect such information at all. These aspects are totally irrelevant for the social value or inventiveness of an invention, and by collecting such information, you further strengthen the forces that try to divide and separate people on such features, that is, you are actively promoting discrimination.

  • On the post: DRM Strikes Again: Ubisoft Makes Its Own Game Unplayable By Shutting Down DRM Server

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 06 Jul, 2021 @ 11:19pm

    The lesson learned...

    The lesson learned: you can never buy anything with DRM, until the DRM on the product is fully broken: it is rental at best.

    Of the two crimes of supporting a business that uses unfair business practices or the infringement of copyrights held by the same business, the latter is clearly the lesser.

  • On the post: Upload Filters Will Always Be A Bad Idea, But Germany's New Implementation Of Article 17 Is An Attempt To Provide Some Protection For Users, Which Others May Follow

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 08 Jun, 2021 @ 12:11am

    Re:

    Lets reformulate that to "effectively commercially available, as shown by a the continued sale of copies to unrelated third parties, over which all applicable taxes have been paid."

  • On the post: Lying NYPD Narcotics Detective Just Cost Prosecutors Nearly 100 Convictions

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 15 Apr, 2021 @ 12:25am

    I wouldn't agree with the statement that drugs are cheaper because of the huge amounts of money wasted on criminalizing and prosecuting it. It is more expensive because of it, and drug lords know that: they love the fact that it is illegal, because it increases the profit margins more than a hundred-fold. That is the lesson they learned in the Prohibition Era, and never forgot. Most common drugs cost next to nothing to produce, and, if it weren't for the artificial scarcity, combined with constant advertising accompanying enforcement of crazy laws, the stuff would be available for a few cents per dose, and probably less people would use it. The solution to the drugs-issue has the following ingredients: 1. decriminalize, and 2. de-commercialize: allow sale, but not advertising or profits (note how this is going wrong with the legalization of marijuana). Provide it at cost to those who want it. 3. Resolve the underlying social and psychological issues, this is the hardest part, but probably far cheaper than continuing on the senseless road we're on now.

  • On the post: Parler Forced To Explain The First Amendment To Its Users After They Complain About Parler Turning Over Info To The FBI

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 30 Mar, 2021 @ 06:04am

    That German word is "Idiot": perfectly understood by speakers of English as well, but if you want something with a more alien sound "Dummkopf" is also appropriate.

  • On the post: Senator Elizabeth Warren Goes Over The Line; Threatens To Punish Amazon For 'Snotty Tweets'

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 29 Mar, 2021 @ 01:57am

    Re: Re: Way to shoot your own foot there Warren

    If properly done, taxes are on profits, and since profits are excess income over and above what is needed for a company to operate and recoup its costs, it can even be argued that higher taxes actually do more to induce companies to work hard. With low or non-existing taxes, they might very well become lazy with the status quo as long as the profits are high enough to make the shareholders happy -- especially if you also have the law-makers on board with a heavy dose of regulatory capture -- which is the real killer if you want to "foster growth."

  • On the post: Life Imitates Art: Warren Spector Says He Wouldn't Make 'Deus Ex' In Today's Toxic Climate

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 22 Mar, 2021 @ 01:11am

    Reality is always more amazing, more weird, and therefore more interesting but also more scary than fantasy, because it is not constrained by the limits of our imagination.

  • On the post: DMCA Complaint Claims Copyright On The Word 'Outstanding', Wants Entries From Top Dictionaries De-Listed From Google

    Jeroen Hellingman ( profile ), 09 Mar, 2021 @ 05:24am

    I want to copyright the word copyright, and then forbid everyone from using it.

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